Before meeting Lucy, Axel hadn’t thought much about settling down. Eventually he would want a family of his own, but he hadn’t met anyone who made him want to bend the rules or consider a future down the marriage-and-kids road.
Two minutes with Lucy and he was picturing their wedding outdoors in the woods in a small meadow within sight of Alienn, Arkansas’s water tower with a grinning Maxwell the Martian dangling off the side. There had been a couple of weddings there before and if he got any say at all, that was his choice, weather permitting.
Patmore cleared his throat. He launched into what was sure to be a lengthy sermon. “Mrs. Duvall wasn’t very happy to discover—”
“Would you be surprised to learn that I don’t care about what Mrs. Duvall had to say? I especially don’t want to hear it repeated by you.” Axel wasn’t typically so surly, but the possibility that Lucy wasn’t going to be in his future made him extra cranky.
Patmore slammed his lips together in a line. He sniffed twice and walked away without another word.
Axel didn’t care if Patmore was miffed. He wanted to find out whether Lucy stood a chance of getting out of the employ of the Duvall family or if she was some sort of indentured servant.
How could he find that out? He searched his memory and an idea flashed the perfect answer in his mind. He knewexactlywho he could ask.
Axel went back out to the parking lot, hopped into his truck and headed for Cam’s property by the lake and the house he was renovating. Axel parked next to Cam’s SUV and headed to the newly installed ornate door.
Before he could knock, Ria opened the door and stepped onto the porch. “Axel? What are you doing out here? Cam is in town.”
“I know. He’s at work. Actually, I came to talk to you.”
“Me? Huh. Okay.” His sister-in-law’s eyes narrowed with curiosity but she stepped aside to let him in. “Don’t mind the mess, we’re tearing down the hallway bathroom and, well,” she paused as if trying to find the right explanation. “It’s been a long ride on the struggle bus this week.”
Axel grinned. “Aunt Dixie taught you about the struggle bus, did she?”
“Perhaps.”
Axel knew all about riding the struggle bus. “No worries. This won’t take long.”
“Okay. Shoot.”
“Do you know the Duvall family on Alpha-Prime?”
Her eyes widened, and her brows went to her hairline. “The Duvall family, of the Designer class, you mean?”
He nodded. “Yeah. Them. What can you tell me?”
“Um. They are rich beyond anyone’s wildest imagination. They have a family of five daughters and it’s pretty common knowledge that every single one has had an arranged marriage set up since they were born.”
“Okay. Whatever. I’d really like to know more about their servants.”
Her brows scrunched. “Their servants?”
“Yeah. Do you know anything about them?”
“Like what?”
“Are they indentured servants? Do they have free will over their employment? Do you know?”
Ria shrugged. “Can’t say. Indentured servants aren’t as common as they once were. Usually thebondedemployees are similar to someone like my mother, who was once part of the upper class, lost all their money, but didn’t want to exit the trappings of living alongside the upper class, so they work for them.
“As far as the Duvall family is concerned, the number of employees is likely vast, but I don’t know the arrangements about their service or if they have any bonded employees. I’m dying to ask why you want to know. Am I allowed to ask that?”
Axel grinned. Thinking about Lucy made him happy and smiley. “I met a girl in the gift shop when theRoyal Caldera Fortecame to port earlier this month.”
Ria crossed her arms and a wily grin shaped her mouth. “Do tell.”
“She’s amazing. She’s inquisitive. She’s easy to talk to. I love dancing with her and her kisses make me swoon.”
“Swoon?Really? And you’ve already kissed heranddanced with her?”
