Royal: A Sci-Fi Romance (The Jekh Saga Book 5) Read online

  Apparently, his good looks weren’t the result of aggressive Photoshopping in the way she’d always thought.

  “Oreva,” Alex called over to the darker-skinned man who carried a briefcase handle in one hand and a portable holo-image projector in the other. He was mixed up somehow, like her.

  People were too polite to talk about that, though. Her mother was more or less a buried footnote in the Ray history, and people were always shocked when they found out she wasn’t the thoroughbred they’d thought.

  As curious as she was, she wouldn’t ask him. She’d leave that to Cree.

  “They’re running behind on dinner,” Alex told him. “Are you fine with waiting? If not, I can take you into Little Gitano and see what’s available. Just so you know, things tend to close early here.”

  “I would have never guessed,” Autumn murmured.

  “As long as there’s someplace for me to set up my work, I won’t ask to go anywhere in particular,” Oreva said.

  “If he needs to use the office, I’m sure Brenna and Ara can make some space for him,” Courtney said.

  “Then I’m fine with waiting.”

  Luke looked to Autumn. There was a question in his dark stare—an obvious one. It asked, “Well, what about you, I guess?”

  The way Autumn saw things, she had two choices. She could lie for the sake of everyone else’s comfort and say that she was fine with waiting, when truly, she craved rest. Or she could use the hard-won assertiveness she’d earned since college and ask for her wishes to be accommodated.

  She’d barely opened her mouth to request the second thing, when Cree said, “I want to meet everyone. Who’s here? Can I meet them?”

  Courtney chuckled. “There are lots of people here. If you’re the kind of lady who thrives in crowded dinner parties, you’ll do swimmingly.”

  “Coming!”

  Autumn sighed and tightened her grip around her sister’s arm. Apparently, they were going. She wouldn’t deny her such a trifling thing.

  “See you all in a bit, then,” Courtney said. “Excuse the mess.”

  The COM chirped twice, and the connection closed.

  “We’ll come back out later and get your luggage off the ship,” Luke said. “When you’re ready to go into town, we’ll take the truck.”

  The Jekhan man from Alex Hauge’s ship walked ahead of them, nodding brusquely as he passed.

  Alex followed with Oreva.

  Luke gestured toward them. “After you, ladies.”

  They walked.

  Autumn didn’t notice that Luke wasn’t keeping up until Alex looked over his shoulder. His gaze didn’t fall on the women behind him, but on the person who should have been behind them.

  Luke was AWOL again.

  Alex gave Autumn an inscrutable look, and then faced forward once more, resuming his previous conversation with Oreva.

  Rude bastard.

  But what else could she expect of a royal? Of course he’d stare down his nose at someone like her. He’d think she was just no-class new money.

  Maybe he was right. Given her father’s behavior, it was natural that people would make that assumption.

  “I can’t believe we’re going to meet the McGarrys,” Cree whispered excitedly.

  Ah! The McGarrys.

  That was why Courtney’s name was familiar. Autumn had forgotten that the politically famous McGarrys were friends of the Cipriani family.

  Her attachment to Luke was sounding better and better. They could make pathways for Autumn’s venture on the planet. They’d earned a great deal of clout with their support of the Jekhan people.

  “Yes, this is exciting for sure,” Autumn demurred. “Just don’t tell Daddy you met any of them.”

  “Oh, I don’t plan on telling him anything. I don’t have to talk to him.”

  “If he’s paying your tuition, you do. He’ll do the same to you that he did to me and not pay child support if your mother’s not keeping you in line.”

  Cree shrugged in the most hostile manner Autumn had ever seen from her. “Child support is for the child, not the mother. If I’m not there, the money doesn’t matter. And don’t worry.” She cut her sister a look. “If he finds out the real reason you took a leave of absence was to come to Jekh, he isn’t going to find out from me.”

  “He’s going to blow his top,” Autumn murmured.

  “Yeah. He is. You should hear him talk about people like Alex’s father and grandfather. He’s so jealous he didn’t try to get in on Jekh ten years ago to cut deals like his friends did.”

  “But look where his friends are all now,” Autumn whispered back. “Half are in jail, a quarter are bankrupt, and the rest are social pariahs.”

  “You know Daddy always thinks he’ll be the exception. He’s convinced he’ll make things work that no one else could.”

  “I keep hoping that one of these days, someone will put his delusions of grandeur to bed.”

  In truth, she was hoping she could be that someone. Daddy would get his just desserts if his own daughter scooped him on an opportunity. She’d been sure to dot every I and cross every T, too. There was no way he could claim ownership for anything she accomplished on Jekh. She’d never signed her employment contract, and no one from H.R. had followed up. According to her lawyer, there was no conflict of interest whatsoever. Still, she planned to put in her formal notice that she quit as soon as she was sure she had legal residency on Jekh.

  “Maybe someone will take him down a peg some day,” Cree said.

  “Maybe us.”

  Autumn took a deep bracing breath, squared her shoulders, and walked toward her fate. She just needed to keep up the pleasantries for a little while longer, and then she could get to work. She refused to fail, and her success depended on her getting acclimated as soon as possible.

  There was just the small matter of convincing Luke to say “I do” first.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  The Beshni clan generally set out a fine spread for meals. Oreva certainly seemed to be enjoying every morsel set in front of him, but Alex had no appetite. The balance of personnel in the room precluded such, and he couldn’t help but observe reactions. Including his own.

  Autumn was sitting across from him at the long farmhouse table and a seat to the left.

  Luke was directly across from him and seemed too reluctant to meet anyone’s gaze.

  Not his sister’s, who was glaring at him with the sort of intensity she generally reserved for the person who’d taken the last cup of coffee.

  Not Ais’s, with her furrowed brow and lips turned downward at the corners.

  Not Alex’s, although Alex kept nudging his foot under the table and getting his foot nudged back.

  They needed to have a conversation. Luke had obviously learned something. He’d arrived at the house twenty minutes after the rest of them wearing a tight-lipped smile Alex knew damned well was phony. Better than anyone, he knew the things Luke’s face did. He’d spent the better part of the past year staring at his face both with and without him knowing.

  Alex opened his mouth to say something—anything—to get his attention. Before he could get the words out, though, Precious piped up with, “Luke, did you take my scanner?”

  Luke scoffed. “What?”

  “My scanner. The one that detects dead chips.”

  “I have no idea where you keep your tools, so I can assure you, I haven’t been near them.”

  “Are you sure? Why don’t you go look, anyway?”

  “Look where?”

  “In my room. Would have been on top of the dresser mixed in with hair elastics and guns and stuff.”

  “I haven’t been in your room in a year.”

  “I’d feel better if you went and took a look, anyway. I just don’t buy that it sprouted legs and walked away.”

  He rolled his eyes and pushed back from the table. “Fine.”

  Precious started to stand, but Alex stood first. “Finish your dinner. I’ll make sure he gives the s
earch the proper consideration.” He took off before she could respond.

  He could guess what she was going to say to Luke, and he wasn’t surprised that she still followed anyway.

  In the bedroom, she shut the door behind her, and she and Alex began speaking to Luke at the same time.

  “That chick gives me bad vibes,” she said as Alex asked, “What were you doing when you went back to the ship?”

  Alex and Precious stared with annoyance at each other, then at Luke.

  Luke drummed his fingertips against the sides of his arms and ground his teeth.

  “Talk,” Precious said to him.

  He shrugged. “About what? Looks like you’re all set to do plenty of talking for the both of us.”

  “She’s not your type,” she said.

  Obviously, Alex agreed, so he gave a co-signing nod.

  “Oh, yeah?” Luke said. “What makes you think that?”

  “You underestimate what I know. You think I haven’t paid attention to the folks you brought home to Ma’s for dinner?”

  “I don’t think there was a single similarity amongst them.”

  “Yeah, they were all very different, but they actually did have one thing in common. They were warm people. She’s not.”

  Luke rolled his eyes again, and then looked to Alex. “And what do you have to add to this pile-on?”

  “I’m simply trying to find out what you learned when you went back to your ship.”

  Luke dragged his hand down his face and let out a breath. “Nothing that gave me the warm-fuzzies, that’s for damn sure. Not sure what I can do. Nothing I found is really big enough to confront her about, but it’s all shit I’d keep in the back of my mind to be suspicious about later. Why is she here, you know?”

  “So you don’t believe she just saw your profile and decided that she’d see where things went?” Precious asked.

  “I think the more likely scenario was that she searched the system for someone she wouldn’t mind being associated with,” Alex said. “Everything specific was just ignorable details.”

  “What do you know about her?” Precious asked.

  “A great deal. If you’d like to glean everything in a rousing story, you could ask Oreva. He’s a wonk for salacious details and never forgets a juicy tidbit.”

  “Cool. I like that guy. I’ll ask him the next time I’m bored. Right now, just give me the overview.”

  “Her family is well-known in commercial real estate circles and hotel and resort development. Her father tends to make deals that, in the end, leave someone else taking the fall. He’s made a fortune from preying on people’s good intentions, and he’ll bulldoze anyone who gets in his way.”

  “Friends in low places,” Luke murmured.

  “Yes. Political and otherwise. Miss Ray may not be aware of it, but her father has had a minor vendetta with my company for the better part of five years because of the work Oreva did to shut him out of Bermuda. We don’t even have business holdings there, but Oreva has a private home on the island and didn’t want to see RayCorp come in with another of those disastrous developments.”

  “She didn’t act like she recognized Oreva.”

  “Oreva, like me, does little of his business in-person. She’d need to make a few leaps of logic before she figured out that we’re connected to our company and that our company often subverts theirs.”

  Luke raked a hand through his hair and stared at the closed door.

  “What are you going to do?” Precious asked.

  Luke shrugged. “Dunno. I can’t send her back based off of what she might do.”

  “You can send her back for being an ice cube.”

  “People need time to warm up.”

  “Are you fucking kidding me?” Alex spat at him.

  “Careful,” Luke said flatly, “or people might start to think your concern has more to do with something besides business.”

  Precious sucked her teeth. “So fucking stupid. Everyone else might be blind to what’s going on between you two, but I could sense a hate-to-love-you relationship at twenty paces.”

  Shit.

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Luke said, blinking.

  “Bullshit. And you think I care? Whatever. I know better than anyone when to keep my mouth shut.”

  “What, precisely, are you keeping your mouth shut about?” Alex asked. “Perhaps you’re seeing something that doesn’t exist.”

  “You talk real pretty, Alex, and you might be able to fool most people.” She tapped her temple and narrowed her dark eyes at him. “But I understand people. I see the way they interact, and I’m good at guessing what that means.”

  “Here we go,” Luke muttered, staring at the ceiling.

  “Like for instance, I’ve known for years about him and Owen.”

  “What about them?” Of course, Alex already knew. He’d play along, though, and see where she was going with her reasoning.

  “See! Ha!” She stabbed her brother’s shoulder with her index finger. “The fact he hasn’t interjected means he already told you.”

  Shit.

  “But what he doesn’t know is how bad Owen feels that he can’t reciprocate.”

  Luke raised a brow. Obviously, that was news to him.

  Precious nodded. “Uh-huh. See. I believe with my whole heart that he wishes he could because it would make so many things easier. He’s known you too long as something else—as just his friend. Give him another five years, though, and he’ll probably come around.”

  “You serious?”

  Alex had no intentions of allowing the man five years. Owen had already had a head start of far too long.

  “Hell, maybe in five years’ time, Ais will decide that she could put up with the both of you.” Precious grinned.

  “You’re a troglodyte,” Luke muttered. “A bottom-feeder. A ghoul.”

  “That may be so.” She wagged a scolding finger at him. “But I’m an honest one. I watch people like it’s my goddamned job, and I understand people. And I understand that you and Alex weren’t playing footsie under the kitchen table a few minutes ago intending to exchange shin bruises out of pure hatred.”

  “Kicking each other under the table could have meant anything.”

  “True. But what it probably meant is that you’re conspiring about something. I’m sure as far as everyone else is concerned, you’re being discreet enough about it, but I—”

  “Yeah, yeah.” Luke rolled his eyes again. “You understand people.”

  “Good. You’re learning. I’m proud of you.” She turned to Alex. “So.”

  Alex didn’t know what she was getting at. “So what?”

  “Are you trying to get rid of the ice princess to pave the way for a Luke-Ais-Owen threesome five years down the line?”

  Alex ground his teeth. There was no good answer to that, though Luke certainly seemed interested in what would come out of his mouth. He’d cocked his head and put a fist beneath his chin, watching him like a college student at a fascinating lecture.

  “Of course I’m not,” Alex said finally through his clenched teeth.

  “So, your annoyance is personal, then.”

  He grunted.

  “And you’re not gay.”

  “I…” He shrugged. “I don’t…know, really.”

  Her hard stare softened. “But, you like him?” She crooked her thumb in her brother’s direction. “I gotta say, this feels like that time in seventh grade when Mona Maldonado and Pete Santoni couldn’t get their shit together and I had to play love counselor.”

  Alex shoved his hands into his pockets and just stared at her.

  “I mean, the obvious solution to me probably isn’t the obvious solution to you,” she said.

  “What’s your obvious solution?” Luke asked, still propping up his chin.

  “That he tells the chick to take a hike. I mean, shit, if I were her and my supposed betrothed had someone confront me and say, ‘I’m fucking your piece,’ I’d
certainly pack it up and go.”

  And Alex would have done that if it weren’t for that one small problem called discretion.

  He shrugged and pulled his hands out of his pockets. “We’ll have to think of something else.”

  She threw her hands up and then grabbed the door handle. “Well. Okay, then. Just don’t take five years. No need to rush out. Take your time. I’ll tell everyone that you’re rooting around under my bed looking for my tools, and then they’ll get bored and will move on to other topics.”

  She left and shut the door behind her.

  Alex immediately grabbed Luke by the front of his shirt and tugged him over. He pressed his mouth to his and thrust his tongue against Luke’s lips, and the stubborn man kept them frustratingly pressed. “Open,” he whispered.

  “No.”

  “Why not?” Alex laced his arms around to Luke’s back and slid his hands downward. He’d never been so infatuated by a man’s ass before. By a man’s anything, really. If the world had stopped right then and no one cared if they returned, he would have stripped off every item of clothing Luke wore and touched him all over. Just touched and watched the things his body did in response to Alex.

  “Because I don’t want you to think this is normal,” Luke said without moving his lips. He gripped Alex’s shirt and half pushed, half pulled as if he couldn’t decide if he wanted to give him up. “I don’t want you to start thinking that I’ll take whatever crumbs you see fit to give me.”

  “Reasonable, of course, but let me have this moment. Send me to my bed tonight aching and unfulfilled, fine, but give me a taste to take with me.”

  “You’re killing me, Duke.”

  “And you killed me by bringing that woman here. Why would you do that? Why would you… Ugh.” He growled through his teeth and, pressing his forehead against Luke’s, closed his eyes. “I know why you did. I’m not a fool. I just wish you hadn’t.”

  “Yeah, well, if wishes were fishes, no one would ever starve.”

  Alex laughed.

  The tip of Luke’s tongue traced one time around the outside of Alex’s lips, and then he stopped. He planted a soft, chaste kiss on his mouth and let go of Alex’s shirt. He straightened it. Knocked the wrinkles he’d made out of it. Then he opened the door. “You’ll have to use your imagination tonight, Duke. That’s all I can send you to bed with.”