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“Don’t worry about it, Johanna. I’m a big girl. How’s Veronica?” She desperately

wanted to change the subject, and knew that this was one surefire way of doing just that.

“She’s in stable condition for the time being. But we’re going to need that antidote, and

soon. We should be going back to Earth to see if they have any Alo in stock, but with Rory’s

current situation we have to go looking for her. Too bad we can’t be in two places at once.”

“I know. So much to do, so little time.”

“Maybe I should call Charlotte up, she might be able to help us with locating Rory. It just

might speed up the process. The longer she’s out there…lost…the longer she’s vulnerable to

having some really nasty things happen to her. I don’t even want to think about what she’s

suffering through right now.”

“Neither do I.” Samantha’s heart fell. They needed their allies right now. If calling in

Charlotte would help to bring Rory home, then they’d have to. Samantha had always been

protective of Charlotte, but Charlotte was an adult. Rory was not. “Why don’t you call up

Charlotte? I think we really could do with her kind of help, especially concerning the

extenuating circumstances. As long as the signal will carry that far, that is.”

“Well, there’s a first time for everything.” Johanna smiled, and hooked her arm though

Samantha’s. “Try to treat Devlin decently. He really
is
trying to help.”

“Will you keep an eye on Tyler? I feel as if he’s got some harebrained idea concocted.”

“Well, it takes one to know one, doesn’t it, my dear?”

Samantha frowned. “You know, if you weren’t my sister, I’d have to smack you for that

remark.”

“Good thing I’m your older sister, then.” Johanna released her arm, and looked down at

her watch. “We should almost be in New Monaco Space. You should get ready. I don’t think

you’ll want to get into
Eleanor
in that slinky outfit. And since we can’t draw too near to New

Monaco itself, you’ll have to travel most of the way on your own.”

“Oh, happy days!” Samantha mumbled, turning to walk back into her quarters. And let

the games begin!

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“For the millionth time,
Eleanor
, would you let me do the driving?” Samantha asked.

“You are an inept driver when compared to Johanna.” Samantha scowled. She really

didn’t like the way that her morning was going so far.

“I’m a pretty good driver, please and thank you.”

“I beg to differ.” Okay, that was it. She’d had about enough of this bucket of bolts. Why

oh why, did every single AI have to be so damn smart? Even now, the holographic projection of

Eleanor
was sitting next to her, giving her a smug little grin.

“There is something different about your appearance today.”
Eleanor
smirked, and then

craned her neck to the side, to look out the window, as they were cleared to enter New Monaco’s

atmosphere.

“Really? I hadn’t noticed.” But then Samantha hadn’t really paid much attention to

herself. She’d gotten dressed, all the while dwelling on the argument she had with Tyler.

Afterward, she had slicked her hair back into her usual ponytail, and applied a little bit of

lipstick. But that was all, and for the life of her, she couldn’t remember admiring herself in a

mirror at all. She was just about to look at herself in the rearview mirror when
Eleanor

interrupted her.

“You don’t need to use those pesky things. My sensors will guide us safely to the

docking ports.”

She narrowed her eyes, shrugged her shoulders, and groaned as
Eleanor
gave all of the

necessary authorization codes out to the port commander.

“You know what,
Eleanor
, I’m perfectly capable of handling those matters.”

“Well, I thought I’d ease your burden a bit. You look a bit taxed this morning.” Every

one was concerned about her. Tyler hadn’t wanted to let her leave, and even Dylan had seemed

uncomfortable. Johanna had told her to behave, and to try to be civil with Quinn. She’d

promised to be on her best behavior but the way things were looking now, she knew that

something would probably get her riled.

New Monaco was not a welcome sight. It was still as grand as it had been six months

ago, and she felt a big lump of dread forming in her stomach. She didn’t care for the crime

infested planet at all, and since she’d nearly met her maker here on more than one occasion, she

wasn’t very excited to set her feet down on its soil. Plus, seeing Devlin again was like putting a

whole tray of food in front of Ross and telling him not to eat it.

“Remind me that I’m here for a really, really good reason. I don’t know why I agreed to

meet Quinn. I should have just started the search without him.”

“Would you like me to accompany you to the Caterra Casino?”
Eleanor
asked, just as

they shuddered into the docking port.

“Of course. You’ll be taking me there.”

“Oh. I don’t know about that,” Eleanor murmured.

Samantha groaned. “What are you talking about now? Your whole speaking in code

thing is getting old.”

“Lord Devlin is over there, and it seems as if he brought his own mode of transportation.

MAXIMUM VELOCITY Marly Mathews 32

That looks like the latest luxury class
Pixie 500
.”

“Huh?”

“It’s a luxury hover car. It’s equipped with the latest entertainment devices.” Samantha

didn’t like the sound of that. Entertainment took on a whole new meaning when applied to Lord

Devlin. The less temptation she had when around Dev the better.

“I thought you were the best hover car to own?”

“I am. But I’m more of a fighting class of car, not so much a luxury car. Obviously, he

thinks his planet is really safe now.” Samantha looked around to where
Eleanor
was pointing.

“Yeah, or he’s added more goons to the goon patrol.” Samantha leaned forward and

gestured toward the heavily armored hover cars and motorcycles that were grouped around the

bright purple
Pixie 500
. She watched as Devlin started toward them. “
Eleanor
, whatever

happens, I want you to follow me. I certainly don’t want to be stuck alone with that man without

backup.”

“Certainly, Samantha. I promised Johanna I would take care of you, so I can’t really stay

here now can I?”

Samantha huffed out a large gust of wind. She couldn’t stand everyone always thinking

that she was a reckless idiot.
Eleanor
opened her door, and Samantha stood up. Her boots

clanged against the metal platform. Other space ships that were small enough to enter the

atmosphere whizzed above her head.

“Samantha, you are looking well…interesting.” Devlin’s eyes twinkled. They roved

freely across her body. She didn’t like the way he was smirking at her. Nonetheless, the way he

looked at her…her blood felt like it was on fire. She restrained herself from doing something

rash she’d later regret.

“Dev, keep your eyeballs to yourself. You just saw me earlier. Trust me, I don’t look any

different now than I did then.”

“Have you looked in a mirror lately? And besides, I see you still hold that old spark for

me.”

“Why does everyone keep asking me if I have looked in a mirror lately?” she grumbled,

crossing her arms. She totally glossed over his latter statement. If he saw that spark in her eyes

that told her she wasn’t masking her true emotions well enough. She’d have to toughen up her

defenses to his charming ways. “Well, Lord Devlin, let’s get this show on the road. By the way,

have you heard from your sneaky little wife in the last month?”

“Ex-wife.”

“Ah, yes,” she murmured, catching the way he sounded so defensive of her all of a

sudden. He didn’t want her to think that he had anything still to do with the old Lady Devlin and

that in an odd way, warmed the cockles of her heart. “I seem to recall Johanna saying something

along that line to me, a few months ago.” She was lying through her teeth, and he knew it by the

way he arched his eyebrow at her. In truth, she’d looked up the latest news from New Monaco

when they were on Earth, hoping and praying that Dev would ditch the little bitch as soon as he

could.

“Our marriage was dissolved as soon as I dropped her stinking ass off on that

godforsaken planet.” He reached out, and before she could move back, he had his arm slipped

through hers. His touch made her feel a little bit too excited. She wanted to draw away like

she’d been doing for so long with Tyler but she didn’t have the heart or the strength. Devlin

made her weak in the knees God help her.

“You’re giving me the willies, Devlin. What’s up with the so close routine? Because

MAXIMUM VELOCITY Marly Mathews 33

here’s a little cyber news flash, you’re definitely too close for my comfort.” The carefree lies

slipping past her tongue amazed even her. She was getting back to the way she was able to treat

Dev when he had Tyler all trussed up and ready for the noose.

“Just play along with me. You’ll find out why in due time. I’m not enjoying this any

more than you are.” Tingles raced through her body. Devlin was lying as well, but the way he

looked at her, made her hesitate. There was something about the glint in his eye that shut her up.

Ordinarily, she would have become really loud, but something had him on edge, and she wanted

to find out what that something was.

“How has life been treating you?” Maybe she could pull off the shooting the breeze

routine. Maybe. She didn’t really care how life was treating him. Every time she looked at him,

she had to fight the intense longing she had for him. She had to deny herself the greatest gift and

in a way, she hated that about him. She wanted him to pursue her. She wanted him to not take

no for an answer when it came to the bond they shared but he wouldn’t…or he couldn’t.

“Samantha, we last saw each other only a mere six months ago.” The way his voice

dropped to a husky tone told her that 'mere' had nothing to do with the time they’d spent apart.

He felt the magnetic pull between them just as keenly as she felt it, and it only deepened day

after day. Soon, she wouldn’t be able to fight it, she would have to have some sort of resolution

to it, and that resolution involved them skin to skin, making sweet passionate love to each other.

Fog clouded her brain; she almost lost her balance, and leaned on him until she could steady her

breathing. “Are you okay?” he halted, staring deeply down into her eyes. It was on the tip of her

tongue, she wanted to say, she missed him, that even though she hated him one minute and loved

him desperately the next minute, she still wanted him. She craved him. She exhaled a

shuddering breath. Nodding her head, she said shakily, “Fine. I should have eaten something for

breakfast.”

He grinned. “You and your appetite. You love food more than anything else, I would

reckon. As I was saying before you almost fainted....”

“I don’t faint, Dev,” she said anger tingeing her tone.

“Of course you don’t, Samantha. That would be a chink in your armor and we can’t have

anything denting that impenetrable armor of yours, can we?”

The dig he’d tossed at her smarted. He was dancing around the issue of their attraction

but she would have to be a dunce to not take notice of what he hinted at.

“Now where were we in our conversation? Ah, yes, nothing of any
great
importance has

happened to me in that time. Though I did hear about your comical performance on Earth from a

friend of mine. What I would have paid to see that.” Humor sparked in his startling blue eyes.

She groaned.

She had no idea that he still had close contacts on Earth. Come to think of it, she didn’t

really know that much about Devlin. She knew he had that abnormally and dare she say it, sexy

British accent, and knew he was a lord of some sort, that had decided to expand his fiefdom by

coming out here to New Monaco. But other than that she didn’t know anything about him. She

studied him intently, trying to see some resemblance between him and The Red Falcon. But

other than the sway of their gait, they didn’t look at all alike. And The Red Falcon might have

taken on some of Devlin’s mannerisms just by being around him for all of those years.

He motioned her toward the hover vehicle that
Eleanor
had called the
Pixie 500
. It was

indeed a magnificent hover car. It was long, sleek, and had a definite air of sophistication about

it.

“This must have cost a pretty shiny penny,” she murmured in awe.

MAXIMUM VELOCITY Marly Mathews 34

“It must have,” he shot back, opening the door for her. He released her arm, and she felt

bereft without his soothing warmth up next to her.

Staring inside, her mouth dropped open. She’d never seen anything quite like it in all of

her years. It was like looking into a mini apartment. “Do you need my assistance in climbing