“Soon, sweetheart,” I promised, knowing it was a lie. This woman, no matter her reasons, no matter her sweetness, had aided a predatory alien. She would be punished in some way. That was the law. I experienced a twinge of guilt and regret, but brushed both aside. “First, I have some questions for you.”
I pushed to my feet and looped my arm around her waist, helping her stand. I made sure my br**sts meshed into her side. Just in case that didn’t make her notice me as a female, I let my fingers slip under her shirt and latch onto her bare midriff. When she felt the heat of my palm, she sucked in a breath. Since my desire for Lucius had yet to dissipate, my honey scent wafted to her.
“To the chair,” I told her. She gave me more of her weight than necessary, and I helped her ease into the slatted seat. “Comfortable?”
Gazing up at me through her lashes, she nodded. “Yes. Thank you.”
I grazed her cheeks with my knuckles and knelt in front of her, gently prying her knees apart to nestle my body between her thighs. Her eyes grew big, and she wet her lips. “I really need your help, sweetheart,” I said. “Your life depends on it.”
“I can’t tell you what you want to know,” she said, beseeching me with her gaze to understand.
“You can,” I insisted. My fingers traced the waist of her pants, making her stomach clench. “You want to help me; you know you do.”
“No, I can’t,” she said, but I could see the war raging inside her mind. EenLi had probably threatened her life or her family’s life if she ever dared speak a word about his activities. But she didn’t want to get in any more trouble.
“Please,” I said, all feminine eagerness.
She gulped. “What do you need to know?” she asked hesitantly.
I played a look of reluctance across my face, as if I didn’t want to involve her but had no choice. “I need to know about EenLi and his…cattle business.”
Her lips compressed in fear, and she shook her head. “I can’t. I don’t know anything.”
I spread my fingers over her thighs and ran them upward until I grasped her hips. Her mouth dropped open in surprise, but she didn’t pull away. My eyelids dipped to half-mast, casting shadows over my cheekbones. I knew she caught a glimpse of my bra because when I glanced up at her, she flicked her eyes away guiltily. Her cheeks warmed to a rosy shade of pink.
Good. I had her attention, and she was responding to my femininity. “Sahara Rose,” I said, pronouncing her name like it was my favorite food.
She gulped again. “Yes?”
“Please help me.” I returned my hands to her waist, toying with the ties on her pants. “In return, I’ll help you however I can. You’ll never have to see EenLi again.” That much was true, since I planned to kill the bastard. “Let’s start with something little. Why don’t you tell me why you helped EenLi in the first place? That’s easy enough, isn’t it?”
She bit her lip and nodded hesitantly. “I was living on the streets. He found me and took me in, made me his lover. He gave me money and food and a place to stay and he told me he would…”
Kill her if she betrayed or left him,I finished for her. “He trusted you enough to help with his cattle.”
That war inside her continued to wage for several more minutes. Should she, shouldn’t she? Should she risk angering EenLi, or risk believing in my aid? Finally, she sighed, and her shoulders sagged.
I knew then that victory was mine, and I fought to contain my grin.
“If I didn’t help,I would have become cattle.” Tears pricked her eyes, brimming over her lids. “He would have sold me, and I would have been taken to another planet.”
Now we were getting somewhere. “Tell me about the ones whoare taken off-planet.”
“People give him orders,” she said, taking my hands and linking our fingers. She was shaking, seeking comfort. “Like off of a restaurant menu. Red hair, brown eyes, and so on.”
“Who buys the slaves?”
“Humans.Other-worlders. Origins don’t matter. Some of the buyers don’t even live on Earth.”
“Then how do they give EenLi their orders?”
She shrugged. “They come through the portals for a visit, I guess.”
The muscles in my back jumped in anticipation of her next words. “Do you know where the portals are located?”
“No.”
A wave of disappointment crashed through me. I reached up and brushed her hair aside. Her eyes closed, and she leaned into my touch.
“He never told me,” she added. “His only job for me was to take care of the sick.”
“If a human wanted to place an order, how would he do it?”
She pressed her lips together for a moment. “There’s a man, Jonathan Parker. He’s old money. Oil, I think. He hosts parties at his house, and people tell him what they want. He tells EenLi.”
I knew that the moment she spoke the name, every agent listening began searching our databases for Jonathan Parker. We’d have a printout of his entire history within minutes.
“Do you know the type of people EenLi is looking for now?”
She shook her head. “He never gives me those details.”
“What about dates? When is a shipment due?”
“I don’t know.” She bit her bottom lip and gripped my hand. “Can I go home now?” A beseeching note layered her voice. “I never hurt anyone, I promise. I took care of them.”
“I know you did. But you need to stay here a while longer in case we have any more questions. Besides that, you’re safe from EenLi here,” I added, squeezing her hand, “just like I promised.” But more than that, if we ever decided to use her as bait, she’d be readily available.
Callous, I know, but innocent lives came before this one woman. Sometimes bad things had to be done to facilitate peace.
“I’ll see that you’re fed and moved to a comfortable room. All right?”
“Yes,” she said reluctantly. “All right.”
“You did real good, Sahara. I’m proud of you.” Cupping her jaw, I inched upward and slowly brought my lips to hers. She immediately opened her mouth to deepen the kiss, but I kept it sweet, gentle, breathing in her scent and she mine. Feeling her softness, and she mine. She was a sad girl with a sad life, but she wasn’t evil. “You’ll tell me if you remember anything else, won’t you?”