Page 39 of Escape Velocity

Chapter Ten

Climbing off the bunk, Amber reached to scoop up the dress where it had fallen. She carried it over her arm as she hurried down the corridor to the head.

She’d bought herself a few more minutes before she had to tell him the awful truth. When she used the facilities, she found she was bleeding. He hadn’t mentioned that, but she knew it made sense. She used toilet tissue to wipe the blood from her thighs.

It was proof that he’d ruined her—as the kidnappers had called it. She called it insurance, although she wasn’t actually sure how much good it would do her.

She shuddered when she thought about how different this sexual experience could have been. Max had been warm and tender with her. Another man might have showed her his anger—or taken his own pleasure with no regard for hers.

After pulling on her dress, she rebuttoned the front and studied herself in the mirror. She looked pale and worried.

She pinched her cheeks to give them a little color, then strode back to the captain’s cabin.

When she stepped inside, Max had put his pants back on and was sitting in the only chair in the room.

She stiffened her legs and knitted her fingers in front of herself as she stood before him.

“You can sit down,” he said.

The only place was the edge of the bunk, where she perched awkwardly, bracing her feet against the floor.

“It’s past time. What did you want to tell me?” he asked.

“I told you some lies,” she said.

“Are you saying you weren’t a slave?”

“No. I was a slave.”

“Then what? Just spit it out.”

She swallowed hard, wishing she could sink through the floor. But to where?

“I lied to you when I said they were going to kill you and take me back. I said it because I wanted you to get me away from them and not take me to the man who had bought me.”

His face flushed with anger. “The hell you say. You mean they weren’t going to kill me back then? But now they’d be glad to.”

“Yes. I’m sorry.”

“Let’s be clear. You’re saying it was a legitimate transaction.”

“If you call selling a person legitimate.”

He winced, and she thought she had scored a point.

She hurried to consolidate her position. “If you really didn’t want to participate in the sale of a slave, maybe you shouldn’t have taken the job.”

Punching out the words, he said, “My friend didn’t tell me what I was picking up.”

“Because you wouldn’t have done it.”

“How do you know?”

“I know what kind of man you are.”

“You’ve only been with me a couple of days.”

“You didn’t have to give me a good meal. You didn’t have to take me to the space station to get a new identity. You didn’t have to rescue me when those men took me away. Someone else would have been glad to wash his hands of me.”