Mercenaries 1 Private Skirmish by Anne Kane Page A

heel and stalking out of the hall.
    Dee let out a relieved breath, her eyes scanning the crowd until she found him. Kaeden. The only man who’d ever managed to break through the wall of ice she kept around her heart. He stared straight at her, the hard glint in his eye telling her he hadn’t forgiven her for walking out on him.
    “Ten thousand! Now that’s more like it. Anyone want to go ten one hundred?” The auctioneer paused, his gavel held in midair and a happy grin on his face. His cut of the sale price would keep him in black market ale for the next few moon cycles. “No? Going once? Going twice. Sold, to the gentleman in row nine!” The gavel hit the podium with a decisive thump, and Dee gave a sigh of relief. Kaeden might be pissed at her, but at least she didn’t have to worry about being a slave.
    He and his band of mercenaries went out of their way to disrupt the slave trade. He’d read her the riot act first, but he’d sign her freedom papers and she could be on her way. Next time, she’d check for government forces before she waltzed into a bar on the wrong side of a provincial border. If she hadn’t been so intent on finding Wren, she might have noticed the captain’s bars on the man’s shoulder and avoided this whole unfortunate incident.
    The wrangler led her off the block and over to the holding pens. Before he managed to shove her into one of the iron holding cells, Kaeden materialized at her side, his hand held out for the lead. “No need for that. I’ll take her from here.”
    Dee watched the wrangler open his mouth to protest. There were forms to fill out, money to change hands and receipts to be issued. It didn’t surprise her that after one look at the mercenary’s hard face, the wrangler closed his mouth and handed over the lead without protest.
    “You can collect the paperwork over there.” He pointed to the harried-looking secretary and made a quick escape. Dee didn’t blame him.
    She looked into the chilly eyes of her former lover. He had aged in the time she’d been gone. The harsh angles of his face were more pronounced. She still found him absolutely irresistible. “You here specifically for me, or just slumming?” No point in letting him know how quickly her heart rate soared when she’d heard his voice in the crowd.
    He turned those beautiful blue eyes on her and actually growled. “Shut up. You have no idea how angry I am right now. I’ll deal with you once the paperwork is in order.”
    “Yes, sir!” The snappy phrase was out before she had time to think, and she winced inwardly. Now was probably not a good time to annoy Kaeden any more than he already was. She snuck a glance from under her lashes. Was that a sparkle of amusement she saw in his eyes? He’d always said her smart mouth was one of the things he enjoyed the most about her. Maybe he wasn’t as pissed as she thought. Or maybe he was just happy that she’d managed to pick a fight with someone other than him this time.
    Kaeden filled out the paperwork in his usual indecipherable script and handed over his cred-card. In short order they were free to go. Amazing how accommodating people got when the burly mercenary glared at them. She’d been on the receiving end of that glare often enough to understand.
    He kept his hand wrapped around the end of her leash as they navigated their way back to the parking lot. Why wasn’t she surprised to find he’d brought the entire team with him? If there was one thing she loved about Kaeden it was his tenacity. Once he decided to do something, he made sure he had enough alternate plans to make it work. If he hadn’t managed to buy her, he probably would have started a small war to get her out of there.
    “If you’d leashed her up to start with, we could still be snuggled up in the bunker with our beer.” Jackson, Kaeden’s second-in-command, unwound himself from the tailgate of the Hummer, humor twinkling in his dark eyes.
    “I love you too, Jackson. You drink