Showing results by author "Ruby Dixon" in All Categories

Life on a farm planet at the edge of the universe can be dangerous for a human woman alone. That's why I need a husband. Any husband. Unfortunately, all the men I approach keep running off. So I hire a bounty hunter to kidnap me someone capable and strong, someone who will scare off the creeps who are trying to move in on my territory. It'll be a marriage of convenience only. I should have been a little more specific about who I wanted, though....

Life has taught me that I can't trust anyone. Not friends, not family. In the worst, darkest moments, no one can be counted on to have your back. Even a billion miles away from Earth, on a remote icy planet, I still feel alone. The only consolation? I haven't resonated. It's not that I don't want love or children. I just can't trust anyone, even myself.

Everyone knows Megan and Cashol hit it off the moment they resonated...didn't they? But when Josie goes into labor, an offhand comment makes Megan point out to her friend that no, things weren't always so smooth. Just because resonance is immediate doesn't mean it's immediately perfect. But also...just because it's an instant bond doesn't mean it's wrong. Sometimes it's very, very right.

This collection includes four novellas: Vektal & Georgie, Raahosh & Liz, Aehako & Kira, and Rukh & Harlow.

Beast. Creature. Monster. Dangerous. All of these things have been said about Gren. Willa doesn't believe it, though. She knows that monsters can sometimes come in appealing packages. She knows that for all of his snarls and fearsome appearance, he'd never hurt her. And she knows she has to get Gren away from the Icehome camp, because no one will ever see him as a person, not when he attacks all who come close. Not when he's tied and treated like an animal.

Just like Rapunzel from the fairy tales, Amy lives a hidden life. She's kept locked away in a tower for her own safety, with her sister as protector. Amy knows it's for her own good. If a dragon catches her scent, she'll be carried away and forced to become a drakoni's mate. But Amy has a secret that she desperately wants to be stolen. She would love to be rescued from her life of idleness and the thought of a devoted drakoni male charging in and saving her from her boredom sounds perfect to her. Of course, she wants a romantic, loving male who will adore her. What she gets is Rast.

Marlene's not like the other humans. They weep while she smiles. They look at us with fear, while she entices me with a come-hither look. I...have no idea why such a bold female resonated to a male like me. I am the most reticent of all the sa-khui tribe, a hunter that never expected to have a family of my own. But resonance chooses, and it has chosen her for me. And Marlene is quite determined to seduce me...and who can say no to such a woman?

My tribesmates don't understand her. The other humans think she's weak. But no one knows my mate like I do. They don't see her gentle heart or her brave spirit. I know why she struggles. I know how strong she is. And I know I'll do anything to make her smile. But can I convince her that she can be happy in this strange new world with me?

Resonance. It's a given on the ice planet, forced upon you by the parasitic symbiont called the "khui". With resonance, a guy and a girl are paired up because they'll make great babies. It's a survival mechanism necessary for this sparsely populated world we're stranded on. Everyone expects resonance to happen when 20 newcomers are dropped onto the frosty world. I doubt anyone expects the gorgeous golden god named Ashtar to resonate to someone like me, though. But resonance seems to think we'd be great together. And Ashtar does, too.

Naomi has spent her entire profits from her farm's yield for a fertility shot. She wants a baby to ease some of the loneliness of life at the edge of the universe. Unfortunately for her, the donor she had lined up can't finish the job. What's a lonely ovulating human to do? This one heads to the Port Custodial office and asks for help from the military custodian on duty. Brawny but awkward Ainar isn't sure why this human is insisting on needing his help for sleeping, but he's happy to assist someone as delicate and pretty as the human colonist.

After being stolen from Earth, I learned that I could live each day in fear...or I could meet life head-on and unafraid. I chose the latter. Which is why, when I find a terrifyingly huge cat-alien male hip-deep in my favorite fishing spot, I don't run away in fear.

I've ruined everything. I had a mate. Resonance. Happiness. But then T'chai's attacked by ravenous sky-claw and almost killed. To help him recover, I tell the healer to turn off our unfulfilled resonance. It's temporary...or so I think. Big mistake. Because now my khui acts like it's dead and it hates T'chai. But I still love him. How do we move forward when I can't bear his touch? Is there a way to get back our happiness together, or is it time to give up on what we once had? T'chai has other plans, though.

Being stolen from Earth has taught me that there's nothing in this universe to be trusted. Not people, not promises. So I make sure that I'm prepared for the worst at all times. I fill my homestead with pit traps. I make weapons for fun. I avoid my friendly neighbors. And I never leave my house if I can help it. So when I find a deathly-ill cat alien on my living room floor, I do what any sensible human woman would do. I put a stun-stick to his jock and demand answers.

What's a bigger disaster than being stranded on an ice planet with a bunch of aliens, never to return home? Resonating to the biggest jerk of all those aliens, of course. I hate M'tok, and it seems to be mutual. He thinks I'm ugly and unpleasant, and doesn't understand why I don't just fling myself at him. In his eyes, resonance has decided, and that's that. Problem is, resonance keeps pushing us together. And when that doesn't make me jump into his furs...he steals me away from the camp. I can't avoid him if there's nowhere to go.

Of all the men on the Icehome beach, Thrand's the most competitive and most aggravating. He's cocky. Arrogant. Turns everything into a rivalry. He's a pain in the you know what. He also keeps insisting that I kiss him. After all, I'm the one that told him a kiss didn't mean anything. It shouldn't. A kiss is just a kiss as far as humans are concerned. But Thrand's a clone, a race of people called a'ani, and he's been brought up to play hard and to win. And he wants to win me. But does Thrand want me for the right reasons? Or am I just another conquest?

All my life I have served. One lord after another, I have given them my time, my body, and my soul. My newest lord, however, is not one but three. I have become the anchor to the three Aspects of Fate, the mortal chosen to teach the gods humanity. It seems an impossible task for any mortal to satisfy a god's wishes and I must serve three? Three lords means three times the frustration, three times the petty demands . . . and three times the pleasure.

I am a bashful, dorky human—your average refugee on Risda III. Haina is tall, blue, and magnificent. She is effortlessly confident, and her laugh is contagious. I might hide behind the candle section at the store in Risda's port just to get a weekly glimpse at her when she makes her vendor runs. I might be in love with her from afar. Someday I'll get the courage to talk to her. Someday. But fate steps in, and 'someday' turns out to be a lot sooner than I expected.

The crew of the pirate ship, the Lovesick Fool, are worried about their navigator, Sentorr. He's obsessed with working, spending all his time on the bridge. It's not work the big blue alien is truly obsessed with, though. It's a female. Sentorr's convinced that Zoey, a female navigator on another pirate ship, is his mate. She won't show him her face, though, or agree to meet him. She's happy to have steamy, late-night conversations with him over comm channels, though.

Homesteading on the remote farm planet Risda III can be lonely. So when I notice that my neighbor isn't doing so well, I ask for help to give her a Christmas celebration to brighten her spirits.

I have a reputation for being the most chaotic bounty hunter in the universe. What they don't know? My private life is just as messy. I've got a sweet, innocent cloned human woman who wants to be my lover . . . and a grumpy cyborg paramour who might be jealous that he's not the center of attention. The solution? A triad. Can three very different people love and work together all on the same small spaceship? We're about to find out.