Seems he’s a bit eager to find his treasure. I don’t think he’ll succeed though, since he’s probably just going to go on a wild goose chase. Maps like those are usually just folklore, and if it were real, he’d be one hell of a rich man.”
“Oh, well. Money isn’t everything,” Samantha said, sighing. “I mean we’re all alive and together. That’s all I need.”
“Oh, dear. Samantha is getting maudlin. We had better get a move on before she gets really teary eyed.
This was it. They were leaving New Monaco.
She was leaving, Devlin, again.
“Watch your tongue, monkey boy!” Samantha barked, racing after him.
“Now that’s exactly what I like to hear. At least I know when you call me monkey boy, that you’re completely sane,” Dylan said.
Chapter Forty-Four
Samantha leaned back in her beach chair and closed her eyes. She opened them suddenly and stared at her family.
“You know, this idea of a holiday was a great one,” she mused. Her mother and Johanna stared at her. “But there’s only one problem.”
“Samantha, why can’t you just relax, sit back and inhale the sweet, clean air?” Dylan asked, shutting his book.
“Yes, dear, you should relax. Watching you go through all of those things this morning made me tired. Why you played beach volleyball, you went windsurfing and skydiving. What could possibly be wrong with you?” her mother asked, impatience threading through her voice.
Samantha smiled. She couldn’t relax because she didn’t have Devlin, and she had done enough self-loathing to make anyone crazy.
“I’m bored,” Samantha said, as Johanna and Charlotte sighed at the same time.
“You’re bored?” her mother asked, “You only arrived yesterday, and yet you’re bored?”
“Yep,” Samantha remarked, staring mischievously over at them all. “Who wants to entertain me?”
They all groaned.
“Well…” Johanna said. “I did see another huge bounty come across on the bulletins the other day. This one is a real piece of work, and the reward is out of this world. It will keep us in the black for at least a few months.”
“Well, what are we waiting for?” Samantha asked.
Johanna groaned. “Why do I always open my mouth? Why can’t I ever learn? This was supposed to be our vacation.”
“If I don’t keep busy, I’ll lose my mind!” Samantha said.
It was true. She was on the verge of losing her mind. Every morning she woke up she mentally smacked herself for not bloody staying with Devlin. She truly was the stupidest woman in all of the known galaxies.
“Come on, Johanna, time is a wasting,” she said, as Johanna sighed and stood up.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m coming,” Johanna muttered. “We’ll need Veronica as well, and she’s been holed up in her hotel room for days with Ross. Guess who gets to disturb them?”
Samantha let out a loud groan. “Me,” she said sighing.
“That’s right, sis,” Johanna laughed.
Epilogue
Devlin sat looking at his most cherished possessions—a picture of Samantha. Anger burned within him. He’d actually thought that Tyler was a killer—and Tyler would hang and he would be reunited with Samantha. Her constant refusal to see what they shared, what they’d always shared, hurt him deeply.
Her bravado and the way she kept him at an arm’s length drove him crazy. So many times he’d wanted to tell everyone that they were once an item. He’d wanted to shout it all for everyone to hear. When his men had almost touched her, he would have killed them with his bare hands. If only she had taken him up on his offer to marry him to ensure Tyler’s freedom.
At least he’d been able to kill that bastard Rodgers. That alone had given him a great amount of pleasure. He could never hurt Samantha again.
He sighed heavily and took a large swig of whisky. To know he had married such a bitch in an attempt to get her attention…it all stung, and yet, he still wanted Samantha. He couldn’t stop loving her, no matter how badly she treated him.
He knew it was her way of remaining distant and aloof from him. He knew it was her way of building a shield around herself to keep him out but he would find a way to break through that shield and touch the sensitive soul she had under that crusty exterior.
“I want you back, Samantha, and I’ll do whatever I have to do to make you mine again, this I swear.”
THE END
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Reckless Bounty (Intergalactic Justice Book 1) Page 35