by Anna Hackett
A deep male voice cursing woke her. She blinked, trying to orient herself. Where was she? Why did her head hurt so much?
Arms slid beneath her and lifted her up against a hard male body. Dakota’s pulse leaped, and she swung out with her fist.
“Hey.” A hand wrapped around hers. “Easy there. I’ve got you.”
“No, you don’t,” she grumbled.
Dare pulled her in close to his chest. Stars, he was so warm and strong. It was so easy to just think about pressing her head against him and leaning on him for a second. She wavered, fighting the urge.
“I’m not letting you go, so you may as well rest your head on my shoulder and take it easy.”
Well, just because she was weak. She leaned against him, then turned her face to press against his neck. She breathed in the scent of him—something earthy, musky.
He went still for a second, then his hand smoothed down over her hair. He stepped out of the maintenance cupboard and started walking.
“I feel sick,” she whispered. Stars, she shouldn’t be admitting a weakness.
“You shouldn’t have left the med bay. The med scanner hadn’t finished working on your head injury.”
She made a little sound and snuggled into him. Just a second or two wouldn’t hurt. “Are you going to toss me in the brig?”
“Not right now. I usually draw the line at throwing an injured woman in a cell.” He looked down at her. “You’re sneaky.”
“I am,” she agreed. “It’s in my DNA.”
“I like it.”
Dakota blinked. No one had ever said they liked that about her before. “I’m trouble.”
“Without a doubt,” he answered.
Hmm, he didn’t seem too bothered by that, either. “Don’t be nice to me, Phoenix. I don’t want to like you.” He’d just disappoint her, like everyone else she’d ever known.
“Quiet.”
He opened a door and when she looked up, she saw that it wasn’t the med bay. It was his cabin.
He sat her on the bed and seconds later, he was pulling off her shoes. The plush covers and pillows beneath her were so soft. She sank back against them, telling herself she should fight it.
She looked up at the man standing above her. Sexy, dominant, bossy—things that she usually avoided. He was watching her with that scary intensity she found so very interesting.
Damn, her eyelids were feeling heavy again. She was fighting to stay awake. She needed to stay alert.
Then she felt something at her neck followed by a quick sting. He’d given her drugs.
She batted his hand away. “No! No drugs.”
“You need them to get better.”
“I don’t like them.” They made her feel helpless and out of control. The gangs had liked to drug people, make them more biddable and less able to escape.
“You can relax and rest here, Dakota. No one’s going to hurt you.”
She saw blue light, and realized he had the medscope out again. He helped her lean forward, waving the device over the back of her head.
She stared at the long fingers of his hand. “Why haven’t you tossed me out of an airlock?”
His gaze came back to her face. “I’m still considering it.”
She laughed. “No, you’re not.” Then pain hit and she groaned.
“Stop talking and just lie still.” He shut off the medscope, and helped her sink back against the pillows. He pushed her hair back off her face. “Just let me take care of you.”
“No one takes care of me. I think you just like being in charge and having people at your mercy.”
“Beats being the one at the mercy of others.” There was something dark in his voice.
She studied him for a moment, wondering when a man like Dare could have possibly been at the mercy of someone else. But she understood what it felt like, and didn’t pry. “Amen to that,” she murmured.
“I’m going to help you.” He brushed her hair again, rubbing the strands between his fingers.
“But can I pay what it’s going to cost me?”
He stared at her with an intensity that was frightening. “It doesn’t matter. You need my help. You need me.”
She turned her head into the pillow—a pillow that smelled of him—and realized that the drugs were pulling her under.
“Tell me what the artifact is, Dakota. Why is it so important?”
She couldn’t fight him anymore. “A map.” She closed her eyes.
“To what?”
“Treasure.” Sleep surrounded her and dragged her down.
***
From his seat beside the bed, Dare heard the small sounds Dakota made as she started to awaken. He glanced over and saw her eyelids flutter. He liked the look of her tucked up in his bed.
Usually, he liked seeing a woman naked in his bed. But seeing this one curled into a protective ball, her hand tucked under her cheek—
She sat bolt upright, her hand clenching the orb between her breasts.
“How are you feeling?” he asked.
Her blue eyes darted his way. “Better.” She sat up.
“Let me help.” He stalked over to the bed.
“I don’t need anyone’s help.” She pulled her knees up under her chin. “Get me to Sierra.”
“Then what?”
“I go it alone.”
“Dodging Golden Nova assassins, and whatever else uncharted space throws at you?”
“I can handle it.”
He sat on the bed, and reached out and grabbed her ankle. “You have no idea what’s out here. And I can help you find your treasure.”
“I told you?” She broke into a string of curses. “You drugged me and took advantage—”
“Careful, Dakota. I don’t take advantage of women. The drugs helped you.”
She pressed her hands to her face. “You want to help me? And how much is it going to cost me? How much of my treasure?”
He eyed her steadily. “We can do an eighty/twenty split—”
She gasped and tried to jerk her leg away from his hold. “Forget it! You can have a small finder’s fee, but this treasure is mine! Stars, you didn’t even start with a fifty/fifty split. Men, you’re all the same—”
Dare tugged on her leg, pulling it out straight and dragging her toward him. She squeaked and tried to kick him.
He pressed his body down over hers to hold her still. “The eighty percent is for you. I’ll take twenty percent for me. It’ll be my ship we’re using, my fuel we’re burning.”
Her mouth dropped open. “Twenty?”
“Yes.”
“That’s…reasonable.” She was staring at him, like she was looking for the con or the angle.
“Don’t you trust anyone?” he asked.
She shook her head. “No. Everyone’s always screwed me over.”
Curiosity and a deep-seated anger burned through him. “Like Chris Tarron?”
She stiffened like she’d been hit with a stunner. “I don’t want to hear that scum-sucking thief’s name again.” She turned her head and stared at the wall, her jaw tight.
“Was he your lover?” Dare asked.
Now she glared at him. “None of your fucking business.”
“He was your business partner.”
“He was a thief. He stole from me. The bastard took everything.”
Bitter words, but he didn’t sense any self-pity. The man hadn’t beaten her down.
“Let me help you find this treasure.”
“Why?”
“Twenty percent will be worth it. My crew is always eager for an adventure.”
“You don’t even know what the treasure is. Your share could be worthless.”
“You wouldn’t risk your life for worthless.”
She stared at him, evidence of an internal battle on her face. Finally, she lifted the orb at the end of her necklace. The next second, a star map projected into the air.
“Amazing.” He studied the marked planets and stars.
; “This planet is the location of the treasure.” She pointed to one that glowed gold. “The treasure was taken off Earth on a starship called the Southwind. According to legend, the ship made it out here, to uncharted space, where its captain went crazy. He purposely stranded the ship and her crew on a distant planet. One of the crew, a man named Caleb Stock, made it back to charted space, telling the tale of the Southwind and her Terran treasure. He made this map.”
Dare frowned. “The star chart doesn’t look familiar. I don’t see any planets that look like worlds we’ve come across on our convoy trips.”
She made a frustrated sound. “It doesn’t match anything. The only two points that I can reliably identify are these.” She touched a small star system on one side of the map. “This is close to the Galaxy’s Edge Space Station.” She touched a large planet at the other side of the map. “From the descriptions, this is Sierra.”
He nodded. “That’s how you knew this treasure planet was out here, somewhere, between these two points.”
“Yes. But nothing matches current star maps. It’s like things have been jumbled around. I’ve studied every map and scrap of information of this area of space.” She pointed at one planet. “There is a detailed description of this world in the map data. It’s described as a low-tech world, containing a beautiful city of white spires, arches, canals, and bridges.”
Dare sucked in a breath.
She sat up. “You know it!”
Yes, he knew it. He knew things about it she probably didn’t.
“We need to go there. I want to ask about Caleb Stock. He had to have spent some time there—”
“We’ll see. You haven’t told me what the Southwind was carrying, Dakota. What’s the treasure?”
She fidgeted, her gaze dropping to the sheets.
“Dakota?”
“It’s called the Atocha Treasure. It came from a Terran shipwreck.”
He paused. “So it was already old at the time of Earth’s destruction?”
“Yes.”
Which meant its value would be immense.
“It’s valuable,” she said. “That’s all I know.”
He tilted his head. “You don’t know what the treasure is.”
“Not exactly, but Golden Nova protected this map like it was the key to the central system bank vaults. It has to be big.”
“It could be rusted metal and rotted wood.”
“No. Historical Terran shipwrecks carried gold, silver, jewels—”
“It could be worthless.”
“It isn’t. I went through a lot to get this map. This isn’t nothing.”
Dare ran a hand through his hair. “Okay, okay. I know someone we can ask about the treasure. See if we can find out what it is.”
“Who?” she asked suspiciously.
“Her name is Eos—”
Dakota’s eyes nearly bugged out of her head. “Dr. Eos Rai-Phoenix? Renowned Terran history expert and astro-archeologist?” Dakota’s voice rose. “Who just happens to be married to Dathan Phoenix, the galaxy’s most infamous treasure hunter?”
“They aren’t thieves, Dakota.”
“And Dathan’s brother also happens to be Niklas Phoenix. A director of the Institute of Historical Preservation, and one of the people in charge of acquiring new artifacts.”
“And we’re in uncharted space. The Institute has no jurisdiction out here. Our half-sister, Aurina, discovered Terran starship wrecks out here on her mate’s world. The Institute helped uncover them, it didn’t steal them. I assure you, the treasure is yours.” He lowered his voice. “You have an almost-worthless map and very little to go on, and you don’t even know what you’re looking for. We need to talk to Eos.”
Dakota sat back against the pillows, but he could see she was turning it over in her head. “I’m going to regret this.”
“No, you won’t.”
“Fine. But if I get screwed over, I’m going to spend the rest of my life making your existence hell.”
He smiled. “Good. Now, one more thing to discuss. What happened with Golden Nova?”
She bit her lip, and as he watched her white teeth dig into her plump flesh, it gave him certain ideas.
“I infiltrated their cult.” She shivered. “I spent weeks in that colony with those sickos, bowing and scraping and listening to their dangerous, loony ideas. When I got close enough to the orb, I took it.”
His heart stopped. “You stole from Golden Nova.”
She nodded. “They had plans to find the treasure themselves. I’m pretty sure no one wants a terrorist cult who likes blowing things up to have billions of e-creds.”
Dare laughed. “You must have balls the size of planets.”
She gave him a sour look. “I can assure you, I don’t.”
Dare let his gaze drift down her tight, compact body.
“No, don’t look at me like that.” She shook her head and held out a hand. “Stick to those simpering women like those ones who were flirting and flinging themselves at you. They’ll be far easier to handle than me.”
He reached out and yanked her close, so their noses brushed.
“I don’t want them.” He saw her pulse fluttering at her neck. “And yes, I’m sure those women are infinitely easier to handle, but I’m not interested in easy.”
“Dare.”
“Dakota.” His lips were just a breath from hers. “I will never take anything from you by force. But I promise, you will give everything to me before we’re done.”
He saw something pretty close to panic skitter across her face.
He smiled and pulled back. “But for now, let’s set up a comm link with Eos.”
Chapter Six
Trying not to fidget, Dakota sat in Dare’s office, waiting for the comm call to connect.
The office was off the bridge, and it suited its owner perfectly. The man had a huge desk with a glossy black surface, and the latest high-tech comp sitting on top of it. Everything was neat, tidy, and in its place.
Rynan and Justyn were leaning against the wall nearby. Rynan was scowling and Justyn was grinning. Something told her that was usual for these two. Dare sat in his huge chair behind the desk, tapping on the comp screen.
She looked up and saw Justyn wink at her. She’d thought he’d resent her, for bringing Golden Nova trouble here, considering his wife’s link to the cult’s leader. But he seemed pretty easygoing. She saw Rynan elbow Justyn. All three of the brothers had this easy camaraderie that she found confusing.
Then Dare’s arm brushed against hers, and her thoughts scattered. She looked down, and she could almost hear the danger alarms going off in her head. He was too good-looking, too demanding, too masculine. She should get as far away as quickly as she could.
“I don’t think we should do this,” Rynan said, his voice holding an edge.
Dare’s gaze flicked up. “You’ve already told me this. Three times. Your concern is noted.”
“But it won’t make you change your mind.”
“Justyn’s agreed to pursue the treasure. That’s two votes to one, so we’re doing it.”
“I don’t trust her.”
Rynan didn’t look her way but she guessed he didn’t really need to. “I said I was sorry about your cuttership. I’ll pay to have that teeny tiny ding fixed.”
Boiling gray eyes met hers and she bit her lip. Rynan Phoenix was not happy with her.
The call connected, and the face of a pretty brunette projected up above the desk. Dakota recognized her instantly. The woman lifted a hand to wave hello, and Dakota saw the swirling floral mehndi design, similar to a tattoo, covering her hand and wrist.
“Hello, Dare. Oh, and Rynan and Justyn. It’s lovely to see you.”
“You too, Eos,” Dare replied. “You look as beautiful as always.”
“Thank you.” Eos smiled. “There’s that Phoenix charm.”
“Where’s my reprobate cousin?” Dare asked.
Eos’s smile widened. “Oh, Malin is visiting, so he�
��s helping her salvage some parts of an old starship wreck in the junkyard.” The astro-archeologist’s curious gaze lingered on Dakota. “What can I do for you?”
“We’re doing a recovery job with Dakota, here. She has a map we believe leads to a Terran treasure somewhere out here in uncharted space.”
Dakota barely controlled her jolt. Stars, hearing him blurt out her secret made her twitchy.
Eos’ gaze sharpened. There was a bright intelligence in her gold-colored eyes. “Go on.”
“Dakota, I’ll let you take over. This is Eos.”
Dakota nodded. “Hello. Um, I procured a map—” there was a small scoffing sound from behind her and she guessed it was Rynan “—and it leads to a Terran treasure.” She swallowed. “The Atocha Treasure.”
Eos leaned forward. “The lost treasure of the Nuestra Señora de Atocha? Most people don’t think it ever made it off the planet.”
“This coming from the finder of the mythical treasure of Star’s End?” Justyn said with a laugh.
Eos pulled a face at the man. “I didn’t say I believed that.” Her gold gaze moved back to Dakota. “I know the treasure was salvaged from the waters off the United States of America. But nothing I’ve seen suggests it ever left Earth.”
Dakota shifted. “It did. On a ship called the Southwind. A member of the crew got back to charted space. He left a map.”
“Incredible.” The archeologist’s gaze narrowed. “Wait…you said Dakota? Dakota Jones?”
Oh, stars. Eos knew of her. Dakota stiffened. “Yes.”
A tiny smile tipped the corners of Eos’ lips. “I heard you got banned from the Institute’s museums.”
“I never stole from a museum,” Dakota said firmly. “I thought the deal was legitimate. Turned out that the astro-archeologist selling to me had a side job that wasn’t so legitimate.”
Eos nodded. “I’m no longer surprised at the kind of things that went on in the Institute. As you know, I haven’t worked for them for some time. So, the Atocha Treasure…it was said to be incredible.”
“Do you know what it might include?” Dare asked.
Eos’s smile widened. “I happen to have a fragment of a document from the ancient Terran treasure hunters who first discovered the wreck. The treasure hunter and his family searched for it for years, were obsessed with it and almost bankrupted themselves in the search. But they did find it and became its self-appointed guardians. They built a museum to house it, and then restored it, safeguarded it, and put it on display for the public to see.”