He smiled at her, kissed her cheek gently, nuzzled her neck. He was restraining himself now, for her, because she had interrupted her state of readiness with her worries. He was apparently willing to start over, which filled her with such a wealth of gratitude and warmth that her feelings for him escalated yet again.
His own state of need hadn’t lessened. Hers was brought back to match his with amazing speed. Not that he rushed her; she just wanted this to happen so much, her body was cooperating perfectly with her mind. And it didn’t even hurt that much. She probably had the liquor to thank for that-or Dalden’s restraint and expertise. He entered her so slowly, so very carefully, distracting her with his kisses, that by the time she felt the uncomfortable pressure of him pushing against the virginal blockage, it popped open, causing no more than a minor gasp of surprise.
He went no further than that, though. He was practicing that amazing restraint of his again. Unbelievable, the control he had over his emotions and his body. It wasn’t normal. It wasn’t necessary, either, when her own heightened senses were clamoring for more of him.
Without words she tried to tell him, grasping his backside with both hands, trying to push him forward into her. That didn’t work, of course. She couldn’t budge him if he didn’t want to be budged. She felt a moment of resentment, that he could so easily move her body exactly as he wanted, but she couldn’t do the same with his. It didn’t last, though, because he was smiling down at her, amused by her efforts, but obviously pleased, too.
He kissed her gently, then caught her gasp in his mouth as he slid the rest of the way into her. It was exquisite, more thrilling than she could ever have imagined, having him so deep inside her. And his restraint was still in full force-no swift pummeling, now that he could, but a slow, exacting ritual.
He was letting her experience every aspect of his taking possession of her. She couldn’t complain, not when the pleasure was immediately there and gradually increased, so that she could enjoy it longer-or would have, if her body didn’t like what was happening too much!
There was no delaying her climax when it came; it washed over her in powerful waves, the pinnacle of sensations so intense she nearly fainted. He joined her in that, prolonging that unique pleasure, until it really was too much ecstasy all at once.
She awoke sometime in the middle of the night. She was wrapped around Dalden, covering him like a blanket. She tried to move, to turn off the light that was still on, but his arm tightened around her, refusing to let her leave his side even in sleep. She smiled and put her cheek to his chest again. He made a lumpy mattress, a hard pillow, but that was okay. Her contentment couldn’t be measured in comfort.
22
�� ^ ��
“BRITT, YOU AWAKE YET?” JAN CALLED FROM THE living-room. You’ve got company.”
Brittany knew she had company. She opened her eyes to see that her company was still sleeping, his feet hanging over the end of her bed quite a bit. It was an extra-length model and fit her just fine, but they really didn’t make beds for seven-footers.
“Britt?” It was shouted this time.
Okay, so she wasn’t quite awake yet, or she would have realized Jan wasn’t talking about Dalden, that her friend likely didn’t know yet that he’d spent the night.
“Coming!” she shouted back.
She leapt out of bed, yanked her bulky white terry robe out of the closet, wrapped it on, and stepped out into the living room. She vaguely heard Dalden stirring behind her, but didn’t dare look back at him, or she’d be really rude to whoever was there and simply tell them to get lost. She had a mind to anyway, up until she got a look at the man standing just inside their front door.
Jan was staring at him as if she were starving and he was six feet of chocolate cake. Brittany couldn’t blame her. The man was unbelievably handsome; actually, way, way too handsome. She’d never seen anyone who looked that perfect, like he was created to someone’s ideal specifications. He even fit her own specifications, was at least as tall as her if not taller. She wasn’t sure she wanted to get close enough to see if he might top her by a few inches, when she was still doubting her eyes. He was even more handsome than Dalden, if that was possible, though in a different way, less masculine-beautiful was the word that came to mind.
He wore a one-piece jumpsuit that looked like some kind of uniform. His eyes were so green that the color was clear even from across the room. His hair was coal black, cut short, though not excessively short. And he carried some sort of large plastic container that Brittany did a double-take on when she realized it was filled with groceries.
She finally asked, “You sure you have the right apartment?”
He smiled at her. “Martha doesn’t make mistakes. She sent me with some necessities for the big guy.”
“Ohhhh, you’re a friend of Dalden’s.” That didn’t get confirmed.
Instead she heard behind her, “Corth II, Martha? Is that wise?”
“Just saving time, kiddo, since you depleted the little gal’s cupboards yesterday,” Martha’s voice chimed in.
Poor Jan was staring wide-eyed now at Dalden’s bare chest. He’d donned only the jeans before appearing in the doorway to the bedroom, and was hooking Martha’s box over the denim. The female voice she’d just heard, with no body to go along with it, was probably confusing the hell out of her. She was also undoubtedly shocked to find Dalden coming out of Brittany’s bedroom.
Tactfully, though, all Jan said was, “I think I need a cup of coffee,” and disappeared into the kitchen.
Brittany wanted one as well, but decided some clothes might be a better idea first. “I’ll just get dressed while you chat with your friend.”
She’d still been staring at their visitor while she said it, which was possibly why there was some annoyance in Dalden’s voice when he replied, “Corth II is not staying.”
“It sounds like I’m not staying,” Corth II said with a cheeky smile. “Nice to meet you, Brittany Callaghan, however briefly. Perhaps-”
“Be gone!” Dalden growled.
The man obeyed, though he seemed quite amused as he left. Martha was chuckling some as well.
“My, my, that was interesting,” came purring out of the little box. “Losing some of that renowned Sha-Ka’ani control there, warrior? ‘Course, I shouldn’t be surprised, after you totally lost it last night.”
Brittany frowned at the box on his hip. “Why are you picking on him, Martha?”
If a shrug could be heard in a voice, it was heard now in Martha’s. “Just setting the stage for my explanation, hon, before Dalden starts to fret over natural inclinations that he’s convinced he doesn’t possess. A fretting warrior is like a time bomb, which we don’t need at this stage of the game.”
“Martha has said too much already,” Dalden said in grumbling tones.
“Martha hasn’t said nearly enough yet,” Martha countered. “But you can relax over some of those inclinations, warrior. Last night, you were provoked bigtime. What you witnessed has been a form of sexual enticement for centuries. It’s known to easily incite passions. Some cultures have managed to get rid of it, the thinking being that their people have enough stress to deal with, that sexual stress in that form only compounds the problem.”
“Good grief,” Brittany said incredulously. “You’re talking about our dancing last night?”
“Watching you dance pushed him over the edge, doll, if you didn’t notice at the time. You might want to make sure there is no more of that nonsense until after we’ve finished our task here.”
“Some people consider dancing to be fun,” Brittany pointed out.
“Some people are used to it,” Martha shot back, “Dalden isn’t one of them.”
Brittany stared at Dalden and then blushed profusely. “I hope you don’t think it was my intention to-to-”
He quickly closed the space between them, clasped her face in his hands, smiled at her. “I would change no part of last night, kerima. “
&n
bsp; She wouldn’t, either-well, she wished she could recall getting back here. Black holes in the memory were a bit frightening, in not knowing what you might have done during the missing time frame. But she supposed if she had done anything more stupid than driving under severe influence, he would have mentioned it by now.
Everything else she remembered clearly, including his assurance that she was his lifemate, that they wouldn’t be parted until he had her in a place familiar to him. She would like to get “familiar” defined. Tacking “home” to it was unrealistic, when he could have just meant back to wherever his base of operations was for this assignment he was on. Lifemate was another word she needed his interpretation of. She knew the definition she’d like to put to it, but in some cultures, mate just meant friend, so she wasn’t going to assume what it meant for him.
But she wasn’t quite up to an interrogation yet, and what she suspected might be some considerable disappointment on her part as a result. She’d rather savor the contentment she’d felt last night awhile longer.
So she wrapped her arms around him, squeezed a bit, and said, “I’ll endeavor to keep you out of any more disco-type establishments, but I’m sure we can manage to have fun without the dancing part.”
Martha was chuckling. Dalden’s smile widened considerably. And Brittany remembered too late that he referred to lovemaking as “fun.”
She stepped back and snorted at the both of them. “That’s not what I meant-bah, never mind. While I get dressed, why don’t you unload the groceries your friend was nice enough to drop off.”
“Corth II is not a friend.”
“Fine. Enemy then.”
“Nor that,” he replied. “My mother considers him part of the family.”
“She does? Which implies you don’t?”
“Like my father, I have little tolerance for those of Corth II’s ilk.”
“Ohh-kay,” she said, stretching out the word. “I suppose that made perfect sense-to you. And come to think of it, I’d just as soon not know what you mean by ‘ilk.’ I do find it odd, however, his having a number for a last name. Is that common in your country?”
“It is not a last name. He is the second in his line, an advanced model of Martha’s creation, similar to the original Corth.”
“Martha’s son?” she said with surprise.
“Something like that.”
“Something like-?” She frowned now. “Okay, I know I’m missing something here, and now I’d like that explanation. Martha, want to fill me in?”
“Not a chance, doll. I just love watching warriors dig holes they can’t get out of.”
Brittany made a face, but turned her questions back in Dalden’s direction. “So why didn’t this Corth get an original name?”
“Martha is a Mock II. It follows that anything that improves on the original, as she was, would get the same classification from her.”
“I give up. You’re talking like he’s a machine, an android or something like that, when that’s impossible.”
“Why impossible?”
“Because we might be making strides with robotic gadgets, but nothing even remotely like what just walked in here. That was a man. I’ve got eyes. There was nothing mechanical about him.”
He reminded her, “Inventions that defy belief, you were told.”
She blinked at him, but then she chuckled. “I’m glad you’ve got a sense of humor, Dalden, I really am. It’s an odd one, but none the less amusing.”
“Woman-”
“This might be a really good time to drop the subject, children,” Martha interjected dryly at that point. “You’ve overslept this morning. The big guy still needs to be fed. I was hoping we’d get to City Hall when it first opens, but now you’ll have to backtrack again, to make sure no mischief gets caused before your arrival. Waste of time that could have been prevented if someone’s alarm had been set.”
Brittany blushed, mumbled something about grumpy old women, and went back to the bedroom to get dressed.
23
�� ^ ��
“IT’S AS I SUSPECTED,” MARTHA WAS SAYING AS THEY walked into the central lobby at City Hall. “Jorran’s people were all turned loose on your fair town. The three that I have links to each abided the night in different locations, harmless for the most part. But they showed up here bright and early, unlike some.”
“There are times when you may ignore Martha,” Dalden told Brittany, his arm around her waist. “Were it important for us to be here sooner, she would have woken us herself.”
A snort first, then, “Actually, waking you myself, without any other distractions there to get you out of bed, would have guaranteed a lot more wasted time. Both blushing? I see you understand why I didn’t do the waking, but sent Corth II over instead.”
“Is there going to be a time when you can turn her off?” was Brittany’s mumbled response.
“Indeed, but not for several more months.”
Brittany frowned. “You don’t really think it’s going to take that long to find Jorran, do you?”
“No,” he replied. “But Martha cannot be gotten rid of until I return home, and she is returned to being only my mother’s nuisance.”
“Tedra does not consider me a nuisance,” Martha interjected in hurt tones.
“Can my father say the same?”
” ‘Course not,” came out with a chuckle that belied there’d been any real hurt in the last comment.
Brittany ignored the banter, was stuck on that “several months” remark. “Then you’re not going straight home after you’re done here?”
“Indeed we are.”
Her eyes widened. “So it’s going to take you a couple of months just to travel? Wow, I didn’t think anything still took that long to cross the ocean. You must have a really old, slow ship lined up for the trip.”
Martha wasn’t the only one chuckling this time, and feeling herself the butt of yet another joke she couldn’t possibly decipher, Brittany added, “Wrong guess? Maybe you plan to swim home?”
The sarcasm was clear to her ears, but Dalden didn’t hear it, and said only, “Such would not be possible.”
Martha was more perceptive, and replied, “No need to get bent out of shape, doll. You’ll understand all too soon and probably wish you’d been left in the realm of ‘unknowing’ instead. In the meantime, how about you two getting to work? Same agenda as yesterday. Start with the mayor first and work your way out from there, Brittany, while Dalden makes the rounds of the rest of the offices.”
With a sigh, Brittany nodded and headed toward the mayor’s reception room. With three rods confiscated yesterday, she now had one for her own use and Sullivan’s secretary got to be her first test subject with it.
It still amazed her, the total hypnotic control those rods gave the user. She was sent right in to the mayor’s office, had herself announced first this time so as not to startle the man again. And didn’t once think that he might be in the middle of a meeting already, which happened to be the case.
Where was her mind today? Still savoring last night, of course, and not attending to current business. But that was no excuse to blunder like this���
There were four other people gathered around the mayor’s desk. They weren’t talking, were merely relaxing in the plush chairs for the most part, looking bored. And Sullivan did stand up, all smiles, to greet her as if she weren’t intruding on a meeting already in progress.
Was he still under the same influence from yesterday, ready to answer any questions she put forth and then forget about them? But she couldn’t exactly grill him with these other people present. Nor could she use the rod on the lot of them without one or two realizing what she was doing before she reached them, and bolting to raise an alarm.
A hasty retreat was in order, and before she started blushing over this blunder, she jumped right in with, “Someone get their appointment times mixed up? If you’d like me to wait outside a few more minutes until you’re done here, Mayor Sull
ivan, I-”
“Done with what?” he asked with a curious frown. “I was expecting you, wasn’t I?”
“Yes, but-”
“Then sit, sit,” he told her, wearing his public smile again. “What can I do for you today?”
The blush was coming up anyway. The four men must be members of his staff. And they still weren’t saying anything, just watching the proceedings in a bored manner. Which really put her on the spot. Was she supposed to conduct her business with them present? Was that normal around here, for the mayor to be surrounded by his people during private appointments? She had caught him on his lunch break last time, after all. And if this was standard procedure, why hadn’t they at least introduced themselves to put her at ease?
Annoyed that she wasn’t going to accomplish her mission with them there, she pointed out their rudeness with some of her own by asking one of them directly, “Who are you?”
“An observer.”
Fat lot that told her, so she held out her hand to shake his and even though he ignored it, she still said, “I’m Brittany Callaghan, and you are?”
“An observer,” was repeated, but then, “Commence your meeting, woman, then begone.”
She caught the accent this time. Like Dalden’s but not quite the same, still very foreign-sounding. Alarms went off in her head. She needed to get the hell out of there and warn Dalden that they’d most likely hit the jackpot, and used that last comment to take offense over.
“Excuse me, I can tell when I’m not wanted,” she said tersely, and to Sullivan, “I’ll reschedule, Mayor, when you’re not being-observed.”
She turned and started to march out of there on her high horse, only to be drawn up short because one of them had moved to block the exit. Nor was he little enough that she might have been able to push her way past him. He was her height, but with the physique of a nightclub bouncer, all brawn and happy to show it off. The price tag dangling from the lapel of his new suit was a bizarre touch, but not enough to detract from his seriously threatening demeanor.
And she heard behind her, “It is difficult to hide fear beneath other emotions. Most people cannot manage it. You fall into that group. Then the question becomes, What was said here to cause you fear?”
Heart of a Warrior l-3 Page 14