by Rachel Grace
She shifted on the cushions, unable to conceive of such an embrace. Bodhan’s hands moved, two thick fingers filling her sex, another sliding lower. “Bodhan?”
“You would love it, Dare. You are as passionate as I knew you would be. As curious.” His teeth lightly scraped her thigh and she moaned aloud, her face heating when the sound seemed to echo off the walls of the glass room.
“Unfortunately, I do not share with other men. But there are ways.” His fingers curled inside her, lifting her off the bench in reaction. “Ways I find myself longing to show you. Positions you’ve never imagined. Devices that could simulate the sensations… Dare, are you doing that on purpose? Trying to distract me?”
Bodhan swore when she thrust against his fingers, all decorum, all shame gone as she matched the rhythm of her hips with the throbbing beat of the need inside her.
The two men were pumping into Coral’s willing body with abandon, each of their expressions a study in carnality. She could not feel them, but Dare knew their desire was no stronger than hers. Bodhan’s words, his touch, combined with the story line playing out before her eyes took her to a desperate place. She was close to something. To what she’d experienced the first time he’d touched her. More.
He lowered his head once more and his tongue tangled with his fingers to fill her, to give her what she needed. Dare’s hands reached down to grip his thick, black hair, seeking purchase in a world turned upside down. His soft, short curls tangled around her fingers while she watched Coral find her ultimate release.
Dare could not help but follow.
She shouted Bodhan’s name, lightning arcing through her body as though she’d touched a stormwire. Yet even as the waves washed over her again and again, she knew there was more pleasure to be had. She wanted to touch him, kiss him the way he’d kissed her. She wanted what she’d seen… but with Bodhan. Only Bodhan. She did not want to share him, either.
Her hand reached up to take off the ocularia, her head turning as she tried to remove it so she could kiss him. Show him without words what she wanted. Before she could remove it her gaze landed on the largest window of the Siren. The one that she recognized as being in Bodhan’s private suite.
And saw Seraphina.
Dare was still quaking, Bodhan drinking in every last drop of her reaction, thoroughly distracted. It took her a moment to register what she was seeing.
The Felidae’s presence, her fleet movements, shocked Dare back into her pleasure-addled body like a cold shower of seawater. What was Seraphina doing?
A flitting bluish-green light buzzed around the room, looking chillingly similar to the one that had guided her through the airshaft. It did have wings. What was that thing?
Seraphina pulled a pin from her hair and unlocked Bodhan’s desk, rifling through the papers within.
Bodhan himself was making his way up her body, his thoughts where hers had been moments before, his hands reaching to move the viewing goggles out of the way.
Seraphina chose that moment to look directly at Dare as though she could see her without aid, even from this distance. She held up one finger to her mouth and winked, disappearing from view with the fluttering light before Dare could blink again.
Bodhan removed the ocularia, his mouth opening passionately on hers. Dare melted against him, giving in to what he was feeling. What he made her feel. How did he distract her with such ease?
He lifted his head. “Let me spend the night seeing how much pleasure you can take. How many firsts I can give you. Come to my bed, Dare.”
“No!”
They both froze, neither prepared for her emphatic rejection. Dare had the sudden desire to bury her head in her shaking hands. She’d wanted to say yes more than she should have. But her survival instincts forced her to deny him.
What if Seraphina was still inside? What if she’d found something that told her why he had been gone? If he knew of Queen Idony’s whereabouts.
Her body, her heart did not believe he had anything to do with it. He had been sincere when he’d declared his love for the queen. Sincere in his need for Dare.
Her rational mind had a harder time trusting the head of an unprecedented criminal operation. One with enough funding, trained men, and technical skills to accomplish the deed.
Seraphina’s appearance had reemphasized her situation. Reminded her that she needed to stop allowing herself to be distracted. Her objective was too important, not just for herself, but for Theorrey.
All she felt at that realization was regret. “I’m sorry, Bodhan. I-I’m not—”
But he was already standing, reaching for his shirt with a humorless smile. “Not ready? Trying to con the con, princess? I’ve no wish to be vulgar, but you, my dear, are as wet and ready as a marsh cat in heat.”
She flinched, but he wasn’t finished. “You are correct, nevertheless. I have no desire to force my attentions on an unwilling woman. This was a bad idea. I’m certain we should get you back inside where it’s safe. The Siren is never short of willing company. If I need it, I will find it elsewhere.”
Dare’s gaze dropped to the straining fabric of his pants. The idea of another woman touching him was untenable, but what could she say to stop him? She had no wiles, no clever retorts. She could do nothing but allow him to grip her elbow, a gentleman’s instinct no more personal than a stranger’s touch, and set the lift in motion once more to return her to the women’s suite.
His grip tightened when she slowed near the door to the women’s suite, his strides taking them past. “Isn’t this—?”
Bodhan shook his head, his eyes narrowed on the passage ahead. “Despite your protestations of innocence, princess, even you must know I cannot leave you so unattended for your voyage. The women deserve their privacy and my trust. You’ve earned neither.”
Dare shivered. His voice was hard. Devoid of the tenderness and passion it had held only moments before. Her only consolation was that his emotions were not violent. Tightly reined in and frustrated… but not violent.
Still, she had to know. “Will I be bound again?”
Bodhan’s jaw tightened. “I trust that will not be necessary.”
They arrived at his room and he curtly nodded to the guard at the door before pushing his way in with her close to his side. Dare instinctively looked up. The shaft she’d fallen through had already been mended, as if it had never happened. Not that she would choose that route again, but it also meant that, with a guard stationed at the door, Seraphina must have found another way in.
Her body jerked as Bodhan continued forward, his grip still firm on her arm. He did not stop until he’d passed the large, decadent bed and reached the wall on the far side of his bedroom. It was covered with a life-size painting of a woman rising from the sea, reminding Dare of the statuary she had seen when she’d first awoke aboard the Siren.
The sensuality in the painted face seemed to mock her, scorning her rejection of the pleasure she could have had with Bodhan. Dare knew he was not planning to force her. Still, being here with him, in his rooms, her regret for her hesitance grew with each passing moment.
She watched his free hand caress the golden frame, his thick fingers gliding across the grooves with a lover’s touch. She’d known that touch for a moment. She wanted it again.
The clicking sound startled her, as did the sudden opening that appeared when the painting slid to the side on unseen hinges.
A room. The painting hid a room?
There were no other ways into the space that she could see. But if there was one hidden alcove, perhaps there was another.
“You’ll sleep here,” Bodhan interrupted her musings.
Dare studied the stark room. The feather mattress was thin and the furniture spare, but not overly so. There was a high shelf with some strange devices and a single sconce offering dim light. It was the size of her wardrobe at the palace.
She looked up at him, her chin jutting defiantly. “Is this my punishment for refusing your bed?”
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nbsp; She felt her barb hit him, though only a small tic at his temple revealed any outward reaction. He smirked. “I had hoped to spend a more enjoyable evening learning all your secrets, it’s true. I do have a reputation to maintain after all.” He lifted one shoulder carelessly. “This is merely a room. No prison. You would have stayed where I could keep an eye on you, regardless. You are a mystery I haven’t solved yet, princess. I cannot take the risk of leaving you too long with my loose-lipped, overly curious employees.”
She recalled something Lavender had said about the bedrooms being safe from the sound devices in the Echo Chamber. “Because you don’t spy on the women’s suite.”
His chuckle was telling. “You see? You already know more than you should.” He released her arm and ran a hand through his hair with a rough sigh. “A smarter man would have held you in the lower decks near the guard’s bunks. I am in no position to play nursemaid at the moment, there is too much at stake. But in this case I’ll have to make an exception.”
Nursemaid? Her fingers curled into fists at the implication. “Make none on my account, then, since I am no child.”
Suddenly he was close, so close she could feel his body pressing against hers, his still-hard shaft pushing against her stomach and the doorframe digging into her back.
He snared her gaze. “No? Your reactions tell a different story. You don’t seem to know what to do with passion when you feel it. And I know you feel it, Dare. Unless, of course, you’ve changed your mind?”
Had she? Even now, when his words stung her like pinpricks, when he obviously meant to keep her confined, she wanted more of what she’d experienced in the lift. Wanted to experience the ecstasy she’d observed through the ocularia. But did she dare?
Her momentary hesitation took the decision away from her. She felt his self-disgust and disappointment as he stepped back. “Ignore the vulgarity of your host, princess. I will not force my attentions on you again. I can assure you you’ll be safe here.”
He waited until she took a tentative step into the small room. “The guards will bring your meals, and you can use my facilities to wash. Other than that, I’ll have to ask you to endure the cramped quarters for the rest of our journey. For your safety.”
As he closed the door Dare thought she heard him mutter, “And my sanity.” But she couldn’t be sure.
She sighed as she looked around her new quarters. A secret room in a secret brothel beneath the ocean. How far away the Copper Palace seemed now. And how different she felt.
Dare could hear nothing on the other side of the door, but when she focused, she could still feel him. His frustration and his suspicion. His attempt to tamp down his desire.
All emotions she shared.
She should explore the room, find out everything she could about what secrets Bodhan was keeping. Perhaps she could find a way to communicate with the Felidae about what the woman had been after.
But not tonight. Tonight she just wanted to sleep. To shrug off consciousness in hopes that it would ease the ache in her heart, the heat still lingering in her limbs. Perhaps when she woke she would remember that her mission was more important than her emotions. That desire was not in her plans.
She took a deep breath and flinched, realizing there would be no sleep until she figured out how to get out of this corseted contraption without aid.
And until she could get Bodhan out of her head.
The rotund science minister blanched and Bodhan’s lips curled into what he knew would be a threatening smile. “I trust you know what I do to those guests who cross the line with a woman in my employ, Minister Jens?”
The minister swallowed, his gaze darting around Bodhan’s room as if expecting assassins in every shadow. “I have heard rumors, sir. Only rumors.”
Bodhan ceased shuffling the pile of blank papers on his desk and stood abruptly, causing the older man to gasp. He smiled. He enjoyed some parts of his job more than others. “I have heard rumors as well, Minister. Interesting rumors about your special experiments. Pet projects that not even your sponsoring Raj member knows about. Isn’t he the one who has to approve all your test subjects?”
It was plain that, until this moment, the man had believed he was being dressed down for his aggressive behavior with Ivory and Grey, his regular favorites. Bodhan watched the horror transform the usually powerful man as he realized the knowledge the brothel owner somehow possessed. And what he could do with it.
“We are friends.” Bodhan shrugged, his gaze narrowing on his prey despite his casual movements. “We don’t need secrets between us, do we?”
“No. No, we don’t.” The minister wet his dry lips. Waiting.
“Friends respect each other’s property and employees, each other’s secrets.” Bodhan moved closer. “Friends are also willing to be honest. I will start. You can return to the Siren’s pleasures. I will ask the ladies to forgive your impropriety and I will not send the parchment and proof of your personal experimentation.” He paused meaningfully. “If you grant me a favor in return.”
The minister’s watery eyes were nearly popping out of his head. Bodhan would feel sorry for him, if he weren’t quite so disgusted. “Of course, Bodhan. What favor would that be?”
He smiled again. “I haven’t decided yet. I will let you know as soon as I do.”
“Sir, may I have a moment of your time? My apologies for the interruption, but the matter is urgent.”
Bodhan raised one eyebrow without acknowledging his guard. “Minister, we understand each other?”
Minister Jens bobbed his head as though boneless. “Unmistakably.”
His sense of satisfaction as he watched the man leave lasted only moments before he was pacing again. It was a habit he had picked up only last night, and already he seemed to be wearing down his carpet. He did not pace. He never paced. But now that he knew Dare was on the other side of the wall, no doubt sleeping the early morning hours away without giving him a second thought… He paced.
“Sir?”
He turned toward the head of the Siren’s security detail with a terse nod. “James. Before you bring your urgent matter to my attention, I feel the need to share one of my own. I hope you enjoyed yourself the other evening, because if we don’t solve this particular problem before we surface in the next few days, I’ll be inclined to leave you landlocked on Two Moon Bay.”
James stood taller, his expression alert. “Yours to command, sir. Who needs killing? If it’s the minister, I’ll admit I wouldn’t consider that a punishment.”
Bodhan chuckled, leaning against the edge of his desk and crossing his arms. “Always admired that about you, James Stacy. It’s one of the reasons I put you in charge. Though I’ve noticed of late your efforts have been half-hearted. I will assume the other half is directly connected with your prick and therefore, the lovely Miss Coral.” He shrugged. “Still, even a partial effort should have ensured the security of my suite. A security that has now been breached not once, but twice in the last week alone.”
James’s cheeks stained with embarrassment or ire, Bodhan wasn’t sure which. “Sir, we replaced the broken air shaft, and had ’em bolted up as much as we could… Did you say twice, sir?”
Bodhan nodded. “Twice. Last night while you and your lady were getting free jollies off young Heinwald’s coin, someone pilfered through my desk. Nothing was taken, since nothing of value is left here when I am not present, but the intent was clear.”
He was thinking about her again. She was so close. She had attempted escape once before, but he knew it couldn’t have been her. Even if she hadn’t been with him all night. And he knew she hadn’t left her room. He’d woken at every sound, certain she had found a way to open the door’s hidden latch to join him in his bed, only to find himself still alone. Dare was no thief. He’d stake everything on it. She was too honest. Too innocent. Damn it all to the edge and back.
“I need a revised list of our clientele and the men we’ve recently added to our employ just to be thorough,
though I have a suspect in mind.” He sighed. “Add a stiff drink and your invaluable insights into why I continue to let Seraphina back on my Siren, and we’ll talk no more about your free rides.”
James Stacy practically saluted, a darkening on his cheeks that might have been a blush. Yes, he was definitely blushing. “For what my opinion is worth, sir, Seraphina’s never pinched from a friend. From you. She knows you’d never let her back on board. We’ll find whoever’s done this, but so you know… I don’t aim to cheat you or the ladies, either. Coral and I are in love.”
Bodhan turned his back on the besotted guard. “Fine, yes, of course. But before you decide to leave my company and have pinkly hued babies, you should at least know the girl’s real name. It could come in handy someday. Now what was it that was so urgent?”
He looked over his shoulder in time to notice James glancing curiously around the room. By now the Siren’s staff was no doubt abuzz with ideas about what he’d been doing with their special “guest.” His actions were doing nothing to quiet their curiosity. He had requested breakfast for two this morning from the galley before the minister arrived. He hoped it would get here before Dare woke. “Please tell me it has nothing to do with my personal life.”
James Stacy shifted uncomfortably but shook his head. “No, sir. You wanted me to keep you informed about the movements of a particular customer. He’s made his special request for this evening, sir. The chair and two females, as you expected.”
Bodhan felt satisfaction welling inside him. Finally. “Then we shall give him a fine private show, won’t we, Mr. Stacy? Exactly what he wants, with an extra guest, of course. He should be pleased to find the Siren’s owner a fellow voyeur. Then we’ll discover what he knows about the people who’ve gone missing this year, yes? And who is behind the kidnappings. You know what to do.”