Total pages in book: 54
Estimated words: 50815 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 254(@200wpm)___ 203(@250wpm)___ 169(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 50815 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 254(@200wpm)___ 203(@250wpm)___ 169(@300wpm)
He held her hands and looked into her eyes as he spoke and Nora found herself unexpectedly moved. Did he really mean everything he was saying? She’d never known him to be disingenuous before, so she assumed he did. Also, his face looked more open than she’d ever seen it.
He was serious yet hopeful—that was the best way she could describe his look. At any rate, he didn’t seem like a big scary emotionless robot at all. Well, he was still big and scary and he did still talk kind of like a robot but the feeling in his deep voice moved her.
“I…I’ll do my best to guide you in the, er, way of emotions,” she murmured, looking up at him. She couldn’t help thinking that he didn’t seem like a man who was just going through a ceremony so he could get sex in the end. He really almost seemed like he cared about her.
The ceremony ended with a kiss and it was the gentlest one they’d shared so far. Xarex leaned down from his great height and Nora stood on her tiptoes until their lips met. A tingle ran through her whole body and she felt almost dizzy for a moment as his warm, spicy, masculine scent filled her senses.
Then, amid the roars of approval and clapping from the wedding guests, she took his arm and floated down the aisle, feeling like she was in the middle of a very vivid dream.
6
NORA
“Mommy, Mommy—I remember where I saw the giant before!” Anna exclaimed, pulling on Nora’s sleeve.
Nora had changed into a less formal dress—a pretty green one that brought out the green flecks in her brown eyes—and was attending the reception which Kat had also set up in the parklands beside the Sacred Grove. The vast rolling meadow-like space was dotted with trees and covered in green and purple grass.
She looked down at her daughter, feeling her cheeks get red with embarrassment. After all, Commander Xarex was standing right there, sipping a glass of the light blue Woo liquor that was being served by the circulating waiters.
“Honey, he’s not a giant—he’s a Kindred warrior,” she explained in a low voice. The plan was to attend the reception for about an hour before they slipped away to the Med Center where Anna was going to be seen by a Kindred doctor.
“He’s a giant!” Anna insisted loudly. “And I saw him in my dreams! A beautiful lady who was all sparkly like a fairy showed him to me and said he was going to be my new daddy!”
Nora went from embarrassed to humiliated in a heartbeat. She could feel her cheeks getting hot with a blush. What in the world must Xarex be thinking?
“Anna—” she began, but then, to her surprise, Xarex crouched down to Anna’s level.
“Hello, young one—you must be Anna,” he rumbled.
Bashfully, Anna nodded.
“Yes, that’s me. Did you see me being a flower girl?”
“Yes, I did. You were the best flower girl I ever saw,” Xarex told her.
Anna’s pale cheeks flushed with pleasure.
“Thank you! You’re kind of scary looking but you’re nice,” she told him. “I’m glad my Mommy married you. Now you can be my Daddy and I’ll be your little girl.”
“All right.” Xarex nodded gravely. “It’s a deal. Do you want to shake hands on it? I know that humans do that to seal bargains.”
He held out his huge hand and Anna shyly held out her own. But then she seemed to change her mind and threw her arms around his neck instead.
“Thank you for being my Daddy,” she said, squeezing him tight with her little arms. “I’ve never had one before.”
Nora was dumbstruck by all this. She looked down at Xarex and found that he was looking up at her, as though asking permission. She nodded slightly and he put one arm around Anna and hugged her back very carefully.
“I’ll do my best to be a good father to you,” he rumbled.
“I know you will.” And Anna gave him a smacking kiss on the cheek before pulling away and looking up at Nora. “Can I go play now? There are some other kids over there who look like they want a new friend.”
She motioned to a few children playing a little way over.
“All right, but not for long—we’re about to go to the special new doctor I told you about,” Nora cautioned her. “And be careful not to get out of breath.”
“I’ll be okay,” Anna assured her. She turned away towards the kids and Nora could hear her calling, “Hey—do you want to play?”
That left only Nora and Xarex at the standing table, still sipping their Woo. Nora’s mom, who was old and frail, had gotten tired after the excitement of the wedding. Kat had generously volunteered to take her back to the guest suite where she and Anna were staying while Nora stayed with Xarex for their honeymoon.