Nate nodded tightly. "Probably not," he replied. "I'm a rule follower. I always have been."
Sheena threw up both hands. "What exactly do you expect me to do when I disagree so strongly with you?"
"I don't expect you to do anything except talk Brianna into leaving. Isn't that why you came? Or in torturing me have you forgotten your original purpose for coming here?"
When Sheena was silent, Nate shook his head at her unwillingness to admit what they'd had and lost, and found out they still had, was more important than all the problems cropping up between them. Maybe his job chaos was still too much for her to deal with. After all, she'd left him over it before.
"Maybe tomorrow I'll come up with a way to apologize for my so-called manhandling. Until that happens, I'll send the DNA reports on Angus and Erin to your portable. Is your personal com address still the same?"
Sheena sighed as she nodded. "Yes. Carlson and Elsa have access to the links as well, but they can be trusted. Why aren't you sending the information through proper channels? I have enough clearance for the report."
Nate shook his head. "That was before I spoke with the Guardians. Now you don't, but I intend to keep my word to you at least this much. For once, you're just going to have to trust that I'm telling you all the truth I can."
"Alright," she answered a tense thirty seconds later, unable to think of anything else to debate. Nate was the only man she'd ever known who could shut her out to the point that his silence hurt.
"If you'll excuse me now, I need to get back to my work," Nate said flatly, sinking into his chair. He heard Sheena's footsteps retreating and clenched his fists against his thighs to keep from calling her back.
It was an hour before his mind stopped churning about yet another hundred years of his life passing that wouldn't include a naked Sheena ordering him to bed.
When his thinking returned to the present, it also reminded him about all its other problems. Starting with the fact that the new matchmakers were due in his office any time.
Chapter Five
Nate sat at the end of the table, jaw clenched at the call his matchmakers had all but forced him to make. Tired of arguing with them, especially after dealing with Sheena, he'd conceded defeat. There was no convincing them that the AAS Director had far more important things to do than waste his time with foolish requests about mating ceremonies.
The three of them now watched John pace across the screen as he thought aloud and talked through what they were asking. A firm no was likely forthcoming, but Nate figured his superior was trying not to be any more adamant than necessary with their primitive Universe 6 abductees.
"Intriguing idea to give each matched couple a whole formal ceremony. Keeping the visiting aliens confined to the airship has only been done for precautionary reasons. We owe them our lives, so we fiercely protect theirs, even from our own bigoted New Earth people."
"They're not so scary once ya have been around them for a bit," Angus supplied.
John stopped pacing to look at Angus. "New Earth has several unsavory factions who would greatly enjoy using alien deaths to start the next world war. True-it's very short sighted of them given the alien technology we've fought against in the past. Plus, such an action would start an interplanetary war, one much worse than the historical invasion our ancestors fought against. But who can truly understand the criminal mind? Our healers can medicate it, but we cannot seem to breed it out of existence."
Angus leaned over to Erin. "Are ya hearing a yes or a no, Erin? Yer a lot better at understanding such musings."
"Shush, fool. John's thinking it through. Listen politely," Erin chastised.
Nate glared in the irreverent man's direction, but his non-verbal warning went unnoticed. Not looking his way at all, Angus grinned in the direction of the large screen as he leaned back in his chair.
"Are you sure you want to volunteer your private home?" John asked. "There are military facilities with protection already in place. One's home should always be kept as a sanctuary."
Erin shook her head. "A military base would be just as bad as doing it here. We're trying to make them feel like the choice they're making to mate with an alien isn't so arbitrary."
"Arbitrary?" Angus repeated. "Fancy word there, O'Shea."
Ignoring Angus, Erin went on with her debate. "This ship feels like a prison with its escorts and guards all over. The women's area is large, but they still have no liberty to move about outside of it. Do ya know how many of them feel like going to another planet is a death sentence, John? It's no wonder ya have so many putting off matches. We need to send our lasses off with a pleasant memory of their home planet. Goddess knows, every female born in Universe 6 dreamed of that ceremony. I can't imagine it's any different here than it was back home."