Alien's Orphan Bride: A Sci-Fi Alien Romance (Mail Order Human Book 4) Read Free Page A

the suitcase. He pointed at the house at the end of the residential road they’d traveled down.
    “The white stone house is my home. Our home.” He held his breath, waiting for her reaction.
    She gasped the instant her gaze landed on the house. “Wow. It’s wonderful. I never in my wildest dreams thought I’d live in a house so grand. It looks like a castle from a fairytale!”
    Despite himself, his face heated as a blush stole over him. He wanted to impress this small human female more than he cared to admit. Bitterness swept through him at the memory of his first mate’s betrayal, despite all he’d done to ensure her happiness. He’d built this house, with the white stone she loved, in the quarter of the city she claimed to enjoy most. He’d gotten her servants and showered her with lavish gifts, but not a full moon cycle into their union she had betrayed him, running off with a Marrlxian from a lower class and shaming Cav before the entire city.
    He inhaled deeply and forced thoughts of Lishana away. He had decided long ago that he had been too lenient with her, especially allowing her to leave his property without first obtaining permission. Never again would he make the same mistakes. He would ensure Hailey understood he was in charge. He wouldn’t allow her the opportunity to betray him.
    Once they reached his home, he ushered her inside and introduced her to the two servants he still retained, a cook and a maid who had nowhere else to go, so he’d kept them on even after Lishana left. Both were widows from the gehea class, which meant they weren’t free to remarry. On Marrlxia, their only path in life was to work as servants. He treated them well though and paid them a fair salary, not entirely agreeing with the Marrlxian class system, even though he had been born into the highest class.
    Hailey smiled at the servant women, Brena and Niashu, and said, “I’m pleased to meet you both.”
    Brena and Niashu bowed their heads politely and murmured, “Pleased to meet you, mistress,” before backing out of the entryway.
    “I will show you to your room.” He guided his tiny human up the winding staircase to the room he’d had prepared for her. Again, he found himself holding his breath as he awaited her response.
    She entered the room, paused near the bed, and spun in a slow circle with her mouth hanging open. “I get my own bedroom? My own…personal space?” Tears shone in her eyes as she peered up at him.
    “Of course. I’ve had this room prepared especially for you. The bathroom is filled with feminine hygiene products similar to those found on your homeworld, and I’ve had a wardrobe made for you as well. I used the scans of your body provided by Mail Order Human to ensure the correct sizes. There are dresses and other clothing items in the armoires. Everything in this room belongs to you.”
    “Th-thank y-you,” she stammered.
    He had surmised she’d opted to leave Earth because it was war torn and polluted, but he hadn’t taken the time to ponder exactly how difficult her day-to-day life must have been. The threadbare knee-length dress she wore hung loose on her thin body. A surge of protectiveness rose up in him as he stared down at her. How often had she gone to bed hungry?
    Mail Order Human had matched her name to his randomly, and the only bits of information about her that he’d known in advance were her name and her age—twenty-one. The interstellar matchmaking company hadn’t divulged her individual hardships or her reasons for signing up to become a mail order bride on a planet alien to her.
    The urge to wrap his arms around her swelled in his chest, but he didn’t act on it for fear of seeming too soft. The tenderness he’d shown her on their walk to his house would have to suffice for now.
    If she thought him soft, she might try to leave him for another male. And he couldn’t abide such a travesty. Not again. He would give her rules and make sure she obeyed them. Rules that