When the appointed hour came, Axel did the fastest inspection ever aboard theRoyal Caldera Fortean hour before departure. The one passenger, in fact the only passenger, he wanted to see never crossed his path. The abbreviated schedule meant he didn’t have time for a thorough enough inspection to find his lovely dance partner.
Likely she was working extra hours, preparing her rich employers for their sooner than expected departure from Earth.
The next time Cam wanted time off during a luxury liner port of call, Axel was going to go on vacation himself and leave it to Diesel to cover for their brother. Then again, if he hadn’t been on his way to see Patmore for an early morning report after the ship docked, he never would have met the most gorgeous woman alive. Lucy.
The large ship zoomed into space without any problems. Axel watched it go with a bit of melancholy because he’d missed seeing Lucy one more time. He felt an equal measure of anticipation. It was only ten days until the ship’s return. The idea of spending more time with Lucy loomed large in his heart and soul. His mystery girl would return with the ship in a mere ten days.
Axel would be counting down the hours.
Chapter Three
Lucinda Hayward Duvall—Lucy to most peoplenotin her immediate family—watched through the space portal as the blue-green sphere that was Earth dwindled from view as they departed the only colony residing there.
She’d been caught by surprise when the early departure was announced and she was forced to immediately return to the airship. She’d wanted to run into a certain someone again. She thought quite a lot about Mr. Grey, and wondered which of the storied Grey brothers she’d danced with and dreamed about kissing. It was common knowledge among well-read Alphas that the Grey family was in charge of all the way station facilities at the Big Bang Truck Stop on Earth.
Earth was more famous than other way stations because the indigenous population didn’t know about Alpha-Prime or that aliens lived among their people.
The most famous of the Grey brothers was probably Diesel, their recently promoted Fearless Leader, or possibly Cam, the inventor of the Alpha Submissive Sticker and the human memory-wiping device called the Defender, although Lucy couldn’t recall ever seeing a picture of either man.
The man she’d danced with in the small store in the underground space traveler’s stop had been very intriguing, but he hadn’t worn a handy nametag like most of the other way station employees. He also wasn’t wearing a shiny silver employee uniform.
Was he the leader of the Earth colony, Diesel Grey? He didn’t seem gruff or stuffy, like she’d expect a leader to be. He also didn’t seem like a scientist or inventor like Cam Grey, but looks could be deceiving, she supposed.
The Mr. Grey she’d met was very attractive, very fun, very engaging and approachable and a very wonderful dancer. His attitude seemed happy and upbeat. He’d called her darlin’ like an Earther, which she loved. And Lucy couldn’t wait to see him again.
A glance down at her clothing made her wince in memory of how she’d been dressed when she met the unidentified Mr. Grey.
She had wanted to be incognito when she disembarked. She hadn’t wanted anyone, either Earther, family relative or fellow passenger, to know she was with an Alpha-Prime super prestigious Designer family. Nor that she was a member of the esteemed Duvall family. Everyone knew about the five Duvall sisters.
It was all well and good to be basically thought of as a princess, but Lucy wasn’t princess material, at least not to her mind. Her four sisters, on the other hand, took that role to a new and lofty plane. Well, most of them did. Francine was second born and she was Lucy’s best friend. Francine did love dressing up and wearing nice things, but she wasn’t snooty about it.
Lucy, on the other hand, hated dressing up and all the pain, time and torture that went into her four sisters’ regimented makeup and dressing routines before even stepping foot from their private rooms at home. It took them even longer while they traveled absolutely anywhere away from home and especially on the cruise liner through space. One would have thought they readied themselves to meet royalty each time they exited their well-appointed staterooms.
Even so, Lucy had been more dressed down that usual during her foray into the Earth way station. Had Mr. Grey noticed her simple clothes? Maybe not. He’d danced with her and called her beautiful.
Her eldest sister said some men didn’t concern themselves with such things as pretty clothing, but Ardelia certainly had comments to make if girls she knew wore plainer or less costly fashions. Lucy had been Ardelia’s regular and primary target for the whole of her life. Francine was the only sibling who stuck up for her and regularly told Ardelia to stuff it.
Lucy suspected Ardelia and their two younger sisters had heard from any number of people back on Alpha-Prime and on the cruise about Lucy’s lack of fancy things and her regular practice of not wearing anything remotely stylish or expensive.
Truthfully, Lucy did well enough to have actual clothes on instead of pajamas whenever she wandered out of her room. Her mother and three of her four sisters disparaged her, but she couldn’t be bothered. What difference did it make anyway?
She was promised to some unknown groom to be revealed in the future once all of her sisters were of an age to marry. Her fate had been set long ago in the form of an arranged marriage with a family of good standing on Alpha-Prime. Arranged marriages were a very common practice, especially among the rich who wanted to protect their wealth and combine their fortunes with other well-to-do, like-thinking families.
Marriages had been arranged for all five of the Duvall daughters long ago, complete with documentation agreed to by both sets of parents soon after the girls’ births. The details and names of the prospective grooms’ families had been kept hush-hush because their parents had specific ideas about how these arranged marriages would be carried out.
Once their youngest child reached marriageable age, all five of the Duvall sisters would complete the arranged marriage agreements. Her parents decided they wanted to have all the weddings performed in birth order from eldest to youngest, in the same year.
Lucy’s mother Adeline was already selecting themes, colors and venues times five with help from their maternal grandmother, Gertrude. Not so secretly, though, because Grandmother Gertrude was terribly hard of hearing, poor dear, and shouted everything that came out of her mouth.
Even ensconced behind the solid walls of the family library, if anyone in the family happened to walk past the thick door, the machinations going on inside could be heard clearly. And the five sisters would share any new information they heard shouted from inside the library.
Until meeting Mr. Grey, Lucy hadn’t particularly cared who her intended husband was. Her life wasn’t boring, at least not to her, but she spent most of her time with her nose in a book. She loved to read. Up to now her only requirement for a husband was that he be someone who’d let her read as much as she wanted. She’d never met any man on Alpha-Prime who made her heart skip a beat or made her face go hot.
Now, she wondered. She wanted to know if she had to accept this mystery groom her parents had selected for her, or if she’d be able to select her own man, if the original choice wasn’t feasible for some reason. Like he wasn’t the man she’d danced with on the Earth colony way station, and she didn’t want anyone else.
Lucy’s first and only choice was now Mr. Grey, first name unknown. The man she’d wanted to kiss and hug and snuggle with the moment he took her into his arms for that impromptu dance, until Director Patmore had interrupted them.Drat that man’s interference.
