The Greek Lover

by Jocelyn Kelley

  The man nodded reluctantly.

  “Would it be out of the ordinary,” Drakon pressed, “to send for someone to help her deliver that child?”

  Praxiteles bristled. “No man but me should see my wife in that manner.”

  “Did you tell your wife that?”

  “No, but she should know.”

  Drakon assumed a condescending tone. “But she is only a woman frightened of giving birth. When women panic, all sense goes out of their heads.”

  He glanced at Zoe. She was listening, her quick eyes taking in everything around her. Not only was she intelligent, but she was sensuous and loving. All he’d never imagined a woman could be, and he wondered why he’d be willing to accept less in a woman.

  “Isn’t that right, Praxiteles?” Drakon asked.

  Zoe may have been the only one to see Archippos’s fingers twitch on his knees. Suddenly Drakon began to cough. Had Archippos thrown dust at Drakon, or was that some Greek voodoo? Drakon didn’t stop coughing, and the water didn’t stop running out of the upper jug.

  Pushing through the crowd, Zoe found a bowl beside an empty booth. It was cracked, but it should hold enough water. In her mind, she saw the man who’d left it behind, believing it was worthless. She filled it from the public fountain and elbowed her way toward Drakon. She was stopped by two men who warned her not to interrupt the trial.

  “Drakon is thirsty. I bring him something to drink. Please, kind gentlemen.” Her words must have sounded properly submissive because they stepped aside. She carried the bowl to Drakon who still coughed.

  She held up the bowl. “Drink, then maybe you can see something.”

  He tilted it back. His coughing eased, and he arched a single black eyebrow. “You think I can scry under these conditions?”

  “You serve Poseidon, and the sea isn’t always calm.” She smiled. “Think of me and you and the wondrous gifts we’ve been given.”

  Drakon bent as if to drink, but stared into the bowl. Zoe saw a galaxy of stars swirling in the water. Poseidon hadn’t been jesting when he called Drakon “son.” Drakon’s extraordinary ability was a legacy from an alien who had stayed in Greece long enough to gain a god’s status.

  He raised his eyes. His smile and wink could have been Poseidon’s.

  “Did you see something good?” Zoe asked.

  “Yes.” He gave her the bowl. “Let me finish this travesty.”

  Zoe returned to the sidelines. Drakon spoke of how Agnodice had wanted to help Praxiteles’s wife in her time of need. He was eloquent, and she wanted to shout that this brilliant man was her lover.

  “Time is up,” Archippos announced, interrupting Drakon. He stood and sneered. “You have wasted our time circumventing the truth. Agnodice is not guilty of rape, but guilty of being a female midwife.”

  “No!” moaned Zoe as the court erupted into chaos.

  Spectators shouted, and the jury rose to cast their votes to condemn Agnodice. Drakon rushed to protect Agnodice from angry men, using his fists to hold them back. He might have been trampled, too, if Archippos hadn’t called for calm while the vote was taken. The magistrate strode to the two boxes marked “guilty” and “not guilty.” Each juror dropped a stone in the appropriate slot for his vote. All were going in the guilty box.

  How had Archippos known the truth about Agnodice? Drakon hadn’t slipped up. The rest of the men seemed shocked, as well as outraged.

  She couldn’t forget how she’d seen another face of Archippos’s when she touched the goblet he’d held. Who was he? There was one way she might find out. He’d only touched the goblet and purse of coins briefly, but he’d sat on that chair for almost fifteen minutes.

  Zoe slipped through the crowd, trying to reach Archippos’s chair. She heard him chuckle as he spoke with the jurors. The son of a bitch was enjoying this!

  Sneaking behind the chair, she touched its curved back. She felt her breath explode from her as she experienced the sensation of being flung into a mad cacophony of stars and galaxies, more than she could count in a lifetime. Was that music she heard? But there was no sound in space.

  She felt her breath explode as a face appeared before her mind’s eye. A face she recognized from Professor Carswell’s reports. A Centaurian’s face. Not just any Centaurian, but Kentar, the big kahuna himself. It made sense. Archippos was Greek for master of horses. Kentar was the master of the Centaurians, those half horse, half humanoid aliens who wanted to halt the Time Raiders.

  He must have been manipulating history for generations in Athens by restricting women’s rights. Let women die without medical help. Abandon newborn daughters to die. Keep women from playing any role in Athenian life. Give them no education. And keep it that way. If women remained subservient, dying young without a chance to question the status quo, history could be changed. Strong women through time would never have a chance to step up and have their voices heard. If one dared, then she would be put to death as these Athenians were trying to do to Agnodice.

  Zoe sucked in a sharp breath. That was why Kentar was here. He had traveled back in time to change history. He hoped by keeping women from reaching their full potential, the Navigator gene would weaken and ultimately be vanquished. Then the Time Raiders project never would challenge the Centaurians’ monopoly on interstellar commerce. Earth would be left in the backwash.

  Bastard! Oh, how she’d like to turn him from a stallion into a gelding.

  Fortunately, he hadn’t guessed the truth about her. She must keep it that way. She blended into the crowd while Archippos/Kentar called for attention to announce the verdict.

  “We find Agnodice guilty of claiming a man’s authority and responsibility.” Kentar sat as he intoned, “The sentence is death. She will be executed by stoning immediately.” He glanced around the agora. “Let her death be a warning to any woman who might be as foolish.”

  “No!” Carrying her baby, Charis walked to where Drakon stood. Her fingers shook, but her head was high.

  Kentar’s nostrils flared. “How dare one woman—?”

  “Not just one woman,” Zoe said as she moved to stand beside Charis.

  Women pushed silently past the men from every side of the agora. Grasping hands, they created a circle around Drakon, Agnodice, Charis and Zoe. Some looked toward the center, others toward the shocked men.

  “What are you doing?” Drakon asked beneath the men’s rising voices.

  “Plan B.” Zoe smiled at Charis, who held her son while she stood as still and glorious as Athena, the warrior goddess. “In case the truth about Agnodice leaked out. I had a feeling it’d happen sooner or later, so I sent a message to your sister while you went to see Agnodice.”

  “Then why go through the charade of asking me to defend her?”

  “Because Poseidon wanted us here to face the shadow together. That is what I saw when he touched me.” She wove her fingers through his. “You have never succeeded in fighting off the shadow because we need to work together.”

  Kentar bellowed, “Stone her to death!”

  Men bent to pick up rocks, but hesitated as they stared at the ring of women.

  Zoe met Kentar’s eyes steadily. Time for that bastard to know that he’d met his match in Athens’s women. Met his match and more. He wasn’t going to mess up Earth’s history any longer.

  “Is that what you want, men of Athens?” Charis shouted. “If Agnodice dies, so shall we. Who, then, will bear your heirs? Who, then, will oversee your homes? All we ask is that Agnodice live so she can help us fulfill our duties by giving you many strong children.”

  “Your sister is quite the leader,” Zoe said as the women cheered. The men seemed shell-shocked.

  “Which shows the wisdom of not allowing women to rule us in the agora as they do in bed.” Drakon smiled.

  “If you treat women with the respect they’re due, you might find that you’ll be rewarded big-time in bed.”

  He ran his fingers along her cheek. “You are proof of that, my love.”

/>   “My love?” she whispered, her heart dancing with joy.

  “How could I not love a woman who demands to be my equal in giving pleasure and receiving it?”

  He drew her into his arms, and she offered up her lips. He accepted with gusto.

  Shouts made Zoe step back. The jurors raised new voting pebbles and shouted, “Not guilty.”

  While cheers echoed off the buildings, Zoe grabbed Drakon’s hand. “We must get the bronze from Agnodice.”

  “And then…?”

  Zoe swallowed hard, not wanting face this moment when she had to leave Athens. “Let’s get the bronze first.”

  The midwife turned as Zoe and Drakon reached her. Agnodice’s face was lined with age but dignified and serene. She handed Drakon the bronze fragment. “This is the prize you asked for, Drakon. It is a small token of my gratitude, as well as the gratitude of Athens’s women.”

  He pressed the star medallion fragment into Zoe’s palm. “Your name means life, and you have saved Agnodice’s life as well as more women than you can know.”

  She palmed it. She’d recovered it! With the help of the most remarkable man she’d ever met. Grief marred her triumph. She looked up at him, wondering how to tell him farewell.

  But before she could say anything, she felt her arm being twisted behind her. She reacted as she had before and drove her elbow into her attacker’s stomach. At the same time, Drakon threw a punch.

  Zoe jumped aside as Kentar struck at Drakon. He had the strength and speed of a young man. Drakon went down to one knee.

  Kentar rushed forward to attack Zoe. She sent him sprawling by tripping him.

  “Still not used to having only two legs, pony-butt?” she taunted. “Or should I call you what you are? A horse’s ass?”

  He stood, his lips drawn back. “Did you think that I had no idea of who you are?”

  “Yes.”

  He blinked, shocked by her retort.

  Zoe smiled. Previous Time Raider mission reports revealed that Kentar didn’t know how to deal with a strong woman. Each time, the Time Raiders encountered him, he underestimated them. He seemed unwilling—or unable—to accept that another woman and her allies could devise a way to halt his hideous plans. Yet, she knew he wasn’t stupid. If she underestimated him, her mission could still come to failure. She recalled how so many of the reports said the best way to defeat him was to confront him and push him until he lost control of his temper.

  “I think,” she said, “you figured it out just now. You’re so sure of your superiority and how you’d convinced the men of Athens to heed your lies, but Drakon saw your evil shadow, and I discovered who you really are.”

  With a roar, he rushed her. His hands tightened on her throat. She saw stars. Rushing away from her. She had to breathe. She must—

  He released her, and she collapsed. Kentar fell beside her, clutching his side. Blood pooled beneath him. Agnodice raised the knife again, but Kentar swung his arm to knock her off her feet.

  Drakon kicked him in the head. Kentar fell back to the ground, and his body began to fall apart. In its place was a creature from Greek myth. Half man and half horse, balanced on its front knees.

  Even though she’d known Kentar’s true form, Zoe still gasped. Beside her, Agnodice swore.

  Drakon raised his hands. “Poseidon, my father, call upon your brother Cheiron to banish this abomination back to where it came.”

  There was a flash, and another centaur appeared. Cheiron glowed with brilliant white light reflecting off his pristine flanks.

  Drakon sank to his knees. “Cheiron, you are a healer, so I beg you to heal the damage this monstrosity has wrought. Banish him from Athens and the rest of our world.”

  Cheiron’s smile was savage as he faced Kentar and waved his hand. A shower of herbs flew over the Centaurian.

  Kentar faded before their eyes. Then he was gone. Cheiron was, too.

  “That brute tried to manipulate our city,” Agnodice said. “We must be on guard that it does not happen again.”

  Zoe looked around, but the celebration continued unabated. “They didn’t see any of this?”

  “The gods,” Drakon said quietly, “are our greatest defense against evil. They fight for us even when we do not see them.”

  “Agnodice,” Zoe said, “you can’t share this with others.”

  Agnodice put a strong hand on Zoe’s arm. “I know well how to keep my mouth closed. Go while everyone is distracted.”

  Drakon grabbed Zoe’s hand and pulled her into the maze of streets. They paused at the foot of the Acropolis.

  “This should do for our escape,” he said. “Do we need to be in contact when you press the ESC?” He grinned. “As you can see, Poseidon shared much with me.”

  “Drakon—”

  “I am coming with you.”

  Her heart shattered as his bowl had. She wanted him to come with her, but… “I live almost 2500 years in the future. It’s a world you can’t begin to imagine.”

  He held her chin between his thumb and first finger. His voice dropped to the rough growl that fired her with desire. “I cannot imagine it, but I have seen it.”

  “You scryed it?” she whispered.

  “Poseidon gave me glimpses by the pool. When you brought me the bowl during the trial, he showed me more about our future together.” His smile grew rakish. “In every possible way.”

  “But your family and your work as an oracle…” She didn’t want to argue, but his trip would be one way. This ESC would be needed immediately by the next Time Raider to seek a fragment. Four more pieces must be found as quickly as possible. The ESCs must be used for those missions.

  “My small part in saving Agnodice will bring much favor to my family. Don’t forget that my father arranged for us to be together. Are you going to make a god’s efforts a waste?”

  “No!” She tightened her grip on the fragment as he put his arm around her. She groped for the ESC as he loosened her chiton. Pushing the button, she knew if the trip back wasn’t instantaneous, Professor Carswell would be in for a shock at how they arrived together.

  Look for more stories in the Time Raiders series available now wherever ebooks are sold:

  Nocturne Bites

  Time Raiders: The Seduction by Cindy Dees

  Time Raiders: The Whisper by Elle James

  Time Raiders: The Warrior’s Touch by Delilah Devlin

  Time Raiders: The Healer’s Passion by Parker Blue

  Silhouette Nocturne

  Time Raiders: The Seeker by Lindsay McKenna

  Time Raiders: The Protector by Cindy Dees

  Time Raider: The Avenger by P.C. Cast

  Time Raiders: The Protector by Merline Lovelace

  Don’t miss the other spooky and sensual NOCTURNE BITES, available at www.ebooks.eharlequin.com and wherever ebooks are sold. Titles include:

  Night Born by Linda Thomas-Sundstrom

  Angel Voice by Connie Hall

  Time Raiders: The Healer’s Passion by Parker Blue

  Demon Love by Georgia Tribell

  Time Raiders: The Warrior’s Touch by Delilah Devlin

  Color Weaver by Linda Thomas-Sundstrom

  Time Raiders: The Whisper by Elle James

  A Vampire’s Salvation by Alexis Morgan

  One Night with the Wolf by Anna Hackett

  Shadow’s Caress by Patti O’Shea

  A Night with a Vampire by Cythia Cooke

  Looking for more paranormal romance? The sizzling and spine-chilling books of Harlequin Nocturne are available at www.Harlequin.com or your local bookstore.

  ISBN: 9781742925387

  Time Raiders: The Greek Lover

  Copyright © 2011 by Jo Ann Ferguson

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