Page 13 of The Interdimensional Lord's Earthly Delight

“Good Tuffy,” Trixiecrooned. The mishkeet stalked back to her, its tail flagging in triumph. It jumped into her lap and curled up with another deep purr.

Lishelle raised one eyebrow. “You sure you want to train Tuffy to bring dead larfs right to you?”

Trixie laughed. “Rayna already said that! But she’s so cute when she kills.”

“I assume you mean Tuffy and not our future duchess.” Lishelle fussed with some samplearrangements of party-favors based on a vintage Thorkon table game called countip. The little tiles clicked against each other like a disapproving spinster’s tongue.

“I’ve never killed anything,” Rayna said. “At least Trixie can say she’s hunted her own venison.”

“Tuffy is a little small for that.” Trixie hugged the mishkeet. “But I’m glad I knew enough to use a blaster.” Her grip on the littleanimal tightened, squeezing out a sleepy mew of protest which she quieted with a softer touch. “My 4-H rifle club would’ve been so proud of me.”

“My 4-H had swine,” Lishelle said. “So I did my science project on the evils of factory farming.”

Trixie choked. “I bet that went over big.”

“Big as a force-fed hog.” She turned as the suite door parted. “Oh sure, they bring the cake right when I saythat.”

“Alien cake doesn’t have calories,” Trixie informed her.

As the baker’s assistants arranged the confectionary samples, Rayna said, “You two haven’t really talked about what you’d like to do after this wedding madness. You’re helping me out so much, I want to make sure I’m not using and abusing you, Black Hole Bridezilla style.”

Lishelle smirked. “Uh-oh, you’re getting all magnanimouson us.Let them eat cake.” She waved her fork with a queenly elbow-elbow, wrist-wrist-wrist wave.

“I’m going to do Nor,” Trixie said, snagging a plate for herself.

Lishelle and Rayna waited, but that seemed to be the extent of her wants and needs. Of course, Lishelle admitted, the reformed bad boy spaceship captainwasprobably entirely enough.

Lucky little Trixie.

Rayna turned her warm browneyes to Lishelle. “How about you? No blasters or hogs, I guess.”

She couldn’t really mention her sudden interest in Thorkon religion. “I’m not sure exactly.”

“Still reading,” Trixie said. “You read too much.”

Lishelle tsked at her. “Reading saved me more than once. And it was a huge chunk of my job as a bioethicist.”

Trixie’s hazel eyes widened. “That’swhat you did?”

Lishelle gave her someserious side eye. “What? You think someone like me couldn’t be a bioethicist?” As if she hadn’t heard that a thousand times in her life.

“I didn’t knowanybody was really a bioethicist,” Trixie said apologetically.

Smoothing one hand over her hair, Lishelle said, “Well. Now you know one.”

“Neat. So…what did youdo? Besides read.”

“A lot of bioethicists work in the medical field, helping setorgan transplant policy, pain management, end-of-life care. I wasn’t so hands-on. I served on a think tank in Washington DC.”

Rayna tucked her chin. “What the heck were you doing in Sunset Falls?”

“I’d just finished negotiating a bad divorce. I wanted to get away from everything for a bit before I put myself out there and started dating again.”

They all stared at each other, incredulous.

“Get away from everything?” Trixie muttered.

Rayna shook her head. “How farout there, exactly?”