by Amanda Ashley, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Maggie Shayne, Ronda Thompson
Gradually, Elise noticed more than the rhythm of their bodies moving in perfect accord. His heat penetrated her back—wrapped around her. Although they were not overly exerting themselves, his breathing sounded labored, and so did hers. Something pressed against her. Something hard.
"As you dance, remove the veils," he said. "This way."
He plucked a transparent scarf from beneath her breast. Elise did as he instructed, plucking away first one scarf and then another until her entire midsection was bare. The costume beneath the scarves was hardly anything: an upper portion that pushed her breasts up and out, held in place by slim straps, and, below, trousers of sorts that hung below her belly button and were sheer from the top of her legs to the bottom, where they gathered at her ankles. Scarves were attached to the thin straps of her shoulders, and she understood those should be removed as well. Although her hands shook, she reached up.
"Slowly, sensually, like this," Sterling whispered, then took her hand in his and ran her palm up her stomach, over her breast. Her nipples hardened. A flush spread from the tips of her toes to the top of her head.
"Your body was made for a man's caresses," Sterling said close to her ear, then nibbled upon her lobe. "You have no idea how desirable you are, how tempting."
The heat seeped to a place between her legs. Elise knew she was not unattractive, but she'd been innocent about desire, her own, and the ability to make a man want her. And she did want a man to want her: Sterling.
"Touch me," she whispered.
He groaned, a low, animalistic sound; then he cupped her aching breasts. His fingers slipped inside of the low-cut costume and grazed her nipples.
"I want to put my mouth on you." He brushed her long hair aside and kissed her neck. "On every part of you."
A throb joined the heat burning between her legs. She wanted that—wanted his mouth on her and more.
"I don't even know your last name," she suddenly realized.
He snatched his hands from her as if she'd suddenly scorched him. A moment later, his hands were back, but only upon her shoulders, pushing her forward. The cot, she assumed. Surely they wouldn't perform the act standing up. He pushed her down upon the cot, but rather than join her, he moved to the door.
"Where are you going?" she asked.
"Out," he snapped. "Away from your sorcery. You have made me forget our agreement. Forget myself."
She blinked. He seemed angry with her. "I thought our agreement was that you would teach me to dance."
"You will have to learn on your own, which I don't believe will be a problem."
"Why won't you look at me?" Elise demanded, her temper clashing with her embarrassment. "You started this business, and now you're acting as if I've done something wrong."
He turned. "You shouldn't tempt me. I told you that things must be different between us. You must heed my warning, Elise."
A shiver raced up her back, not because of his words, but because in the soft lantern light, his eyes looked strange again. The same as they had looked last night. As if they were glowing, like the night eyes of an animal.
She blinked, hoping it was an illusion and that if she looked again, his eyes would appear normal. When she looked again, he was gone.
Sterling's emotions were a jumbled mess. Desire, red-hot and rampant, clawed at him. He wanted Elise more than he'd ever wanted any woman. But she wasn't any woman. She was an innocent, and he had no right to make her his when he could offer her nothing… nothing but a life on the road… a life with a man who felt his humanity supping away.
He ran his tongue over his teeth. Was it his imagination, or were they sharper, more canine than human? "No," he insisted, moving toward the animal wagons. Talking with Raja and Leena always soothed him. Sterling had allowed fear to play with his mind. He hadn't fallen in love with Elise Collins. He barely knew the young woman. He found her attractive, desirable, sweet, kind, with every trait a man would want in a woman, but he did not love her.
Upon reaching one of the animal wagons, Sterling wrapped his hands around the bars. "I do not love her."
Both animals were dark shapes hunched in the corners of their cages, their eyes glittering in the darkness. Raja growled low in his throat. Sterling was used to the tiger's moods, but then Leena also growled. Sterling glanced behind him. The caravan was quiet; all had retired for the night.
"What do you see?" he asked. Oddly enough, their glowing eyes seemed trained only upon Sterling. He laughed. "It's only me."
But even as he said the words, he knew they were not true.
CHAPTER 11
Elise's mood soured by the day. Sterling avoided her whenever possible. He acted as if she had the plague, and it had begun to greatly annoy her. What of it if they were both developing feelings for each other? The rules of society no longer governed her. They were on equal ground now, yet he treated her as if she was either too good for him or perhaps not good enough.
"Arrogant man," she muttered as she quickly made her way to a nearby stream, bucket in hand.
"You shouldn't frown. Sterling won't think you are as pretty, and he won't like you."
She glanced down to see Dawn staring up at her. Elise hadn't noticed the girl squatting beside the water. She bent beside Dawn.
"How a person looks on the outside is not as important as what kind of person he or she is on the inside," Elise told the girl. "If you truly love someone, you must love everything about them."
Dawn pinched her lips together. "This is about my parents again, isn't it?"
"It's about everyone," Elise countered. "I've known some very attractive people who were ugly on the inside. And I wouldn't want Sterling to like me only because he thought me pretty."
The girl lifted a brow. "Isn't that the reason you like Sterling? I mean, because he's so handsome to look at?"
"Of course not," Elise chided. "Sterling is more than a handsome face. He's good-hearted, considerate most of the time, and honorable, well, most of the time."
"Most of the time?" Dawn looked as if she expected explanations.
"He did promise to teach me to dance, and he hasn't fulfilled that obligation." Annoyance washed over Elise. "Philip says we are to perform at a fair in three days' time and I'm not ready."
"I can teach you." Dawn's voice was very small.
"What?" Elise questioned the girl.
Dawn glanced around the clearing. "I used to watch Marguerite practice. I can teach you, but my parents mustn't find out. They like to believe they've sheltered me."
"I see." Elise lifted a brow. "So this would be a secret, just between the two of us?"
Cocking her head to the side, Dawn considered. "Yes," she answered, then grinned. "I've never had my very own secret before."
Elise laughed. "Everyone should have a secret or two, all their very own."
"Do you have secrets?"
Yes, she had secrets from the caravan troupe. They did not know about her uncle. And if she was honest with herself, she had another secret. Elise strongly suspected that she was in love with the Beast Tamer. She had never felt so miserable over someone ignoring her before, not even her uncle.
"If you dance like Marguerite used to dance, Sterling will like you again, I promise you that," Dawn assured her.
Elise frowned at the girl, but on the inside, she admitted that she very much wanted Sterling to like her. In fact, she very much wanted ignoring her to become impossible for him. Maybe the child knew more about these matters than Elise did.
Sterling lost himself in the crowd. The fair was good-sized and should line the troupe's pockets well, but he would not earn his keep tonight. He'd told Philip that he didn't feel up to a performance, the truth being, the cats now regarded him differently. They were uneasy with him, with what they sensed lurked beneath his skin. Philip hadn't pressed him, deciding instead to partition the animals off and charge a fee for anyone brave enough to have a look.
Although Sterling couldn't fault Philip's enterprising genius, he didn'
t like the thought of people gawking at his cats through the bars. Raja and Leena were performers, not freak attractions. If any among them should be locked up and gawked at, it was he.
"I have been waiting for you to slip into my wagon at night now that you have tired of the pale-faced woman."
He hadn't noticed Mora's approach. "I do not care to share your wagon, Mora, or anything else with you," he said.
She grabbed his arm. "Now that you have tired of her, why not take what I offer? She is nothing but a pasty-faced English girl. Nothing but a silly child who could not please you beneath your pelts. She is—"
"Do not insult Elise in my presence again," Sterling warned, tugging his arm from the woman's grasp. "She is a lady and has not shared my bed."
The snake charmer's dark eyes widened. "All this time, she slept in your wagon and you did not take her? Why would you deny yourself?" Now Mora's eyes narrowed. "Unless she has bewitched you. Unless she has stolen inside of your cold heart and claimed it for her own. Only a man who cares for a woman would treat her with respect."
He didn't deny Mora's accusations. What was the point? A man could lie to himself, but he could never lie to his heart. Elise had stolen it, maybe from the very first moment he'd lit the lantern and seen her sitting upon his cot. Denial. He thought it might save him, but in the end, he knew that it would not.
"She is a fool who wears her love for you openly, but you are an even bigger fool. You are not like her… You are like me."
He shook his head. "No. I'm not like you." A sarcastic laugh slipped past his lips. "I'm not like anyone you know of, or ever will. Stay away from me."
Sterling walked away from Mora, mingling with the crowd. He felt women watching him as he moved, but he didn't give them a moment's notice. Only one woman ruled his thoughts. Would she dance tonight? Could he stand to watch her? Could he bear to stay away?
Elise's stomach twisted. Her skin felt cold and clammy. She stood in the shadows, too dazed to listen to Philip's introduction of her. Philip motioned her forward into the circle of burning torches. An expectant hush fell over the crowd.
She drew a deep breath and stepped into the circle. Loud catcalls almost sent her scrambling for the safety of Sterling's wagon. Elise forced herself to remain where she stood. Her gaze roamed the faces flushed by the torchlight, seeking one face in particular. Disappointment settled over her, but then she saw him. Even with him standing at the back of those gathered around, his height made the eye travel to him easily. But she could not see him clearly, and she needed to, wanted to dance, only for Sterling.
Lifting her hands into the air, Elise gyrated her hips in a slow and, she hoped, sensuous manner. Her gaze remained fixed upon Sterling. He took a step toward her. She turned a circle, body swaying, and when next she faced him, he stood at the front of the crowd, right before her.
His eyes were intense, with a hint of a glow about them. They ran the length of her, then slowly made their way back up to lock with hers. Elise plucked a veil from her skimpy costume. Coins showered her feet and male voices shouted appreciation. Elise cared nothing about the coins or the other men present. She danced neither for payment nor to stir the passions of any man save one.
She wanted Sterling, and she wanted him to want her in return. Her fingers slid up her stomach, as he had taught her. She plucked another veil, and again coins tinkled from the sky like snowflakes in winter. Sliding her fingers over the full rise of her breasts, she plucked another scarf, revealing the expanse of her cleavage. A fire ignited within Sterling's silver eyes. He drew a sudden breath.
For the first time, Elise understood her power over men, her power over Sterling. Her pulse quickened, and so did her steps, her gyrations bolder now. His gaze lowered to her hips, stayed there as if she'd cast a spell over him. Innocence floated away like the brightly covered scarves that now littered the ground at her feet Elise understood what held him enthralled. The mating dance. The thought of her hips moving beneath him, keeping a rhythm as old as time.
The roar of male voices grew louder. Taylor was suddenly there, walking the circle to keep the men restrained. Elise hardly noticed. She only had eyes for Sterling.
Elise would start a riot if she continued to dance as she did, Sterling thought. She had worked the men into a fevered frenzy, him included. He wanted to growl at the men, warn them off. Elise belonged to him. He would take her, make her his, and to hell with the consequences.
Without ceremony, Sterling stepped into the circle, snatched her arm, and pulled her along. The crowd erupted behind him. Sterling knew Philip and Tom could handle them. He heard Philip shouting something about a jealous husband. Loud groans of disappointment from the men followed, and then Philip turned the crowd's attention toward the animal wagons.
Elise did not fight him. He reached their wagon and pulled her inside. She sat upon the cot, lifting a brow in question.
"You will not dance again," he told her. "Not for those crazed men who drool all over themselves like village idiots!"
"All right."
Sterling was taken aback. He had fully expected some sort of argument.
"I will dance only for you, as I did tonight."
It appeared as if she was dancing for him and him alone tonight, Sterling admitted. "So we agree that you will dance only for me, and only inside of this wagon?" The thought pleased him.
"No."
His brow shot up this time. "No?"
Elise stood. "You told me that if I wanted to ride safely with the caravan to Liverpool, I must earn my way. Then you told me that manual labor would not suffice. You insisted that I learn the veil dance and perform for my supper, so to speak, and that is exactly what I intend to do."
"Things were different between us then," he reminded.
"They seem to be different between us daily," she huffed. "You will have to swallow your simpering male jealousy, Sterling, and allow me to do my duty by Philip. You lay no claim to me."
He stepped closer, his temper rising. "You are mine!"
Instead of backing from him, Elise closed the distance between them. "You have not made me yours. And even were you to lay claim to my body, to my heart, I have spent my life being ruled by my uncle. I will not trade one prison for another. I ran away in search of freedom. All else I give you gladly, I give you with a trusting heart, but my will belongs to me."
She had come a long way in a short space of time. Sterling admired her spirit, had from the moment he'd met her. Did he really want to clip her wings? She had only just begun to fly. And how could he take what she would give with a trusting heart when she didn't know the horrible truth about him? When he could not bring himself to tell her?
"You should not trust me, Elise," he said softly, reaching out to caress her smooth cheek. "I am not all you think I am."
She clasped his hand against her face. "Then tell me your secrets, and I'll tell you mine."
"My secrets are dark. Too dark for one as sweet and innocent as you. We are as different as night and day, Elise."
"The night and the day cannot exist without each other," she whispered. "Why do you fight the feelings you have for me? Do you count me unworthy of them?"
He shook his head, pulling his hand from her grasp. "I don't want to fight them, but for your sake, and my own, I must. I cannot love you, Elise, and you deserve that from a man."
Her brow furrowed again. "Do you mean that you…" She blushed. "That you are incapable of performing the act of love?"
He laughed. Sterling couldn't help himself. He was still aroused from watching her dance, aroused from just being near her. "No. I am perfectly capable of performing. It is my heart that I cannot surrender to you."
The softness faded from her eyes. Her gaze filled with hurt. "Why? I have surrendered mine to you."
How sweet those words were to his ears. He had to get away from her before he did surrender, and surrender all. Before she saw him for what he truly was. Sterling pushed past her and reached for the door.
In a gesture as daring as her earlier dance, Elise flung herself in front of the door, barring his way. "I do need you, Sterling. I need you tonight."
CHAPTER 12
Elise stared at the empty place where Sterling had stood. What was he afraid of? Did he think she could never be happy living the life he lived? Did he believe she'd prefer a dull life with a man of wealth? She riffled through her valise and retrieved her nightgown.
Although she'd been frightened of the troupe players when she'd first met them, she'd come to realize that regardless of their differences, they were ordinary people. All but Mora, leastwise. Elise still considered the snake charmer as dangerous as she had the first time she'd met the woman. Regardless, Elise could be happy among these people, if Sterling would only surrender to his feelings and open himself to her. She could truly live the life of an adventurer as she had always dreamed of doing. And she could dance for many if, in her mind, she only danced for the man she loved.
Elise slipped off the skimpy costume, tugging her modest nightgown over her head. There was a soft rap upon the wagon door. She heard a child's voice on the other side.
"I have your veils!" Dawn called.
Swinging the door open, Elise frowned down at the girl. "I thought you were supposed to be in bed."
Dawn handed her the veils. "I had to see your first performance, and you did very well. I heard my mother tell Philip that you brought in the most coins this evening." She glanced behind Elise, as if looking for someone. "Where is Sterling? I thought for sure he'd be here with you."
The girl really was exposed to more than a child her age should be, Elise decided. "Sterling has gone out for a while, and you must go to bed. It isn't safe for you to roam about after dark."