Page 83 of Smuggler's Beauty

It’s not like idealism had served her the way she’d been raised to believe it should. Her father’s negotiations had been a waste of time. Her time in the pod had done nothing but actively harm her planet.

Now it was time to try a new direction.

Civilized negotiation time is over.

Evelyn opened the green jar. The wisps of energy she had temporarily stored burst forth to drift aimlessly around her visualization space. She nudged them back toward the seedling. The energy hummed, wisps curling around the leaves and stem, absurdly contented to be put back where it belonged. Before her eyes, the sad, limp vines plumped as the energy returned to its rightful place.

The crispy leaves rehydrated, turning from a yellowish brown back to the deep green they had been before Evelyn had displaced their energy. Relief washed over her. The little plant looked as lush as it had when Cairn had given it to her.

For the first time, Evelyn thought she understood why people kept houseplants.

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

Aiden had gone straightto Lillian and Elenor’s suite when he had finished clearing up the lunch detritus. Partially because he needed to know what information was pulled off the data stick Mathias had delivered, and partially because he felt like he’d just undergone the emotional equivalent of being hit in the face with a brick.

It was mostly the brick thing, if he was being honest with himself.

Lillian was more than capable of disseminating the information from the data stick. She was the mother he got his list-making tendencies from. Elenor was the mom who taught him how to gather intelligence at the blunt end of a knife. They’d both taught him the wisdom of holding one’s tongue.

That was the lesson he was going to have to put into practice in the coming days. It was far too soon to tell Evelyn he was falling in love with her. Over half their acquaintance she’d technically been his captive.

What sort of shit asset acquisitions specialist falls in love with the first woman they’re set after?

Aiden tapped listlessly at the door to the suite. The doors slid open silently, smoothly disappearing into the walls on either side of the threshold. He walked in and flopped down on an overstuffed chair that faced the wall screen Lillian was facing. She flicked data around the display, organizing it into neat columns. His left hand reached up to worry at his beard.

Lillian looked away from the display screen, smirking at him before returning to her data sorting. “Figured it out?”

“Figured what out? There are many secrets in the universe we’ve yet to uncover,” he said grumpily. He scowled at her, and the smirk on her face transformed into a knowing grin.

“That you’re falling in love with Evelyn,” she said.

Aiden’s shoulders tensed.

“Please say yes. Your mother set down fifty credits that it would take you another two days. I have my eye on a new set of micro tools.” Lillian frowned and moved a document from one pile to another.

Aiden’s hand moved from his beard to scrub his face. “Have fun shopping.”

Lillian pumped her fist in victory. She then swore when the movement scattered documents across the view screen.

“L.I.N.D.A., undo that last,” she said, and the documents realigned neatly. Lillian turned to face Aiden, and he was halfway disappointed she was abandoning the documents to deal with his self-imposed crisis. “You look way too morose for a man in the first throes of new love. Buck up, kiddo.”

“It’s complicated.” Aiden went back to worrying his beard. It struck him that he’d been substituting a lock of Evelyn’s silky waves for the course bristles on his face. This made his scowl deepen.

“What’s there to be complicated about? You two are crazy for each other. It’s obvious to anything with a pulse.”

“It is obvious to those of us without a pulse.”

“It’s too soon,” he objected.

His mother shrugged. “When you know, you know. I did. I think the precog knew ahead of time, too. Fucking Vinnie.”

Aiden sputtered, sitting up quickly as he recalled the way Mathias had grinned at him and Evelyn. “Are you implying I’ve been on the most convoluted blind date in galactic history for the past few weeks?”

“I’m notnotsaying that. More likely that Vinnie saw the chance for a twofer, and she took it. Sly lady, that one.”

Aiden briefly considered this, quickly deciding that trying to parse Vinnie’s motives for anything was a losing prospect. Who knew why she did a damn thing. And really, if the result was having Evelyn in his life, did he care?

He sighed. “I don’t know if I should be annoyed with her, or if I should send her a fruit basket.”