Page 18 of The Intergalactic Duke's Inconvenient Engagement
Trixie stood back, and though Lishelle seemed inclined to keep blocking the entrance, the arch of her sculpted brow told him she was curious.
“No attacking,” he reminded her as he steppedpast her.
“I suppose,” she said reluctantly.
Although if she found out what he had planned, he doubted that desultory agreement would hold.
As he walked, with Lishelle and Trixie trailing behind him, toward the sunken sitting area where a variety of cups and plates were gathered along with Carmen and Anne, he noted the viewport in the main gathering room was wide open to reveal the space stationand the singularity beyond.
Following his gaze, Trixie dropped into the deep cushions and pulled one of the pillows into her lap. “I found the controls for the viewer,” she said. “I wanted it to show a picture of home, but Rayna said it should show us what really is, not just what we want.”
“Lady Rayna is wise and brave,” he said gravely. “However, sometimes it helps to see what we want sowe can make our dreams come true.”
The voice he was unconsciously waiting for sounded behind him. “Spoken like a Duke of Azthronos.”
He spun slowly on his heel to face Rayna. “Notaduke,” he corrected. “TheDuke of Azthronos.”
“And I already told you,” she continued, “I am no lady.”
Lishelle snorted. “Good thing. No lady would’ve stuck around to rescue us.” She descended into the seatingarea, managing to make her slippered feet sound like stomping even on the lush Thorkon rugs.
He inclined his head to Rayna. “You look…” Not like a lady. In the plush robe, with her brown hair sleeked back from the sonic shower and a flush buffed into her tawny skin, she looked like something a libertine would lust after.
At least he wouldn’t have to lie about that part.
He cleared his throat.“Better. You look better. Your arms?”
She held out her hands and pushed back the sleeves of the day robe to display the bandages spiraling up from knuckles to elbows. “The medics took care of all of us.” She lowered her voice and her eyes. “He didn’t… There was no assault while we were unconscious. No physical abuse. I mean, besides the initial abduction.”
Her lower lip trembled, and that tinytell speared him. Was this the hooking his mother had mentioned? It hurt, in his heart.
Gently, he put two fingers under her chin and tipped her head up. “I thank Azjor, God of Oaths, that you are unscathed.”
After a moment, she lifted her head a little higher to evade his grasp. “Okay, well. I don’t know that god, never heard of him, so… I guess thank him for me too?”
Raz shrugged. “Actually,I suspect he doesn’t even really care about thanks. Oaths are made from the deepest heart and enforced by the unfaltering hand. Poetical words are just frosting on the pixberries to Azjor.”
As he intended, she gave him a smile, just half of one, but it eased the ache in his chest. “I suppose I can thankyoufor the pixberry suggestion.” She gestured at the plates scattered around the long, lowtable. “A little sweet, a little tart. Very tasty. And all oaths aside, we ordered the pie with frosting.”
He laughed. “Fair enough. And the coffee?”
“Rich, full-bodied, fresh. Honestly, better than what I buy for myself at home.” She shook her head. “And to think it came all the way across galaxies…”
“You came all the way across galaxies too,” he said. “So drink as much as you want.”
Coffeewas an exotic export, one Azthronos wouldn’t be able to afford soon, so she might as well drink up because she’d be lucky to get the cheap imitations if she married him.
But ifhewas honest, with himself at least, he didn’t give a larf’s ass about the berries or the beverage. He was stuck on watching the curve of her mouth: a little sweet, a little tart. Rich, too, now that she was bequeatheda fifth of a space station. As for the rest…
His gaze dropped when she turned away from him to descend into the seating area.
Yes, definitely full-bodied.
He followed the sway of her hips as if hooked again, although the ache this time was lower in his body. Ah, the curse of libertines…
She sat down and gazed at him expectantly. “So what is this good news?”
She’d seated herself between Trixieand Lishelle, as if she sensed on some instinctive level that she was being hunted. So he took the cushion across from her and was careful to spread his gaze evenly among the Earthers.