Eland and Jeanne (Tales of the Shareem) (18 page)

“You’re putting a spell on me,” she said softly. “I read about that.”

“I know. I can’t help it.”

She swallowed. “I have to go.”

“So you keep saying.”

Rees withdrew his touch. She sucked in a sharp breath, gave him another startled look, turned with another flurry of skirts, and made for the door.

“Sure you don’t want to stay?” Rees called to her.

“I am already very late. If I have to explain ...”

If her friends were the upper-class elite—women who’d decided that good old-fashioned screwing was bad, women who’d made laws restricting Shareem—Talan would be in for it, all right.

“Tell them you were researching,” he said.

“Good idea. Good-bye, Mr. Rees. And thank you.”

She turned again, walking straight for the wall. Triggered, the door materialized in front of her and opened. Talan ran through, the draft swirling her robes above a pair of legs that made Rees’s blood sing.

The door whooshed shut again, leaving Rees alone.

He stood there a moment while the tropical air caressed him, the palm trees whispered, and the ocean slithered up the beach behind him. Then he ripped off his loincloth and ran across the beach and into the waves.

His blood pounded, and every cell in his body burned. He was like a lava flow in the water—Rees was surprised the holo-sea didn’t start boiling.

It was all Rees could do not to run after the woman, haul her back in, lock the door. He’d lay her down, thrust his cock inside her, keep pounding until he came. And she came. And he came again.

But he didn’t.

She’d said
thank you.

Fuck, fuck, fuck!

Rees’s cock, enhanced like the rest of him, stood out straight, even in the cool water. Thank gods he’d decided to do an ocean. If he’d picked the garden with the fountain, he’d be dead, because no way a little trickling fountain would cool him down.

Rees plunged underwater, letting the waves slither over his naked body. It helped—some. He pictured Talan coming back in, throwing off her robes, swimming out to him, twining her arms around his neck. Rees would lower his head and kiss her lips.

Wasn’t helping.

When Rees surfaced, blood still pounding, the pheromone levels in the room had decreased slightly—probably saving him from an early death. His heartbeat finally settled down. It took his cock longer to deflate, but disappointment helped.

He floated on his back, thinking. He’d remember her face. He’d see her again. Once he’d finished helping Rio, he’d seek her out. An upper-class woman called Talan wouldn’t be too hard to find.

And when he did find her, Rees would remind her of the lost opportunity they’d had here on the tropical beach.

The fucking will be good.
It will be very good.
He knew it in his bones.

About the Author

Award-winning author Allyson James is a pen name of
New York Times
bestselling author Jennifer Ashley. Allyson has written more than 75 published novels and novellas in romance, urban fantasy, and mystery under the names Jennifer Ashley, Allyson James, and Ashley Gardner. Her books have been nominated for and won Romance Writers of America’s RITA (given for the best romance novels and novellas of the year), several
RT BookReviews
Reviewers Choice awards (including Best Urban Fantasy, Best Shapeshifter Romance, and Career Achievement in Historical Romance), Prism awards for her paranormal romances, and Passionate Plume and CAPA awards for her erotic romances.
More about Allyson’s books can be found at the website
www.allysonjames.com
Or email Allyson at
[email protected]

Eland and Jeanne

Tales of the Shareem, Prequel
Copyright © 2009; 2015 by Jennifer Ashley and Allyson James
This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer's imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.
All Rights are Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the author.
Excerpt of
Rees
copyright © 2005; 2013 by Jennifer Ashley and Allyson James

Eland and Jeanne
was originally published as a free short story (4500 words; 2 chapters) called
Eland
by Ellora’s Cave. It has been revised and expanded to a 36,000 word, fifteen-chapter novella.

Cover design by Kim Killion