Stolen Dreams (9 page)

 

Gabriel was braced with legs apart and
both
hands clasped around the grip of a paralyzer rod. Choosing the animal
in the forefront, he pointed the weapon and fired. The red beam hit the
beast between the horns. It stumbled, momentarily confusing the others
in its pack as they slid to a halt around their leader. A few seconds
later, however, the leader recommenced its roaring charge.

 

Gabriel
had no choice. He increased the setting and fired again before the
animals could close in on them. One creature after another collapsed in
a hairy heap as they were hit by the lethal blue light. In seconds the
snow was littered with carcasses.

 

Shara's violent trembling
was now
caused as much by fear as the cold. She had never felt so utterly
helpless in her life. "Th-they would have k-k-killed us," she muttered.

 

Gabriel
didn't waste time responding. He shoved his satchel and her bag into
the tent, then transferred the antigravity device to the outside. "Get
in and sit still while I move us away from here. Who knows what sort of
creature will come to prey on our welcoming committee?"

 

Shara
hurried to do as he said and instantly felt some relief once she was
out of the icy wind. She was surprised to discover that the material
was transparent from this side. The entire tent abruptly

 

rose,
tipping her sideward, but she tried to remain as still as possible
after that.

 

For
several minutes, Gabriel guided the floating shelter until he reached a
spot where the wind was partially blocked by high snowdrifts. Shara
wondered how he was managing to tolerate the cold so much better than
she, but when he lowered the tent and crawled in, she realized he was
merely more stoical. His lips and fingers had turned blue and his hair
and clothing were covered with frost.

 

His entire body was
shaking as
he began rooting through his satchel again. "He-he-heater," he
whispered, placing a crystal ball in the center of the tent. Instantly
it emitted a soft golden glow. Seeing him place his hands close to the
orb, Shara did the same and sighed as a mild warmth seeped into her
stiff fingers. She barely began to thaw when he took several small
metal boxes out of his satchel and crawled toward the tent opening.

 

Grasping
his arm, she asked, "What are you doing now?"

 

"Have to ...
s-s-set b-b-barriers to k-k-keep animals away." As he spoke, two of the
boxes fell from his trembling hands.

 

Shara
picked them up and held out her hand for the other two. "Give them to
me and tell me how to do it." When he hesitated, she added, "It's very
clear that I need your help, Professor. You will be of little value to
me if you're frozen to death."

 

He gave her the two boxes and
pointed
out the activator button. "Just p-p-push them . . . under the s-s-snow
... at the f-f-four corners of the tent. And hurry."

 

She
rolled her eyes at him. "No kidding!" Opening the tent flap as little
as possible, she went back out into the cold. The snow was packed so
hard she had to use the
boxes to dig out holes to set them in the way Gabriel had instructed.
By the time the fourth barrier projector was activated, she was again
shivering from head to toe.

 

Crawling back inside, she noted
that
Gabriel was now huddled in his sleeping pouch, but he was still quaking
something awful, and she wasn't doing any better. Because she'd had to
open the tent flap and let in the freezing wind, the space heater had
yet to make a substantial difference.

 

Shara tugged on the edge
of
the pouch he had tucked under his chin. "Let me g-g-get in th-th-there
with you." When he merely arched an eyebrow at her and kept his grasp
on the pouch, she explained, "Hypoth-th-thermia. B-b-body heat helps."

 

"Only
if ... you t-t-take off those . . . c-c-clothes."

 

Shara
blinked at him, then realized her body suit was covered with melting
frost, and his damp clothing had been discarded on the floor next to
him. Another violent shiver racked his body, and she set aside her
natural modesty in light of practicality. Reminding herself that most
of the people she knew would think nothing of being seen in the nude,
she stripped to the skin as quickly as her shaking hands permitted.
Nevertheless, she kept her eyes averted and hoped he did the same.

 

"Sh-Sh-Shara—"

 

"Don't
s-s-say a word," she warned as she slipped into the pouch with him.
"You s-s-saved my life. I owe you." The pouch, made for one large man,
expanded enough to accommodate her once he straightened himself out.
She had thought her body was as cold as a human could get until she
stretched out on top of his length with her cheek on his shoulder.

 

He
was one giant icicle. Though her extremities had almost no feeling in
them, she pressed her feet to his and rubbed her hands up and down his
upper arms. Her efforts finally paid off after what seemed like an
eternity. The numbness left her body and his shivering lessened to an
occasional spasm.

 

As his skin took on a more normal warmth, he
moved
his hands from where they had been sandwiched between their chests and
massaged her back, returning the favor of getting her blood circulating.

 

At
least that's what she thought he was doing. But what began as a
vigorous rubdown changed to a light skimming over the flesh from her
neck to her thighs. Another shiver passed through her, but this one had
nothing to do with the cold.

 

"Professor, I—"

 

"Don't
you think you could call me Gabriel, under the circumstances?" His hand
cupped her bottom as he said it.

 

She
kept her head against his shoulder to keep him from seeing her flushed
cheeks. "I suppose so ... Gabriel. Are you warm enough now?"

 

"I
still can't feel my toes. Can you?" He sucked in his breath as her hips
and thighs shifted to enable her toes to search out his.

 

"No
wonder you can't feel them. They're like ice. But the rest of you feels
. .. normal again, so—"

 

He
stopped her from squirming upward to get out of the pouch. "You don't
want to do that yet," he said, keeping his arms wrapped snugly around
her. "You may feel comfortable in here, but the heater hasn't raised
the overall temperature by more than a few degrees so far. Give it a
little more time."     
 

 

Shara
inched back down to her previous position, but she was no longer as
concerned about freezing to death as she was about incinerating. His
muscular body felt too good beneath hers and his fingers were awakening
all the nerve endings in her skin. Suddenly she felt a movement between
her thighs and realized her nerves weren't the only things standing at
attention.

 

Since there was nowhere for her to run at the
moment, she
opted for conversation. "I've never seen anything killed before. Did it
bother you to do that?"

 

His lips brushed across her forehead.
"When
I first started journeying, I tried to abide by the nonviolent
doctrines I'd been raised with. But I soon learned that civilized
ethics don't always have a place in primitive cultures. Sometimes
survival has to take priority."

 

"It never occurred to me to
bring a weapon. If I had been alone, I'd be dead now."

 

He
pressed a light kiss on her temple. "You can't know that for sure. You
might have found some way to frighten them away."

 

She
grimaced. "Then I just would have frozen to death slowly, instead of
being devoured instantly."

 

"There's also the possibility that
the security team would have stopped you from hopping at all."

 

Even
though he had to realize she was no longer chilled, his hands continued
to stroke her. Since it would be ludicrous to order him to remove his
hands from her while she was lying naked on top of him, she continued
to pretend that she didn't notice how sensual his touch was ... or that
he was aroused.

 

She rose on one elbow to meet his eyes for
what she
knew had to be said. "At any rate, I'm aware that I owe you an apology.
Two,
actually."        
 

 

"Oh?"
By lifting her upper body, she partially revealed the full breasts he
had only gotten a brief glimpse of earlier, and then he was too cold to
care. He knew it was rather primitive of him, but he really appreciated
a woman with a well-developed figure. He forced his gaze back to her
face and worked to keep it there.

 

When he had lowered his
eyes,
Shara wondered if he might be nodding off, but when he looked at her
again, she was immediately aware that sleep was the last thing on his
mind. "Um, yes, an apology. I, uh, was wrong to try to leave without
you. I am very obviously not prepared for this journey. Thank you for
preventing me from making a terrible mistake. And thank you for helping
me to avoid the security team." His hands eased slowly up and down her
ribs as she gave her little speech, and on each upward stroke, his
thumbs skimmed the sides of her breasts.

 

He watched the irises
of
her eyes change to chocolate brown and fought the smile that threatened
to give away his thoughts. "And the second apology?"

 

She
swallowed
hard, finding it more difficult by the second to ignore how he was
making her feel. "I was very rude yesterday and said things I didn't
mean."

 

"Which things?" he murmured as he rolled the two of
them onto their sides.

 

"It's
nice of you to act as though you've forgotten my insults, but I
haven't. You trusted me with sensitive information about yourself, and
I behaved abominably. You had a right to be furious and insult me in
return." She wasn't quite sure how he managed it so smoothly in such a
confined space, but their positions were now almost reversed. She was
lying on her back and his body partially covered hers as he smiled down
at her.

 

"I
don't think two wrongs make a right,' he said, his gaze drifting lower.
Her breasts were even more beautiful than he'd guessed and her eye
color had confirmed the fact that the contracted nipples weren't
entirely caused by the cold. "I owe you an apology also." He had
thought seeing would be enough, but the need to touch every part of her
was overruling all else. His fingers trickled over her stomach and
crept upward. "My throwing your heritage back at you was completely
unreasonable. My only excuse is that I was confused."

 

"I'm
sorry
about that," Shara said, trying not to think about her racing pulse.
"But I'm afraid you confused me as well. I don't usually . . . forget
myself so easily."

 

His hand had finally reached the swell of
her
breast and, with great effort, he stopped himself from proceeding
further. "I can't say that I understand your attitude, though. I know
you were enjoying our kisses as much as I was." He watched her gaze
move to his mouth while her tongue sneaked out to moisten her lips. "In
fact, I think you're wondering the same thing I am right now: Was it
really that good?" Her sharp intake of breath was her verification of
his guess.

 

"I don't want to take any of your gifts, Shara. I
want to give you some."

 

The only response she could manage was
to furrow her brow.

 

"The first gift I'd like to give you is
satisfaction . . . of your curiosity."

 

She knew this was a
mistake. She should get out of the pouch, stop his velvety touches,
which were clouding her mind while seducing her body, and, above all,
avoid kissing him.

 

Her lips parted to deny him, and he lowered
his head.

 

How
could an act so simple as two mouths making contact tip the world off
its axis? His tongue teased hers, and she had the answer. This was no
simple act. The tender caress he started to give her instantly turned
demanding and all she could do was respond to that demand with her own
shocking need.

 

He gave up the fight to keep his hand from
capturing
her breast. When she covered that hand with hers and encouraged him to
squeeze harder, his erection stretched to its limit against her hip.

 

Gabriel
had never known such uncontrollable desire, but now was not the time to
analyze it. His body demanded that he seek immediate relief and he
moved over her. Yet, in spite of the fact that she spread her thighs to
cradle him and her hands urged him to complete the union, the
recollection of what she had accused him of before gave him the
willpower to hold back.

 

"I think our mutual curiosity is
satisfied,"
he murmured against her mouth. Sliding his aching shaft up and down
over her nerve center, he kissed her again, then said, "I would like to
give you another gift, but you'll have to tell me you want it. The
pleasure is yours for the taking, Shara. Will you accept it?"

 

There
was no doubt in her mind. If she didn't take it in the next few
seconds, she would go up in flames. "Yes. Please." He entered her so
quickly, she gasped, but her body had been well prepared and welcomed
his with a shudder of relief.

 

Her
body had previously welcomed two other men, but now she realized they
had merely taken from her without giving anything in return. Gabriel's
body was doing things to hers that she hadn't known were possible.
There was a harmony to their movements, and every stroke, every touch,
made her more aware of how much she could take from him ... if she just
reached out for it. If she could only quiet the whispers of uncertainty
in her mind.

 

His intention had been to please her first, then
satisfy himself at a leisurely pace. That was the way it had been in
every encounter he had previously had. But this wasn't like anything in
his previous experience. Being inside her increased his passion
tenfold. He couldn't seem to control his body's powerful thrusts.
Raging need hammered at him until he could only drive forward.