Chapter 3
THREE
Klae left Kim’s room in a daze. His head felt light.
Excitement tightened his belly. He hadn’t known what to expect.
Before meeting her, all he’d known of Kim was the set of data provided by the match program—name, age, brief background and a picture.
She was a set of statistics assigned to him by a powerful sage.
As one of the last remaining Virilian females after the virus decimated their population, Ferias was old and blind, but she could see what others couldn’t.
When she went to Earth and walked through the rows of human female applicants, her unique senses knew who belonged together.
That Ferias had chosen him as one of the males to receive a human match, had been a tremendous honor. Not all of her matches lasted forever, but in Klae’s heart, he had hoped his would. He desired more than a vessel for his offspring, but a life mate. A partner for life. Nothing less.
He’d known Kim was beautiful based on the images he’d seen, but now she was here, in the flesh, and while the flesh was lovely, the rest of her was so much more than he could’ve imagined.
He thought about those beautiful eyes flashing between curiosity and nerves.
The elegant lines of her body moved with grace, but also some uncertainty.
She had not tried to hide her awe of his ship.
His male pride had reveled in her reaction.
He wanted to impress her. He wanted her to enjoy herself here.
He couldn’t deny that he had wondered about her in the cycles since she’d returned to Earth. What he’d told her was true—he hadn’t wanted a replacement female, even though the program had offered one. He wanted the female that Ferias had chosen for him.
When he’d heard of Kim’s abduction, he had sent out every resource at his disposal to find her, and his resources were considerable.
If he had known where to look, he might have found her before Taron Bando, the courier he’d hired to transport Kim to him, had.
Not that it mattered. He had apparently hired the right courier.
Taron and Amelia Ward, the escort guard assigned to Kim for the choosing ceremony, had saved her and taken down the trader who had abducted Kim.
They had rescued her from deep within a Tulashian-controlled space station—no small feat.
The act had redeemed Taron in the eyes of the Virilian kings and all their many advisors, for his past crimes as a raider, and reversed his exile status.
He and Taron were now friends. Along with Amelia, who was now Taron’s mate, they worked together.
Taron had turned out to be a savvy negotiator and a smart ship operator.
It had proven invaluable to have another large, fast and well-armed ship on his side.
To make things interesting, Kim and Amelia were close friends.
He wasn’t sure if that complicated things or simplified them.
He had promised Kimberly that they would visit Taron and Amelia’s ship as an incentive for her to take this trip.
That bit of bait had been all Taron’s idea, proving that the ex-raider’s good behavior hadn’t taken the craftiness out of him.
Klae entered his quarters and paced the floor.
His rooms were not as large as the ones he had put Kim in, but he’d designed them to suit his purposes.
His workstation sat in the center, where a swiveling chair faced a large, curved screen.
It was half as tall as he was, and it was still too small.
A glance at his crowded screen showed it was covered in messages.
He rubbed his forehead. Of course, there was always much to do.
He sat in his chair and scrolled through the transactions needing approval, payments awaiting processing, and a thousand other actions that couldn’t be executed without his sign-off.
Klae saw to the most pressing issues, then summoned his assistant. Nelo’s office was directly across the hall, so he entered immediately. The slender Virilian male, whom Klae had never seen without a screen in hand, entered while still speaking to someone on the V-link device attached to his ear.
He ended the communication with a tap to the device.
“You called me, Klae?” The tall blond Virilian wore a long tunic that extended to his thighs, and the fireproof leather pants that all Virilian males wore.
“I hope you took some time to attend to your messages.” Nelo raised one eyebrow.
“The hangar is backed up. Ships with cargo can’t depart without you signing off. ”
Klae waved a hand. “Yes, I approved all pending departures.”
“Thank the stars. I was wondering what was taking so long.” Nelo’s fingers moved over his screen. He suddenly paused and looked up. “Oh, how could I forget? How are things going with your human?”
Klae rubbed his hands on his pants. “Not mine, yet, but she’s good, I think. Settling in nicely in the dome room.”
“Was she appropriately impressed?”
“She seemed pleased with it.”
Nelo tapped his chin. “Let me try to translate that from Klae Rillim into terms for everyone else: she was speechless, amazed, and completely bowled over.”
Klae couldn’t contain a quick, smug grin. “She liked it, yes.”
His assistant waved a hand. “I’m getting good at this. I don’t suppose you told her you had that space completely overhauled when you found out you were getting a match? Does she know you meant it to be a family space for her and your small herd of children?”
Klae looked up, aghast, at Nelo. “I would not tell her that.”
“Why not? It’s true.” Nelo sighed with a shake of his head. “You only have two weeks, Klae. This is not the time to feign disinterest.”
“I’m not.” He frowned. “At least, I don’t plan to. We’re dining tonight and I will share my thoughts on our association.”
Nelo barked out a laugh. “‘Association.’ Be careful, Klae. Language like that will have her swooning in your arms before you can lay out your twelve-point plan.”
Klae winced. “Point taken.”
“What is she like?” his assistant asked. “Is she as you imagined?”
Klae had known Nelo for so long, formalities had long fallen away.
“She’s lovely beyond words. She seems a bit uncertain, but that’s to be expected.
There’s a naturalness to her—no pretenses.
She’s just…Kim.” He ran his hands through his hair, realizing he’d begun to ramble like a love-struck idiot.
“Ferias chose her for me, and the sage knew what she was doing. I would like to dismantle the Tero-8 space station and tear the Tulashi scum who abducted her limb from limb. Thanks to him, I only have Kim for two weeks.”
“You don’t know that.” Nelo shrugged. “Two weeks could turn into more. Maybe you and she will decide on a different course.”
Klae shook his head. “From what I have learned, she has made a wonderful life for herself on Earth.”
“Well, you’ll just have to win her heart then, whatever that entails.
” Nelo raised his eyebrows and thrust his screen in Taron’s face.
“In the meantime, I need you to look over these receipts and decide about the shipments. I don’t think they have paid us the agreed-upon fee, but you negotiated the deal with the Sighon captain, so you’d know. ”
Klae sighed. He swiped the data from Nelo’s screen onto his screen.
“Very well. Send me anything else that needs immediate attention. Also, I want special consideration taken for tonight’s dinner.
No food replicator—let’s use the chef I hired from the Delta-E2 system.
I want Kim to enjoy her meal, so make sure he takes human palates into consideration. ”
“Yes, sir.” Nelo entered that into his screen. “Anything else?”
“No—wait. Yes. We are going to be near Mars, correct?”
Nelo checked his screen. “Imminently. Shall we slow down enough so we are there during your dinner with Miss Humphries?” The assistant’s blue eyes lit up. “Oh! I’ll prepare the crystal room for dinner. The transparent floor will make for an impressive view to dine by.”
Klae nodded. “Be sure to tell the operator to get low. Skim the surface.”
Nelo entered all of that into his screen. “My, my, sir. I take back my earlier criticism. You are more than capable of romancing a female. Keep this up, and she’ll want to stay with you forever.” Nelo looked up, brows raised. “Will that be all, sir?”
“Yes, thank you.” Klae watched his assistant leave and rubbed his chin thoughtfully. Was it possible that Kim might want to stay with him? Perhaps these two weeks would prove more life-changing than he thought.
He checked the time, then got up and began pacing again. It seemed like an eternity lay before him, before he would see Kim again. He wished dinner was sooner. Klae let out a laugh. He hadn’t been this excited by anything since, well, the last time he was expecting to see her.
Here he was, unable to sit still. He couldn’t wait to talk with her, learn more about her. A shadow had passed over her face when he’d asked her about her family who had passed away. He wanted her to share her darkness and her light. He wanted her trust and knew it would take time to earn it.
Perhaps this evening, he would have another excuse to touch her.
His body had lit up like a grapian hyperdrive when he’d felt her warm skin beneath his hands.
He had wanted to pull her into his arms and test the softness of her full lips.
Instead, he had limited the contact to helping her catch her balance.
Only now, it felt as though he was the one lacking balance.
Tonight, if things went well, he would tell her how he felt.
He was at peace knowing that she may not feel the same.
A new message appeared on his screen, blinking with urgency.
By pure force of will, Klae sat at his console and turned his attention back to the work before him.
He still had a trade empire to run and a ship to command.
One thousand plus souls lived on his ship.
They depended on him to keep it together and make good decisions.
But all Klae could think about was the human female in the next door over.