Free Topaz Dreams by Marilyn Campbell Page B

extent of what she knew about it, but it had been enough for
Gordon to realize that the man who could introduce volterrin to his
world would have wealth and power beyond anything he had heretofore
imagined. All he needed was a way in and out of Innerworld.
As much
as Underwood enjoyed Delphina's company, he had also thought of her as
a lure, better than the ring that was obviously not one of a kind or
even worth its owner's time to retrieve. In her, he had something much
better. As the Innerworld had done before when he had held one of their
people captive, someone would come to rescue her. And when that
happened, he would force them to reveal the key to the ring's
operation. Unlike the first time he had captured an alien, he was now
prepared to keep him or her.
"Delphina?"
"Yes, Gordon?" She smiled and leaned forward in her chair, eager to answer his question.
"Do you like it here? With me?"
"Yes, Gordon, very much."
"You know that someone will come for you one day, to take you back to Innerworld, don't you?"
Delphina
considered his words for a moment. "I suppose that would be a
reasonable assumption, but no one has come yet, and it has been almost
three weeks. Perhaps they have no desire to find me, or are unable to
locate your home, and I do not know how to contact them."
He did not
believe they would abandon her so easily. If they did, his plans would
all be for nothing, and failure was not part of his destiny. Perhaps
the fact that she had not been wearing a ring made it more difficult
for her people to find her. They would still come... eventually. They
had to.
Gordon began again. "At any rate, I want you to know
something. Whatever happens, having you here with me has been the most
wonderful time of my life."
"I please you well then?"
Her words
surprised him. They insinuated that she had been making an effort to
please him and was not confident that she had. It seemed to come so
naturally to her that he had never questioned why she behaved as she
did. There could only be one reason that made sense to him now.
Delphina was as fascinated with him as he was with her. Love at first
sight. The little wheels in his brain spun a bit faster.
"Yes, Delphina, you please me very well. I don't care to think of how painful it will be when you leave."
"Painful?
But I would not wish to cause you pain, Gordon. It is not permitted. If
I am taken from here, you must find another to be your companion."
"I
have never needed anyone before and I would not attempt to replace you.
Any other woman would pale before my memories of you. No, there will be
no other, and it will be extremely painful for me, but I would not keep
you from your people."
"Then I will stay with you, Gordon, for as long as you need me." It was a statement of fact. She belonged to him now.
"Thank
you, Delphina," he replied sincerely. "I would like that very much."
What he actually had in mind was more along the lines of his returning
with her to her world.
He might have continued such a promising conversation if King had not appeared in the doorway at that moment.
"Yes?" Underwood said without shifting his adoring gaze from Delphina.
"Miss Preston is calling from San Francisco, sir."
"Thank
you, King. Delphina, please excuse me, my dear. Miss Preston would not
be calling unless it was very important. I must get back to work now
anyway. I shouldn't allow you to distract me so, but I can't seem to
help it. I will see you later this evening."
At the last moment he
gave in to a small temptation, a gesture to seal the beginning of a
more substantial relationship between them. Bending forward, he placed
a light kiss on her parted lips. He wondered fleetingly if there was
any way it could be different for him with her, or would he only
succeed in turning her look of love into a sneer of disgust? As he left
her, he decided there was too much at stake to take such a risk.
"Yes?" he said into the phone without any preliminaries.
"Something
very odd occurred yesterday, so I followed