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widen.

“Well. I’d suggest you leave post haste. Your darling niece is in a bit of a jam. We

should rush to her aid as soon as possible.”

“Devlin, I think you’re a huge windbag, but so far you’ve played it fairly straight with

me. What are our chances of ever finding Rory?” Her heart was up in her throat. Usually, she

would go into a reckless situation all gung ho. But this was different. Rory’s life was at stake.

She shuddered to think of what might have already happened to her. If they were using her as a

sex slave, she’d make those men die a most terrible death. She watched as the grin faded from

Devlin’s face. His eyes hardened.

“The odds are fifty to one.”

“Good. I work well under pressure.” She smiled wanly, and was reaching to cut the link

when he cleared his throat.

“We’ll get her back, Samantha. She’s just a teenager. And by her description from

Quinn, she seems to be a miniature of you. So, don’t worry, I know she’ll give those slave

traders a run for their money.”

Samantha didn’t know what to say. They were actually managing to be civil to each

other. This was definitely a moment to remember. Chemistry oozed between them at the worst

of times. When he’d been around her on New Monaco, she’d almost given into temptation

especially when he’d helped her out during her pajama pickle jam when she’d almost been

killed.

“That just about killed you to say, didn’t it?” she smiled, focusing her gaze on the glint in

his eyes. He was still attracted to her. He would still kiss her senseless if she ever let him get

close enough.

“Damn straight,” Devlin retorted, shuddering. “Don’t ever expect me to pay you a

compliment again Ms. Cassidy. Not while you’re involved with Tyler.”

“That’s Misses, to you,” she laughed, hearing it sound hollow. She wished she were Mrs.

Devlin at the moment. If she were, she wouldn’t have woken up alone.

“That reminds me to ask, how is your despicable husband? Is he suffering much? I do so

hope that’s the case.”

“Tyler is fine. A bit different but he’s fine.”

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“Different?” Devlin looked concerned. He leaned toward her, and she wished she could

put her hand through the view screen and touch him. She’d fought her feelings for him this

long—she could continue the battle. She deserved to suffer as much as Devlin wished Tyler were

suffering. “I trust you’re in good health?”

“I am.” She nodded her head. “Listen, Dev, I would hate to keep you from whatever great

things await you in the next few minutes. I am quite certain you have one of your whores on

standby so don’t let me keep you....”

“You look intoxicating in your pajamas, Samantha. They look a bit like the style you had

on down on New Monaco a little over six months ago. That was one morning to remember,” he

said, his voice soft enough to make her entire body crave his touch.

“I won’t forget that you helped me out that day, Dev, but I don’t know if I can allow you

to help me again once you help Quinn find Rory. I just think us being together for too long is too

dangerous.”

“It’s the kind of danger I look forward to,” he mused, his eyes sparkling with affection.

“I have to go, Dev. We’ll see you soon. Don’t overexert yourself doing the rumba with

one of your lady of the nights.” She cut the link just as he was about to rush in with a retort. She

had to have the last word. It was her cardinal rule. Sighing, she turned around when she heard

the door rattling. Reaching out, she unlocked it and it slid open.

Tyler stood in front of her, “Whom were you talking to?” he mumbled, looking grumpy

as ever.

“Good morning,” she murmured.

“Whom were you talking to?” he repeated.

“Lord Devlin,” she muttered, trying to push past him.

“We should have another bathroom in this suite.... One made up for private

conversations with Mob Lords.” His jab didn’t affect her the way he wanted it to. “What did
he

want?”

“He wanted to tell me that he’d be meeting me down at The New Monaco space docks.”

“Oh, so that’s all, then.” He seemed troubled.

“Did you think that I was in there whispering sweet nothings to him?”

“No.” He shifted to the side, and grimaced.

“So, why do you look so bothered?”

“Because I feel as if we’ve just found each other again. I thought that we would be

working as a team from now on.”

“We
are
a team. It’s a little thing called being married. But now that I have your

attention, Tyler, you haven’t exactly been acting like yourself. You seem like a totally new

person.”

His eyes flared with anger. She took a step back surprised at the intensity of the rage

boiling off him. She stared at his hands. He was clenching them into tight fists. “That’s

something else you’ve recently developed. You are flying off the handle at the least little thing I

happen to say. You’re acting like a pissy little jerk.”

“Well, excuse me for wanting us to be more open when it comes to your profession. I

thought that we’d gotten to the place in our marriage where you would let me in on your business

a bit more.”

“This thing with Rory isn’t business, it’s personal and you know that.”

“You know what I mean.”

“Where the hell do you get off preaching to me about openness between us? For the last

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few months, hell, ever since we left Earth and you went away on that hush hush mission, you’ve

been a mystery to me. You returned from that mission like a bear with a sore bloody ass and you

haven’t come out of that mood at all. I am just about sick of how we treat each other, Tyler. I

don’t even want you sleeping with me anymore!” He took a step toward her. “Why don’t you go

and talk to Dylan? Better yet, why don’t you just get out of my way? You’re staying here on the

Excalibur
and if you don’t like it, tough. I am not going to let you pull my strings anymore,

Tyler. I thought that we were on the road to recovery after what happened on New Monaco, and

for a split second while we were on Earth I believed you were the man I wanted to spend the rest

of my life with, but now....” She grimaced and stepped past him. He reached out for her. “Don’t

touch me! I can’t bear your touch at the moment. Can you please just leave while I get dressed?

“Fine,” he grumbled. “I’ll go and be the good little husband and talk to my good little

brother. He’ll probably want to drone on to me about how perfect his marriage with Johanna is,

but anything is better than listening to you bitch at me all morning.”

“Good. Take those stunning catlike moves of yours and make good use of them down in

engineering.”

“I feel useless. I hate, hate being shoved on the backburner. You know what I feel like? I

feel like I am the consolation prize for a man you were afraid of having…and don’t look so

coolly at me. You know exactly whom I am referring to. For the life of me, I can’t figure out

how I fell in love with you in the first place....” She regarded him for a moment. What he was

saying was absurd he was the one that had taken the first step in asking her out. Up until she’d

met Tyler she’d been pretty happy by herself. When she’d met Tyler he’d made a mad dash to

secure her hand in marriage and she’d agreed knowing that she’d hurt Devlin terribly by

marrying Tyler. No one knew that when Johanna had gotten mixed up with Devlin and brought

her to meet him that fireworks had exploded between them during their first meeting. No one had

noticed the chemistry oozing between the two of them except for Devlin and she.

“You don’t need to feel useless. And you’re not just a toy to me. You are my husband for

better or for worse—unfortunately I seem to be dealing with a marriage that’s tilting precariously

toward worse.” She stressed the last word. “I’ll be back aboard the
Excalibur
in no time at all.

I’m just going to go down and fetch Quinn. We won’t find Rory on New Monaco anyway. New

Monaco doesn’t deal with slave traders. I mean Devlin is a dirty rotten bastard at times, but even

he can’t stoop that low.”

“I’ll anticipate your return.” Of course he would. She eyed him warily, wishing she

could just end it with him now. The only reason she was sticking it out this time was because of

all the trouble she’d gone through to save him from Devlin’s justice on New Monaco. If she

divorced him now, she’d look like a fool—and she hated looking like a stooge.

“Well, if you need to be reminded of me, all that you need to do is look at Lucy. She’ll

bring back memories of me, thanks to good old, Dylan.”

“Yes, and she’s even equipped with your acerbic tongue.”

“Now, you’re just pushing it. Lucy and I aren’t anything alike.” Again he tried to reach

out for her. She took a step back. “I don’t think we have time for anything like what you have in

mind....” Her mind raced. “Tyler, you’re going to make me late for my rendezvous with

Devlin.”

“Oh, wouldn’t that be a crying shame,” he muttered, moving swiftly and grabbing her

hand. His hand felt cold and clammy. She almost let out a shriek.

“I’m serious! Don’t do this to me right now, Tyler.”

“And so am I. Do I revolt you that much?”

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“Come on, Tyler. I am too stressed out to do this. Maybe we shouldn’t have reconciled.

You seemed to be doing okay without me until you ran into Dev’s devious ex-wife. I think we

made a big mistake and now we have to deal with it.”

He stopped, and gazed into her eyes. “Fine. I’ll deal with it, by going and getting lost

somewhere on this hunk of a ship.” He turned to leave when their door chime went off.

Sighing, she pushed past him and walked to the door.

He pulled her back toward him. Rattled, the air started to get colder.

The door chime buzzed again. Then her sister’s voice streamed out over the intercom.

“Samantha, wake up! I need to speak to you right away.”

“You know what, I don’t think I really like your sister right now. We can’t even have an

argument without being interrupted!”

“Well. I don’t really like Dylan most of the time.” She groaned, pulling her arm out of

his grip. “When I get back, we’ll continue where we left off.”

“I am quite sure we’ll have forgotten what we were arguing about in the first place,”

Tyler mused softly.

“I don’t think so.” She walked to the door, and pressed the release mechanism. It slid

open, and she quickly walked through it, before Johanna could get a glimpse of Tyler in his

rotten mood.

“Lucy told me that Devlin called.”

“He did,” she said tersely. “Why did you contact him last night?”

“I had to ask for his assistance. Samantha, he has experience in tracking down lost

children.”

“What do you mean?” She folded her arms across her chest. Sighing, she bit her lip and

thought back to Rory. They needed to get to her like yesterday. Problem was, she was lost in a

big wide galaxy. She could literally be anywhere. It would be like looking for a needle in a

haystack.

“How do you think he found Jordan?”

Samantha tilted her head to the side. Her mind was racing. She still felt half asleep, and

here her sister was, actually expecting her to think.

“What? Are we now talking about the Red Falcon now?”

“Of course. I thought you knew this already, in fact I recall explaining this to you once

before....” Johanna gave her an inquisitive look that made her feel like the freaking village idiot.

“Well, when you start talking about Devlin I sort of tune out stuff. I know that Devlin

took Jordan in when he was a child. Red mentioned something about Devlin being his
mentor
.

Though, I don’t think that man could mentor a monkey…let alone a ten year old kid.”

“He didn’t take him in. He brought him home. Samantha, Jordan
is
Devlin’s son, he

didn’t just adopt him when he was an older child, he had him since he was a baby—he is his

child.”

“Impossible! They aren’t anything alike.” Samantha’s temper was rising. She still had a

long day ahead of her.

“Fine. If you don’t believe me, ask Devlin sometime. He doesn’t hide it, but I know that

the Red Falcon doesn’t want it to become public, because he obviously didn’t mention it to you.

I don’t know why he’s ashamed of Devlin but he obviously has issues.”

“Do you think he even knows?”

Johanna rolled her eyes. “He was kidnapped when he was five. He
should
remember his

real father. Devlin isn’t as bad as everyone thinks. He’s actually quite a softie at heart. His

MAXIMUM VELOCITY Marly Mathews 30

family is
everything
to him. That’s why he understands the seriousness of Rory’s situation.”

“Yes. But sometimes in life there are things that one doesn’t want to remember.” Her

throat constricted and her voice faded away. Johanna’s eyes filled with sorrow.

“Oh…man. I’m sorry, Samantha. I shouldn’t have put it that way. Me and my big

mouth.” Johanna put a comforting hand on her shoulder, and squeezed her gently.