Suddenly, all the odd looks at this strange place made sense. The threatening, surly, watchful glances meant far more than Nell was comfortable with. She was a threat, and a big one, to the benefits someone had been prepared to dispose of Rowe to access. And a lot of people seemed to know that. Nell felt cold and, looking down, realised she was still clad only in her sheer underwear. She rubbed her bare arms briskly in an effort to warm herself before folding her arms firmly across her breasts.
“Will the mindelve work on a dead person?”
“For the procedure to work properly, the subject has to be alive.”
That was certainly not what Nell wanted to hear.
“So it’s even more in their interests to simply kill me? Destroy Rowe’s evidence?”
“They wouldn’t dare. And there is still a chance that, in fact, the Fleet was involved and you know something about all this that you have not told me. It’s probably better for them not to kill you yet. Keep you alive for the procedure, at least.”
Nell was not so sure. The man with the blue eyes had not given her the knife to prolong her life, of that she was sure.
“You know the Rim could teach the Galaxy Elite Fleet a few lessons on inhumane practice,” she said.
“Where do you think the mindelve technology originally came from?” Danyeo asked her coolly.
Chapter Nine
The Council were suddenly very keen to talk to Nell.
“She doesn’t go anywhere.” Rowe kept a firm grip on her arm as Danyeo went to move Nell away with him.
Rowe and Danyeo stared at each other for a long moment before Danyeo released his hold and bowed slightly. “As you are obviously only prepared to be interviewed together, I would advise you to be very careful. However, I would still like to have a quick word with Nell at some point.” He paused, looking uncomfortable, before adding awkwardly, “In private.”
Rowe seemed to wait a few beats before reluctantly nodding his assent, his hold on her arm still secure. This man was obviously too important to Rowe’s ambitions regarding the Council to offend. Danyeo bowed slightly and walked off.
“Rowe?”
A beautiful man stood before them, his arms folded across his chest. His azure blue eyes shone from a breathtaking face. With his short golden locks, he had an almost celestial look about him, belied by the cynical twist to his firm lips.
“What are you doing here?” Rowe stared at the newcomer belligerently, but Nell could feel the tension in his body through his hold on her arm.
Another one built for looks over function, Nell decided as the man turned to look fully at Rowe. A muscle ticked in his firm jaw.
“Looking for you.”
“Well, you’ve found me.” Rowe’s face was like granite. “So, now what?”
The man gave an exasperated shrug, and turned to Nell.
“You fight well—it was a good display,” he said to Nell.
“Thanks,” Nell replied dryly, “considering I lost.”
“Did you? There isn’t a soft cock to be found in the place, thanks to you.” Nell, shocked at his words, stared at him. “And I think you know it. Any one of those horny bastards would willingly give you passage back to the edge of Fleet space. And no doubt beyond that if you asked very nicely. That is a job well done, Commander. When are you leaving?”
“She’s not going anywhere, Angel.” Rowe’s tone was cool, almost icy. “What do you want?”
This is Angel? Nell hoped her shock didn’t show on her face. Angel is a man?
“Nothing that important. You know how it is.” Angel looked Nell up and down, then moved his luminous gaze to Rowe. “Nothing important to do; nowhere worth going to do it.”
“That’s not my life anymore. And it hasn’t been for what seems a long time.” Rowe said quietly. “Go away, Angel.”
The man laughed, but it was a hollow sound. He turned and walked away.
“With any luck, that’s the last we’ll see of him.” Rowe said.
“You think?” Nell asked him. She was not so sure.
Angel was the man with the startling blue eyes, the same one who had handed her the knife earlier.
Life on the Rim was anything but simple.
* * * *
“Where is she?” Danyeo wasted no time once he had her on her own.
“Why do you want to know?” Nell’s gaze roamed the room, looking for Rowe. He had been a little too quick to abandon her to Dominic Danyeo’s company.
“Why do you think?” he replied curtly. “Do I have to spell it out for you?”
“I think maybe you do.” Nell grabbed a glass of some kind of beverage from a passing tray and knocked it back almost in one. Fighting was thirsty work, as was the verbal fencing match she seemed to have been drawn into. “But, I warn you now, I am not about to tell you much, if anything.”
“Is Kate alive?”
Nell stared at him, genuinely shocked. “Why would she not be?”
“There have been rumours…”
“What rumours?”
“That Kate never even made it back to Fleet-controlled space…”
“She did,” Nell assured him confidently, “and she’s alive. However, her career as a Fleet Officer is ruined, thanks to you, and she has been forced into hiding.” She also knew where, but she was not about to tell Danyeo that. She only had his word that he was not a threat to Kate himself.
Nell then watched as one of the most powerful men in the known galaxies covered his eyes for a moment before saying quietly, “Thank you for letting me know that.”
Nell regarded Dominic Danyeo silently before looking away once more. At that point, Nell spotted Rowe, partially hidden by one of the ridiculous pillars they had in the glass hall.
What she saw stunned her.
Angel and Rowe locked in a passionate embrace, kissing as if their lives depended on it.
Nell could not look away, aware only of the sound of blood rushing in her ears and Danyeo’s distant voice still talking.
“We mean to get Kate back.”
Nell’s thoughts were still preoccupied with Rowe and it took her a few moments to absorb what Danyeo had actually said. She took a deep breath and returned her attention to the man next to her.
“Is that wise?” Nell looked at him properly for the first time. A tall, handsome creature with penetrating green eyes and a determined chin.
“You stand here prepared to give evidence on Rowe’s behalf to an antagonistic Council in the middle of Rim space, running the risk of being reduced to little more than a mindless fuck-toy, and you speak to me of wisdom, Nell Thorn?”
Nell felt herself shift slightly, cursing as a flush crept over her neck and cheeks.
“I’m here to pay a debt of honour. Rowe saved my life.”
Danyeo gave a brief laugh, “That’s it. Doing the right thing. It’s never easy trying to do the right thing, Nell.”
Nell thought of how tired and miserable Kate had looked when they’d last met. But then also of how much at peace she seemed to have been with herself, her decisions and the consequences. “If I don’t walk away from this, can I trust the two of you to do the right thing, Danyeo?” she asked him.
Danyeo looked at her and said simply, “Yes, Nell, you can. And, for the record, Ren and I intend to do the right thing by Kate, whatever anybody else thinks or does.”
Nell could not suppress a small smile.
“Really? Let’s see—Thorn family, Danyeo family, Stannick family, Elite Fleet and Rim Collectives. That’s a big list of people who may have an opinion about what you want.”
“I never said it would be easy.”
Rowe collected her after a few minutes, making small talk with Danyeo, but, even as she had stood talking to the Rim Lord, her thoughts kept returning to, and rerunning, what she had seen Rowe doing by that pillar. He had obviously thought he was hidden from view, or maybe, more particularly, her view. As they walked back to Rowe’s ship, Nell wondered how she should deal with this late
st twist in her efforts to get back to home space in one piece.
* * * *
“So, Rowe.” Nell broke into a jog to keep up with him as they boarded the ship. “You’ve got what you wanted?”
“Have I?” His voice was remote, cold and distant.
They had finally entered her cabin, and Nell turned to face him.
“You’ve got your audience with the Council,” she pointed out to him.
“It’s just the beginning.” Rowe’s expression was bleak. “There is a lot more still to do.”
“Oh?” Nell waited for him to elaborate, but nothing more was forthcoming.
Nell eased her neck from side to side in an effort to release the tension there. Had Rowe pretended an attraction to her to secure her cooperation? Had that attraction been a lie from the start? Had it simply been a way of ensuring she would be prepared to return to Rim space to give evidence on his behalf to the council?
She had a suspicion that she had been played by an expert.
It was lucky, then, that her cooperation was based on not wanting to be beholden to him, rather than a base attraction.
Would he confess to what she had just witnessed in the hall?
“I’m aching,” she complained, then winced at the words. The unconvincing line sounded like it had come straight out of a porn-vid classic.
“From fighting me?” He seemed unconvinced, reaching for her shoulder “Is there anything that needs attention?”
“Yes, there is.” She slowly undid the catches on her boots and toed them from her feet. “I’m aching in some pretty hard to scratch places…”
As she rubbed her nipples through the thin top, the words did not seem so stupid anymore. A burning need flared deep and low in her abdomen.
“Nell—”
“What? I’m still feeling the after-effects of our…fight.” She rubbed her hands over and around her breasts once more, revelling in how full and tender they felt. The sensation of her fingers running over her skin sparked an involuntary tightening of the nerves in her clit to add to the desire starting to fire her blood. “Aren’t you going to scratch my itch, Rowe?”
An honourable man would stop her now, would tell her that his interest lay elsewhere.
She daringly pulled her vest down so that her breasts almost popped out of the top, her nipples puckering in the cool of the cabin air. “If you don’t, someone else will. So your friend Angel says…”
“Fuck Angel,” Rowe snapped, his grey eyes dilated to the point of almost being black.
“Did you?” Nell rubbed her nipples as if she had an itch, and watched the sweat break out on Rowe’s forehead. “Fuck him, I mean. That’s the problem, isn’t it, Rowe? Is that the real reason you’ve not come near me since we’ve been in Rim space? You’re still hung up on the mysterious Angel.”
“For the record, he’s nothing to me. We were finished a long time ago.”
Result!
Nell put her breasts away with a triumphant snap of her top at his admission. “So there is something there. I’ve never seen such a reaction to someone who apparently means nothing.”
“Shut up, Nell.”
“Fuck off, Rowe. I’ve cooperated with you so far, but, with my current prospects potentially being reduced to becoming a sex vegetable for the rest of my life, I’m thinking now might be a good time to leave. Astride some Rim pirate, humping my way back to Inner Galaxy space if necessary.”
“Nell, shut the fuck up!” He stared at her, his expression one of controlled fury. “And who has been talking to you about what happens to the victims of mindelves?”
“It was mentioned in passing,” Nell snapped, not wanting to get off the subject of Angel. In fact, it had been mentioned several times in passing as she’d stood talking to Danyeo, and the fact that people were already making the application to Danyeo for her post-procedure ‘care’ was a little unnerving.
It wasn’t going to happen. She was Galaxy Elite Fleet; even Rowe wouldn’t be able to stop her if she decided to go. Rowe cocked his head to one side, almost as if he could read her thoughts. “Don’t even think of leaving—I’ll hunt you down. I have before and I will again if you make it necessary for me to do so.”
“You really are a spineless shit.” Nell stood toe to toe in front of Rowe and waved one finger in his face. “If you want Angel, for fuck’s sake, go after him. But don’t lie to me… Don’t make me into a fool, because I’m not. Don’t pretend to be attracted to me when the person you really want is him.”
Rowe looked at her, his face twisting with a range of emotions. Nell felt a wave of anger rise up within her. “Don’t bother to deny anything… I saw you with…him, with Angel.”
“Angel?”
She nodded, her lips folded tightly shut. She wasn’t about to say just how vividly the image was burned into her memory from the hall. The two men, one so fair, the other so dark, locked in a passionate kiss. Their jaws working as they moved their tongues together in a mind-numbing embrace. Hot.
“I think Angel might have been one of the people that…”
“Betrayed you?”
“Failed to come after me,” he amended.
It was an awful prospect. Yet Rowe was still involved enough to try to suck his face off.
“Do you miss him?” Nell leaned against the wall, one leg crossed over the other, aware of a bubble of hurt forming in her chest as her disappointment sank in properly. “Want a comfort fuck? I’m supposed to be pretty good at it, I’ll have you know.”
It was all Fleet rumour, of course.
“Nell Thorn, I bet you are.” Rowe seemed torn between shock and amusement, a reluctant laugh coming from him as he regarded her. “You really are beyond anything I’ve ever known before.”
“That’s me,” replied Nell, her brassy façade sliding back into place so securely she could almost hear it click—it was rejection, nicely phrased, but rejection nonetheless. “Beyond anything. But you saved my life, and a Thorn never owes a favour. I’m here to pay back that debt and I’m almost done. I’ll give my evidence to the Council, then I expect to be taken back to Fleet space, Rowe. Is that clear?”
She turned to show him the door but found her arm caught in a firm grip.
“What about your itch?”
“What itch?” She turned to face him, one eyebrow raised. “Oh, that. Funnily enough, it’s gone.” Nell was not about to be Rowe’s pity fuck, or a substitute for the drop-dead gorgeous Angel, without them both being honest about it.
“That’s a shame, because I’ve got an itch, too,” Rowe replied. “But it’s an itch I’ve had for quite some time now. Ever since I was placed in a cage by a rather beautiful, sexy as hell Fleet Captain, and it’s left me with a dilemma.”
“What kind of dilemma?” she had to ask.
“Kiss…or spank.”
Nell could only blink at him.
“I beg your pardon?”
“You over my knee, those gorgeous buttocks trembling in anticipation of the first strike”—his smile was pure sex—“or those legs of yours tied apart so I can kiss you into a million little pieces.”
Good Lord. Was this Rowe talking?
The same man she had convinced herself wanted her for nothing other than her ability to give evidence. Nell moved her mouth, but no sound came out.
“Speechless? Good. I can think of other uses for that mouth of yours, Nell, and they don’t include talking“—he quirked an eyebrow—“or swearing.”
She couldn’t help but lick her lips, her mouth suddenly dry. All she could think of was Rowe’s cock buried deep in her mouth, sucking it and licking it. Maybe with Rowe returning the favour with his face buried between her legs. Her clit pulsed to life even as the thought came to her mind.
“What about Angel?” She cursed the fact that her voice came out so weakly.
“What about Angel?” Rowe studied her face. “Nell?”
He lifted a finger and smeared the paint from her lips. “I like the idea of spa
nking you. Until you are in tears, until all this paint runs off you because of the sweat and emotion pouring down your face. Delicious.”
He ended his words on a sibilant hiss. Nell knew she was watching him as if mesmerised, but still she seemed unable to pull her gaze from his.
It sounded…amazing. The slow-burning curl of desire started to unfold once more deep within her abdomen, her skin prickling as if it was being licked by fire.
His hand traced the line of her face, then moved down to cup one of her breasts, a finger brushing the nipple. “But not even that could be as delicious as releasing these from this damn thing.” He turned her round and bent her forwards, rubbing her breast through the thin material of her top. “Or taking you any way I choose, again and again, until you’ve come so hard that you can’t speak anymore.”
Nell attempted to straighten up, desire immediately twisting in her gut, but he ran his hand up her back to bury it in her short, blonde hair. She was held back against a body as hot as a furnace by an arm that felt like a steel band. She wriggled in a half-hearted effort to get free, but was stopped instantly by his hand sliding up over her ribcage, his fingers planting themselves firmly between her breasts.
“It sounds”—Nell gulped—“fantastic, but I am concerned I’m simply a rather second-rate stand-in for Angel, who is—”
“Nowhere near as gorgeous as you are, Nell. Have you no idea?” Rowe groaned as he turned her round again, then pulled off the support vest, her breasts bouncing free as he did so.
He fell to his knees before her, licking, pulling the ends of her nipples gently with his teeth, holding her up as her legs buckled. A wave of lust swept her from head to toe. It was as if the tips of her breasts were connected directly to her clit, and every suck, every pull of his mouth on her nipples made her moist with expectation and excitement.
“Oh, yes,” Nell gasped as she felt the thickness of his erection against her leg. Lust unfurled within her, the greedy need to possess him. Her momentary exclamation became a moan of need as he ran his tongue across her sensitised flesh.
“Trust me to look after you,” he whispered, suddenly urgent as he reached beneath her breasts and ran his hands over the soft skin of her ribs onto her back. “Let me show you…take care of you.”
Nell Thorn Page 5