Free Enhanced: Brides of the Kindred 12 (The Brides of the Kindred) by Evangeline Anderson Page A

fine—I’ll deal with that later. Right now I need to deal with you.”
    “Very well.” He was still kneeling in
front of her so he looked up—not that he had to look very far. God, he was even
bigger in reality than he had been in her dreams!
    Mei-Li felt disarmed, both by his nearness
and his apparent concern for her but she refused to show any weakness.
    “What I’m trying to say is I don’t care
how many light years you traveled to come to get me,” she said firmly. “I can’t
go with you. I won’t go with you.”
    Six rose slowly to tower over her again.
“And your reason for this refusal is…?”
    “Did you see that man? The man you just
let get away?” Mei-Li demanded, poking him in the chest. She had to reach up to
do it since he was so huge but she managed just the same. The rational part of
her brain told her it wasn’t really fair to blame the big Kindred—apprehending
criminals wasn’t really his job. But she couldn’t stop the fury that rose
inside her when she thought of Randy Dungston getting away only to come back
and hurt Kristin and her sister again.
    “I saw him,” Six said neutrally.
    “Well he’s going to keep coming back—keep
hurting these girls until the day he dies unless I’m here to stop him! I can’t
go running off with you to a galaxy far, far away while he’s on the loose. I can’t.”
    Six gave her another long look and then
nodded shortly.
    “Understood. I did not really come to claim
you anyway—I only wished to ascertain that you were safe and able to take care
of yourself.”
    “What?” Mei-Li demanded. “Able to take care of myself? Why would you think I couldn’t take care of myself? Because I’m a
woman?”
    “No. Because you are so tiny.” He frowned
at her—the first vestige of any kind of emotion she’d seen from him. “Look at
you—I could lift you with one hand and hold you for hours without tiring.”
    For some reason the thought of being
lifted by him and held against that broad chest made her feel hot and cold all
over. It also scared her to death which made her mad as hell.
    “Well, you’re not going to get a chance to
try that, buddy, because I’m not going anywhere with you!” she snarled. “What
you are going to do is get the hell out of this house and off my case now! Got it?”
    To her surprise, instead of getting angry
and shouting back, the big Kindred simply nodded.
    “Understood,” he said again. “It is clear
that despite your diminutive size, you are well able to care for yourself. I
will leave you in peace.”
    “Thank you,” Mei-Li spat sarcastically. “It’s really kind of you
to forgo dragging me off in your alien spaceship so I can get on with my
freaking job.”
    His one normal eye narrowed and there was
a soft whirring sound from the red scope where his left eye should have been.
    “Be cautious, Mei-Li. Though I am not
subject to irrational emotions, I do not take pleasure in sarcasm.”
    “Well, I don’t take pleasure in you
showing up when I’m trying to work,” she snapped. “Or showing up in my dreams,
making it so I can’t get more than a few hours of sleep a night and I’m so
brain dead I can’t think straight.”
    “The dreams are troubling to me, too,” he
protested. “I didn’t cause them—I wanted them to stop. And I certainly had no
intention of coming to claim you, no matter how insistent they became.”
    “Oh yeah? Then why did you come here?”
Mei-Li demanded recklessly.
    He frowned. “I told you—to be certain you
were protected.”
    “Well, as you can see, I’m perfectly fine.”
    “Yes, I see,” he said shortly. “And so I
will be going.”
    “Good.” Mei-Li crossed her arms over her
chest. “Go back to your starship and leave me alone!”
    “That is my intention,” he growled and for
a moment she almost thought he looked angry. Then his face became a perfect,
emotionless blank again and he made a short, stiff bow in her direction.
“Goodbye and may Fortune favor