Page 30 of Tamed By Her Touch

“You could've fooled me.”

Kaelus rose from the stool and Clair had to step back quickly because suddenly there was far too much enormous male directly in front of her.

“I believe the analyzer requires recalibration,” he said, his deep voice slightly hoarse.

“Of course it does,” she said faintly.

“And you also have work to complete,” he pointed out.

She nodded.

“Yes, I do.”

“Good—then let us be productive.”

Kaelus returned to his side of the laboratory and got to work.

Clair watched him go. Then she looked down at her own hands. She could still feel the warmth of his skin against them…could still smell his scent lingering in the air—why did he always smell so good?

Okay, this is getting ridiculous.

She didn't want a man, she reminded herself. She especially didn't want that man. He was impossible and bossy and rude. Not to mention that he had a habit of telling her what she should and shouldn't do as though she were one of his experiments.

But he also fed her every afternoon. And he'd moved her supplies where she could reach them. He'd saved her from falling. He'd stripped dangerous chemicals off her body without taking any kind of advantage or so much as glancing at her inappropriately.

And now he'd shoved his own bare hand in front of a potentially dangerous alien plant because he thought she might get hurt.

Clair didn't know what to make of any of it. So, as usual, she decided not to think about it.

That strategy worked for almost four whole days. Then she fell asleep in the lab…

It had been a particularly long day. Clair was studying the metabolic pathways of the Vellarian star-vine, trying to determine exactly how the inactive precursor she'd discovered was transformed into its medicinal form. The work was fascinating, but it was also tedious. She had to compare dozens of molecular models, run repeated analyses, and check each result against the growth stage of the plant.

By ten o'clock that night, Clair's eyes felt like somebody had filled them with sand.

Kaelus was still working too.

The big Hybrid frequently stayed late—sometimes so late Clair suspected he barely slept at all. When she asked about it, he insisted Kindred required fewer hours of sleep than humans.

“You should go back to your suite,” he told her for the third time that evening.

“So should you,” Clair said without looking up.

He shrugged.

“I require less sleep.”

“Congratulations,” she said dryly and then couldn’t stop herself from yawning.

Kaelus frowned.

“You are tired, Clair.”

“I am fine,” she said firmly.

“You just attempted to enlarge a molecular model by touching your coffee cup.”

Clair frowned and looked down. Her fingers were indeed resting against the side of her empty coffee cup.