Page 29 of Princess for the Space Cowboy

It’s only been two days, and the crush of men jostling to meet the women from Earth has been overwhelming. “I don’t want to put them on display,” she adds.

“Of course not,” I agree.

Given how many women died during the storm, the interest doesn’t surprise me. What surprised me was how many were coming from the other side of our planet. As my parents have said for years, Honnell’s leadership is out of touch with their people.

“How often do you think I need to go down to Earth? I was thinking once a month would be enough,” Jane comments.

I study her for a moment. “It’s your decision.”

“It is?”

“Absolutely,” I say firmly. “You are in charge. You’re my princess. No one here doubts your authority in these matters.”

“But I want your opinion,” she presses.

“I think once a month will be a good start. I think maybe you alternate between bringing women here and bringing men there. We love to travel.”

“But Earth is —”

“Hot and dry,” I interject. “Traveling to other planets only makes me appreciate ours so much more. Unlike Earth, we don’t limit our people from information about other planets. We’re not the only nice planet around.”

When she smiles up at me, my heart thumps hard. She doesn’t have to do much to elicit my body’s reaction. She’s my mate and always will be. “That’s why you’re called space cowboys,” she teases.

I chuckle. “We will mostly stay on our planet here because of our responsibilities to our people. When you feel more settled, and after you’ve had our baby, we should travel some together. You can see other planets.”

Her lips curl. “That would be nice.IfI’m pregnant.” She is more cautious than me in this matter. “I’ll know soon.”

“I already know.”

Her cheeks flare with heat.

Later that evening, we have dinner in our courtyard. I’m surprised to discover that I always want more time with Jane. It’s not that I doubt my feelings for her, but I had wondered if I’d be consumed with my work once our marriage and week of pleasure were over. Instead, she’s always feathering along the edge of my thoughts. I want to savor more time with her uninterrupted and away from the demands of helping to lead our planet.

After dinner, I drizzle a sweet honey over her body. I lick her clean before once again filling her again and savoring the way she clenches around me, loving every sound she makes. I carry her to bed, and she curls up soft and warm by my side. This couldn’t have turned out more perfectly. I’ve found her, the only woman for me.

I’ve already become accustomed to her patterns. I know at some point to she will wake in the darkness to go to thebathroom. I come awake and blink in and out of sleep when I feel her roll away from me and slip out of bed.

I don’t know how much time has passed when I hear a muffled scream. I sit up swiftly to discover Jane still hasn’t returned to bed with me.

I scramble out of bed, wrapping the sheet around my waist as I bolt out of the room. When I make it to the living room, I look up to discover the skylight is broken.

Anger and fear course through me. My parents had worried that Honnell and his men would try to interfere when I found a mate. The power struggle between my parents’ generation was settled when my father took on the biggest threat to his crown. There’d been a few skirmishes, but my father had turned public sentiment against them after they threatened some women in our city.

Ever since I reached the age where it was time for me to find a mate, there have been jostling among the other league and calls for the royal leadership to change. I didn’t care about the power so much, yet I did care about Honnell’s men trying to take over. All they wanted was power. The situation on that side of our planet has been unstable ever since Honnell rose to power. They try to limit resources, though there’s no need to whatsoever.

I have faith that Jane is already pregnant, and I know there can be no threats to our union. Yet now I must find her. Aware I can’t get to her instantly, I grab my clothes and tap the communicator embedded into my shirt. “They’ve taken Jane!”

Kayden responds instantly. “We’re already aware. I was just calling you.”

“Fuck,” I mutter under my breath. I shouldn’t have been without my communicator, but I didn’t expect anyone to target our home. The one weakness in our house is through the skylight.

If they transport to the roof undetected, that creates a safety issue even though we have a shield.

“What happened to the shield?” I ask as I reach for my weapons.

“They breached it on the side of the city, undetected. It was only as they were coming back through that we realized what happened,” he replies. “I’m already on my way to you. We’re tracing them.”

This will be a quick fight, and I know we’ll win. But I don’t want Jane to be harmed, and I don’t want her to be afraid. I have fought many battles. During the unrest for months after the storm, we had to fight off their attempts to take over power multiple times.

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