Alpha Star: Big Sky Alien Mail Order Brides #1 (Intergalactic Dating Agency): Intergalactic Dating Agency (11 page)

By the time she emerged—there was a lot she had to get right again—the sun was decidedly up. And so was Delaney, judging by the muffled clanks in the kitchen.

No frosted star cookies for nature girl. The uninspired but hearty scent of oatmeal drifted down the hall, and Zoe wandered into the kitchen.

Delaney turned from the 1950s stove to boggle at her, as if she was a chupacabra or an alien or something. “Zoe? What are you doing up so early? Or are you just getting home?”

Well, good to know Del hadn’t heard her banging around with Sin—literally. “Thought I’d check out this ‘sunrise’ thing I’ve heard so much about.”

Del rifled through the vintage kitchen tins lining the counter and stirred some raisins into the oatmeal. “What do you think?”

Zoe helped herself to the herbal tea steeping on one back burner and slumped into the red vinyl booth breakfast nook. “A lot like a sunset but on the other side of the sky.”

Laughing, Del brought two bowls to the table and slid into the booth across from Zoe. “You are so like your brother.”

A darting look at her wide-cheeked face revealed only amusement and affection, none of the sorrow that had seemed so indelible after Will’s death. With his deployments, they’d had even less than a year together, but somehow they’d been perfect in that short amount of time.

Zoe smiled at her. “He’d be horrified to hear you say that.”

Del shook her head. “It’s how I knew you’d be a good roommate. With the exception of the morning growly thing.” She clinked her mug of tea to Zoe’s.

They ate in silence for a few minutes, the light in the window beside them brightening.

“Are you guiding this morning—” Zoe started at the same time Delaney said, “Actually, I’m glad you’re up early because—”

They laughed. “You first,” Del said.

“I was wondering if you have clients this week. Tish is going up to the cabin for a few days, and she invited us to come along.”

“Oh.” Del stirred her oatmeal. “That was nice of her. I actually cleared my calendar for a bit.”

Zoe peered at her sister-in-law. Del usually loved going out to the cabin to commune with nature, as if she didn’t get enough of that while leading her fly fishing expeditions. Was her lack of enthusiasm another symptom along with Tish finding her up late staring at the stars? “Everything okay?”

“Oh sure, yeah.” But she kept stirring.

“So,” Zoe drawled out the word. “Why are you glad I’m up early?”

“I was going to talk to you about it before, but…” Del shrugged and abandoned the oatmeal. “It seems silly.”

“Like good Monty Python silly?” They’d binge watched the DVDs a few weeks ago. “Or bad B monster movie silly?” Zoe nudged Del’s knuckles. “Really, though, I’m fine with either one.”

A flash of a grin was quickly gone. “More chick flick silly, I guess.” She pulled her mug of tea closer to her chest. “It’s been almost two years.”

November would be the anniversary of Will’s death. Zoe swallowed, the oatmeal stuck in her throat. “Yeah. How are you feeling?”

“I don’t know. Not good, exactly. That wouldn’t be right.” She frowned at her tea. “But…”

In the awkward silence, Zoe reassured her, “Any way you feel is—”

“I’m dating again.”

Although she knew her eyebrows had jumped up too far, Zoe kept her tone chipper. “I think that’s great. Who is he?”

Del’s grip on her mug eased. “Well, nobody yet. But I decided I’m going to.” She pursed her lips. “I signed up for a dating agency.”

A niggle of unease made Zoe push back in her seat. “A dating agency? It’ll be tough to get an app to work out here, but since you’re out of the valley a lot of the time, I’m sure it’ll work out fine.”

Del shook her head. “It’s not an app. It’s real life… Well, I guess it’s real. I haven’t actually… It’s kind of weird.”

Zoe tried to squelch her apprehension. Plenty of people used dating services. Probably even in little Sunset Falls. What were the chances… “Dating
is
weird.” She forced out a laugh.

“Yeah.” Del angled her face toward the window. “It’s just, I thought I’d be with Will forever, so I never thought I’d have to do this again. I figured it’d just be easier to answer whoever the agency said was a match.”

You matched my profile. You answered me.

Taking a big gulp of tea to clear her suddenly dry throat, Zoe asked, “So you haven’t gotten a match yet?”

Del shook her head and turned away from the window to face Zoe. “I wanted to talk to you first.”

Her agitation vanishing, Zoe touched her friend’s hand. “You don’t need my permission, or anyone else’s, to be happy.”

“Thank you,” Del whispered, squeezing Zoe’s fingers. “I know that, but…” She shrugged. “It’s hard to remember sometimes. Anyway, I was looking for the profile yesterday and couldn’t find it. The agency is going to be really mad if I lost it, but maybe the universe is telling me it’s not time.”

Zoe groaned and sat back. She didn’t want to admit what had happened, but she didn’t want her friend to abandon her search for new love because she thought fate was out to get her. “Did this profile thingie look like a metal Rubik’s cube?”

Del blinked. “Yeah. How did you—?”

“I found it out on the front walk. I was going to take it to the lost and found at Twinkle, Twinkle—”

Del surged to her feet, knocking the table. “I have to go get it. The agency was very clear no one else should have it.”

“I’m sorry.” Zoe hunched her shoulders. “Someone came and got it.”

Swiveling back around, Del stared at her. “Who?”

Oh, this sucked. “The guy who was the match.” At her sister-in-law’s horrified look, Zoe hastened to add, “I didn’t know he was yours. He thought I was signed up for the service because the profile had my name on it.”

Del paced a few steps away. “It must’ve gotten confused because we have the same last name and we live together.”

“I’m so sorry, Delaney. If I’d known—”

“Known what?” Del spun around. “What did he tell you? Are you signed up for the Intergalactic Dating Agency too?”

“Intergal— What?” Zoe shook her head. “No I’m not signed up too. I’m not interested in dating.” That was exactly what she’d told Sin. Right before they— “Anyway, it was all a mistake. I’m sure they’ll set you up with another profile.”

Why did the thought that they’d match her sister-in-law with Sin turn the oatmeal to cement in her belly?

Del barred her fingers over her lips, as if trying to hold back her words, but her hand slipped down to clutch the cowl neck of her sweater. “You don’t understand, Zoe. If I was a match, I was supposed to go with him.”

Zoe tucked her chin, staring at her friend in confusion. “What? You mean you’re
required
to go on the date? Fuck that.”

Uh, she actually
had
fucked that. Oh jeez.

But Del looked away, her wide cheeks reddening. “It’s more than that. It’s actually… Well, it’s sort of like a mail order bride.”

Zoe jerked her head back so far, her skull smacked the back of the booth. Luckily it was padded because her brain was already spinning too hard. “Mail order… What the hell, Del?”

“There’s a long, interesting history of mail order brides in the West.” Defensiveness sharpened Del’s voice.

“For desperate women looking for a new life,” Zoe shot back. Then she heard herself and clamped her mouth shut.

Del looked at her. “Exactly. I tried the love of my life idea, and see how that worked out? I loved your brother, but I don’t want to be alone anymore.”

Greetings, lonely lady of Earth.
That’s what the strange little cube had said. And then something about mail order brides that she couldn’t remember. Big sky brides? A century ago, men had brought women out west and now they were coming west to bring brides back?

Zoe gritted her teeth. “Delaney, sweetie, you don’t need some desperate dude to take you away from this. Say the word and we can do whatever you want.”

To her surprise, Del flashed her a grin. “Thanks, but you know I don’t swing that way.”

Zoe swatted at her. “I just meant—”

“I know, I really do know. You’re trying to help. That’s what I love about you, what I loved about Will. You were out there helping people, trying to make the world a better place. I’ve always just…taken advantage of it.”

“That’s not true,” Zoe said loyally. “Will always talked about how you made a home he couldn’t wait to come back to.”

“Until he didn’t.” Del’s response held a matter-of-factness that shook Zoe to the core. “He’s not coming back, and I guess I wanted to leave too.”

Zoe rubbed the scar buried in her hair. How could she object? Her whole life had been travel and work. Until the brick. But just because her adventuring life had come to an end didn’t mean she should prevent her friend from finding the same. “Just…you don’t have to go too far, do you? Sin made it sound like he was looking for someone to drag to the other side of the world.”

Del tilted her head. “Sin?”

“The match who took back his profile.” Zoe dropped her hand from the scar. “Sinclarion Jax. Weird name, right?” It was weird too that she’d never asked exactly where his inherited land was. Far enough that she’d never see him again. She forced a grin to banish the pang of regret. “Just as well you lost that profile. Del Jax has a strange ring to it, like Monty Python channeling Star Trek.”

Pacing again, Del didn’t return the smile. “He shouldn’t have said anything to you about the agency since you haven’t gone through their orientation and signed their non-disclosure agreement. They’re very…exclusive.”

Zoe frowned. “You’re making this sound pretty shady.”

“I just need to get the cube back.” Her tone edged toward frantic.

After she pushed out of the booth, Zoe went around to face her friend. “Okay, now you’re starting to scare me.”

“You shouldn’t have—” With visible effort, Del gathered herself. “Do you know where I can find him?”

Guilt churned the wet cement of oatmeal in her stomach when Zoe shook her head. “He said he had a ship, but that didn’t make much sense. Sunset Lake won’t get a ship very far.”

But Del nodded. “Okay then. You and Tish go have fun at the cabin.” She headed for the kitchen door.

Zoe stared after her. “Wait. Where are you going?”

“Fishing.”

On the bridge of the
Sinner’s Prayer
, Sin paced while his first officer and pilot tried to determine how a piece of the ship had blown off without anyone noticing.

The sensors had no record of a temp flux on landing. Probably it was nothing and he was being overly suspicious to counteract his utter failure on the dating and mating front.

Except, in his own defense, the mating had gone quite well.

Too well, or he wouldn’t have two of his five mating rings. The
singilt
in his tongue and ear were the lesser of the five rings. His body might even reabsorb them if he had no further contact with Zoe Nazario.

He needed a bride to claim his solar system, and he needed to save his rings for his bride, and Zoe couldn’t be his bride, ergo to claim his solar system he must avoid her. A few thousand lightyears should do the trick.

But he wasn’t taking the
Prayer
around the block with a missing shield tile and no explanation. The ship was his life and the life of his crew—literally.

He slammed the comm button on his chair. “Honey, report.”

“Once upon a time, there was a very cranky starship captain—”

Sin slumped into his chair. “Not a book report.”

“It was a boring book anyway. I burned it.”

“Fine, but I don’t want my ship to burn.”

“She shouldn’t.” But Honey’s tone wavered.

“Shouldn’t?” Sin queried. “Can’t is the word I’m looking for.”

“Never say can’t.” A deep sigh. “But I can’t find any reason for the tile loss or the lack of sensor warning. I need to see the outside of the ship. We’ll have to drop the mimic shroud.”

Sin scowled. “So any Earther can see us?”

Ivan’s deeper voice interrupted. “At this point, Captain, only a visual inspection of the tiles might jar something loose in this mystery.”

Since jarring anything else loose was exactly what he didn’t want to happen, Sin agreed, reluctantly. The IDA rep would shit a larf if it knew, but they were out in the middle of nowhere for a reason.

He reset the proximity sensors for a farther range, to keep an eye out for intruders while they were exposed, and headed out to join his crewmates.

Most of the time he exited the ship in a hail of plasma rockets and other incendiaries. It was novel and sort of nice to stride through the hatch and down the ramp accompanied only by the cool, quiet whisper of wind in the trees. Maybe planetside life wouldn’t be so bad—

“Sinclarion Jax?”

He whirled, reaching for his pulse pistol. And his hand whiffed past his unarmed hip. This was supposed to be a peaceful, easy trip…

If only he’d listened to Honey’s advice about strafing from orbit.

He peered at the unfamiliar Earther female emerging through the trees. What was she doing out here? There were no easy roads for the surface cruisers to travel; part of the reason the
Sinner’s Prayer
had been directed to land here. More interestingly, how did she know his name?

He stalked the rest of the way down the ramp. “Who are you? Are you with the IDA?”

“Sort of.” She stopped just beyond the tree line. Her eyes widened as she caught the expanse of the
Prayer
in all her unshrouded glory, then she snapped her gaze back to him, eyes widening even more. “I’m Delaney Nazario. I…I think I was supposed to be your profile match.”

A small pack was slung from her shoulders, and she had both thumbs looped behind the straps—not an offensive stance, so he couldn’t really justify strafing. No matter how much her words triggered the desire.

He clicked the
singilt
ring in his tongue against his front teeth in irritation. When he’d reset the proximity sensors, she must’ve already been in the interim space between the two boundaries, inadvertently sneaking in between scans. “Afraid you’re too late. The match failed, and the IDA rep said that was it.”