Page 51
Not anymore.
Divine Jovar might well crave another stone martyr for His gallery of heroes, but Lorelei was a Queen of Villainy with urgent, personal needs of her own. No matter what her high-minded lover might imagine—or any gods or goddesses demand of her from this moment forward—she had no intention of releasing her captive ever again.
24
Gerard knew from the moment he woke that something had shifted in the air.
Lorelei was scheming.
Unlike the previous morning, she had woken well before him—if, that was, she had slept at all. There was a nearly imperceptible humming tone, like the echo of far distant chimes, vibrating through the tent as she paced back and forth along the silken floor, past the lush green rectangle of grass where he lay. Watching her through his lowered lashes, Gerard saw her long, tousled curls lift away from her shoulders as if by static, reacting to internal lightning he couldn’t view.
But then, who had ever managed to predict this irrepressible woman’s thoughts for long? She was a force of nature in more than one way … and satisfaction rolled, long and leisurely, through Gerard’s body as he stretched along his bed of grass and felt pleasurable reminders of the night before in every muscle.
Before Lorelei, endless chastity had never seemed an intolerable burden. Now, he was already impatient for the end of today’s trials and his next opportunity for intimate exploration.
Apparently signaled by his movement, Lorelei whirled around … but unlike the night before, she didn’t avert her eyes from his nearly undressed body. This time, her gaze stroked over him with the heat of a physical caress, and her face flushed with some unknowable combination of strong emotions. Arousal? Defiance? Determination?
He couldn’t wait to find out.
“Good morning, my darling.” Giving her a small smile, he flexed his stomach muscles, rising to a seated position without the use of his hands. She blinked rapidly at the move, half a dozen golden sparkles shifting free to scatter across her cheeks, and his smile grew against his will.
It was enormously satisfying to find a whole new range of weapons suddenly at his disposal in the challenge that had always lain between them … and he hadn’t forgotten the way she’d watched his calisthenics the day before. Thinking of that now, he shifted position to begin his usual morning round of one-handed push-ups—and savored the telltale hiss of her breath behind him.
As he’d learned years ago, though, the Queen of Balravia could never be kept off guard for long. Soft footsteps sounded behind him. An instant later, it was his turn to suck in a harsh breath of arousal as her small fingertips trailed a light but fiery arc across his flexing rear end through the thin cotton of his drawers. Fire licked through his body; he nearly doubled over at the force of his own response to her touch, after everything that had passed between them the night before.
“Mm, this is a lovely way to start my day,” Lorelei purred above him. “Really, it is a pity to have to leave so soon for the day’s entertainment.”
It … was? Gerard wasn’t fool enough to show his surprise, so he forced himself to continue his push-ups with easy, regular moves as he considered that marked shift in her attitude.
At the point when he’d fallen asleep last night, she’d still been hiding in a separate bed, insisting that their lovemaking had been a singular event that could never be repeated. What had changed for her since then?
It might be pleasing to imagine that she’d spent the night reconciling herself to the truth of their emotional connection and was ready to confess her love … but that idea was laughably implausible. He had never once known Lorelei to make such a linear progression between any points A and B. No, her dazzling mind always shot off in wholly unexpected directions first … and as he prepared to find out which angle to defend against next, his lips stretched into an all-out grin of anticipation.
Was there any wonder he’d fallen in love with this woman? He’d never had so much fun in all his life before she’d kidnapped him.
Regardless of whatever clever scheming lay behind it, that stroke across his drawers just now had been a challenge in itself. He would not back down from answering it. Finishing his last push-up, he rose to his feet without bothering to reach for any of the pieces of his uniform that lay scattered around him. “How long do we have before the trials begin?”
Lorelei regarded him with her eyelashes lowered but a teasing grin playing across her lips. “Not long enough for me to teach you any new tricks yet, General.”
“You think not?” Raising his eyebrows, Gerard prowled closer, the tent seeming to draw tighter around them with every predatory step. “I’ve always been a fast learner.”
“Oh, I’m quite sure you are.” Her magnificent bosom rose distractingly with the deep breath she drew. “But we don’t have time for a full meal.”
“Then how about an appetizer?” Keeping his gaze locked on her face, Gerard dropped to his bare knees on the silk floor before her.
Her eyes widened; her tongue darted out to swipe across her upper lip as her breathing quickened. “I suppose … I could hardly let you fight your final battles without any nourishment beforehand.”
His final battles? Gerard’s eyes narrowed, but he set that clue aside to deal with later. For now, he had only a few minutes to work with—and an intoxicating new challenge to master.
Moistening his lips in enthusiastic preparation, he drew aside the daring strips of skirt that surrounded her and set out to conquer new territory.
Delightful golden waves of pleasure were still rippling through Lorelei’s skin as she stepped out of the tent into the cool morning air just over ten minutes later, one hand laid delicately atop Gerard’s closest arm.
He was, of course, covered once more in the stiff—albeit grass-stained—uniform he’d worn the day before, just as Lorelei wore yesterday’s gown. She hadn’t dared leave him alone in the tent long enough to visit the mortal realm for new supplies—not after Oberon’s threats last night—and there hadn’t been enough time left for such a visit by the time Gerard woke up.
But oh, had he made impressive use of the time they had shared afterwards!
Golden sparkles shamelessly covered the bodice of Lorelei’s gown, Gerard’s dark blue uniform jacket, and, though no one else could see them, her legs, too. To absolutely no one’s surprise—had this man ever met a challenge he hadn’t been determined to win?—he had indeed proven to be a quick study. Just the memory of those big, blunt fingers and that demanding tongue were enough to make another gorgeous internal earthquake shiver through her now.
