Knight, Dee S. - Bride of the Pryde (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) Read Online Free PDF Page A

out every time.
    He activated the COMM. “I had a passenger, a man going to one of the outer planets, but he cancelled. I forgot to change the manifest.”
    A different voice came across the COMM. “Security cameras show one of your crewmen, a Charles Sheridan, talking to a woman of interest to us. Did she board your vessel?”
    “She did not.”
    “Why was he talking to her?”
    “One moment and I’ll ask.” Erik clicked off the COMM for a few seconds, then clicked it on. “He says she was hotter than a Venus summer. I chewed his ass about getting back to the ship late. He says he doesn’t know where she went.”
    Adam and Charlie swiveled in their chairs to fix their gazes on her. Whatever shit happened now, she was the cause. The captain and his crew were men of courage. Or stupidity. Only time would tell which.
    “Good tits and an interesting history. This could be fun,” Dilly said, pushing switches on the console in front of him.
    “Captain,” Charlie said, “I don’t know what this is about, but I have a feeling about her. She needs us. Above all—”
    “ Needs you? Who do you think you are?” Susan asserted at the same time Charlie continued with, “—we should not return to the terminal. There was a guy—”
    Erik nodded and waved his hand for silence. He spoke into the COMM. “Who are you to delay our departure?”
    “You are to return to the holding area and prepare to be boarded.”
    “I’m telling you, no one came on board in Centre City.”
    “I said, return to the holding area.”
    “Captain,” Dilly said calmly, “I have determined an open portal. If we do not wish to return to Centre City, I suggest we warp out through portal H, located at two o’clock.”
    “Fine, fine,” Erik said into the COMM, sounding resigned, “but I’m having engine trouble now after waiting here so long. It will take me a little time.”
    Off-COMM he said in an undertone, “Let’s get out of here, gentlemen. We’ll find our course again later.”
    “Yes, sir,” Charlie said, flipping switches. Adam’s hands flew across the console. Sudden forward movement pushed Susan against the back of her seat.
    The distant stars outside the gateways flew toward them until they blurred with the speed Erik’s Pryde traveled. The virtual walls of the portal’s corridor streaked with color as they sped through it. An alarm deafened her.
    “EP06842, you have violated orders. Stop once through the portal and return via the same corridor. Acknowledge…Acknowledge…Acknow—”
    Erik flipped the COMM off. “Enough of that shit.”
    “We’re about there, Captain.” Charlie sounded ebullient instead of nervous.
    “And we’re out.” Adam spoke for the first time since Susan had been on the bridge. His deep voice sent shivers through her, though maybe the drastic change from full stop to mach four had done it instead.
    “Make for the Triton galaxy. We’ll come back around to our delivery.”
    “Aye,” Adam said.
    Erik slowly spun his chair to face her. “And now I have a few questions, Miss Vanessa. Starting with, who the fuck are you?”

    * * * *

    Erik would grant that Danessa Vanessa could act well. She didn’t even flinch when he came at her. In fact, she came back like a fighter pilot, all heat and flash and cockiness.
    Her posture stiffened and her chin lifted a couple of inches. “So, you break the law pretty damn easily. Charlie didn’t give any hint of that back at the terminal.”
    “It isn’t as common an occurrence as you might think. And this particular time, you should be goddamn grateful.” He switched his gaze to Charlie. “What do you know?”
    “There was a guy watching us, big, definitely a Gov-man,” Charlie said. “She said he was after her for personal reasons. I didn’t like the looks of him and I did like hers.”
    Dilly swallowed a laugh. Charlie blushed. Erik shook his head. He’d seen the kid fuck three women—one after another—on a table at a space bar in the