“Meaning—?”
“Meaning that we’re serving them a buffet of buffalo steaks—very rare—raw meats, sashimi, asiago cheese, goat’s milk, chocolate truffles, chateauneuf-du-pape, stout.”
Durniak stared. “We brought goat’s milk?”
Caine smiled. “Yeah. Go figure.”
“They seem to like strong tastes.”
“Yes, Elena and Ben were warned to avoid serving anything that’s bland.”
“It seems like they’ve succeeded.” Durniak said with a departing smile.
Seems so. Now where the hell is the Hkh’Rkh delegation and the—
“Here. Hold this.” The command came from behind.
Caine turned—and found himself staring into glass-green eyes. He almost dropped the plate that Elena thrust into his hands. He looked down to see what was on it—and looked back up quickly. She had changed into evening wear: a sleek black dress with a plunging and—due to her figure—dramatic neckline. I’m looking down again—and I’m staring. He looked up again quickly.
Where he encountered her small smile. “Could you please hold them—both of them?”
Caine tried hard not to blink, but he did. “Could I—?” I can’t have heard that correctly. She wouldn’t—
“Please: hold both of them. Now.”
He opened his mouth to speak, realized he had nothing to say, tried very hard not to look down again—but did. And saw that she was holding out a second plate for him to hold. Oh, Jesus H. Christ. He couldn’t restrain a quick hiccough of laughter as he took the second plate, then looked up at Elena.
Whose long sweeps of black hair shone. Whose swimmer’s shoulders sent long graceful lines down into a body that blended them into a composite of curves and arcs. Who was now staring at him—because, he realized, he was staring at her. Again.
Caine felt his face grow hot: Great; I’m blushing, too. “I’m—I’m sorry.”
She considered him severely for two seconds, then a third, and then—her notably straight eyebrows set in a severe line—she said, “I’ll let it go—this time.”
And then she smiled. Bright, straight teeth, brighter eyes. The smile became a soundless laugh as she lifted her chin a little—and in that moment, Caine saw that she was indeed her father’s daughter, down to the smile and the strange mixture of mischief and personal gravity. And she was, he had to admit, frankly beautiful.
But not in the way he’d already known, had seen (and looked away from) on numerous occasions now. At this moment, with her odd, intermittent evasiveness either forgotten or forsaken, she was intelligence and shrewdness and playfulness all mixed together.
By the time he became aware of his surroundings again, her eyes had changed. They were concerned, then almost panicked: her smile disappeared, she looked away, moved back toward the central alcove. Halfway there, she turned—was no longer radiating herself out toward him, but had drawn back into a weighty composure: “I’ll be back with a platter.” She turned sharply, moved away at a controlled pace.
He realized, some moments later, that he had not moved his body or his eyes. I cannot—can not—let myself start gawking at her again. But I do wish I knew why she changes mood so quickly when—
“Caine—they’re here; the Hkh’Rkh.” Visser was pulling at his elbow.
He turned to look at her, noticed that she seemed anxious. Or annoyed. Or maybe angry. “Where’s Downing?”
“Back at the door, meeting them.” She looked down, then directly up at him. “You have to go now. Have to go in my place.”
“Why?”
“Because the Hkh’Rkh won’t speak to me.”
“What? Have they hopped on the Arat Kur bandwagon or—?”
“No: it is nothing like that.” She seemed about to grit her teeth. “It is because I am a woman—no, a ‘female.’”
Caine smacked his palm against his forehead. “Shit. I read that their society is absolutely patriarchal, but I completely overlooked how they might extend that paradigm to another species—”
She laid a hand on his arm. “Gott in Himmel, stop. This is not your fault; it is clear in retrospect only. Go; help Richard.” She half rolled her eyes. “He needs it.” Caine put down the plates he was still holding and made his way to the door.
Richard—who was 6’2”—was still half a head shorter than the smallest of the six Hkh’Rkh who had all but surrounded him. They leaned forward into his words, their immense bodies dwarfing the spare human torso. Caine side-shouldered into the ring of sword-toting monsters and smiled at Richard.