Читать книгу Pleasure Island - Lorie O'Clare - Страница 11

“M alachi, what are you doing here in the gardens? Everything okay?” Jonah looked up from his gardening with his watery gray eyes.

The old servant had a shade of eyes that I had tried matching more than once and simply couldn’t. I’d determined a long time ago that what I wasn’t able to duplicate was the look of wisdom and serenity that gave depth to his shade of gray.

“Just thought I’d get some fresh air,” I lied, visions of Natalie Green fucking Tomas and Nicolas still too damned fresh in my head. “Looks like it might rain.”

“It’s that time of year.” Jonah straightened slowly, glancing up at the sky while pulling a handkerchief from his back pocket and rubbing sweat from his forehead. “That’s why everything is in such full bloom. The gardens are beautiful right now, at their glory.”

“That they are, old man,” I agreed, and walked around the area he’d been grooming. I collapsed on a stone bench nearby and stretched out, breathing in the salt air and gazing out toward the ocean. “I forgot how incredible the view is up here.”

“Beautiful and dangerous.” Jonah turned to look toward the cliff that was nearby. Neither of us could see it from where we were, but the drop to the ocean was indeed a deadly one and we both knew it was there.

From my vantage point though, the vast ocean and the many different shades of blues stretched on forever. The illusions of paradise. Sometimes I forgot that was where I was. Maybe I needed more moments like this, to stop, breathe in the atmosphere, and actually enjoy it. The physical beauty of the island was beyond captivating. It was the humans on the island that destroyed paradise. And besides the guests, there were only three of us.

Natalie was human. I squeezed my eyes closed and pinched the bridge of my nose, but that didn’t cause the picture in my mind of her hot fucking body trapped between two men while her cries of pleasure filled my brain. Goddamn. I needed to dwell on how perfectly those two companions pleased her and not how fucking sexy she looked enjoying both of them.

“How are things back at the ranch?” I asked, doing my best to shove images of her out of my head and shifting so I could watch the older man continue with his gardening. God only knew why Jonah focused on this small patch of earth so far from the mansion. More than likely so he could get away from the Queen Bitch and all of the guests for a few.

Jonah stabbed the earth with his small shovel and overturned the dark soil. “It would be smart for you to go to the mansion more often.”

“Why is that?”

“Seems a man should look out for what is his,” he said.

I watched his gnarled hands pull weeds from around one of the flowers. His leathery skin was filled with deep wrinkles and his white hair raised off his shoulders when a breeze whipped in from the ocean. If it weren’t for Jonah, I probably would have gone insane on this island knowing Rose was the only other human here. I wondered sometimes if he didn’t go nuts from loneliness. Granted, he wasn’t probably too often alone, and overseeing the companions who worked in the mansion probably kept him busy, but a man does well with a partner in life. More than once he’d declined my offer to create a woman just for him. Although every time I offered, I was sincere, I somehow respected him more for saying no. Companions weren’t the same as knowing the touch of a real woman. And a man needed that.

Like I was one to talk.

“I might head up that way.” Maybe I’d run into Natalie. Although she’d be with Nicolas and Tomas, and probably head over heels infatuated with both of them by now. They were both modeled after me.

I blew out a breath and raked my fingers through my hair, realizing that I hadn’t brushed it yet today. I didn’t make a habit out of talking to the guests. Rose hated it when I did, and sometimes a man needed to pick and choose his battles. Staying out of her realm of the island made it easier to argue that she should stay out of mine.

Jonah looked up at me quickly and held my gaze for a long moment. I felt like I couldn’t look away until he did. Maybe he was dubbed the servant and me the master but there was something about Jonah, something that held my respect and, yes, even envy.

“Do that,” he said slowly, and then returned to his garden.

I was about to ask him what he meant. Jonah never came out and explained himself. You had to ask the right questions, and then still interpret the answers. There were days when I just wanted to shake him until he shared what he knew without making me pry it out of him. I actually gave it some thought when my cell phone rang.

“Malachi, it’s Darcy,” Rose said quickly, sounding winded. “She’s damaged. One of the guests got too rough with her.”

“Goddamn it!” I jumped to my feet.

Jonah stood faster than I’d seen him move in a while. “What’s wrong?” he demanded.

“Darcy,” I explained, and apparently, unlike me, my simple answers made perfect sense to him.

“My cart is over here,” he instructed, gesturing for me to follow as he hurried down the path. He whistled once and Pluto, his golden retriever, a gift I’d given him one Christmas after he’d refused a companion, leapt up from the stretch of sun he’d been basking in and hurried after Jonah.

He slipped behind the driver’s wheel of the golf cart, our chosen means of transportation on the island, and Pluto leapt on the narrow backseat/cargo area. The golf carts were aesthetically pleasing to the guests. Cars stole from the captive aura the island offered. And golf carts were easier to have flown out here than cars were.

I climbed in on the passenger side, encouraging him to go faster as we hurried to the mansion. Jonah pulled around back and we both ignored happy guests who laughed and carried on in the gardens surrounding the place.

Rose was already at the back door. Unfortunately, this wasn’t the first time this had happened, although lately my companions didn’t just break down. If something went wrong it was due to abuse by a guest.

“Thank God we aren’t compromised,” Rose said, offering me a relieved smile as she gestured for Sharay, her personal companion, who easily lifted the long box and carried it toward the trailer we used to hitch to the golf carts and haul supplies when necessary. “Of course, if you’d been at your station where you belong instead of God knows where, Sharay and I wouldn’t have had to resort to plan B.”

“Which is why plan B exists,” I growled, wanting to smack her for her indifference to shutting down Darcy. Sharay slid the box, which was shaped a bit too much like a coffin for my tastes, onto the trailer. I snapped it open and stared down at Darcy’s blank expression. She appeared to be sleeping, which for all arguments’ sake, she might as well be.

Every companion had a shut down switch that could be activated by a remote to make them go into sleep mode. Wherever they were, whatever they were doing, if the switch was triggered, manually or by the remote, they would slump over, appearing to the unknowing guest that they’d passed out or fallen asleep.

“It’s okay, sweetheart,” I whispered to Darcy, reaching into the box and stroking her cheek. “We’ll have you back to new in no time.”

“I guess I’ll send Maggie over to Mr. Holloway,” Rose said, sighing. “He and his wife just want a plaything anyway.”

I looked over at her, ready to pounce. In fact, it took so much control not to attack that for a moment I couldn’t say a word. She had the nerve to straighten and look at me defiantly. Jonah shifted, burying his fists deep into his pants pockets while scowling at the ground. Jonah understood that my companions weren’t created to be abused, but Rose didn’t. Rose thought the world was at her disposal, existing solely for her to prance through and do as she pleased.

“You talk to the Holloways, or I will,” I snapped. “The companions aren’t going to be abused, or your guests can just go home.”

“I’m not going to discuss this with you. You obviously have no business sense and you never have. Please Mr. Holloway and he’ll either come back or tell his friends to visit us, or both,” she said, turning toward the door and gesturing for Sharay to follow her. “I expect Maggie to be here within the hour.”

She headed inside and closed the service door with a bang.

“Want help taking Darcy home?” Jonah looked up at me with those watery gray eyes.

“That’s okay, old man.” I looked down at Darcy and then gently closed the lid on the box. “Help me attach the trailer to the cart and I’ll drive her home. I’ll head up that way now.”

“What about Maggie?” Jonah needed to know and I understood. As soon as I left, Rose would be questioning him.

“I’ll see if she’s available.” It wasn’t a good answer and I knew it. But damn it, my companions weren’t for people to abuse.

Jonah didn’t say anything but moved to the other side of the trailer and the two of us rolled it over to the golf cart. Jonah connected it to the hitch. One of the few things Rose and I agreed on, the golf carts were better for the large paths we’d had built on the island shortly after I moved here. They didn’t tear up the cobblestone paths. There really wasn’t anywhere for guests to go that they couldn’t walk, and having gasoline delivered to the island was getting damned expensive.

“Pluto,” Jonah said, and the dog wagged his tail as he ran to the old man. “I guess you’ll have to postpone that visit,” he said, reminding me I’d planned on scoping out the mansion for a bit, and possibly seeing Miss Green in person, even if I hadn’t decided on whether I’d say anything to her, or not. “Our new arrivals will be here for a couple of weeks. You’ll have time,” he added, turning before I could ask him why he would say what he just did.

Climbing behind the wheel of the cart, I watched as Jonah headed for his cabin, which was a cozy looking small home and his private sanctuary behind the mansion. I assured myself that I misunderstood Jonah’s meaning as I accelerated and turned the cart toward my home. I’d done nothing, and said nothing, that would have implied I had any interest in meeting, or even seeing, any of our new arrivals.

The companions acted pretty much as I expected. They were upset. I paid close attention to their reactions when situations were critical. It offered an incredible opportunity to note what stimuli they could handle and what needed work.

Charles, Phillip, and Adrian were quiet and quick to jump in and help lift Darcy out of the box and carry her into the laboratory.

“What happened?” Adrian asked, while the other two stood silently, watching.

“Apparently there was an accident.” I glanced up when Maggie appeared in the doorway. If I told them the truth, I’d be sending a crying companion up to the mansion. My stomach tightened with anger at the thought of making Maggie replace Darcy. “She’ll be fine.”

No one said anything, but they didn’t leave me alone either. Curiosity was one of the easiest programs to master. And I didn’t mind the company. They all jumped in eagerly when I asked for a certain tool, or for extra light.

When I took her shirt off and rolled her to her stomach, Maggie hurried over and pulled a hospital gown out of the closet then walked over to the table. “She’ll die if you turn her on and she’s half naked in front of all of us,” she informed me quietly.

I accepted the gown and covered her torn flesh with it. Anger ripped through me at the welts on her body. No woman, machine or human, should be abused like this. It pissed me off even further thinking about sending Maggie to the brutal assholes who’d done this to Darcy.

For the life of me I didn’t understand why anyone would turn down Maggie. I’d designed her after a girl I’d had a serious crush on in college, the first woman who dumped me. Now there was a line of women that was endless. But not something I planned on dwelling on at the moment.

“You’re a sweetheart, Maggie,” I told her, smiling.

She immediately grinned back at me. “I just know I’d die if I woke up with a bunch of guys staring down at me naked.”

“Really?” I asked, half teasing, and waited for her response. I needed to take the back panel off of Darcy, but that wasn’t something I would do in front of the other companions. No one liked watching one of their own kind being opened up and repaired.

“Well,” she said slowly, matching my teasing expression, “maybe it would depend on the circumstances.”

“Kind of what I thought,” I grumbled, but then grinned at her. “Okay, all of you, Darcy and I need some privacy,” I announced and then watched as they slowly left my laboratory. “Oh, Maggie.”

“Yes?” She turned around, her pretty blue eyes so bright.

I hated telling her this but kept my emotions intact. My companions didn’t always read emotions accurately, but they mimicked them beautifully. I didn’t want her learning resentment.

“Head over to the mansion and take Darcy’s place for now, please,” I said calmly.

My insides twisted further when her face lit up. “Really? Did Rose ask for me?”

What I wouldn’t do to strangle the life out of Rose. “Yes, dear. Actually she did.” I couldn’t look away from Maggie’s delighted expression. “And Maggie?”

“Yes.”

“If Mr. Holloway tries to hurt you, kick his ass.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

Maggie nearly skipped out of the room, calling after the other companions to announce her exciting news as the laboratory door closed behind her. I closed my eyes, vowing silently to turn Rose off if Maggie came back to me in the same condition that Darcy was in right now.

Although, there was only one way to turn Rose off. I wasn’t a murderer, but imagining it sometimes sure seemed easier to do the longer I worked with her.

I placed my hand on the middle of Darcy’s slender back, focusing on how warm her skin still was, and the smoothness of it. My companions were perfect, better than human in almost every way. I stroked her blonde hair, and a rush of pride filled me. It also hit me how long it had been since I’d been with a woman. The five-finger lover sure as hell wasn’t what it was cracked up to be, especially when too much time had passed since the real thing. There wasn’t anything morally or ethically wrong with fucking one of my companions. But anytime I tried letting my mind drift there, something stopped me.

“She’s your creation, part of you,” I explained to myself, knowing that was the reason why I couldn’t have sex with Darcy, or Maggie, or any of my females. They were my children.

Clearing my throat, I walked away from Darcy and over to my computer on the other side of the room. “A few notes,” I began, pushing the record button that automatically started typing everything I said. “Note that when Maggie experienced embarrassment over being teased about waking up with several men staring down at her, she managed the appropriate expression, but that was it. Memo to self to work on brain receivers acknowledging embarrassing moments and creating color alterations under the flesh so that companions will blush.”

There was something sultry about a woman blushing. I should experiment with that some, possibly find one of the guests and toy with them a bit. Once again, the young lawyer from Chicago, Natalie Green, popped into my head. I turned back to Darcy and stroked her blonde hair away from her face, but saw Miss Green with her brown hair that she’d pulled back in a hair tie at her nape while fucking Nicolas and Tomas. I wondered what it would look like down.

My cell phone rang and I reached for it, more than willing to send it to voice mail if it were Rose. “Smart bitch,” I muttered, recognizing Jonah’s number. Rose knew I wouldn’t refuse Jonah’s calls. “What can I do for you, old man?”

“Are you through with Darcy yet?” Jonah asked, his scratchy voice one I’d love to be able to copy someday. “Lord is stuttering. I’d say it’s rather entertaining, but Rose disagrees.”

“He’s stuttering?” I didn’t know a dog could stutter.

“Don’t know how else to explain it. It’s like he’s barking with the hiccups.”

I shook my head, and turned to Darcy. “I’ll be right up, old man.” Hanging up, I caressed Darcy’s bare shoulder. She’d been abused pretty badly and I wouldn’t rush to fix her. “Enjoy a nice nap, my dear. I’ll be back and get you up and running in no time.”

The ocean brought in a moist breeze that almost had my hair damp as I rounded the side of the mansion in the golf cart and parked alongside Jonah’s cabin. Bright yellow hibiscus almost blinded me with the sun shining on them as I parked and climbed out.

Our guilty culprit came leaping toward me with a tongue and tooth greeting. “How you doing, Lord?” I asked, squatting down and allowing the dog to greet me with a tongue bath.

Lord, who was something close to a collie-spaniel mix I’d made for Jonah when he decided Pluto needed a companion, barked eagerly, and showed me what it sounds like when a dog stutters. I laughed out loud, the malfunctioning voice box so entertaining it was tempting to leave him like this. Pluto bounded out of the cabin, running around me and Lord with his tongue hanging out of the side of his mouth.

“You like how he sounds too, don’t you, Pluto?” I asked, reaching to scratch behind Pluto’s ear.

“I got a chuckle out of it, too,” Jonah said from behind me. “Needless to say, you and I are the only ones who find Lord’s unique condition entertaining.”

“Come here, boy.” I patted the golf cart seat and Lord eagerly jumped into the cart, his thick long tail wagging a mile a minute.

Lord looked from me to Jonah, as if to make sure we both knew that he was ready for the ride, and excited to embark on any adventure. Lord and Pluto were one of my prize pieces of work. In fact, if I were still active in the robotics community, what I wouldn’t do to show them off. I’d be shocked if I didn’t win recognition for one of the groundbreakers on android science. Both dogs’ coats felt just like real dogs. They were guaranteed to be nonallergenic though, and I’d proven the fact quickly since I was one of those unfortunate souls who grew up deathly allergic and deprived of enjoying man’s best friend for most of my life. Even without my human companions, these better-than-perfect dogs would be a gold mine on the market. But part of moving here and working here was agreeing to keep all of my work a secret. Paradise Island wouldn’t be the same if the guests knew they were having sex with machines.

My smile faded when Jonah scowled. “How long are you taking him for?” he asked.

I glanced at Lord who sat in the passenger seat, panting and looking like he was grinning from ear to ear.

“Oh.” I should have guessed Jonah wouldn’t go for parting with his roommate. Ever since I gave Lord and Pluto to Jonah, the three of them were nearly inseparable, even when Rose insisted Jonah not take his dogs with him when he worked in the gardens. Pluto was better at lying still and unnoticed, but Lord tended to be a bit friendlier when he saw a new face to greet. “Well.” I scratched my head and realized my hair was still a mess of tangles. “Let me see if there is a supply kit inside. Maybe I can get him fixed up right here.”

Jonah let out a low sharp whistle and Lord bounded out of the golf cart and to his master’s side. The old man patted his head and grinned at me as his phone rang. “Check the lockers in the supply closet,” he told me and pulled his phone from his belt.

Leaving the three of them, I headed into the mansion from the back service entrance. A handful of cooks worked in the kitchen, and the sweet and sour smells of a tangy sauce filled the air and my stomach grumbled eagerly. Maybe before I left I could raid the kitchen even though Maggie might take offense if I declined her food after snacking here at the mansion. However, it would be good to know that the companions I created, and then drilled in special classes to fine-tune their culinary skills, were doing their job right.

I paused when I entered the grand foyer behind the wide, winding staircase. I was always taken aback when I entered this lavish mansion. Rose spared no expense in having the place built. Although I knew half of everything on the island belonged to me, I still felt I was intruding in someone else’s home when I stepped foot inside this place. I was out of my element and didn’t want to change to make this my element. The place reeked of wealth and pretentious behavior. Granted, it was a place for fantasies, but not my kind of fantasies.

For some reason, I stopped and backed up against the wall when three people walked down the stairs. It was Natalie and she had Tomas and Nicolas with her. Her hair was down, and damp, and the sundress she wore clung to her voluptous figure. She wasn’t smiling, but not scowling either. Instead, she appeared lost in thought as she focused on the steps in front of her. Tomas and Nicolas talked quietly to each other. Damn. She was sexy as fucking hell; much prettier in person than on a monitor screen. Her hair curled at the end and parted over her practically bare shoulders. She wasn’t tan, but not pale as a ghost either. Nor was she one of those starved, toothpick looking kind of women. Although far from fat, her slender figure appeared to be perfect. Shapely hips and small, perky breasts helped create curves that her dress hugged, creating an enticing picture. I continued gawking when she reached the bottom of the stairs, which would be damned hard to explain if she caught me doing it. And I had plenty of work to do. I didn’t have time to stand in the shadows and hope to watch how her ass swayed in that dress when she walked away from me.

She wasn’t runway-model material but I never did like women who were nothing more than skin and bone. I’d designed some of my companions like that, intentionally making them almost gaunt since some men liked that. Skinny with big boobs—like any woman came that way without surgery. That didn’t describe the woman I watched across the hallway. She had curves, and damn nice ones at that. And her breasts weren’t so large that they’d sag by the time she was forty. She was perfect, my definition of exactly how a lady should be.

Miss Green and my guys reached the bottom of the stairs and turned to enter the dining room. I blew out a breath of exasperation and stalked toward the lockers. It probably wouldn’t do me any harm to find a real woman sometime in the near future. Maybe take a day and fly over to Hawaii. I needed to get laid.