Brianna (21 page)

It was in the last shop—the jewelers—that Char had been the most extravagant. There, he’d made most of the selections himself, choosing some of the most tasteful yet expensive jewelry she’d ever seen. Brianna hadn’t thought about how wealthy his family was until she heard him tell the jeweler that price was no object. She fell into a light doze with a smile on her face.

Half an hour later, Char walked into the bathroom to check on his wife. As he thought might have happened, she was dozing in the tub. “Brianna,” he whispered into her ear, “wake up. Dinner’s in an hour.”

Brianna opened her eyes and smiled.

“You better get out now, or I won’t be able to resist the temptation. The king will want to know why we’re late, and we’ll have to tell the truth.”

Laughing, she stood up, wrapped herself in a fluffy towel, and stepped out of the tub. “You’re incorrigible.” Cocking her head to the side, she added, “What are you wearing?”

He was wearing what she guessed was the equivalent of an Alalakan dress uniform. Cut along the same lines as the uniform he wore daily, it was completely white. A short jacket with a beautifully embroidered dragon on its lapel hugged his broad shoulders. All in all, he cut quite an impressive figure.

“My, my,” she continued, “I’ll have to beat the women off of you with a stick.”

He stared at her dubiously. “You aren’t going to hit anyone, are you?”

Brianna laughed. Removing the pins from her hair, she shook it as it tumbled to her hips. Recognizing the smoldering look that appeared in his eyes, she said, “You better go wait in the living room, Char, or we
will
be late for dinner.”

After he left the room, Brianna sat on the vanity stool and perused the various perfume bottles and cosmetics in front of her. Sniffing the stoppers of each bottle, she chose a sensual, musky scent and applied it liberally to various places on her body. Choosing among the cosmetics, she highlighted her eyes and cheeks. Then she began to work on her hair.

Ten minutes later, she was sighing with frustration. Her hair had cooperated very well until she tried to fasten the elaborately jeweled turquoise comb Char bought her earlier that day. Still wrapped in her towel and holding the comb in place, she headed for the other room and Char’s help. Pushing the door open with her hip—they were the old-fashioned kind that swung opened and closed—she walked into the living room. “Char, can you get this fastened? I have too much hair to do it myself.”

It was hard to say who was more surprised—Brianna or the people with Char. She recognized Lorilana, who was standing next to a tall, distinguished-looking man. However, he and the other three people in the room were complete strangers.

“She’s wearing a dragon!” the elegant woman next to Char gasped, her hand going to her throat.

“I made it very clear that I was married, Mother.”

Her hands and hair dropping, Brianna flushed pink and choked out, “Mother! Your mother’s here, and you didn’t warn me? How could you do this to me!” Turning, she fled into the bedroom.

Rodane stared after her. “What coloring! Was that dragon breathing fire? Grandmother is going to love her! Brother, in your position, I’d have married her myself! Is the rest of her that magnificent?”

“That, dear Brother, is something you’ll probably never know. You’ll have to excuse me for a moment. My
wife
needs me,” Char said dryly. Picking up the comb Brianna had dropped, he followed her into the bedroom.

Four pairs of eyes turned to a very amused Lorilana.

“It seems as if you will have to do the explaining. Does she always turn colors like that?” asked the man by her side.

“She only turns red when she’s embarrassed, Dadon,”

Lorilana answered. “She calls it blushing. Also, her culture is more reserved than ours. Family members, except for small children, are almost always dressed in each other’s presence.”

Jamiros crossed the room and poured himself a glass of wine. “A society along the lines of the Varcians, then.”

“In some ways, yes,” answered Lorilana, “but, in many other ways, completely different. The planet is unique unto itself as are the five we already know.”

“Well, I’m his mother,” said the elegant woman who had been so shocked at Brianna’s appearance. “I deserve an explanation.” With those words, Alalakan dem al’ Xdana strode purposefully towards the bedroom door.

“I wouldn’t recommend going in there right now,” Lorilana called. “Char has become very protective.”

“Not from his mother!”

The sight that greeted Xdana was far more intimate than she expected. She’d walked in on her youngest son many times when he was enjoying a woman, but she’d never seen the tenderness he was now displaying.

Char was seated on the bed with the woman on his lap leaning back against his chest. His right arm was wrapped snugly beneath her breasts, pulling the towel she wore tight to reveal what its loosely draped folds had hidden when she’d first walked into the living room, the slightly distended stomach of midterm pregnancy. Char’s left hand was splayed gently over her belly, and he was whispering something in her ear.

Both of them heard the door open. A horrified look appeared on Brianna’s face and she flushed scarlet.

Char’s reaction was more direct. “Mother,
get out
!”

Speechless, Xdana quickly backed out of the room, wrenching the door closed behind her. She grabbed the back of a chair for support. “She’s pregnant! Lorilana, is she really pregnant?”

Lorilana walked over to her friend and helped her to the sofa. Throwing an expectant look at the three equally stunned men, she began to chafe Xdana’s hands. “Yes, and the baby is definitely Char’s. You saw the dragon she wears. Char had me put it there two days after they were married.”

All three men’s eyebrows rose.

“Brianna has the spirit to go with the challenge that dragon represents,” Lorilana continued. “He not only dotes on her, but he has also come to respect her judgments and insights. She’s taught herself our numerical system and it making great progress with paralleling our and her alphabets.”

Jamiros lowered himself onto a chair. “Well, that settles it then. She wears a dragon and carries the Alalakan heir. It’s up to us to make sure the elders accept her into the clan.”

“As if they will have a choice,” Dadon murmured into his wineglass.

“The Alalakan heir,” Rodane said in a soft voice. “I hope the baby is as colorful as its mother. A fiery-haired Alalakan.”

The bedroom door opened and Char rejoined them. “My wife,” he said in a biting tone that shocked everyone except Lorilana, “will join us momentarily. And, yes, she does carry the Alalakan heir. Are there any other questions?”

Char himself could not believe the tone of voice in which he addressed them, but he wouldn’t tolerate any insults, even from his mother. However, his mind shied away from how much Brianna was coming to mean to him. Instead, he concentrated on his other purpose. She was the bait for his trap.

Xdana asked, “When’s the baby due?”

Char smiled to himself. His mother had finally hit on the fact that her first grandchild was on the way. “Brianna feels that she’s about four and a half months pregnant.”

“Lorilana?”

“I think Brianna’s wrong, but she won’t listen to me.”

“You’ve examined her?”

“As well as I could in Char’s quarters.”

“What in the world was wrong with Medical? Don’t tell me the girl doesn’t understand modern medicine! Char, you must take the baby into account.”

Lorilana sighed. “Xdana, Brianna’s world is almost as advanced as ours. It wasn’t safe for her to leave Char’s quarters. Bakom was on board, remember.”

Xdana’s lips curled into a sneer. “Bakom. Jamiros, it is time to squash that bug.”

Char smiled to himself. If anything would endear Brianna to his mother, it would be the need to protect her from Bakom.

Now completely dressed, Brianna stood in the bedroom in a quandary. She was still unable to fasten the clasp on the turquoise comb. Shrugging her shoulders, she decided that since they were family, someone out here would be able to help her. So everyone except Char and Lorilana was surprised when she appeared and said, “I’m sorry to be a bother, but I still can’t get this clasp fastened.”

Laughing, Char crossed the room and fastened the comb.

Then he took Brianna’s hand and presented her to his family and friends. “My wife, Alalakan dem al’ Brianna of Earth.

Brianna, my parents, Alalakan dem al’ Xdana and Alalakan don al’ Jamiros and my brother, Alalakan don al’ Rodane. The tall gentleman next to Lorilana is her husband, Dr. Sendenton don al’ Dadon.”

Brianna gazed at the tall man next to Lorilana. He was even taller than Char, and laugh lines crinkled at the corners of his mouth and eyes. “You were named for him, weren’t you, Char?”

Bowing, Dadon said, “The Alalakan clan has added a flower of incomparable beauty to its garden.”

Brianna began to smile. “Now I understand why Char was named for you. His parents realized that his tongue was going to be as flexible as yours.”

Dadon smiled broadly.

Char smiled to himself—one down, three to go.

Rodane didn’t wait for Brianna to come to him. He stepped to her, lifted her off of her feet, and planted a kiss on each cheek. “I’ve been looking forward to the day I had a sister-in-law.”

“So that you can come to me and complain about everything Char does that you don’t like,” Brianna shot back breathlessly.

Laughing, Rodane swung her in a circle. “She’s perfect, Char. I think we should keep her.”

“As if you have any choice,” she whispered in his ear as she clung to him for balance.

“Here, Father,” Rodane said as he set her in front of Jamiros, “your turn.”

Grasping Brianna’s arm to help her regain her balance, Jamiros gazed at his new daughter-in-law speculatively. She had proved herself charming, but then that was to be expected of any woman Char chose. “Well, Daughter, what do you have to offer to the Alalakan clan?”

Brianna stepped back so she didn’t get a crick in her neck looking into his face. If this was what Char would look like in thirty or forty years, he was going to age very well. “Cranberry juice.”

A confused expression appeared on Jamiros’ face.

Brianna grinned. “Char has introduced me to Deslossian vandanug red. On Earth, it’s called cranberry juice. And we have lots of it, in different flavors.”

Jamiros stared at Brianna. Then he began to smile broadly.

“Vandanug red! Son,” he said as he hugged Brianna, “I am very pleased to welcome your wife to our family and clan.”

Everyone turned his or her attention to Xdana who sat as regally as any queen on the sofa. Silently, she stared back.

Sighing, Brianna looked first to Char for his nod of reassurance and then walked over to the sofa until she stood directly in front of her mother-in-law. “Alalakan dem al’ Xdana,”

she began quietly, “I can understand your reservations. I’m from a world you didn’t even know existed, and I have, in a manner of speaking, taken your son from you. The circumstances were not as any of us would have wished, but,” she continued in a more challenging tone as she slipped her dress from her right shoulder, “I wear an Alalakan dragon, and I carry Char’s child.

I’m afraid you’re stuck with me!”

Everyone, including Char, stared in amazement. No one had so directly challenged his mother in years. More than one of them murmured, “Stuck with me?”

“Reminds me a great deal of a certain young lady,” Jamiros interjected, “who told my mother that both she and the entire Alalakan clan could go hang because she was going to marry me no matter what.”

Xdana began to laugh. Rising from the sofa, she gathered Brianna into her arms for a fierce hug. Then she turned to Char.

“Son, you have brought us a daughter worthy of the Alalakan dragon. I’m more than happy to welcome her into the family. Any woman who would challenge a mother for her own son is worth having.”

Char relaxed. Brianna met his gaze with raised eyebrows and a smile. And the evening hadn’t yet begun.

Brianna shifted her weight from foot to foot. Char and the rest of his family seemed completely at ease as they waited to be escorted to dinner, but the prospect of eating dinner with royalty had Brianna’s stomach in knots. To make matters worse, the baby was turning somersaults. How was she supposed to make it through tonight? What if she used the wrong spoon or something? Did they even have spoons?

Just as she was ready to bolt back to her suite, Meri appeared. “You look lovely.”

Leaning closer and taking Brianna’s hand in hers, she whispered, “I’m sorry I didn’t warn you about Char’s parents, but I didn’t know they were here until it was too late. Come on. I’m here to take you to dinner.”

Char’s mother raised an elegant eyebrow at Meri’s informal attitude. The younger woman, however, was not intimidated.

“It’s a family dinner, Xdana. Don’t worry about formalities.”

The butterflies in Brianna’s stomach calmed a bit.
A family
dinner? Well, maybe it won’t be that bad.
Brianna relaxed until Meri pulled her into the elegantly appointed throne room and a crowd of people turned to stare at her.
There have to be at least
fifty people in this room!
“Meri!” she hissed as her friend practically dragged her towards the dais on the other side of the room, with the rest of the Alalakans trailing along. “Are all these people members of you family?”