Reckless Bounty (Intergalactic Justice Book 1)

by Marly Mathews

  “You are a great big bully, Devlin, and I just want you to know we will not be affected by your brutish attitude.” Johanna looked about ready to strike Devlin. Samantha wished she would. That would make her day and save her from doing it. Sometimes, Devlin had to be reminded that he couldn’t go around acting like a pompous autocrat.

  Samantha and the Red Falcon watched Johanna at her very best. She would stick with her sister through thick and thin, but in all of their years together she’d never seen Johanna so inspired to make another person feel like he was two feet tall.

  Devlin seemed to know that getting a tongue lashing from Johanna was totally out of character for her—so he was letting her shine like a star.

  Then Devlin’s eyes flickered to Samantha, and he seemed to regain some of his former cockiness. The autocrat had returned.

  “Then I trust, Samantha that you will not mind if I search your ship to verify the fact you haven’t anything to hide.” He slanted his mouth into a smug grin while a flicker of jealousy flashed in his eyes.

  She stared unbelievably at him and felt a coldness overtake her. It hit her like a punch to the gut, as she realized she was still in New Monaco’s airspace, and technically she was still under New Monaco jurisdiction.

  Devlin was always like this with her so why the hell did he turn her on so much?

  He was like playing with fire…and she didn’t want to get burned by him…if she did let his passionate flames lick at her again—there would be no turning back. She didn’t have enough strength to walk away from him twice in one lifetime.

  And since Devlin ran the crime-infested planet, she would have to acquiesce or face a severe fine or punishment—and she knew just what his punishment would be.

  She couldn’t push her luck. They didn’t have much money left, and well the punishment thing wasn’t an option. She’d have Devlin at her mercy before that came to pass. Samantha swallowed past the barbed wire in her throat and tried to hide her true feelings.

  Please God, let what I am about to say not come back to bite me in the ass!

  She stared up at the Red Falcon for some kind of confirmation. She felt quite sure that as long as the Red Falcon needed Tyler’s information, he’d protect his investment. For once in her life she was thinking rationally. Her mother would be proud.

  She breathed deeply, praying that her hunch was correct. She had never been so insecure before, and she hid it by using her rather colourful mouth on Devlin and hoping he would buy it. Her mouth was her greatest gift, and her greatest curse, when used unwisely that is.

  “Kiss my ass, Devlin,” she drawled out. Drawing another breath, she prepared to do her worst. “But since I am in such a charitable mood, I shall allow you to have full access to my ship. You may even inspect my toilets if you feel the need.”

  She started to head in one direction and was subtly pushed in the other direction by Red.

  Like she’d admitted before, she had a shitty sense of direction.

  “It’s this way,” he murmured, in her ear.

  She smiled sheepishly and gave him a glance of appreciation. “I knew that.”

  Johanna snorted and tried stifling it with the back of her hand. Johanna gave her a searching gaze, and Samantha mouthed the words ‘trust me.’

  She was just about to place her faith in a pirate’s hands and she prayed that she wouldn’t be dealing with the brutal blow of betrayal. But she had a fifty, fifty chance so her odds were good.

  Ah, what the hell. What have you got to lose, Samantha?

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Samantha pushed herself ahead of Devlin just before they reached The Excalibur. It hadn’t been necessary to use the Red Falcon’s transporter system, since The Excalibur had docked in The Emerald Star’s massive docking bay.

  She tapped her fingers restlessly against her side, frowning when Dylan greeted them in an overtly defensive manner.

  Samantha moved past Dylan and watched Lord Devlin crinkle his nose in disgust. “Well, this place hasn’t changed. It still looks as if it should be in a spaceship junkyard.”

  “Now see here, Devlin,” Samantha said, extenuating every single word. “I will not tolerate you patronizing my ship. Everything can’t live up to your stuck up expectations. You are here onboard my ship for one reason alone, and that isn’t to assign our ship a Lord Devlin approval rating. So move it, before I’m tempted to make you lose it.”

  “I could have bought you a much nicer mode of transportation than this. I would have lavished you with riches.”

  “I know…maybe that’s one of the reasons why I walked away.”

  She sniffed the air, and for the first time noticed the quiet guards flanking them. One of them wore cheap perfume.

  She sneezed, and was caught off guard when Devlin offered her his handkerchief. She took it and blew her nose, then didn’t know what to do with it.

  “Keep it,” he said.

  They were now in the hallway that led to the private living quarters. Samantha let out a loud groan, when he tried opening one of the guest rooms.

  “Lucy, kindly open the door,” Samantha murmured, genuinely hoping that her husband wasn’t inside.

  Devlin stared over in victory at Samantha. If he thought he was going to get Tyler that easily, he was sadly mistaken.

  “I can’t comply, Samantha. The inhabitants have ordered complete privacy mood. I don’t disobey such commands. I am an obedient, AI,” Lucy answered in a matter-of-fact tone.

  Lucy sounded as if she believed Samantha had completely lost her senses.

  “Obedient, AI, my arse. If you don’t comply, I’ll have you ejected from The Emerald Star and blown into next Sunday,” Devlin threatened. She gave him a look of admiration. She actually agreed with him on that point…she could do with a Lucy free zone.

  “Well, since it is Friday already, what kind of a threat is that?” Samantha asked. “You definitely need to come up with some new material.” She smiled as she watched her latest quip make a muscle in his jaw twitch.

  “You need a punch in the nose,” she muttered.

  “Come on over here and try it,” Devlin teased.

  She sighed. They’d have to give Devlin his own way or he’d never shut up or leave for that matter.

  Samantha stared over at Dylan.

  “Devlin wants to be allowed inside. I say we give him whatever he wants, within reason,” Samantha muttered. “And if he likes surprises, this will be right up his alley.” “Dylan, please do the honours and allow our good friend access to these quarters.” Dylan looked at her astonished.

  Shrugging his shoulders and muttering under his breath, he moved and reconfigured the command, and making sure Lucy forgot the whole uncomfortable incident.

  The door quickly opened and everyone let out shocked exclamations at the rowdy display of sexual intercourse that met their eyes.

  “Oh, wow…that’s um…wow. I so didn’t need to see that. That image will be ingrained in my memory for days… and I can’t wash out my mind with soap,” Samantha managed to say.

  She turned around, smiling when she heard Devlin’s outraged cry.

  “Where are you hiding HIM?” Devlin demanded, striding over to Dylan and grabbing him by the shoulders.

  He shook him and then well, she lost it. And she bit her lips as everything around them went straight to hell.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Veronica came lunging out of the bedroom. She was by now wearing a pair of jeans and a tank top, and Ross was still mumbling and lumbering around back inside of the room, struggling to get his clothes on.

  Samantha couldn’t seem to shake the picture of his large backside that had been burned into her mind. Johanna, reached for Samantha, just as Veronica’s fist connected with Devlin’s jaw.

  Devlin staggered back, and then Samantha moved forward, to either knee him or help him, she couldn’t decide which, when Veronica jumped on his back. He whirled around with Veronica screaming like a banshee trying desperate
ly to shake her off.

  “For the love of God! Woman, get off of me!” he ordered, still trying to rip her off his back.

  “I got to hand it to you, Veronica! You are one determined little cookie. Oops, I meant big cookie!”

  Veronica tossed her a dirty look.

  “I’ll show you what happens when my privacy is invaded by a sick son of a bitch!”

  “Let me know if you need any assistance, Big V.” Samantha stepped out of the way, watching the show with immense enjoyment. Devlin deserved what he was getting right now. If he had been in the right, she would have sympathized with him and probably even moved to help him but not now.

  She was too busy laughing.

  For once in Samantha’s life, she actually discovered shared something in common—they reacted the same way when their privacy was invaded. A bond was forged between them.

  “Danny,” he grunted.

  When Samantha looked around for the Red Falcon, she discovered he had made a beeline to make himself scarce.

  “I am going to break this back of yours, Lord Asshole,” Veronica screamed.

  “Beat him up all you’d like but please don’t break his back. Don’t hurt him too much,” Samantha said.

  She watched the entertaining scene with a sense of contentment. For once in her life, she actually admired Veronica. She felt like worshipping the woman. Veronica clawed at Lord Devlin’s pretty boy face until he finally succeeded in throwing her off of him.

  As Veronica clattered against the floor, Ross came charging out of the room. “Oh, excellent. Here comes the raging bull,” Samantha said, enjoying her running commentary on the unfolding events.

  She could’ve sworn Ross’s weight had tipped The Excalibur slightly. Ross had to learn not to run on The Excalibur. She couldn’t risk him breaking her ship, by accident. They didn’t have broken by a raging bull insurance.

  Devlin’s bodyguards had by now restrained Veronica, and the one that wore the cheap stinky perfume, had moved forward with her rifle charged and at the ready.

  Samantha caught sight of the reading on the rifle, before anyone else did and rushed the woman. There was no bloody reason to have the rifle set on kill, and she’d be damned if she were going to have anyone killed on her watch.

  She wouldn’t let her kill anyone least of Devlin by accident! She slammed the woman down to the ground and heard her groan, when she knocked the wind out of her.

  The rifle went flying from her arms and hit the wall. Johanna bent to pick it up and had it aimed squarely at Devlin.

  “Everyone stops, right NOW!” Johanna instructed, placing her finger on the trigger.

  Samantha looked up at her sister and realized in one terrifying instant that Johanna had not yet ascertained that it was set on kill.

  “Johanna, NO!!!” she screamed in horror, just as her sister discharged it.

  Closing her eyes, she used her abilities to wrap Devlin in a protective cocoon, when she opened her eyes, to see why everything had become so damnably quiet.

  Johanna had missed, so that wasn’t what had everyone in such a state of apparent shock. She turned around to look behind her.

  And the image that met her eyes, nearly made her blood run cold.

  “Just lovely,” Samantha murmured, willing herself to maintain a cool demeanor. “Would someone please check to make sure the dog is done biting me in my ass?” she asked.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Samantha stared furiously at Tyler, who seemed unaffected by the whole state of affairs. Didn’t he know they were all bending over backward to keep his ass safe and here he was seemingly offering himself up to Devlin? What the hell was the matter with him?

  “This is bullshit,” she drawled, hoping that for some reason she was daydreaming. She pinched herself and sighed when she didn’t suddenly come out of her pipe dream.

  Then in desperation, Samantha did the only thing she could possibly think of. She walked straight up to Tyler and slapped him across his face. Hard. Maybe a bit too hard.

  His jaw clenched, but he didn’t say a word, or even utter a single noise. His nostrils were flared, but his eyes were still guarded, and his lips were pursed in a severe line.

  For the first time in her life, she didn’t know what to do. Here was Tyler, standing in front of Devlin, as if he was inviting the man to lead him to the noose.

  She couldn’t figure out anyone’s motives, and her brain was on overload. If the pressure didn’t stop mounting around her, she was going to blow a fuse and with the instability of her powers that wasn’t something anyone wanted to happen, especially her.

  Everyone had his or her own agendas. Except for her, and the rest of her family. She took in Dylan and Johanna’s look of helplessness, and then saw Veronica’s complete bafflement. For once in their long rivalry, they both finally shared the same thoughts.

  “Would someone spill the fucking beans about what exactly is going on here?” Veronica asked, momentarily distracted. Ross gently helped her to her feet, and she stared dolefully up at him.

  Samantha inwardly thanked Veronica, since she wanted to ask the same question herself.

  “I have brought Tyler to you, Devlin. You shall not ask any more questions. Enough is enough,” The Red Falcon stated.

  Devlin stared at him, with his mouth open slightly. He looked at the Red Falcon as if he’d suddenly grown two heads and a tail. If she hadn’t known better, she would’ve sworn that Devlin was just as surprised as she was.

  “I certainly shall not agree to anything that you have just said, Danny. Do I need to remind you that I do not take orders from you?” Devlin demanded. “Besides, I would have rather had someone else in lieu of this idiot.”

  “No reminders are necessary. But you are on my ship, and for now, you are beneath my control. I make the rules here.”

  Devlin puffed himself up like a peacock. Samantha had no idea why he felt the need. Devlin was a big man but he wouldn’t fight Red and they all knew it. Devlin had people for that and he wouldn’t get his hands dirty unless it had gotten desperate and for him things hadn’t gotten desperate yet. The play for power was sort of fascinating and a bit titillating.

  “Samantha, has put you up to this hasn’t she, son? She did it because she didn’t want to give me what I really want, that’s it, isn’t it?” Lord Devlin asked, encouraging her already deep frown to pucker even more.

  Why did she always get put in the middle?

  She should have made it her business to control Devlin’s fate.

  “Damn straight!” The Red Falcon said.

  Samantha gasped in horror. Her outraged glare pivoted toward him, and he grinned lopsidedly back at her.

  “She can do a wonderful job of persuading me, when we are in the throes of passion,” The Red Falcon bragged.

  Devlin’s grin faded. He looked jealous, and it served him right! Hey, wait a minute that was her good reputation he was blithely tarnishing.

  Tyler stiffened visibly but didn’t make a sound.

  Bastard.

  Samantha couldn’t take much more of this ridiculous conversation. She was actually allowing the Red Falcon to insinuate they had a sexual relationship going on between them, when the idea of it, made her skin crawl. He would find in time that she didn’t take kind-heartedly to such duplicity.

  She was caught between killing the Red Falcon, and waiting to give him a chance. She needed to know what was needed of her. Tyler was giving nothing away, until he winked at her when Devlin was distracted. And when it came to Tyler, a wink said a million words. For once in her life, she didn’t need an interpreter.

  “I don’t envy you, Danny. She is quite the sex siren, but I doubt you would be able to survive her personality. In truth, her hot-headedness would make me want to pull my hair out.” Devlin laughed. His blue-black eyes glittered at Tyler.

  Now she really wanted to slap Devlin. Why was he being so cruel?

  “You have, however, saved me the money that would have been necessary
to pay for his head,” Devlin continued. “Since we are essentially family, I shall be more than happy to take the scalawag off of your hands.”

  “Over my dead body,” Dylan sputtered out.

  Samantha winced. Finally, someone had opened his mouth, before she’d been able to shoot hers off.

  “That could be arranged, don’t you think, Danny,” Devlin agreed, directing his steely gaze at Dylan, as Johanna went to grip Dylan’s hand.

  Samantha moved to put herself between Dylan and Devlin. At this point in time, she’d rather protect Dylan over his idiot of a brother.

  Devlin sighed and observed her with sparkling eyes. “You could have done so much better. You went over into a new class when you found this braggart,” he said, gesturing to Tyler, “and it wasn’t a high class, my dear,” he murmured, trailing his eyes up and down her body, as if his thirst for her could never be quenched. She sighed.

  “Oh, I think that she did do much better than you.” Johanna’s eyes sparkled.

  Samantha chuckled and quickly placed her hand over her mouth. “Score one for my sister, zero for the pompous bastard!” All eyes pinned on her. She realized a moment too late that she’d spoken aloud.

  Damn.

  Devlin fell silent. Now she’d hurt him just as he’d hurt her. Samantha knew intuitively that he would never give her up. Even though she had tried to snuff it out, the flame still burned.

  She just prayed that someday, something or someone would come along and extinguish the flame because if they didn’t, she’d probably be pulled back into his orbit again. But she couldn’t dwell on such seemingly inconsequential matters, at the moment, she had a life or death situation on her hands, and it seemed to be fringing more on death than life.

  Red loudly cleared his throat, causing all eyes to fall on him. He actually seemed to stand straighter. The jerk was an attention hog.

  Imagine that!