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rant and rave and then go and confront her sister, but she didn’t have the time, because Devlin’s

message wasn’t addressed to her sister, it was addressed to her.

“Tyler, can you take it off pause?”

“Yep.” His features were implacable. A rogue muscle jumped in his cheek. She glanced

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into his eyes and felt her heart fall at the angry spark that glittered within them. He wanted to

throttle the life out of Lord Devlin.... Problem was, with the way Tyler had changed he’d also

lost some of his catlike prowess. Back when she’d actually known who Tyler was, he would

have been matched with Devlin in combat. Now, she was pretty sure that Devlin would make

short work of Tyler.

With that, Lord Devlin began talking. “Greetings, Samantha.” His unusually friendly

greeting unnerved her, something was wrong. He looked like a man under siege. She swallowed

and walked over to sit beside Tyler in the co-pilot’s seat. “In a few hours, I expect you’ll be in

range of New Monaco, and then of course I will call you up, so that we may chat in real time, but

this recorded message will have to do, for now.” Tyler paused it and stared back over at

Samantha.

“I don’t like the way that he’s looking at you.”

“He isn’t looking at me Tyler. He was staring at his own view screen when this was

recorded.” She rolled her eyes and inwardly, her heart soared. Maybe she hadn’t killed the spark

between them with her nasty act that she always pulled on Devlin…maybe he still wanted her.

She’d called him Lord Dumbo and every other name under the sun to keep him at arms length

and now, she regretted her actions. Now, she wished she could undo it all, but when she met him,

she’d have to keep up the pretense of hating him to keep up the appearance she’d always strived

for when they were together. “Now that’s one man I don’t trust,” growled Dylan. Samantha

sighed.

“Look. I don’t like him any better than the two of you.” Yes, she did God help her. “But

in case you’ve forgotten, we’re hell bent for the planet that he happens to be the ruler of. Let’s

just listen to what he has to say.”

They both cast her confused looks, and she shifted uneasily in her chair. She couldn’t

believe what she’d just said, but if he had information to offer them that would help her in

finding Rory, then she was all ears. Tyler groaned, and reactivated the message.

“I don’t want your ship anywhere near my planet.” Lord Devlin paused for a good length

of time, and then licked his lips.

“Where the hell does he get off, anyway?” Dylan demanded. Samantha furrowed her

brows, and leaned forward.

“He’s hiding something. I know it,” she murmured, resting her chin on her hand. “First

of all, he isn’t exactly himself. He hasn’t taunted me once, and that usual flicker of pugnacity

isn’t glittering in his eyes. I’d say he’s afraid that someone is listening to our conversations.

Terrified, actually.” The fact that he wasn’t taking part in the game she’d decided to play

between them all of those years ago, made her nervous and a secret part of her was scared out of

her wits that Devlin just might actually be in real peril. If he was in danger would she be able to

keep herself perfectly detached from him, or would she betray her true emotions?

“Under normal circumstances, what Devlin said would have ignited a fire beneath your

ass,” Tyler mused.

“This isn’t a normal circumstance. If you’ll recall a teenager’s life is at stake.”

“You were much more hotheaded when acting on my behalf.”

“Yeah. But you’re not little, nor are you a small, frightened girl. I knew you’d be able to

take whatever Devlin dished out at you. Come on you guys, play the message, I don’t have all

night.”

“But I do welcome you back, my little love kitten.” Samantha wanted to laugh. She sat

up straighter, and caught Tyler’s hand just as he was about to slam it down on the control panel.

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“Oh, now I
know
he thinks his messages are being intercepted.” Her heart continued to

race not in reaction to Tyler’s display of outrage but in reaction to Devlin’s performance.

“I anticipate your arrival onboard
Eleanor
. I do think it would be best if you came alone.

Our love affair can be much more discreet that way.” She smiled. Silly bugger, he was calling

her out, and she almost wanted to take him up on the offer.

“You will go alone over my dead body.” Tyler raked his turbulent eyes across her face.

“Well, that’s just it, isn’t it? As far as the citizens of New Monaco are concerned you

already are a dead duck.” Tyler’s face fell. “Don’t tell me that little fact just slipped your

mind?”

“Do you have to go under the ruse of being his lover? First, it was the Red Falcon, and

now it’s Devlin. Good God, woman!” She smiled. It was rather nice to know that Tyler thought

so much of her.

“Don’t worry, he doesn’t compare to you in any way.” She bet Devlin would be better,

better than the way Tyler and she had been together for the last little while. “Perhaps, this

disguise is for the best. I can’t very well take Johanna down with me, she is needed here to

attend to Veronica.”

“I don’t like this. You are my wife! I’m sick to death of you playing the part of another

man’s lover,” Tyler muttered.

“Your possessiveness touches me, it really does,” she sighed. “But can we get on with it?

Tyler, I don’t think the message was over. Please, play the rest of it.”

“Fine.” Tyler pressed a button on the controls, and Devlin’s frozen image became

animated once again.

“I shall keep this short and sweet, my dearest love.” Samantha coughed, and Dylan made

a gagging noise. Tyler was unnaturally quiet. Samantha didn’t like it when this sort of silence

met her. With that, Devlin’s image faded away, only to be replaced by a smattering of big pink

hearts across the screen.

“Well, that definitely wasn’t something you see everyday. I just have to go and tell

Johanna about it, and while I’m down there, I have to ask her why she contacted Devlin in the

first place.” Dylan shot out down the hall, leaving Tyler and Samantha sitting in an

uncomfortable silence.

“Penny for your thoughts?” She gave him an eager look, and he didn’t meet her eyes.

“Oh, for the love of God! Tyler, you do know that there isn’t another man in my life but you,

right? As far as everyone on New Monaco is concerned, I’m supposed to be a widow!!!”

“Of course, forgive me. I just didn’t think you had to be such a frigging merry widow!”

But his jaw was tightly set, and she pursed her lips.

“You are getting on my last nerve, Tyler.”

“Devlin has things that I don’t have. He was in love with Johanna once, and in case you

haven’t noticed, you’re not that much different from your sister.”

“Johanna and I aren’t clones you know. And besides, I rather think that Devlin still holds

that torch for Johanna.” There was a testy edge to her voice. She knew Devlin didn’t hold the

torch for Johanna. She knew Devlin had only turned his attention to Johanna to piss her off. It

hadn’t worked. She’d stayed away from Devlin and she’d married Tyler. Now, she almost

wished she hadn’t. She stood up and walked away from him. “I told you already that you and

Devlin are not competing for my love. And as for those things that he has, they don’t matter to

me one bit. Please believe me.” She couldn’t smile. Her heart hurt.

He stared at her for a long time. “I think I am going to go to bed. I am damn tired. Are

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you coming?” she asked, hoping he would say no. She wanted to be in bed and safely asleep

before he came to their quarters. Being around him was becoming increasingly hard, and even

though she didn’t want her marriage to fail, she couldn’t see a way around it. Running into

Devlin again was probably going to put the last nail into her marriage.

“You go. I’ll be there in a sec.” Hesitantly, she started to walk away from him. Maybe

she couldn’t keep trying to fix something that had always had a crack in the foundation. She had

married Tyler as a way to escape from what could have been with Devlin. She turned to walk

toward the hall that led to the rest of the ship. Just as she stepped through the doorway, she

could have sworn she heard Tyler mutter something she never would have expected.

“The only thing he’ll have tomorrow that I won’t have is
you
.” Was he actually serious?

Did Tyler think that she would leave him for Devlin? Maybe just maybe he was right.

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Chapter Five

Samantha awoke the next morning, snuggled safely in her bed with Tyler nowhere to be

found. A hazy smile spread across her features. Then realization dawned, as she was yanked

back to her current reality. The previous evening’s events replayed in her mind. She sighed.

Why oh why, did her life have to be so damn complicated? Languidly, she stretched her legs

across the bed. This was heaven. It would be better if a certain someone was with her, but she

could savor the moment. Time spent away from Tyler was good as gold.

A ringing noise filtered through her bedroom, followed by Lucy’s impatient voice.

“We are being contacted by Lord Devlin of New Monaco. He wishes to speak with you

privately.” Samantha stared up, and locked gazes with Lucy’s violet eyes.

“Well, he picks the best of times, doesn’t he?” She looked around her. She could talk to

him here but then, Tyler might interrupt her if he decided to return to their bedroom. “So where

is this private place?”

“It has to be on a secure line. That’s what he said. I rigged one up for you in the

bathroom.”

“You have to be kidding me! I could have taken it in my office.”

“I’m afraid not.” Lucy eyed her gleefully, and rubbed her hands together in anticipation.

“You know what, Lucy? One of these days, I’m going to finally figure out how to hack

into your subsystems.”

“That day won’t ever come. You aren’t smart enough.” With that Lucy let out a loud

giggle and vanished.

“Stupid lame brained AI,” she muttered, trudging toward the bathroom. She shut the

door softly behind her, and locked it. Then, she moved over to her mini com link that sat on the

vanity. Flipping it open, she waited. Suddenly, it flashed to life, and she found herself staring at

a grinning Devlin.

“I’ve caught you before your morning coffee, haven’t I?”

She nodded her head, narrowing her eyes.

“Right, those big purplish bags under your eyes were a dead giveaway.” She took a step

forward, and then remembered that one couldn’t strangulate someone over a com link.

“Just get down to business, Dev. I don’t have all day for your shit!”

“You know, considering how much I do for you and your crew, you should afford me

some semblance of respect.” His lazy drawl ignited her fury even more. One minute, she wanted

to strangle him the next minute she wanted to kiss him.

“Well, I haven’t told you off yet, take that as my semblance of respect.”

“Samantha, you are ever the epitome of suave sophistication.” His eyes sparkled merrily.

He enjoyed their playful banter just as much as she did.

Sobering, she smiled. “Oh, just get down to business, Devlin.”

“Ah, but of course.” He did a mock bow, straightened and grinned at her. “I’ll meet you

at the New Monaco space docks. I wouldn’t want you to have to go down to the Caterra Casino

alone.”

She stiffened rigidly. “I’ll do just fine on my own, thank you.”

“I don’t doubt it. But I have my reasons for meeting you that I can’t discuss even though

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this link is supposed to be secure. I had no idea that you were Quinn’s sister. I thought you were

a long lost cousin. You know the sort of relation you only drag out when you need them.”

“There are a lot of things that are just outside of your grasp.” She crossed her eyes, and

scowled at him. Even though, he was helping them, accepting his assistance was just about

killing her. If she owed him something—he just might ask for what she felt quite certain she’d

give him to him considering how strained her relationship with Tyler had become.

“How clever of you.” He smiled. His dark hair was unusually tousled, and there was a

strange glint to his eye. “By the way, you look lovely in that shade of purple.”

“What’s the deal, Devlin? You’ve never paid me a compliment in all of my life. Please

don’t start now. I don’t know if I can take it...,” her voice trailed off. She wished she could tell

him what she really thought, what she really felt, but why would he want her now after she’d

wasted so much time alienating him from her very existence? She didn’t deserve a second

chance.

“I admire your tenacity, Samantha. You might be loud and uncouth sometimes, but

really underneath all of your armor you’re quite a striking woman.”

“I’ll strike you when I see you,” she grumbled. Her empty threat only made his grin