Page 53 of Alien Mine

Kelly placed her ear against his chest and sighed. “Do you reckon I’ll ever get to see my daddy again?”

Dyuvad leaned back and caught her gaze. “Why do you ask?”

“It’s just…” She shrugged one thin shoulder and her round face twisted into a frown. “He’s a bad man. That’s why he’s locked up, right? And if he’s that bad, then I reckon I’ll never get to see him again.”

“I’m sorry, sweet.”

Tiny patted a chubby hand against her sister’s cheek and said, “Good sissy.”

Kelly’s expression cleared. “Aw, Tiny. You’re a good sissy, too.”

“Good sissy,” Tiny repeated, then crawled off Dyuvad’s lap and tottered across the galley to the doorway.

“She’s getting better at making sense,” Kelly said.

“I think she understands more than we know.” Dyuvad hugged Kelly close and pressed a hard kiss against the top of her head. “Why don’t we ask your mother if you all can visit Abyw soon?”

Kelly pumped a fist in the air and hooted out a laugh. “All right, Dyuvad. You’re the best.”

His heart clenched tight again, then he laughed, too, softly against her fine brown-black hair. “You, too, sweet. Now, how about another lesson?”

She leaned way back against his arm and grinned. “Stars?”

He grinned back and slowly shook his head. “Fighting.”

“Kewl.” She scrambled off his lap, stood, and stared down at him. “I’m glad you crashed into our fence, Dyuvad.”

“Me, too.”

She scampered after Tiny, slapping her bare feet against the cushioned floor, and Dyuvad sat there, wishing with all his might that he could keep her and Tiny safe and happy every day for the rest of his life.

Chapter Fifteen

Rachel’s nerves tightened to the breaking point over the next week. Dyuvad crept around the house and farm sporting a grim frown. Fate brought over a shotgun and ammunition, and exchanged serious looks with Dyuvad, like the two of them were in on something Rachel wasn’t. Even the girls were subdued. Kelly quit asking to look at the stars at night and Tiny clung to Dyuvad like a burr.

The mid-summer heat didn’t help. By noon most days, the temperature reached the high nineties. The humidity shoved the heat index over one hundred and sapped what little good humor was left right out of a body, after all the worrying was done eating away at it.

It was the waiting, Rachel thought as she cleaned Georgette’s teats. Ramirez’ men hadn’t been back as far as she could tell. No damage had been done, leastwise, and Dyuvad swore his ship-to-Earth security system hadn’t been breached by anything larger than the occasional deer.

She’d let the security system pass when he’d told her, had to. What good would it do to argue about what was done? Besides which, knowing he’d been watching out for them this whole time eased a bit of Rachel’s worry and, though she hated to admit it, the fear that crept into her heart when she wasn’t guarding herself carefully.

She turned Georgette out into the pasture, closed the gatesurrounding the flock of goats, and leaned against a wooden fence post, too worn out by the oppressive morning air and the tension to work too hard, too fast. Something had to give. Somebody had to make a move against them or dosomethingto bring matters to a head.

But as the days swept by and July waned into August, as the last heady days of freedom passed for the girls and the first day of school drew near, nothing happened. Even the weather seemed to hold its breath. The steady afternoon showers of early summer gave way to a stultifying mugginess, stealing the strength of anybody foolhardy enough to brave the sun’s relentless rays.

One night after the girls went to bed, Dyuvad pulled Rachel down onto the couch beside him and wrapped his arms around her, holding her tightly to his side as a made-for-TV movie played quietly in the background. Rachel nuzzled his chest, hiding a smile. For a guy that came from a society with far more advanced technology, Dyuvad was fascinated by Earth’s, and particularly with humanity’s penchant for turning the wonders of the digital age into a good SciFi Horror flick.

He shifted against her, spread his knees wide, sighed into her hair. “You’re distracting me.”

She huffed out a short laugh. “I ain’t doing nothing of the kind.”

“When your mouth is on my skin, beauty,” he said very softly, “it leads me to dwell on other places your mouth might wander.”

Familiar heat pulsed through Rachel’s nethers. She leaned back, caught Dyuvad’s bemused gaze, and placed a hand over the steady thump of his heart. “And where would you like my mouth to be?”

A slow grin stretched his mouth wide and an answering heat filled his midnight eyes. “I want you to start with my tattoo and work your way down.”

She laughed as her heart skittered and thudded, and desire flooded into her. “Is that—”

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