Swear it to me.”

“I swear,” she moaned.

Chapter Twelve

Mira was damn nervous as she dressed in the shirt that bared her shoulders and put on pants. She paced, her gaze kept going to the door, knowing that at any moment Flint was would return. They’d reached Garden and Flint had gone to Control two hours before when they’d flown within range of the planet. He was due any time to collect her and take the Rally down to the surface.

What would life be like on Garden? When she’d asked Flint, being his vague self, all he had told her was that it would be fine. She hated vague. She was bursting with questions. She was about to be transferred to a planet of cyborgs . She paced the room again and was startled when the doors slid open. Flint arched an eyebrow at her when he stepped inside, the doors sliding shut behind him.

She realized that she missed his long hair. He looked handsome with the short cut but the longer hair had been really sexy. She supposed it was her fault that he’d cut it when he’d been angry with her. Mira bit her lip. “Why did you chop off your hair?”

Flint studied her for long seconds before he answered. “You subconsciously played with it and after you left it was a reminder of you that I no longer wished to keep.” He paused. “You look frightened. It is just me.”

“It’s not you I’m afraid of. What is going to happen on the surface?”

“We’ll land and then I have a meeting to go to. We’ll go to my home right afterward. You are frightened for no reason. No one will harm you. You belong to me.”

She was grateful that he hadn’t called her his property. She’d realized since the day he’d broken the deal to sell her that he had not called her property again. He just stated that she belonged to him. In her mind, belonging to him beat being called property. She nodded.

The past four days had been wonderful between them. Flint had stayed in their room with her from the time he’d untied her from the cot until he’d left that morning to go to Control. He had even helped her pack up their belongings though she only owned a few articles of clothing. He leaned down to grab the bag. He almost looked amused.

“The Rally waits for us. Let’s go.”

She moved to him and gripped his hand. He froze, looking down at their hands. She frowned, staring up at him.

“What’s wrong?”

No emotion showed on his face or in his eyes. “It is inappropriate for you to touch me in public.”

Hurt hit her. “Oh.” She released his hand. “I don’t want to embarrass you. Should I walk five feet behind you or something like a good slave?”

His dark eyes narrowed. “Garden is not Earth. I would not be embarrassed by you touching me but public displays of physical relationships are not done. The fact that we’re physical will be apparent to anyone who sees my brand on you. A male doesn’t mark a female as I have you unless he values her greatly. I’d be…” He paused. “Dead if I wasn’t aware of you sexually and didn’t fully appreciate you in every sense. It isn’t appropriate to hold hands or kiss in public places here. That just isn’t done with cyborgs so touching me wouldn’t be proper conduct.”

Some of her pain eased. “Oh. May I hold your hand while we’re still on the Star ? It’s not like we’re walking down the center of town.”

“It’s a city and some of the new crew has arrived already. You will see new faces as we board the Rally

. The Star is set to go on a mission in twelve hours. The crew returning to Garden has replacements who reported to the Star over an hour ago.”

She nodded. “So should I walk behind you? Beside you? In front of you? I don’t know what is expected of me.” She paused, trying not to sound flip. “What is proper slave etiquette?”

“You may walk at my side and always stay close to me. When we enter the government building you should walk behind me. Never speak unless you are spoken to but no one should speak to you.”

Her gut twisted just a little. “Why wouldn’t they talk to me?” She was afraid he’d say that she was comparable to a pet and that she wouldn’t even be worthy of someone talking to