Page 9 of Smuggler's Beauty

Aiden shook his head as he held the door open for them both. “Why do strangers make you get a thousand percent more Scottish?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Aiden. Evelyn and I are old friends.” Cairn winked at Evelyn as he passed by her to walk to the galley.

“Yeah,” she agreed. “We go back almost as long as you and I do.” She grinned at Aiden and followed Cairn down the hallway.

They passed walls the same cheery yellow as the docking portal, with the same penny tile on the floor. Evelyn could hear voices coming from the open doorway up ahead, and she could smell onions and garlic in the air. Her mouth started to water. It suddenly hit her that she hadn’t had a proper meal in a very, very long time. Pineapple candy couldn’t hold a candle to whatever was simmering up ahead.

“Honey, I’m home. And we made a friend!” Cairn boomed as he walked through the doorway. He made a beeline for a short, delicate-looking woman with warm tan skin and a pile of glossy brown curls on her head. The woman turned around in time for him to sweep her into a dramatic dip and give her an enthusiastic kiss.

The conversation had stopped when Evelyn and Aiden walked into the galley. In addition to the woman Evelyn assumed was Veronique, two men and three women were seated around a long wooden table that served as the crew dining room portion of the galley. The other half of the room looked like a commercial kitchen, but this corner felt homey and warm.

One of the two men seated at the table was slim, with deep brown skin. He wore glasses and had an elegant air about him.The other man was younger, muscular, with a black goatee and top knot. Two of the women were older than anyone else in the galley, save maybe the elegant man. They were a study in contrasts: one tall, slim, with hair and skin coloring that matched Aiden. The other was shorter, curvier, with Aiden’s eyes and a sleek grey bob. The last woman at the table was around Evelyn’s age — or the age she’d been when she’d entered her stasis pod. She was pale, with dark auburn hair and deep blue eyes. Her well-toned arms flexed as they reached behind her head to tie her hair back.

“You probably have guessed that Cairn is saying hello to his wife, Veronique.”

“I did assume that, yes.” Cairn had told her about his wife on their short flight, and his description was dead accurate. Evelyn had thought he was exaggerating her beauty, but the twinkling eyes and plush lips were as described.

“You’re quick, Evelyn. I like that about you.” Aiden grinned and gestured to the two older white women sitting at the table. “These are my moms, Elenor and Lillian. The man in the glasses is called Tariel. The man with the goatee is Veselko, and the last woman sitting is Nannette. Everybody, this is Evelyn. Apparently, she’s the score.”

Evelyn awkwardly waved at the table. Everyone but Elenor gaped at her.

“This is not a score. This is a person. What the ever loving fuck has Vinnie got us involved in, Aiden?” Nannette demanded. She was the embodiment of the phrase ‘beautiful when angry.’ Her russet hair reminded Evelyn of cinnamon sticks, and her pale cheeks flushed with color.

“Oh, real nice.” Veselko elbowed her. “Be polite. We have a guest. Act civilized.”

“I’ll show you civilized.”

Elenor stood up from the table and walked towards Evelyn and Aiden. Her sleek grey hair bounced as she moved toward them, and Evelyn could see that she was right about those green eyes needing no ornamentation.

They must come from a planet with affordable gene manipulation. Definitely GPC. Too expensive on an unaffiliated planet.

“Honestly Aiden,” Elenor tsked. She reached her hands out to Evelyn. “This poor thing is still in a spacesuit.”

“Blame Cairn. He was starving to death.”

“Blame Aiden. He has no manners, and I know you raised him better than that, Elenor.”

Evelyn couldn’t help but smile. She hadn’t been around a happy family in longer than she cared to remember. Hers had sacrificed warmth to the pressures of rule decades before The Agreement had been signed.

“It’s okay, ma’am. I’m actually in my pajamas under this suit, so it’s a relief to meet everyone in vaguely more suitable attire.”

Evelyn heard Cairn say, “Suitable! She’s funny!” to Veronique in what she imagined he thought was a whisper. Veronique patted his hand in the intergalactic short hand for “Yes, dear.”

“Aiden, did you abduct a person?” Elenor turned to her son, eyes narrowed. Evelyn was glad she wasn’t on the receiving end of that look. “In their pajamas? And then not give them a chance to remove their spacesuit?”

“In my defense,” he said, “I don’t regularly kidnap people.”

Twenty minutes later,Evelyn sat at the table with a heaping bowl of pasta in front of her. She’d shed the spacesuitand sat instead in her robe and pajamas. She’d inhaled three pieces of garlic bread and was now happily devouring a serving of bowtie pasta with chunks of juicy grilled chicken and small creamy balls of mozzarella cheese, all swimming in a garlicky, red marinara. She was alternating bites with gulps of blackberry and peach iced tea. She didn’t think she’d had a better meal.

They had collectively decided to put off the discussion of what was going on until after they had all had dinner. Evelyn was happy to observe the dynamic around the table while she ate in silence. She took the opportunity to make mental notes about the crew.

Elenor and Lilian were obviously very much in love. Tariel was a precise eater, taking measured bites. Evelyn enjoyed watching his elegant hands move to cut his chicken or adjust his glasses. All his movements were deft, precise.

Maybe he’s the piano player.

Veselko was gregarious with Cairn at their end of the table, telling a story about a snowstorm that Cairn kept interrupting to contradict the details of. Nannette just looked jumpy, like she was sure that Evelyn was about to sprout a second head at any moment that she would have to shoot off her shoulder.

All the while, Aiden sat next to her, not joining in on the conversation overmuch, eating little, and making sure her iced tea was refilled and that she had more carbs available. It was ridiculously endearing.