"You will obey me, Victoria." But he knew she would do as she pleased. Cameron had watched his wife carefully, and he was amazed at the strength of the emotions that had swept through him as he studied her face. There had been some light of determination in her eyes then a touch of fear as a small shudder had wracked her body. It lasted only a heartbeat. Then her chin had tilted regally, almost defiantly. She would not be frightened or swayed by his command. She hated the pain and the misery that the virus caused, and she would fight to find the cure.
She would not give in, had never given in, not to her father's edicts, nor to his command. Savage would have to guard her very well.
Nessa was there as was Luke.
Luke's eyes had suddenly touched Cameron's as if he sensed his need, as if he understood his impulsive rebellious wife. Then Luke had nodded.
Nessa had smiled then. "We will all help you. In every way we can."
Her simple words had warmed him, yet he reminded himself that Tori had a way about her, a way to get what she wanted, and a way to wrap even the staunchest of souls around her little finger. Perhaps Nessa knew her too well. Perhaps Nessa was stronger than she seemed.
Cameron didn't allow himself to hope. His eyes had narrowed as he watched Tori. Give over! he longed to warn her.
He spoke quickly. "Then you'll keep her here in the tower while I'm gone, while I'm working."
"Am I a prisoner then?"
Cameron nodded. "If that's what you want to think."
Tori turned, watching him, a curious light in her eyes, a vision of sweetness and grace as her hair cascaded over her shoulders.
"Victoria?" Nessa said cautiously. "You must be careful."
"I'm always careful," Tori said softly.
Hell would freeze over! Cameron thought. He'd chuckled, staring at her, her lashes innocently lowered.
After dressing, he'd gone back to her. When he left her, she was asleep, her face angelic in the morning sunlight, he could almost believe. But he was wise to her ways and he knew she was angelic only in her sleep. She beguiled. She aroused. She was her own person.
She tested him beyond endurance, always walking the border between what he could accept and what he could not.
Analyzing and investigating, everything, she kept Luke in awe, proclaiming her just about the most amazing woman he'd ever met, as she showed him the research she'd been doing. Showed him her lab and the plants she had nurtured from seeds.
An obvious game, Cameron had wanted to tell her. Luke was loyal to him and he'd never step between them, never allow her anything he himself did not allow.
Yet when they'd taken a break, she had Luke talking, explaining his own position. There was so very much to talk about.
But watching her, Cameron had realized that she beguiled men to speak, to tell their deepest darkest secrets. Even beyond that nothing seemed to escape her. She noticed everything, all his entries into the computer, all the changes he made in her program.
She was quite determined to know what he was planning. When he'd sent her to their room, she'd found one excuse after another to stay with him until he'd finally found her asleep with her head resting on her arms, deeply asleep. He'd regretted that, because he had to stay and finish. Nessa helped. He'd realized then that Nessa was loyal to him, but beyond all that she did want to protect her twin.
Later, after saying good night to Luke then to Nessa, he'd carried Victoria to their bed. She'd woken up then, disheveled, glorious.
Perhaps she'd seen the look in his eyes, perhaps not. She'd watched him as he undressed. Her eyes had been wide and simmering with heat and, he'd prayed, passion. But he wasn't at all sure what it meant.
Yet when he would have slipped into bed, would have pulled her close and held her through the night, she'd turned from him, once again giving him her back. It was an exquisite back, but then, so was her front.
When he ran his finger down her spine, she'd trembled slightly and a soft sigh came from her lips. He rolled quickly, taking her into his arms. "Ah, my touch makes you moan with desire."
"It does nothing of the sort. I was dreaming," she'd protested. "I'm too tired."
"We will make new dreams--wonderful, beautiful dreams."
Those exquisite gray eyes of hers darkened and seemed to shimmer. "Nightmares, I'm sure."
"Never--never anything that isn't pleasant."
"Conceited--arrogant--"
"Barbarian?" he said softly. "You will keep your promise."
"Which one? I've had to make so many lately I can't remember," she said sweetly.
"If it means you must rack your brain to remember promises made, then you will do it."
She gasped, wide-eyed and breathtakingly innocent.
"I've kept my word. Yet you refuse to see that. Would you ever think to ask, I might be more favorable to the end results." He brushed the fullness of her lower lip with his thumb. And he spoke the truth as he did so. "Ah, babe, if I could only believe that. Instead, I believe you would smile that winsome smile of yours, nod your pretty head in affirmation then do exactly as you please. I know exactly how your mind works. So I warn you. Let's talk no more of this. I'm not one to believe in your innocence nor am I madly in love with you. You cannot seduce and beguile me into letting you have your own way."
She lowered her lashes. "No."
To his surprise, her hands rose to wind through his hair then down until they rested on his shoulders. When she looked at him, her gaze was sultry and so very provocative. He realized then that she had listened to him very well and she knew this game. Oh but she toyed with him. And he loved everything she did.
"What now, my lady? A kiss? Perhaps more? But remember, I am a barbarian."
"A baboon," she whispered softly. Tentatively her lips touched down on his. He was instantly inflamed, and more than willing to let her play this game to its proper conclusion. She had learned well. Her instincts were perfect. The night was long.
When the morning came and he lay awake next to her, he knew he would never forget what she had given him. Indeed, she had given him her heart, her soul and perhaps more. He needed her again, craved her in the most urgent of ways. There was something infinitely mysterious about her, and he was sure he would never discover every secret, even if he searched a lifetime. He intended to do just that.
Although he knew she would always be there for him, something new fascinated him every time they came together. The amber cascade of curls down her long back intrigued him as well as the glimmer in her eyes just before she reached for the stars. The courage she battled him with each time he commanded.
She would not give up or give in.
There were days when she disappeared for hours on end, and no amount of searching would find her. She was still determined to have her way. A simple act of defiance yet it tore at him because he was so very afraid for her. Somehow he knew that if he located her, he would find her behind a computer or spinning test tubes, denying him all the while. Once he had almost torn the center apart looking for her, setting off three alarms in the process. Luke, for a short time, followed him then left after an hour, mumbling something about insanity.
He had found her though, in the visitor's center, innocently dusting the shelves of pamphlets and books. When he'd stepped close to her, she'd lowered her lashes demurely then looked up at him. Innocence poured from her. "I've been looking for you."
"I've not been hard to find."
"You've been damn hard to find."
Those dark rich lashes fell over her eyes. She tapped her chin with her finger. "I've been staying out of your way--as you commanded."
His eyes narrowed. "I want to know what you are up to!"
She was hiding something. Her gaze flitted around the room. Perhaps he had better watch her more carefully, being fully aware she had the capability to find trouble wherever she went.
"Where were you?"
She stepped back. "It is no deep dark secret. As you can see, I am here in the center--dusting."
He could not stop the apprehension. Although Morray had left the area, Sheridan was still in the City. He was ensconced at the Council of Representatives, fighting the new legislation, legislation that Jonathan was proposing. Laws that would make it so much easier to come and go from the cities. It would bring Outsider and City Dweller into closer contact. It would also bring laws into affect that would liberalize medicine, allowing new research and development of drugs, laws that would allow him to perform the genetic surgery.
"Hell!" he seethed suddenly. "If there is another way out..."
"Out?" she said sweetly. Then a smiled curved her lips. "I do assure you if there is a secret passage to the forest, I would never tell you."
"But I will find it and seal it."
She tilted her chin regally. Something she was very good at, he determined, since she seemed to do it so often.
"Very well." Maybe something in the heated look he cast her way gave her reason for alarm. She stepped back once more. "It will not be so easy--to find."
"I have men here, men who are willing to spend days if, necessary, searching for you should you go missing. Let it go, Tori. For your sake, for your very life let it go."
She shuddered softly. "I already have."
"Really? We are married and what we do at this center can now be called treasonous. Unless Jonathan is successful in the next few days, we will have to continue to take very great care. I will have to know my friends from my enemies. I need to know you are safe."
"Do you really think I would sacrifice our people, just to spite you? Do you think that little of me?"
Her eyes narrowed dangerously. Perhaps he'd pushed her too far; perhaps he shouldn't provoke her so, but he wanted honesty. He needed, craved the truth from her.
She swore furiously. "Let it go. Leave me alone...please."
"But I can't. Promise me you won't leave the tower without a body guard." He gripped her shoulders as she tried to dash away. "Please, Victoria--"
She tried to twist away, but he found himself holding her still, looking down into the fathomless depths of her dove-gray eyes, and at the same time longing to make love to her.
He wanted to slip his fingers into the velvet flowing mantle of her hair. "Ah, babe, the depth of your sweet innocence continually amazes me, and your sweet gasps of astonishment proclaim exactly what you are."
She pushed on his chest and tried to escape his hold. "Savage--"
"Come on, sweetheart, whisper to me. Tell me how you crave me and only me, not the Phantom."
Her chin rose a notch. The set of her mouth, the look in her eyes, her very expression challenged him. "You would have me tell you I love you, when you've just taunted me with honesty, with truth. When you come to bed each night wishing you were somewhere else--anywhere else."
"What?" Instantly his hands fell away, eyes slanting dangerously.
She slipped away from him, hesitating as if she had something more to say. "You didn't want me anymore than I wanted you."
"You're wrong."
Yet she was right too, and he felt a strange sense of guilt at the words she'd carelessly hurled at him. At first he had not wanted her. He had thought to sacrifice himself at the time. But after he got to know her--even a little--no power on earth could have made him marry her if somewhere deep inside he had not wanted to. He was haunted by Tori, by her memory, by the dangerously impulsive child and now the stubborn, willful woman. His craving for her and even his admiration for her never seemed to diminish.
"So what do you care of my past or even my future for that matter?" she murmured softly.
He caught her shoulders and held them, lowering his head until they were eye-to-eye. "You are mine, Tori," and I'm falling in love with you. "Don't ever forget that. You're my wife."
All the color bled from her face. She was trembling beneath his fingertips.
What the devil was she up to?
Frustration was turning to anger, her reticence confused him, and she did it deliberately.
But her arms suddenly wound around his neck. "I would not betray you!" she whispered. Her lips were against his throat. His arms encircled her.
Now as he watched the sun then looked to the dirt that swirled around his feet, he was obsessed by the memory of Aisling's words in the forest.
She will betray you...
She had already done just that, yet she hadn't. Pain welled deep inside, frustration haunting him.
Aisling had always predicted the future. Always. She believed in destiny, but then why had she told him, warned him of the betrayal? Perhaps he could change his fate. Perhaps...
She was at the lab now. He was quite sure there were no secret passages to make possible an escape. He knew Luke watched her while he was gone, and Luke was forever loyal. It was all he could hope for, all he could pray for. In the night she had come to him, passionately, willingly, yet in the day she continued to battle him. He wanted peace.
When it was dark, he felt it--that little breath of surrender, the sweet feeling that she was his. Then the sun would rise.
He had brought them to this. It was, he admitted, his fault. Now, as he waited for Jonathan, he knew it would be a long time, if ever, before anything would change. He would find no peace, not in the research center nor within the world.
He wiped the sweat from his brow, growing more impatient as the sun beat down on him and the rays bounced between the concrete of the building surrounding him.
Cameron felt the hair on the back of his neck stiffen. He was instantly alert and backed further into the shadows, determined to see before he was seen. But as he anticipated, Jonathan came striding toward him.
"Savage!" He walked closer, holding out his hand to Cameron. Cameron clasped it quickly. "You're a damn good sight to see. I've heard about the chase and the wedding. My beautiful cousin has kept you a busy man."
Beneath the cool facade of indifference Cameron tried to emulate, he grimaced. "She's quite the little she devil," he admitted.
Jonathan laughed. "Indeed. She had one hell of a teacher."
"Then I should challenge you. A duel would be fitting for all she's put me through."
"Hmm. I trust you've been gentle."
"That doesn't deserve an answer, but, yes. As gentle as I can be under the circumstances."
"These are dangerous times. Now the pressure increases. Did you come with bad news or to tell me you can, indeed, change a person's genetic makeup? Within the hour, I must have something tangible to report and ready to argue against those who would stop us. The senate will vote today."
"I have documents. I have proof. I've located the apparatus used once before and I know what went wrong."
"The people are afraid. They are always afraid. Yet they sit in the cities and they die from a disease that doesn't even send an Outsider to bed. Every day the signe virus mutates, changes its form slightly. We cannot inoculate...we can no longer protect until the virus has taken hold of its victims."
Jonathan turned then, hitting his hand violently against the wall, swearing. "Yes, Cameron, I know the consequences. I know what's at stake. Your procedure is the only way."
"Damn her...hell! I told her, no, commanded her to stay put. Those times I couldn't find her, Victoria went to you--didn't she?" He hesitated, feeling a swift simmering of anger within him. "I thought we had agreed! She plays--toys with her life and others. She must stop. Now."
"Cameron, I know we agreed, but I cannot control her anymore than you."
"I will control her even if I have to lock her in the tower. And you..."
"I tell her what I think. Threaten--yes, I've even begged her, but Cameron, she does not listen."
Cameron set his jaw, his muscles tense. She would not win this game she played, he determined. He began to lecture Jonathan again then reminded himself that Victoria had Jonathan dancing to her beck and call a long, long time ago. Nothing would change now even if he decreed it. Tori was his wife and he would see to her well-being and to prote
cting her life. He would make sure she remained where he could keep an ever-watchful eye on her. But then he reminded himself he'd set Luke to keeping an eye on her and she'd still managed to leave the tower.
"Do not be too hard on her," Jonathan implored.
"Hard?" Cameron echoed.
"She's a sweet innocent little--"
"She's my wife and I don't know how..." Cameron finished for him.
Jonathan turned away for a moment and Cameron's brow rose in question. Then he turned back. "She claims you're an unfeeling baboon and you make her life miserable. You won't let her work in the lab without supervision. She can't turn on a computer unless your man, Luke, is hovering behind her. The key-cards have disappeared and even Nessa obeys your command, not hers. She says The Phantom treated her abominably, trying to seduce her at every turn. 'He's a despicable creature,' she says. You're a lady's man, Savage. Why can't you charm my cousin?" Jonathan inquired.
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