Page 37 of Tamed By Her Touch

Actually, they had several problems, not the least of which was the fact that she and Kaelus were supposed to convince an entire planet full of strangers that they were a happily mated couple when, until recently, they had barely been able to share a laboratory without arguing.

Then there was the Savage Syndrome, the mysterious way the virus seemed to affect the males of Titus Four differently from every other infected population, and the fact that seven women had already died on Glenvarren while they were still sitting safely aboard a long-range shuttle heading toward the possible cure.

All of those things were serious and important, but the problem Clair was thinking about at the moment was considerably more basic…

They didn't know enough about each other to pass as a married couple.

Oh, they knew plenty in a professional sense. Clair knew that Kaelus was a brilliant Xenopharmacologist who could look at the molecular structure of an unknown compound and start predicting its effects before most scientists had finished reading the initial analysis. She knew he was obsessively neat, ridiculously territorial about his equipment, and capable of surviving for hours on coffee even though he claimed to dislike the human beverage when she first introduced it to him.

She knew he went to the gym every morning, though she had never actually seen him there, and that he was apparently capable of lifting several times her body weight without so much as breathing hard. She knew that he growled when he was irritated, which was often, and that the golden color of his eyes became brighter when he was angry or upset. She knew he smelled like warm spice and something dark and masculine she couldn't name, and that being held against his enormous body did extremely confusing things to her nervous system.

But she had no idea what he ate for breakfast or who his parents were and even if he had any siblings—that was the sort of thing that was going to get them caught.

“What are you doing?” Kaelus asked from the pilot's seat, glancing over at her as Clair pulled a small tablet from her bag and began typing, searching for just the right thing.

“Preparing,” she told him.

“For what?”

“For our marriage.”

Kaelus's fingers froze over the shuttle controls.

Clair bit the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing at the look on his face.

“We are not getting married,” he growled.

“Mated, married—whatever you want to call it,” Clair said breezily. “The point is, we're about to land on a planet and tell everyone we've been together long enough to be a bonded couple. If anybody asks us basic questions about each other and we give different answers, they're going to know we're lying.”

Kaelus frowned.

“Why would anyone interrogate us about our personal relationship?”

“Because people are nosy,” Clair told him. “And because apparently these people put a lot of value on mating and marriage. Commander Sylvan said an unmarried male isn't even respected enough to get access to their scientific research. You don't think somebody might ask how we met, how long we've been together, or what you like about me?”

He scowled.

“I sincerely hope not.”

“Well, hope isn't a strategy, sugar-booger,” Clair said. “People on Earth have to do this kind of thing all the time when one person marries somebody from another country and they're trying to prove to the government that the marriage is real. They get asked all kinds of questions about their spouse to make sure they're not faking the relationship just so one of them can get citizenship or a green card.”

Kaelus turned his head.

“A green card? How does a card that is green help a human move from one country to another? What kind of card is it?”

“Never mind all that.” Clair waved a hand. “The point is, if some Titus Four official asks you what side of the bed I sleep on and you say left while I say right, we're going to look suspicious.”

Kaelus's dark brows pulled together.

“Why would anyone care which side of the bed you sleep on?”

“I don't know, but apparently governments do,” Clair said. “And since we're trying to get access to medical information they don't normally share with outsiders, I don't want to take any chances. So I've made a list.”

Kaelus stared at her.

“A list?”

“Yes.” Clair smiled brightly. “You like lists.”