Page 14 of The Interstellar Rake's Irresistible Kiss
He grunted, but after a minute, his jaw eased. “But Iampretty?”
She couldn’t help it—she laughed. “And charming.But you know that and use it like a weapon.”
“It’s at least as effective as my illegal blaster on most beings.” He shot her another glance, more assessing this time. “But not on you apparently.”
Her amusement faded. “Seems to me that charming and pretty get used to hide some nasty innards sometimes.” She let out a breath, and for some reason, the exhalation—not so different from the many millionsthat had come before it—broke a brittle, old barrier in her. “My mother married a man who everyone said was so wonderful. He owned an upscale furniture store that sponsored my church softball team.” She grimaced. “I hated softball, but Mom made me play because he liked it and I needed to make sure he liked us. And Ididwant him to like me. Turned out, he liked the other girls on the team toomuch.” She forced herself to explain. “On Earth, there are laws against intimate sexual interactions between adults and underage children. Not sure how it is out here.”
Nor rumbled deep in his throat, a threatening noise. “All sentient beings protect their young. Did he hurt you?”
She shook her head. “Not…like that. When Mom divorced him, he told her I wasn’t pretty enough. The one time I wasactually grateful to hear that.”
“I’m sorry,” he murmured.
She grimaced, wondering why she’d told him all that. She’d never confessed it to anyone—mostly because she’d stopped going to church after that. “It was a long time ago.”
“I’m sorry for what I did to you more recently.”
With a quick sideways glance, she assessed his expression. He was looking at her, and his face was serious. She’dalways been bad at reading people—she’d wanted her new stepdad to like her, hadn’t she?—but she thought maybe Nor was being sincere.
She must’ve been silent a beat too long, because he continued, “I say that not for your forgiveness—I’ve done things that can’t ever be forgiven—but because Iamsorry.”
“Andyou don’t want me to tell anyone that your dad was the Duke of Azthronos.”
“That isa separate matter.” He stared out at the estate on the horizon ahead of them. “I imagine the old duke was much like your mother’s husband: a man of means, used to getting what he wanted. My mother came to the estate on a work permit. And caught the duke’s eye. She does not tell the story quite this way, but I suspect that was her intent. When he was done with her, he rewarded her well. Then she waiteduntil I was old enough to, ah, be some trouble, before approaching him again. That went less well for her. Not only did the duke refuse to see her, or me, he set security on her. Being not a Thorkon native, she was placed on the first outgoing ship and ejected from the system without recourse.”
Imagining a young Nor, mop-headed and defiant—before or after the scar beside his eyes?—Trixie achedto touch his hand, fisted on the throttle, but she’d just been telling him not to manhandle her. Instead, she said, “That’s terrible.”
He let out a snort. “Such terribleness isn’t limited to Azthronos, I know, but this was personal. Especially since my usefulness had proved not particularly useful and my mother left me on the ship when she disembarked.”
“Oh god, that’s beyond awful!” Unableto stop herself this time, Trixie wrapped her fingers around the crook of his elbow and squeezed. Unlike his hand, at least his arm was covered in the sleek fabric of his shirt so she didn’t touch his bare skin. Although she couldn’t help but be aware of the bunched muscle underneath, tensed hard despite his casual tone.
“I would’ve been more angry with her, but in some ways, I understood. Shewent on with her life, and the ship went on its way. When they docked at the next stop, they sold me off to an unaffiliated questionable commerce merchant cruiser—”
She laid one fingertip on the point of her chin. “Mm-hmm. A pirate ship?”
“A pirate ship,” he confirmed. “But they taught me a trade. Although we weren’t exactlytrading…” He wriggled the fingers of one hand dismissively.
“Andthen you came back here.”
“I heard the duchy was in trouble.” His teeth flashed in a sardonic smile. “And by then, I’d mastered trouble.”
She could see that well enough. It wasn’t the sort of thing that usually impressed her, that bad boy swagger, but imagining what he’d gone through—rejected by his father, abandoned by his mother, sold by people who should’ve helped him—she understood why he’dlacquered on that hard, shiny veneer.
“Your father must’ve been impressed with how far you’d come,” she murmured.
“The old duke was dead,” Nor said flatly. “Bad timing, huh?”
She winced. “Yeah.” To never have the satisfaction of showing off his success must’ve been bitter.
“I bought my commission off the dowager duchess,” he continued. “She needed the money. I wanted theGrandy.” He shrugged.“Thatwasa good trade.”
“Does she know who you are?” Trixie had met the dowager duchess officially once and seen her a few times after that from afar. The dignified old noblewoman didn’t seem the sort to sell off a family heirloom to a stranger, no matter how much money he had or how impoverished the duchy was.
Nor frowned. “I didn’t think so, not at first. How could she? The old duke wouldn’thave told her. But she has said some things since that make me wonder how far she checked into my heritage.”
Trixie nodded. “I think she’d blow theGrandiloquenceout of the sky herself before giving it to someone unworthy.”
His lips quirked in a reluctant smile. “You might be right at that.” He guided the hovercar toward the landing pad on the edge of the estate grounds. “So can I trust youto keep my bloodline a secret?”
