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

all.”
    “He who? You mean—?”
    “Yes, the man of my dreams.” Mei-Li
started to laugh but the sound coming out of her was more like a sob so she
choked it off. “He actually came—right in the middle of the mess with Dungston
and Angry Mom and all the rest of it!”
    Claudia gave a long, low whistle. “Having
an alien from another planet show up in the middle of a domestic altercation. That’s going to complicate the paperwork considerably.”
    “Paperwork? You think I care about paperwork?” Mei-Li snapped.
    Claudia made a calm down gesture with both
hands. “Take it easy, Mei-mei. Just trying to lighten the mood.”
    Mei-Li put a hand to her head. “I know.
I’m sorry, that was uncalled for. It’s been a long day and I’m just so damn exhausted.”
    “Of course you are, honey,” Claudia said
gently. “And I hate to ask anymore but, uh, what happened? If he came for you,
why are you still here?”
    “He said he just wanted to check on me—to
make sure I was safe.” Mei-Li shrugged tiredly. “I guess seeing me shoot Randy
Dungston in the face with a stream of pepper spray convinced him that I was
perfectly able to take care of myself.”
    “That does sound like a pretty
impressive display.” Claudia nodded thoughtfully.
    “Yeah. Or maybe seeing my flat chest
changed his mind. You have to admit, this is not an impressive display.”
Mei-Li nodded down at her rumpled gray suit jacket and her white silk blouse
which had looked so nice that morning. Now they looked like she felt—like
they’d gone through hell. But it was clear to see there wasn’t much going on
behind them.
    “Your boobs look fine for your size,”
Claudia said. “If you had great big ones like me you’d look ridiculous—like a
porn star. Besides, I’m betting it’s more the size of your balls than the size
of your boobs that scared him off. You acted like a total badass in there—I’ll
admit it even though it makes me madder than hell that you disobeyed orders and
ran in before the cops showed up.”
    Mei-Li shrugged tiredly. “I had no choice.
If I hadn’t gone in to get her, Kristin might be—”
    “I understand. I get it.” Claudia nodded.
“Now you get this —you were a major hero tonight. You saved a little girl’s life,
sprayed a drunk asshole with pepper spray, and sent the man who’s been bugging
you for months packing. So why the long face? You ought to be celebrating—he’s
officially out of your life forever!”
    “I should, I guess. I just…” Mei-Li
shrugged. “I don’t know.”
    “I don’t know either until you tell me,
Mei-mei. Come on—what’s bothering you? Give.”
    “I honestly don’t know…” Mei-Li sighed.
“After he left I just started thinking about how…how rude I’d been to
him. I mean, I really let him have it.”
    “Rude? Are you crazy?” Claudia shook her
head in disbelief. “This is the guy who’s been disrupting your sleep, scaring
you to death, and threatening to steal you away for months and you’re worried
you were rude to him when you finally got rid of him? Please!”
    Mei-Li gave a broken little laugh. “I
know—sounds crazy, doesn’t it?”
    “Actually, honey, yes. Yes, it does.”
Claudia looked at her firmly. “Now listen up and listen good—that man was
nothing but trouble and you’re damn lucky he’s gone. You’ll realize that in the
morning after a good night’s sleep. Right now what you’re going to do is go
home, take a hot bubble bath, and go straight to bed—in that order. And I don’t
want to see you in the office before Monday at nine AM or I will personally
suspend your narrow little ass until I feel you’re fit for duty again. Do you
understand?”
    “Yes, Ma’am.” Mei-Li gave her a mock
salute and tried to smile. She stood up from the dirty rattan couch on wobbly
legs and Claudia’s eyes widened.
    “What the hell, Mei-Li? What’s that?”
    “Oh…” Mei-Li looked tiredly down at her
gore streaked leg. “I cut myself