Kiss Across Swords (Kiss Across Time Series) (23 page)

Veris closed his eyes. Now he believed, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Brody was from his future. He had to be. No one else in the world could possibly know these things. He didn’t understand how it worked. There were whole roomfuls of knowledge he needed to fully comprehend it all. But he knew Brody was who he claimed. His future.

He felt Brody’s hand on his face. Reassuring. “I know about her, Veris. There is no need to explain.”

Veris shuddered as something inside him seemed to shift and ease. He was even able to lift his head and look at Brody. The man’s eyes were completely without judgment. They carried, instead, the same patient understanding—no, the same
love
—as they had since the moment he’d turned from his wife’s arms to face him.

The shudder this time rippled all the way down Veris’ body. It made him aware of Brody’s naked length beneath him, pressed up against him. Brody still held Veris locked against him, but his arms were free.

Veris kept his gaze locked on Brody’s eyes and ran his hand along his flank, just above the line of the sand that cushioned him.

Brody’s eyes widened a fractioned. His cock stirred against Veris’ thigh.

Veris pushed his knee between Brody’s, separating his legs and giving him better access.

Brody’s breath hitched. It was a tiny sound, but rewarding to hear. Veris slid his hand between his thighs and stroked the stretch of flesh between balls and anus and was rewarded again with Brody’s gasp.

This was almost too easy. Brody was tense and ready to break as Veris had been.

Veris weighed Brody’s balls in his hand. They were heavy with promise. He slid his hand higher and closed his fingers around Brody’s wide cock. It was silky hard and throbbed in his hand, the veins pulsing with the life-force that sustained them.

He glided his hand up the shaft and claimed the head.

Brody’s hips jerked. The arm holding Veris against Brody’s chest fell away.

As Veris began to repeat the gentle stroking, he watched Brody’s face and absorbed that exquisite moment when lust took the soul, the heart and the mind. Brody’s eyes closed. His face emptied of all expression except that of a man caught in the best chase of all. A small furrow appeared between his brows.

It would go quickly, this time. It had to. Without the bedroom privileges of privacy, oils and time to learn each other’s paces and pleasures, Veris accepted that. It was also one of the joys of first occasions.

But for right now he could take from this moment a petty sense of mastery as he controlled Brody’s body and played with it. Simple pleasure, bereft of pain and fear, freely given.

Sweet joy.

Brody came with a hoarse cry, his back arching as his hips lifted off the sand. He pumped ferociously in Veris’ hand, his cum pooling on his stomach.

He lay panting, recovering. He put his arm over his eyes. “You haven’t done that to me in…too long.”

Veris shook his head. “Future talk.”

Brody sat up on his elbows. “Sorry.” He looked down at his stomach. “How on earth am I supposed to clean up without water or cloth?”

Veris shrugged. “You’ve never heard of a sand bath?”

Brody shook his head.

Veris stood up. “It isn’t water, but it is nearly as efficient.”

There was sand all around them, so they didn’t have to move away from where they were. They were already stripped. So Veris demonstrated the process of a sand bath, using handfuls of the fine white sand to scour away dirt and sweat.

He spent more time watching Brody “wash” his body than completing the bath himself. Then, when he rubbed the sand over his flesh, he found it too sensitive to handle the rasping of the sand. He had been aroused once more.

But Brody was drawing on his clothes.

Caution flooded him. Veris crossed his arms. “You’re going back?”

Brody jerked his head toward the moon, sitting low in the sky. “It’s late. Taylor will be worried. And if Alexander is right about where the oasis is, tomorrow is going to be a busy day. I need to make some arrangements before everyone wakes.”

Veris pummeled aside his impatience and tried to encompass the idea that a woman’s concerns should be taken into consideration. Clearly, the future was a far different world from now. It explained in part why Taylor was so outspoken and forward.

Brody paused, his hauberk in his hands. “Come back with me,” he suggested.

Veris frowned. What did that mean?

“To my fire,” Brody added.

Veris found himself suddenly breathing hard.

Such a simple statement. Such a complicated step to take. It would be declaring to everyone in the camp their relationship. By the time they returned to Jerusalem, word would spread.

Davina would find ways to make Veris’ life miserable, if not end it altogether for such a transgression. For such a betrayal.

“And what about your woman?” Veris breathed, trying to make it sound as derisive as possible.

“Taylor would welcome you with open arms. You know that.”

He could still feel the touch of her fingertips on his hands. Her breath in his ear. Her lips on his neck.

Soft sweetness.

Open arms.

Veris shuddered. “I’d die,” he said truthfully. Davina would see to that.

Something in Brody’s eyes withered and faded to nothing. Veris watched it happen, dismayed. He wanted to reach out, to try to amend the error he had just made, but knew it was too late. Besides, it was better that Brody misunderstand.

Brody buckled on his sword silently. He squared his shoulders. His gaze wouldn’t meet Veris’. “I must return.”

“I understand.”

“Do you?” Brody said bitterly. His gaze lifted to Veris’ eyes. The pain there was unmistakable and Veris recoiled. “You’ve not understood more than a handful of everything else I’ve told you, but now you understand this?” He pushed his hand through his hair. “You know, you used to be the absolute best liar in the world, Veris. You could bullshit with the greatest. Straight faced, you could tell the most outrageous stories in the world. You could have sold sand to Fatimids and convinced them they were getting the bargain of the century. But you never, ever lied to yourself.” Brody’s mouth curled down. “Until now.”

He walked back down the dune without looking back.

But Veris was too busy trying to deal with the pain in his gut and his chest to care.

They reached the oasis just as the sun was at its zenith, which at this latitude meant it was directly overhead. It was frighteningly hot and dry and Taylor had never been so glad to see a pool of water in her life. But it wasn’t just the heat that made the oasis a retreat for her.

About half the size of a baseball diamond, the pool was shaded by palms and surrounded by grasses. Unlike many oases, this one sprang from a shallower source of water in rocks close to the surface, gushing and bubbling just at the surface in a continual renewal of the supply.

The overflow ran off in a narrow curving stream, channeled by rocks, for a league before drying out in the baking heat of the desert and being reabsorbed into the sand.

They had been warned ahead of time by Alexander to dismount and walk to the pool and bring back buckets to water the horses first. In this way they would avoid a stampede that would muddy the pool and make it useless for days.

Shortly after the noon hour, they had set up camp next to the oasis. Brody had declared they would rest there until the next day, while the barrels were filled and food found, before returning to Jerusalem.

It had been one of the few things he had said that day.

He had returned to the fire sometime during the night for she had found him there, his body curled around hers, when she woke at first light. But when she turned in his arms and begged him for details, a shadow touched his face. “Not now,” he said quietly. “I will tell you, I promise, but not now.”

“Did you make love?” she asked. “You can tell me that much at least.”

He hesitated. “Yes,” he said at last. But the single word was so heavy and flat, her heart fell.

She stroked his cheek. “We’ll figure it out,” she whispered, hoping she was right.

Brody rested his head against her shoulder and held her tightly. Surprised, she wrapped her arms about his shoulders and let him cling to her. If he had been human, Taylor wouldn’t have been surprised if he had wept against her. He was trembling.

After a while, Brody let her go enough to bring his mouth closer to her ear. “He’s not the same Veris. He is, but he’s not. I love him, but at the same time I miss him badly. I want him back and I’m scared hollow I’m going to fuck this up and lose him forever.” His hand touched her shoulder. “I know that’s selfish. I know you’re dying inside each day he’s gone, too. But this is all falling on me, because this other Veris won’t look at you even though he wants you.”

“I’d be terrified if I were you, too,” she said gently.

He laughed against her neck. “No, you wouldn’t. You’ve got courage for blood. You’d have defied Veris somehow last night. You would have made it work. I don’t know how you do it, but you always manage it somehow.”

Taylor shook her head. “I stood there and watched him bare his fangs against your neck. Do you know how much I longed for a sword in my hands? To have the sort of power you two do? I was helpless.”

“You stopped him anyway. It was you, Taylor. He told me so.”

She rolled away from him so that she could see his face. His black-eyed gaze was steady. He wasn’t lying.

“Then maybe there’s hope for Veris yet,” she suggested.

Brody drew in a sharp, quick breath. He sat up as if he’d suddenly been shot full of energy.

Taylor rose up as well and he kissed her. “Thank you,” he said. “I’d forgotten that. You’re right. There’s hope.”

Taylor clutched at her stomach as it rolled rebelliously. There was no time to hide it or even ride it out like yesterday. It was coming whether she wanted it to or not.

With a moan she scrambled for the cold fire pit, the chainmail jingling, and vomited into the ashes, hard and long, until her stomach was completely empty. Even before she was done, she felt hands pulling her hair back and a damp cloth on her forehead.

She fell back on her butt tiredly, gray dots floating across her vision and her throat burning.

Alexander wiped her face with the cloth, his expression concerned. Brody supported her back.

“Alexander knows eastern medicine,” Brody murmured. “He’s good.”

Alexander’s gaze flickered to Brody and back to her. “Are you with child, my lady?”

“No,” Brody said.

Taylor stayed silent.

Alexander’s expression didn’t change. “The food you western people eat does not carry well in these parts. It’s likely you ate something yesterday that had already begun to decompose.”

“I’m sure that’s all it was,” Taylor said. Her voice was strained. “I’ll be more careful about what I eat. Thank you, Alexander.”

He got to his feet and nodded. “Please let me know if I can be of further service.”

Brody had accepted the bad food explanation as the only possible one, which added to Taylor’s guilt. By the time she had eaten food that had passed Brody’s finely tuned inspection and climbed onto Goliath’s back, she was in a foul mood of her own.

It didn’t help that the tension between Brody and Veris was hard enough to bounce off. Alexander seemed to be lost in his own thoughts, rousing only to give the necessary directions to the oasis.

It was a relief to slide off Goliath and move away from the three of them when they reached the water. Taylor headed for the nearest patch of shade, laid down and went to sleep.

She woke to find her head pillowed by her folded-up blanket, her hands free of her gauntlets and her feet free of her shoes. Her belts had been loosened and her sword and knife were standing point first in the sand next to her.

There was a cup of water, too, along with fresh dates—probably from the trees around the oasis—plus more food that would have been checked over by Brody.

She lifted her head. Brody’s gear sat in a pile a yard away.