Audacious by Mike Shepherd Read Free Book Online Page B

barely covering a set of boobs Kris would kill for. Original equipment or after-sale add-ons? No way to tell. Vicky was supposed to be totally natural, no genetic engineering, due to a slip up in her birth.
    Hank was a totally engineered product, implanted in the womb. Vicky was a natural blowby that should have never made it to birth… but here she was.
    Those cold blue eyes were full of raw determination. No, this woman would not be easily dismissed.
    The gown looked painted on. It flowed over more curves than the law should allow. Men were going to be easily distracted around this woman. Pity them, Kris decided. At the floor, a flair of faux fur covered her feet. Maybe they were too big?
    Even as Kris took in the outer display of the woman, she also checked the backup. Three alert men and a woman looked to be clearly in Victoria’s orbit.
    At least we’re even there . While Vicky’s weren’t Marines, Kris suspected they’d make up in pure viciousness what they lacked in honor and field craft.
    Outside the bubble of Kris and Vicky, beyond their guards, the room fell quiet, grew expectant. So we’re Ms. Broadmore’s floor show. Let’s not keep the paying customers waiting.
    Kris extended her hand. “I am glad to make your acquaintance” seemed like a good, neutral start.
    Vicky took Kris’s hand in a surprisingly strong grip. Like some men, she then tried to twist it, put her hand on top, Kris’s on bottom. Kris was not about to send submissive signals. Her hand stayed where she had it, thumb up, little finger down. Kris could feel her knuckles going white. Vicky’s dainty pale hand went pink.
    It was Victoria who broke the shake.
    Vicky spat, “You killed my brother.” So much for chitchat.
    “I really don’t think I did,” Kris said, as matter-of-factly as she could. “His brand-new cruiser was blasting away at my ship. I admit I returned the favor as well as my eighty-year-old command could. It was his choice to start shooting.”
    “What, and leave you with all that alien technology you’d stumbled upon? Let you Longknifes make a fortune and cut the rest of us out?” Vicky could teach a cobra how to spit .
    “I told Hank before he started shooting that he was rattling off a pipe dream. No way my family could hog all that. Or would want to. Look at what is going on as we speak. Half the universities in human space have staff in those two systems. Most every major and a whole lot of minor corporations are trying to figure out what they have. ‘Trying,’ being the operative word. Last I heard, they don’t know squat. You heard differently?”
    “That doesn’t change the fact. You shot up a Greenfeld ship and my brother died.”
    How much of the woman’s anger was that Kris had “shot up a Greenfeld ship,” and how much was because her “brother died”? And I thought my family had interesting dynamics.
    Kris shook her head. “He should have lived through that battle.” Then she added, “I did.”
    “Count your days, Longknife. Count your days.”
    Even as Kris snapped back the first thing that came to her mouth, she knew it was a mistake. “They’ll be long and happy if you don’t send anyone better than the ones you hired last night.”
    Oops, that lovely pale skin, milk white to begin with, was now showing red from— was that a nipple peeking out— to her cheeks. So, Vicky, you have a temper to go with that red hair. Better learn to control it, girl .
    “That was none of my doing. Some junior employee’s idea of a welcoming present for his boss’s daughter. He’s no longer in our employ. He’s paid for his mistake.”
    Kris tried to gauge whether that last comment referred to losing his job or something worse. Kris wouldn’t bet the poor fellow was still breathing. Now don’t get all sympathetic for the guy who tried to kill you last night, a small voice in the back of Kris’s head warned her.
    But in my line of work, you got to love the ones that miss, the imp in Kris shot