Pursued(10)

God, I have got to stop thinking of him! she scolded herself angrily.

“…do you think?” James asked and she realized she’d missed the question.

“I’m sorry, what?” she asked, pulling out of their embrace.

“I said…but my goodness, darling, are you all right? You’re white as a sheet.”

“I’m fine,” Elise protested. She tried to take a step and sank down almost at once on a conveniently placed couch. “Well, not completely fine,” she admitted, seeing her fiancé’s worried look. “I’m weak and really hungry.” As she said the words, they seemed to suddenly be true. Her belly had a gnawing emptiness inside—a terrible hunger like nothing she’d ever felt before.

“Of course you are,” James said sympathetically. He helped her off the couch and began leading her out the front door of the HKR building. “Come on, let me call the car and we’ll go someplace for a nice champagne brunch.”

The thought of brunch was immensely appealing but the idea of getting into another moving vehicle on an empty stomach was not.

“No.” Elise shook her head as James pushed open the door for her. “No, I don’t want to drive anywhere. I need to eat now.”

James looked at her, clearly surprised. “Well, I must say that’s rather demanding of you, darling. And I’m not sure what we can do about it—there isn’t a decent restaurant in miles.”

“I see one.” Shading her eyes as they stepped into the bright sunlight, Elise pointed across the street. “Look.”

“That place? Darling, you have got to be joking,” James protested. “Do you know what it would do to my image if I was seen in a place like that?”

“Stop being so melodramatic, James,” she snapped, suddenly losing patience. “It’s just an IHOP for God’s sake—not some kind of whorehouse. And right now I feel like I could eat a stack of pancakes taller than I am.”

“Well, that’s not saying much, my diminutive darling.” He laughed at his little joke. “All right, if you’re sure you can’t wait for the champagne brunch.”

“No, I can’t,” Elise said shortly. “I’ve never been so hungry in my life. I need to eat.”

“Yes, so you said.” He eyed her uncertainly and Elise realized she was being rude.

“I’m sorry to be so snappish,” she apologized. “I’ve just had a long day.”

“Quite all right,” James assured her. “In fact, most understandable after what you’ve, um, been through.” He threaded her arm through his and set a brisk pace for the IHOP across the street. “Speaking of which, darling, do you need to, er, talk about your ordeal?”

Elise looked down at her shoes which happened to be red, open toed sandals with heels much higher than she was used to. She wished James would slow down a little but he was always in a hurry, everywhere he went. She supposed it was part of his personality, along with his insistence on never being late.

“I’d rather not talk about it, if you don’t mind,” she said in a low voice. “It was extremely…unpleasant.” Which was probably the understatement of the year.

“I understand, darling, really I do. But…” They had reached the opposite curb and as they stepped up, James turned her to face him and looked into her eyes. “It’s just that the aliens who abducted you, I understand they were male.”

“Yes, that’s right.” Elise nodded. She hadn’t seen a single other female the entire time she was a captive in the Fathership, that was certainly true.

“Well, darling, you’re a very attractive woman and I was afraid that…well…” James’ face turned scarlet and he trailed off.

Suddenly Elise realized what he was trying to ask. “No, James, they didn’t touch me that way,” she said in a low voice. The way they violated me was worse—much worse. But she couldn’t bear to say that aloud and she was pretty sure James wouldn’t want to hear it. “They…they didn’t rape me,” she said, instead.

His face cleared at once and he looked immensely relieved. “Excellent!” he exclaimed, squeezing her hand. “I’m so glad it wasn’t anything too terrible then.”

Elise frowned at him. “It was still pretty awful, you know.”

“I’m certain it was,” James said seriously. “And I’m not trying to downplay your stress, really I’m not. I’m just saying from my point of view—you know how I like to be the first man on the scene and we’ve been waiting so long for exactly that…” He cleared his throat meaningfully. “I’m just so glad you weren’t tampered with.”