Charlotte and the Alien Ambassador by Jessica Coulter Smith Page B

Senator.
    “Senator Mayweather, I thought you would like to know that Charlotte has flourished here on Terran. I’ve become rather fond of her.” He cleared his throat. “More than fond, actually. I know I promised to find her an influential member of society to mate, but I would like to ask your permission to claim her for myself. No one on our world holds a higher station than I, and I will take excellent care of her. I won’t mention any of this to Charlotte until I hear back from you.”
    He ended the transmission and had it sent.
    Borgoz took a shower, dressed, and ordered his breakfast. He was afraid to check on Charlotte until he heard back from the Senator, too afraid he’d try to claim her without her father’s permission. He reasoned that she was old enough to make her own decisions, but he’d made a promise to her father and intended to honor it.
    When the Vid-Comm notified him of an incoming message, he listened to it with trepidation.
    “Chief Councilor Borgoz, you do my daughter a great honor. I feel this honor would be better bestowed on my other daughter, Charity. She was supposed to travel to your world, but I couldn’t bear to let her go. However, if there’s a guaranteed match with a man of your station, I will part with her… if you make her your wife. Please send Charlotte home on the next shuttle, or keep her there and let her find another mate. You are far too good for my eldest daughter.”
    Borgoz was seething by the time the message ended and he knew he could never show it to Charlotte. She already knew her father didn’t like her, but he knew it would be a hard blow to realize just how much he disliked her. Not giving himself time to cool down, he sent another message to the Senator, telling him in no uncertain terms that he would never mate with Charity and that whether the Senator liked it or not, Borgoz intended to claim Charlotte as his.
    He sent the message and then went in search of Charlotte, anxious to settle things between them. After a thorough search of the house, he tracked down Helio to see if he knew of Charlotte’s whereabouts. Now that he’d decided to mate with her, he couldn’t think of anything else and wanted to share the news with her as soon as possible.
    “She’s gone,” Helio said.
    “Gone? You mean she went out for breakfast or shopping?”
    Helio slowly shook his head. “Larimar picked her up this morning, along with her belongings. She’s moved into a suite in the tower where the unmated human females stay. I don’t know what happened between you last night, but she looked completely shattered this morning.”
    His heart ached at the thought of hurting Charlotte, and he knew he had to make things right. He just wasn’t sure how to do it. Going after her seemed like the logical thing to do, but would it be enough? Nothing had really changed. He would still work long hours. He was still far too old for her. And now, her father had declared that Borgoz couldn’t have Charlotte. There was much work to be done before he could go after his chosen mate. He only hoped he wouldn’t be too late.
    “Helio, I’d like you to call the council together. We’ll convene at the council headquarters within the hour.”
    Helio’s eyebrows rose. “Of course, Chief Councilor.”
    Borgoz went to his office to gather his thoughts and set things in motion. The first thing to do was hand off some of his responsibilities. He had a council for a reason. It was time for them to take a more active role in Terran society. There was no reason Borgoz had to handle everything on his own. He would delegate some of the lesser responsibilities to the council members and only take on the larger problems. Everything else could be prepared by the others and presented during council meetings for a vote.
    Then he had to figure out what to do about Charlotte’s father. Now that the man knew Borgoz was interested in Charlotte, he doubted he’d heard the last of him. It wouldn’t