officially release you. As soon as we’ve finished this conversation, I’ll have you streamed to your lab or wherever you’d like to go.”
Her brows drew together and confusion clouded her gaze. His offer had obviously surprised her. “Will you simply kidnap someone else if I refuse to help you?”
“You know the answer or you wouldn’t ask the question.” He watched her closely, carefully analyzing every expression, the subtlest gesture. She kept smoothing down her skirt and fiddling with her sleeve, yet her gaze gravitated toward his mouth. She appeared mildly suspicious, yet intrigued. One thing was certain. The sizzling awareness that had been tormenting him was affecting her. In fact, it seemed to be the cause of her nervousness, not genuine fear. “I have mission objectives and a very tight timeline. I was really hoping to convince you to work with me.”
“I still have a lot of questions.”
“I’m here to answer them.”
She hesitated, but didn’t retreat. “This has nothing to do with the project so if you’d rather not answer, I understand.”
“Go on.” He encouraged her with a smile.
“Is your harbinger brother still alive? Have you ever made contact with him?”
Wanting to create a more relaxed environment, he turned toward the sitting area. “That’s a long and even sadder story.” He sat on one end of the sofa and was pleased when she joined him rather than isolating herself in one of the chairs. “I think we’ve spent enough time in the past for one night. Let’s talk about something else.”
“All right.” She looked anything but relaxed. Her hands were folded in her lap and her knees pressed together. “May I ask a few questions about the future?”
“I’m not sure how many I’ll be able to answer until you’ve signed the contract, but I’ll tell you what I can.”
“You said nothing will be forced on the human females. Do you intend to deal with each woman directly or are you negotiating with a specific government?”
“I’m not the person who will make those decisions. Our primary purpose right now is recon. We’re gathering information so the higher ups can make those determinations. I will say that our faith in any government is basically nonexistent, so we’ll deal with the individual females as long as possible.”
“But you said there’s an outpost inside the moon. How is that possible without the involvement of at least one Earth government?”
He tried not to sound condescending as he explained, “We can easily shield ourselves from humans. Your people hadn’t even left the planet when the outpost was built. The rest is rather amusing actually and it’s more or less public knowledge so it doesn’t require the nondisclosure agreement.”
She actually smiled and soft color spread across her cheeks. “Oh do tell. I think we could both use a little amusement right now.”
“Lunar 9 was fully staffed by 1970. We found the ‘space race’ between the United States and Russia fascinating and wanted a front row seat at the finish line.” He extended his arm along the top of the cushions, aching to touch her yet knowing she wasn’t yet ready for intimacy.
“What does fully staffed mean? How many people can Lunar 9 accommodate?”
He shook his head. “I can’t give you specifics without the contract.”
“Fine. Let me hear the amusing part.”
“In December of 1972 one of your astronauts discovered a utility entrance to the outpost. The intrepid fellow actually snapped several pictures of one of our ships before we caught him misbehaving.”
“Misbehaving? It was the astronauts’ job to explore the moon.”
He chuckled. “That’s the amusing part. Our best lawyers studied human laws before the outpost was approved by the crown. They prepared documents to protect our interests in a variety of situations. We made contact with the United States, so we used legal precedents known as ‘eminent domain’ and ‘adverse possession’ to
Her brows drew together and confusion clouded her gaze. His offer had obviously surprised her. “Will you simply kidnap someone else if I refuse to help you?”
“You know the answer or you wouldn’t ask the question.” He watched her closely, carefully analyzing every expression, the subtlest gesture. She kept smoothing down her skirt and fiddling with her sleeve, yet her gaze gravitated toward his mouth. She appeared mildly suspicious, yet intrigued. One thing was certain. The sizzling awareness that had been tormenting him was affecting her. In fact, it seemed to be the cause of her nervousness, not genuine fear. “I have mission objectives and a very tight timeline. I was really hoping to convince you to work with me.”
“I still have a lot of questions.”
“I’m here to answer them.”
She hesitated, but didn’t retreat. “This has nothing to do with the project so if you’d rather not answer, I understand.”
“Go on.” He encouraged her with a smile.
“Is your harbinger brother still alive? Have you ever made contact with him?”
Wanting to create a more relaxed environment, he turned toward the sitting area. “That’s a long and even sadder story.” He sat on one end of the sofa and was pleased when she joined him rather than isolating herself in one of the chairs. “I think we’ve spent enough time in the past for one night. Let’s talk about something else.”
“All right.” She looked anything but relaxed. Her hands were folded in her lap and her knees pressed together. “May I ask a few questions about the future?”
“I’m not sure how many I’ll be able to answer until you’ve signed the contract, but I’ll tell you what I can.”
“You said nothing will be forced on the human females. Do you intend to deal with each woman directly or are you negotiating with a specific government?”
“I’m not the person who will make those decisions. Our primary purpose right now is recon. We’re gathering information so the higher ups can make those determinations. I will say that our faith in any government is basically nonexistent, so we’ll deal with the individual females as long as possible.”
“But you said there’s an outpost inside the moon. How is that possible without the involvement of at least one Earth government?”
He tried not to sound condescending as he explained, “We can easily shield ourselves from humans. Your people hadn’t even left the planet when the outpost was built. The rest is rather amusing actually and it’s more or less public knowledge so it doesn’t require the nondisclosure agreement.”
She actually smiled and soft color spread across her cheeks. “Oh do tell. I think we could both use a little amusement right now.”
“Lunar 9 was fully staffed by 1970. We found the ‘space race’ between the United States and Russia fascinating and wanted a front row seat at the finish line.” He extended his arm along the top of the cushions, aching to touch her yet knowing she wasn’t yet ready for intimacy.
“What does fully staffed mean? How many people can Lunar 9 accommodate?”
He shook his head. “I can’t give you specifics without the contract.”
“Fine. Let me hear the amusing part.”
“In December of 1972 one of your astronauts discovered a utility entrance to the outpost. The intrepid fellow actually snapped several pictures of one of our ships before we caught him misbehaving.”
“Misbehaving? It was the astronauts’ job to explore the moon.”
He chuckled. “That’s the amusing part. Our best lawyers studied human laws before the outpost was approved by the crown. They prepared documents to protect our interests in a variety of situations. We made contact with the United States, so we used legal precedents known as ‘eminent domain’ and ‘adverse possession’ to
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