Falling for Kindred Claus Read online

  “Oh…” Lisa’s eyes lit up. “So you want to see if you can swipe it for the Kindred?”

  “I’d prefer to buy it,” Asher corrected her. “If it’s obvious the Chorkays might be open to sharing or selling their technology, I am authorized to offer them a tidy sum in whatever currency they choose—that would be the preferred outcome.”

  “I see.” She nodded. “Try to buy it first but it that doesn’t work, get it by other methods, shall we say.”

  “Exactly,” Asher said dryly. “But only if all else fails. And I am not going to kill anyone while we’re here,” he added.

  “Got it.” Lisa nodded again. “So what should we be looking for? What does this new tech look like?”

  Asher shook his head. “That’s the complicated part—we don’t honestly know. We only know that the Chorkays are capable of communicating between ships that are millions of light years apart. We need to find out how they do it.”

  “Oh, a mystery!” Lisa’s eyes lit up again. “This mission just got a whole lot more interesting! And here I thought all I had to do was sit beside you at dinner and look pretty.”

  “You would certainly have no trouble doing that,” Asher said softly. “You are…stunning in those new garments you’re wearing.”

  Lisa looked at him from the corner of her eye, nibbling her lip nervously.

  “Look, Asher, I don’t like to be rude but please understand, I just got out of a really bad relationship. And, well… I’m just not ready for anything else right now.”

  “I understand,” he said at once, nodding. “And I’m sorry if my comment made you uncomfortable.”

  “It didn’t—not really,” Lisa denied. “And believe me, I find you really attractive. Like way out of my league attractive, to be honest. But I just…I can’t right now. Okay?”

  “Understood,” Asher said a bit stiffly. Well, it wasn’t like he could bond her to him anyway, he reminded himself. He shouldn’t feel unhappy that she wanted no part of a relationship—especially since they had only just met one another.

  “I mean, I know we’re supposed to be a couple here, so it’s not like I’m refusing to touch you or anything,” Lisa went on quickly. “I’ll hang on your arm and play the good little wife all day long. But once we’re in our room for the night, I hope you don’t think that I’m, you know, available for…whatever.”

  He didn’t know what “whatever” was but he could guess, Asher thought.

  “Please don’t think I invited you on this mission so I could take advantage of you,” he said a bit stiffly. “The very idea is repugnant to one of Kindred heritage—we protect females—we never hurt them.”

  “I understand that.” She nodded. “That’s one reason I agreed to come with you all the way out in space where no one can hear you scream.”

  Asher frowned at her.

  “Of course no one can hear you scream in space—space is a vacuum.”

  She shook her head. “Sorry—that’s from an old sci-fi movie about this alien who hatches out of an egg and sucks onto your face…Never mind.” She waved a hand in negation. “The point is, I trust you not to try anything, um, ungentlemanly, which is why I’m out here with you in the first place. I just…wanted to clear the air and let both of us know where we stand right from the start.”

  “Understood.” Asher nodded. “You are happy to pretend to be my bride in public but when we are in our private quarters, you don’t intend to have any kind of sexual relations with me.”

  Lisa’s cheeks got pink but she met his eyes and nodded.

  “Exactly. I, uh, hope that doesn’t make you sorry you brought me,” she added in a low tone. “Like you feel cheated that I won’t, you know, put out.”

  “Put out?” Asher shook his head. “I’m sorry, I’m not familiar with that particular Earth idiom.”

  “For a woman to ‘put out’ means she’s having sex with you in return for something you did for her,” Lisa explained. “Like taking her to dinner at an expensive restaurant, or helping her get a new job—like you did for me.”

  Asher was horrified.

  “Do Earth males really treat their females like that? Expecting sexual favors in return for any kind of consideration?”

  “Unfortunately, yes.” Her voice was flat. “And you’re telling me Kindred don’t expect that? Not at all?”

  “We believe that a woman’s body is her own,” Asher said, frowning fiercely. “To pressure her into giving sexual access to a male she doesn’t want is no better than rape.” He spat out the word, feeling sick at the very idea. As a member of the Espionage Corps, he had seen many despicable things on other planets and among other cultures who didn’t revere females like the Kindred did, but forcing sexual acts on a female was the most abhorrent in his opinion.

  “Wow…” Lisa gave a shaky laugh. “When people told me that Kindred were feminists, I didn’t really believe them. But if you practice what you preach, I’ll be very impressed.”

  “You have my word,” Asher said stonily. “I won’t lay a hand on you unless you ask me to.”

  “Thank you. And…” She hesitated, nibbling her lower lip again. “I shouldn’t want to ask this,” she said and sighed. “But…you’re not mad at me?”

  “For not ‘putting out’ as you call it? No, I am not mad,” Asher told her. “But for assuming that I would expect you to put out, yes—that offends me. However,” he added, seeing her distressed expression, “Considering the apparent behavior of human men in this regard, I guess I can’t blame you for assuming I would be the same.”

  “I can see you’re not like other guys I’ve met,” Lisa said soberly. “Thank you for letting us have a professional relationship without any, uh, awkwardness about it.”

  “Of course.” He nodded. “And now I need to hail the planet. The Chorkays have been expecting us for some time and are probably wondering where we are.”

  He turned to the view-com and started to punch in hailing instructions but his mind was still on Lisa. Clearly it didn’t matter if he really had received the first two Signs or not—she was getting over an abusive relationship and wasn’t ready to enter into another one.

  So he was just going to have to keep his hands off her, no matter how tempting the curvy little Earth female was.

  He thought with shame of how badly he’d wanted her when he’d felt The Strike and the erotic vision he’d had when he experienced The Sight. All of those feelings and desires were against his creed as a Kindred to only take willing women and to always treat females with respect.

  He would have to try harder to master his desire—especially knowing that Lisa had just gotten out of an abusive marriage. And maybe, in time, she would want to have more than just a professional relationship with him.

  He would just have to be patient.

  Fifteen

  Lisa was glad they’d cleared the air early on in their mission. It would have been so awkward to be put into the same bedroom that night and then have to try and explain her feelings then. Or worse—much worse—have to try and fight him off.

  But her gut told her she could trust the big Kindred or she wouldn’t have come with him in the first place—not even for the two thousand five hundred dollars an hour. If he promised not to lay a finger on her unless she asked him to, she believed he would keep that promise.

  Not that it wouldn’t be nice to have a roll in the hay with someone that gorgeous, she thought, glancing at him from the corner of her eye. And there was a time in her life—back in college—when she would have jumped at the chance. But her time with Cameron had broken something in her—or maybe just bent it so badly that it was going to take a long time to heal. And she just wasn’t up for sexy times right now—or so she told herself.

  She shifted uncomfortably in her seat again as Asher spoke into the viewscreen, asking admittance to Helios Beta. She couldn’t be sure, but she thought maybe the fabric of the blue wrap dress was irritating the many little scratches on the backs of her thighs she’