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  At the sound of English being spoken, Kat looked up eagerly. The party, which was being held at a huge structure that was reminded her of an opera house, with frescoed ceilings and elaborate carvings, had been horrible so far.

  It wasn’t so much that she didn’t know the language—although that was a big part of it. But she also felt like a prisoner, being flanked at all times by Deep and Lock. She was on an alien planet for the first time—she wanted to go explore. There were amazing works of 3-D art all over the walls and vast rooms full of strange and exotic things to look at. Not to mention all kinds of new foods to try—though Kat was being careful about that. But instead of wandering through the crowd checking things out, she was stuck staying where it was “safe.” At least according to her two captors.

  Kat couldn’t see that it was so very unsafe at the huge, bustling party. It was true that just about every male in the place seemed to be eyeing her hungrily, but none of them had made any off-color gestures or remarks. Kat assumed it was just the scent she was supposedly giving off. And come to think of it, she wasn’t even sure about that. She didn’t feel any different and she’d sniffed herself several times without smelling a thing. Could it be that Deep and Lock were making up the whole bonding fruit thing—or at least exaggerating it—in order to keep her close to them?

  Entirely possible, she thought, eyeing Deep, who was scanning the crowd warily for possible threats. But at least now she had someone to talk to. The woman who had spoken to her looked to be about five years older than Kat and she was voluptuous in the extreme, her full curves draped in a peacock colored toga-type dress which seemed to be the traditional Twin Moons style.

  Speaks English and she’s plus sized! Kat smiled at her, feeling like she’d just won the jackpot. “Hi,” she said, nodding gratefully. “I’m Kat. Kat O’Connor.”

  “Piper.” The woman held out an elegant hand dripping with diamonds and Kat took it. “Oh, who am I kidding? Come here!” Piper pulled her into a warm embrace and held her for a moment before letting go. “Sorry.” She grinned unrepentantly at Kat. “It’s just that I’ve been out here on Twin Moons with my husbands for so long. I’m so glad to see another face from Earth I could cry.”

  “That’s okay.” Kat grinned back. On Earth she would have been put off by such effusiveness but not here, under these circumstances. “I know how you feel,” she said. “I haven’t even been here that long and I’m already homesick.”

  “Of course you are! I mean, it’s wonderful here. But sometimes you just want to go to McDonalds and get a Big Mac and some fries. And knowing the closest Mickey D’s is seven light years away can make a gal feel mighty lonesome.” Piper sighed and patted her honey-blonde hair which was piled on her head in an elaborate up-do. “Where are you from, anyway?”

  “Tampa,” Kat said, smiling. “You?”

  “Houston, honey. Born and raised.” Piper smiled wistfully. “You know, it’s a big, dirty, ugly city and around here it’s all quaint little fishing towns and unspoiled beauty—couldn’t be more different. I’ll be the first to admit it’s gorgeous and all, but sometimes I miss the traffic and the smog. Isn’t that strange?”

  “Not at all,” Kat said earnestly. “I haven’t been here for long but before that I was stuck on the Kindred Mother ship. I miss downtown Tampa and the Tampa picture show—it’s this old theater that’s been running for the last hundred and fifty years. The acoustics are horrible and the seats are so hard they hurt your behind, but my girlfriends and I used to go there and watch all the indie movies that none of the multiplexes would play.” She sighed. “They have this old fashioned popcorn machine and they use real butter—not that nasty fake stuff.”

  “Oh, don’t get me started on Earth food.” Piper’s lime green eyes lit up. “What I miss the most is good barbeque. You couldn’t get decent pulled pork on Twin Moons to save your life! I don’t even think they have an animal that’s anything like a pig. Everything is so lean and healthy and good for you.” She shivered.

  “Which is probably why everyone’s in such good shape and all the women look like supermodels,” Kat said, looking around. Every Twin Moons woman she had seen was tall and thin with perfect cheekbones. They glided around the room, taking nibbles from the mountains of fruit which were piled on low pillars, and looking perfect in the warm lighting.

  “Oh no, honey.” Piper shook her head. “You and I, we’re the supermodels here. And that’s the one thing Twin Moons has over dear old Earth.”

  “Uh, because we’re ‘elites’?” Kat dropped her voice, not wanting Lock and Deep to hear her discussing it. “I mean, the guys I’m with, they’re always talking about how curvy women are valued here—”

  “Valued? Honey—we’re the cat’s pajamas! Just look at the way they’re looking at us.” She motioned to the hungry glances that were coming from several different sets of twin males scattered around the large gallery. “Why, every single man in this room would be on us like a duck on a junebug if we weren’t already mated!”

  “I’m not though—mated, I mean,” Kat said.

  Piper’s perfectly shaped eyebrows lifted in surprise. “Not mated? Then what are you doing here?”

  “It’s a long story.” Kat glanced up again to see if Deep or Lock was listening. She really wanted to pour her heart out to a sympathetic ear but she didn’t want them hearing everything she said.

  Piper seemed to understand the situation. “Come on, honey, let’s go powder our noses and you can tell me all about it,” she said, hooking her arm through Kat’s.

  Suddenly Deep was blocking the way. “Where do you think you’re going?” He frowned at Kat.

  Piper looked at Kat. “I thought you said you weren’t mated?”

  “I’m not.” Kat frowned unhappily. “Look, Deep, this is Piper and as you can see she’s female. We’re going to the ladies restroom—” She looked at Piper. “Uh, they do have a ladies restroom here, right? I mean, it’s not unisex or anything?”

  “Heavens no!” Piper smiled sweetly at Deep and Lock who was now standing beside his brother. “You two just run along for a little while. I promise I’ll keep your little gal safe.”

  Deep didn’t budge. “Oh you will, will you?” he murmured, one black eyebrow cocked in obvious disbelief.

  Lock cleared his throat. “Forgive me, my lady, but we don’t even know you.”

  “I’m Piper. I’m the mate of Ambassadors Knows Much and Thinks Swiftly.” She patted Lock on the arm. “You two just go on over and talk to Much and Swifty, as I call ‘em,” She nodded her head at a pair of Twin Kindred who were standing off to one side. “While we run along to the ladies room.”

  “Her mates are males of renown,” Lock said, talking to Deep.

  “Well, if you’re just going to the room of convenience…” Deep was still frowning.

  “That’s all. I promise.” Piper nodded at both of them. “It’s okay—we just want a little Earth girl talk.”

  “We’ll accompany you,” Deep decided.

  Kat sighed as the two of them flanked herself and Piper and they moved in a unit through the milling crowd. It felt like all eyes were on them and she couldn’t help feeling embarrassed. This is so stupid! Like I’m some helpless little girl who can’t go anywhere without her bodyguards. Finally they came to a large pink and gold archway set in the back wall. It was right beside a flamboyant hologram display which appeared to be naked people covered in red, green, and brown paint pretending to be trees.

  “From Earth,” Piper said, nodding at it. “You wouldn’t catch any native Mooners doing nonsense like that but they think our stuff is just to die for.”

  “Mooners?” Kat raised an eyebrow.

  “That’s just what I call ‘em.” Piper nodded at the crowd of Twin Moon natives before turning to Lock and Deep. “All right now,” she said, giving them a bright smile and a nod. “You two just run along. We’re going to be in here a little while.”

  “When will you be back?” Deep wanted to k