Chapter 1

1

The Bountiful Harvest was not a small vessel, but most of the space inside its hull was dedicated to keeping its passengers alive. While Loris appreciated that, she still wished the ship's designers had found a way to increase the size of the passenger areas without compromising their ability to survive in the hostile environment of the void.

She was currently wedged into a corner of what she'd learned was the largest of the cabins. In fact, it was the captain's quarters. Captain Perez had offered it to Maddison as soon as she'd come aboard.

One thing Loris had learned in her years working for Maddison was that wealth came with more perks than she'd ever imagined. Of course, no one knew that Maddison wasn't wealthy anymore. When her marriage contract to Donny Cappa expired, the bastard had made sure she received her payment in the most disadvantageous form he could manage. Maddison Summers was the new owner of an interstellar matchmaking cruise service that had been profitable once.

These days, it was something else entirely.

Maddison set down the tablet she'd been reviewing and sighed. "These contracts can't be enforceable. What they're offering isn't legal anywhere in the known systems."

They'd been over all this before, but Loris nodded along. Maddison was more than a client. She was a friend—one who needed a moment to vent her frustration and horror at what she'd discovered.

The Bountiful Harvest reminded Loris of herself. The ship had been impressive once, but she wasn't young anymore. Her appearance was dated, her systems needed constant maintenance, and even some of the crew referred to her as the "old girl" when the passengers were out of earshot.

The ship Harvest wasn't past her prime yet, but that day was coming. Loris shifted in discomfort, though the pang she felt wasn't a physical thing. It was the knowledge that she was reaching the end of an era. Soon, she'd be too old to be a bodyguard anymore. Maddison's safety would become someone else's responsibility, and she would do… what ? Retirement sounded like death by boredom to her.

Maddi was one of the few people whose company she truly enjoyed , and the rest were either dead or had fallen out of contact over the years. As for romantic options… She snorted in derision at the thought. She'd been too tall, too strong, and too plain-spoken to attract a guy when was young and nominally pretty. Now she looked exactly like the woman she was—an aging combat veteran with no tolerance for bullshit and eyes that had seen too much death.

"You're doing it again," Maddison said.

Loris shrugged and pretended she had no idea what her friend meant. "What?"

"You're listening to the wrong voices."

She shook her head and barked a rueful laugh that held more emotion than she'd intended to show. Loris tapped a finger against her temple. "I'm alone in here. No voices of any kind."

They both knew that wasn't true. As their professional relationship had morphed into a close friendship, they'd shared a few late nights of introspection, deep thoughts, and self-doubts. Not to mention an unwise quantity of alcohol. Maddi's husband was a bastard of the first order, but his liquor cabinet was stocked with the finest of everything imaginable.

"You're too hard on yourself." Maddison flashed her a gentle smile. How the woman had managed to survive her time with Donny and still hold on to her humanity was a mystery to Loris. If she'd found herself in Maddison's situation, she'd have murdered the man a dozen times over, and none of the deaths would have been quick or merciful.

Despite being Maddison's bodyguard, she hadn't been able to protect her friend from her contracted spouse… and Loris's employer. The end of the marriage contract had freed both of them from Donny's control.

Her hands tightened into fists as she reflected on the past. If she ever set eyes on that man again…

Maddison rose from her seat, laughing softly. It took her only two steps to be close enough to rest her hand on Loris's shoulder. "I know that look. You're thinking about my former husband."

Since the contract ended, Maddison never used his name. She claimed it was because it invoked unhappy memories. Loris believed that, but she also thought there was more to it—a superstition of sorts, as if speaking the asshole's name might somehow summon him across the galaxy.

Loris snorted and grinned at her friend. "I imagined what his face would look like if we launched him out of an airlock and into the void. You should try it sometime. It's cheaper than therapy."

Maddison clicked her tongue in disapproval, but her eyes sparkled with amusement. "You know I love you, but it still worries me that you have moments where you sound like a psychopath."

"I'm not a psycho. I'm a soldier. There's a difference."

Maddison lifted one brow but said nothing.

"There is. When I choose violence, it's because I'm protecting someone or something I value. A client. An ideal…" She reached up to pat Maddison's hand. "Or a friend."

"I hope you never have to make that choice again. At least, not for me. I want nothing but a calm, quiet life where I can do something that matters." Maddison removed her hand and then looked around her small cabin. "I think this company has potential. It could be exactly what I need. The personnel can stay, for the most part, but everything else needs an update. Including this ship."

The one thing Loris had noticed about the ship was her crew. All of them seemed competent, and many of them were openly empathetic to their passengers, doing all they could to make their time on board memorable. That had been true when they'd come aboard, and it was still true now that a good portion of the passengers had departed to start new lives.

Some of them had found legitimate connections. Others made loveless but still beneficial arrangements, but there had been whispers that some of the arrangements were little more than breeding contracts. That's why Maddison had quietly requested logs and documents from previous trips. She'd wanted to know the truth, and it was even uglier than she'd expected.

"I hope so. It would be nice to think that romance isn't entirely gone from the galaxy. Who knows," she joked. "Once you've gotten this company sorted out, maybe you'll find a nice fellow who falls madly in love with the owner."

A shadow passed over Maddi's face. "I doubt that's in the cards for me. But I have every intention of using this matchmaking business to find someone worthy of you."

Loris barked out a laugh. "Me? Stars no. I'm quite happy on my own, thank you. Love is for other people. The ones with kindness in their hearts and hope in their souls. You know damned well I have neither of those things." She believed every word she said, but some small part of her wished it wasn't true. Loris pushed that thought back into the shadowed corners of her mind.

"You are one of the kindest—" Maddison's compliment was cut short as all hell broke loose. The deck beneath their feet lurched, and a heartbeat later, alarms blared from every speaker, both inside and outside the cabin.

Shit .

"Go bag. Now. Get it and meet me at my cabin door. Move!" Loris was at the door by the time the last word left her mouth. She hated leaving Maddison, but she needed to grab her own bag. At least her cabin was only across the corridor and a few meters down. She sprinted the entire distance, wincing at the noise and flashing emergency lights. Not good. Not good at all.