Not the Man She Thought Read online

  Clearly, Rade Karsten’s reputation preceded him. She only wished she’d known about it. “I’m not in his company, as you put it. He’s giving me passage on his ship to Marlon Prime, that’s all.”

  The man looked taken aback at that. “Why would you take passage on his ship?”

  “I really don’t think that’s any of your business, Mr....?”

  He gave her a smile. “Vlanders. Brantly Vlanders. I didn’t mean to be so rude. It’s just that I would hate to see a woman such as yourself taken advantage of by a man like him.”

  She frowned. “Well, I would prefer not to be at his mercy, either. Unfortunately, due to some financial constraints, I have no choice but to travel with him since I have to get to Marlon Prime right away.”

  The man studied her thoughtfully for a moment. “Perhaps I may be able to help you.”

  She looked at him in surprise. “You could? How?”

  “I know many of the people at the Regional Federation Office here in the city. I could speak with them, see that you get passage on one of their ships. They have many heading in that direction from this port.”

  “I appreciate the offer, but I don’t have enough money to book passage on a transport.”

  The man shook his head. “Not necessary. I will gladly pay your way.”

  She stared at him in disbelief. “Why would you do that? You don’t even know me.”

  His mouth tightened. “No, I don’t, but I do recognize when someone is in trouble. I could scarcely call myself a gentleman if I allowed you to stay in the company of someone like Rade Karsten. Not only would you be risking your reputation, but your very life as well. Let me help you get away from him.”

  Laken hesitated. Just a few hours ago, she had been wondering if the small amount of money she had on the credit-stick would be enough to book her passage on another ship, and now, she’d met a well-bred gentleman who wanted to help her out of the kindness of his heart. This was her chance to get away from Rade before he got her into trouble.

  A part of her cautioned to be careful around a man she had just met, but it was obvious she could trust him. While she felt a little guilty accepting charity from Brantly Vlanders, it would get her back to Mallin faster. Besides, once she was with her fiancé, she could always pay the man back. It would be no riskier a step than when she had stowed away on Rade Karsten’s ship.

  “I just need to tell my friend I won’t be going back to the ship with her,” she said. “I’ll just be a moment.”

  She turned toward the dance floor, but he caught her arm. “I’m not sure if that would be wise. If she told Karsten, he might try to stop you.”

  Laken doubted that. Rade would be only too glad to get rid of her. She didn’t want to risk it, though, so she nodded. All the same, she felt badly about leaving without saying anything to Dev.

  Brantly Vlanders gave her another of his charming smiles and offered her his arm. “Shall we go then?”

  She hesitated again, her gaze going to the dance floor again. Dev was slow dancing with the same blond hunk she had been with earlier, her head on his shoulder. Laken hoped the other woman might look her way, but when she didn’t, Laken turned back to Brantly Vlanders. Taking his arm, she allowed him to lead her out of the nightclub.

  * * * * *

  Rade hadn’t known Laken would be at that nightclub. He’d picked the place at random, then gone in to have a drink and find a pretty girl to dance with. He hadn’t expected the girl to be Laken. But he had enjoyed himself much more than he’d thought he would. He’d loved the feel of her curvy body against his as they’d danced. And the way her lips had parted when she had tilted her head back to look at him. He would definitely have liked to kiss her again. Too bad she had bailed.

  Back on his ship, he went directly to the bridge to find Kellen talking to the pilot. Kam already had the engines running and was doing his pre-flight checks. The crew knew he liked to take off on time, so he didn’t expect any of them to be late getting back on the ship.

  “Just about ready, Captain,” Kam said.

  Rade nodded. He knew his crew would liked to have stayed on Konteline longer, but they had a schedule to keep.

  Kam was just leaning forward to take the controls when Dev burst into the room. “We’re not leaving yet, are we?” she said breathlessly.

  Rade lifted a brow. “Is there some reason why we shouldn’t?”

  “Laken’s not back yet.”

  He frowned. “Didn’t she come back with you?”

  Dev shook her head. “No. I saw her dancing with you and I assumed...”

  Rade ignored the sharp look Kellen gave him as Dev’s voice trailed off.

  The dark-haired woman sighed. “I assumed she would come back with you, but a little while later I saw her leaving with some guy.”

  Rade felt a small stab of concern. Had that asshole come back after he’d left? “What did the guy look like?”

  Dev shrugged. “Tall, good looking, well dressed.”

  That definitely didn’t describe the guy who had been bothering Laken, but it could have been one of his friends. Rade hadn’t really paid much attention to them. “Did he force her to leave with him?”

  Dev thought a moment. “Well, no, but...”

  Rade’s mouth tightened. He knew Laken didn’t like being on his ship, but he hadn’t expected her to actually go so far as to catch a ride with someone else. Apparently, she must have been able to work a deal with the small amount of credit he had given her. Well, that was her business. Still, it bothered him she hadn’t told Dev what she was doing. He’d thought they were friends. Laken was a big girl, though. She could do whatever she wanted.

  “Then I don’t see the problem,” he said.

  Dev frowned. “Aren’t you at least going to wait for her?”

  “Laken knew when we were leaving and she knew to be back on time. She wanted off this ship from the moment she stepped foot on it. She obviously found another way to get to New Ashanti.” He look at the pilot. “Get us out of here as soon as you get port clearance, Kam.”

  Dev hurried after him as he walked out the door and down the passageway. “But Captain, Laken could be in trouble.”

  Rade stopped walking to look at her, his eyes hard. “Laken Andara is not a member of this crew, Dev, which makes her none of my concern.”

  “Not even if she’s in trouble?” Dev demanded. “Laken might have left willingly with that guy, but you know how naïve she is about the real world. She could be walking into trouble and not even know it. We should at least go look for her.”

  He clenched his jaw. Dev was right about Laken. She was naïve. He’d figured out that much out when the little fool had gone off by herself on Seguu. But he wasn’t her boyfriend or her husband. “She’s made her decision, Dev, and I’ve made mine. Whatever trouble she’s gotten herself into, she’s on her own.”

  Turning on his heel, he strode down the passageway.

  * * * * *

  “I thought we were going to the Federation Office,” Laken said as Brantly Vlanders led her up a cobblestone walkway toward a house.

  Taking out a set of keys from his pocket, Brantly fit one into the lock. “The Federation Offices have already closed for the evening, so we won’t be able to speak to anyone until morning. In the meantime, you can spend the night here. I’m sure you’ll find the guest room much more preferable to the cabin you were using on Rade Karsten’s ship.”

  Laken wasn’t very comfortable staying in the home of a man she didn’t know, but asking him to put her up in a hotel would be rude considering he was offering to pay for her passage to Marlon Prime. Taking a deep breath, she stepped into the foyer. Decorated in white and gold, it was a little too ostentatious for her taste, but her upbringing forced her to smile and compliment him on his home anyway.

  “Thank you.” He closed the door. “ You must be tired. Come, let me show you to your room.”

  Laken followed him up the curving staircase and down the hallway to the gue
st room. It was decorated in the same ornate fashion as the rest of the house, she noticed.

  “It’s lovely,” she said. “Thank you.”

  He inclined his head. “Of course. If there’s anything you need, please don’t hesitate to ask.”

  Laken smiled and assured him she would. As the door closed behind him, she looked around the room. Although not nearly as big as her bedroom suite at home, the cabin on Rade’s ship still would have fit inside it ten times over. The bed looked like it was way more comfortable, too.

  Then why was there this terrible feeling in the pit of her stomach? Maybe because in retrospect, taking Brantly Vlanders up on his offer had been a really dumb idea. She didn’t know anything about him other than that he was well-educated and owned an expensive home. Admittedly, she didn’t have a lot of experience in the ways of the world, but she didn’t know many people who would pay for another person’s passage on a ship without asking something in return. If she hadn’t been so damn eager to get away from Rade, she would have thought about that before she’d agreed to go off with the first smooth talking guy she met.

  She glanced at her watch and was relieved when she saw it would be another hour before Rade’s ship left port. If she hurried, she could get there before they took off.

  Going over to the door, she grasped the knob and gave it a turn, but it wouldn’t budge. Frowning, she tried again with the same results. She tugged on it a third time, even harder. Nothing. Her heart began to pound, the terrible feeling her stomach making her feel even more sick. She was locked in.

  Chapter Six

  Rade swore softly under his breath as he poured himself a whiskey. But he didn’t drink it. Whiskey couldn’t help him figure out what the hell to do. Part of him wanted to give the order to turn the ship around and go back to Konteline, but another, more rational part knew it would only be a waste of time. Even if he could manage to find Laken, what was he going to do, drag her back to the ship against her will?

  Swearing under his breath again, Rade pulled off his boots, then stripped off his shirt and breeches. Naked, he padded barefoot into the bathroom and turned on the shower. Arms stretched in front of him, he leaned against the wall and let the water pour over his shoulders.

  Laken had been trouble, that was a fact. The kind of trouble he didn’t need in his life right now. Besides, she was engaged to another man. Why the hell was he even giving her a second thought? And when the hell had she gone from being a pain in the ass to the subject of his late-night fantasies?

  When he had kissed her.

  He had kissed women before, plenty of them, but he couldn’t remember them affecting him like she did. She was like a drug, one he could easily get addicted to.

  With a groan, he closed his eyes and let himself imagine what they would be doing right now had Laken allowed that kiss in the club to happen. They would be together in the shower right now, his hard cock pressed against her while his hands roamed over her body. In his fantasy, she turned around and leaned forward, pushing her cute, little ass toward him as she gave him a saucy look over her shoulder.

  His cock went hard at the thought of spanking her. Only this spanking wouldn’t be like the others he’d given her. Instead, it would be an erotic experience for both of them.

  Rade let out another groan as he imagined running his hand over her gorgeous ass while the water from the shower streamed over them. Laken would sigh with pleasure as he caressed her bottom, begging him to spank her in that husky voice of hers.

  He’d start out gently at first, his hand coming down first on one wet cheek, then the other. Every so often, he’d stop to caress her ass in between spanks, and she would moan in pleasure. Once she was warmed up, he’d spank her harder, eliciting little squeals of protest that would echo around them. He pictured her dancing from foot to foot, one hand balanced against the wall of the shower, the other firmly clutching his leg. Then, just when he knew the spanks were really starting to sting, he would stop and caress her ass again.

  Rade let his fantasy continue to play, imagining what it would be like to slide his hand between Laken’s legs and touch her pussy, which by this time, would be very, very wet. So wet that he wouldn’t be able to resist sliding his finger inside.

  He imagined Laken moaning, imagined her thrusting back against his hand as he moved his finger inside her wetness. She would look over her shoulder at him, her eyes a mix of fire and innocence as they told him how much she wanted him inside of her.

  He wrapped his hand around his cock, pretending it was her pussy squeezing him tight.

  “Captain, are you in your cabin? The port official needs to talk to you.” A pause. “Captain?”

  Rade swore under his breath. He turned off the shower and leaned his head out. “I heard you, Kam. I’m coming.”

  Or he would have, if he hadn’t gotten interrupted, he thought with a scowl.

  Although Rade tried to keep his mind off Laken for the evening, he couldn’t get the red-haired vixen out of his head. As a result, he didn’t sleep at all that night. Instead, he’d lain in bed staring up at the ceiling and wondering if she was in trouble. Going back to Konteline to check would almost certainly be a waste of everyone’s time. Even worse, their scheduled rendezvous on Marlon Prime was getting closer. If they dicked around too long looking for Laken, they would miss it.

  He pushed his eggs around on his plate the next morning, weighing the pros and cons of returning for Laken. Finally, he gave up. This wasn’t a situation that could be calmly rationalized. This was just something that had to be done.

  “Kam,” he said abruptly. “Turn the ship around. We’re going back to Konteline.”

  Though the rest of the crew looked at him in disbelief, Kellen didn’t seem surprised at all by Rade’s decision. The man only stood up and followed Kam out of the room, muttering, “About damn time.”

  “What made you change your mind, Captain?” Dev asked.

  I wasn’t going to get any sleep if I didn’t. “I thought about what you said about this guy being shady. Your instincts are usually good about stuff, so I figured we should go back and check him out. Think you can hack into the club’s surveillance system and seeing if you can get an ID on this guy?”

  She pushed back her chair. “I’ll get on it right away.”

  * * * * *

  Laken awoke to the sound of a key being turned in the lock. Surprised she had even managed to fall asleep at all, she jumped off the bed just as the door swung open and Brantly Vlanders walked in.

  “Why did you lock me in here?” she demanded.

  The smile he gave her was almost charming. “Like I told you last night, I’m a businessman. And business required you to stay put.”

  She took a wary step back, suddenly even more frightened than she had been last night. “What do you want with me?”

  He raised a brow. “What do I want with you? Absolutely nothing. I’m only the middle man in this transaction.”

  She frowned. What transaction? Before she could ask, though, the door opened again and a man stepped inside. Her eyes went wide as she recognized him as the jerk who had been bothering her at the club the night before.

  “He’s here,” the man said to Brantly.

  Brantly didn’t take his gaze from Laken as he answered. “Show him in.”

  Laken watched the other man go, confused.

  “I see you remember my associate from the club,” Brantly said.

  “Y-your associate?”

  Brantly grinned. “We work together. He harasses the girls and I come to their rescue. We rarely stumble upon a jewel like you, but when we do, there’s always a buyer willing to pay for such beauty. Karsten almost blew the whole thing by showing up, though. I couldn’t believe my luck when you actually blew him off.”

  Laken felt like a fool. A man she had never met had been able to take advantage of her simply because he’d acted high class. She’d been so eager to get to Mallin that she had played right into this scum’s hands. If onl
y she had just stayed with Rade. He was a brute, but at least she knew she would have been safe with him. Now, she didn’t know what was going to happen to her.

  Her eyes darted to the door. Could she get past Brantly before his partner came back?

  She didn’t have time to find out the answer to that because just then the door opened again. Brantly’s partner was back, along with another man she didn’t recognize. Tall and heavily muscled, the newcomer had a cruel look about him that made Laken take a nervous step back. Two more men stood outside the door, their gazes appraising as they looked her up and down.