Waterborne (12 page)
Authors: Katherine Irons
“Never.” Not rape. No force beneath the sea or sky could turn him to such villainy. He had other methods of persuasion. Before he was done making love to her, she’d beg him for intercourse.
She wouldn’t lay still, and the feel of her body against his drove him to the edge, so it was all he could do to keep a check on his own carnal desire. She cursed and thrashed, but he persevered until he was as naked as she was. “Shh, shh,” he rasped, using the same tone he’d once used to gentle a giant unbroken sea horse. “Let me love you, Ree.”
He pushed the weight of her hair off the nape of her neck and pressed damp kisses against her hot skin. He settled his groin over her sweet buttocks and took pleasure in the gasp that escaped her lips. He was rock hard and full to bursting. He released her wrist and ran his fingers down her back, skimming her small waist and lingering on the taut curves of her bottom. “Shh, shh,” he crooned, and he stroked and caressed her body, and all the while, he kept kissing and licking her neck and back and shoulders, caressing the length of her spine and the first swelling of her buttocks.
“Sweet Ree,” he murmured as he released her other wrist. She twisted under him as he knew she would, and he lifted his weight onto one elbow to let her. Which brought his seeking mouth level with a heaving breast and a hard, sweet nipple ...
She cursed him again, but when he used his tongue to moisten that swollen bud, her breathing quickened, and he felt her tremble. And when he pinched her nipple between his lips and then suckled it, she cried out.
“Damn you, Alex! Damn you!”
Her fists, which had been pounding his head and shoulders unclenched, and she fell back, groaning as he licked and nibbled and teased first one nipple and then the other. His fingers slid lower, claiming her belly and the nest of red curls that guarded his greatest desire.
“You want me,” he said. “Admit it. Tell me what you want.”
She moaned and tilted her hips to meet his hands, gasping as he slipped two fingers into her wet folds, touching the silken softness, feeling the clench of her inner muscles against his probing. He let his mouth follow the path his hands had taken, kissing the hollow between her breasts, her stomach, and burying his face in those sweet nether locks.
But when he would have kissed and suckled her cleft, she wiggled out of his grasp. No longer cursing him, she rose onto her knees and pushed him back against the heaped cushions. Their gazes met; he saw that she no longer considered him her enemy, and he allowed her to do with him as she would.
Her revenge was bittersweet.
She began at his mouth, kissing him, nipping with tiny love bites, licking and kissing, moving slowly down his body as he had done hers. He felt her sharp, white teeth on his shoulders, felt them close on his nipples before she drew them between her lips and suckled until he thought that he would explode with need for her before she ever reached his phallus.
“Lie still!” she commanded. “It’s my turn.”
How strange and wonderful it was to feel Alex’s barely controlled power beneath her, and how the anticipation of what was to come fired her own lust. Suckling at his nipples, laving the hard muscles of his chest, and caressing the silken sinews of his shoulders made her giddy with need. When she looked up and his gaze met hers, the intensity in his beautiful sea-green eyes shook her to her core. She knew she’d never known this degree of arousal. She wanted him now, wanted him hard and deep, wanted him plunging into her, filling her with his hot flesh and unleashed passion.
But, not yet ... not yet. Not until Alex suffered as she had suffered from his torture. She would have her revenge. . . sweet revenge. She would make him pay for what she had endured, if it killed her.
She kissed her way down over his hard, muscle-ridged stomach and iron thighs until she was between his knees. He was shaking now, his fingers twisted in her hair.
“Ree ... Ree ...”
So big ... he was so big. She took him between her hands, and he groaned with pleasure. Gently, she cupped the weight of his sacks and cradled his sex, stroking the length, caressing and teasing him.
“By Ares’ seed, have you no pity?”
She pressed her lips against the silken column. Strange how a man could be so hard ... as hard as ivory but the skin sheathing it soft and pliant as satin. Hot ... he was as hot as fire.
She leaned close and tasted that satin skin.
Alex groaned and shuddered.
She drew her tongue around the base, and then slowly began to explore the length and breadth of this wonder.
“Woman! Am I made of stone?”
Laughing, she drew him into her mouth and suckled, gently at first and then with more strength. Strange how her mouth on his organ could make her own cleft contract and her nipples tingle. Strange how the flames leapt from his sex to her own.
She moistened her fingers with her tongue and continued to stroke and massage his tumescent phallus, kissing and licking, suckling until she tasted the first sweet milk of his ardor.
“Ree!” he cried out.
He tried to rise, but she placed her hands on his chest and pushed him back. “Wait,” she said. “Wait just a—”
“I’ve had my fill of waiting!” he roared and seized her shoulders.
She laughed as he slammed her back against the cushions. “Are you truly a prince?” she dared. “If you are, show me.”
CHAPTER 12
A
lex sheathed himself in her soft, willing body, withdrew and plunged again. He reveled in the wet feel of her, felt himself whipped to a fiery heat by her urging cries. She locked her legs around him, clasping him to her, and welcomed his powerful thrusts. He could feel the thunder of her heart, the quick, hard gasps of her breathing. Most of all, he was aware of her sweet sex contracting around his shaft and the raw scent of aroused woman filling his nostrils.
lex sheathed himself in her soft, willing body, withdrew and plunged again. He reveled in the wet feel of her, felt himself whipped to a fiery heat by her urging cries. She locked her legs around him, clasping him to her, and welcomed his powerful thrusts. He could feel the thunder of her heart, the quick, hard gasps of her breathing. Most of all, he was aware of her sweet sex contracting around his shaft and the raw scent of aroused woman filling his nostrils.
How long they rode the crest of the rogue wave, he didn’t know, but they were teeth and nail and raw primitive lust ... sweat-soaked bodies clinging to each other, wild to find release, until at last Ree screamed with pleasure and he felt the racking shudders of her climax that sent him careening out of control and over the edge.
Somehow, when he regained his senses, Ree was still locked in his arms, and they found themselves laughing and kissing and whispering lovers’ nonsense in a dozen languages..
“Am I still a bastard?” he asked as he kissed the tears from her cheeks.
“Yes. You are.” She found his mouth and kissed him, savoring the salt-sweet taste of his mouth and the sensation of his tongue against hers. “You left me, and I didn’t know if you were coming back.”
“I told you I would.”
“But I didn’t know if I could believe you. What the hell would I have done here alone? I don’t know how to get out—to get back to the surface ... to get to land. Hell, I don’t know if I can even exist on land anymore or if you’ve turned me into a guppy.”
He kissed her again, long and hard, sending her thoughts spinning. “I don’t know either,” he admitted when the caress finally broke. “No one does, I suppose. You’re one of a kind.”
“A hybrid freak.” She snuggled against him, unwilling to let the wave of pleasure go, stroking his wide chest and the swelling muscles of his massive upper arms.
“Or maybe a new species. Superior to all others.”
He ran a broad palm possessively over her bare buttocks, and his touch brought instant response. Ree felt herself softening toward him. Bright wires of sensation tightened in the pit of her stomach and moist heat flowered between her thighs. If he didn’t take his hands off her, they wouldn’t be talking; they’d be into no-holds-barred sex again.
“Nothing you do could surprise me,” Alex said. “Where did you learn those moves?”
She gave a small sound of amusement. “Are we discussing coitus or—”
“I was thinking of your combative skills. I outweigh you by half, yet you nearly made me a eunuch.”
“Oh, that.” She chuckled. “Never sneak up on me. And, besides ... you deserved it. You shouldn’t have left me.” She rolled away from him and looked into his eyes.
Big mistake. Looking into Alex’s eyes was like falling into a pool of hot chocolate. You knew you were drowning, but who the hell cared. She reached down and pinched a section of skin on her leg hard enough to clear her mind. “I take it you didn’t find a way out.”
“I did, but don’t change the subject.” A slow smile brought a dimple to his cheek.
Oh, shit,
she thought.
He doesn’t play fair.
He could turn the charm on like a floodlight whenever he pleased, and knowing that he was doing it deliberately didn’t minimize the effect.
she thought.
He doesn’t play fair.
He could turn the charm on like a floodlight whenever he pleased, and knowing that he was doing it deliberately didn’t minimize the effect.
“Where did you learn to fight like that?” Alex persisted. “Not in cooking school.”
He caught her chin between his fingers and tilted her face up. He leaned close and brushed her mouth with his, leaving her trembling and wanting more.
“Who and what are you, Ree O’Connor?”
“Just a woman who doesn’t like to be bullied by a man.” She seized a lock of his golden hair and gave it a sharp yank.
“Ouch,” he protested.
“You deserved it.”
Alex’s voice deepened. “And have I been bullying you?”
“You have.”
“Then I apologize. It isn’t our way.”
His eyes flooded with moisture, hypnotizing, making her think of swirling tides and deep currents, bringing her dangerously close to wanting to know more about him. And that would be breaking a rule that she’d vowed never to do again. Caring for a man or becoming personally attached to anyone opened the door to a personal hell. She wasn’t in a line of work that encouraged bonds with other humans. People weren’t reliable. They died or they left you... . And then there was nothing but lonely nights and tears.
Alex’s voice dragged her back to the moment.
“Atlantean women have always been considered equal.”
She gave him a dubious look. “In all things?”
“In everything but the throne. Poseidon, our high king, has always been male.”
Her eyes narrowed. “So not quite equal.”
“No male can give birth to a child. Does that seem equal? Both male and female are equally important.”
“Are you really a prince?”
He sighed. “Guilty as charged.” His mouth curved into the hint of a smile.
“Son of the king of Atlantis?”
Alex shook his head. “My brother is Poseidon.”
“So I don’t have to worry that you’ll suddenly announce yourself Lord of the Sea?”
His beautiful eyes clouded. “I told you what I am, a soldier, an assassin. I’ve no wish to inherit my brother’s crown.”
“But you could?”
“Not unless Poseidon, his infant son, and my twin brother Orion should all die suddenly or abdicate.”
She pushed up on one elbow. “You’re serious, aren’t you? You are a prince?” Maybe he was telling the truth. There was something regal about him, and she’d never met a man with more self-confidence.
“I told you I was, didn’t I?” He sat up. “As pleasant as this is, and as much as I might want to share pleasures of the flesh with you again, I’m afraid our time here grows short.” He rose and found his tunic where he’d tossed it.
“So you did find a way out?”
“After a fashion.”
“With the help of your friends?”
He shook his head. “No. I’ve had no contact. I hope that Anuata wasn’t waylaid by the Lemorian scouts.”
“And that she didn’t betray you?” Ree gathered her hair and began to braid it into a single thick plait, all the while watching him from the corner of her eye.
Just watching him dress was enough to make her remember the pleasure of Alex’s touch. Hard muscle flexed and rippled gracefully beneath his skin. How could any man be so beautifully put together and still move with all the ease of a leopard? She’d always been fond of big cats: tigers, mountain lions, panthers, but she’d long given up going to zoos to see them. There was something so wrong about caging an animal that wild and magnificent.
They’d made quite a night of it, with both imagination and great vigor. What had they done? She couldn’t resist a smile. What hadn’t they done? And when could they repeat the experience? Whatever doubts she had about Alex and his background, she could honestly say that she’d never been so well laid.
“Anuata wouldn’t betray me,” Alex said. “She’d die first. Anuata lives by the warrior’s code.”
“But she isn’t one of you. She’s Lemorian.”
“I had an occasion to do her a good turn. I saved her life, and by her code, that life belongs to me now. It’s not a debt that can be released, and to refuse her service would be an insult that could be settled only by blood.”
Ree slid her legs off the bed, found a ribbon, and secured her braid before reaching for her own garment. “Lovely. Sounds quite archaic to me.”
“We are an ancient race, and we have our own customs—customs that have served us well through the eons.” He strapped on his cuirass. “Wait, don’t dress yet,” he said, and then called out loudly. “Sorley? Sorley, my host, we have need of you!”
“What is it?” the fairy replied. Ree couldn’t see him, but his voice sounded as if it were coming from beneath the stone tiles under her feet. “What more could you want? You haven’t much longer, you know.”
“We require boy’s clothing and armor for the lady. And the return of my weapons. Give us what we need, and we’ll trouble you no more.” Alex winked at Ree and motioned toward the fireplace. She glanced down at the floor, but Alex shook his head.
Illusion,
he mouthed silently.
Illusion,
he mouthed silently.
“Your weapons you may have,” Sorley cried. “But where would I get Atlantean armor to fit a woman?”
“Bring us armor from the Old City, then,” Alex said. “And a spear for the lady—a small one with a sharp point.”
“And a knife,” Ree suggested. “Or a sword.”
Alex raised a brow quizzically.
“I took fencing lessons in college,” she lied. “I know how to protect myself.”
“Odder and odder,” Alex remarked. “You heard Lady O’Connor,” he said to the fairy. “A short sword and a dagger. One of your finest.” He laced up his sandal and knotted it firmly at his calf. “One more thing.”
“It’s always one more thing with you,” Sorley whined. “What else? An army at your beck and call? A gilded chariot pulled by dolphins?”
“A guide. We’ll need a guide through the Old City catacombs.”
The fairy retorted with a blast of harsh words, none of which Ree understood, but didn’t think she needed them translated.
“Impossible!”
“If you want us gone from here, we’ll need a guide.”
“And where will I find one? Do you expect me to conjure one out of seawater? I should cast you out and let the Lemorians have you!” Sorley cried. “You’ve taken advantage of our hospitality.”
“There is a debt,” Alex reminded him.
“A debt, a debt! You abuse our rules. Never again will I open the portal for one of your kind.”
“Oh, but you will,” Alex replied smoothly. “And you will produce a guide.”
“I’ll put no fairy blood in danger for an Atlantean.”
“I didn’t ask for a guard, only someone who knows the secret passageways.”
“A pox on you and all your house!” Sorley shouted.
“Careful,” Alex warned with a grin at Ree. “The Lady Ree O’Connor is a powerful sorceress in her own right. She could well send your curse crashing back around your long ears.”
An hour later, Ree found herself following Alex and a fairy named Hafoka through a series of tunnels and caves. Unlike Sorley, Hafoka seemed a pleasant enough fellow. He offered no insults and rarely spoke at all. She’d given up being surprised at the appearance of new beings in Alex’s undersea world, but this sprite was clearly of a different species than the grumpy host of sanctuary.
Hafoka’s skin was blue-black, his eyes a brilliant blue, and his short-cropped hair wiry and of reddish hue. He wore only a tapa-cloth wrap covering his loins and a band of sharkskin around his forehead. Hafoka carried no weapon other than a tiny knife at his waist and wore no decoration other than the chain of silver turtles tattooed on his chest and an ivory armband. His feet were bare, high arched, and dainty; his eyes were large and mischievous, and his lashes as long and thick as a girl’s. As charming as Hafoka was, Ree would have had more faith in him if his smile didn’t remind her of a used-car salesman’s.
The fairy had led them into the catacombs through a hole beneath what appeared to be a tiered pyramid, after passing through a massive courtyard with fallen statuary and columns. Startlingly out of place in this ancient plaza was the hulk of a twentieth-century warship lying on its side, ghostly decks bare of whatever unlucky crew had followed it to the bottom. Strange fish and elongated squid swam in and out of the ragged hole in the ship’s hull, and silt and volcanic ash had softened the sharp corners and draped the silent guns in gray shrouds.
“We must be deeper than light penetrates from the surface,” Ree had observed. “How is it that I can still see clearly?” She would have liked to have had time to explore the ruins.
Obviously, a highly sophisticated society had laid out these wide avenues and constructed the enormous public buildings. Alex had explained that this city had been built thousands of years ago on a fertile island, an island that had been destroyed by earthquake and tidal wave long before the Egyptian pharaohs had raised the first pyramid.
The architecture was vaguely Asian, reminding Ree of an abandoned temple complex she’d once toured in the deepest jungles of Cambodia. Not even time could conceal the magnificent carvings and graceful arches ... or the sense that ordinary men and women had once walked these streets, children had laughed and played here, and young lovers had sought each other in the crowds and shared dreams of a future together.
“An anomaly of the Old City,” Alex had answered. “It’s one of the reasons the Lemorians believe the ruins to be haunted. The stones produce their own light, as do the bones.”
“Bones?”
“You’ll see soon enough.”
And she did. They’d not descended far into the first tunnel before she began to see chambers and passageways opening off on either side. Wedged into the walls were stacks of bones, skulls, and whole skeletons. And as Alex had warned her, the bones did glow, not with a white light, but an eerie blue. She wasn’t easily frightened, but the caverns gave her the creeps. Swimming seemed to require more energy than normal, and she felt as though her legs and arms were made of lead.
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