When Jamie Flipkens signed on as a pilot and engineer for a small medical research company, she never expected to end up on a mercenary ship full of hulking soldiers who want to make her their latest conquest. The captain has been good to her-it doesn't hurt that he's her boss's new beau-but she's on the verge of quitting when a strange man shows up at her shuttle door. Sergei Zharkov claims to be an old friend of the captain's. He neglects to mention that he's also an assassin, a dangerous man who even the hardened mercenaries avoid. Jamie should avoid him, too, but she's drawn to the charm that sometimes escapes from beneath his grim facade. She finds herself wanting to give him a reason to smile-and maybe a little more than that. The problem? There's a fresh bounty on the captain's head, and it's possible Sergei is there to collect it.