by Jane Godman
Lidi followed the direction of Ged’s pointing finger. At one end of the square, there was a stage decorated with festive greenery. “For two nights, a group of traveling actors and musicians will put on a performance as part of the Genoa Christmas market. When they leave here tomorrow night, they are taking a bus to Frankfurt. We’ll be with them.”
Lidi was silent for a few moments. “Do they know?”
“Not yet.” Ged held up his cell phone. “Their organizer is about to get a call from my personal assistant. In exchange for a large donation, she’ll ask them to allow a couple of musicians to join them for the remainder of their Genoa dates and to travel with them to Frankfurt. Two days will give me enough time to get your fake passport organized.” He studied her face. “What have I said?”
“Musicians? Ged, I haven’t got a musical bone in my body.”
“Okay. We’ll compromise and be dancers instead.”
She started to laugh. “I’m a bear.”
He grinned. “Then I guess I’d better make my calls before we start the dancing lessons.”
* * *
Lidi hung her head, half laughing, half embarrassed. “I don’t understand. You’re a bear shifter, as well. How can you possibly have any musicality? It’s like expecting an elephant to perform in the ballet.”
“Years ago, there were dancing bears. But you’re right—it had nothing to do with ability. It was a cruel method of enslaving our wild counterparts that has, fortunately, been outlawed in most countries.” As he spoke, he tried to imagine a life without music. It was impossible. Like picturing food without flavor or a poem without sentiment. But Lidi was right; most bear shifters viewed themselves as lumbering, clumsy creatures, far removed from any artistic endeavor. “I suppose it depends how dominant our human senses are. My mother was a singer and music was her life. I guess she passed that passion on to me.”
“Is that why you started a rock band?”
When they stepped back inside, Ged had moved the furniture to the sides of the room, clearing enough space so he could show Lidi some simple dance steps. From her demeanor, he had a feeling it wasn’t going to be easy.
“Partly. I’d rescued the members of the band from some very difficult situations. Once I recognized their abilities, I realized bringing them together would be a form of therapy. For all of us.” He smiled at the memory. “None of us could have foreseen what Beast would become.” He took his cell phone out of his pocket and scrolled through to find the song he wanted. Music, slow and sensuous, filled the room. Ged held out his hands. “No more delays. Let’s dance.”
Although Lidi took his hands, she shook her head. “You have set yourself an impossible task. The part of me that is human may be even clumsier than my inner bear.”
“That’s why we’re going to stick with something that requires you to be in my arms for the duration of the dance. It’s very slow and romantic. All you need to do is follow my lead.”
He raised her hand to his lips and pressed a kiss onto her fingertips. Sliding a hand down her back, he drew her close, holding her so the length of their bodies was connected. “I want you to copy what I do.” He placed his right hand on Lidi’s left shoulder and gripped her waist with his left hand. Obediently, she mirrored his stance. “We start with only a slight swaying of our bodies. Slow at first, increasing in tempo as the music builds. The important thing is to maintain eye contact throughout the dance. I need to see your feelings reflected in your eyes, just as you will know from my face what the feel of your body is doing to me.”
The familiar deep pink blush stained her cheeks. Ged focused on the amber lights in her eyes, seeing shards of brighter gold in their depths, noticing the shadowy sweep of her lashes against the porcelain tint of her skin as she looked down.
“Uh-uh. Eyes on mine.” Her breath shuddered as she lifted her gaze to his again. “Every dance tells a story. In this one, it would be easy to believe that the man is in charge. But that is only half-true.”
He moved his hips slowly against Lidi’s, feeling the tension in her frame. He slid his left foot forward, sliding his thigh between her legs, and her eyes widened.
“Relax and follow my movements.” Moving his hand from her waist to the small of her back, he pressed her pelvis tighter against his own. “This dance will work better if there is no choreography, if it tells a story of a passion that is real.”
Passion that is real? Just touching her set him on fire. There would be no need to pretend. Not on his part.
Gradually, he felt her respond to his prompting. Hesitantly at first, she started to shift her hips from side to side. He took her hand from his shoulder and held it to his throat, right over the pulse that beat there.
“Feel what dancing with you does to me, Lidi.” He kept his voice low. “Understand the power you have over me.”
She drew a shuddering breath and relaxed slightly against him, her movements changing. No longer following his instructions, she was swaying in time with the rhythm of her own desires and twin emotions coursed through him. Lidi could dance, but his triumph was outstripped by his own rising desire. Reaching up, he freed her hair from its ponytail and tangled a hand in its mass, using it to tug her head farther back.
“Don’t close your eyes.”
Ged’s senses were swimming. The windows were still open and an icy breeze drifted in, bringing the sounds and scents of the market square into the room. Together with the pulsing, romantic music, they created a new, erotic memory for him. But nothing could match the warmth of Lidi’s breath on his cheek, the rustle of her clothing against his and the sweet weight of her body in his arms. As the music increased in tempo, their hips undulated in perfect time.
Lidi reached up and stroked the back of Ged’s neck. Her smile was shy as she ran her fingers through his hair. “I like dancing with you.”
“I’m glad.” His voice was husky and he could feel the hard ridge of his arousal pressing against the hollow of her stomach. His gaze dropped longingly to her mouth.
“What about the eye contact?” Lidi said.
He laughed as, maintaining the sensuous rhythm, he swung her around in a half circle. As he gripped her buttocks, she gasped. “Lift your knee and drape your leg over my hip.”
Lidi followed his instruction, the action causing her to lean back. Ged moved a hand along her thigh, holding her in place and allowing her to arch her spine even further until her hair swung almost to the floor. She bit her lip, uttering a soft groan.
“Did I hurt you?” Ged helped her up, supporting her against him.
“No, it’s not that.”
“Ah.” He understood immediately. “I think we forgot we were supposed to be dancing.”
There was an edge of nervousness to her laughter. “I thought it was just me.”
How could he explain it would never just be her? The line was temptingly close, and it would be so easy to cross it. He was alone with his mate. They were in a bedroom. She was in his arms...
Why the hell were the fates torturing him this way? He was doing his best to resist temptation, but his resolve had never been so severely tested. Every minute spent with Lidi was like a whisper of certainty growing stronger as it wrapped its tendrils around him. He was in deep, already beyond the point at which he could claw his way back. She was in his blood. It was an admission that scared the daylights out of him.
For a long time, his life had been mapped out. It may have been predictable, but he had known what his future held. He had been a prince of Callistoya. Wealth, land, servants, a beautiful wife...they had all been his by right. Then the massacre had tilted his world off course.
Ged had survived. Dragging himself back from the edge of despair, he had carved out a new existence. His time as Beast’s manager could not have been more different from his time as a royal bear shifter. He had learned to live among humans, to master technology,
to cope with the intrusion that came with his semicelebrity status, even to stave off his feelings of loss and inadequacy by fighting to save other shifters.
But throughout that whole time, his emotions had been armor plated. Although he had formed friendships with the other members of the band, he had never allowed himself to get close to a woman. He knew why. Of course he did. Alyona’s image haunted him. He would never forgive himself for what had happened to her, never get over the guilt of not being there to protect her. All he could do was make sure it never happened again. If he didn’t forge those bonds, he couldn’t let the other person down. It was true then, and it hadn’t changed now. Not even when he looked into Lidi’s huge, golden-brown eyes.
“We have to be performance ready in a few hours.” Even though he spoke lightly, his words had the effect of shaking her out of her near trance. “So we’ll have to ignore the simmer and pretend we’re professionals. Okay?”
She tossed back her hair, tilting her chin in the manner that was becoming familiar. “Of course.” Returning her hand to his shoulder, she stepped in close. “I’m ready.”
Ged almost groaned aloud. Pretend we’re professionals? What was he thinking? She only had to touch him and he melted. Lidi was looking at him with a glint in her eyes that was midway between hurt and pride. The message was clear. She was going to do as he asked and ignore the heat between them. Ged wished he could follow his own instructions. Instead, her nearness was a delicious agony.
Clenching his jaw tight and doing his best to ignore the fire in his blood, he nodded. “Right. Remember the eye contact...”
* * *
When the time came for the performance, Lidi wasn’t sure there was any way she could be described as a dancer. Or prepared. The only thing she was able to do with any confidence was remain in Ged’s arms and follow his lead.
She was increasingly surprised at the scale of Ged’s influence. In her own world, the royal family and nobles of Callistoya were all-powerful. Here in the human realm, it seemed that money held the key to everything. Ged wanted them to have a place on the stage and on the transport to Frankfurt. He offered a donation and those things were theirs. Costumes and makeup? A few calls and the items he requested were delivered to the hotel lobby.
“I still don’t see how this helps us slip past Vasily’s men,” Lidi said as she donned a long, white shift dress and laced a red corset over it. “We still look like us. By appearing on stage, we will be attracting more attention, not hiding from it.”
“Remember that disguise I mentioned?” Ged reached into one of the boxes that had arrived along with their costumes. “Try this on.”
He handed Lidi a long, blond wig. Inside the box were instructions and everything she needed to fix it in place. She headed for the bathroom, carrying a cap to cover her own hair, gel to protect her skin, adhesive tape and bobby pins. After a few unsuccessful attempts, she emerged sometime later with the flowing tresses in place.
“What do you think?”
Ged stared at her, taking in the medieval-style gown and golden wig. Picking up a circlet of red roses entwined with Christmas greenery, he placed it on her head. “I don’t think you look much like Lidiya Rihanoff anymore. Once you add makeup, the masquerade will be complete.”
“What about you?”
He held up another box. “It’s my turn to be transformed.”
Lidi stared at the bathroom door as he closed it behind him. Even though they would only be temporary, she didn’t want him making any alterations to his appearance. Her inner bear didn’t like change. She sighed. Who was she kidding? From the moment she had first seen him, Ged had been her idea of perfection. She didn’t want anything to spoil that image.
She didn’t want anything except this. When she was alone with him in this tiny room, locked in his arms, it felt like the rest of the world was on hold. If only it could stay that way. Why did there have to be momentous events dragging her attention away from the dark enchantment of Ged’s eyes?
He was her addiction. She had known that from the moment she had first seen him the steps of the movie theater. A craving that sparked through her nerves and into her brain, taking over her mind until she could think of nothing but him. One touch of his hand and she was lost, her senses swirling with the feel, scent and heat of him. As they danced, her imagination had been alight, stealing the present from her and tempting her with glimpses of what lay ahead. Because it would happen. She had seen that in his eyes and felt it in his touch. No matter what his lips said to the contrary, Ged was equally addicted to her.
The thought sent a surge of mingled anticipation and desire powering through her. So much for her determination to be a fierce warrior-aristocrat who had no time for the opposite sex. She didn’t know where this attraction between them was leading. The only thing she knew for sure was that she couldn’t ignore it. She could condemn the fates who had chosen this time and place to throw her and Ged together, but did she really wish things were different? If she had a magic wand, would she change what had happened? She was too honest to pretend she would step off this emotional roller coaster before the ride had ended. Even so, she should probably stop daydreaming about Ged and put the finishing touches to her disguise.
Lidi rarely wore cosmetics, and when she did, she applied them sparingly. The items Ged had provided were much heavier than those she usually wore, and she guessed it must be stage makeup. By the time she heard the bathroom door opening, she was close to despair. The face that stared back at her from the mirror more closely resembled a clown than her own reflection.
She was about to launch into a complaint about her own limitations as a makeup artist, but the change in Ged’s appearance reduced her to silence. An iron-straight, jet-black wig covered his own hair and was held in a ponytail at the nape of his neck. A pointed beard and neat mustache covered the lower part of his face.
“Oh.” Lidi studied him with her head on one side.
“What do you think?” Ged stroked the fake beard. “I think it makes me look distinguished.”
“That’s not the first word that came into my head,” Lidi said.
“It’s not?”
She continued to stare in fascination at him. “No. You look sinister.”
He started to laugh. “Seriously?”
Lidi nodded. “The change is quite alarming.”
“As long as I look unlike myself, that’s the most important thing.”
“Oh, you do look different.” She decided not to mention just how much she disliked the change. How much she wanted his own dark brown hair and clean-shaven features back. She wanted him to look like her Ged again. She took a moment to acknowledge how quickly she had come to think of him as hers. The only scary part of that thought was how right it felt. As if all the pieces of her life were finally in place.
He belongs to me. She had no idea what that meant long-term. Because she was looking at her king. The path back to his crown would be long and bloody...and not just in a physical sense. Ged had many internal battles to fight before he could face his future with pride. And was Lidi prepared to see herself differently? Her ambition to lead armies did not sit well with an image of herself at the side of a monarch. The fierce independence that was so much a part of who she was would never be subdued.
And there was that whole wife-or-mistress question. He was a man who could only marry where directed. She was a woman with a strong moral code. She felt the corners of her mouth pull down. Too many questions. The answers to which would have to wait for another time.
With a sigh, she turned to look in the mirror again. “On the subject of looking different—”
Ged came to stand behind her. “If you were aiming for startled marionette, you’ve done a remarkable job.”
She began to laugh. “That wasn’t quite the effect I wanted.”
Placing his hands on her shoulders, he turned her to
face him. “In the early days, I used to perform a variety of functions for the band. I’ve even applied some greasepaint in my time.” He held up a Kleenex. “May I?”
His touch was gentle as he smoothed away the worst excesses and reapplied a fine layer of the makeup to her cheeks and eyelids. When he reached her mouth, he paused with the pad of his thumb resting lightly against the cushion of her lower lip. The touch wasn’t a caress...not quite. Not yet.
There was a question in his eyes as he looked down at her, and Lidi knew Ged was signaling that, at least for now, he had stopped fighting his feelings. He was letting her know she was in control of what happened next.
Reaching up a hand, she hooked it around the back of his neck and pulled him down to her. Ged placed both hands on her waist and Lidi wrapped her arms around his neck, leaning into him, wanting to be closer, tighter. He held her like she was made of glass, and she could feel the hammering of his heart against her breast. He was nervous, and she wasn’t. She had never been so sure of anything in her life.
“I won’t break.” She whispered the words against his mouth.
He made a sound that was midway between a laugh and a groan. “I want this...want you...so much. But—”
She silenced him by pressing her lips to his. The kiss started sweet and achingly slow. They stood still and straight, exploring each other. And Lidi finally understood what kissing was all about.
She was a rebel. Her mother wanted her to make a good marriage and remain chaste until her wedding night. That was how it was done. In Callistoya, anything else was unthinkable. That had been enough for Lidi to decide she needed to be impure. Unfortunately, since she had discovered she wasn’t very good at relationships, none of them had progressed beyond the kissing stage. The reason was simple. She hadn’t found anyone she’d actually liked kissing. Until now...