Not the Man She Thought (9 page)

Rade shook his head as he watched them go. He couldn’t blame
the men, he supposed. Laken Andara was beautiful, and there weren’t many men
who would pass up an opportunity to catch a glimpse of her in the bath.

Knowing he probably shouldn’t spy on her, Rade took a step
closer to the door and looked through the window, unable to help himself. It
was frosted, but at the right angle, he could still see quite a bit.

She was sitting facing the door, her head back against the
tub, her slender arms resting on either side of her. Rade could just make out
the swell of her breasts through the bubbles, and he felt himself go hard at
the sight of her creamy skin. Almost completely covered in bubbles, she was
still a sight to behold.

Although he knew he should leave, Rade found himself rooted
to the spot. If she looked toward the door, she would almost certainly see him.

  
But she
didn’t look in his direction. Oblivious to his presence, Laken stretched one
shapely leg out in front of her. Picking up the washcloth from the side of the
tub, she dipped it in the soapy water, then slowly ran it up and down her leg.
Dipping it back into the water again, she repeated the process with her other
leg before gently running the towel over her shoulders and down her arms.

Rade had always thought watching a woman bathe was extremely
sexy, but he was completely mesmerized by the sight of Laken and what she was
doing. He only wished there were less bubbles in the tub.

Painfully hard now, and not wanting to have to explain
himself if one of his men, or God forbid, Dev, happened down the hallway, he
swore under his breath and tore his gaze away from the glass. Turning on his
heel, he strode down the passageway. God, he was glad he had an actual shower
in his cabin instead of the sonic type because he could definitely use a cold
one right now.

* * * * *

Dev was hunched over the control panel when Laken walked
into the communications room the next night. Open books and papers were
scattered over every available surface.

“Any time now, Dev,” said an impatient male voice over the
ship’s com.

“I’m working on it, Kam!” Dev snapped. A strand of hair had
come loose from her ponytail and she swore softly as she tucked it behind her
ear. Swearing again, she angrily shoved a stack of books off the desk.

Laken frowned. “Is everything okay?”

Dev didn’t turn to look at Laken as she shook her head. “I’m
trying to decipher this code so I can mimic it and send it back out through our
transmitter. But no matter what I try, I can’t get it to work. I don’t think I
have the software to crack this code.”

“Maybe I can help,” Laken suggested. “I’m pretty good with
computers.”

The other woman looked at her in surprise, though whether
that was because Laken said she knew something about computers, or had offered
to help, she wasn’t quite sure. “Well, I know I can’t do it, so I’ll take any
help you can offer. You really think you might be able to do something with
it?”

She shrugged as she pulled out a chair. “I can try.”

Laken had no idea what the code was for, but it was nice to
have something to do to pass the time. Besides, she felt like she owed Dev
something for all the stuff the other girl had done for her. Although Laken had
a degree in computer technology, she didn’t use it very much, so it was kind of
fun to do it again. Luckily, she’d always been good at code-breaking in class,
so she was able to make a lot of headway with this one. The code was still
extremely complicated and she couldn’t help but wonder what it was used for.
She almost gave into her curiosity and asked Dev, but she didn’t want to seem
like she was prying.

When they finally decoded the cipher an hour later, Dev let
out a cheer that echoed throughout half the ship. Leaning over, she opened the
ship’s com-line.

“Kam, we’re in.”

“Roger that.”

Sitting back in her chair, Dev gave her a smile. “You’re a
lifesaver, Laken.”

Laken returned the other woman’s smile. “I’m just glad I
could help. What was all that for, anyway?”

Dev hesitated, then shrugged. “Just something for the job
the captain’s doing tonight.”

Laken wanted to ask more, but ever since Rade had made it
clear she wasn’t to be treated like one of the crew, Dev and the men had been
careful not to say too much around her. So, not wanting to put Dev in an
awkward position, she changed the subject.

“What kind of planet are we stopping at this time?”

Dev made a face. “Not one you’d want to get off on, trust
me.”

Why wasn’t she surprised? “Don’t you guys ever stop anyplace
fun?”

The other girl laughed. “We try now and then, but like I
said, we go where the business is. As an independent, we get our best business
on the smaller planets, where the Federation doesn’t bother going.”

When the ship landed a little while later, Dev didn’t seem
interested in going down to the cargo hold with the rest of the crew, so Laken
didn’t bother, either. Realizing she was hungry, she announced she was going to
the mess to make something to eat.

  
“Don’t
you want anything?” she asked when Dev didn’t get up.

Dev shook her head. “I need to keep an eye on this.”

Laken nodded. “Do you want me to bring you something?”

  
“No,
thanks. I’ll grab something later.”

  
Apparently, Karsten and most of the men had left the ship on whatever
business had brought them there, so it was strangely quiet on board, but that
meant the mess was completely deserted, which was okay with her.

She was just finishing up when she heard shouts coming from
the direction of the cargo hold. Curious, she got up from the table to see what
was going on, but then hesitated. If she went down there and got in the way,
Rade would be more than happy to spank her, and she’d prefer not to go over his
knee again. She was considering whether to go back to her room when the sounds
of booted feet behind her made her turn. A moment later, Dev ran down the
passageway, not even slowing down as she raced past. Laken hurried after her.

“What’s going on?” she asked as she caught up with the
dark-haired woman.

Dev flew down the stairs. “The guys ran into a problem.”

Laken had known all that shouting couldn’t be good. Too
curious to go back to her cabin now, she hurried after Dev. As they ran down
the passageway, Kamran passed them going in the opposite direction. A moment
later, she heard the ship’s engines humming to life. The deck shifted at a
sharp angle and the ship took off and Laken had to grab the railing to keep
from falling.

Down in the hold, Keir and Finn were hastily securing the
personal transport to the deck to keep it from shifting round. Dev muttered
something under her breath and ran over to them.

Rade glanced down at her from atop the transport. “Jorn’s
been shot. He needs help.”

Laken came to a stop on the steps, her stomach lurching. As
much as she wanted to help, something told her she didn’t want to be involved
with anything going on down in the hold. As she hesitated, Kellen pushed past
her to get down the steps.

  
“What
the hell happened out there?” the first officer demanded. “This was supposed to
be a simple transfer.”

Laken’s eyes widened in horror as Vance and Dev help Jorn
out of the back of the transport. One sleeve and half his shirt was covered in
blood.

“Federation bastards,” Rade muttered. “They must have
followed the settlers. The moment we made the exchange, they opened fire on us.
He settlers didn’t stand a chance. We were only able to grab a few things and
get them on the transport before we had to get the hell out of there. The Feds
weren’t interested in talking, just killing.”

Laken stood frozen at the bottom of the stairs, her blood
going cold. “Federation? Why would the Federation be shooting at you?”

Rade swung around to glare at her. “Get back to your cabin.”

Laken ignored him as realization dawned on her. She turned
her gaze on Dev. “That code I helped you decipher was Federation, wasn’t it?
That’s why it was so complicated.”

The dark-haired woman flushed, her hands stilling in the act
of unbuttoning Jorn’s shirt. “Laken—”

Laken cut her off before she could finish. “You used me. I
trusted you, and you used me. You figured that since I went to a Federation
university it would be easier for me to break their code. Tampering with
Federation security codes could put me in prison for the rest of my life, but
you didn’t care about that, did you? Why should you? You’re nothing but a
common criminal.”
 
She shook her
head. “I can’t believe I didn’t see it until now. You said you were
independents, but you’re nothing but a ship full of pirates.”

“That’s enough,” Rade ordered.

She whirled around to glare at him, but before she could say
anything, he turned his attention to Dev and Vance.

“Get Jorn up to the med-bay, and make sure there’s no one on
our tail,” Rade told them.

Supporting Jorn between them, Dev and Vance slowly did as he
commanded. When Keir and Finn started to unload the boxes off the transport,
Rade told them to leave it. “You can do that later,” he said. “Get up to the
bridge and make sure Kam has everything under control.”

The men hesitated, but then gave Rade a nod and went
upstairs.

Rade looked at the older man. “Go check on Jorn for me, will
you, Kellen? I’m going to have a few words with our passenger.”

  
Kellen’s
gaze went from Rade to her before going back to the captain. After a moment, he
gave Rade a nod, then headed for the steps.

Laken swallowed hard as she watched the old man go, angry
tears stinging her eyes. She’d known something was off about the crew from the
beginning. She should have trusted her instincts. She was on a ship full of
pirates who made their living stealing from the Federation. The same Federation
her father helped run.

  
She
pinned Rade with a hard look. “I’m not interested in anything you have to say.”

  
“That’s
too damn bad, because you’re going to listen.” He regarded her coldly. “You can
say whatever the hell you want about me, but you haven’t earned the right to
pass judgment on my crew. Maybe after you’ve lived in the real world a little
while, you might learn that things aren’t always so black and white.”

Damn him. The bastard was trying to turn this around on her
and make it look like he was the injured party in all of this. “Don’t get
sanctimonious on me. You and your crew make a living violating Federation laws.
That’s piracy, so what I said was the truth. They’re criminals, and so are
you.”

The muscle on the side of his jaw flexed, a sign of just how
angry he was, but she didn’t care. She couldn’t back down, despite learning
what he really was. Maybe because she knew what he really was. He was a pirate
who stole from the Federation, and that made him the worst kind of criminal. It
was her duty as the daughter of a Federation merchant to stand up to scum like
him.

“In fact,” she continued, “you’re worse than they are. You
make your money off their sweat and blood and you don’t even give a damn. Tell
me, did you throw Jorn in the transport and come back her right after he got
shot, or did you make him wait while you grabbed a few more boxes of stolen
goods first?”