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hours and by putting your all into saving Rory.”

“Got you. Jewel out.”

“Goodbye, Jewel.” He bolted into action as soon as the line went dead.

“Samantha?” he shouted.

“Yeah?” she called.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“I was… never mind. Just stay out there, please.”

“No… I am coming in.” He pushed the door open and stood speechless on the threshold.

“Why are you sitting on the floor?” He noticed that she’d found a robe and put it on.

“If you must know, I was trying to self levitate. I used to do it back when I was a

teenager all of the time. Apparently my popper is popped,” she said sadly.

He couldn’t help it. He had to laugh.

“It’s not funny, Dev. I am so rusty. I feel like an old tin can.”

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He walked toward her quietly, having taken his boots off before entering the bathroom.

“Are you hurt?” he asked.

She shook her head. “Nothing more than my pride. This ass of mine has hit the ground

so many times, it’s permanently bruised.”

If she were pregnant from their couplings, she’d have to start taking better care of herself.

“I know,” she muttered. Startled, she looked up. “Did I say that out loud?”

“Yeah, you did.” He crouched down beside her. “I thought I asked you to not do anything

taxing until I could come and assist you?”

“You did. But then, I don’t usually listen. It’s an aggravating habit of mine. Johanna

has tried to train me out of it, but it hasn’t worked for her, so....”

He groaned. “Samantha.”

“I know…I know. I need to be more careful. You sound so much like Johanna, it’s a

little freaky, you know?”

Reaching for her, he helped her to her feet. “Are you sure you’re okay?” He steadied her

when she wobbled a bit.

“Fine. Just out of my mind tired, I guess.”

“Or you’re depressed.”

She met his gaze. “When did you become so bloody tall? You tower over me.”

“You are in your bare feet.”

“Right.” She sighed. “I guess that fall shook me up more than I thought. I feel so

jumbled up.”

“You do look a little rattled,” he admitted, looking at the worn expression in her eyes. He

wanted to see that spark of feistiness back. She was lacking her sparkle and it pained him

terribly.

“Dev, how long did you know?”

“Now what are you talking about, Samantha?” He kept her close; he didn’t want to let her

go not even so she could have her shower. Raising her eyebrow, she looked at him.

“Oh, no. I get to have a shower by myself.”

“Why would you want to, when you have me to help you out and to well....”

“Point taken. I swear I am going to run out of energy with the amount of sexual stamina

you have.”

“Sexual stamina…I like hearing that coming out of your mouth.

“I couldn’t help but overhear a bit of what you were thinking and saying out there.” She

sighed. “How long did you know that Tyler was running women on me?”

He groaned. “I don’t know how many women he was sleeping with while he was married

to you. My spies did see him with five....”

“Out in public see him or...,”

“I own most of the hotels that he stayed in. He doesn’t know that because I make it a

habit of people not realizing the extent of my power.”

“Okay, is there anything about you I should know that would make me mad if you kept it

from me?”

“You know everything, I don’t want to bore you with the details of my vast empire, nor

do I want to talk on about how wonderful I am to you, you already know. I know Tyler is a

rogue agent for the Intergalactic Intelligence working primarily with the New Britain office.”

“Rogue agent?” she asked, dreading the answer.

“He is a wanted man, Samantha, he’s done some crazy shit, he’s sold some crucial secrets

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to our enemies and he’s....”

“Wait a second, you are a mobster.”

“Yes, I am. But I run with the blessing of some pretty powerful people. I wasn’t always

an intergalactic crime lord, Samantha. My old life still gives me some pretty good clout within

some high circles. The Cassidy’s turned on Tyler for a reason.”

“Why?”

“Because he’s a rat bastard.”

“Tell me something I don’t know.”

“I don’t think you understand. Tyler has had some previous mental instability. The

family caught him lying to them once. They confronted him on it, and he tried killing his

father.”

“What? Why wouldn’t Dylan know about that?”

“At the time, they thought Tyler was on a narcotic that was twisting his mind. I,

however, think otherwise.”

“What if his mind has been booby trapped? she asked, her heart thundering. “Everything

we shared....”

“Based on a glass house of lies, Samantha. Please don’t tell me that you’re thinking of

trying to save him from himself? Now I know how women think, they think they can reform

men, and help them. Blah, blah, blah. Trust me, Samantha, you can’t reform a man who is

totally set in his ways the way that Tyler is.”

“I have no illusions of what I can and can’t do when it comes to men, Dev. I have tried

to get you to open up a bit about yourself to me, and yet you still closely guard your secrets.”

“What secrets?” he asked. “I have no secrets. Not now. You know everything about me,

you always did.”

“I do not even know your first name, and trust me I have scoured the records and for

whatever reason I can’t even take that name from your mine. All I keep seeing is a bible and an

angel.”

He smirked. “Well, you do know my name, then.”

“Riddles,” she muttered. “I hate them. Bah.”

“The name is Gabriel,” he muttered, averting her gaze.

“Your name?” she asked perplexed.

“Well, it’s not yours evidently,” he answered, a sarcastic glint glimmering in his eyes.

“It’s a fine name. I can see your mother wanted to give you the name of an angel to

counteract what a little devil you can be. Smart woman.”

He shrugged his shoulders. “My mother had quite enough of hearing people call my

father the Devil of Mayfair. She didn’t like it and she didn’t want me saddled with such a

moniker.”

“You didn’t even stay on Earth, so it doesn’t make much difference.”

He looked at her sadly. “There were many reasons for why I left England and Earth

behind.”

“One of which?” she asked, seeking to learn more about him.

“I had to take Jane and Jordan away from everything that had nearly cost Jane her

sanity.” His eyes glowed with grief. “I loved Jane. But I didn’t always love her.”

“Why not?”

“She was married to my cousin.”

“What?” She looked to the marble in the shower. She couldn’t bear staring at him right

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now, he looked too sad.

“Married to your cousin? But she was your wife.”

“No, not legally, though I called her such. No one needs to know about this, Samantha. I

trust you to never break my confidence. I like the way things are now.” He sighed. “My cousin

was a powerful man but he was easily dethroned from that power. My father discovered that he

was beating Jane and Jordan, and he could not bear the thought of such a thing. So, he told me I

was to go in and forcefully take Jane from her home and Jordan as well.”

“And you did.”

“You are right. I did. I had to flee Earth with them while my father and my brother went

about having a war with my cousin.”

“I have never heard about this war before.”

“That’s because it was all done in the Underworld. The criminal Underworld. By the

time the dust settled my father was dead, my brother was mortally wounded and my cousin, was

found beaten and floating in space.”

“Without a spaceship, I trust?”

“Yes. However, my father and brother could not get word to me in time that my cousin

had found out where I was and that assassins had been sent after Jane and her children.”

“And by the time you found out....”

He paced the length of the bathroom. “You know the answer, you saw it. For whatever

reason that morning I had the strong urge to take Jewel with me to meet a few friends of mine,

that’s why she was not taken. I should have taken Jane and Jordan as well, but Jane said she

didn’t feel well and Jordan decided to stay behind to keep her company.”

“Why didn’t they kill Jordan as well?”

“I don’t know. Maybe they didn’t have it in them to murder a child, but he was gone

when I returned and my Jane was dead.”

“I’m sorry, Devlin.”

He stared askance at her. “You should call me Gabriel every once in a while. No one has

called me Gabriel for years.”

“You would give me that privilege?”

His eyes blazed. “I would give you all that I have, Samantha. I always wanted to, you

never let me get a word in edgewise except to answer your constant barbs and ridiculing. I

thought several times that the two of us would make everything explode around us with all of the

sexual tension rolling around.”

“That might just have happened,” she muttered, smiling despite herself. “You have to

admit though our conflict made life interesting.”

“That it did, and I don’t want to lose that. I just do not want you ever going back to being

the person you were, not in name or personality. Tyler suffocated you in that sham you called a

marriage.”

“Enough about Tyler. Please no more! I do not want to hear about him. If you say his

name to me one more time I will sock you in the jaw.”

“Will you?” he challenged. “Take your best shot,” he invited, his eyes sparkling.

She swung at him laughing when he caught her hand before she could make contact and

held it; he pushed her hands down to her side, kissing her hungrily. She struggled against him,

and then as a last resort she kicked him in the shin. Bad idea since she was barefoot.

“Son of a bitch,” she swore, jumping backward and out of his grip. He came toward her

again, zeroing in on her as if he stalked her. “Stop right where you are!” she ordered, watching

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him halt as he considered her words. If this bathroom weren’t so bloody big she wouldn’t have

to keep running from him as if he was the hunter and she was the rabbit.

“I don’t feel like it,” he stated matter-of-factly, while continuing to bear down upon her.

“I am not going to get any peace from you for the next twenty-four hours am I Lord

Dumb.” She didn’t get out the last words. She slammed up against the wall. “Ouch,” she

muttered rubbing the back of her head.

“Are you hurt?” he asked, touching her head. He inspected her crown intently and then

kissed the top of her head. “You should take care to not call me Lord Dumbo anymore.”

“Ah, but you told me not to change. I took that as a spoken invitation to treat you in the

matter that I was accustomed.” His hands roamed underneath her robe. She shivered.

“Are you cold?” he asked, reaching for her one hand and kissing it. He unfolded her

fingers and stared at her palm. “For such a tiny woman you sure can do a lot of damage.”

“Dev, we have twenty-four hours, after which, we have to decide what we want the world

to know.”

“As for the world—your little world wants desperately to break in here and save you

from me,” he mused.

“Save me from you?” she smiled. “Now that is a startling thought. Dear Johanna must be

going crazy. She most likely thinks we are in a battle of wills trying to take the upper hand with

each other.”

“I have a hand of yours shall I give my hand to you as well?” he asked, enclosing her

hand within his grip. She felt the energy surging between them. “I should also tell you that Jewel

is holding them at bay, for the time being.”

“They probably think we should have a family meeting to run after my ex,” she said

sourly.

“That’s what you did half a year ago,” he pointed out, making her cringe.

“I did a lot of things I never should have done. Looking back upon it, I hate myself for

being so pathetic. I adored Tyler even though he didn’t reciprocate. Oh, yeah, he proclaimed his

love and devotion for me but I was a fool to believe it.”

“I wish our line of conversations didn’t constantly go back to him.”

“You told me that Johanna and the others are spinning because they know I am here. I

am quite certain that Charlotte has told them how I feel, and that the dynamic of our relationship

has changed. I thought that perhaps we should be subtle about how we carry on to the public,

but going over what I have just learned I think we should do what I always do, go in all guns

blazing and show them they we are a couple and that we know each other in every single way.”

“That makes me happy. You could just marry me and make it even more public. We’d

cause quite a scandal!” he said devilishly.

She bit her lip. “Jumping from one marriage to the next. That sounds crazy, but hell, I

never proclaimed to be sane. I will marry you, Gabriel Devlin if that is truly what you wish.

After all, I can’t go and be with anyone else, I won’t go back to Tyler and our marriage will