Falling for Kindred Claus: A Kindred Tales Novel (Brides of the Kindred) Read online

“I want to thank you again for getting me this gig…er, job,” she said seriously. “I really needed the money but more than that, I’ve always wanted to travel. My husband promised me…” She trailed off abruptly but Asher felt like she’d stuck an ice cold blade in his guts.

  “Your…husband?” he managed to make himself say. “I thought you were alone, with no family or friends.”

  “I am, for all intents and purposes.” She sighed. “My husband is only still my husband because I haven’t been able to serve him with divorce papers yet. He’s…not a good guy. Wow, look at that—I think Heliux Prime has four moons!” She looked away, clearly wanting to change the subject but Asher couldn’t let it drop—not yet.

  “Not a good guy,” he repeated, frowning. “Not good in what way?”

  “Not good in the way that he liked to drink too much and let’s just say he was a mean drunk,” she said, clearly unhappy to be talking about it.

  “So…he hit you? Abused you?” Asher asked. He no longer feared her belonging to another male—it was clear her husband had lost any claim he had on her when he first raised a hand against her. But the idea of someone hurting her…the very thought made his blood boil.

  “All of the above,” she said tightly. “And then some. Look, could we please not talk about this anymore? I’d rather hear more about the mission. We can’t just be here to attend the coronation, can we? I mean, isn’t there some other covert reason you had to come?”

  Asher looked at her in surprise.

  “That is…very astute of you,” he said. “How did you know I had a second reason for being here?”

  She shrugged. “You said you were in the ‘Elite Espionage Corps’ which equals spy stuff, I’m pretty sure. Also, you were really anxious to be able to come here and blend in—that’s why you recruited me instead of just pretending your wife had just died. You didn’t want to be the only one without a mate and stick out. If you blend in, it’s much easier to get your real mission done—whatever it is—right?”

  “Well…yes,” Asher acknowledged. He frowned. “Not everyone would have put everything together like that.” In fact, most people wouldn’t, he thought. Most people only saw what was right in front of their faces and didn’t care to see any more. So now, along with her devastating beauty and bewitching scent, he had to add sharp intelligence to her list of qualities.

  Lisa shrugged. “Well, I also watch a lot of thrillers and spy movies. James Bond…Jason Bourne—that kind of stuff. Of course, the early Bonds, especially, are horribly misogynistic. I mean, the women in them are as disposable as Kleenex. But I enjoy the plots anyway.”

  Asher shook his head.

  “I have never seen any of the entertainments you mention but I would certainly be interested in the human ideas on espionage.”

  “We’ll have to have a spy movie marathon sometime,” Lisa said, smiling. “Right after we do Christmas movie marathon, that is, so you can figure out what it’s all about. You know—for the next time you get roped into playing Santa Claus at a moment’s notice.”

  Asher made a face. “I would rather watch the ‘spy’ movies, I think. And I have no wish to play Santa ever again.”

  She laughed—a warm, feminine sound he liked immensely.

  “Can’t say that I blame you. I never want to play an elf again either. It’s a pretty miserable gig to be honest.” She frowned at him. “But if you’re trying to get off the subject of what our real mission is here, don’t bother because I’m not going to let it drop.”

  “You’re not?” Asher asked, frowning.

  “No, I’m not. So come on, tell me…” She leaned towards him, her big blue eyes avid with interest. “What are you really doing here? Are you supposed to get confidential information from an informant? Steal a classified lethal weapon? Assassinate someone?”

  “Certainly not!” Asher protested. “I never would have brought you here if this was a kill mission. You don’t bring an untrained operative into a possible combat zone.”

  “A kill mission?” Her eyes widened. “So you actually do that? You assassinate people?”

  “On occasion,” Asher admitted reluctantly. “But not on this mission,” he hastened to add. “I have no orders to kill anyone on Helios Beta.”

  “Then what are your orders?” Lisa persisted. “Come on and tell me, Asher…” She put a hand on his knee beseechingly, which made his shaft twitch in his flight leathers. “Don’t keep me in the dark,” she begged. “Tell me what it is—maybe I can help you. If nothing else I can be a distraction when you need me to.”

  “Well…” He wished she wasn’t touching him. Her soft little hand on his knee made thinking difficult.

  He had been planning to “keep her in the dark” as she put it, as to the real nature of his assignment, but now Asher admitted to himself that would be a mistake. He had claimed to Commander Sylvan that Lisa could be an asset on this trip—he ought to make good on that claim and use her as one. She was obviously sharply intelligent and could keep her mouth shut. It wouldn’t hurt to have her looking out for the communications device, whatever it might be.

  “All right,” he said at last. “You’re correct—I’m not just here as a diplomat. The Kindred High Council has been given to understand that the Chorkay people have developed a method of long-range communication with a vast range—further than anything we currently have ourselves. As you can imagine, this kind of capability is extremely useful, especially when traveling through space where astronomical distances between star systems are common.”

  “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.

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