She wished she knew how to even find out Mr. Grey’s first name. Maybe an idea would present itself, but in the meantime, she’d dream of him and do her best to find him again in ten days when the ship returned to Earth.
Hopefully, they’d be able to stay on Earth longer than a few hours before launching back toward Alpha-Prime.
The next ten days would probably seem like ten years. The foolish idea of remaining on Earth crossed her mind more than once. Likely her parents would send a sand-claw beast to hunt her down and bring her back in its razor-honed talons.
With any luck, she’d be able to stay longer than half a day at the Earth colony’s basement facility.
While Lucy couldn’t very well turn down a long-standing arranged marriage to marry a nameless man who worked on the Earth colony and who was a great dancer, she did want to discover if she had a way out of the agreement. She would need his entire name at the very least to even voice such a scandalous request.
There were other considerations. The most important in her mind—beyond whether he’d let her read books to her heart’s content—was the level of Mr. Grey’s desire to remain on Earth. That was a possibility she needed to consider.
Once wed, she’d be given a small home in the most prestigious sphere on Alpha-Prime. She didn’t know which of the five homes her father purchased for his daughters would be granted to her, but the idea of remaining on her home planet wasn’t her first choice. Sure, the home would likely be a grand place, but she wasn’t certain she wanted to remain in the realm of her parents’ high-society world or under their prestigious thumbs once wed.
Any property on Alpha-Prime, even a nice one, didn’t mean her prospective groom would want to live there. Either the groom in her arranged marriage or the partly named one she’d already secretly chosen would have equal say in where they lived, though deference was often shown to the groom during the rare dispute.
Naturally, she considered living on the wild Earth colony. She’d become an Earther if she married Mr. Grey and lived on his adopted world. There were certainly worse things, such as owning a property that would have to be completely remodeled because it was as old as Alpha-Prime’s sand-blasted Outer Basin.
Her sisters would love to spend the credits necessary to rebuild their future homes. Even Francine couldn’t wait to decorate whatever place she ended up in, but Lucy would rather have a place that was ready to be a home.
Beyond reading, Lucy liked to cook, but didn’t often get the opportunity. It had been fun making cookies with her father’s mother. She was the only granddaughter who’d ever spent time with Grammy Matilda in her well-used kitchen. Lucy also didn’t mind traveling to see new places and things.
This was the first journey she and her family had ever made to this galaxy. Earth fascinated her. She’d read up on the wild planet and seen pictures and videos of the incredibly tall trees, but hadn’t believed they existed until arriving on Earth.
The amazing trees she’d seen through the airship’s windows as they’d landed were a sight to behold. The walkway into the way station had been lined on either side with tall trees. One even had a wide yellow ribbon wrapped around it. Maybe that was a special tree.
She had heard there was lots of water here, too. Oceans, lakes and rivers filled with water. Alpha-Prime had oceans, too, but most of the water was super salty and undrinkable unless massively filtered.
Alphas who explored Earth were either lovers or haters of the wild planet, but all of them remarked on the impressive height of the trees and the abundance of fresh water.
It was a very different environment from her homeworld. One she’d have to get used to…if she could find out Mr. Grey’s first name and, most importantly, if he was interested in more than just a quick dance with a stranger. And if she could get out of her arranged marriage.So many ifs.
Lucy was getting way ahead of herself. Here she was selecting a planet to live on for the rest of her life when she didn’t even know the first name of the man she couldn’t stop thinking about.
Mr. Grey.HerMr. Grey.
Lucy was the middle daughter of the five Duvall sisters. She was considered the least pretty. Not that she was an ugly hag or anything, but her sisters were stunning. They were gorgeous even when they didn’t spend hours prepping to step out the door. They looked better first thing out of bed in the morning than Lucy did completely decked out in makeup and a fancy dress. She wasn’t the only one who believed that. Her sisters were beautiful enough that people everywhere stopped to point and stare anytime their family was out and about.
Every one of her sisters had naturally wavy, rich dark blond hair with golden streaks, soft, porcelain features and, really, they were all just so much more attractive than her. She was the only sister with red in her hair. Streaks of flame, her father called it.
Along with the less desirable red in her hair, Lucy’s locks sported no curls or waves whatsoever. Her mother said more than once the red-streaked strands were as straight as a building column. Lucy didn’t have a porcelain complexion. Her skin had more of a rosy hue and never more so than when she blushed, which happened a lot. Red hair and a reddish complexion were not the hallmarks of beauty on Alpha-Prime.
Everyone who saw the Duvalls together asked if Lucy was a friend of the family or if she’d been adopted. She hadn’t. She got her looks from her father’s mother. Lucy loved Grammy Matilda. She’d been considered eccentric because not only did she cook her own food, but sometimes she made her own clothing. She hadn’t been someone who dressed up or wore fancy makeup, either. Just like Lucy.
Her sisters took after their gorgeous mother. In the great scheme of things, it wasn’t fair, but a relentlessly pragmatic Lucy figured things could be worse. She wasn’t hideous, just sort of plain with reddish, straight hair and a dislike of all things girly.
She pushed out a sigh, then remembered something warm and wonderful.
Mr. Grey had called her beautiful. He’d stared into her light green eyes as if they were as perfect and fine as her sisters’ rich emerald-green eyes, courtesy of their handsome father, Harrison Duvall. Mr. Grey held her close, as if he thought she was pretty, likable…worthy of a man’s attention.
It was the first time she’d ever danced with a man she wasn’t related to, and she liked it very much.
Practical or not, foolish or not, Lucy liked Mr. Grey and counted down the hours until she could see him again.
The trip through the galaxy was fine. This wasn’t the first time Lucy’s large family had traveled extensively on a galaxy cruise liner. They’d been to almost every galaxy surrounding Alpha-Prime. In the last few years they’d traveled to five realms and seen many interesting places.
Lucy spent much of her free time reading, as she typically did on these extended trips through space with her family. The ten-day trip back to Earth seemed to take a month. There wasn’t a conscious moment when she wasn’t thinking about a certain handsome dancer back on the Earth colony way station.
