Ghost Moon (12 page)

But she was completely naked, out here in the woods. And he was still dressed. When her hands went to the belt buckle at his waist, he stopped her.

“Don’t.”

“You’re so different from when I first met you. I want you naked, too. So I can touch you. Touch all of you. Feel your body. See you.”

His words were rough and jerky. “You can’t.”

“Why not?”

He didn’t answer the question. “Just let me do all the things I’ve longed to do. Let me give you pleasure.”

Before she could protest, he captured her mouth again, using his lips, his tongue, his teeth to feast on her.

At the same time, his hands moved over her body. He cupped her bottom, caressing her as he slid his fingers over her exposed flesh, then slipping lower, reaching from behind to dip into the folds of her sex.

“I love the way you feel. You’re so alive, so warm and wet for me. Like thick, warm cream,” he murmured into her mouth.

He continued to kiss her as he brought both hands to her breasts, holding their weight in his palms while he played his fingers over her aching nipples, then caught them between his thumbs and fingers, pulling and twisting.

His touch was so real. So masculine. So intense.

Nothing in her life had ever felt so good, yet she wanted more, wanted it with a desperation that made her senses spin.

“I need you inside me,” she gasped out.

“We have to do it this way. But it will be good for you. I promise I’ll make it good.”

One hand traveled down her body. He stopped at her clit, circling that throbbing place, bringing her to a higher level of need.

“Please.”

“I know. Soon.” His lips were against her ear now. His teeth worried her lobe, then he pointed his tongue and probed her ear canal, sending tingles through her.

“That’s good,” she gasped in surprise that such a place could be so erotically sensitive.

“For me, too.”

His lips traveled to her jawline, then her neck while he stiffened two fingers and slipped them into her vagina, going in at an angle so that the edge of his hand could stroke back and forth across her clit as his fingers made love to her.

Great Mother, he knew how to pleasure a woman. Exactly how.

She hung on to his shoulder with one hand. The other slid down his body, pressing over his erection, seeking more intimatecontact as her hips worked frantically against his hand.

“You are so sexy. So alive. So beautiful,” he whispered as he brought her up and up, so that her body tightened as she felt climax approaching.

Then she was spinning out of control, her whole being vibratingas a wave of pleasure crashed over her. It was followedby another and another so that she had to cling to him to stay upright.

She heard her own breath racing in and out of her lungs. Again her hands went to his waistband, but when she pulled at the button that closed his jeans, she couldn’t open it.

“I want to touch you there.”

“I want that, too, but we can’t.”

Her eyes flew open, and she stared into his dark eyes. They were resigned—and sad.

“Why not?”

“Because my clothes are part of me. They don’t come off.”

She blinked, trying to take that in. And then the truth slammed into her like an iron ball from a siege cannon. He had changed so much that she would have sworn he was a flesh and blood man. But he was a ghost, not a man.

“This isn’t real.”

“Yes, it is! As real as we both want it to be.”

“No. You gave me pleasure, and there’s nothing I can do for you.”

“That’s not true! You did something for me. You let me bring you to climax. I loved doing it. I loved
knowing
I could do it.”

“But . . . it’s not . . . normal.”

“Don’t use that word!”

“Why not?”

“Don’t make rules for the two of us. Sex between two people is whatever they agree on.”

She struggled to speak around the lump that had formed in her throat. “Where can this possibly end up? You’re in one reality and I’m in another.”

He waited a beat before answering. “We can be together— here in the forest.”

She stared at him, seeing the solid man’s body and yet still seeing the shafts of morning light cutting right through him. He felt so alive. But when she really looked at him, she knew the truth.

“For how long?” she asked with a catch in her voice.

“As long as you want.”

“And then what? I have to go back to my own world. In the end, I’ll be left with nothing. And so will you.”

“You can stay here. Don’t you like it here?”

“I do. But it’s not where I belong. I only came to help Zarah. Then I have to go back.”

“Why?”

She felt like she was talking in circles. “This place isn’t my home.”

Sadness tore at her. They had made a very intimate connection—a connection they both craved. He was a wonderful lover. He knew the secrets of a woman’s body, and he had given her more pleasure than she would have imagined possible. But there could be nothing beyond that. She couldn’t even offer him the same satisfaction he had given her. And that was the worst part of all.

She couldn’t risk another look into his eyes. She didn’t want to see his sadness—or her own mirrored there.

Stepping away from him, she looked down and saw her clothing scattered across the ground. Quickly, she bent and scooped up the discarded articles, then began pulling on her panties and jeans.

She didn’t look at him, and he didn’t speak, didn’t try to persuade her that she was making a mistake by leaving.

When she was dressed, she picked up the shovel, then turned and started walking back toward Logan’s house. She must not come here again. No matter what Caleb said, there was nothing real for her in this forest. If she came back, she would just slip farther into a fantasy that would consume her.

She walked slowly, dragging her feet. She didn’t want to talk to anyone. Maybe she could hide what had happened from Logan and Rinna. But Zarah would know right away that she’d had sex.

She made a strangled sound.

Had sex!

Caleb had been incredibly generous. He had brought her to a blinding climax. She could go back, and they could do it all over again.

It was so tempting. She had been alone for a long time. And she was envious of Zarah and Griffin. And Logan and Rinna, too.

She thought she might have had that same kind of relationshipwith Caleb Marshall. If he had been alive. If they could have made a life together.

But that was impossible, no matter how much she wanted to be with him.

She trudged on, wondering what she was going to do when she got back to the house. She could see it through the trees now, and she stopped, feeling so alone and isolated.

She sat down on a fallen log and cradled her head in her hands, struggling not to cry. There was no use crying. It wasn’t going to help anything.

Resignation settled over her as she got up and started off again, her legs stiff and wooden.

When she walked in, she found Logan, Rinna, and Zarah sitting at the table in the breakfast room.

“Did you bury him?” Rinna asked.

“I didn’t get a chance. Animals took him away and scatteredhis bones.”

“Did you see them?”

“No. The ghost told me.” She gave Logan a guilty look. “I took a shovel from your toolshed. I hope that’s okay. I put it back,” she added quickly.

“That’s fine.”

Zarah was watching her with assessing eyes. She could almost hear her friend’s thought. Zarah knew something had happened between Quinn and Caleb.

“You talked to the ghost?” Zarah murmured.

“Yes.”

“How did he look?”

“More like a man.”

“He’s getting stronger,” Rinna said. “You have to . . .”

“What? Kill him?” Quinn challenged, hearing the sharpnessin her voice. “He’s already dead,” she said more softly.

“Make sure he can’t hurt Logan.”

Quinn winced. “In our world, there would be books that would explain how to put a . . . prohibition on him.”

“But you can’t go back and get them now,” Zarah said.

Quinn nodded.

“There’s information on ghosts and psychic phenomena here,” Logan said. “Maybe there’s a clue in my library. Or on the Web.”

“A spiderweb?” Zarah asked.

Logan grinned and launched into an explanation of computersearch engines.

When he finished, Quinn said, “I’ll start with your library.” That would give her something to do. And maybe it would keep Zarah from asking questions about what had happened in the woods a little while ago.

To Quinn’s relief, Rinna changed the subject. “Zarah and I are going to some shops where we can find some more maternityclothes for her.”

“I don’t have money from here,” Zarah said softly. “But I can pay you in gold coins.”

“You’re our guest,” both Rinna and Logan said.

“But I don’t want to be a burden. Let me pay you.”

“Yes. Thank you,” Rinna answered, then turned back to Quinn. “So, do you want to go on a shopping trip?”

“No. I’ll stay here and read,” she said, glad that she had a reason to be separated from her friend.

Zarah gave her a long look, a look that said, “We’ll get back to this later.”

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Later turned out
to be that afternoon, when the women had come home, and Logan and Rinna went out to buy groceries.
And probably to be alone,
Quinn thought. She could imagine that having two strangers in the house all the time was hard on them, but they weren’t going to say so. Maybe they were stopping somewhere in the woods to have some quality time together.

As she thought of quality time in the woods, she took her lower lip between her teeth.

“What?” Zarah asked.

“Nothing.”

“Did things go badly with Caleb this morning?”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“I gather that,” her friend answered immediately.

“It’s personal. And I have to work it out by myself.”

Zarah was silent for several moments, then she cleared her throat and began to speak very quickly. “You remember when we were both slaves. I was humiliated in that auction and sold to Griffin, and I knew I was going to end up in his bed—and I had no experience with men. You told me things that helped me get through it. More than that. You told me it would be so much better for me if I let myself respond to him. You gave me the courage to help myself. So can I do the same for you?”

“How do you know this has to do with sex?”

“I don’t. But you’re obviously emotionally involved with him.”

“Griffin is a powerful member of the Sun Acres council. Caleb is a ghost.”

“And?”

Quinn wanted to keep her encounter with him to herself. But at the same time, she wanted to tell someone what had happened. And she and Zarah
had
shared intimate secrets before. She turned toward her friend and struggled to speak in a calm, flat voice, even though her insides were clenching. “I went back to bury the soldier’s body. But Caleb said the animals had already taken him. He held me and kissed me and touched me. He took off my clothes and made love to me. Just with his hands and mouth. He made me come. But when I tried to take off his pants, he told me that was impossible.”

“Because he didn’t want you?”

“No. While he was arousing me, I could feel his cock— big and hard—pressing against me through his jeans. He wanted me. But afterward he told me that his clothing is part of his ghost image. He can’t undress.”

Zarah made a small, gasping sound.

“So, it’s an impossible relationship. We can go so far, and no farther.”

“And what you can do together isn’t enough for you.”

“It was wonderful. But how could it be enough—for him?”

“If he wants it to be. And . . . uh . . . you said you could feel his erection. Maybe you can bring him to climax withouttaking off his pants.”

Quinn folded her arms across her chest. “It’s not just about sexual satisfaction. He’s a ghost. We can’t marry. Can’t have children, like you.” She stopped short when she realized what she’d said.

“And that’s what you want?” Zarah said.

“I see how happy you and Griffin are, and I envy you.”

“Even though I may never see him again.”

“You will!”

Zarah hitched in a breath. “I wish I could be sure of that, but I’m here and he’s in another universe. And maybe Baron’s soldiers caught him when he drove the wagon away from us.”

“He got away.”

“I hope so. I pray that’s true.” Zarah’s eyes brimmed with moisture.

Quinn reached for her hand and squeezed it. “I don’t think this discussion is doing either one of us any good.”

“Don’t you think it helps to talk?”

“Can you use your flame magic to bring Caleb back to life—or even to take off his clothing so I can lie down beside him like normal men and women?”

“I wish I could.” Zarah firmed her expression. “Did you find anything in Logan’s books that might help?”

“Not really. What they have here is far less correct informationthan you and I learned when we were ten-year-olds in school. Their society just isn’t oriented toward the psychic.They have wild guesses and . . . and outlandish assumptionsabout things that we’ve studied in detail.”

“Like what?”

“They don’t know what lessons to use to enhance psychic power. They don’t know that childhood is the best time to fosterthose skills. They don’t know how many forms a ‘ghost’ can take.”

She might have said more, but she heard the front door open and closed her mouth. Logan and Rinna were home. End of discussion. Which was a relief.

There was no more talk of the ghost that evening. Or the next day, and Quinn wondered if Logan was trying to decide what to do about him. She prayed he wasn’t planning to confrontCaleb because she didn’t want either one of them to get hurt.