Traed smiled. “Forgive me, Lorgin, but your woman is…very entertaining.”
Lorgin raised an eyebrow. “Do not let her hear you say this. Think you it was so easy for me to get her to play with skrut solely for your amusement, Traed?”
He chuckled. “It really was not fair of you, Lorgin. And such a sacrifice.”
They both laughed again.
“Now, Traed, I will give you a chance to even the score. My challenge to dizu still stands.”
Traed smiled. “A safe challenge for you, Lorgin, for well you know I have no dizu board here.”
Lorgin nodded his head in agreement. “Hmm—this could be a problem.” His crafty eyes assayed Traed. “I suppose we shall have to go to Aviara to play the game.”
Always sharp, Traed knew at once the intent behind Lorgin’s ploy. His chiseled face became devoid of all expression, except for his eyes, which were suddenly throwing sparks of green anger.
“If you so desire this game, Lorgin ta’al Krue, you need return to Aviara. I am sure you will find someone else who plays the game as well as I.”
Traed’s meaning was all too clear.
Lorgin’s response was measured. “There is no one who can play this particular game but you.”
Traed placed the retracted saber in his waistband and walked out.
Deana sat in front of the mirror of the dressing table in her room, not really paying attention to the comb in her hand. A thoughtful servant had left her a robe, which she had immediately donned as soon as she had thrown off her pants and tunic. She was beginning to hate that outfit. It never got dirty and it never wore out!
She saw the room reflected in the mirror: the large bed with its massive scrolled headboard, the few odd tables, an oversized chair in the corner, and this very old-fashioned dressing stand she was sitting at. It looked as if she had gone back in time to the days of the Round Table.
What was she doing here?
Unconsciously, she began combing her long hair, stopping when her hand began to shake. Briefly she closed her eyes, then opened them to stare at her reflection.
Lorgin.
He was the source of her problems, and she was beginning to fear he was the cure to them as well. It couldn’t have been more obvious to her than if she had slapped her own face. Tonight when he was fencing with Traed and the blade had sliced across him, she had almost thrown up. That nauseous feeling could only mean one thing: she cared too deeply for Lorgin ta’al Krue.
If the very thought of him getting injured could scare her silly, it was time to do something about it. She was in too deep. It was definitely time to go home.
Deana frowned at her duplicate in the mirror.
The man was acting out some crazy self-fulfilling prophecy.
He had kidnapped her from her world, told her she was his wife, seduced her, and dragged her halfway across a universe on some nebulous quest.
What was she going to do with him?
She shouldn’t allow this to continue. It wasn’t fair to either of them. She would have to make him see reason. She would have to make him pledge to take her back to Earth right away. Because the thing that was in the utmost danger around here was herself.
And she was not going to feed his fantasy anymore.
She cared too much for him to do that. In time he would realize the mistake he had made and go on from there. He would forget—
The heavy wooden door to the bedroom crashed open.
“That man is the most difficult person I have ever dealt with! He is stubborn beyond belief.”
“Don’t you think you ought to close the door before you wake up half the keep?”
Lorgin kicked the door shut and threw up his hands in exasperation.
“He will not be swayed one micron unless he desires it!”
Deana raised her eyebrows. “Why does that sound familiar to me?” She looked pointedly at Lorgin.
“I am nothing like that.”
“Really.” She didn’t even try to swallow the sarcasm.
He walked farther into the room. “Explain yourself.” He crossed his arms and peered down at her arrogantly, missing the point.
“All right, I will.” She turned in her seat to gaze up at him—a long way up. “I want to go back to my home.” For an instant he looked thunderstruck.
“Why would you say this?”
Why would she say this? Where should she start? The kidnapping? The seduction? Her eyes fell on her pants and tunic draped over the chair. As good a starting point as any.
“I don’t like those clothes.” His mouth actually gaped open for a moment.
“For this you wish to leave me? I will buy you a castle full of clothes when we reach Aviara.”
“You’re missing the point. It’s time for me to go home.”
Lorgin stared down at her through half-lidded eyes. He had thought that she would soon get over these foolish notions of hers. Had he not been the most patient of husbands with her? Had he not taught her the joy of Transference? Had he not always given her everything he had for her pleasure?
Perhaps Yaniff had been right. He had been too indulgent with her. This ridiculous talk of returning to the Disney World! Did she think he would remove her from such a backward, diseased world only to place her in jeopardy again? Did she think he would disregard his honor? Did she, who was above all others to him, think he could let her leave him!
He fastened a steely, searing glare upon her.
Deana watched Lorgin’s expression go from shock to confusion to anger. This was not what she wanted. Tentatively, she reached up to place a soft hand of his rock-hard forearm.
“It’s not as if you—” She swallowed. “You don’t really care about me, it’s—”
He didn’t allow her to finish. Grabbing her shoulders, he turned her back to face the mirror. When he spoke next to her ear, his voice was chillingly quiet.
“I do not care about you?”
She made to rise, but his firm touch at her shoulders held her down.
“Look in the mirror, Adeeann.”
She ignored his words, looking down into her lap instead. Her shoulders tensed as she felt his cheek softly rub against the side of her face, his tongue lightly tracing a sizzling path along the side of her throat.
“Look in the mirror, Adeeann.” His words vibrated against her skin, but she continued looking down.
She felt him loosen the top of her robe, sliding it just off her shoulders. His open mouth latched onto the sensitive spot where her neck met her shoulders. The tip of his tongue sent her a tiny frisson, coaxing a response from her. She couldn’t help the little moan that escaped her throat.
“Look in the mirror, zira,” he whispered against her.
She silently shook her head no.
His hands left her shoulders to come around her, cupping her breasts through the silky fabric of the robe, his thumbs stroking across the tips. The heat of his large hands electrified her as he continued with his ardent ministrations to her throat with his mouth.
She shivered, taking in a large gulp of air. He gently raised her chin with one finger, steadily meeting her eyes in the mirror. “Look.”
Her gaze shifted from his passionate regard to her own face, shocked by what she saw. Her eyes were sparking! Little pink sparks, such as she had seen in his eyes. She leaned forward to examine this phenomenon more closely, her hand coming to her lips in astonishment.
“Oh, Lorgin, what have you done?” Her voice was barely a whisper.
He tenderly kissed her shoulder. “Even now, I am inside of you.” Her gaze flew to his image in the glass.
“How?” she breathed.
He stroked the side of her neck, his warm fingers threading through her hairline. “We are joined. I have told you thus. There will be no more talk of leaving.”
She scrunched the fabric of her robe between her hands. “Why, Lorgin? Why? You said you would take me home. You promised me.”
He squeezed her shoulders. “And I
spoke the truth. I am taking you home—to our home on Aviara.”
“I cannot go with you. It is a mistake!”
Lorgin sighed deeply. He would have to convince her completely and utterly that it was no mistake. Once and for all.
He bent over her, releasing the tie on her robe. It fell around the base of the chair in a soft puddle. He spoke in a hushed, intimate tone, leaving Deana no doubt as to what he planned.
“You have challenged me.”
“No, I haven’t! At least I didn’t mean to.” She vividly remembered the last time he thought she had challenged him and what the outcome had been. “What are you doing?” She turned quickly in her chair.
Lorgin had already kicked off his boots, removed his torn shirt, and was in the process of dispensing with his breeches.
Deana stood, facing him. “You wouldn’t!” she gasped.
He shrugged. Then smiled in an altogether calculating way. He approached her with a determined glint in his eye.
Before she could come up with another word of objection, he had scooped her up in his arms and carried her to the bed. He gently placed her on the mattress, then immediately came down on top of her, his mouth searing hers in an intoxicating kiss.
As so often happened with his expert touch, against her better intentions, Deana immediately turned to mush. His wonderfully adept hands began stroking her in all the right places; his lips were tender and stimulating as he breathlessly awoke her hunger for him.
Deana moaned, “No, Lorgin, no…” even as she sought out his provocative embraces.
As expected, he paid little heed to her words and more attention to her reactions. Reactions she was powerless to control under the onslaught of his attentions. His mouth grazed down her throat as his fingers brushed across nipples that were already pebble-hard. Fingers explored. Teeth nipped. Hands caressed. Lips bewitched…
He had aroused her to the point of madness and still he continued against her protests, his heated mouth trailing an erotic path down to the indentation of her belly, and lower still.
Suddenly, through a haze of passion, she realized what he was about to do. She panicked. This she had never done. This was way too personal. This she was not ready for. She tried to scoot away from him on the bed.
“No, you can’t!”
He brought her firmly back.
“Of course I can.” His warm breath feathered against her inner thigh.
“I-I mean you shouldn’t!” she squealed as his hot tongue licked the inside of her leg, trying once more to scoot away.
“And here I thought you were going to teach me something new.” He smiled wickedly as he dragged her back down to him. His strong palms pressing above the inside of her knees held her uncompromisingly open for him.
“Lorgin, pl-please!”
His eyes shot up, piercing her. “What can I do, Adeeann?” It was a question he did not expect an answer to. “You keep talking about returning to this world of yours.” He paused, intentionally holding the moment. “It is only right I convince you otherwise. I do not believe you will have any doubts”—he gave her a determined look—“soon.”
That said, he dropped his head between her legs.
She sobbed and begged and screamed and hollered.
Still he would not stop. He loved her with his mouth in a way that was totally indecent. Totally intoxicating. The first touch of his tongue, silky hot against her, made her reel off the bed. But that was just the beginning. He flicked. He licked. He suckled. And he thoroughly loved it.
His tongue caressed her, his lips kissed her, his teeth scraped against her. Through it all he sent her his electric current of desire, a steaming shockwave of vibration echoing through her as he continued his onslaught of surging, quivering, pulsating challenge. As her own waves returned to him, they seemed to fuel his intense ardor, inspiring him to greater heights as they further ignited him.
When she literally screamed her release, he watched her, his fevered eyes sparking in arousal.
“I do so enjoy convincing you, Adeeann.” His voice was a husky ripple purring against her glistening mound. He licked her one last time as if reluctant to stop.
But he was not done yet. Not by a long shot.
Her bones were still jelly when he neatly flipped her over onto her stomach. Clasping both her arms over her head in one of his hands, he skimmed his other hand possessively down her back, softly massaging as he went. He kneaded her buttocks, lightly running the edge of his fingers down along the cleft until they found the still throbbing folds of her womanly passage.
Deana sucked in her breath, already anticipating what was in store for her.
Lorgin did not hesitate.
Grabbing a pillow, he placed it under her hips, slightly raising her. She felt the pressing heat of his body as he covered her with himself. She was under siege.
“You can’t do this, Lorgin!”
“I am doing it.”
“You have no right—”
“I have every right.”
“No!”
“You will stop this ridiculous talk of returning to your world. Understand this, Adeeann zira’al Lorgin, you belong to me.”
Unclasping her hands, he spread her arms beside her, placing his broad palms over the backs of her hands; he interlaced his fingers with hers, literally pinning her to the bed. He purposefully nudged her legs apart with his knee and ever so slowly entered her from behind.
His thick shaft filled her slick, wet canal, pulsing inside of her. Deana choked on a sob at the sheer pleasure of it. This was sexual domination; Lorgin was completely and irrevocably staking his claim. And it was to die for.
“Say you belong to me, Adeeann. Say it…” His hot, breathy whisper was right behind her left ear.
“No, I won’t!”
He flexed and surged inside of her, the firm muscles of his thighs bracing her.
“Oh my God, Lorgin…that feels incredible.”
His response was to kiss the back of her neck, rubbing his face in her fragrant hair.
“Say you are mine, sweet Fire; you know in your heart you are.”
“Don’t you dare mention hearts to me when you’re doing this out of some crazy fantasy you have!”
He smiled shamelessly against her skin. “I admit it is somewhat of a fantasy. I vow I have never had to take a woman thus.”
It was the wrong thing for him to say, for it conjured up images of him in her head—images of him in bed with scores of willing women.
“Stop this right now!” But there wasn’t a thing she could do to enforce her words and he knew it.
“Make me.” He bit her sharply on her nape, and plunged deeper into her.
“I hate you!”
Her liquid honey increased around him, belying her words. He chuckled against the side of her neck. “No, you do not.”
“Just you wait, I’ll—”
“Shh…” He traced his sizzling tongue around her earlobe. “Stop talking and listen, Adeeann. Listen to this surging, flowing thing between us.” His actions mirrored his breathless words as his shaft glided against and into her.
“Listen to it pounding in our blood, our hearts.” Strong fingers entwined tightly with her own. She could feel the pulse of his blood rushing against her hands.
“Listen to the power in me awaken for you.” Without warning, he sent her a surge of incredible power inside where they joined.
“Oh, God…Lorgin…”
His breath grew ragged as he stroked into her again and again, still pinning her to the bed. Deana moaned with each thrust, catching his wildness, his sheer eroticism. His quickening.
“Can you hear it? Can you hear this savage warrior in me, coming to you?”
“Yes!” she gasped.
He released her hands, clutching her tight around the waist, bringing her even closer to him as he buried his head between her shoulderblades.
“Can you feel this powerful magic in my heart entwine around you?” he whispered agains
t her.
She clutched the sheet beneath her, whimpering. “Yes, yes, yes…”
“Now you taste of my passion, Adeeann.”
Chapter Fourteen
Deana was senseless.
Lorgin had made love to her the entire night.
He was relentless.
He had been totally without mercy, extracting every word he wanted to hear out of her.
Yes, she would not mention returning to her world to him again.
Yes, she didn’t really want to leave.
Yes, she wanted him.
Yes. Yes. Yes.
He had confused her with his powerful lovemaking, his heart-stopping caresses, and his whispered entreaties: Was she not his Little Fire, his gharta, who he placed above all others? Yes.
Did she not crave him the same way he craved her? Yes.
Did he not entrust her with his power to keep safe inside of her? Yes! Yes! Yes!
Deana pulled the sheet over her head. She had caved like a house of cards on an active fault line.
Earlier this morning when he had taken her in his arms again, she all but whimpered. All she could think of was, He’s going to start up again. She must have made some sound, for all he did was kiss her on the forehead, saying, “Hush, Adeeann. I am just getting up. Go back to sleep.”
He had used sex against her.
Her brow furrowed. No, that wasn’t quite right—he had used sex for her.
Then he had used sex with her.
It was a very potent technique. By now, Deana knew that Lorgin was a man who had a multitude of techniques. Depending on the circumstances, he would draw on the one he thought most apt to accomplish his goal. She believed this trait had to do more with the man himself rather than any Charl training of his.
It really wasn’t sporting of him. She hadn’t had a lot of experience in the past and had no defenses against his expertise. All right, so even if she had been very experienced, she was honest enough to admit that she probably wouldn’t have been able to put up much of a cold front. He was just so overwhelming.
The man had stormed the citadel.
What was she going to do now?
Bringing up the subject of returning to Earth was totally out of the question. There was no subject, as far as Lorgin ta’al Krue was concerned. That left her with only one option. She would have to go with him to that wretched Aviara of his. But when they got there, she intended to seek help from Yaniff. She was almost sure the kindly old wizard would help her once she explained the situation to him.