Chapter 1
Sleeping like a baby …
A slight smile curved her lips as she studied the man sleeping beside her. He was lying stretched out on his stomach. Ebony hair spilled over broad, muscular shoulders, such a contrast against skin that was nearly as pale as alabaster. Her gaze continued its sweep down his back, stopped effectively by the sheet bunched low around his hips. This job was too easy, pleasant compared to the slobbering drunks and dirty old men she had been forced to seduce in the past.
Mia shook her head, giving herself a reality check. There was nothing easy about this. Xanatos Marojni, the man sleeping beside her, was powerful and dangerous, she reminded herself. It was time to gather herself and get to work.
She quietly slipped from the sleepcouch, picking up a discarded robe - his robe. Her senses were immediately infused with his clean, masculine scent as she pulled the soft silk around her body. She turned one last glance toward the sleeping man as she freed her waist length, dark hair from beneath the robe.
'No entanglements, no desires, no feelings,' she said firmly in her mind. It was a motto that had served her well, but never before had it been so challenged.
She began by rummaging through his belongings, careful to leave things looking untouched and to make as little noise a possible. The drug she had used would keep him out long enough for her to be back in bed beside him when he woke, but it was good to never take chances. With that thought, she retrieved a small blaster from her clutch and dropped it in the pocket of the robe. Finding nothing of consequence in Xanatos' belongings, she sat down at the data terminal, biting down on her lip.
'He's careful … and thorough,' she thought as she pulled up his notes on the week's activities and began to skim through them. He certainly had a lot of colorful things to say about her employer, Rilk Gaden, but there still seemed to be a complete lack of any Offworld records.
"You won't find what you're looking for there."
The deep, sultry voice sent a chill down her spine. She looked up sharply, allowing a smile she didn't feel to spread across her face. How she reacted at the moment could truly mean the difference between life and death. "I was just checking some messages. I hope you don't mind that I borrowed your robe," she said, ignoring his previous remark.
He sat up, reaching a hand across his chest to massage his neck. "You're a gifted liar, my dear."
"I don't what you're talking about," she said, feigning confusion.
"Enter code 136 on the terminal," he replied matter-of-factly.
She hesitantly did as requested. Her breath caught in her throat as the screen danced to life with a collage of her past. He had everything - images of her on former jobs, records, aliases – everything.
"It makes me wonder how desperate Rilk Gaden is if he thinks I would be so gullible. Surely he knows me better from our past dealings. Does he not think I would research why Mycor Corporation fell, or Denzen Industries? It was only a matter of time before he took aim at Offworld." The grin that spread across Xanatos' face made her shudder. "His ideas for insider information are formidable. What better way to get to a man like me than through a beautiful woman?"
It was time to make an escape, she decided as she stood to her feet. She pulled the blaster she had concealed in the pocket of the robe and pointed it at him. "It appears the charade is up," she said.
"Apparently." He shrugged; looking not even the slightest bit unnerved at having a weapon aimed him. A slight lift of his hand, and before she could react, the blaster was ripped from her grip and floated to him. "If you had been a little more thorough in your background search, you might have found that I am Force-sensitive and trained in the Jedi arts. I was expelled from the Order, of course. Somehow, I just didn't fit in there."
She felt an invisible grip begin to close around her throat, tight enough to nearly induce panic, but not enough to completely block her breathing. He was toying with her. Instinct told her that if he wanted her dead she would already be dead. If she remained calm, she might think of a way out of this, though none came to mind at the moment. "I drugged you," she gasped out as she sunk down to sit on the floor and leaned against the wall.
"Did you ever see me actually drink from my glass?"
"No," she whispered. He had walked out on the balcony, where he could have casually discarded the contents of his glass. She had been careless and overconfident to let him out of her sight.
"Then, why did you play along? Why am I still alive? Your reputation precedes you, Mr. Marojni, and you aren't known for your mercy."
He cocked his head to the side, smiling at her blunt assertion. She felt the grip on her throat loosen and greedily sucked in air.
"Have a seat."
She quickly returned to the chair at the data terminal as he got up from the bed. He walked to the closet where he pulled out another robe and slipped it on.
"As you can see, I have done my homework on you." He removed two glasses from a nearby cabinet and filled them with a richly colored liquor. "I have learned that you are intelligent, cunning, competent … rare qualities … believe me, I know." He handed her one of the glasses. "A toast?"
"To what?" she asked, accepting the glass.
"Our new partnership, of course."
"I never agreed to any partnership … I won't …"
He put a finger to her lip, the warning that flashed through those mysterious eyes effectively silencing her. "It would be a waste of great potential if you were to simply disappear," he said as he pulled his finger away and sat down on the edge of the desk. "I'll pay twice what Gaden pays you and offer you a position more deserving of your mind."
She dropped her head down to hide her eyes, afraid she would look a little too eager. It was freedom from Gaden that she craved more than anything.
"How do you know you can trust me?" She stood, confident she could match his game. Bringing her lips nearly to his, she trailed a finger down his cheek. "I just tried to seduce and drug you in the name of corporate espionage."
He firmly pushed her back down into the chair, completely unfazed by the charm that had earlier seemed to have him eating out of her hand. "You will prove you are trustworthy by helping me bring Gaden down."
"I'm listening."
"We continue with the charade for this week. You let him think you are getting closer to me. I will feed you false information that should lead him to some quite devastating decisions." He leaned toward her, delight lighting up his face. "It will be sweet revenge for us both."
"Both?" she questioned, half afraid to find out what more he knew about her.
"I know you're being blackmailed into working for him, and that this isn't the kind of life you wanted. I assure you, I can make the incident on Prios IV disappear. And after we are done with Gaden, he won't come after you."
Mia downed the remaining contents of her glass in one gulp and stood up. "I need to think this through." She stumbled toward the balcony in hasty retreat. Her gut told her she was exchanging one form of servitude for another, but it equally told her that Gaden was going down and that she would sink with him if she didn't help Xanatos. She dropped her face into her hands, alarmed when she suddenly felt the warmth of lips against her neck. Though part of her wanted to give in, she wrenched herself away. He caught her and pulled her back against his body.
"I guess I will be your perk in this arrangement," she spat out bitterly. Men were all the same.
He rested his lips against her ear. "I don't intend to use you in that way," he said softly. "I sense your shame and all the barriers you have built to protect yourself. No entanglements, no desires, no feelings … isn't that true?"
It bothered her deeply that he seemed to know so much about her, and so much about that which she had always kept to herself.
"I wonder," he continued in a soothing, silky voice. "When was the last time you let yourself just be a woman? Not a toy or a tool to be used. Just a woman?"
Despite her resolve to hold herself together, she felt betraying tears seep from the corners of her eyes. The very idea of just being a woman seemed foreign anymore. "I sense that I have awakened something in you," he said as he reached out to gently wipe the tears away. He leaned in to kiss her. She pulled away, and this time he let her go.
"I am hardly thinking clearly enough to …"
"You're right," he interrupted. "I wouldn't make such life changing decisions under duress, why should I expect it of you?" He swept her discarded clothing off the floor, and shoved it into her arms. "Tomorrow … evening meal at 1800 … we will start over fresh."
She quickly dressed, aware of how he looked at her. It wasn't with the same disgustingly lustful gawking that Gaden subjected her to, but with the appreciation and respect of someone admiring fine art.
He finished off the last of his glass of wine as he showed her to the door. "Wear something that complements your beauty. I want Gaden to remember you stunning and willingly on my arm when I send his world crashing in on him."
The door closed behind her and she looked back as she wandered toward her own room. A verbal warning had not been necessary. Like she had said, the leader of Offworld's reputation preceded him. He would know if she ran back to Gaden, and he also knew she had no intention of doing so.
The last few minutes had been a blur. He had played expertly on her emotions, offering all she wanted in exchange for everything. She had, in fact, fallen into a trap similar to the one she had set. She had been seduced, and somehow, she found she didn't care.
The knock at the door was quiet, but firm. Mia turned off the water, grabbing a dish towel to wipe off wet, dripping hands as she quickly made her way to the front door. She stopped briefly at a mirror to straighten chin-length, auburn hair and to make sure her bathrobe covered her completely. It was embarrassing to be caught still washing breakfast dishes at this time of the morning, but it seemed she was starting off more slowly and with less energy these days. She frowned at her reflection. So this is what she had come to, paler than should be skin and dark circles under dull eyes. She could remember a time when she had turned the heads of many eligible bachelors, when not a hair was out of place, and she had dressed in the finest silks. With just a stroke of a perfectly manicured finger down a man's cheek, she could have persuaded him to promise her the world. She laughed at her musings. That seemed like another lifetime. Did it really matter how she looked now? It was probably just a neighbor at the door. Without a second thought she answered the knock.
The man at the door filled the frame in height as well a presence. He seemed to suck the air from the room. She struggled to breathe, drowning in disbelief, and began to back away, a sob lodged in her throat as she shook her head in denial.
"Aren't you going to invite me in, Mia?" Xanatos said quietly. His face was calm, lacking any of the anger she expected to see there. "Your neighbors are starting to stare."
He made no move to enter until she nodded, numb, unable to speak. He smiled and swept into the room, closing the door behind him. The sound of the lock latching echoed through her form. She felt her knees grow weak as her heart began to pound wildly in her chest.
He had found her.