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“This is just so
not
my day,” she groaned, collapsing onto the floor.

* * * *

“What the comet blazes did you do that for?” she heard the Red Falcon say angrily.

The last sight she saw before she slipped into dreamland was the Red Falcon peering anxiously down at her.

Samantha gingerly creaked her eyes open, and started when she locked gazes with the Red Falcon. She was lying on what seemed to be a med bed. She groaned, and bolted upright when she realized that he grasped her hand.

She hastily yanked her hand away from his and gave him a foul stare. Wiping her hand on her leather coat, she hesitantly stared back at him.

“My doctor checked you out. He said that you’re fine, except for excessive fatigue. But I wanted to make sure that you were alright personally.” The Red Falcon’s soft voice made her tingle from her toes, straight up to the tip of her scalp.

She narrowed her eyes furiously at him, and tried to keep herself from jumping on him, and pummeling the crap out of him.
How dare he!
He didn’t know that he was playing with fire, and sooner or later she would make sure he got burned.

RECKLESS BOUNTY Marly Mathews 65

She threw the micro fiber blanket off of her and shakily stood up. Her legs were a bit wobbly. Her head pounded with searing pain. Stars exploded in front of her eyes. After a few seconds, they disappeared.

“Do you feel any residual pain, from the phase pistol?”

She tossed her head toward him and let out a long snort. She’d been on the wrong end of a phase pistol before and would be again. It was a hazard of the job. She glanced down and frowned. Where the hell had they put her weapons? She felt particularly vulnerable without any of her weapons and her lower lip quivered ever so slightly, as she tried desperately to think of a plausible escape route. Could she conjure her abilities to answer her mental commands again?

Did she even have the energy required to harness them?

“Yes, I have some residual pain. It’s a particularly annoying one, in a rather private area.” She clenched her teeth together. Then she glanced down at her boot. Her money was on the fact that they’d missed her dagger. But for some reason, she didn’t feel like pulling it on the Red Falcon. He was a nuisance to be sure, but he was certainly no Rodgers!

“Where is it?” he asked gently, moving toward her.

She stepped back, and slammed into the med bed. “In my ass!” she retorted, folding her arms solidly across her chest.

She didn’t like the way that he stared at her. It made her feel
exposed
.

He chuckled in that husky way of his, and leaned leisurely up against the wall, as if he abducted woman from their ships on a daily basis. Come to think of it, maybe he did.

“You are quite a woman,” he breathed, admiration thick in his voice. Lord, she felt like throwing up.

His chiseled features almost glowed, causing her stomach to quiver with excitement. It was probably just an acid attack coming on.

“You know, I think I’d like it a whole lot, if you took your sophisticated technology and transported me back to my own ship. My family must be quite frantic about me.”

He nodded his head, but that silly grin he wore was still firmly in place.

“
Indeed
. As soon as you were whisked off of your ship, they fired on me. You have quite a plucky crew. You
are
lucky that I am easily amused, or you wouldn’t have any family right now.” With that he crossed the short distance that lay between them.

She bristled feeling electricity course through her. Adrenaline pumped through her veins.

She didn’t know how she’d manage it, but she had to convince the Red Falcon that she was an irritating no good bitch of a woman. For some reason he was staring at her like she was a goddess.

Hadn’t she used her big fat mouth against him, punched him, and stared at him as if he was dirt beneath her feet? Maybe she was slacking off, in which case she’d have to rectify that matter.

But she would have to be cautious and attempt to control her slippery tongue. She still needed his cooperation in order for everything to work itself out. She still needed his help in dealing with Lord Devlin. What she didn’t need was another rascal to fall in love with her. She already had Tyler, and he was a handful as it was.

Dryness prickled at the back of her throat. She tentatively reached for the glass of water that was on the bedside table. She quickly sniffed it, and hoped that he wasn’t low enough to drug it. Pinching her eyes shut, she sipped at it. It tasted fine. In a few seconds, she’d know if it had been drugged.

“Why do you defend Tyler Cassidy with such fervor?” His blunt question caught her off RECKLESS BOUNTY Marly Mathews 66

guard.

Her hand trembled, and she spilled water all over her shirt and the floor.

“Damn it!” She hastily placed the glass back down before it slipped from her shaking hand. He stared steadily back at her, and she wished she were hanging over the side of a building, instead of being trapped inside of the largest ship imaginable, trying to find a way to keep a pirate from falling in love with her. This was by far the biggest challenge she’d been faced with in a couple of months. Tyler being charged with murder had nothing on this!

She stared down at herself, and wondered why he was so attracted to her. She was sweating and filthy. She hadn’t slept in a long time, and no doubt she had dark circles under her eyes. Her hair was pulled back into a severe ponytail and she wore absolutely no makeup save for the grease and dirt that was smudged across her face. But that didn’t take away from her natural beauty. That had to be it. There was no other explanation. She rocked. What could she say?

Her stomach growled loudly reminding her she hadn’t eaten anything in hours.

“We should go down to the dining hall,” The Red Falcon said.

She grimaced. The Red Falcon had good hearing. She still hadn’t answered his question and yet he’d changed the topic without even pressing for an answer. What sort of a man was he?

Tension hung in the air and if she had a knife she would’ve been able to slice it into pieces.

She regulated her breathing, stepping back as he approached her. She pressed her lips into a firm line and decided to answer his question.

“I defend Tyler Cassidy because he possesses my heart. If
you
truly loved someone wouldn’t you do anything that you had to do to keep
her
from facing execution for a crime that she didn’t commit?”

“I have never found anyone worthy of my love. And for that matter, I don’t know if I ever will. I don’t exactly travel in the most desirable of circles.” A bitter laugh escaped him.

She shivered, looking away. Then, reluctantly, she dragged her gaze back to settle on his face.

“Well, that’s what you get for hanging out on
The Rim
. But have heart. There is always a possibility of finding
love!
” Why was she trying to comfort a space pirate that had abducted her?

Get on with it Samantha, and get your act together!

He turned from her and walked toward the door. Unsure of what else she could do, she fell into step beside him. She felt like a bloody puppet.

“Tyler does not deserve you.” His words were soft but loud enough for her to hear them.

The door whooshed open, and he led her out into a hallway, that seemed as if it belonged in a palace on
Earth
rather than on a battle ship.

“That may be,” she relented softly, trying not to tick the man off.

She would have to walk a straight and narrow line, for she was not accustomed to watching her tongue, especially when it ran off, sometimes without her permission. More often than not, it
was
without her permission.

“But I deserve
him,
” she said, casting her thoughtful eyes at him.

Her heart brimmed with love, and the old adage absence makes the heart grow fonder, proved true in her extraordinary situation.

“Ah, there it is. That is why I shall never find true love.”

They sashayed into the dining hall. Her breath caught in her throat and she absently heard herself giving a delighted exclamation.

RECKLESS BOUNTY Marly Mathews 67

She

believed

The Excalibur
to be the finest ship she’d ever set eyes upon. But
The
Emerald Star
was a ship built for a king. Hell, it was a ship built for an Emperor!

Everywhere you went the intricate detail remained the same. Something told her to look up, and when she did the ground gave way beneath her. She was floored. She was so amazed that she simply gaped up at the beautiful art work.

“You are a most unusual pirate!”

She was so astounded that she had a difficult time just allowing her mind to go to something other than focusing on the beauty that surrounded her.

He had to be loaded. His looting and pillaging had definitely paid off. Sometimes, they had a hard time just paying for space fuel. She dumbly sat down in the gilded chair that he had pulled out for her, and finally yanked her mind back to reality.

“I could keep you, as I am tempted to and throw our little agreement out of the window.

It isn’t as if we signed any legal documents, so I am not indebted to you at all. I could take you and be out of this system in minutes. Your Tyler would be gone, hanging in the gallows, and I wouldn’t have to worry about having any competition.”

She stared stupidly at him. His eyes took on a dangerous glint. Steeling herself, she felt reawakened anger course through her.

Positively primal emotions roared through her and she pushed her chair back. It clattered to the ground, causing one hell of a racket.

“You

wouldn’t

dare!
”

She clenched her fists at her side, and barely fought the urge to throttle the life out of him. She wondered what he’d look like with her hands around his neck.

“Oh, but I would, and I have.” His eyes briefly dropped to her hands. They turned purple.

He gave her a Cheshire grin, and she felt the last vestiges of her control slip away. She rushed toward him, arms outstretched, fully intending to cause him serious bodily harm.

She’d kill the man and then she’d fight her way back to Tyler. She flew at him, and hit him like a bat out of hell. He grunted with the forceful impact, and his chair toppled over.

Suddenly, she found herself straddling his chest. A forceful current of air rushed through the room, whipping her hair back away from her face. Her frenzied fit had caused her powers to emerge and they were manifesting themselves in a most chaotic way. Chairs blew over, tables toppled, chandeliers rocked. Purple mist floated through the air.

She heard booming laughter ripple throughout the dining hall, causing her to freeze her fist inches from his nose. She swallowed thickly, resting her hands on The Red Falcon’s chest.

She could feel her heart racing, and it felt as if it were lodged in her throat.

“You might want to dampen your fury a bit, my love. If you don’t, you might just scratch this lovely ship!”

Tyler.

“Oh, now I am going to raise some hell,” she muttered.

* * * *

Samantha remained there motionless, while the Red Falcon simply stared up at her in apparent adulation. She didn’t know what to do. She had murder on her mind, but she wasn’t sure whom she wanted to murder first.
Decisions...decisions
.

She slowly heaved herself to her feet and gradually turned her body to face the direction of the mirth filled laughter. The moving furniture clattered to the ground as the wind whipping through the room suddenly died off. The purple tinge to her hands faded.

“
You!
” she accused, wishing that she had her phase pistol handy so she could shoot him RECKLESS BOUNTY Marly Mathews 68

and be done with it.

“Hello darling,” he drawled, greeting her affectionately. He walked toward her, with a shit ass grin on his face.

She bunched her hands at her side and began tapping her one foot restlessly. The chairs in the room righted themselves, as did the tables. She bit her lip. So, her abilities had finally reacted to her commands. It happened. Rarely, but it did happen.

“You are more trouble than you are worth!” she decided, moving toward the man that approached her at a languid pace.

He stopped just short of brushing up against her chest, forcing her to crane her neck to stare up at him in loathing.

“Please, tell me that you didn’t have all of this, this
shit
planned out,” she demanded, folding her arms across her chest. She increased the tempo of her foot tapping against the floor and impatiently waited for his reply.

He galled her to no end. Here he was as blasé as could be, while she had gone through several near heart attacks. She wanted to tie something in a knot, and it wasn’t a rope.

“I wanted to see if you cared,” his silky smooth tone rattled her even more.

She let out a grunt of pent up frustration, pointing her hand at him in accusation.

“I would rather you point that somewhere else, Samantha. I don’t like that unholy glint in your eye and don’t think I am not worried that you will accidentally destabilize my molecular structure. Your abilities when aroused can be lethal. So, calm down. Should we call Charlotte?”

She fumed. “See if I
cared!
Who are you to see if I
cared?
” she raged backing him toward a wall.

He slammed up against the wall and she served him the meanest glare that she could muster beneath the extenuating circumstances.

“I don’t believe this,” she murmured, turning away from him. She tried to calm down.

Her mind was racing, and she couldn’t decide between jumping him and slapping him silly.