by Ann Williams
“Yes, we have,” she agreed quickly, “but you don’t listen to what I have to say. You tell me what I am going to do.” Her blue eyes glinted at him defiantly. “I am not a child, I have been making my own decisions for a long time.”
Sammell was only half listening to her. He hadn’t been this close to her in days and all he could think about was how much he wanted to be closer, but at the same time he realized something about her was different.
His eyes roved her face, and suddenly he knew what it was. The small brown spots—freckles—had reappeared on her cheeks and across the bridge of her nose. And her hair was hanging loose about her shoulders.
While she worked around the camp, he’d noticed that she twisted it in a knot that hung down her back. Spread out on her shoulders as it was now, it looked as soft as the silk he had once felt when he’d touched a cape Bartell had worn one day. He longed to push his fingers through the curls and—
“Are you listening to me?” Marina demanded. She could almost swear he wasn’t. He’d had a faraway look in his eyes just now and she wondered if he was thinking about the woman she’d seen him with.
Sammell forced his attention on her words. “I am listening.”
“Then why don’t you answer me?”
“I failed to hear your question,” he admitted uncomfortably.
“I asked if you regretted our time together?”
“No!”
“Then what?” she asked unhappily. “Have you discovered, now that you are among your own people, that you prefer your own kind?” She couldn’t meet his eyes.
“My own kind?” he asked with a raised eyebrow. “You are my own kind. We come from different time periods, not different planets.”
“Well, sometimes it seems like that.”
Sammell kept his hands at his sides with difficulty, but his voice softened. “I am trying to protect you,” he whispered. “Why will you not let me?”
“Protect me from what?” She took a step closer. “I don’t want to be protected. I want…”
Sammell saw her bite her lip and glance away. A rush of feeling spread through him. As long as he had kept his distance, he’d been able to ignore it, but now…
Light sparked off a tear on Marina’s cheek and Sammell’s heart took a nosedive. Memory of the first time he’d seen her cry came to mind, and a jolt of desire slammed into his belly. He could almost feel her soft skin beneath his fingertips, taste the tear on his tongue.
No! He had to stop this kind of thinking. How could he protect her from Bartell if he could not protect her from himself?
“It is late,” he said.
“And you want me to leave.”
No, he wanted her to stay. But he only looked at her, masking his true feelings with blankness.
“I’m sorry,” Marina said in a low voice, hanging her head. He didn’t want her! “I’m so embarrassed.” She tried to laugh. “I guess I’ll go now….”
She was at the door when he touched her. Marina felt it all the way to her toes. First his hand was on her shoulder and then he was standing close behind her, his body pressing into hers.
“Do not go.” His breath blew warmly against the side of her neck.
“But…you said…”
“I want you to stay.” His hands spanned her waist, drawing her to him, while his lips blazed a trail of liquid fire across the smooth skin of her shoulders and neck.
Marina covered his hands with her own and leaned back against his sinewy length for support, her senses spun with the strength and feel and scent of him.
“A-are you sure?”
Sammell pressed his lips against the side of her neck just below her ear. “Yes…are you?”
In answer Marina turned in his arms and lifted her face for his kiss. His mouth moved over hers with exquisite tenderness and a hot liquid feeling flowed low in her body. Her hands trailed up his arms to his shoulders, and she felt the muscles tighten and quiver beneath her fingers in response.
She pressed against him and felt his impatience in the way he thrust his hips against hers. His mouth opened and his tongue caressed first the top and then her bottom lip, before gliding past them to taste the sweet dark recesses of her mouth.
Marina’s fingers dug into his shoulders, skimmed up his neck and buried themselves in the short hair at the back of his head. She was on fire for him, an open nerve-ending filled with a pulsing need.
Sammell’s hands were everywhere, in her hair, at the sides of her face, cupping her breasts, sliding down her hips to the inside of her thighs. He couldn’t get enough of touching her. And with every touch the hard knot of desire grew.
Marina’s knees turned weak and buckled. Sammell caught her and moved toward the mattress. They went down together, plastered in a close embrace. He couldn’t let her go. Something inside was telling him this was wrong, but the voice was short-circuited by the sensations thundering through him.
Helping each other, they undressed between kisses. As they kicked aside their clothing, Sammell’s hands moved over Marina with a mastery it seemed impossible for him to have learned in such a short time. He appeared to have memorized each spot on her body where his touch gave her the most pleasure. And as his hands paid homage to her silken flesh, his need knew no bounds.
Marina felt the surging heat of his maleness against her thigh and caressed him. Sammell gave a low moan and quivered. His breathing became labored as he pressed her down against the mattress and blazed a trail of liquid fire the length of her body with his lips. The softness of a breast nudged the side of his face, and his lips turned toward it eagerly.
Marina drew his lips back to hers, and Sammell slipped a leg between both of hers and slid over her. Her fingers dug into his back, drawing him closer as he moved between her legs, settling against her with a gentle thrust.
He explored her hungrily, and she opened to him with delight, withholding none of her secrets from him. They made love with exquisite harmony, each quickly roused to the peak of desire.
Their rhythm increased suddenly, and the world dropped away, leaving them on uncharted ground without a hint of gravity. They soared, they floated, they rushed into nothingness, found heaven and touched the stars.
Sammell’s head dipped as waves of sensation tore through him and fastened his lips onto hers. The kiss lasted until he was forced to release Marina’s lips and throw back his head, discharging a cry of male elation.
They held each other while the shock waves of sensation continued to rock them, their bodies still joined. This night of love would forever be imprinted on their hearts and in their minds.
Exhausted, drained of passion, Sammell reached for the blanket and covered them, closing his mind to everything except how good it felt to have Marina’s naked body pressed along the length of his. Tonight she was his—tomorrow could take care of itself.
Marina awoke a few hours later to find Sammell climbing from the bed, wrapping himself in a blanket. She called his name softly, but he wouldn’t look at her.
He was ashamed. He’d let the needs of his body put him in a position that required hurting Marina. Keeping his back to her, he moved to the entrance to the tent. There he stopped and half turned without meeting her eyes.
“I am sorry,” he said tautly. “This changes nothing.”
Clutching the blanket against her nakedness, Marina sat up. “What do you mean?” she asked in a stunned voice.
“I mean that as soon as Darryn’s men return with MDAT, you go home.”
“But…just now… I love you, Sammell. Don’t you—”
“I must go.” He cut her off and quickly exited the tent.
Marina fell back against the mattress with hot tears burning her eyes. How could he leave her this way, and after what they had just shared?
Gathering her clothes, she dressed hurriedly. She wanted nothing so much as to get out of this tent and away from this bed where she’d offered Sammell her heart and he’d taken it, only to throw it back at her a f
ew hours later.
Maybe he was right when he’d told her he didn’t know what love was all about. And maybe she wasn’t the woman to teach him.
Chapter 15
By keeping her mind blank, Marina made her way to the bathing pool without breaking down and crying. She’d be all right as long as she didn’t think about Sammell’s rejection. She would think about it later when she felt stronger.
She expected the pool to be empty at this time of night and it was. Removing her clothing, she stepped into the water, intending to soothe her pain with a long bath.
She was waist-deep in the water when she felt eyes watching her. For an instant she froze, and then the thought that it might have been Sammell coming to tell her that he’d been a fool and he wanted her to stay flashed through her mind. She turned eagerly toward the bank, a smile of welcome on her face.
The smile died the instant she spotted the man standing only a few yards away, watching her.
“Now I see why Sammell was so eager to build a time machine and keep it to himself,” Larkin said, devouring her nakedness with his eyes.
Marina covered her breasts with her hands and backed toward the opposite shore. Darting a swift glance to the left and right, she realized she had no place to go where he couldn’t easily catch her. By the time she climbed out of the water, Larkin would be waiting for her.
Squaring her shoulders, she faced him defiantly. “What do you want? Have you come to join us?”
“Us?” Larkin laughed. “I did not realize you were one of the rebels. If I had, I might have joined before now.”
“How did you get here without the guards seeing you?”
Again he laughed. Marina didn’t like the sound.
“I have come for you.”
“Me?” she asked in surprise.
“Yes. You are the price of my freedom. You and the time machine…and Sammell. He’s a fugitive with a price on his head.”
“You’re going to turn us over to Bartell?”
“I see Sammell kept nothing from you.”
“Why are you doing this? These are your people. If you give MDAT to Bartell, you’ll be killing them. Don’t you feel any sense of responsibility for what you’re doing?”
“I feel a very deep sense of responsibility for myself. If I do not turn you over to Lord Bartell, I will be terminated.”
“Do you have MDAT?”
Larkin’s smile grew. “Come, we are wasting time. A guard will come along soon. If you do not want anyone hurt, get out of the water and come with me.”
“What if I said no? What if I scream?”
Larkin showed her the maser-weapon he’d kept hidden behind his back while they talked. “It would be too bad if you did. Hearing your cries of help would no doubt bring Sammell to the rescue. And Bartell did not say he had to be alive when I turn him over to him.”
“I’ll need my clothes. Please turn your back while I get out of the water and dress.”
Larkin backed up, allowing her access to her clothing, but kept his eyes fastened to her while she dressed.
“You know,” she said, securing the sarong between her breasts, “Sammell told me about you. He said you were a good man.” Lifting her eyes to his face, she added coldly, “Obviously he was mistaken.”
“We have no more time for talk.” Moving her away from the water, he motioned for her to precede him. Marina took a step forward and came up against an invisible wall. Wherever she touched it, she became stuck.
The feeling of being sucked into something alive came over her. She recognized it. She was entering a Recep! Larkin had MDAT!
“Sammell,” Gissel touched him on the arm. “Marina is gone.”
“Gone?” Sammell whirled to face her. “Gone where?”
“No one knows. No one saw her leave camp.”
“Has anyone looked for her beyond the perimeters? Maybe she went for a walk.”
“We have had men looking everywhere. There is no sign of her.”
“Larkin!”
“What?”
“This is Larkin’s work. He has Marina, I am sure of it. That means he must have MDAT, too. The only way he could have gotten into camp and taken her without anyone knowing is by using MDAT.”
“No.” Gissel shook her head. “I am sorry, but you are mistaken.”
“What do you mean?”
“The men Darryn sent to recover MDAT have returned. They brought the time machine with them.”
“MDAT is here? Quickly, take me to it.”
“I am sorry Sammell,” Darryn said as he strode into the center of the compound. “We have searched everywhere. I do not know how this has happened—”
“He thinks Larkin has her,” Gissel interrupted him.
Darryn looked surprised. “Larkin?”
“Yes. This is his work,” Sammell replied. “As I suspected, he has a time machine.”
“But we destroyed the machine in the lab,” Darryn protested.
“Yes, but I suspect that Larkin has another—perhaps one not even Bartell knows about.”
“I do not understand.”
“Do you not see? Larkin has taken Marina because he knows I will go after her. The price of his freedom must be MDAT, Marina and me.
“I very much doubt that Bartell knows about Larkin’s time machine because Larkin would be a fool to trust Bartell, no matter what he has promised him. Knowing the way Bartell thinks, I would expect Bartell to take what Larkin brings him and repay him with termination. Larkin is smart—he must suspect that, too.”
“What do you think Larkin plans to do with the second time machine?” Gissel asked.
Sammell looked at her. “Fight Wyndom for supremacy. Can you imagine the chaos the two could bring to this planet by a war waged with such machines?”
Gissel put a hand to her mouth and moved closer to Darryn. “What will you do?” she asked fearfully.
“Stop him.”
“But how?”
“Outthink him—I hope.”
With Darryn and Gissel’s help, Sammell set up his own machine. Since he didn’t know exactly what time Marina had disappeared, or where she’d been when it had happened, he had to guess.
“I still do not know if I understand what you are planning to do,” Darryn said, going over the information Sammell had given him about the settings.
“It is very simple. I will try to travel into the past a short time ahead of Larkin. And I will be waiting for him when he arrives.”
“Yes, but what will you do then? You refuse to take a weapon. You can be sure Larkin will have one. What if he decides to use it?”
“I will wait and see what happens before I worry about that.” Sammell finished assembling the Recep and took his place inside it. “I am ready. Have you locked in the coordinates?”
Darryn checked the monitor and nodded. “Everything is ready when you are.”
“Ready,” he called and watched Darryn begin to key in the numbered sequence. Since he didn’t know where to arrive any more than he knew exactly when to arrive, he’d chosen to arrive outside the camp just after his guard duty had ended. He knew Marina had been in camp at that time.
Focusing his attention on the monitor, he watched the numbers roll across the screen and heard MDAT begin to roar. The whine of the lens opening startled him into looking directly at it, and for a moment he was blinded by the thin beam of bright blue light pouring forth.
The Recep began to glow a deep violet. Sammell looked down at his hands and saw that they were glowing, too. There was a crack of lightning, the world exploded in a burst of blue light and all the air was abruptly sucked out of the Recep.
Falling to his knees, lungs burning, Sammell gasped for air. His senses abruptly began to swim and the world turned black.
He awoke sometime later and looked around. It was dark and he was lying on the ground outside the camp. He could see the campfires in the distance and hear the sounds of people talking and laughing. Laughter was a sound he had not yet g
otten used to, but it cheered him.
Getting to his feet, he looked down and realized he was wearing the clothing he’d worn the day before—before he’d gone to bathe after he’d gotten off guard duty. Good, that meant he was at least in the right time frame. Now, if he could only find Larkin.
He moved around the camp on silent feet, keeping in the shadows, watching for the guards. Since he was in the past, a warning issued beforehand for them to be on the watch for him had been useless. He was on his own.
He saw Marina leave her tent and wander around the camp, talking to a few people who had not yet retired. A few minutes later, he was shocked to see himself standing near the bathing pool in conversation with one of his people.
It was a strange feeling, watching yourself, knowing there were two of you in the same place and only one knew about the other. He had no explanation for it. This was something he hadn’t taken into consideration.
But there wasn’t time to concentrate on finding an answer because he had more important things to consider—Marina’s safety, for one. He would think about this inexplicable development later when they were both safe from Larkin’s treachery.
Sammell moved constantly for the next hour, wandering on the edges of the camp, keeping an eye on Marina. And then he saw her follow him to his own tent and the memory of what had taken place there that night made him feel hot all over. He couldn’t help moving to the back of the tent and listening to the conversation taking place inside as though he’d had no part in it.
As Marina and his other self conversed, in his mind, Sammell relived the moment when he had touched her—when she had turned in to his arms. And though he couldn’t see what the two inside were doing, he tasted Marina’s sweetness on his lips. She was so beautiful and he had wanted her so much.
Sounds from inside the tent drifted to his ears. The sounds of their lovemaking blended with his memories and it was as if he lived it all over again. He could feel her soft breasts beneath his fingers, her wet mouth over his, her softness enfolding him and suddenly he was fully aroused, the strength of his arousal a terrible pain in his groin.