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make that impossible.”

“I will not allow you to ever divorce me.”

“You can’t be serious. Are you actually saying that you want me to sign a Legal

Document Prohibiting Divorce? Those are rare and you know why. Women don’t want to get

into a marriage they can’t get out of if the man turns out be an asshole, or abusive or....”

He regarded her thoughtfully. “Do you believe that I would ever hurt you?”

“No. That isn’t the point.”

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“Most men with my status and wealth would want you to sign a prenuptial agreement in

fact they would insist on it!”

“I don’t want any of your money, Gabriel.” She didn’t know why he was doing this;

didn’t he know she was so screwed up in the head that she felt as if she was actually going to

lose it?

“That might be, but I want to give you everything I have. I don’t want you to marry me if

you won’t let me help your family financially.”

“We’re doing just fine.”

“That’s not what the creditors on Earth tell me.”

Silence stretched between them. She should be furious with him for poking his nose into

her family business but surprisingly she’d expected it. Knowing that Devlin had always felt the

attraction between them made her feel oddly contented. “You know what we have done more

talking in the last two hours than I ever had to do with…well, with you know who. You really

do like to open up the channels of communication.”

His eyes flared at her mention of channel. “I want to know that my wife will let me take

care of her.”

“I do not need a man to take care of me,” she said haughtily. “I don’t need your money,

and I don’t need....”

She was going to say ‘
you
’ and she couldn’t. She couldn’t say something that was a lie.

She needed him more than she was willing to admit.

“You do love me!” he exclaimed, kissing her and wrapping his arms around her. “I am

not going to make love to you again until you tell me that you will take me as I am gargantuan

wealth and all.”

“How much do you have exactly?” she asked, worried about finding out the answer, as he

walked over to turn on the shower. Hot water poured out of the tap.

“More than what Dylan’s family has.”

His announcement made her lose her train of thought. “Get real,” she scoffed.

“I am real. I told you, I wasn’t poor to begin with and I have amassed a great

Empire…one that many men can’t seek to compete with.”

“The Triad…do you think you have the resources at your disposal to take them down?”

“I have always left them alone in the past because they never crossed me. However, now

that you are about to be my wife and they have your niece, it’s personal. Let’s put it this way, if

I’d truly wanted to execute Tyler I could have and someone like you would not have been able to

stand in my way. Problem is, it was exactly because it was you that I let you save the day.”

She shivered. He reached for her and untied her robe. It spilled down into a heap on the

marble flooring. “I will never tire of unwrapping you, sweet Samantha. You’re just so damn

beautiful.”

The shower was so large that it had special railings and seats in it. It was either equipped

for someone with a disability…or....

“It would work well for both things,” he whispered in her ear, teasing her earlobe with his

teeth. She shivered as he kissed her ear and then her neck. He guided her toward the shower.

“You still have your clothes on. Let me help you get out of those.” She reached for him,

assisting him to take off his shirt, and then she reached for his belt buckle.

“Wait,” he caught her hand. “You haven’t given me your word.”

“My word?” she asked looking longingly at his belt.

“I want a wife that will be my wife, you’ll share my life with me, you’ll share my wealth,

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you’ll share our children.”

“Children? Getting a bit ahead of yourself there....”

“I saw the child in the vision, Samantha. She looked just like you except she had my

dark coloring.”

Fear rushed through her. “Okay, I’ll share your life with you, but let me decide how

much of that money of yours you throw around. My family is used to working....”

“About that…I think after we deal with the Triad you should go on a long honeymoon

with me until you can get your head sorted out. You’re so damn confused right now.”

“Don’t I know it! I am so bewildered about everything.”

“Clarity will come to you soon.” He helped her into the shower and then quickly turned

away from her. She stared at the soap and the shampoo. Thinking that he’d left, she stuck her

head under the showerhead and let the hot water roll over her. If she could wash away her

memories of Tyler she would.

She heard the bathroom door click shut. Reaching out for him, she sensed him in the

living area of their quarters. Their quarters, she snorted. How quickly things were changing or

maybe she was just allowing them to go back to the way they always should have been.

“Samantha?”
Johanna’s mental voice echoed in her mind. Charlotte must have opened a

channel for her.

“Go away, Johanna. I am busy.”

“We need to see you, Dylan is so out of his mind with worry.”

“Distract him, Johanna.”

“We need you to make up a game plan of how and when we go after Tyler and save

Rory.”

“If by going after Rory you will allow me to take off Tyler’s balls then I am in all for it

but right now, I want to take twenty four hours to think things over. Rory will be fine until we

can come up with a plan that will work and not a plan that will get me shot in the back again.”

“What’s wrong with you, Samantha? You don’t sound like yourself. Even with what

happened between the two of you, you can still work it out. Charlotte made a mistake, Tyler will

realize he made a mistake and if we don’t act now, you’ll never have a hope in getting him

back.”

“You will notice how Charlotte is remaining passive in this telepathic conversation of

ours, Johanna, ask Charlotte what she knows about my ex-husband, she probably knows his true

nature better than I do. And if she wants him back alive she can throw her back out bending

over backwards to save him. I am done with him, and you can relay that message to Dylan.

Besides, I never thought you’d actually think I would take Tyler back…is that how everyone

thinks I act when I am around Tyler? Do I actually make everyone believe that I am so besotted

with him, so needy that I would take back his cheating heart? Especially, when he cheated on

me with my twin? Come on! Give me a break and tell me that you don’t think I am that weak!”

“Samantha, I know that you’re hurt right now but even if you don’t want Tyler back, we

just can’t abandon him. He’s an ass, but come on, he’s Dylan’s brother. What did Devlin say to

you? You do realize that if we go after Tyler we might just find Rory as well? Devlin did

something to you, what did he do?”

“He made me wake up and smell the coffee, Johanna. He made me realize that I can’t

keep kissing Tyler’s ass. That Tyler betrayed me in the foulest of ways, and that he was wrong to

do so. I saved him from hanging and look how he repaid me. But now, I know that I made the

wrong choice years ago. Don’t worry, I am on the road to making up for that mistake.”

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“I don’t like the sound of that, Samantha. What have you done?”

“I had some fun and some excitement. You sound tired, Johanna. Go and tell Dylan you

want to go to bed, and if he asks about me, tell him that I don’t want to talk about Tyler and that

I am now with Devlin. Tell him I am right where I was always supposed to be.”

“You are not!”
Johanna sounded horrified.

“I am. Let’s put it this way, he and I have carnal knowledge of each other and I wouldn’t

have it any other way. He’s one hell of a lover.”

“Then, there is no going back to the way we were.”

“Not in this life time.”

“I will leave you to it then, Samantha. I can’t say I am angry or saddened by this turn of

events, I thought I would be, but it seems almost right. I’ll tell Dylan his brother can fend for

himself for once.”

“Thank you, Johanna.”

“Well, I didn’t like the way he dumped you and then wagged his finger at you and you

were supposed to go running. Of course, if you had gone running I would still have supported

you but I am so happy you finally got out of the Tyler Daze. Leave Dylan to me, I’ll make him

see reason. You know that no matter what, I’ll be on your side even if I have to have a hell of a

fight with Dylan. Sometimes, he just can’t see Tyler’s faults. Sad really, I know you can be a

pain in the ass, but Dylan thinks the sun rises and sets on Tyler.”

“Thank you, Johanna, I think.” She snorted. I have to go now, I can hear Dev coming.”

“Goodnight, Samantha.”

The telepathic channel went dead. Samantha rubbed her hands through her hair lathering

the shampoo through it. She was going to give it to Tyler the next time she saw him. She didn’t

know how far she would go but right now she felt like killing him. He had cheated on her

numerous times, he’d discarded her once and then when she’d gone through a living hell to clear

his name, and she’d learnt that it wasn’t worth of being cleared. Bastard. Her anger boiled, she

just wanted to punch something.

Hearing the bathroom door open, she wiped away her hot tears of frustration and stuck

her head back under the flow of the water. “I’ll be right out,” she murmured.

“No, stay in there, I am coming in.”

She tensed, her eyes flying to the shower door. “Dev, really, just give me a few more

minutes.” Her words came a moment too late. He slipped into the shower.

Her mouth gaped open. So, she really hadn’t paid too much attention to him before and

the only thing on his anatomy she’d really been able to see was his magnificent cock. He turned

around to shut the shower door and she sighed. Okay, his tight ass was something she’d never

noticed before.

Now that he’d decided to shower with her, she really didn’t have anything to hide from

him. Everything was laid bare. Great.

“Well, this is unexpected,” she muttered. The shower was huge and it had more than one

showerhead so maybe he wouldn’t… of course he was going to.

“Dev, not that I don’t like having you here I just thought we would take it a bit slower.”

“What part did you want to take slowly? The part where we had mind blowing sex or the

part where you agreed to marry me?”

Her mouth went dry. He would have to remember that. She didn’t think he would

actually go through with it this fast. She wasn’t used to this level of efficiency.

“When I want something I make sure it happens in as little time as possible, Samantha.”

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“What were you doing out there? And don’t say you were taking some time for

yourself.”

“I was setting into motion...”

“You already have the contracts drawn up don’t you? Here you are with me, with more

things to worry about than how fast you can get me down the aisle....”

“I didn’t think we would have that sort of a wedding, not tonight anyway, but I can give

you the whole big cathedral, white wedding thing later when the dust with the Triad settles and

they are long gone.”

“Unbelievable. You just can’t let me stay single for a few days? True, I do want to ditch

the name Cassidy as soon as possible but I could always go back to my Maiden Name.”

“Sure, I can do that.” He nodded his head. “But then, I wouldn’t be able to convince

Winter to go along with us and I wouldn’t be in the mood to call in my fleet of battleships from

New Wales.”

“How many fleets do you own? Don’t answer that question. In fact, I don’t even know

why we’re talking like this. I am ready for you to stop blackmailing me! I will not be your

bloody puppet, Devlin! I won’t cater to your ever changing moods—I did that long enough with

what’s his name.”

He came toward her. Water rippled down over his fantastic physique. The muscles in his

chest and his legs and his arms, her head spun.

“You look like you’re going to pass out,” he mused.

“I am a bit overwhelmed at the moment. If I marry you that will be the only way to get

you to stop nagging me on this subject, won’t it?”

“You could say that,” he wrapped his arms around her, the water thundered down around

them.

Talking into his chest, her voice was muffled by the water and the fact that her mouth

was partially pressed against his chest. Her head fit snugly under his chin. Pulling away from

him, she grabbed the shampoo and started to work it through his hair. Every time she touched