Page 48 of Alien Wants A Wife

Harlee climbs slowly, and I must keep reminding myself not to rush too far ahead. The thought of her falling takes the breath from my lungs, and for a heartbeat my head spins. I feel how Lydia had looked. And I reach out one arm to brush lightly against Harlee’s booted foot, reassuring myself that she is still safely clinging to the ladder.

When we eventually reach the cave floor, she is panting with exertion, but her eyes light up as she turns to face the trees.

“Wow.” The exclamation is barely more than a breath of released air. “How did you—” She shakes her head. “I can’t begin to imagine the amount of work it would’ve taken to create all this.”

“It was much work,” I agree, looking at the trees and remembering my parents laboring day after day, with limited supplies and tech, to create the home they knew would be a sanctuary for their family. “Killan and Sorin helped, a little bit.”

“You were too young?”

I nod. “My parents brought my brothers to Ril II after my sister died. They wanted to grow Nufaral.” At her confused look, I clarify. “It is algae containing high amounts of Eoli, a nutrientthat my species needs to remain healthy. We grow the algae in the underground lakes and ship it back to Ril I to sell so that other Ril’os will not grow sick, like my sister did. We also have a charity.” Although this is not strictly in answer to her original question; I want to tell her so she can be as proud of my family as I am. So she can understand that regardless of how desperately I want to travel beyond this planet, I cannot leave the farm. “We supply Nufaral directly to medical facilities for those Ril’os who cannot afford to purchase our product themselves.”

She turns her large eyes onto me, staring at me with the same awe with which she had been examining the forest. A thrill races along my nerve endings, and I straighten to my full height, preening at such a compliment.

“Even when the farm was established, my parents did not stop working. They turned their attention to making this forest, worried my brothers and I would not appreciate a planet with no life.”

“They wanted you to stay here all your lives.”

“Yes.”

“Even…” She closes her mouth, trapping her bottom lip between her teeth.

“Even though they knew we would be by ourselves, yes.”

“Nobody else from your home planet comes to visit? This place is amazing, Roan. Surely you’d get visitors—friends or family from Ril I.”

“I speak with my parents, but they do not visit.”

“Oh, they’re not… So they’re alive.”

“Yes.” I step closer to her, wrapping my lower arms around Harlee’s waist, wanting… no,needingto hold her. “They returned to Ril I when my father became too frail to continue working. I think my mother misses being here, but she cares for my father. With his memory fading, it would be too much for him to return, even for a short visit.”

She leans back a fraction, all the better to see my face, using my arms as leverage to keep from toppling backwards. “You haven’t talked all that much about the farm since we met, but I can tell you love it here. I can tell how important this place is to you.”

“Killan—” I begin, intending to argue that my passion is nothing to my eldest brother’s, but she shakes her head, silencing me.

“I think I’m finally beginning to understand why you signed up for LOVE GALAXY. You can’t leave.” She closes her eyes. “Roan… I don’t… I don’t think I can stay.”

I freeze, as if standing still will somehow make this conversation stop. As if standing still will somehow cause Harlee to forget what she is saying—or, better yet, to change her mind.

She blinks, opening her eyes again but not quite meeting mine, looking over my shoulder instead. “I don’t want to give you false expectations. I’m exceptionally grateful to have met you, and I wouldn’t change any of the terrible things that happened which led to me being here. But I—” She frowns, her sentence forgotten.

I glance over my shoulder, trying to see what has caught her attention. There is a camera strapped to a tree, watching us.

“I didn’t realize,” she finally says. “I thought… Never mind. I was being silly.” She smiles, the corners of her eyes wrinkling. “Can you show me around? I’d love to see more of the forest.”

I glance between her and the camera. She did not finish what she had been going to say, and while I had not wanted to hear her words of rejection, I also do not want her speech to be controlled by John Smith and the ever-watchful cameras.

“Harlee.” I ever-so-slightly tighten my hold of her waist. If she really wanted to break free, I would let her go, but she does not struggle. I think not all of her attention is on me, but she acknowledges her name when I repeat myself. “I am not tryingto trap you on Ril II. But I would appreciate the opportunity to show you what your life could be like here.” There is a silentwith meat the end of that sentence, but my heart seems to leap into my mouth before I can say it, and my voice falters. Not because of the cameras. Not because of John Smith. Not because of LOVE GALAXY. My voice falters because speaking the words out loud makes them more real, somehow. More substantial.

And even more heartbreaking if she were to leave at the end of the twenty days.

“I…” She lets out a long, shuddering breath. “I can’t make any promises,” is how she completes that sentence. “I don’t want you to get your hopes up.”

She doesn’t have to glance over my shoulder at the camera again for me to know she is acutely aware of its presence. I can feel the stiffness in her muscles that had not been there when I had first wrapped my arms around her.

I immediately want to take away all her worries.

“Let us play a game.” She laughed last night. Mayhaps I can make her laugh again.

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