Stealing Coal by Laurann Dohner Read Free Book Online Page B

with
    two men he sent to pick us up. He only had weeks left to live and wanted to see me one
    last time.”
    “That is how you got out here in space.”
    She nodded grimly. “I wouldn’t have come if I’d known then what I do now. Big
    Jim thought he could trust the two men he sent to retrieve me but those assholes
    betrayed him the second he died. They had sworn a blood oath to him but said that
    once he stopped breathing all their loyalty died too. They decided one of them would
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    Laurann Dohner
    marry me to get their hands on my father’s money.” She hesitated. “Let me just assure
    you neither of those guys were anyone you’d want to end up married to and I’m sure I
    would have had a deadly accident on the forced honeymoon.”
    “If your father had money, you could have afforded fuel to return you to Earth.”
    “If I knew where he kept his money, sure. I think it’s gone, blown up with his ship.
    Those men turned on us and my aunt died saving me. After what happened to my
    mother she never traveled without weapons. We fought those men in a blaster battle
    and I ended up injured when I took a hit to my shoulder. I remember her dragging me
    into the Jenny .” She waved her hands at the cargo hold. “She leaned over me and said
    she would make sure they couldn’t come after us and she’d be right back. Only she
    never returned. She had put the Jenny on autopilot and she blew up the Viking , my
    father’s ship. All of my father’s men died with her. I woke up hours later alone, drifting
    in space, with only the computer logs to tell me what had happened. Aunt Mary had
    left me a message stating that she could only hold them off if she stayed onboard to stop
    them from using the life pods to come after me. She said she loved me and to get back
    home to Earth.” She blinked back tears. “Only there wasn’t enough fuel.”
    The cyborg said nothing, just watched her. “So you have no one.”
    “I told you, I have my androids.” Her chin lifted. “And I have the Jenny .”
    “If you release me, I won’t harm you or steal your ship. I want access to your
    communications to contact my friends.”
    She shook her head. “What if they want to take the ship or sell me? I’m a woman
    alone in space. I’ve learned what that means. If I didn’t lie and pretend to work for Big
    Jim I never would have survived as long as I have. Most of the traders I’ve dealt with
    are too afraid to mess with me.”
    “My people won’t sell you into slavery. We wouldn’t do that with our history.”
    Regret flashed inside Jill. “I wish I could trust you but I just can’t risk it. I know I’ve
    said too much—I guess I miss having a real person to talk to and was careless—but I
    doubt you deal with humans much so my secret should be safe with you. I’ve only told
    you as much as I have because I figure you must be worried about my plans for you. I
    want you to understand both of us aren’t safe from predators in deep space. We have
    that in common. In a few days we’ll reach Hixton Station and I’ll have Roid obtain you
    a private room there. You can contact your friends from there if you think they can pick
    you up or you can find accommodations on a shuttle wherever you need to go to meet
    up with them. It’s a well-known station with plenty of visitors. I can guarantee you
    won’t be stuck there long and I’ll even give you a weapon to defend yourself.”
    “I want to be freed now.”
    “And I want to know for sure that you aren’t lying to me. I wish I could trust you
    but I can’t.” She paused. “You don’t trust me either. Until you’re standing free on
    Hixton we both know you half believe this is some kind of trap.”
    His eyes narrowed consideringly. “Correct.”
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    Stealing Coal
    “Damn straight. I wasn’t born yesterday.” She took a deep breath. “Are you ever
    going to tell me your name?”
    “Coal.”
    It surprised her. “Really?”
    He frowned. “What is wrong with my