Blake, Abby - Wild Fascination [A Bride for Eight Brothers 3] (Siren Publishing LoveXtreme Forever) by Abby Blake Read Free Book Online Page A

composure didn’t quite seem normal.
    Mikayla sat there, trying to look calm and composed but jumped in fright when the judge banged his wooden hammer against the desk and ordered Jessie be removed from the room.
    When Jessie’s frantic screeching finally faded down the hallway, the judge turned to Mikayla. “Mrs. Davidson, in light of the fact that Ms. Evans was obviously unaware of an eighth brother and, therefore, not as knowledgeable of the Davidson brothers as she claimed, I am dismissing her claim and finding in your favor. The court thanks you for your time.” He smiled then said with a suspicious gleam in his eyes, “Go home to your husbands, Mrs. Davidson. It’s obvious that they love you, and it’s exactly where you belong.”
    She nodded as tears filled her eyes. She did belong to her men, and they belonged to her, and hopefully the past would leave them alone now to get on with their lives.

Chapter Five

    Proposed Mining Planet M789zi.

    Mikayla sighed as she entered the last report into the computer. Her satisfaction lasted all of two seconds before Ty dropped a heap more onto her desk. They’d been working their collective asses off since returning home three weeks ago. Tracey’s wedding had been perfect, and she’d promised to contact Mikayla as soon as she returned from her honeymoon.
    Tired but happy and relaxed for the first time in a long time, Mikayla put off starting the new pile of work and instead watched the newest specimen they’d collected. The cute little fur ball held a piece of vegetation between its paws as it munched away and watched her at the same time.
    “What are you going to call it?”
    Ty spared a glance at the cage and replied, “I’ll need to do a complete genetic workup to be able to classify and name it correctly, but for the moment I’m calling it ‘mouse.’”
    Mikayla rolled her eyes. Men. He could’ve called it anything he wanted—they were the only ones on the planet for heaven’s sake—but no, Ty had to call it a mouse. Plain, old, boring, little gray mouse! It may have looked a little like an Earth mouse, but it was far prettier. It had a cute elongated snout that twitched when food was near and luminous, expressive eyes that reminded her more of the marsupials in Australia back on Earth than common field mice. She watched it turn in a circle several times like a dog, and then it settled down for a nap.
    “Why isn’t it frightened of us?” They’d been told the largest creature on this planet was an insect, a teeny, tiny insect, not a mouse-like creature the size of a man’s fist.
    “I suspect that on this planet he’s the ‘king of the jungle,’ so he’s never needed to be frightened.”
    “Oh,” Mikayla said, feeling a little stupid. She probably should’ve guessed that herself. The preliminary reports on this planet had discounted mammals—obviously incorrectly, judging by this cute little fur ball—reptiles, birds and pretty much all other life forms. Insects were scarce, though with so much plant life that would need insects for pollination it suggested they were not as scarce as they seemed.
    “So what does this mean to the survey work and the contract in general?”
    “Not sure yet,” Ty said as he came to stand beside her. She wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her head on his chest as they both watched the furry little creature sleep. “We’ll need to do a more intensive study of the local wildlife to determine how mining will affect them. Clearly the original survey was incomplete, and we can’t really rely on any of the information provided, so we’ll need to repeat that first.” Ty pressed a kiss to the top of her head and pulled her closer. “Then when we get the geological survey results, we can determine whether the impact on the local environment can be minimized, whether the mineral ores are in sufficient quantities, or whether the proposed mining will need to be abandoned.”
    He pulled her closer and