“But I can never know that for sure, can I?” Her expression was mutinous.
“Woman, there was nothing done to your mind! All you had was a simple translation device inserted.” Her expression did not waver.
Lorgin exhaled a long-suffering breath of sound “If you could have been altered, first, I would have made you more agreeable. This, as you can see, was not done!” Lorgin rubbed his temple. “You are giving me a headache.”
Deana was hardly listening to him. She was getting colder and colder by the minute, her body wracked with chills. “Lorgin, I’m so cold. Help me; I’m scared.”
Lorgin stopped rubbing his forehead, noticing her distress. “It is the medicine clearing from your body.” He stood and got under the covers next to her, enfolding her in his arms. His voice was gentle. “I will try to warm you.” He kissed the top of her head as he rubbed her back, his soothing hands leaving a trail of heat. “Do not be frightened, Little Fire. I would not permit anything bad to happen to you.”
“I believe that, but who’s going to stop you from happening to me?” Her chills were starting to subside, but her feelings of helplessness in the face of Lorgin’s will frightened her. She was truly at his mercy in this strange land he had brought her to. Her secret fears were confirmed with his next words.
Lifting her chin with his forefinger, he firmly replied, “No one.”
She pushed out of his arms and turned away from him in the bed. His words upset her. She thought they were…well, friends. Now, in her mind, he was abusing their friendship. In the future, her behavior toward him was going to be quite different. If this was his attitude, he would learn that no man lorded himself over Deana Jones. With those thoughts, she allowed herself to drift into a nap.
She never felt Lorgin’s protective arms encircle her waist, pulling her possessively close as he too fell into slumber.
Lorgin heard Yaniff’s voice whispering in his ear like an insistent insect.
“If all you intend to do is lie there and sleep, Lorgin ta’al Krue, you might as well get up and come to the evening meal.”
Lorgin opened his lavender eyes, gazing straight into Bojo’s beady ones. “Get that beast out of my face, old man.” Bojo squawked at the insult.
“There, there.” Yaniff stroked the animal, soothing his ruffled feathers. “Just because this woman has you in knots is no reason to insult Bojo.” He gazed at Deana sleeping peacefully in Lorgin’s arms. “Hard to believe such a little thing wields such power over a Knight of the Charl.” The wizard grinned slyly. “Perhaps Rejar—”
Yaniff never finished his words as Lorgin held the Cearix to his throat. “You were saying?”
Yaniff’s eyes gleamed. “Take that dagger away from my throat, you insolent pup, before I turn you into a snail.” Lorgin complied. “Much better, thank you. Now, as I was saying, Laeva sent me to bring you down to the evening meal. You may wish to come.” He turned to leave, then stopped, turning cunningly back to Lorgin. “After all, you may need to keep your strength up for the terrible ordeal you have to face later.”
Lorgin’s deep, throaty laughter filled the chamber as Yaniff left.
Deana woke to the rich sound of his laughter. The man never took her seriously! Even now, he was laughing at her. Perhaps he found her attitude regarding the translating device humorous; she did not. He was about to find out how serious she was. Disengaging herself from his embrace, she afforded him a cold stare.
“You are awake? Good. Laeva has prepared a meal for us. I recall you saying you were hungry some time back.” His lazy glance flicked to her hair, which fell about her in a cascade of red curls. He wanted to run his fingers through the silken strands, watch the incredible little curls wrap around his fingers.
“Yes, I am.” He’s probably going to make fun of my hair, as well, Deana thought sourly. Giving him another chilling look, she got out of bed, exiting the chamber without giving him a second glance.
Lorgin watched her departure with interest. He rubbed his chin in thought. So, that was the way of it, was it? The gharta thought to hold him off with a spiny exterior. Lorgin shook his head and chuckled. A prickly front was no obstruction to him. She could sting him all she liked, but in the end, the sweetness would be his. He got up to follow her below, looking forward to the confrontation.
All during dinner, Deana made it a point to ignore Lorgin. She talked gaily with Laeva, whom she liked but did not really forgive. She winked at Yaniff, and laughed with Rejar, whom she also did not forgive. But to Lorgin, the person who was really to blame for the whole fiasco, she gave the cold shoulder.
After the meal, which was the first appetizing one she had enjoyed since coming to this place, she excused herself and headed back to her bedroom.
She kicked her boots off, flopping down on the top of the bed. She was surprised when Lorgin entered the room.
“Get out! This is my room. Your presence here is not wanted.”
Lorgin grinned at the little gharta. “No? Perhaps I should make it wanted.” Deana hopped off the bed.
“This is not your room, Adeeann. It is our room. I will come and go as I please.”
Deana put her hands on her hips. “Why do I always have to share sleeping arrangements with you? There must be another room for you. I don’t want you here.”
Lorgin approached her, peering intently down into her face through half-closed eyes, responding to her quip in a tone all the more threatening for the quietness of it. “Even if there were a thousand rooms in this dwelling, I would still sleep in this one.”
Deana looked away from him. Now she had done it! He wasn’t cowering under her cold treatment like other men she had known. In fact, it seemed to have the opposite effect on him, fueling his aggressiveness. That wasn’t what she wanted at all. What should she do now? This whole episode confirmed her belief that she was wise to steer clear of any entanglement with the man. There was no controlling him. She bit her lip while she concentrated on her next move.
“Come here, zira.”
His words interrupted her thoughts. He had called her zira again. This time she suddenly knew, just knew, what the word meant. The translating device! Her look was one of utter horror.
“You called me…wife.” She flung the accusation at him. Actually, he had called her “beloved wife,” but she chose to ignore the endearment attached to the translation.
Lorgin leveled his amethyst gaze on her. “You are my wife. Mine by right of succession, as well as sworn oath. It is past time we join.”
“What are you talking about? I don’t belong to anybody but myself!”
Her words angered him more than she would have believed. “We are mated!” He slashed his hand through the air. “The oath has been given and taken.”
Deana looked nonplussed. She blinked. “I don’t recall any oath between us.”
His eyes pierced her. “Do you not? Recall, if you will, my kneeling before you, offering myself and my line to you, offering the Cearix of the Lodarres, a noble line of sixteen generations!”
He stood before her now, towering over her. “Recall, if you will, your acceptance of this sacred symbol; binding us for all time, joined as one.”
Deana took a step back, noticeably paler. “Are you telling me that…when you gave me that dagger of yours, you were…marrying me?”
“Precisely.”
“And according to your customs, the woman isn’t allowed a say in this?”
“Of course she is. By our customs, I told you in the sanfrancisco I had taken the Right. You, Adeeann zira’al Lorgin, accepted my troth when you returned the Cearix to me in the time-honored manner, its point to my heart. You have taken the oath. I expect you to honor it.”
At this point, Deana decided to put the space of the room between them.
“But how was I to know? I have no knowledge of your customs. I didn’t even know what you were doing!”
Lorgin said nothing, only grinned wickedly, reminding her of his feral brother. His crysta
l earring flashed as it dangled from his ear.
She gulped. A thin film of sweat broke out on her forehead. “You planned this! Tricked me into marriage. You…you…” she sputtered. “It’s not legal! It’s called entrapment or something. It would never stand up in a court of law. What am I saying? This doesn’t mean anything on my world.”
“Ah, but we are not on your world.”
“How dare you! You arrogant, presumptuous, overbearing…intruder!”
Lorgin furrowed his brow. Intruder?
“Coming into my house, my home, totally uninvited, forcing your way into my life! Who asked you to?”
Lorgin opened his mouth to answer, but Deana cut him off. Crossing her arms over her chest, she emphatically stated, “I’m not staying here another minute. Take me back this instant!”
Lorgin snorted at the ridiculous statement. Taking off his cloak, he tossed it onto a floor cushion.
“I want to go home, Lorgin.”
“You are home.” He removed his shirt.
Deana could not believe she actually stamped her foot in anger at the man.
“I do not desire to be your wife!”
“No? I am about to show you exactly what you desire.”
She didn’t need a translating device to interpret those words. She stuck her stubborn little chin in the air.
“You’ll have to take me if you want me!”
Lorgin shrugged, removing his boots. “I intend to.”
He was totally ignoring the meaning of her words, stalking her with determination.
“I mean, you’ll have to rape me.” Just to clarify the issue.
His eyes twinkled as he chuckled low in his throat. “You are so dramatic, Little Fire,” he whispered, shaking his head at her theatrics.
She clearly wasn’t getting through to him. Hell no, she was amusing him! Her last shot. The outraged Victorian Maiden gambit. “Touch me and I’ll kill myself.” It sounded a lot stupider said out loud than when you read it in books. Hopefully he wouldn’t know she was bluffing.
He looked surprised, but not by her words. “Behind you!” He pointed. “A zorph!”
Deana turned, jumped, and screamed at the same time. “Where?”
Lorgin grabbed her from behind, falling on the bed with her. He quickly rolled over, pinning her beneath him. A slow grin spread across his handsome face as he looked down at her, his white teeth flashing in the low light. “Here.” A tiny dimple appeared in his left cheek.
“You rat!”
He blinked innocently at her, his long black eyelashes a stark contrast to his pastel eyes. “What is a rat?”
“A rodent-creature, it comes out and nibbles on things. Get off!”
Lorgin was clearly amused. He wickedly nudged against her just to let her know how hard he was. Her eyes widened.
“What kind of things?” he purred.
Oh God. “All—all kinds of things. Lorgin, let me up!”
He devilishly nudged her again. “What things?”
It was awfully difficult to think with him looking at her like that. With him feeling like that. He was positively sizzling. “I don’t know…food, and fingers, and toes, and stuff…”
He drew her hand away from the bed, bringing it to his mouth. Heated lips briefly seared her palm; he playfully nipped her index finger before drawing it deep into his warm mouth. His silky tongue provided the electric sparks as his teeth slowly scraped the length of it, all the while his penetrating, fiery stare never leaving hers.
His action was blatantly suggestive.
Deana’s breathing noticeably speeded up. When he captured her eyes again, she almost became spellbound by the brilliance of the fire in his gaze. Like little pink fireworks…
She closed her eyes for a moment to clear her head and regain her resolve.
“Am I a rat?” he lazily asked.
“Yes!” He bent toward her neck, sweetly nibbling the soft skin with tiny love bites. Chills ran down her side. “No! I…I mean you’re acting more like a vampire. Stop that!”
Lorgin raised his head, his silky hair brushing across her taut nipples. She swore she could feel the sensuous texture of his hair right through her tunic.
“What is a vampire?”
“A monster! A monster who sucks…” His eyes widened. “Oh God! Lorgin, stop!”
Lorgin’s eyes sparkled with mirth. “I definitely think I will be a vampire…” He captured her breast in his mouth, tunic and all, flicking the swollen tip with his tongue; he rolled it back and forth gently between his teeth.
Deana arched up, clutching his bare shoulders. “Please, Lorgin, don’t.” Her plea came out a wispy rasp as the feel of his mouth through the material combined with the feel of smooth, rippling male flesh under her hands. She gasped for breath, overwhelmed by the potent force that was this man.
He paused to look down at her, eyes now bright with iridescent pink sparks. He rested his lower body fully against her as his hands cupped the back of her head, his bent elbows raising her face to him.
“Give me your mouth.” His tone was implacable and raw, all earlier traces of humor gone.
Deana gazed upon his beautiful countenance, so masculine and alive with passion. She knew in that moment, no matter what she said or did, he would not stop. He meant to have her.
“Give me your mouth,” he repeated, his glance falling to her full, soft lips. When she did not respond to his words, he pressed his lower body tight against her, his hips rocking seductively in the cradle of hers. She shivered at the intimate feel of him. Raising his eyes from her lips, he captured her with his brilliant, heated stare. His ragged breath caressed her face.
As he looked upon her, Lorgin could barely think. He almost moaned, his need was so intense. He wanted this woman to the exclusion of anything else. The heat of desire was upon him. His heart pounded in anticipation of the Transference to take place. He felt his power building and growing within him, driving him to the edge. Her being sang within him; he could hear only her in his future. The touch of her pulsed and skipped along his nerve endings, setting up a fire in his blood. The scent of her entwined in his heart, choking him with pleasure. He longed for the taste of her. The taste of her…
“Kiss me.” he whispered hoarsely. “Kiss me, my Adeeann.”
Deana could feel her heart pounding in her chest. Or was that his? It was no use, every fiber of her being wanted him. She couldn’t deny herself another minute. He was made for her, a fantasy in the flesh. Just this once. She had to. She’d sort out the marriage nonsense with him later.
Just this once…
With a choked cry, she raised her mouth to his, joining them together in a burst of frenzied longing.
Lorgin’s response was immediate and intense. His large hands threaded through the hair at her scalp, holding her prisoner for the fierce plunder of his mouth. His tongue dived between her lips as if craving the very taste of her. And taste her, he did.
Deana became senseless as the full impact of his sensuality hit her. Wild and tender, raw and spiritual, his nature pierced her very soul as he stormed his way through every defense she had in that one moment.
His heated hands found their way under her tunic, and she felt their scorching warmth on her back and the tender skin of her belly. They were a man’s hands—large, firm, and slightly rough, with a gentleness that did nothing to disguise the determination and experience in every stroke. Lorgin knew exactly what he was about; there was no hesitation or unschooled fumbling in his sure caresses. This was a man who brought his confidence into the bed with him. His expert touch made her feel as if she were the only woman he had ever embraced; the only woman he had ever clasped in such tender abandonment. In a brief moment of clarity, Deana thought he played her like a master musician, keying every note to the perfect pitch.
She had never stood a chance.
He lifted the tunic from her and flung it across the room. Once again, he covered her mouth with his own, drowning her in the wildness of
his kiss. He brushed his chest against hers, allowing the differing textures of their skin, one soft and full, the other hard and sinewy, to slide against each other, sensitizing her for his touch. Little pulses of electric desire skipped from him to her, turning her mindless.
“Lorgin, Lorgin…” She recited his name, a breathless mantra.
“Yes, Adeeann. Yes…Do you want me now, zira? Do you feel me coming to you?” His hot breath whispered against her lips.
He began to slowly invade every sense she possessed until all she could feel, all she could see, all she could taste was Lorgin ta’al Krue…
“You taste like my tomorrows, Adeeann.”
Lorgin’s soft love words in what she assumed was Aviaran were spoken breathlessly in her ear, causing her to sigh. She definitely would have to set him straight. But not now. No, not now. She shivered as the tip of his tongue swirled around her earlobe, then gently teased the canal.
He mapped her with his tongue, down the side of her neck to her collarbone, around her necklace, following a trail to the center of her chest, between her breasts. Every spot he loved sang with residual vibration as he passed.
He swirled his tongue around her navel, stimulating the sensitive nerves, before moving back up to the flat plane above her stomach. Using his teeth and mouth, he suckled on her there, leaving love marks in his wake. Deana gasped at the rawness of his actions, wondering if she was capable of taking on such an uninhibited, feverish lover.
Lorgin never gave her the time to ponder it further.
His intoxicating caresses swept away any misgivings she might have harbored when he traveled to her breast. Taking the turgid, rosy peak full in his mouth, and using just the tip of his tongue, he sent a small jolt through her.
Deana reared off the bed, crying out in a choked sob, “You’ll kill me with this pleasure!” Nevertheless, she clutched his head to bring him closer.
The corner of Lorgin’s mouth lifted. “I will do my best, Little Fire,” he promised.
He cupped her full breasts in his masterful hands, noting with a tender smile that they filled his palms rather nicely. He bent his head to her other breast, once again sending her a small love jolt, taking the peak in his mouth and playing the vampire that Adeeann had accused him of being. Letting his fingers drift lightly down her sides to her narrow waist, he continued sucking the hard little nub as he stroked his thumbs in tiny circles on the yielding flesh beneath the underside of her breasts.