“That may be,” she relented softly, trying not to tick the man off.
She would have to walk a straight and narrow line, for she was not accustomed to watching her tongue, especially when it ran off, sometimes without her permission. More often than not, it was without her permission.
“But I deserve him,” she said, casting her thoughtful eyes at him.
It was true.
She couldn’t be with Devlin—if she lost Devlin—if her reckless lifestyle caused him his life. No, she’d always been right in her decision to leave him. Tears welled in her eyes.
She deserved Tyler and that was all there was to it.
“Ah, there it is. That is why I shall never find true love. When you truly love someone you have to do what you think is best for them, isn’t that right, Sam?”
They sashayed into the dining hall. Her breath caught in her throat and she absently heard herself giving a delighted exclamation.
She believed The Excalibur to be the finest ship she’d ever set eyes upon. But The Emerald Star was a ship built for a king.
Hell, it was a ship built for an emperor!
Everywhere you went the intricate detail remained the same. Something told her to look up, and when she did the ground gave way beneath her. She was floored. She was so amazed that she simply gaped up at the beautiful artwork.
“You are a most unusual pirate!”
She was so astounded that she had a difficult time just allowing her mind to go to something other than focusing on the beauty that surrounded her.
He had to be loaded. His looting and pillaging had definitely paid off. Sometimes, they had a hard time just paying for space fuel. She dumbly sat down in the gilded chair that he had pulled out for her, and finally yanked her mind back to reality.
“I could keep you, and not hand you over to Devlin, after all. ‘Course if I did that, I would never hear the end of it from Devlin. And we sort of have an agreement with each other that we will never covet what the other already has. Since you belong to Devlin, I can’t take you and keep you as my own.
Of course, I could say to hell with all of that and take you and be out of this system in minutes. Your Tyler would be gone, hanging in the gallows and Devlin would at least get satisfaction out of that,” he paused. “Nope, can’t do it. I feel more affection for Devlin than I do for you and I might get tired of your big mouth after a while. Nope, I’ll have to hand you over to Devlin…eventually.”
She stared stupidly at him. His eyes took on a dangerous glint. Steeling herself, she felt reawakened anger course through her.
Positively primal emotions roared through her and she pushed her chair back. It clattered to the ground, causing one hell of a racket.
“You wouldn’t dare!”
She clenched her fists at her side and barely fought the urge to throttle the life out of him. She wondered what he’d look like with her hands around his neck.
“Oh, but I would, and I have. You’re on your way to be by Devlin’s side as soon as I can bear to part with you.”
His eyes briefly dropped to her hands. They turned purple.
“Well, hey I guess I pushed all of the right buttons, eh?” He gave her a Cheshire grin, and she felt the last vestiges of her control slip away. She rushed toward him, arms outstretched, fully intending to cause him serious bodily harm.
She’d kill the man and then she’d fight her way back to her family. She flew at him and hit him like a bat out of hell. He grunted with the forceful impact, and his chair toppled over.
Suddenly, she found herself straddling his chest. A forceful current of air rushed through the room, whipping her hair back away from her face. Her frenzied fit had caused her powers to emerge and they were manifesting themselves in a most chaotic way.
Chairs blew over, tables toppled, chandeliers rocked. Purple mist floated through the air.
She heard booming laughter ripple throughout the dining hall, causing her to freeze her fist inches from his nose. She swallowed thickly, resting her hands on The Red Falcon’s chest. She could feel her heart racing, and it felt as if it were lodged in her throat.
“You might want to dampen your fury a bit, my love. If you don’t, you might just scratch this lovely ship!”
Devlin.
“Oh, now I am going to raise some hell,” she said.
Chapter Eighteen
Samantha remained there motionless while the Red Falcon simply stared up at her in apparent adulation. She didn’t know what to do. She had murder on her mind, but she wasn’t sure whom she wanted to murder first.
Decisions...decisions.
She slowly heaved herself to her feet and gradually turned her body to face the direction of the mirth filled laughter. The moving furniture clattered to the ground as the wind whipping through the room suddenly died off. The purple tinge to her hands faded.
“You!” she accused, wishing that she had her phase pistol handy so she could shoot him and be done with it.
“Hello darling,” he drawled, greeting her affectionately. He walked toward her, with a shit ass grin on his face.
She bunched her hands at her side and began tapping her one foot restlessly. The chairs in the room righted themselves, as did the tables. She bit her lip. So, her abilities had finally reacted to her commands. It happened. And of course they righted themselves when he was around.
“You are more trouble than you are worth!” she decided, moving toward the man that approached her at a languid pace.
He stopped just short of brushing up against her chest, forcing her to crane her neck to stare up at him in loathing.
“Please, tell me that you didn’t have all of this, this shit planned out,” she demanded, folding her arms across her chest. She increased the tempo of her foot tapping against the floor and impatiently waited for his reply.
He galled her to no end. Here he was as blasé as could be while she had gone through several near heart attacks. She wanted to tie something in a knot, and it wasn’t a rope.
“I wanted to see if you cared,” his silky smooth tone rattled her even more.
She let out a grunt of pent up frustration, pointing her hand at him in accusation.
“I would rather you point that somewhere else, Samantha. I don’t like that unholy glint in your eye and don’t think I am not worried that you will accidentally destabilize my molecular structure. Your abilities, when aroused, can be lethal. So, calm down. Should we call Charlotte?”
She fumed. “See if I cared! Who are you to see if I cared?” she raged, backing him toward a wall.
He slammed up against the wall and she served him the meanest glare that she could muster beneath the extenuating circumstances.
“I don’t believe this,” she murmured, turning away from him. She tried to calm down. Her mind was racing, and she couldn’t decide between jumping him and slapping him silly.
“Wait…” he said hesitantly, reaching his arms out for her.
Her boots clanged against the marble flooring. She wanted to put as much distance between them as possible.
“We are done, Devlin. I can’t have anything to do with a man that wants to murder my husband.”
“I don’t want to murder him,” Devlin said silkily. “I merely want to bring him to justice.”
She snorted indelicately. “He’s not guilty, you…you…” she couldn’t bring herself to call him a bastard or anything else as foul.
Genuine concern etched itself across his flawless facial features.
“You give me nothing but heartache. “You need to leave Tyler alone.”
“I might be inclined to do that if you gave me something in return.”
“No,” she said succinctly. “I am not going to bend to your demands.”
Her balance was thrown off when she felt something she shouldn’t be feeling…Tyler was near.
Devlin moved toward her causing her to flinch in expectation.
“Why don’t you retire to your chambers here and I’ll be a
long shortly,” she said it in the softly seductive voice that he could never ever resist.
He looked at her quizzically.
“Your wish is my command,” he murmured, bowing to her gallantly. He left the dining room. Heart thundering, she said softly, “You’d better come out of hiding now because I know you’re there,” she murmured.
Tyler appeared from his hiding place behind a marble pillar.
“How long have you known each other and how long have you known that this rascal was going to bail your ass out of the fire?”
“He doesn’t know me,” The Red Falcon said from behind her. “Well, not personally that is.”
“What the hell do you mean? Cut the bullshit, and get to the point!” She pressed her finger to her temple. “So…how long did you all have this planned and does Devlin know you’re harbouring the man he hates the most in all of the known galaxies?” Her head was going to explode she just knew it.
Bang.
That’s what it was going to do. If her head didn’t explode, something in this room would.
A light bulb above them shattered, causing The Red Falcon to let out a loud, “Shit. If you don’t give her an explanation, Cassidy, I will or else I am going to be putting The Emerald Star back together again.”
Tyler now stood like a sentinel beside her and though she wanted to still treat him like the bastard he was her heart wasn’t really in it. She wanted to go to Devlin and see how she could work on him to leave Tyler alone.
Besides, she could never be mad at long with Tyler. That was the problem about Tyler. You could never stay mad at him for very long.
“One of my men, contacted Tyler to do a job for me. As you well know, your husband is very well skilled when it comes to acquiring valuable articles, in a discreet manner. So he was hired. What we both hadn’t expected was that he would be nailed for a crime that he didn’t commit while doing the research necessary to rip Lady Devlin off. I hate the woman with the heat of a thousand suns and I’m glad she’s dead.”
“So, let me get this straight. You were charming Lady Devlin, seducing her actually, so you could case her place and then steal something that was priceless?” Her heart thudded. In some small way, he’d brought this upon himself. Even though, he was only guilty of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. “Did you sleep with her?”
Guilt framed Tyler’s features and he averted her gaze. But his touch still carried right through her leather coat.
“Yes to the first question and no to the second question,” Tyler muttered, scraping his boot along the floor. He was lying.
“And you hired him?” she asked, directing her gaze at the Red Falcon.
“Yes,” he answered, repositioning his chair, and settling himself into it.
“Why didn’t you just procure the priceless item yourself?” she demanded, shaking her head.
They were two little boys. Both of them thought ass backward when it came to claiming a prize.
The Red Falcon looked straight past her and leveled his dark blue gaze on Tyler.
“Because I do not possess the necessary skills, and I wouldn’t have even been able to get inside of the mansion to Lady Devlin’s room in the first place. You are forgetting my personal relationship with Devlin. He was my mentor. A long time ago, he rescued me from a hideous life, and taught me how to become a man, and survive on my own. He is too close to me, I would have never been successful.”
“You don’t possess the necessary skills. Tell me another one!” She tossed a scorching glare Tyler’s way, and tried to pull out of his hold.
But it was firm. Damn.
“You don’t realize yet, what it was that I wanted, do you?” the Red Falcon inquired.
His eyes bored straight through her, and they burned her with their intensity.
“Okay, I bite. Why the hell was it so crucial that you had to hire my husband?” Samantha nearly dreaded the answer.
She suddenly realized she’d probably end up with a headache the size of New San Francisco.
“You are familiar with Tyler’s talents as an artist are you not?”
She nodded her head, encouraging him to continue.
“Well, I did some digging on Lady Devlin and discovered she hasn’t always traveled in high society. When she was a very young woman, she had been employed at an establishment of ill repute. While there, she entertained a man, who used her for her carnal services. When she had fallen asleep, he did something so crazy that even you will not believe it.”
She watched him with growing uneasiness and butterflies circled around in her stomach.
“Go on,” she urged reluctantly. Disgusting mental images flashed through her wearied brain.
“While Lady Devlin was sleeping this man tattooed a map on her back. As you can understand, her slumber was drug induced. Well, when Lady Devlin woke up and discovered what he had done, she was infuriated. She tried to have it surgically removed, but for some reason it was ingrained into her DNA, and no matter how many times they tried, it kept reappearing on her skin.”
Samantha shuddered and didn’t fight Tyler when he pulled her against the side of his body. “Yuck!” was all she managed to say.
“Indeed. No one ever knew what the map was about, including Devlin. The man that had painted it on her back was killed in a bar brawl the next day. As I said, Lady Devlin definitely didn’t come from much. Eventually, through much labourious research I discovered what the map was for.”
“What was it for?” she asked, hooked into the story the Red Falcon was weaving.
“It was a map to the lost treasure of Empress Ileana of Elendara.”
“Holy shit!” she murmured. Her head swam, all of the blood drained from her cheeks.
Chapter Nineteen
“I just have one other question. Why didn’t you just have some other sneaky thief sneak into her abode and take a picture of her back? Did you really need Tyler to draw it? That seems so archaic. I know that artistry is a dying trade....”
“You misunderstand. The map could not be removed from Lady Devlin’s back, nor could it be photographed the archaic way or caught digitally. It is astonishing, but the map is amazingly resistant to being removed or copied, hence the reason why I needed someone to sketch it with a precise and exacting hand.”
She considered the Red Falcon’s words, anger fueling through her once more. She gradually began to piece the jigsaw together. He had hired Tyler, and Tyler had become vulnerable because of the Red Falcon’s greed.
“You were responsible for Tyler being implicated in the first place,” she exploded.
Marching up to the Red Falcon, she pulled her hand back to strike him. Tyler grabbed her hand and held her back despite her protestations.
“LET ME AT HIM!” Rash through her actions were, she had to do something to quell the burning need inside of her. “You put Dylan through hell, you put us through hell over a bloody job like that? He doesn’t need a bloody treasure. Look at him,” she gestured wildly to their lavishly decorated surroundings… ”he’s not exactly a fucking pauper!!!”
Eventually, Tyler overpowered her weary body and pulled her back against his broad chest.
“I accepted the job,” he whispered in her ear. “I put myself in danger of being caught, and I even put myself in danger of being blamed for a murder I didn’t commit. I made the perfect scapegoat.”
Hearing his explanation, she relaxed slightly, and shrugged away from him.
“How do I know you didn’t have Lady Devlin killed? I would assume that it wouldn’t be above a pirate’s scruples to kill someone, just because they were a wrench in their plans.”
An eerie hush fell over the enormous room.
“That would make me a dishonorable man. Tyler and I shared a contract. Had I gone behind his back and set him up for a murder, then that would make me a no good dirty bastard.
I may be a bastard at times, but I am not a bad man, no matter how many times you may want to label me as one. I have met a
great deal of unsavory characters in my time, and none of them would have been at all concerned that you were being attacked by rival pirates.
Tell me, Samantha, have you ever heard the expression appearances aren’t always what they seem to be?
Perhaps, in the future you should try to curtail your impulsive headstrong nature, and instead study your surroundings before jumping to the wrong conclusions. I don’t care what a person looks like on the outside, I try to reach inside and see the inner beauty. And I hope one day you will do the same with me!”
Ashamed of her irrational behavior, she frowned when she heard her stomach growl once again. She darted her eyes toward the floor, and let what the Red Falcon had said sink into her brain.
“I can’t do this right now,” she said, pushing away from Tyler. “I don’t want to see you swing for a crime you didn’t commit, Tyler, but I also can’t fall back into our relationship like nothing has happened.”
She watched the Red Falcon stride out of the room. Before he left, he turned to them and sighed.
“You may return to your ship for now. I have taken those ugly pirates out of your brig. I have a much bigger facility for them here, and I will make sure that they are dealt with properly.
If they have any outstanding bounties on them, I’ll re-wire the money to you and your crew. For now, I will remain in orbit, and I’ll gain you the time that you need with Devlin. You needn’t go through with the promise you made him. You need to set things right in your own life before you can screw up Devlin’s again.”
“Your association and Devlin’s association with my wife is over. If you want your bloody map, then you will need me alive to draw it for you. And at the moment, my memory seems a bit sketchy. Once everything reveals itself, I will fulfill the contract I made with you.
Then you will have what you initially wanted. Samantha wasn’t involved in this whole debacle until I got her involved. She doesn’t need to suffer for what I’ve done.”
The Red Falcon regarded him coolly.
Maybe she didn’t want to end her association with Devlin.
“Tyler, your concern is sweet and all that—but I can fight my own battles.”
Reckless Bounty (Intergalactic Justice Book 1) Page 14