Geared for Pleasure (11 page)

When she could wait no longer, she had studied the door, finding the latch to open it from the inside without much difficulty.

So he’d told the truth. This wasn’t her prison.

She’d heard voices as soon as the painting began its silent slide to the side. No one noticed her. Bodhan had been too busy threatening a science minister when his guard had come in, concealing the sound of her arrival.

Dare had stayed half hidden by the painting, her heart in her throat as she was thrown by one revelation after another.

Bodhan already knew someone had been in his room. Already suspected Seraphina. More importantly, people had gone missing, and he was planning on entertaining a man he believed had information about them. Were the abductions related to Queen Idony? If so, Bodhan’s desire to know more surely proved his innocence. Didn’t it?

She’d almost revealed herself the first time James disappeared,
but something stopped her. She wasn’t sure she was ready to face him, and not just because of her state of undress.

Dare felt vulnerable. The intensity of Bodhan’s emotions were heightening her own. She’d felt sure he would hear the shortening of her breath, her heart pounding. Sure he would turn around and see her in the shadows. But he didn’t.

When James returned Dare was thankful she’d remained out of sight. They mentioned Cyrus. It had to be her companion guard. Had the Queen’s Sword been aboard the Siren in disguise, and then taken away against his will?

The instant she’d heard his name her resolve returned. She was Wode. More than that, she was the Queen’s Chalice. She may be underwater, but she was never helpless.

When he remained silent she lifted her chin and raised her voice. “I said, I volunteer.”

Bodhan did not pretend to misunderstand, though his expression was dubious. “Blushing virgin to whore overnight? Were the accommodations that uncomfortable, or have I underestimated the Siren’s seductive call?”

She blushed, thankful he had turned, offering her his back as he uncovered the platters of food on the desk methodically. “I believe there is an old saying about making decisions on an empty stomach. Surely it applies to such a dramatic change.”

She stepped closer, drawn by her desire to help as well as the aroma of freshly baked bread. “You said people have gone missing? Taken against their will?” People that included Cyrus. She was no whore, but there was much she would risk to save her companion guard.

His chuckle caressed her. “I knew I should have confined you below. Though I can only imagine what the guards discuss down there.” He glanced over his shoulder, slipping a wedge of queensfruit
between his lips and chewing. “As to my private conversation, abductions happen all the time, princess. You are proof enough of that.”

“These are different.” She could feel the truth in her words, knew from what she sensed in him that she was right. “And someone like me was taken off the Siren. You just said so.”

He turned back, his expression sobering. “Someone very much like you. Curiously so. Although, he was never in any danger of being deflowered or harmed. A man of his size could more than handle himself. At least, that was what I mistakenly believed. You are a different story. Regardless of what you did to your captors, to me, you could not protect yourself from every male on board were I to reveal you to them.”

Had he moved closer or had she? “Just one. I could protect myself from one man. And I do not believe you would allow anyone to hurt me.”

Did she truly believe that? Did she trust that he would protect her? She barely knew him, and what she did know should have made her wary. He was a rogue, a thief, and a seller of pleasure. And more than that, he was one of the last people to see Cyrus alive.

Could he still be
alive
? After all this time? Was it fate that had thrown her so far off course—perhaps the queen herself, guiding Dare to find her Sword, to ensure her own safe return?

Bodhan shook his head. “You must have been sent to test me. Or damn me. You stand here, in nothing but a man’s shirt with your hair wild from sleep, and attest to my honor. You trust me to protect your virtue and yet share none of your secrets.” He sighed. “Of course you are correct. I would never let anyone hurt you. But tell me, Dare… who is it that will protect you from me?”

She smiled. She could not help herself. It seemed he was going to give in. “James Stacy?”

He pulled out his desk chair and guided her to it, setting a full
plate of food in front of her. “Never wager on it. Eat. Before I change my mind and throw you back in your room. It is lucky for you, this particular gentleman doesn’t enjoy the physical act itself. He only requires the performance, preferably between two women. Two unique women. And if there is one thing you are, Dare, it is unique.”

Dare choked on the piece of bread she’d been hungrily devouring. “Two women? Together?”

Bodhan’s expression heated, making Dare intensely aware that she was naked beneath a thin, white shirt that smelled of him. “You volunteered.” He winked, leaning over her to steal a slice of cured meat. “But if it eases your mind, Seraphina can be gentle if the occasion requires it of her.”

Dare paled, recalling the Felidae’s provocative behavior. She could only hope Bodhan still held possession of Seraphina’s whip, and that her own lack of skill was not too apparent. If there was a man aboard who knew Cyrus’s fate, she would find out tonight. One way or another.

“Lesson one, fair Dare, is to not seem quite so terrified by my presence. Some men enjoy fear, but you will take all the fun out of
my
evening, I can assure you.”

Dare blinked, startled. She’d been staring again, not at Seraphina but at the contraption in the center of the room beside her.

The chair.

“I am not scared of you. I am just unused to—” She made a weak gesture toward the offending object, then toward herself, unable to find the words.

Seraphina licked her lips. “Fornication? Debauchery? Lust? Any of those will do.”

Dare nodded and crossed her arms protectively over her breasts, once more pushed up and out in an unnatural fashion by the corset she’d been
given to wear when she was escorted to this guest room. That, along with a sheer pair of lace-trimmed bloomers completed her degrading ensemble.

Was this what Bodhan had wanted her to wear? In front of other people? Other men? She supposed after her eager plea to participate in seducing information out of one of his customers, he had no reason to think she would demure.

“I’m sorry, Seraphina. I’ll do my best.”

Stunningly green eyes sparked with laughter and the Felidae smiled. “I’m sure you will. You can call me Phina, Dare. We will be getting to know each other much better, after all, and I prefer it. No need to be formal, not you and I, yes? Certainly not now, when I know you kept my secret.”

Dare watched the woman place one of her long, agile legs on an arm of the chair, unclasping her garter and rolling down her stockings to reveal the smooth, leanly muscled limb. “Secret?”

Phina lifted her eyes to the ceiling and shook her head. “You saw me in his suite at the same time I saw his head buried between your pretty pale thighs. Bodhan has a suspicion it was me but he’s not sure. I could smell it. That means you did not tell him I was the one who found my way into his rooms. You could have, but you didn’t. If I were an honorable sort I might think I was in your debt.”

She smirked, but Dare felt the bitterness beneath her words. “Alas, I’m just one of those Spotted Spines. You know you can’t trust me to pay you back. I do, however, know how to give a good time. And I can play tamed pet, which is, I believe, what your Bodhan wants me to do with you tonight. But it’s not because I am doing him any favors. His goals and mine merely coincide this evening.”

Dare forgot her nerves and shook her head. “You are more than that. And he is not
my
Bodhan.”

The tilt of Phina’s head made her look like a true feline, as if she were scenting the air around her. “You believe half of what you say
and wish the latter was a lie. You don’t have to wish, fair Dare. He wants you more than a man in his position should.”

She finished removing her stockings, leaving herself clad in nothing but a thin, emerald chemise that fell to her knees. An oddly feminine choice for her that made Dare wonder if they’d each dressed in the right costumes for tonight’s performance.

“I’m someone new,” she muttered. “He does not know my secrets yet.”

“The boss has never been with any of us, you know. Not even when we were new. Never shown the slightest interest apart from brotherly concern.” Phina turned and Dare could see the bulge of her tail, as well as the dark spots painted up her spine. “I always swore he was either impeccably discreet or a windup automaton.”

Dare lifted her brows in disbelief but Phina just shrugged, turning to lean against the chair. “It’s true. I usually have to use my whip to keep the men at bay. It’s a lovely curse of mine. But not him. He is a stickler for rules. As long as he is the one making them, of course. Since I can practically taste your unaccosted purity, you no doubt have him twisting for it. Especially after the tease you gave him last night.” She chuckled softly again and lowered her voice. “You can use that to your advantage.”

“Use what?”

Phina studied her. “Come closer and I’ll tell you. I promise neither the chair nor I will bite. Yet.” When Dare obeyed, coming close enough to smell the arousing aroma that always seemed to hover in the air around the Felidae, Phina lifted one hand to caress her cheek. “His lust for you. Other than a sharp blade, a man’s lust is the best weapon a woman can have outside of Centre City.
If
you are as curious about the boss as I am.” Her face took on a playful expression. “And I know you are. He is full of delectable secrets. His last disappearance is just one of many since I’ve known him. I’d believed he was having a scandalous and secretive affair, but now that you’re
here—now that we both know that we are giving a performance tonight for someone Bodhan cannot stand—I can see I was mistaken. You could discover the truth for all of us with a wink and a flash of skin. Lust loosens lips faster than the expensive rot they serve downstairs.”

The Felidae’s green eyes glazed over for a moment, lost in thought. “Lust can blind us all at times.”

Dare shook her head, her smile shy. “Lust is your weapon, not mine. I have no training.”

Phina lowered her hand to Dare’s hip and squeezed. “Something we can remedy with ease.”

“Bodhan, you’ve picked the two players well. They are so eager they have begun without us.”

Seraphina shifted her body so most of Dare was concealed. An oddly protective act that she could only be grateful for. As soon as she heard the stranger’s grating voice, she’d been frozen by anxiety. How would he react when he saw her? If everyone’s warnings were to be believed, her hair alone could cause him to change his mind about what he wanted for tonight’s performance.

She could hear a smile in Bodhan’s voice, but the tension no one but she could feel was doing nothing to ease her nerves. “Have I ever failed to deliver, Lennis? Sit, and allow Seraphina to pour you a drink. I must see to my special surprise.”

Seraphina did not move until Bodhan arrived to take her place, successfully keeping Dare shielded from the new arrival. His hands cupped her shoulders, tightening to a near painful degree when he realized what she was wearing.

His voice was low and dark. “Who put you in this?”

She licked her lips and swallowed past the dryness in her throat. “The guard that brought me. He said the women had assured him it would fit me.”

He swore under his breath. “I should never have agreed to this. I
can call in James to take you out. Get another girl. There is still time.”

His concern washed over her like a warm breeze and stopped her shivering. Even with how much he felt was at stake, he was willing to protect her from this.

But there was no more time.

Lennis, the client, had apparently run out of patience. “I demand to be shown my surprise, Bodhan. You know how I hate to be kept waiting. Who will our dirty Felidae be tormenting for my pleasure?”

Dare forced her breathing to slow. Forced herself to remember that this was for Cyrus. For the queen and all her subjects who had been taken against their will. She took a step back, away from Bodhan’s touch, and he lowered his hands with a hesitation she could feel as if it were her own.

“Lennis, you love the rare and unusual. Tonight, I think you will have to admit I have surpassed even your expectations.” He stepped to the side, his shoulders relaxing and roguish, sensual smile returning. “This… is Dare.”

She forced her hands to remain at her sides and kept her chin up by sheer force of will. His shock hit her before her eyes could even focus on him. He wasn’t a noble. At least, not from any family she recognized. Though he did try and dress the part. His suit hung on his slender form. His long brown hair draped dully over narrow shoulders and framed a face made up to look healthy with rouges and tonics. But Dare could still see the yellowish tint to his flesh that he’d worked to hide.

Cyrus could have crushed him with one hand. How could he be connected to the abduction of the Queen’s Sword?

Lennis grinned, his body shifting with excitement like a bouncing child’s. “Bodhan, you are a wonder. How do you do it? Look at her. No scars. All her hair and teeth. You found yourself a half-breed that looks like she’s never been touched. The infamous Felidae
Seraphina and an almost-Wode. All for me. I should have tried the tables before we came up for the night. Luck is with me.”

Dare watched Seraphina rub herself against the insipid man as though he were irresistible, though Dare believed she was beginning to understand the Felidae’s ways. She was ensuring he received the full affect of her pheromones. That he was appropriately dazed.

She purred into his ear. “She doesn’t just look the part. She
is
an innocent. You know I can tell.” She parted her lips to show him her sharp, white teeth. “As soon as you give me permission I will be the first to introduce her to passion. For you.”