Rescuing Rory (7 page)

Kal nodded and continued his questions. “What happened then?”

“The airlock malfunctioned while he was there.” Her breathing was getting faster and faster. “One of the hatch doors opened and he was sucked out into space.” She was practically hyperventilating now. “I’d done maintenance on those doors two days before. They were working perfectly.”

Kal grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her. “Rory. Look at me. Breathe. It wasn’t your fault. Do you hear me? It wasn’t your fault.”

Rory could hear Kal talking to her but wasn’t registering what he was saying. It was impossible to hear him above the harsh gasping of her own breath. Her chest was so tight it hurt. She couldn’t get enough air into her lungs. She felt lightheaded and her vision was dimming.

She could still hear the last transmission of her father’s voice. One second he’d been swearing at the emergency beacon and shutting it off manually. The next she’d heard fear enter as he’d yelled that one of the outside hatches was opening. Before she could scramble to the panel to override the system and shut the door her father was gone, sucked out into space with a small portion of their cargo.

“Breathe.” Somehow she was lying flat on her back with Kal sitting next to her, his large hands gripping her shoulders. His green eyes were fierce. His command absolute. “Breathe.”

Rory managed to suck in a lungful of air and hold it briefly before slowly releasing it. Her head was pounding but she no longer felt as though she was going to pass out.

His fingers tightened around her and she knew she’d have bruises on her shoulders. “It wasn’t your fault. Do you understand me?”

Obviously he was the one who’d misunderstood. “I was responsible for the maintenance on those doors.” And that would haunt her for the rest of her days.

Kal shook his head, causing a lock of hair to fall over his broad forehead. “No. It’s too pat, too easy. This new guy Adam was head of security?”

Rory nodded, wondering where he was going with this.

“Don’t you think it’s a bit too much of a coincidence that an emergency beacon is set off on the cargo, which would be easy for a man with his skills to do? Then one of the doors you’d done maintenance on only two days before suddenly malfunctions.” Kal shook his head. “This Adam Brecker planned your father’s death. He came aboard, got used to the routines of everyone on board the vessel and once enough time had passed that he was accepted, he set up this accident.”

Rory thought she might be sick. If what Kal was saying was true her father had been murdered. It hadn’t been an accident at all. And Kal wasn’t done yet.

“So he discredits you, the only other person who could really challenge him for control of the ship. After all, I assume your father had a will and left the ship to you.”

Rory nodded, still trying to wrap her head around such a betrayal. “The three men left from the old crew all stood beside me. They knew I loved my father and would never hurt him. But Adam convinced the others it was neglect at best, greed at worst. After all,” she bitterly continued, “what could you expect from a woman.”

It still infuriated her how easily the rest of the crew had gone along with Adam. Several of them were only too happy to condemn her because she’d turned down their sexual advances. She’d never told her father about that. In hindsight that had been a mistake. He’d have fired them and hired new. But she’d wanted to handle the situation herself. Being the lone woman on board a deep-space trader was hard enough without having the men grumbling about her getting preferential treatment.

Kal cupped the side of her face and rubbed his thumb over her cheek. “He set you up to take the fall for his dirty work.”

Rory closed her eyes and swallowed hard. She hadn’t seen it. In her grief, she’d never suspected her father might have been murdered. She’d been too devastated, thinking some neglect on her part had killed him.

“What happened next?” he asked.

Bitterness ate at her guts. “Some of the men wanted to make me the ship’s whore but the three long-time crew members wouldn’t hear of it. They claimed it was a horrible accident. I was locked in an empty cabin. I think Adam feared a mutiny. Before anything was settled, he took me off the ship. I think he must have slipped something into the food or water he brought me once a day and loaded me aboard the shuttle. One minute I was on board the
Traveler
, the ship I’d called home my entire life, the next I woke up in a cage on a slaver’s ship.”

“Son of a bitch.” Kal’s eyes were hot with anger on her behalf. It helped lessen the pain swamping her to know that someone cared what had been done to her. It didn’t change a thing but it helped.

“The slavers eventually sold me to the captain of the
Exos
. The new girls are put to work in the dancing cages for a month. After that, they’re sold to the highest bidder for a night and then permanently put to work in the back rooms. According to the captain, it keeps the product fresh and the men interested.”

She shivered, remembering how dehumanizing it had been to be stripped and sold at auction and locked away at night in a tiny room with one bunk and a toilet. They didn’t even let the woman have any contact with one another so no friendships or alliances could form.

“I had maybe a day or two left in the cage before I was sold,” she whispered.

Kal swore again and pulled her into his arms. “You’re never going back there.” She felt the desperation in his grasp and knew he was thinking about his sister.

As much as she wanted to stay in his arms forever, she knew that wasn’t practical. Nor was it likely. Her time with Kal was short and it wouldn’t do her any good to forget that. He and his brothers had rescued her from hell. Yes, it was because they wanted something from her but she’d still be on board the
Exos
if it weren’t for them. She owed them.

“I should get to work looking at those pictures.” The quicker she finished, the faster she’d get taken to Albion 5. But deep down she knew she was doing it for Kal and for Abigail. If his sister was out there somewhere, Rory wanted to do everything in her power to unite them.

He loosened his grip and rubbed his thumb over her bottom lip. “You know your father’s death wasn’t your fault, right? You were set up from the moment Adam stepped on board the
Traveler
. He must be good to have gotten past your father.”

Rory nodded, trying not to notice how her entire body was vibrating in response to Kal’s touch. “He was an excellent judge of character. He had to be in order to be good at his job. There’s a lot of danger to a deep-space trader. He dealt with all kinds of people from every known planet.”

“Like I said, he had to be good. There was nothing you could have done to stop him. If he’d failed that time, your father would have simply had an unfortunate accident at some other time in the near future.”

“Thank you.” Those words felt so inadequate to Rory but they were all she had to offer. Kal had taken a load of guilt off her shoulders, guilt she’d never thought she’d shed. A part of her had begun to wonder if she hadn’t deserved her fate because of her part in her father’s death. Now she knew better. But more than that, she knew her father wouldn’t have wanted her to wallow in grief, nor would he ever have wanted her a prisoner aboard a pleasure ship.

Strength flowed into Rory, and with it a new sense of purpose. She’d help Kal and his brothers find their sister. Even if she didn’t recognize anyone from all the photos they had, she knew people all around the galaxies. She knew where to go to get answers to questions. Her father’s name and reputation would open doors.

She put her hands on Kal’s chest and pushed. He leaned back, giving her space. They were both still naked but that didn’t seem so strange anymore. Maybe it was because she’d gotten used to wearing practically nothing in her time on the
Exos
. But she didn’t think that was it.

She felt a connection to Kal and a kinship with his scary brothers. They were all misfits with no place to call home. “I’m going to help you find your sister,” she promised.

Kal nodded and then rolled out of bed. He stood and stretched, careful not to hit his hands against the ceiling. He leaned down and grabbed his battlesuit. Rory admired the taut mounds of his butt and the powerful play of muscles in his back and legs as he pulled on the suit. He quickly covered it with the flightsuit and yanked on his boots.

“You can work here.” He pulled up a file on his computer, which sat on a small desk a few feet beyond the end of the bed.

Rory held the blanket tight to her chest. She could feel Kal withdrawing from her. “Okay.”

He walked to the door and it slid open. Before he went through it, he glanced over his shoulder. “Why Albion 5?”

His question took her totally off guard. That was the last thing she expected him to ask about. “I have an aunt there. I think she’ll take me in.”

Kal nodded, his expression not changing. She wished she knew what he was thinking. “I’ll be back to check on you later,” he told her. With that, he was gone and she was left alone.

Rory scrambled out of the bed and reached for her clothing. She suddenly stopped and stared down at her feet. She was still wearing socks. Nothing to be done about that now. The socks weren’t exactly sexy but Kal hadn’t seemed to mind. She shrugged and quickly donned the rest of the clothing he’d given her earlier.

When she was fully dressed, she wrapped her arms around herself. She felt cold with Kal gone. Why had he changed so quickly toward her? He’d gone from warm and understanding to cold and withdrawn.

Maybe he’d gotten what he wanted from her—sex and her agreement to do all she could to help him find his sister. Had he had sex with her to gain her cooperation?

She shuddered at the thought. It was possible but she didn’t think he’d do that. He hadn’t needed to. She’d already agreed to help in exchange for being taken to Albion 5. Maybe he’d just wanted sex and she was handy.

Her stomach roiled again. Was the closeness she’d felt between them nothing but a sham? She’d do well to remember Kal had an agenda and it didn’t include a permanent relationship with her. They were both adults and they’d had sex. No big deal.

“Get over it,” she muttered even as she swiped at the wetness making her eyes sting. She picked up the discarded blanket from the floor and tossed it back on the bed before planting herself in the desk chair. Pulling up the first photograph, she studied it intently. No, she didn’t recognize the man at all.

She pulled up the next one, settling in to work. Whatever had happened between her and Kal was over. The sex had been great and he’d eased her guilt over her father’s death. That was enough.

She’d just have to make it clear they wouldn’t be having sex again. Once she could forgive herself for, but twice was just being stupid. She couldn’t afford to risk her heart and right now that organ was in grave danger of being given to a man who didn’t want it.

Chapter Six

Kal wanted to find Adam Brecker, rip out his heart and then feed his dead carcass to the man-eating sharks on the planet Oceanus. The anger he felt about what the man had done to Rory and her father equaled the fury he felt about his sister’s kidnapping.

And he didn’t even want to talk about his sense of relief when she’d told him she had an aunt on Albion 5. Ever since she’d told them she wanted to be taken there, he’d tortured himself with wondering if there was a man there she wanted to go to.

And he was furious with himself for even caring. Why the fuck should it matter why she wanted to go to Albion 5? She could have a lover or a hundred lovers waiting for her.

His blaster was in his hand before he even realized he’d drawn his weapon in response to his wayward thoughts. He wanted to kill any other man who touched her sweet body. And he especially wanted to kill the man who’d betrayed her so badly.

Rory was his.

Kal shook his head, holstered his weapon and rolled his shoulders. He had to get his head screwed on straight before he saw his brothers. The last thing he wanted was them suspecting there was anything between him and Rory except his need for her help.

He paused, wondering if he should go back to his quarters and sit with her as she went through the files of pictures. He grunted and started walking again. If he went back there, the last thing they’d do is work. He wanted her too badly.

It was the reason he’d dressed so fast and left. Being around Rory made it easy to forget why they’d taken her in the first place—information. There was no room in his life for a woman. And he couldn’t imagine a woman who’d be content to live on a ship with four men and have nowhere to call home.

Rory would
, a sly voice in the back of his head whispered. She’d grown up on a trading vessel and had spent her entire life in space.

“Fuck,” he muttered. Such thoughts made her even more appealing. Just the thought that she might actually be happy with him, want him enough to live like a space vagabond almost made him turn around and head back to his room.

“That doesn’t sound good. Everything okay?”

While he’d been lost in thought he’d entered the control room and now all his brothers were staring at him. It was Garth who’d asked the question but all of them were waiting for a reply.

“Everything is fine,” he told them. “Rory is going through the files, looking for anyone she can recognize.”

“Do you think she’ll really help and not just glance at the files?” Amos asked.

“Yeah.” If there was one thing Kal was certain of, it was that Rory would do her best to help them. She knew what it was to be a woman betrayed and set adrift in life. He’d seen the determination in her eyes when she’d told him she’d help find Abigail. “She’ll help.”

A sly smile curved across Garth’s face. “I bet she will. You were gone long enough. Did you warm her up for her task? Is she any good in the sack?”

Kal didn’t think. He simply attacked. Roaring in anger, he launched himself at Garth. His brother hadn’t been expecting it and that was probably the only reason he was able to knock him to the floor.