An Excerpt From: OASIS OF PLEASURE

Copyright © TESSIE BRADFORD, 2009

All Rights Reserved, Ellora's Cave Publishing, Inc.

Chapter One

“I seriously need my head examined,” Elizabeth Malloy muttered, struggling white-knuckled to keep her compact car on the winding dirt road. She imagined that on any night the unlit backwoods trip would be challenging, but with the rain beating on her windshield with near blinding intensity, it had turned into a battle just to stay out of a ditch.

Being an educated, intelligent woman, Elizabeth had stopped at a diner in the last little town she passed through in order to stretch her legs, grab a cup of coffee and check her map. Also being a confident, slightly headstrong and impatient woman, she had not listened to either her own intellect or the advice from the chipper waitress to wait out the storm.

“Are you lost, honey?” the waitress had asked as she set down the steaming cup and eyed the map on the counter. “We don’t get many strangers this time of night.”

“I don’t think so. I’m hoping that I’m on my way to Perch Lake.” Elizabeth scanned the written notes the leasing agent had made on the map to help her find her way to the secluded cottage.

“Honey, you’ve got at least another hour to go in this weather. If I were you I’d go down the street to the inn and call it a night. There’s not another town between here and that lake, and this storm doesn’t seem like it’s letting up none.” A deafening boom of thunder conveniently underscored her point.

“Thanks, Agnes,” Elizabeth smiled as she read the name tag that hung crookedly on her uniform. “But I’ve been on the road for nearly eight hours and I just really, really want to finish my trip tonight.”

“That lake ain’t going nowhere, honey. There’s no reason to risk getting stuck alone in the middle of the woods on a night like this, is there?” She looked so sincere and worried that Elizabeth actually considered the sense of what she was saying for about thirty seconds.

“I’ll be fine, Agnes, but thanks for the advice. I really appreciate it.” Elizabeth had finished her coffee, set her money on the counter and pulled up the hood of her coat before leaving the diner.

That exchange had been forty minutes ago and Elizabeth hadn’t seen another car since. Her shoulders ached from clutching the steering wheel and the small cup of coffee had not provided the caffeine jolt she hoped for. Just as she was calling herself every kind of fool for continuing on, she saw a sign indicating she had made it to the final turn off to the cottage.

“Merciful heavens,” Elizabeth sighed as she eased her car onto the two-rut drive. The rain was beating down with such intensity her headlights barely illuminated her way. She knew by the directions she had about half a mile to go and she had to fight the urge to speed up. The last thing she needed was to get stuck in the mud this close to her destination. Finally, three weeks of blissfully quiet, peaceful vacation were waiting for her up ahead.

Out of nowhere and without warning, a blinding white light exploded directly in front of her windshield, causing her to slam on the brakes and violently jerk the steering wheel. The last thing she was aware of was her own ear-piercing scream.

* * * * *

Elizabeth fought her way slowly back to consciousness. The first thing to penetrate her hazy mind was the fact she was alive. Next she carefully moved her limbs, delighted to discover they all responded in a normal fashion without causing pain. This is getting better by the second, she thought as she opened her eyes and tried to focus on her surroundings.

She was no longer in her car but instead was on some kind of bed covered with a cool, silky sheet. Soft artificial light seemed to be coming from everywhere around her and she concluded she was inside someplace, but where? A hospital maybe? She tried to sit up to get a better look, but her head knocked against something hard. Panic welled instantly and she flailed her arms out to her sides, only to be met with the same invisible barrier. Elizabeth couldn’t draw breath into her lungs as her claustrophobia kicked into high gear. She pounded and kicked and squirmed in the small area, knowing fear and the lack of oxygen were about to cause her to lose consciousness again.

“By the gods,” a booming male voice filled the room seconds before Elizabeth felt cool air rush over her body. Whatever had been surrounding her mysteriously disappeared, but she couldn’t seem to stop thrashing around. One minute she was on a hard surface, the next, she was tumbling off the edge. Instead of a sudden, hard crash on a floor, she cried out in fear and confusion when something caught and held her in an iron grip.

“What is wrong with her, Gareth? Did you not heal all her wounds?”

“She is whole again but exhibits a great fear of closed spaces, Hagan. She will experience heart damage soon if she does not calm down.”

Elizabeth fought desperately to catch her breath and focus her mind. Her fingers curled around fabric and she held on for dear life. When she realized she was in an upright position and her legs were swinging freely, some of the panic began to recede. She rested her head against whatever it was that supported her.

“You are well and safe, little one. Open your eyes and see that you are free of the healing chamber.”

Elizabeth relaxed a fraction more as she settled into the strong arms holding her and listened to the sound of the steady heartbeat against her cheek. Legs adjusted themselves under her bottom and she moved her hip to snuggle closer.

Little one, she laughed silently at the term, is he crazy? He? He who? Elizabeth jolted into the here and now. Her eyes snapped open and she pushed back from his chest to stare open-mouthed at the man who held her.

“Who the hell are you?” she shrieked hoarsely. Her throat was as dry as the desert and she swallowed convulsively while trying to assess the face that looked back at her. It was definitely all male with a broad forehead, strong cheekbones, square chin and piercing lavender eyes. Piercing lavender eyes? And his skin, it couldn’t actually be the pale blue hue that she was seeing? It had to be a trick of the lights in the room.

“I am Commander Hagan Ruuchar of the Argon explorer ship Oasis,” he said with obvious pride and not just a bit of authority. “I am pleased to see you awake and healed, Elizabeth Malloy.”

“Who, of what?” she stammered. “How do you know my name?” Her head was spinning with the effort she was exerting to figure out what was going on.

“It is bad enough that your face is the first that she gazes upon after waking. Do you have to go all military and ‘I know everything about you’ on the poor thing too?”

Elizabeth quickly turned toward the friendly, laughing voice, but she couldn’t stop the gasp that escaped her lips. He was at least six foot six inches tall with aqua blue shoulder-length hair silhouetting his salmon-colored skin. Granted his smile seemed genuine and his body language was relaxed but, damn, she must have hit her head hard. It barely registered when Hagan lifted her from his lap and set her down on the bed.

“She seems more shocked by your visage than my own, Gareth.”

When Hagan stood to tower over her, Elizabeth let out a slow whistle. “Okay, I get the ‘little one’ comment now!” She craned her neck up to watch the two giants. At five foot nine inches tall and being possessed of a few more pounds than she cared to think about, that term of endearment had never been tossed in her direction. “I’m sure I’m going to wake up out of this hallucination any time now, but until I do, why don’t you tell me where I am and exactly what’s happened.”

“I can assure you that you are quite conscious. Take a moment and truly see your surroundings.” Hagan crossed his arms behind his back and widened his stance, affecting a very intimidating military pose.

The first thing she noticed was how his muscles strained against the shiny material of his uniform, but since she was pretty sure that wasn’t what he meant for her to look at, she glanced around the room. The walls and ceiling were metallic. There were some chairs and other beds, a clear-top desk with a panel of flashing, blinking lights and a great deal of other equipment that was totally foreign to her. When she looked back at Hagan, he nodded his head slightly and Gareth walked over and touched one of the flashing light things. A large panel on the wall directly in front of her slid open.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me, right?” She jumped off the bed but had to grab on to the end of it to steady her shaking legs. “You want me to believe that we’re in space?” Elizabeth watched what appeared to be stars whipping past the window at blinding speed.

“There is no reason for you not to believe what you can now see with your own eyes. You are on my ship Oasis. We are currently mapping a newly discovered star system in the fourth quadrant of this galaxy.”

“So you zoomed down out of space to pick me up in your spaceship?” Elizabeth enjoyed a good sci-fi movie as much as the next person, but it wasn’t normal for her to dream about the subject. “Why would aliens want anything to do with boring old me?”

“We should not have been in your time, let alone near your planet,” Hagan responded while casting a quick glance to Gareth. “There was an electrical storm that affected our stabilization systems, plunging us through a ripple in space. By the time we corrected the problem we narrowly avoided crashing the ship. We were close enough to your Earth and where you were at that exact moment that our power emissions regrettably exploded your vehicle. Obviously we were able to transport you to our ship, but you had sustained near-mortal injury. You have been healing for nine of your Earth days.”

Elizabeth stared, open-mouthed, at the colorful, physically impressive figment of her imagination. Stabilization systems and ripples in space—oh this was priceless.

“Okay, I’ll play along for a while longer.” Elizabeth had the oddest sensation that at any moment she was going to burst into the giggles. “So you’re from a different time, like a bazillion years in the future or something?”

“Nine hundred eighty-two years to be exact. I do not understand a bazillion.”

“Well, you do look like you’re kind of human, but how exactly do you speak English?” Elizabeth smiled, certain she was about to expose his crazy story for just what it was…crazy!

“I will answer this question,” the other man spoke up quickly. “I am Gareth Ornne, healer and second-in-command.” He bowed gracefully. When he rose back up, his features were softened by a warm smile. “Once I determined that you would survive, which really was not in question due to my skill level,” he cocked an aqua eyebrow at his commander before continuing, “I inserted a universal translator into you so you could communicate upon waking.” He looked exceedingly pleased with himself.

“You inserted something into me?” Anger and fear rose so quickly that her head swam. She didn’t notice Gareth looking intently at the little device he still held in his hand. “Where…where did you insert something?” For the first time since waking she looked down at her body. She wore a white sleeveless gown that brushed her ankles and hugged her ample breasts. Frantically touching herself, she realized she didn’t have any underwear on.

“Y-you had no right!” she stammered. “What did you do to me while I couldn’t protect myself?” It was definitely time for her to wake up.

“She fears something has been done to her sexually.” Gareth’s confusion was evident in his tone.

“Why in the stars would she think that?” Both men eyed her up and down. “She is most certainly very desirable, but why would we join with a woman when she could not participate?”

“I have absolutely no idea. I also cannot discern why she would think a translating device would be placed into any orifice that has nothing to do with processing language.”

“Nor can I, Gareth, but I discovered during my investigation of ancient Earth that a human’s cultural and religious affiliations, their age, education and intellectual levels govern their personal lives. They are a sexually repressed race held back by silly taboos and jealous relationships.”

“What a horrible way to live one’s life! If Elizabeth harbors these archaic notions she must be miserably unhappy.”

“Elizabeth is still in the room!” she cried out in frustration. “Please just tell me what you did to me!” She watched Hagan’s expression turn dark at her accusation, but it was Gareth who responded.

“A universal translator is implanted in your brain. It is the same device we all receive at birth. Every major organ system in your body was injured in the accident and has been meticulously repaired. You spent nine days in a healing chamber that provides elements to accelerate your body’s ability to mend. The commander and I have been with you throughout the process and at no time has either of us performed any act on your person that would be an insult to our training or our principles.”

Elizabeth blushed at the heartfelt words. At least for the immediate future she appeared to be at these men’s mercy and she was highly embarrassed to have obviously insulted them. Being that they hadn’t shown any aggression toward her, she decided the best course of action should be not to completely piss them off.

“I apologize, Commander, Healer,” she began cautiously. “I truly meant no disrespect. I appreciate everything you’ve done for me and I promise not to breathe a word of it to anyone when I get back home.”

“We cannot take you back to your planet, Elizabeth. I bear full responsibility for the events that have caused this unusual situation and sincerely apologize, but your life will continue here in our time with us.”

That did it! That was the straw that broke the camel’s back. This wasn’t funny anymore. She was so done with this ridiculous dream or hallucination or whatever it was. The tears flowed freely down her cheeks and she trembled from head to toe with fear and frustration. Her vision became cloudy around the edges, signaling the fact she was about to go down. Elizabeth silently welcomed the oncoming oblivion.

“You will not pass out!” Hagan’s command echoed loudly off the walls.

“Did you just order me not to faint?”

“I most certainly did, woman, and no one disobeys my orders on my ship.”