“I know. I was horrid. Can you ever forgive me?” A tear rolled down her face. Adeline Duvall never cried.
“I suppose so.”
“Will you let me come to your wedding?”
She exchanged a meaningful glance with Raphael. “Yes. If we have a wedding, you will be invited.”
“Ifyou have a wedding?” Her mother’s voice turned harsh. “What do you mean by that?”
“We might elope,” Francine said.
“Elope?” She looked aghast. Rich people like her parents and their peers loved all the pomp and circumstance of a complicated wedding. An elopement was unthinkable in their world.
Raphael spoke up. “Actually, we planned an extension of this trip. We’re going to look at a few wedding venues and honeymoon destinations on the way back to the Earth colony.”
“I see.” She looked relieved. No doubt she thought even a small wedding was better than eloping. “Well, please let me know if you need any help. Even if it’s a small wedding, I know that we could make it beautiful.”
Francine nodded. “I’ll contact you once we get back to Earth when we decide our exact plans.”
“Thank you, Francine. That would be lovely.” She brushed the tear from her cheek. “Would it be all right with you both if I announce your engagement and coming wedding to the dinner guests?”
Raphael cleared his throat. “As long as you don’t tie us down to a particular date. We aren’t certain with our schedules exactly when we’ll get married.”
She nodded, hugged them both and turned to go back inside.
Raphael lifted Francine’s hand and kissed the backs of her fingers. “I feel like we just escaped certain death and adrenalin is still pumping through my veins. Not that I didn’t want to marry you today, I would have, but I truly need to visit the places next up on our trip to help a friend.”
“No worries. I feel the same way. Like I’ve just run Ichor-Delta fast around the planet a few times.”
Raphael smiled at her reference of running Ichor-Delta fast, adding, “After dinner, we’ll head back to the hotel. Our flight isn’t until early afternoon, so we can sleep in.”
“Awesome.”
“We can take our time, lounge around and have brunch delivered to the room. What do you say?”
“Sounds like my fiancé—who’s not fake anymore—has figured out that the fastest way to my heart is sleeping late along with room service brunch. He’s a smart man.”
“We just like the same things.”
“I’m so glad. So, what will we do tonight, back in the room, all alone together?” she asked with a mischievous grin.
Raphael’s gaze simmered with intensity. “I’m sure we’ll think of something,” he said in a sexy voice.
Chapter Ten
Early the next afternoon, Raphael helped Francine into the vehicle he’d hired to take them to the spaceport. The morning had been a whirlwind of activity, even though they’d slept in and had a long, luxurious brunch in their room.
They stayed up late talking about all the unspoken things they’d held back. He told her how and why he’d been kicked out of his home and family. She told him about Howard and what he’d done to her long ago. If Raphael had known what an unmitigated villain he’d been to Francine, he might have announced the man’s relationship to Indigo Smith a little louder at the reception and then invited him outside for a thrashing.
It was late when Francine finally fell asleep wrapped in his arms. He swore to himself he’d never lie to her ever again. Not for any reason.
Once he figured out if he could help Victor with his bounty problem, he pondered the impact of Francine being in his life. Kissing her forehead as she sighed in her sleep, he wondered how he’d managed to live without her.
Being a bounty hunter was often a lonely profession. Until recently, he hadn’t minded it so much. He rarely slept in the same bed more than two nights in a row. He spent lots of time traveling, tracking and trying to figure out and find his quarry as quickly as possible. Then it was on to the next bounty, the next hunt, the next lonely trip.
Cam’s offer of a security position on the Earth colony at the Big Bang Truck Stop was becoming more and more appealing. Sure, he’d miss some aspects of being a galactic bounty hunter, but having Francine to come home to each and every night was something he looked forward to.
