She hugged him tight, unwilling to let him go. “I'm sorry I couldn't do anything about getting you out of the priesthood. Avenar wouldn't budge on that.”
“I will settle for keeping all my parts.”
“Good. I like those parts.”
Rachel walked over to the bed, tugging him after her. “You are a lot of trouble for a man. Have I mentioned that? I had to make a lot of promises to keep you intact. Avenar is bound and determined to turn me into a god.”
“How did you ever find me?”
“You have a very resourceful friend in Senit. He went looking for you and when you turned up missing with no one breathing a word on where you'd gone, he broke into my chambers.”
Jessit's eyes grew wide. “Senit?”
She laughed. “Eklan was furious. He had escorted me to my room and we found Senit rummaging through some of your things. Evidently Eklan's security was not as impenetrable as he thought.”
“But how did you know to look here?”
Rachel kissed him on the lips then hugged him as if she were afraid of letting go. “That was Lord Avenar's doing. I sent a message to him saying you had gone missing. We suspected it was the priests, but no one was talking.” She grimaced in the telling. “Avenar is a shrewd negotiator. I had no intention of going to Alturis, but he told me I could get you back if I promised to make the trip.”
Jessit cupped her face in his hands and kissed her. “Then it sounds as if I am your bound servant.”
Her hands feathered down his chest while she sought to unfasten the long row of buttons on the front of his robe. “You got that wrong, soldier. It makes us partners in crime. If I pretend to be a god, you'll have to pretend to be a priest—fully intact, of course.” She winked at him.
Jessit pushed her back on the bed, the silk of her body gentle against his chest. “Then I am ready to pray at your altar, Mistress.”
“That's good. Now, let me show you how I'll pray at yours.” Her big doe eyes turned glassy and bright. She gazed at him in for long silent moments, but he knew what was in her heart—and his. He didn't find what he was looking for. He found so much more.
About the Author
After a lifetime of saving the world from bad advertising, Maria Zannini escaped to the Texas wilderness, where she homesteads on six acres she calls heaven. Half a mile to the north is a lion refuge, to the south, there be llamas.
When she's not hunting scorpions and chasing after zombie chickens, she's often at her keyboard telling stories or blogging about her current homestead projects—where it's anyone's guess what body part she'll lop off next.
Visit her at http://mariazannini.blogspot.com/. Place bets on which dog will beat her to her spot on the bed and how many husbands she'll wear out before the devil tells her she's nabbed her limit.
Maria writes sensual stories of legend and mythos as well as magazine articles on marketing, graphic design and animal husbandry.
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ISBN: 978-1-4268-9067-3
Copyright © 2010 by Maria Zannini
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