by Paige Tyler
The blond-haired man snorted. “This is a mockery. The woman is clearly worth a hundred times that figure, a thousand times even. Let’s be done with this travesty now. I bid two-thousand credits.”
Teyla wanted nothing more than to slap the smug look off the man’s face. Since her bonds made that impossible, she settled for glaring at him instead. Tears of frustration stung her eyes and she blinked them back. The idea of being sold to this bastard when Slayter was right there was almost too much. If he thought she was ever going to let him touch her, he was insane. She’d kill him first.
Slayter looked like he wanted to do the same thing. He turned to the auctioneer. “Would you accept my ship for collateral?”
“Since you don’t have an account with us, I’m afraid not,” the man said. “We can only accept cash or something with recognizable and immediate cash value.”
Taking a deep breath, Slayter reached into his shirt and pulled out his mother’s ring. He undid the clasp on the chain, then strode up to the podium and handed it to the auctioneer. “How much is this worth?”
Teyla’s eyes went wide. “Slayter, no! That ring means too much to you.”
Slayter walked over and tenderly cupped her cheek in his hand. “It doesn’t mean nearly as much to me as you do, sweetheart.” He swallowed hard. “Teyla, you’re the best thing I’ve ever stumbled upon in my miserable pirate life, and I’m not going to lose you. My mother would be the first to tell me to give it up to buy your freedom.”
Behind the podium, the auctioneer cleared his throat. “According to the appraiser, the ring is worth four-thousand credits.”
Teyla gasped. “That gem is Kallorite, Slayter. The setting is platinum. They’re offering you half of what’s it worth. I’m begging you, please don’t do it. There has to be another way.”
Slayter shook his head. “If there is, I can’t think of it. And I’m not taking the risk.” He looked at the auctioneer. “Add the ring to the money I already bid.”
“Very well. That brings the current bid to four-thousand, four-hundred-and-seventy credits. Do I hear another bid for this beautiful woman who inspires such passionate in the men around her?”
The blond-haired man strode forward, clearly intending to bid more, only to fall face first onto the floor thanks to Genoone, who stuck out his foot just enough to trip him. The man lay sprawled there, as if waiting for someone to help him up. Slayter did the honors, grabbing the man’s arm and hauling him to his feet.
The man eyed Slayter in confusion for a moment, then shrugged off his hand. Straightening his clothes, he sidestepped Slayter and looked at the auctioneer.
“I believe you dropped this, Mr. Lattenmore,” Slayter said.
At the name, the blond man turned to give Slayter a startled look. His eyes widened at the sight of the leather folio Slayter held up.
“How did you…?” The man’s voice trailed off as he reached into the inner pocket of his overcoat and fumbled around urgently.
“This is yours, isn’t it, Mr. Lattenmore?” Slayter flipped open the folio, scanning the identification card inside. “Mr. Jok Lattenmore of Mellone Manor in Strant City on the planet Kahoon. It has your picture right here, as well as all the rest of your personal information, so I suppose it must be yours. Wouldn’t want to lose something like this.”
Red-faced, the man stepped forward to snatch the folio out of Slayter’s hand. “You picked my pocket, you thief!”
Slayter gave him an affronted look. “I did no such thing. It fell out of your pocket when you tripped. Everyone saw it.” Folding his arms across him broad chest, he looked around the room at the crowd. “Isn’t that right?”
To Teyla’s surprise, everyone nodded in agreement. She hadn’t seen the folio fall out of the man’s pocket, and wondered what game Slayter was playing.
“I can certainly understand why you’d be upset about it, though,” Slayter continued conversationally. “Someone gets their hands on that folio and within moments, they can learn everything about you they’d ever want to know, especially if they had something malicious planned for you.”
“Malicious?” The man’s eyes narrowed. “Are you threatening me?” He took a step back and looked wildly around the room. “Everyone, did you hear what he said? He threatened me!”
Slayter smiled, the movement nothing but a slight, almost sinister twist of the lips. “I’d never do such a thing. In my line of work as a freelance merchant of flexible ethics, however, I’ve come in contact with a lot of unscrupulous men you’d certainly have to be concerned about. Men who, if they were wronged, would have no problem tracking you down to what I’m sure is a very palatial home, breaking in during the middle of the night and committing untold atrocities upon every person living there, then leaving you cold and dead after hours of torture.” He shrugged. “It happens all the time, or so I’m told.”
Though his voice was calm, Teyla saw the fury burning in Slayter’s eyes. It was the same look she’d seen there after those other pirates had attacked his ship and butchered his men. She knew right then that if Lattenmore bought her and took her back to his palatial home, Slayter would have no compunction about doing exactly what he had just described. This time, though, it didn’t bother her, but instead comforted her.
“I’m not saying anything like that is in store for such a fine gentleman as yourself, of course.” Slayter stepped closer to tower over the man, his grin broadening. “I’m just giving you the benefit of my vast experience with people of dubious moral character. You wouldn’t want to wrong a person like that.”
Lattenmore flinched as if Slayter had struck him, quickly taking a step back.
“Though I’m sure you’ve never given anyone reason to be that vengeful or remorseless, have you?” Slayter said. “Never caused them such pain that they’d rather die than go on living. Never separated two life mates from each other for just a few credits, for example.”
Lattenmore took another step back, throwing a desperate glance at the auctioneer. “Aren’t you going to do something about this?”
The auctioneer looked down at the blond-haired man from atop his podium. “House rules clearly state that if you die prior to taking possession of the merchandise you’ve bid on, your final bid will be honored. Be assured that if you die prior to leaving the hall, Mr. Lattenmore, we’ll ensure your purchase is safely transported to your home of record.”
“What?” The man frowned, then shook his head. “That’s not what I mean! He’s threatening to kill me when I return home. What are you going to do about that?”
“Mr. Lattenmore, implied threats of bodily injury are not expressly forbidden under house rules. In fact, it’s a frequently employed bidding tactic. If you’d like to lodge a formal complaint after the auction has closed, then I will certainly assist you. If it were me, though, I’d return the threat in like kind. Call his bluff, as it were. I’ve seen that tactic used to great success. Though I suggest you put a little menace in your voice if you want it to be effective.”
Lattenmore eyed Slayter warily, as if considering whether he should take the auctioneer’s advice or not. He either decided Slayter wasn’t buffing, or that he couldn’t successfully pull off a believable counter threat because he blanched and turned away.
“Mr. Lattenmore, the bid of four thousand, four hundred and seventy is to you,” the auctioneer said. “Do you have a counterbid?”
Lattenmore looked down at the floor, his brow furrowed. After a moment, he shook his head. “I withdraw my bid and defer to the other bidder.”
The auctioneer raised a brow. “All previous bids, or just your most recent bid?”
“All previous bids,” Lattenmore said quickly.
He didn’t wait for the auctioneer to ask him anything else, but instead gave Slayter a wide berth as he hurried from the room.
The auctioneer smiled. “Now, are there any other bidders at the current low price?”
Slayter swept the crowd with a withering gaze. There were no furthe
r bids.
“Going once, going twice, going three times.” The auctioneer banged his gavel on the podium with a flick of the wrist. “Sold to the threatening yet passionate gentleman in the front row.”
At his nod, one of the guards immediately hurried over to release Teyla from her bonds. Once she was free, she jumped down from the pedestal and ran to Slayter. He caught her in his arms, pulling her close for a long, passionate kiss that left her breathless.
“I can’t believe you did that for me,” she said. “You not only forgave my family’s debt, but gave up your mother’s ring. How could you do all that for me?”
Slayter smoothed her hair back with a gentle hand. “How could I not? I love you, Teyla.” He bent to press tender kiss to her lips. “Come on. I’ll take you home.”
“Home?” She took a step back to gaze up at him. “Slayter, I don’t want to go home. Not home to Kallor, anyway. I want to go home with you. To your ship.”
Slayter’s brow furrowed. “You do?”
“Of course.” She reached up to cup his cheek. “Slayter, I love you. I would have told you before, but the auctioneer interrupted me.”
Slayter kissed her again, long and hard. “How did I get so lucky?”
“I’m the lucky one,” she insisted.
Teyla would have given him another kiss, but Genoone tapped Slayter on the shoulder.
“I hate to interrupt,” he said, “but I think the auctioneer is waiting to get paid. And in case you haven’t noticed, they really seem to be sticklers about following the rules.”
Slayter chuckled. “I almost forgot that part.”
Grabbing his coat from Genoone, he helped Teyla put it on, then took her hand and led her over to the podium.
The gray-haired men smiled kindly at them. “In all my years doing this job, I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more exciting round of bidding. That will be one-hundred-and-thirty-two credits, if you please.”
Slayter frowned. “My bid was four thousand, four hundred seventy.”
“Yes, well, since the other bidder withdrew all of his previous bids, your first bid of one-hundred-and-thirty-two credits is the winning bid.”
“He doesn’t have to give you the ring then?” Teyla asked.
“No.” The man held out the piece of jewelry. “Congratulations and good luck to you. I hope your purchase brings you years and years of entertainment.”
Slipping the chain over his neck, Slayter tucked the ring inside his shirt, then took Teyla’s hand. He gave her a smile. “I’m sure it will.”
They started for the door when the auctioneer’s voice stopped them.
“Gentlemen, a moment.”
Thinking the man meant Slayter and his crew, she turned. Slayter did the same. But the auctioneer wasn’t looking at them. Instead, he was focused on Rommel’s men, a hard look on his face.
“There’s that little matter of the shooting down at the spaceport to clear up, not to mention the assault on three of the guards in the lobby. There are very serious consequences for what you did.”
Glancing at Slayter, the auctioneer gave him a wink. Curious what that was about, Teyla turned to ask Slayter, but he was already leading her out of the room.
“Now, who’s the best negotiator?” he asked, slipping his arm around her as they walked down the passageway. “I got you for only one-hundred-and-thirty-two credits.”
Teyla couldn’t help but laugh. “If I had been doing the talking, the auctioneer would have paid you to take me.”
Slayter only chuckled.
Chapter Eight
“That’s so romantic!”
Teyla smiled at her youngest sister’s words. She had called her family on the compvid to tell them the good news the moment Slayter had let her out of bed. To say they’d been surprised to hear from her was putting it mildly. Her mother had burst into tears at the sight of her and hadn’t stopped crying since. That had been thirty minutes ago.
“It was very romantic,” Teyla agreed.
“That’s all well and good, dear, but tell me truthfully,” her mother said. “Slayter hasn’t decided to keep you just as a sex slave himself, has he?”
Teyla laughed. “No, he isn’t keeping me as a sex slave, Mother. He’s making me his wife. Slayter is the most caring and loving man I could have ever hoped to meet. I love him and he loves me.”
In the background, her father let out a snort. “I hope he doesn’t think he’s going to get money out of me now just because he wouldn’t sell you.”
Teyla’s mouth tightened. She couldn’t believe that was all her father was concerned about. He could at least act pleased she was getting married.
“No, Father, he doesn’t. I told you, Slayter considers the debt paid in full.” She gave him a sweet smile. “You might want to be careful, though. Now that I’m doing the negotiating for him, profits will be going through the roof. We might just make enough money to buy a controlling interest in your company.”
In the bedroom, Slayter chuckled. The deep, sexy sound made heat pool between her thighs, and Teyla stifled a moan. Eager to get back to bed for more of the toe-curling sex he’d treated her to when they’d gotten back from Arkhon, she gave her parents and sisters a grin.
“I have to go. I’ll call again as soon as we get close to Kallor.”
“Wait!” her youngest sister begged. “Show us your ring again.”
Laughing, Teyla held up her left hand to show off the platinum and Kallorite ring. Slayter had given it to her the moment they’d stepped into his cabin, but only after getting down on one knee and asking if she would make him the happiest pirate in the galaxy and marry him.
When she went back into the bedroom, she found Slayter lying back on the pillows where she’d left him, one arm behind his head. Teyla slipped off the robe she’d put on while talking to her family, then crawled into bed beside him.
“You know,” she said. “I wasn’t kidding about buying a controlling interest in my father’s company. Silicate processing is very lucrative. Now that the ore processor has been purchased, there’s almost no overhead. Then again, Dunagan ale is also a very hot commodity right now. What do you think about buying a distillery?”
Slayter shifted on the bed to lean over her. A grin tugging at his mouth. “I think that all work and no play makes for a dull sex slave.”
Teyla laughed and opened her mouth to reply, but all that came out was a moan as he covered her mouth with his. They could talk about business later.
About the Author
Paige Tyler is a full-time, multi-published, award-winning writer of erotic romance. She and her research assistant (otherwise known as her husband!) live on the beautiful Florida coast with their easygoing dog and their lazy, I-refuse-to-get-off-the-couch-for-anything-but-food cat. When not working on her latest book, Paige enjoys reading, jogging, doing Pilates, going to the beach, watching Pro football and vacationing with her husband at Disney. She loves writing about strong, sexy alpha males and the feisty, independent women who fall for them. From verbal foreplay to sexual heat, her wickedly hot stories of romance, adventure, passion and true love will bring a blush to your cheeks and leave you breathlessly panting for more!
Paige welcomes comments from readers. You can find her website and email address on her author bio page at www.ellorascave.com.
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Also by Paige Tyler
Caught Red-Handed
Dead Sexy
Erotic Exposure
Ghost Hunter
Good Cop, Bad Girl
Just Right
Mr. Right-Now
Sexy Secret Santa
Unmasked
Print books by Paige Tyler
If You Dare anthology
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