He captured her lips with his and passion ignited that sizzled through her clear to her toes. This man had abilities that were off the chart. Instantly he untucked the shirt from Torgo’s pants, which hung low on her hips. His hand glided over her flesh, moving up underneath the loose shirt until he cupped her breast. Darius tweaked her nipple and the need that had already been stirred to life inside her suddenly reached dangerous levels.
Tara wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer. Heat from his lips, his flesh, his hands, set her blood to boil. Tara arched into him, pressing the length of her body against his. Every inch of him was so hard with warrior packed muscle and touching him sent rushes of energized chills throughout her body.
Darius grabbed her rear end with his free hand, pressing her against him.
When his mouth left hers, she gasped for air. He began a trail of kisses down her neck. She let her head fall back giving him full access.
Darius maintained a tight grip, his touch fueling a fever rising within her. She began sensing, through fogged thinking, that he interpreted her reaction to his passion as submission. He wanted to control her. Tara would have to show him how Runner women expected to be treated. She pushed to put distance between them. It took more effort than she thought. The moment she tried freeing herself from his embrace, all that packed muscle surrounding her tightened, holding her prisoner.
“You’re not my enemy,” Darius informed her. “You’re my match in every way. I don’t want the likes of you as an enemy.”
She smiled at him and then went up on tiptoe to brush her lips against his again. “So, do you want to ride that motorcycle?”
“Soon,” he said and pulled her to him. Both hands were under her clothes now, down into her pants, and clutched her bare ass. He pressed her against him and set her on fire.
Tara collapsed to the ground pulling him onto her. She needed skin against skin, wanted to explore this virile body that had grown to be more than a distraction. She yanked at his shirt.
He assisted by putting enough distance between them to take off the offending material. He reached for his pants.
But she stopped him. “I want to do it.” His grin gave her a rush, and goose bumps danced over her skin.
Tara pulled free the belt and squatted. She then tugged off his boots, looking up at him. “Does a powerful woman threaten you, my lord?” she whispered, taking one boot, then the other, off.
“Nothing about you threatens me, my lady.” His blond curls bordered his face as he looked down at her with such intense gray eyes.
Tara pulled down his pants. She placed kisses around the thick mass of hair that did nothing to hide his rockhard arousal. It might threaten him once he learned she was heir to lead all Runner clans. Her title equalled his if not surpassed it.
She offered his erection no attention, but kissed her way down his legs as she pulled his pants off of him. “I might say the same of you,” she murmured, glancing up at him although her vision blurred as she breathed in his heady scent.
“Now it’s my turn, my lady.” Darius reached under her arms and dragged her over his naked and aroused body. He shocked her wherever he touched her, and the moisture between her legs soaked through her clothes.
Darius didn’t take as long to undress her. She was naked within seconds. He held her as he rolled to his side, then placed her on her back. Darius took her hands and laid them above her head. Then, slowly, he kissed her. And slowly, so slowly, he moved down her body, kissing every inch along the way.
“Submitting to me, trusting me, in no way makes you less of who you are.” His hands caressed and stroked as he continued his exploration. And his voice was a sultry rumble against her flesh when he continued speaking. “Our ways are new to you, my lady, but I’m a patient man.”
When Tara wondered how much truth there actually was in that statement, Darius drove his point home. There was no rush this time. She let her head back and surrendered to his perfect torture.
Darius wanted to explore and get to know, very well, every inch of her. He spread her legs, and she didn’t fight him. Instead she lifted her hips off the ground, moaning her eagerness for him to continue. Darius chuckled as he blew soft air onto the downy hair between her legs. Tara gasped, and he enjoyed watching the rush over her body. He saw her glistening moistness surrounding her entrance and proving how aroused she was. He kissed the moist area first, then tasted her. Tara yelped and arched her hips further, grabbing the back of his head as she fought her release.
It was her way. Apparently this was how Runners raised their women. Tara wanted to control every aspect of her life, including her orgasm. This might as well be one of her first lessons.
Darius smiled, knowing she was exactly where he wanted her to be. He licked his lips as he sat up, enjoying her taste on him. Tara groaned and reached to pull him back to her. He searched her fogged-over blue eyes as he situated himself above her, resting his erection against her swollen opening. Tara arched again, trying to enclose herself around him.
He was engorged, and he needed to slam into that heat. But he teased her for a moment, until her blue eyes widened, and her mouth opened in a silent protest. The moment he knew her explosion was eminent, he entered her. He moved with a steady pace, pushing into her heat until he felt intoxicated, then pulling back until his body shook with need to return to the center of her heat.
Tara reached for him, her face flushed and beyond beautiful. Her blue eyes were wild when she succeeded only in scratching his chest before he grabbed her hands. He held them over her head with one hand and pressed his other palm against her hip.
“Still,” he grumbled.
Darius stroked her inner satiny walls with his cock. She was so hot. So incredibly wet. And when she shook her head from side to side, refusing his command in spite of him having her pinned and her apparent inability to speak, her hair streamed across her face and around her shoulders. If he stared at her for the rest of his life it wouldn’t be enough. No one would have ever made him believe a woman would get to him like this.
“Darius!” she cried out.
Her pussy pulsated against his dick. The heat surrounding his shaft was almost unbearable. Darius thrust harder, impaling her with more force than he had with her so far.
“Yes. Yes!” Once again her feverish gaze pinned his. “Like that,” she said, breathless. “Don’t stop.”
He didn’t want to. Hell be doomed! It was the last thing he ever wanted to do. Telling Tara to obey him wouldn’t work. Her nature was too structured. And his guess was that she’d been allowed to run wild doing what she wished. He had to show her how to submit.
Darius slowed his pace.
The look Tara gave him might have been comical when she suddenly looked outraged. She struggled against his grip on her wrists.
“I said don’t stop,” she hissed through clenched teeth.
“I’m not stopping, my lady,” he promised her. “But you will consent to my lead.”
Tara relaxed noticeably and quit struggling against his grip on her hands. She let out a loud sigh. “Don’t make me hurt you,” she said, her voice low and threatening.
This time he did chuckle. Tara suddenly asserted all her strength against him. Darius let go of her hands and she came to a sitting position, pushing against his chest.
“I’m taking over,” she informed him.
Darius pushed her to the ground, grabbed her legs, spread them then let her heels rest against his shoulders when he leaned over her. “That won’t be happening any time soon, my lady.”
He crushed his mouth to hers when she opened it, likely to cry out her insistence that she wouldn’t submit. Tara’s fingers glided up his arms and to the back of his neck. She clasped them there and moaned into his mouth.
It was his undoing. If she ever learned he might do whatever she wanted just to hear that sound, to feel her suffocating heat around him, all would be lost. Darius drove deep inside her. He thrust, feeling the frictio
n create a fire between them too hot to extinguish. He rode her until she knew he planned on never letting her go. When the pressure building inside that heat became too much, he thrust hard, aggressively, and brought them to climax simultaneously.
Tara stared at him, fighting for her breath.
He’d controlled her, and he knew it.
Tara dressed in silence, almost disbelieving of the sex she had just experienced. No man had ever done to her body what Darius had just done. She was numb, more than satisfied, and almost in awe. Her thoughts still floated in a fog of aftermath.
Darius dressed without saying anything then pulled her close as they faced the breath-taking view that stretched endlessly beyond the edge of the cliff. It felt right being in his arms. He was strong, powerful, and still very dangerous. But then, she noted and grinned, so was she. All of it excited her.
“I’ll ride that bike of yours now.” He returned behind them to the edge of the ledge they were on and shimmied down to the first set of rocks. Darius reached for her to help her down as well.
Tara laughed. “I’m your match in every way. I believe those were your words.” She sat and scooted down the rocks without his assistance.
They leapt down the remaining within seconds were back at the eagerly climbed onto her bike.
rocks together and motorcycles. Darius
“Are all Runner bikes this small?” he asked. Tara made a face at him. “That’s my bike and you’ll take care of it.”
She showed him the order in which to push the buttons on her handlebar to start the bike. His satisfied smile turned to a frown when she climbed onto his bike. “Are you sure it’s not too big for you, my lady?”
“My papa’s bike is at least this big, and I have ridden it a time or two, my lord.” She stressed his title, sarcastically implying his superiority over her.
Side by side, they rode down the rocky road and back out to the meadow.
Tara enjoyed riding the big, noisy, cumbersome motorcycle. There was something raw and untamed about it, although it would be difficult to use in battle, she thought. However, the nature of the Gothman wasn’t to sneak up and attack their opponent but to roar into battle with screams and confidence of victory. This bike suited Darius’s nature just fine. If anything, she understood Lord Darius and his people just a little bit better after riding on the large bike that took each rut in the earth with a roll of superiority. She wondered what Darius concluded of her nature after riding her bike. When they’d passed the first group of hills, he slowed her bike to a stop. She pulled up next to him.
“Park my bike here and climb on behind me. I’ll come get it shortly. It’ll make it a bit easier to justify the story I’m planning to tell if we are seen. When we’re back, you may take Torgo out to the field and give him his lesson. I know he’s quite eager, and there’s no reason to disappoint the boy.”
Tara climbed on behind him. Her bike wasn’t designed to carry two easily, but she enjoyed being as close to him as was required for them to ride together. She wrapped her hands around his waist and locked her fingers together. He held her two hands in his and skillfully drove her bike back to the shed with his free hand.
CHAPTER SIX
A HALF-CYCLE of riding lessons proved enough for
Torgo. Tara awoke one morning to the sound of his bike cruising over the hills. She lay in her bed for a while listening to the rumble of the teenager’s motorcycle and remembering her first experiences on one. She’d felt so mature and independent riding by herself, free to go wherever she pleased. Tara knew what Torgo must be experiencing without getting up to go to the balcony and watch.
Tara showered, dressed, and was absolutely ravenous as she hurried down the stairs to help prepare breakfast. Hilda and Darius were in the kitchen talking. Hilda didn’t sound pleased.
“I just don’t understand. It was you yourself that said it was final.” Hilda wrung her hands as Tara entered.
“It is final. However, I have matters of ruling my people, mama. Now isn’t a good time.”
“You’re people need this. There’ll be talk, otherwise.” Hilda reached for her son.
“Oh blast it all with your talk, woman,” Darius barked. “I said it’s final and that’s the way of it. Nothing more need be done. If there’s talk, I’ll rely on you to silence it.”
“Good morning.” Tara looked at the two of them ready with questions.
“Tara, certainly you want…” Hilda looked at Tara as if relieved that she would side with her on whatever issue she and her son were talking about.
“Mama!” Darius interrupted her with a firm tone in his voice. “Tara, walk with me to my bike.”
Tara watched Hilda grab a dishtowel and twist it in her hands. She was clearly upset. When the two women made eye contact, Hilda waved after her son, who already was out the back door.
“Best do as your told,” she said to Tara.
Tara hated having it said she was doing as she was told. Now didn’t seem the right moment to pick a fight, however. She followed Darius into the backyard. He took long strides toward his motorcycle. Tara almost ran to catch up with him. There were more of his men than usual in the yard, all sitting on their bikes, as if they had been waiting.
“I’ll meet you out front.” He gestured with his thumb, indicating they should go.
None of them said a word, although most took a good look at Tara before slowly driving toward the front of the house.
“What’s going on?” Tara watched his mean leave. The conversation in the kitchen with his mama had spurred her curiosity. Now, the presence of more of his men than usual really had her interest piqued. Not to mention, they were armed. She wondered what Darius was leaving to do. She also wondered if he would ever confide in her…that is, if she decided to stay with him.
Darius waited until his men had disappeared toward the front side of the house, then placed his hand on the back of Tara’s neck and guided her toward the shed. He didn’t let go of her when the small structure blocked their view of his house, and anyone else’s view of them.
“You’ll tell my mama that you’re a Runner.”
“What? No. Why?” The moment she asked it became apparent that he was not accustomed to having his commands questioned.
“You’ll do as I say,” he informed her, and his lips pressed into a narrow line on his well-chiseled face. Darius stroked the back of her neck with his thumb. “I don’t have time to explain everything to her. She’s asking questions. You’ll answer them.” He tilted her head back by pressing under her jaw bone. “You’ll make sure she understands that you’re here because you want to be.”
“I’m not so sure this is a good idea.”
Darius smiled. It was only a small play at the side of his mouth. Tara had come to learn that for him that might as well be a full grin.
“How do your people handle you?”
Tara didn’t hesitate in answering. “They do as I say.”
Darius shook his head but then pulled her to him and kissed her forehead. “Behave while I’m gone.”
“Where are you going?” Tara sensed some type of military excursion. She wasn’t accustomed to being left out of such things. “Your men are dressed for battle.”
“There are some rumors.” He twisted a strand of her hair between his fingers. “They haven’t been confirmed. But possibly, the Sea People are preparing an attack.” He tightened his grip on her hair. “Ah, your eyes are glowing. You think this is exciting.”
Tara didn’t smile though. She didn’t need protection from the harsh realities of whatever was going on. “What are the rumors?”
“Just that their armies are moving close to the Gothman borders. I’m riding out now to confirm.” A slight breeze lifted his blond curls. It didn’t soften the sudden hardened look he gave her. “You will focus on explaining who you are to my mama. She will be upset at first but she likes you. Be gentle with her, give her time, and she will continue liking you as she always has.”
; “I don’t think I could sit by and not fight if you’re invaded.” Tara knew how much she could help him.
Darius saw more than that. “You’re showing your loyalty to Gothman.” He leaned down and kissed her. “Be good while I’m gone. Go talk to my mama. I’ll be back soon.”
He got on his motorcycle and she watched him leave.
An idea came to her as she entered the kitchen, and she approached Hilda with enthusiasm. “My lady, I’d like to invite Reena over this afternoon. I haven’t seen her in a while, and I have something I want to tell you. I’d like her to be here for it.”
Hilda’s face lit up. “Ah, a splendid idea.” Hilda grinned broadly and then opened the pantry to inspect the shelves. “While you’re doing your morning chores, I’ll drive into town and pick up a few things. I hear the blueberries are good and fresh. We’ll have some of those, and I’ll whip some cream. Cold cuts will work well, don’t you think? Set out some potatoes to boil. I’ll make a hot potato salad to go with the sandwiches. You might want to pick some fresh flowers for the vases.”
Tara smiled. Hilda hurried upstairs to change for her trip into town. For now, she’d made the old woman happy. She grabbed the Gothman communications device, which hung on the wall, and untwisted the thick cord to the mouth and ear piece. Tara placed the call to Reena, who also thought the idea was splendid.
Tara sat in the kitchen by herself and ate another frosted roll for breakfast before starting her housework. She felt bad about not telling Reena she’d only been invited for moral support. Mulling over in her head the speech she would give to Hilda, it dawned on her that she hadn’t asked Darius what questions his mama had been posing. Seeing the guards had completely distracted her. She didn’t like that Darius was out in some field going over military tactics while she sat here preparing for a luncheon.
But that was why she had entered Gothman, right? She had wanted to understand a different way of living, this different culture. Yet, she hadn’t planned on the Age Of Searching changing her life forever. She merely wanted to enter Gothman and observe.
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