Page 173 of Dancing for the Minotaur

But she knew it never could be.

43

TAUREX

Taurex had negotiated the purchase of medicinal compounds worth several million credits without experiencing anything like the anxiety he felt while standing beside Terra in a small bakery in South Tampa, waiting for a human woman named Marcia to bring them samples of cake.

It was ridiculous, really. There was no danger here—no hostile government to placate, no complicated trade language to decipher and certainly no reason for his pulse to accelerate merely because Terra was standing close enough that the sleeve of her pale blue blouse occasionally brushed his arm.

This was not even a real Joining ceremony they were planning, he reminded himself. It was an elaborate deception intended to support Terra’s testimony and keep the human authorities from reconsidering his involvement in Viktor Orlov’s death. And yet Taurex had spent more time than he cared to admit thinking about today’s appointment.

Perhaps that was because it allowed him to be with her again.

He disliked admitting that even to himself, but it was the truth. He just wanted to be near her—even if everything they were doing was a lie and a pretense.

Terra had called him three days after they agreed to the false engagement and informed him that she had found a bakery willing to fit them in for a tasting. Taurex had immediately rearranged two business meetings and moved an interplanetary trade consultation to the following morning, then spent the rest of the day telling himself he had done so because the appearance of an authentic engagement required cooperation.

The fact that he had arrived at the bakery twenty minutes early was completely irrelevant.

Terra had arrived five minutes late.

She had rushed through the door apologizing, slightly breathless, with her brown hair loose around her shoulders and a large handbag slipping down one arm, and Taurex’s first thought had been that she was beautiful.

His second had been that she was not his…the two thoughts had become unfortunately inseparable.

“Sorry,” Terra said again as she joined him at the little consultation table near the back of the shop. “There was an accident on Dale Mabry and traffic was insane.”

Taurex looked her over carefully.

“You are unharmed?”

She nodded.

“Well, yes. The accident was two cars in front of me—just a fender bender but they blocked half the road.”

“As long as you’re well, there is nothing to apologize for,” he told her.

Her expression softened in that way that made Taurex want things he had no right to want.

“Thanks for understanding,” she murmured.

Taurex inclined his head and forced his attention toward their surroundings. He knew if he let himself, he would become lost in her eyes and that wouldn’t do. So he looked around instead.

The little bakery smelled delicious.

Sweetness filled the air—vanilla and butter and chocolate along with several scents he could not identify—and glass cases displayed dozens of intricately decorated pastries. Taurex had sampled many human desserts since arriving on Earth, but apparently wedding cakes occupied an entirely separate category of food because the wall behind the consultation table displayed photographs of enormous, tiered structures covered in flowers, ribbons, miniature sculptures and elaborate decorations.

He studied them seriously and nodded at Terra.

“Humans eat all of that?” he asked.

Terra followed his gaze.

“Well, not usually all at once.”

“One of those structures appears large enough to feed a military unit,” Taurex observed.

“That’s probably for a big wedding,” she told him. “We’re planning for a small, intimate occasion. Family and close friends only.”