“Really? Who…who are you sending?” Melli cut her eyes shyly to the left to look at Liosh, who was still holding her hand firmly in his.
“I am coming with you, my Lady Melinda,” he said, smiling at her. “I will guard you with my life—I swear it.”
“And I’m going with Josephine,” Vorn said shortly.
“What?” Jodi exclaimed, looking at the big Beast Kindred incredulously. “Look, I appreciate your offer of a bodyguard, Commander Sylvan, but I can’t accept. I mean, I have a fiancé back on Earth and he would not be happy if I brought home a seven-foot-tall Wookie to sleep on the living room couch!”
“I don’t know what a “Wookie” is but I’m assuming it’s not a compliment,” Vorn growled. “And don’t worry—I’m going with you to guard you—not interfere in your relationship in any way.”
“Well, I don’t like it!” Jodi said obstinately.
“You don’t have to fucking like it,” Vorn growled. “But you do have to deal with it. Pardon my language, Commander Sylvan,” he added, nodding at Sylvan.
“You’re excused, Warrior,” Sylvan said dryly. Turning to Jodi he said, “I’m afraid this is non-negotiable. Please don’t worry that the warrior assigned to you will be in your way or a drain on your resources. Vorn and Liosh both have their own monetary resources and strict orders to operate in the background—you won’t even know they’re there. They will get their own meals and be as unobtrusive as possible.”
“But he’s still going to be sleeping on my couch, right?” Jodi demanded, glaring up at Vorn.
“I can sleep outside your door, if you don’t want to let me in,” he growled, glaring right back. “But I’ll have to check and make sure any back entrances to your domicile are secure first.”
“Jodi,” Vicky began, looking anxiously at her oldest daughter. “Commander Sylvan is trying to help you here.” Her oldest daughter could be so stubborn sometimes! It was one of the reasons Jodi was so successful at just about anything she turned her hand to, but it was also a pain in the neck at times.
“I know that.” Jodi sighed and ran a hand through her long, dark hair. “It’s just…what will James say, Mom?”
James, being her fiancé, of course. Vicky worked hard to keep her face blank at the mention of her future son-in-law. It wasn’t that she didn’t like him exactly—he came from a very wealthy family and could be incredibly charming when he wanted to be. But she had the feeling that he undervalued her daughter and Jodi was always trying to “keep up” with him and his upper-class family.
He also thought that the Masters degree in sexual psychology Jodi was getting was a joke. He was getting a Ph.D in Astrophysics himself and he seemed to think that only the “hard” sciences had any merit. So he was always teasing Jodi about her desire to be a therapist, as though helping people who were hurting was of lesser value than doing something that brought fame or money or recognition.
It was Melli who answered her sister’s question, much to Vicky’s relief.
“James had better not say anything unless he thinks he’s up to killing one of those lizard guys if they come back and try to get you,” she told her sister sharply. “I mean, he’s a nice guy and all, Jodi, but he’s skinny as a whip and I’m pretty sure he doesn’t know any hand-to-hand combat or how to shoot a space gun or anything else like that.”
“Our weapon of choice is a blaster,” Liosh corrected her, with a small smile. “But it does take some skill to use it correctly. Maybe Vorn could give your sister’s fiancé lessons?”
“He’d be better off giving Jodi lessons herself,” Melli said honestly. “James is just going to think this whole thing is a big joke. He never takes anyone but himself seriously.”
Which pretty much summed up her future son-in-law in a nutshell, Vicky thought.
“What about you, my Lady Melinda?” Liosh asked, looking at her with those pale blue eyes all Blood Kindred seemed to have. “Do you also have a future mate who might be upset by my presence?”
“Oh, no…” Melli blushed a pretty pink and looked down at her hands. “I, um, I’m not dating anyone at the moment.”
“Try not dating anyone ever,” Jodi said. “Sorry, Melli, but you know it’s true,” she added, looking at her little sister. “I don’t know why you don’t put yourself out there more—you’re really pretty, you know.”
“She is beautiful,” Liosh agreed softly.
“Thank you.” She smiled at him again and then looked away in confusion.
Vicky frowned as she considered her younger daughter. It was a question she had asked herself more than once—why didn’t Melli ever date anyone?
She used to date, right up until her Junior Prom, whispered a foreboding little voice in Vicky’s head. But after that, she never accepted another invitation to go out with a boy ever again.
Of course, Vicky had asked her daughter if something had happened to her and of course Melli had denied it.
“I just haven’t found the right guy for me, Mom,” she always said. “And right now I want to concentrate on school.”
But she had been concentrating on school for the past three and a half years and Vicky was beginning to get worried. Why did her younger daughter never date?
I hope someday she’ll be willing to tell me, she thought, her heart aching at the idea that her daughter had a secret she felt she couldn’t reveal—even to her mother. I hope whatever is keeping her from finding someone to love her
