by Nina Bangs
“These exercises will make your tongue flexible, able to reach . . .” She rolled her eyes up in her head, obviously searching for the right description. “As your commercials say, able to reach those hard-to-get-to spots.”
Ally blinked. She wouldn’t go there. “What about the lips?”
Nebula nodded. “Yes, the lips. You must pucker them so that they are full and soft, yet firm. The fullness and softness gives a man the mistaken impression that his woman is yielding. A woman must remember to inflate a man’s ego.”
Brian wasn’t smiling anymore. Score one for Nebula.
“What about the firmness?” Ally didn’t care about the firmness, but the longer she kept Nebula talking, the less time there would be for puckering.
Nebula cast her an impatient glance. “Firmness is important. No man wants to kiss an overripe zeekee berry.”
“Zeekee berry?” Ally cast a quick glance at Brian. He caught her glance, stroked it, held it.
“Lips and tongues are important, sweetheart. I love a woman with great lips. Soft, warm, welcoming. Practice hard so you can play hard.” He leaned back against the wagon and offered her a slow smile that promised he could teach her things about lips and tongues she’d never imagined.
“What a man.” Katy cast him a worshipful glance.
Ally sighed. “Okay, let’s get started.”
Nebula launched into drill-sergeant mode. “Tongue out. Circle to the right. Circle, circle, circle. Now to the left. Keep it up. Circle, circle, circle. Hold that extension. Lips next. Pucker, pucker, pucker. Tongue again. Curl, curl, curl. Work on that flexibility. Circle, curl, circle, curl. Now put it all together. Lips, tongue, lips, tongue. Rest.”
Somewhere in the middle of that excruciating event, Katy left the wagon to join Ally. “The puckering part makes you look like a guppy. I think I’ll try these exercises. Never hurts to be a kissing fool.”
Nebula was just hitting her stride. “We will now strengthen our pelvis muscles for those long nights, and in deviant individuals even days, of mindless pleasure. First we rotate our hips, then do our pelvis thrusts.” She demonstrated.
At least Ally wouldn’t feel stupid doing these. It looked like what the women did on some of the MTV videos, only they did it with a lot fewer clothes.
“Ready. Stomach in. Now rotate, rotate, rotate. The opposite direction. Rotate, rotate, rotate. Hold that stomach in. Now the pelvis. Thrust, thrust, thrust. Work it, work it.”
Twenty minutes later, Ally had puckered her last pucker and thrust her last thrust. No way would she live long enough to be worthy of Brian. He might have to settle for someone unworthy but highly motivated.
Nebula frowned. “You will be my greatest challenge. We must firm your thighs next. When I finish with your thighs, you will be able to strangle a lennot with them. I will work with you again tomorrow at the same time.”
Not if I can help it. Ally didn’t know what a lennot was, but she had no intention of strangling one. And she fully intended to be on her way to the Cliffs of Moher at this time tomorrow. She walked over to the wagon, controlling the urge to wince with every step. Katy was still exercising away.
Finally gathering her courage, she glanced at Brian. If he laughed at her, she’d . . .
He wasn’t laughing. His gaze was heat and desire. “I like the way you move, babe.”
She was pitiful. All it took was a few words of praise from him to renew her energy, make her want to do more exercises. Okay, maybe that was stretching it, but Brian’s approval sure made her feel great. This from a woman who’d sworn that men’s opinions would never again matter to her.
“You owe me a fantasy, and I want you to move that way when you dance naked for me.” His lips tipped up with a wordless promise that she would do exactly what he wanted.
She smiled at him, accepting his challenge. “Sounds sensual, if you’re into dancing goose bumps. Because that’s all you’d see if I danced naked here.”
Goose bumps? Brian thought hard. No goose bumps. Another lapse in the Language Assimilation Program. But he could figure out what Ally meant.
“If the goose bumps are attached to you, then they’re sexy. Dance with enough passion, sweetheart, and you’ll keep both of us hot.” He was having fun talking to her. Brian didn’t joke with women, certainly not the ones he met during competition. There, he weighed every word for its arousal power. And off the field? Nope. For a moment he thought of Nebula, and smiled at the thought.
“Are you laughing at me?” Ally tilted her head, daring him to admit it.
“Laughing with you sweetheart. I’m thinking we have a lot in common. Nebula has both of us under her thumb.”
She laughed, a clear honest sound on the cool air. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d heard a woman laugh like that.
“Nebula will never have you under her thumb, hotshot.” She reached up, curled a strand of his hair around her finger, then pulled. Obediently, he lowered his head. She whispered in his ear. “If she gives you a hard time, I can strangle her in a thigh press. By the way, what’s a lennot?”
He put back his head and laughed. Really laughed.
The smile she offered him had a touch of wonder in it. “You should laugh more often, Byrne. You could get anything you wanted with that laugh.”
He drew his finger along her jaw, touched her lips with a fingertip. “I like being with you, Ally O’Neill. You make me happy.” How could something be so simple and yet so profound? “And a lennot is a very large rodent. Think of an elephant with beady eyes and whiskers.”
“Ugh. Someone else’s thighs can strangle it.”
Brian didn’t get a chance to answer because Katy joined them.
“That was fun. Got the old juices flowing.” Katy paused to consider her statement. “Problem is, at my age all those flowing juices don’t have anywhere to go. Men my age are all a bunch of old farts.”
Brian decided to let that pass without comment. “Nebula will either kill you or cure you.”
He noticed that Jupe had stuck his head from his shelter. Brian still had a few things to discuss with his agent. “I enjoyed watching—” he smiled at Ally—“but I have to talk with Jupe before he runs and hides.”
Katy put a hand on his arm. “Wait up. I need to tell Ally and you about the neat things I found out about the castle when I went into town yesterday.”
Ally looked suspicious. “Does this involve more bloodthirsty spirits?”
Katy nodded. “Yep. Brian, you had some evil ancestors.” She looked like the thought gave her a lot of pleasure. “All around here was O’Brien country. If you were a Byrne and wanted to build a castle, you’d better have had an in with an O’Brien. To prove his friendship with the O’Briens, your ancestor invited some of their enemies to a big feast. Lots of drinking and carousing. They didn’t know your ancester was tight with the O’Briens. Now comes the bad part.” She paused for dramatic effect.
Brian used the moment to glance toward Jupe’s shelter. Jupe looked his way, and Brian glared at him. Jupe ducked back into the shelter.
“At the exact stroke of midnight, Byrne and his men slaughtered every one of his guests.”
Ally’s horrified glance made Brian feel guilty by association. “Didn’t the people during that time do anything but kill each other?” She looked at Brian. “Don’t ever take a vacation back to that time.”
Brian studied the keep. For the first time, he considered the wisdom of repairing the old place. A lot of people had died here. Shouldn’t he let them rest in peace?
Katy wasn’t finished. “He had them dragged down to a storage area under the castle. Then he walled up the room so no one would ever find them. But servants talk, and after Byrne died, people went to have a look-see.”
Ally joined the conversation again. “What is it about midnight? Have you noticed that everything bad or scary happens at midnight? Is this symbolic of the darkest, therefore the evilest, time of night? Maybe midnight just symbolizes the unknow
n.”
Katy wasn’t interested in symbolic implications. “Something awful started happening when people went down to where those poor souls were walled up. When anyone went down there, people waiting for them at the top of the steps could hear shrieking and sounds of rocks being thrown. And when the ones who’d gone down fi-nally stumbled back up they were raving mad, screaming about bloody hands and stones flying at them. Had to be put in asylums for the rest of their lives.”
Ally stared at her great-aunt. “No, we are not going down there.”
Katy looked innocent. “I’m not stupid enough to go down there, but I’d like to see where it is. The lady who owns the sweet shop said if you look along the north wall of the keep, you’ll find a spot that’s been boarded over. The police came out a few years ago and closed it up permanently because of all the things that had happened.” Katy’s smile turned wheedling. “I’m going to take a shower. Then maybe we can go see if it’s still boarded up.” She glanced at Brian. “Since this is your property, you’ll probably want to make sure everything’s safe.”
Brian knew when he was beaten. Besides, if it gave him more time with Ally, it was time well spent. “I’ll meet you after I talk to Jupe.” He watched them return to the wagon, then headed for Jupe’s shelter.
During his short walk, he symbolically washed his hands of the keep’s horrifying history. He couldn’t change the past, and he couldn’t right the wrongs done.
Jupe surprised him by coming out to meet him, but that didn’t blunt Brian’s anger. “I don’t have much of a personal life, Jupe, so it really steams me when someone interferes with it. You wanted Ally to back away from me, and you thought the reality experience would do it. It didn’t work, but if it had, I’d be searching for a new agent as soon as I got home.”
Jupe shook his head. “No, you wouldn’t. We go back too far. I know you better than you know yourself.”
Brian was usually pretty laid-back about Jupe’s manipulating, but not today. “I like Ally. I like it here. I’m enjoying my vacation. Let it alone.”
“Uh-uh. Can’t do that.” Jupe looked as serious as Brian had ever seen him. “We’re the same inside. I came from the outer planets a lot of years before you, but I still remember what it was like. I’m at the top of my profession now, and I’m staying there.”
Brian frowned. “What’s that have to do with me?”
“You worked twelve years to get where you are now. You’re the best. I don’t want you to throw it all away. Ally O’Neill might enjoy having sex with you, but she wouldn’t want the whole package. You don’t belong with her. You don’t belong here.” Jupe’s voice was rising by the second.
“I’m not thinking of staying.” Brian shouldn’t have been bothered by what Jupe said, but he was. Did Jupe have it right? Wouldn’t Ally want him?
“Make sure you keep on thinking that way. You have too much to lose. If you stayed here, you’d blow it all: your career, your kids, everything you’ve ever worked for. No woman is worth that.” Jupe looked a little more relaxed. “You think I manipulate you? That’s nothing compared to what a woman would do.” He grinned at Brian.
“Ally’s not like that.” If Brian was sure of anything, he was sure of that.
“No?” Jupe’s expression turned sly. “I heard her talking with Cap. They were talking about how to get to you. Cap told her to make you open up about your childhood. Sounds like manipulating to me.” He shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. You’re too much like me to fall for that. We both watch out for number one.” He tapped Brian on the chest before heading back to his shelter. “Don’t forget it.”
Brian didn’t even notice when Jupe left. He felt like someone had socked him in the gut. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt this disappointed. Sure you can. But the first time he’d been a little kid. Now he was an adult. He accepted that people weren’t always what you wanted them to be.
Why was she trying to “get to him”? What kind of deal had Cap offered her? And why did it hurt so much?
The scary part? Ally had crept up on his emotions when he wasn’t looking. Brian squared his shoulders. He was okay, would always be okay, because all he really needed was himself.
He’d confront her, give her a chance to have her say, then he’d forget her. But before he forgot her, he wanted his fantasy night, wanted to bury everything he’d started to feel for her in one great night of sex. He’d walk away knowing it had always been about sex.
Jupe would be happy. Brian Byrne didn’t belong in this time and place. He didn’t belong with Ally O’Neill.
Chapter Fifteen
Brian was at about a nine on his personal mad-as-hell scale. And the fact that Ally could make him that angry ticked him off even more.
He strode toward her wagon, anger fueling every step. Another emotion simmered beneath the surface, one that bothered him. Hurt? No, he definitely didn’t want to feel hurt. Anger was a strong emotion. It allowed him to vent on a major scale. Hurt burrowed inside and left a man bleeding.
He’d only known the woman for a few days. That wasn’t enough time to feel hurt.
The Old One padded beside him. “You win, Boss. I don’t like your methods, but this once you were right. I need to know my limits, stay inside the lines. From now on, I do what I do best and stay away from the emotional stuff. Happy now?”
He peered down at her. “Guess you won’t be happy until we get back to 2502. You can’t express too much as a cat.” If he didn’t know her so well, he’d swear she looked depressed.
Glancing up, he saw Ally and Katy waiting for him. Looked like he’d have to hold on to his anger for a while. Katy and the Boss would be way too interested in what he had to say.
“This is an excellent adventure.” Katy looked at Ally and Brian for confirmation.
Brian wasn’t convinced. It was getting less excellent by the minute. He glared at Ally. She returned his gaze, troubled. Good. If he weren’t so angry, he’d laugh. His maturity level was dropping fast.
He walked silently beside Ally up the hill to the keep. She kept space between them, and perversely, that bothered him. Because no matter how mad he was, he still wanted her. His body didn’t recognize emotional conflicts. It had its own agenda.
“Looks like someone got here before us.” Katy sounded disappointed.
Brian glanced in the direction Katy was staring. A large wooden pallet lay on the ground beside a gaping hole. He frowned. If a person got hurt on his property, was he legally responsible? He drew a deep breath. Reality check. This was a tourist site and would stay a tourist site long after he was gone. At least until the place fell down, which according to history, wouldn’t be too long into the future. He’d be pretty safe from lawsuits in 2502.
Thoughts of his departure should have made him feel better. They didn’t.
He positioned himself beside Ally as they grouped themselves around the top of the ancient stone steps. She cast him worried glances.
“Is something the matter? You don’t look too happy.” She leaned closer so Katy couldn’t hear. “Is it last night? Are you still upset about what I did?”
“I’m about sex, babe. That’s all last night was.” The absolute truth? Probably that was all it had been for Ally. He wasn’t quite sure about himself. Everything he did with her seemed to be about something more, something just out of reach. He needed to pin down his feelings because mysteries bothered him.
She didn’t like his answer. He could see it in her narrowed gaze, her tightened lips. “Well, then what?”
Katy was still occupied. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see her hesitating on the top step, trying to peer into the darkness.
“Every once in a while I feel like I want to talk about my childhood. Would that make you happy?” He wasn’t doing a good job of keeping a lid on his anger. Why was he so angry anyway? According to Jupe, Ally was trying to “get to him.” That wasn’t bad. It meant she wanted him. Maybe she was interested for her book, or maybe she just wa
nted his body. So what was the big deal?
“Why do I get the idea this isn’t about your childhood?” She looked puzzled.
If she was faking, she was doing a good job.
Brian shrugged. “Forget it.” He nodded toward Katy. “I think your great-aunt’s getting ready to do some exploring.”
Her attention diverted, Ally turned toward Katy.
Brian frowned. The big deal? She was trying to manipulate him. He hadn’t a clue why he thought Ally shouldn’t be a manipulator. Everyone he knew was one. Hell, he manipulated women during competition. So why shouldn’t Ally do the same thing? He didn’t have it all figured out yet, but he wanted Ally to be up front with him more than he’d wanted anything in a long time.
“I don’t think we should go down there, Katy. You don’t have your light with you, and you could hurt yourself in the dark.” Ally joined Katy in staring into the dark opening.
“You wouldn’t have to go. But you’re right, it doesn’t make much sense for me to go down without my equipment. Maybe tomorrow night . . .” She leaned closer to the opening. “I hear something.”
Brian walked over to stand beside them. “Someone moved the cover, so the person who moved it might still be there.”
“Yoo-hoo, anyone there?” Katy’s shout echoed down the gaping hole.
The answer came almost immediately. “I’m on my way up.”
“Well, poop.” Katy backed away from the steps. “Someone beat me to it. Didn’t sound insane either.”
A short time later, a woman climbed from the hole. “That was so cool. I can’t get enough of this place. Oh, hi, Ally.”
Ally smiled. “You’re a lot braver than me.” She turned to her great-aunt. “This is Claudia. I met her in Liscannor. Old buildings are her thing.”
“This keep is like—” Claudia seemed lost for words—“an obsession with me. I can’t stay away from it.”
Brian glanced up at the keep. Obsession? He should be the one with strong feelings for the old place. This was his family’s heritage. He didn’t. It was just an ancient building with a bloody history. He had better things to obsess about. Like Ally, and what he wanted to say to her. What he wanted to do to her.