Page 36 of The Intergalactic Duke's Inconvenient Engagement
Rayna shrugged. “I suppose most mothers want their children happily married and settled down.”
“The settlements came with my inheritance,” he said grimly. “Just not as much as the duchy needs. As for happily…” He took a prowling step away from her, then pivoted on his heel, his hands once again behind him in that stiff, pensive stance. “I’m proposing to you.”
“Yousaid that already. Proposing what?”
His brow burrowed. “Aproposal,” he said insistently, accenting the words.
“Yeah, I got that part. Proposingwhat?”
He pressed one hand to the side of his head as if jostling the universal translator she knew was in there. “I’m doing this wrong,” he muttered. “A pirate would just take her.”
She frowned in confusion. “Take me where? Raz, you’re starting tofreak me out.”
He took a short, sharp step toward her, then seemed to stumble. She’d never seen him so graceless, and she reached out to catch him before he fell. But he went to one knee in front of her and held up a small box. She stared at it uncertainly, her heartbeat skittering. She angled her askance gaze to his royal blue eyes. “Raz…”
“I’m proposing to you,” he said again, sliding backthe intricately carved lid.
It was a ring.
“Thatkind of proposing?” she squeaked.
Shifting his weight restlessly on his knee, he scowled. “According to Earther tradition, you should shriek yes, yes, yes and snatch the ring from the box.”
She choked on a frantic, little laugh. “That’s for people who are getting married.”
“Actually, it’s for an engagement,” he corrected. “Rayna Quaye,” hesaid solemnly. “Will you engage me?”
Her giggle this time was even more panicked. “Are you that desperate to get your mother off your back?”
“Yes. Just as you were determined to get away from Blackworm and go home.” He looked up at her. “Rayna, you inspire me to climb out of my trap.”
She inspired him? “This is all very odd,” she murmured.
His lips quirked. “More odd than discovering thataliens exist?”
“Yes! Because now one is proposing to me!”
He slipped the ring from the box and held it up to the light of the astro-fire. The savage sparkles made her breath catch. Whatever the stone was, it was brighter than any diamond she’d ever seen.
“Just for the ball,” he said.
That brought her up short when she caught herself leaning toward the ring. “What?”
“Take the ring,” he urged.“Just for the ball. My mother won’t throw marriageable worthies at me, and you’ll be safe from unscrupulous unworthies thinking they might capitalize on the unworldsliness of an abducted closed-world innocent.”
She wrinkled her nose. Was that how he saw her? Unworldsly? And she’d always considered herself the tough, practical, “What do I have that anyone could possibly want?”
His clear blueeyes were half-lidded but caught the sparks from the ring. “You have you.”
That made even less sense than an alien duke proposing to her.
“You’ve already discovered there are those in this universe that would use you against your will.” His mouth turned down. “You’ll find more of them at the ball, no doubt. With this ring, you—and by extension, the other Earthers—will have all the noble protectionof the Duchy of Azthronos, with its dreadnaughts, its blood champions and avatars, not to mention its eleven billion brave, wonderful citizens.” He took her left hand in his. “And its duke.”
She looked down at their joined hands, hers shaking, his with the glittering gem poised at her ring finger. “Raz…”
His grip tightened on her. “I will be here for you even if you say no again.” He leanedforward to press a soft kiss against her knuckle where the ring would rest. “But I wanted you to have something real, something to believe in and hold onto, so you’d know you weren’t alone out there.”
The breath caught in her throat so hard it was almost a sob. How could he understand, after so little time together, what she needed when she herself wouldn’t acknowledge that weakness?