Rebel (8 page)

She grasped the lever with both hands and
tugged. It wouldn’t budge. She readjusted her grip and tried again.
Nothing. Frustrated but not ready to abandon her plan, Corry found
a similar lever on the other tank. The second was also stubborn but
finally gave way beneath her persistent pulling.

She heard an alarm sound in the distance and
realized Ashton would soon know what she’d done. His angry
footfalls stomped overhead and then she heard “Where the hell are
you?” echo through the ship.

Corry laughed despite the fury in his voice.
She’d won this round.

His head appeared in an open hatchway at the
opposite end of the crawlspace. “Are you absolutely insane?”

Another quick laugh escaped before she could
suppress her excitement. She’d done it! She’d thwarted mighty
Director VinDerley.

“Get up here now!”

“Why don’t you come get me?” she suggested
with a cheeky smile.

“If I touch you right now, I’ll snap your
scrawny neck.”

“Shouldn’t you be plotting our new
course?”

He muttered an especially vile curse and
pulled his head out of the hatchway.

Corry waited until she could maintain a
straight face before she ventured abovedeck. Flaunting her success
was bound to cause trouble. She found him at the helm, desperately
calculating their options.

“You couldn’t have jettisoned the half-empty
tank, could you? We’re going to be lucky to reach the near side of
Temple-Tuttle and there’s nothing there but swamps and jungles. I
hope you like snakes.”

He flung the criticism over his shoulder
without turning his attention from the navigational screen.
Temple-Tuttle, the spiritual center of the coalition. Corry had
never been to the outpost. They didn’t need her smuggled supplies.
But she’d seen vids of the planet’s lush jungles and undeveloped
wilderness. The occupants preferred a simple, more spiritually
centered life. They didn’t ban technology. It was simply
unimportant to them.

“There’s nowhere to set down,” he muttered.
“You’ve probably killed us both, you impulsive little fool.” He
suddenly reached for the safety restraints and secured himself to
the pilot’s chair.

He didn’t advise her to do the same, but
Corry followed suit. His movements were frantic and fear hardened
his expression. Corry nervously licked her lips and tugged against
her safety restraints. Had she been too hasty? Would he be able to
land the ship?

She knew better than to ask. Her gaze
focused on the vidscreen. Temple-Tuttle rushed toward them with
alarming speed. The ship groaned and trembled as the planet’s
atmosphere battered them with forces far greater than the shields
were meant to withstand. Corry held her breath. She was jarred left
then right before Ashton stabilized their trajectory.

He spoke only curses. She kept silent.

Corry’s hands clutched the padded arms of
the chair while her heart pounded painfully. She closed her eyes,
whispering nearly forgotten prayers. She didn’t want to die, hadn’t
meant to kill them with her rash action.

The schooner hit a solid object and spun out
of control. Corry cried out. The lights flickered for a second
before blinking out. They spun through the darkness like a feather
on the wind. The safety restraints bit painfully into her shoulders
and hips as the ship carved a new path through the external
environment.

As suddenly as it had lurched out of
control, the schooner jerked to a stop. It rocked forward and back
then settled into place.

They were alive! Corry let out a ragged
sigh. She giggled, a spontaneous release of tension. Perhaps a bit
battered but definitely alive.

“Well, little rebel,” Ashton’s voice
penetrated the darkness, “I don’t know what you hoped to accomplish
by forcing us down, but here we are.”

She could hear him releasing his restraints.
What should she do now? She had to get away from him or her actions
had no purpose.

“I can’t go to Halley Prime with you. I told
you that. You should have left me on Borrelly.” She didn’t think
he’d left his chair, but the darkness was impenetrable.

“All you’ve done is postponed our arrival. I
have no intention of letting you out of my sight.”

“I’m out of your sight right now.” She
couldn’t resist.

As if at his command, the secondary power
supply activated and emergency lighting flickered to life. Corry
gasped. He was standing right in front of her, long legs spread,
fists planted firmly on his hips.

Before Corry could guess his intent, Ashton
grabbed her hand. In one fluid movement, he snapped a cuff around
her wrist and fastened the other around his own. “Let’s see you get
away from me now.”

“The private cabin has the only bunk wide
enough for both of us.” Ashton waited for her to react. She was so
easy to provoke and her responses were so entertaining, he couldn’t
resist.

“Secure me to one of the other bunks. I am
not
sleeping with you.”

They sat across from each other, their
joined hands resting on top of the galley’s small table. “Securing
you seems to be far more challenging than I anticipated. You’re as
slippery as a Chironian slime eel.”

“We’re going to a settlement first thing in
the morning. What point would there be in running away now?”

“You expect me to explain what goes on
inside your twisted mind?” he teased. “I can’t explain why you
forced the schooner down, much less why you’re so bent on getting
away from me.”

“What will you do with me once we reach
Halley Prime?” Her gleaming eyes and tilted chin accented the
challenge in her words.

“That depends on how quickly you can
convince your friends to release the other hostages.”

“If they immediately release the others,
then what?”

“I’ll intervene where I can.”

She indulged in a very childish snort. “How
comforting. I’ll be sent back to Borrelly as an inmate instead of
an employee.”

“So you are employed by Corrections?”

Her smile was slow and sly. “Not exactly. My
work is philanthropic. Borrelly is centrally located. It made
my…routine easier.”

“What was your routine?”

“Stealing from the rich and distributing to
the poor. I’m a modern day Robin Hood.”

“You steal supplies from Halley Prime
and—”

“My routine is irrelevant to this
conversation.”

“No piece to a puzzle is irrelevant. I don’t
even know your name.”

“You seem to think it’s little rebel.”

“What would you prefer I call you?”

“I’d prefer you didn’t call me.”

He laughed. How could he find her
stubbornness charming? “Let’s get some sleep. We’ll have several
hours of hard hiking tomorrow.”

She followed him silently toward the cabin.
She’d already tried using her bladder as an excuse for him to
release the wristcuffs, but he’d offered to turn his back and only
turn his back.

“I don’t want to sleep with you.”

“All we’re going to do is sleep.” The
pressure on the wristcuff increased as she dug in her heels. Ashton
turned to face his reluctant companion. Tension twisted her
expression and anxiety radiated off her in waves. “I’m not going to
hurt you.”

“Maybe not tonight, but you’re going to hurt
me.”

Frustrated by the certainty in her voice,
Ashton met her gaze. “What do you want me to do? I was dragged into
this at weapon point. This is your mess, not mine.”

“I’m not blaming you.”

He stepped toward her. She backed into the
wall. “If you told me what you were trying to accomplish with the
kidnappings, I might be able to—”

“Why would you help me?” Her gaze narrowed
and suspicion stabbed at him, driving him back.

“I’m not making any promises, but I can’t
help until I understand more about the conflict.”

She looked away and her emotions softened
and curled. A heated wave of excitement ripped through her and
washed into him. Ashton hesitated. This was more complex than
sexual attraction. His entire body felt attuned to her needs, ready
to provide on some elemental level. He shook away the sensation.
She was right. He had no reason to get involved.

“I’m trapped,” she whispered. “They expect
me to save them.”

She took a deep breath and Ashton felt her
emotions stabilize as if she’d raised some intangible barrier.
Pushing away from the wall, she eased past him and went into the
cabin. He had no choice but to follow.

“Who are ‘they’?” He kept his tone soft and
resisted his urge to touch her. Another erotic wrestling match
wasn’t what they needed right now.

“My—clients. They know I can’t provide for
them forever and I can’t provide for everyone. Still, I see it in
their eyes. They expect me to work a miracle, to accomplish what
my—what others failed to do.”

“What your…father failed to do?” It was an
educated guess, but her cheeks flushed and she quickly averted her
face. He sorted through the facts he’d uncovered during his
research and the pieces fell into place. “Cordelia Reah? Korbin is
your half-brother.”

“Corry. No one calls me Cordelia.”

“It’s nice to finally meet you, Corry.”
Unable to resist the impulse any longer, he stroked her cheek with
his knuckles. “Kidnapping us was Korbin’s idea, I take it? Your
father was a pacifist.”

“And look where that got him. We all know
his death wasn’t an accident. The council told him to shut his
mouth and when he refused, they shut it for him.” She straightened
her shoulders and reinforced her control.

He didn’t bother debating the point. Even
his mother had suspicions about the incident. “What will Korbin
demand in exchange for Danette and Palmer?”

“I honestly don’t know.” She glanced up at
him through her lashes. “Our departure will throw a wrench in
things, to say the least. I just hope he doesn’t do something
stupid.”

Stupider than kidnapping three highly
placed citizens of Halley Prime?
Knowing she wouldn’t
appreciate his sense of humor, Ashton bit back the sarcastic
question. “We’ll just pray we can put out fires faster than your
brother can start them.”

She shook her head and sat on the edge of
the bunk. “Sometimes I feel like that sums up my life. It was
easier when Dad was alive.” One corner of her mouth quirked with
the hint of a smile. “We used to gang up on Korbin.”

After so many days of her unflinching
spirit, he found her vulnerability endearing. It made him want to
shelter her with his mind and body, protect her from anything that
might mean her harm. And that included her hotheaded brother.

You don’t realize it yet, sweetheart, but
you’re not alone anymore.
Again, he didn’t say the words out
loud. She wasn’t ready to hear them.

“We really should get some sleep,” he told
her instead. “If the land is half as interesting as the topographic
scan indicated, we’ve got our work cut out for us tomorrow.”

“Will you release the cuff?” She stared into
his eyes with guileless calm.

“Not a chance. I’ve seen that look
before.”

Corry lay on her side in the darkness,
crowding as close to the schooner’s wall as she could get. Ashton’s
big body hugged her back. He’d slipped one of his arms beneath her
neck and their linked hands rested on her pillow. His other hand
cupped her breast, making her nipple harden.

Was he awake? Could he sense her
restlessness?

“Ashton?” she whispered.

“Corry.” He shifted, pressing his erection
against her behind.

Heat spiraled through her body and lodged
between her thighs. “I’m not usually like this,” she protested as
her core clenched and her clit tingled.

“Fascinating and unpredictable?” He found a
bare patch of skin at the nape of her neck and gave it a playful
nip. “Or feisty and passionate?”

She could hear gentle teasing in his tone.
Still, she needed to see his eyes. Squeezing between his chest and
the wall, she rolled to her back.

“I’m not ashamed of wanting you,” he told
her. “My body reacted instantaneously. It just took longer for my
mind to accept what my body recognized.”

She shook her head and glanced away. “What’s
that supposed to mean?”

“You’re special. I sensed it the first time
I touched you. There’s more going on here than two lonely people
wanting to fuck.”

Dragging her gaze back to his face, she knew
the battle was lost. “Only a fool makes the same mistake
twice.”

“Maybe it wasn’t a mistake.” He leaned down
and covered her mouth with his before she could argue further.
Denial was a waste of time when his empathic receptors told him how
much she wanted him. She ached for his touch, craving the stunning
release she’d only known in his arms.

She tried to touch his face, but the
wristcuff brought her up short. He entwined their fingers,
anchoring their hands against the pillow.

“You need to say it,” he whispered. His gaze
bore into hers, smoldering and caressing. “No more games, no
denials. Say, ‘I want you inside me.’”

Her other hand clutched the back of his
uniform as he arched over her. This wasn’t about pride or
domination. They couldn’t move on until she stopped lying to
herself.

“I want you inside me.” Tingles cascaded
through her body with the admission.

A sexy smile curved his lips and desire
ignited in his eyes. “That’s a good start.” He found the separator
and parted the front of her utility suit. The seam opened down her
torso and between her thighs. Lifting her hips, she allowed him to
divide the material as far back as he could reach.

“Release the cuffs. I can’t touch you like
this.” She tugged on the back of his shirt, illustrating her
limitation.

“But I can touch you.” He folded back the
sides of her suit, framing her naked breasts. “We did this way too
fast before.”