That was enough talking to a hologram for me. I leaned over and slapped the box, turning it off. I reclined on the swing and steepled my fingers, smiling to myself. She was the woman. The woman I was going to spend the rest of my life with - or at the very least, the next year. They had matched me with the perfect woman.

I couldn't wait to meet her.

On the day Montana was supposed to arrive at the space station, I arrived an hour early. I thought I might have looked too eager, but I couldn't wait to meet her. We were going to be perfect for each other. Thank goodness her flight had arrived on time. It was going to be down to the wire, but as long as we got married today, it would be okay. Everything would work out with Uncle Mastoh's will.

I tapped my foot, thinking about Montana Willoughby, soon to be Montana Dofalar if she took my name. I pictured us going out dancing. Maybe she would show me some holograms of horseback riding, whatever that was.

And I definitely had some sexual fantasies featuring the leggy blonde. I couldn't wait to meet my fiance and make her my wife. Everything was going to be different.

I wouldn't have an empty feeling inside anymore. I would have someone with whom I could spend time. Not only would she be around for me, but I could also keep my way of life and everything that had become important over the past three years.

I strolled back and forth in the spaceport, ignoring the other travelers. Finally, they announced her flight. I waited patiently as each person came off the ship, went through the scanners, and emerged from security.

I scanned each face to see if it was her. The last stragglers appeared, but none of them was Montana.

"Excuse me, aren't there any more passengers on board?"

The attendant frowned. "I'm not sure. Who are you looking for?"

"A human named Montana Willoughby. She's tall, with blonde hair and blue eyes."

The woman checked her console. "None of the ticket holders have that name," she said. "Is it possible she goes by something else?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. I've never met her." It felt weird to have to say that I was meeting someone I had never met, though I suppose spaceport employees heard these kinds of stories all the time. The attendant couldn't care less.

"I'll check for you." She disappeared through the gate. Five minutes later, I saw her again.

"There's only one woman left. She's taking a while to get packed up. Come and see if she's the one you're looking for."

I followed the attendant onto the shuttle. Something didn't feel right. If there was one thing I had learned in the military, it was that following my gut was the best policy. I touched a blaster which I always carried in my pocket. It was small but got the job done.

When I walked onto the shuttle, my eyebrows drew together as I caught sight of the only woman remaining on the ship. She wasn't Montana. I could tell right away.

She was small, with a sturdy frame that looked like she would be good at physical tasks, like climbing or carrying cargo. Her figure was shapely, with full round breasts and hips that encouraged men to rest their hands on her side when they danced...if you liked that sort of a woman. She appeared to be busy packing up her bag. Why had she taken everything out of it? My uneasy feeling intensified.

Then she turned around, and I saw her eyes.

The moment our eyes met, I thought something drew all the air from my lungs. I couldn't get a breath. And my stomach felt peculiar. I found myself staring into her mesmerizing brown eyes.

I felt like the whole universe had just tilted and nothing was ever going to be the same again.

"Sir?" the attendant said, and I knew from the way she said it, she had already spoken to me before. "Is she the one?"

I waited only a moment more before speaking the words I knew would change my life.

"Yes, she's the one."

The woman looked troubled but didn't say anything. She played along, following me off the shuttle without saying a word.

I didn't know who she was. I didn't know why she was here instead of Montana. All I knew was that she was the one.

Whatever that meant.

"Wait, wait, wait." We stood on the outskirts of the arrival area. I was explaining my behavior for the fourth time. The first couple times didn't seem to be effective. "Are you telling me you want to marry me?"

"Yes," I said. "I mean, no. The woman whose ticket you came her on...she was supposed to marry me." I felt myself beginning to blush. Again. "She was my mail-order bride."

"Are you kidding me?" Emmy said, looking incredulous. "Nobody does that anymore."

"I'm completely serious. If you're willing, I don't care that you're not Montana. I'll marry you. I need to marry someone today."

She wasn't going to fall into my arms after that enticing proposition.

"I don't even know your name." She looked amazed that I would dare to suggest such a thing.

"It's Ven. If you don't want to, I don't blame you, but why were you on the shuttle in the first place? I needed to marry her today."

She couldn't stop looking at something or someone over my shoulder. Emmy started repositioning herself. She tried to play it cool, but I could tell she was putting me between her body and whoever she wanted to avoid.

"Never mind." Emmy smiled brightly, but an element of authenticity was missing. Something about it seemed fake. "I'll..."

She swallowed hard.

"I'll marry you. We better go now if you're in such a hurry. Come on."

She grabbed my arm, making sure to conceal herself behind my body. Soon we were quickly marching toward the exit.

A couple of men who looked like thugs brushed past us. I felt Emmy's hand on my arm get tense as we passed them. I got a good look at them and made a mental note of their appearance. I wasn't going to find out everything at the spaceport, but it might be useful to remember their appearance.

As we walked, I tried to organize my thoughts and accept reality. I wasn't going to get married to Montana, my self-selected perfect match. But Emmy had stepped up. I needed to get married, and that was the only thing that mattered. Everything else would sort itself out later.

A justice of the peace waited at the courthouse for us. We could do the deed within the next hour. After we had our certificates, we'd head straight to the lawyers and then home.

She could tell me her story, and I could tell her mine. We could spend the rest of the year together, and maybe even the rest of our lives.

A realization struck fear into my heart. I didn't know anything about Emmy.

Then I thought about what I would lose if I didn't marry her. The idea was appalling. I wouldn't go back to living the way I had as a child - poor and desperate. I had made a promise to myself to live a different lifestyle.

All I need to do was go the courthouse with a stranger and swear to love, honor, and protect her for the rest of my life.

CHAPTER FOUR.

EMMY.

I sat in the den of Ven's enormous mansion and tried to convince myself I was safe, at least temporarily. I didn't want to think about the fact that I had just married a complete stranger. An alien. My hands started to shake.

I hadn't planned on getting married, ever. My mother raised me by herself. As soon as I got my scholarship for archeology at the university, I left for school and never looked back.

Even though I went to my house for Christmas every year, it never seemed like home ever again. Once Morley took me on as an assistant, we traveled all over the galaxy.

Some people called us treasure hunters, but I considered the term derogatory. Like calling a freedom fighter a terrorist. Morley was the real deal among archeologists. He and I had found the Golden Chalice of Rilagoon's fourth King on Dorset.

After our adventure, I went back to school to complete my master's degree and Ph.D., taking only three years to complete them both. I was the youngest person in two hundred years to achieve a Ph.D. in my field.

I thought of myself as one of the best in school, and the university was no different. I like thinking and figuring things out. That's one of the reasons I became an archeologist in the first place. The other reasons were getting out of my dead-end city and making something better of myself.

Mom was a terrific person, but she never wanted to be anything more than a receptionist. I didn't have a problem with that, but I wanted more for myself. Marriage had never entered into the equation. I didn't need or want a man. My mom had managed without one and I would too.

I had a little fling with Christopher during my second year of grad school. It only lasted four days and the first two days were the best part of the whole thing. We never had sex, which was the crux of the problem in our relationship. I didn't regret my decision. He was a loser, anyway.

I could take care of my desires by myself, thank you very much. I certainly didn't want some oaf sticking his big cock up inside me, thrusting a couple of times, and then collapsing for the night. That wasn't my idea of a good time. I didn't understand what the big deal was. Why was everyone always making such a fuss about sex? It seemed like a waste of time.

A great view of the planet Stalwart was right out the window. Mountains covered most of the surface. I had read about my destination in a little brochure on the spaceflight. The planet was known for a formidable military and economic prosperity.

I wasn't sure if I would return to this world after finding the silver ladle, but if I ever came back, I hoped to do some rock climbing. I loved the exercise and was accustomed to getting away almost every other weekend at home.

Ven chose that moment to walk back in the room. When I twisted my head to look at him, a shiver went through my body. He was definitely hot and incredibly sexy, but I had made up my mind about fucking. I wasn't going to change it.

The thought of sex and Ven reminded me that we were married. Was I supposed to fuck him? I recoiled at the idea of sleeping with a stranger and wondered if he would try to force himself on me.

The operative word being try. I had been training in martial arts since I was young. I had practiced karate and some tai kwon do. I had also spent time fooling around with judo for fun. I was small, but I knew how to take care of myself.

I eyed him warily as one of his servants put an interesting-looking pink drink in front of me. If he tried to force me to fuck him, I would take him out.

He smiled at me. I would be polite as long as he kept his hands out of my pants.

"So." He sat down in the chair across from me. His house was enormous and looked like an interior designer had gone to town. Ven seemed to have plenty of credits to burn. I had expected he was wealthy when I noticed his clothing at the spaceport, but this was another level of opulence.

"So," I repeated, wondering if I should drink the pink concoction in front of me.

"I think we should both tell our stories from the beginning. We need to understand each other a lot better than we do now."

"Okay," I agreed. "As long as you go first."

He looked put out. I guessed he didn't want me giving orders. I didn't retract my statement, however. I simply waited for him to start talking. If he didn't like who I was, he could divorce me. I didn't need to be married to him. Ven needed me as a wife.

"I hadn't planned on getting married. It turned out that there was an obscure clause in my uncle's will. He left me a lot of credits, and his legacy paid for this house and everything else."

There was more? I wondered what everything else meant.

"I've made some investments with the money. I bought this house and some toys. There are a lot of bills. If I lost that money, I would have to do the unthinkable." He paused and seemed unsure of what to say next.

"What's unthinkable? Do you mean live like an average person, or get a job? Declare bankruptcy?"

"Maybe all of the above. I haven't always lived like this, but I've become accustomed to the lifestyle. My friend suggested a mail-order bride company, which seemed like the perfect way to have everything I wanted. Things would stay the same."

It seemed ridiculous to me that someone could be so attached to being rich.

"And I would find someone to keep me company."

"Most people can do that without hired help," I murmured.

He looked mildly annoyed with me. "Then everything would be okay. My life wouldn't have to change."

"Do you know what that sounds like to me?" I asked. "Boring."

He gazed at me. I didn't know if he was confused or irritated. He didn't go on with his tale of woe immediately, but continued to stare at me like I was the newest exhibit at the zoo and he had never seen anything like me before.

"How could you know I was bored? When I talk about my life, most people think it's amazing. You just met me. How could you know it's tedious?"

I shrugged and picked up a glass filled with pink liquid. "What is this?"

"Gorjill juice."

"Is it poisonous?" Ven glanced at me sharply, then decided I was joking and laughed nervously.

"I'm not trying to kill you. It's delicious. I wouldn't poison you." He looked at me earnestly.

"No, of course not. If you wanted to kill me, you would do it with the gun in your pocket." I took a tentative sip of the drink. The sweet liquid rolled across my tongue, and I closed my eyes in bliss. "It tastes wonderful." I took a larger swallow, closing my eyes to savor the taste. When I opened my eyes, he was looking at me again.

"I have two questions for you," he said, holding up his index finger. "One. How did you know it would be boring? You still haven't answered me."

"I don't know," I said. "Sitting around all day in a big house that has no personality, without any meaningful work and no one to spend time with? It sounds boring to me."

He didn't say anything as he digested my comment.

"What's the other question?" I looked at the glass and felt sad the incredible drink was almost gone.

"How did you know I had a gun in my pocket?"

"Cultural anthropology. I did a comparative study for one of my classes. It was on weapons of the present and past. It's a hobby of mine."

He stared at me suspiciously.

"There's a giant gun-shaped bulge in your pants. It's impossible to miss."

"Weapons are a hobby of yours?" He seemed mystified. I wondered what sort of woman he had expected. I couldn't help grinning mischievously when I thought of the boring, perfect-looking tall, thin, blonde woman I traded places with. I might not be a classical beauty, but I could guarantee I wouldn't be boring.

I nodded. "The shape was obvious when we hailing the car at the spaceport. What kind of guy is carrying when he goes to pick up his fiance?" I asked, mostly to myself.

"I have another question for you."