“Did you arrange this somehow?” she said suspiciously.
“Certainly not. I am handsome, charming, incredibly talented in the sexual arts, wealthy beyond compare, and a fearless warrior. I do not need to stoop to subterfuge to seduce you. You will fall for my natural charms.”
Liza couldn’t help herself. She burst out laughing. A haughty-looking couple sitting at a nearby table, wearing matching gold-threaded suits and dripping with jewels, looked at them with distaste.
That made Liza laugh harder.
“Also, I am hilarious, and you appreciate how amusing I am. How could I possibly lose?” Jaspar said.
When Liza finally stopped laughing, she said, “Okay, what is it that you hope to win?”
“Your heart.” He said it so seriously that it took her aback.
“No, really,” she said.
“When you finally agree to do the research, stubborn human, you will see that male Drakken cannot lie.”
She frowned at the tablecloth, drumming her fingers.
She had done the research that afternoon during her very brief lunch break. She didn’t know why she hadn’t done it earlier; probably because she’d been afraid that she would find out he was telling the truth, and then she’d have to take his romantic pursuit seriously.
Apparently, a particularly vicious war had taken place hundreds of years ago in defiance of the Galactic Federation. The Concord hadn’t been in existence at that point.
The war had been caused by the Harbingers promising a peace treaty and luring the Balthazar clan into a trap. The resulting conflagration had nearly destroyed both Drakken clans’ planets.
As punishment, all males of the Drakken species had been forcibly genetically altered so that they could not lie.
The Galactic Federation had made a couple of mistakes, however. First of all, they had only altered the males, out of a foolish assumption that only the males would wage war. And secondly, they hadn’t done anything about the Drakken race’s natural aggression and lust for violence. The Harbingers and Balthazars still clashed just as much as ever, and had formally declared war on each other dozens of times over the past few hundred years.
“Well, actually, I did do the research,” she murmured. “And it looks like it’s true – you can’t lie. So I suppose that means you were also telling me the truth when you said you didn’t sabotage our trees.”
He broke out in a huge smile. “I was.” He took her hand in his. “So now will you accept that I am going to court you, sweep you off your feet, and make you my bride?”
“Honestly, I really hadn’t thought about actually…you know…marrying you. It was just today that I realized you couldn’t possibly be the ones who sabotaged us. The thing is, though…I mean…we just met. And you’re talking about marriage.”
Jaspar’s ice-blue eyes bored into hers. “Just answer me one question. When we first met, did you have an immediate physical and emotional reaction, such as you had never experienced before?”
He was staring at her intensely. It was clear that the answer was very, very important to him.
Part of her wanted desperately to lie. She was afraid of the powerful emotions that swept through her like a storm every time he came close.
But she couldn’t.
“Yes, I did,” she said.
He nodded triumphantly. “It means that I was right, without a doubt. We are indeed heart-mates,” he said. “When a Drakken meets their mate, they both know it instantly.”
“My family is very important to me, and I don’t know what our future holds,” she said. “I honestly could not begin to think of starting a relationship with you until we figure out where we’re going to live and what we’re going to do. I know that you’ve agreed that we could stay at the bed and breakfast, but there will be no business left on this planet, and for that matter, if the Harbinger clan ends up claiming this colony, then I assume that any contract you signed would be null and void.”
“I’m afraid that’s true,” he said. “But I would provide a place for you and your family, because you would be my queen.” He stroked his thumb across her hand.
“I can’t give you an answer just yet,” she said. “My family would never take charity from anybody. We need to find a way to make a living. For my grandparents to let someone else pay their way…it would be a kind of death for them.”
He glanced out the window again. “We will discuss this later. Let me go reserve a room for us.”
He went to the front desk of the chalet and returned a few minutes later. He’d reserved a bungalow that was only a few hundred feet from the chalet. They walked outside, and Jaspar seized her hand.
“Glar harf majming raran,” he said, smiling gently.
