Page 52 of The Intergalactic Duke's Inconvenient Engagement
“I’ll have to thank, uh, him?” Reyna lowered her voice.
Vaughnhugged her close. “It’s confusing, isn’t it? I’m here now, and I’ll explain everything.” She pushed Rayna away playfully. “Now I get to be the big, smart sis.”
Except Rayna had never wanted her little sister to have to take care of her. That hadn’t been the deal she’d made with the universe: I’ll do everything right, and you make sure nothing else bad happens to my family.
Anyway, Vaughn didn’thave the answers she most wanted…
But she linked elbows with her sister and turned to face the approaching alien. “Dejo Jinn.” She smiled warmly. “I’m told you decoded Blackworm’s secrets to find the space station. I can’t say thank you enough times. And also thank you for keeping my sister out of trouble while I was gone.” She sidelonged a glance at Vaughn who snickered.
Dejo inclined his head,and short, striped feathers in his hair rippled with the movement. “The former was my job. As to the latter…I make no promises about your sister’s troublesomeness.”
Vaughn launched herself at him, making Rayna catch her breath at the reckless maneuver on the stairs—and at the evidence of her previously ornery sister’s affection for the partly feathered alien.
Dejo caught her easily, as if herarmy-honed body was a feather to him. He brushed his lips over her forehead with a reverence that made Rayna’s eyes burn before setting Vaughn back on her boots beside him. “Still,” he conceded, “it was her obstinance that led us to find you.” He smiled. “And lets her put up with me. So you and I should both be grateful for the way you raised her.”
Vaughn touched his cheek before turning backto Rayna. “I’m so sad and mad about what you went through.” She glowered. “If Blackworm wasn’t already in prison…”
“I don’t remember most of it, before waking up,” Rayna admitted. “And after waking up”—being saved by an alien duke, seeing the universe, having Raz inside her, his strong arms holding her fast and his kiss taking her higher than the stars— “it wasn’t so bad.”
Vaughn scowled. “Iwant to throw you on theOnoffonright now and set course for getthefuckouttahere. I’ve been here like three minutes and I can’t hardly breathe. Are those actual naked Greek statues holding up the eaves of the house?”
“Well, presumably they are naked Thorkon statues,” Rayna said, restraining a grin; her sister had always been class conscious. “I think they’re kind of festive.” She gestured forthem to follow her. “C’mon. You can get a closer look.”
As they topped the stairs, Dejo craned his neck to study the statues. “Quality craftsmanship. Really fine work,” he pronounced. “And provide excellent access to unsecured upper windows.”
Rayna blinked at him while Vaughn snorted in agreement. “Maybe we can offer a discount security consult,” she mused, “and take this trip as a write-off.”
Glancing back at the bigger ship, Rayna paused in the main doorway. “Should we wait for the envoy?”
Dejo shook his head. “We caught up with them because they’re preoccupied with hammering out the specifics of the station ownership. Who knows how long it’ll take them.”
Vaughn nudged Rayna’s elbow as they entered the main hall. “One-fifth of a space station. You’re rich, sis.”
The reminder sankRayna’s joy at being reunited with her sister, and her confusion over Raz’s behavior swamped over her again.
She’d never wanted to be seen as helpless, but… She’d thought Raz had given her the ring only because he was protecting her from—what had he called them?— “unscrupulous unworthies” capitalizing on her “unworldsliness”. He’d silently declared her as his noble possession, which was unacceptablyprimitive—and yet also strangely enticing. Being safeguarded by his ring had been as irresistible as yielding to the pleasures of his touch.
But were those unscrupulous unworthies actually him? Had Raz, the powerful male and gentle lover, wanted to shield her? Or had the Duke of Azthronos sought to stake his claim on the value of a Black Hole Bride?
“A fifth of a space station,” she muttered.“I don’t even know what it means.”
Vaughn held up her hand and enclosed her fingers until only the middle one remained. “One-fifth. That’s to Blackworm,” she said. “Dejo has an accounting acquaintance at one of the biggest transgalactic firms. We won’t meet with the envoy and the consortium and everyone else until we’ve heard from him. He’s running some numbers to make sure you don’t get fucked.”
Too late. Rayna bit the inside of her lower lip to stop herself from giggling or blurting out the whole larfing story to her little sis.
Back at their suites, she introduced her sister and partner to the other women. She’d asked Lishelle and Trixie if they’d prefer to retreat to the back rooms rather than risk more memories that would have to be erased, but once they heard about the space stationdeal, they decided not.
“We’re rich?” Trixie repeated weakly as she sank onto the couch.
“Not quite yet.” Dejo smiled up at Rayna as she brought carafes of coffee and pixberry tea to the low table. “But that’s our aim.”
Had that been Raz’s only aim too? Rayna found herself twisting the ring again as she ignored the carafes and sat beside her sister, too agitated for either caffeine or the sweet-tartmemory of Raz’s kiss.
Lishelle shook her head. “How are we supposed to figure out what to do with a space station?”
“That’s one of the things we’ll have to work out,” Vaughn said. “I’m guessing there will be some sort of conservatorship.”
Rayna clenched her hand. Had that been Raz’s guess too? Who better to run a space station than the leader of the nearest inhabited solar system?