Hunting Medusa: The Medusa Trilogy, Book 1 (28 page)

He laughed and leaned down to kiss the tip of her nose. “Really?”

“Yes. Would you like me to show you?” She rolled to face him, one hand sliding up the center of his chest.

Warmth slid along his veins, settling in his groin. “You might persuade me.”

A very sexy smile curved her lips now, and she slipped her hand higher. “I thought I might.”

He shut his eyes and let her have her way with him.

They could figure out the amulet later. Right now, his Medusa needed a distraction, and he was happy to provide it.

Andi stretched lazily the next morning, feeling Kallan curling closer, one big hand sliding over her hip. It had been several days since she’d told him they had to come up with a plan to return. Right now, she didn’t feel as anxious about it. Not with the sexy man pressing closer to her, one of his strong thighs pushing against hers to let his heavy erection slide between her legs.

She inhaled sharply, electricity coursing through her.

“Yes,
meli
?” he rumbled against her nape.

She shook her head, canting her hips back toward his and wedging the broad tip of him into her damp folds.

“Mmm.” He kissed her nape, then dragged his mouth along her throat to her earlobe. His hips rocked a tiny bit, forcing his erection slightly deeper inside her.

Andi tried to shift to allow him to slide all the way, but he stilled her with his hand on her hip.

“No rush,” he breathed against her ear, his teeth scraping the sensitive lobe.

She disagreed. Reaching behind her, she curled her fingers around the base of him, smiling when he groaned, his hips rocking toward hers.

“Come inside me,” she whispered, feeling the way her body grew slick in anticipation.

He rolled them over so she was on her belly, then dragged her hips up so he could thrust deep.

She cried out with the pleasure.

“Better, my impatient Medusa?” He nipped at her nape, then dragged his open mouth to her shoulder, giving her a sharp nip there as well.

She clenched her inner muscles around him in reply, smiling into the pillow at his guttural groan.

They moved lazily for a long time, only ragged moans and soft sighs floating in the air around them. Andi wanted to wake this way every day for the rest of her life.

Kallan reached around in front of her and pinched her clit—hard—sending pleasure spiraling through her.

“You cheat,” she gasped, shaking underneath him.

He chuckled, then thrust harder on the next stroke. “No, I don’t think so. Making you feel good makes me feel good.”

She rocked back to meet him, her legs unsteady beneath her. “Hurry.”

He didn’t argue this time, his hips thrusting faster now, faster yet, until they both collapsed in the aftermath, drenched and trembling.

When his hand slid up her side some time later, she smiled. “We have to go back.”

His fingers tightened on her briefly. “I know.”

She rolled onto her back to face him.

The angles of his face were hard now, not relaxed as she imagined they must have been just a minute ago. “You should call Stavros and find out where he is.”

The green of his eyes sparked. “It’s too soon.”

She knew what he meant. “I know. But if they’re here and chasing us, there’s no point in being here.” She lifted one hand to stroke his hair away from his face. “We may as well go back and deal with them at home.”

His gaze shifted away for a moment as he jaw clenched. “I don’t want to lose you. Not when I can keep you safe.”

“We’ll face him together.” She rubbed her thumb along his cheekbone.

He held her gaze for a long time, his searching. She could see the worry there, for her. Finally, he nodded once. “Fine.”

“Soon.”

He nodded again, and she wrapped her arms around him.

“We’ll be fine.” She hoped she wasn’t lying.

Chapter Twelve

Kallan left a message for Stavros in the morning, under Andrea’s watchful eye. His gut was a tangle of knots, and he’d done nothing since yesterday but worry. He couldn’t keep her safe if they went right to Stavros. If he let her wait until she was about to start PMSing, as she’d jokingly suggested, he could take her right to his cousin and let her do her worst. Except he didn’t believe she was joking.

Still, that would only solve their problem until the next of his cousins tracked her down.

He frowned over the morning paper at her as she picked at her breakfast in a little restaurant they’d discovered several days ago.

Andrea stuck her fork into a mound of potatoes, then lifted up her teacup. “I’ve been thinking about the cup.”

He folded the paper and set it to one side of his own plate. “Have you come up with anything?”

Her searching yesterday had still yielded nothing, and she’d given up before suppertime. “I don’t know. I have some things I know from family tales.” She wrapped her other hand around her teacup, as if her fingers were cold. “No descendant who has already fallen in love has ever received the curse. But I don’t remember ever hearing about anyone falling in love after they’ve become the Medusa. Somehow, though, I think the color change might be related to that.” She looked up from the dark liquid in her cup, her blue eyes troubled. “But I still have the goblet, which must mean that once you have the amulet, you’re stuck with it until you die.”

He scowled into his juice glass. He’d been hoping that was not the case. Selfish of him, maybe.

“But I haven’t asked Aunt Lydia about that. So I need to ask her today.”

He met her gaze, forcing his frown away. “All right. Can we wait to go back until you get your answer?”

She hesitated, then nodded slowly. “I guess so.” She took a sip of her tea, not looking very happy about that development.

Kallan stifled a smile. “Where would you like to live?”

Her head came up, eyes wide. “What?”

“If we could live anywhere, where would you choose?”

She nibbled at her lower lip and set down her teacup. “I’ve never really thought about living anywhere else. I do like my mountain. I wouldn’t mind traveling, though.” She smiled a little.

He could live on her mountain with her. “So I should sell my house, huh?”

She swallowed hard. “Really?”

He nodded.

Her eyes went shiny, and she took an unsteady breath. “Wow.”

He caught her hand where it lay on the table. “We can live anywhere you like.” He’d go to the moon if she wanted.

A tear slipped down her cheek, and she swiped at it with her free hand, looking annoyed. “Damn tears. I swear I’ve never cried as much in my life as I have since you’ve been around.”

He laughed, feeling more relaxed than he had since yesterday morning. “I don’t mind,
meli
.”

“
I
do.” She smiled, though her eyes still shone with tears. “Let’s get out of here. I need to email Aunt Lydia.”

He put some money on the table and got to his feet, lacing his fingers with hers to lead the way back to the hotel. There, Andrea sent off an email to her aunt right away, plus answered one from her mother who wanted to be sure she was okay. Stavros hadn’t called back, but it was early there, so Kallan wasn’t surprised. Stavros wasn’t an early riser, and if he was still livid over missing Andrea, he’d be drinking at night while he was searching for clues. Drinking heavily.

It was the one thing Great-Uncle Ari despised, and the one thing that made Stavros unlikely to succeed at his task.

The trouble was, he didn’t drink enough to make him less dangerous when he was on the hunt.

Kallan pulled up the family site after Andrea was finished with her email. He wanted to check and see if anyone had posted anything about running into another Harvester in Scotland. Nothing.
Good.
That didn’t mean whichever cousin he’d sensed didn’t realize he was there—just that he hadn’t mentioned it publicly.

He started paging through the family archive and came across the photo of the urn. “Andrea.”

She crossed the room from where she’d been rinsing out underwear in the bathroom sink.

“You should see this.” He turned the laptop toward her.

Her lips curved as she knelt beside the bed. “She’s beautiful. I’ve never seen this before.”

“You wouldn’t have. It’s in the Tassos family’s private collection.” His mouth twisted slightly.

She tilted her head to one side to study the urn more closely. “She’s wearing the amulet.”

“What?” He turned the screen back toward himself.

“On her thigh.” She pointed.

His mouth dropped open. She was right. The Medusa had the gold goblet on the outside of her thigh, in plain sight. For centuries. He couldn’t remember how many times he’d looked at this picture, but he’d never noticed the amulet before. He traced it with his fingertip, thinking. Over the years, he’d heard a lot of talk about the amulet, but he already knew his family didn’t know it was embedded into the Medusa’s skin as a tattoo.

How could they not know when the amulet had been in front of them all this time?

He considered that. How many years had it been since a Harvester had actually come across the Medusa? He couldn’t remember anyone talking about it in his lifetime.

Andrea turned the laptop back in her direction so she could look at the photo again. “She really is beautiful,” she whispered.

“So are you,
agaph
.” He stroked his hand over her head. “I wanted you to see this before, but you were sleeping when I saw it last time.”

“Even with the Goddess’s full curse on her, she’s just incredible. Strong and feminine at the same time. In spite of the curse. No wonder Athena was angry.” A lopsided smile tugged at her lips. “I bet She was really pissed off when She found out about the amulet.”

Kallan pondered that while she paged through some of the other artifacts. Athena would have been furious to have Her will thwarted. Which explained why the curse still carried on, most likely.

But that still didn’t tell him for certain why the cup had changed colors, or if there was a chance it might transfer to someone else now that Andrea had fallen in love with him.

And it didn’t tell him how to keep her safe when they returned to the States in a few days.

Andi spent hours looking through the pictures of his family’s collection, most of which centered around their ancestors, Medusa and Perseus. Fragments of pottery, decorative jugs and urns, platters and bowls, tiles. Only the one urn showed the amulet on the Medusa’s leg, however, and she wondered why.

Maybe that was why the Harvesters had never realized the impossibility of their task. They assumed the cup was just a cup, not something the Medusa had adorned her body with while trying to protect her descendants.

She clicked onto another page, frowning at the tile with Perseus holding up the Medusa’s severed head. In this particular painting, the Medusa was portrayed as hideously ugly, her tongue lolling out of her mouth, snakes still spitting from her head. Or maybe that was what happened to her in death.

Andi swallowed and shifted to her email program, her stomach tight with dread at that thought. Aunt Lydia had emailed back already.

She clicked on the reply and bent nearer to read.

Dearest Andi,

I’m so glad you’re still well. It’s best if I don’t let my curiosity get the better of me and ask where you are. That way if anyone untoward should come calling, I can’t answer any questions.

At that, Andi snorted, covering her mouth with one hand, and heard Kallan’s footsteps approach.

Let’s just say I hope you’re having a little bit of fun wherever it is you are right now.

She should only know,
Andi thought.

As to the amulet, well, you certainly have a lot of questions about that, don’t you, my dear? I wish I had more answers for you.

It’s been many years since a Medusa died from anything other than natural causes. Or accidental causes, in the case of poor Annis. I wish Celosia were less technologically challenged, as she would be the perfect person to answer this particular question, since she’s the oldest one around now.

I don’t remember hearing anything about a Medusa losing the curse after falling in love. But it’s rather difficult to find a man who can overlook a woman whose gaze can turn him to stone once a month and with a head full of venomous snakes, isn’t it?

In any case, I shall call Celosia and have a chat with her about this, then get back to you. I shall also refrain from asking if there is a man in the picture for you to be thinking of such a possibility. Safer all around, don’t you think?

Please take care of yourself, darling girl.

Much love,

Lydia

Andi smiled to herself as she sat back.

“Well, that’s a better response than ‘no’, isn’t it?”