Microsoft Word - RecklessBounty (18 page)

She loved him. Oh, God yes. She loved him, more than life itself. But she couldn’t go back to the way it used to be, without knowing first that he wouldn’t take off on her, as soon as the murder mystery was solved. She couldn’t take losing him twice in one lifetime. She couldn’t take falling back into his arms, only to wake up one morning to find him gone. Oh, no!

She wasn’t living that life again. It was time for some changes.

He stared at her in utter confusion and she moaned nearly doubling over in pain. She wanted to remain stoic and untouched, but she wasn’t made of ice. She was a human woman, and she had red blood coursing through her veins. Her heart could be broken, and she needed to protect it from any further suffering. She could put on a cool façade with almost anyone. But with Tyler, well, things were different. They both had holes in their hearts from what the other had done. Some things needed to be said, and she hoped he’d make the first move.

“We can’t go back to the way it used to be. I desperately want to, but until you can accept me for what I am, we can’t move forward. I listened to everything that went on between you and Lady Devlin and I haven’t yet passed judgment. If you tell me here and now that you are perfectly agreeable with me being a bounty hunter, then we can start to mend our strained marriage. If not, I fear we are damaged beyond repair.” She waited expectantly and a tear slipped out of her eye.

He took a deep breath. Resting his hands on her shoulders, he looked her straight in the eyes.

“I can accept who and what you are.” There was a hitch in his voice, which meant there had to be a
but
coming. She really wanted to squish that
but
.

She searched his eyes, for any hint of doubt. They wavered for a moment, and her heart fell down into the pit of her stomach.

“Nice try, Tyler. But I can see it in your eyes. You can’t move past it, and I can’t be something I’m
not
. No matter how much I may want to try.” Samantha turned on her heel. “You should get to med bay. I know you’re still hurt. That healing gauze will only do so much. What if the laser that struck you was encrypted with some sort of virus? You can’t play around with that stuff, and you know it.”

She felt bereft and deflated. She still had to prove his innocence and deal with the fierce RECKLESS BOUNTY Marly Mathews 74

love she still had for him. She might be able to physically turn herself away from him, but she knew she would never be able to
stop
loving him. If order to stop loving him, he’d have to do something pretty terrible.

She took a hesitant step toward the door, feeling him mentally pull at her.

“You know, no one makes me feel the way that you make me feel. But I can’t force myself to live a lie. Why can’t you just take me as I am? You were willing to seduce Lady Devlin, and yet you couldn’t even stick around long enough to work things out with your
wife?
”

The thoughts of Tyler being in the arms of another woman made her feel sick on the inside.

While they had been separated she’d remained faithful to their vows. Secretly, she’d hoped that Tyler would’ve done the same thing. But whom the hell was she kidding? He was a rake of the
foulest
sort. Obviously, a little thing like true love couldn’t stop him from screwing other women. He’d always have to get a piece of the action.

Her anger and frustration had finally gotten the better of her, and she gave into it.

“I loved you more than anything else! I devoted myself to you and you repaid me by
leaving
. You haven’t done a damn thing to show me that you have changed the way you feel about things. For now I can accept this, but as soon as I clear your name, I want you to leave.”

She moved closer to the door, and felt him come up behind her.

“Don’t do this!” he pleaded.

Her hackles rose to massive proportions. Here he was, asking her to rethink
her
decision.

The man was more of a
bastard
than she’d originally believed.

“Take your hands off of me. You don’t believe in me, and you don’t believe in the love we share. I seem to remember you telling me that once, and yet I still wanted to attempt to work things out. I can’t
pretend
anymore.”

The door made a whining noise as it automatically opened.

“We’re stuck with each other for now. But as I said once everything is settled, we’ll go back to the way things were when we were apart.”

She hated herself for forcing out such cruel words, and she wanted to tear her hair out when she saw the searing pain in his eyes. But there was no other way. A clean break was the only way that festering wounds could heal. She walked out into the hallway, and made her way back to the bridge.

She wanted the hell off of this sad imitation for a battle cruiser. It looked like a warship on the outside but in the inside it looked like a cruise liner and then she understood what the Red Falcon had been trying to tell her. She was always in control on the outside, when in fact she was tearing herself up on the inside. God, how she needed an ass to kick!

Samantha collided with Johanna and caught her sister before she fell to the floor.

Johanna stared at Samantha wonderingly, but kept herself focused on the information she had come to deliver. Johanna looked extremely stressed, and hives had broken out across her face and neck.

“What is it?” She inclined her head. Johanna definitely had something important to tell her. For once in her life she actually wished she’d been born a certified mind reader. It
did
run in the family. Unfortunately, the gift had sort of skipped her. Well, at least that’s what she liked to believe. For now, she’d just tune out the random telepathic whispers that sometimes entered her brain.

She hooked her arm through her sister’s. Johanna would occupy her mind so she wouldn’t be able to obsess about Tyler. That was what sisters were for after all. Johanna guided her through the massive ship and she smiled, realizing what a crappy sense of direction she had.

RECKLESS BOUNTY Marly Mathews 75

Whatever would she do without Johanna?

“Lord Devlin is here onboard
The Emerald Star
,” Johanna whispered.

Her mouth dropped open.
Shit
. That wasn’t something she needed, right at the moment.

She turned around to make sure that Tyler still followed them. She instinctively wanted to get him to safety, despite their recent angry exchange. Her eyes darted back to her sister, and she fortified herself, for what was to come.

“Do you think we can get Tyler back to
The Excalibur
without Lord Devlin noticing?”

A flash of pain touched her temple. “Oh, no, we need to turn around and move fast, Johanna. Lord D is right around the corner....” But her warning came too late. Damn.

They skidded to a halt just in front of Lord Devlin. She regarded him coolly, and discreetly glanced behind her. Butterflies swarmed through her stomach.

Tyler was gone! She relaxed slightly, until the Red Falcon appeared, and pulled her urgently against him.

He kissed her passionately. She had caught the knowing hint in his blue eyes, which kept her from beating him black and blue.

For the sake of Tyler, she kept her anger in check, and even dramatized the effect further, by sinking into his embrace. He nestled her against his chest, and then turned her around, and looped his arms possessively around her.

“
Bloody Brilliant
,” she muttered between breaths, staring unwaveringly at Lord Devlin.

* * * *

“Well, that was most assuredly something I had never expected to see. Not even in my wildest dreams,” Lord Devlin murmured, glinting his piercing blue eyes in Johanna’s direction.

“It’s good to see that you’re finally getting some action, Danny.”

Samantha gave Lord Devlin a look that could kill. She wanted to throttle the pompous man. She was slowly simmering on the inside, and knew that she would soon have acid reflux.

She reviled the man standing nonchalantly in front of her. Even more annoying was the approving full body inspection that he gave her sister. She wanted to slap him across his smug little face. But she could sense The Red Falcon silently imploring her to behave.

The Red Falcon probably had a point. She couldn’t keep a ghost of a smile appearing across her features when he squeezed her hand. She didn’t know if she could trust him completely, but between Lord Devlin and The Red Falcon, she would be inclined to choose the Falcon if she was ever in a pinch.

He had just saved their butts, and if she succeeded in controlling her hot head, she might just get Tyler out of this whole convoluted mess. She didn’t know how she’d swing it, but hell, she was really good at plucking fat white rabbits out of a magician’s hat.

Samantha frantically wondered where Tyler had disappeared to, and was tempted to look behind her once again, when she remembered the Falcon’s transporter system. Tyler could be anywhere and at the moment the Falcon was the only one that knew his whereabouts. Which meant, she had to stay
really
close to the Falcon if she
ever
wanted to see Tyler again. The question was, did she really want to see Tyler again?

“Thank you, Devlin,” the Red Falcon responded.

He sounded as if he had sand paper lodged in his mouth. Samantha stared up at him, and noticed the slight twitch in his jaw.

So, the ever-cool Falcon had a difficult time remaining calm as well. She snorted, finally comprehending the irony of the situation. The Red Falcon couldn’t even stand his mentor and yet because he felt obligated to him he put up with his stupid shenanigans.

RECKLESS BOUNTY Marly Mathews 76

She smiled, and felt something resembling grudging respect well inside of her. If her circumstances had been altogether different and she hadn’t already met and fallen in love with Tyler, she would’ve been liable to tempt fate, and risked losing her heart to this scoundrel. He certainly had one multi-faceted personality. His complexities would probably keep her entertained for a lifetime.

“Johanna, I had reports that you and your sister had rescued Tyler Cassidy from the authorities,” Lord Devlin stated.

Samantha’s world dropped out from beneath her. This was one man she didn’t want to do the dance with. He was trouble.
Big fat trouble
.

He completely ignored her, and addressed Johanna, which caused Samantha’s dislike for him to grow tenfold. She didn’t like being treated as if she’d suddenly become invisible. Lord Devlin was at it again. Just because he was a titled English Lord, with a posh British accent didn’t mean he could act superior to others. Bloody fat head, that’s what he had.

“But I must have been mistaken. Your sister seems far too busy entertaining my lad to have been involved in such a ludicrous escapade.” Lord Devlin swiveled his gaze over to land on Samantha. She resisted the urge to stick her tongue out at him.

Johanna gave Samantha a cautionary look, which blatantly told her to keep her mouth shut. Actually, come to think of it, Johanna gave her that particular look a lot. Which was kind of insulting, now that she reflected upon it. She knew when to keep her mouth shut. Well, maybe she slipped now and then, but
honestly
.

Samantha stiffened her spine. She could sense and almost hear The Red Falcon imploring her to keep a level head. She imagined shoving Lord Devlin’s over sized head up his butt, and suppressed a giggle when she realized that in all probability it had a permanent spot of lodging there already.

She grimaced, and attempted to bring herself down to earth. She was afraid to open her mouth, lest she betray herself and fumble by telling him to screw off. For once, she stepped back and wisely allowed the other adults to do the talking. Though she briefly reconsidered her decision when Lord Devlin opened his mouth again.

“If Samantha is anything like she is out of bed, then she must be a
firecracker
in bed. I’m quite certain she can put her body into some pretty interesting positions, I do envy you, Danny,”

Lord Devlin purred, causing Samantha to almost blow a gasket. The lights in the hallway dimmed. Cool air rushed toward them. Lord Devlin looked surprised and a little apprehensive.

He gave her a curious gaze.

That was it!

“Bring it down a bloody notch. I don’t know what you have burning inside of you, Samantha but cut it out!” The Red Falcon hissed in her ear, low enough that Johanna and Lord Devlin would not overhear. She was going to rearrange Lord Devlin’s face, and then make sure that she ripped him a new.... Her thoughts were interrupted when Johanna jumped to her defense, proving she had finally lost any lasting fondness that she may have been harboring for the dirty bastard.

“Why don’t you stuff a sock in it, Devlin,” Johanna fumed, stamping the floor. She walked up to him, and glared at him with as much detestation as she could possibly muster.

Samantha was delighted by her sister’s public display of abhorrence and wanted to run over and kiss and hug her. Instead, she waited on baited breath for her sister to knock Lord Devlin down a few more notches.

He blanched visibly, and puckered his brows slightly, sticking his lip out in a pout. She RECKLESS BOUNTY Marly Mathews 77

was taken aback by the unexpected change Johanna had wrought in the conceited man.

She’d expected him to retort with an incensed quip, and yet here he stood seemingly hurt by what Johanna had said. Perhaps, he
was
sincere in his affections for her sister. Ah, well.

Johanna was married to Dylan now, so Devlin was shit out of luck. Samantha was quite perplexed by his reaction, and stared over expectantly at her sister, who didn’t seem ready to relent.
Go, Johanna, Go!
Damn, she wished she had some pom-poms.