Taylor shuddered in reaction, her heart leaping.
“I don’t know why Rafael is here,” she said. “He says he’s from our future and can’t tell us why.” She made herself meet Veris’ blazing gaze once more. “He did say he was here to remind us why we were here—that we can’t get…distracted.”
“I’ve spoken to Peter,” Veris growled, and spun her around in a tight, hard circle, making her catch her breath. “We’re done here. When this set is over, I will take you outside, then we can jump back home.”
“Veris, where is Brody, here and now?”
Veris made a sound in his throat. “He’s not here. It’s why I picked this time.”
“I know. Only, I’m Mrs. Gallagher here and now. And Rafe is here, warning us to not get side-tracked. It’s all…weird. We’ve never been through a time jump like this. Is Brody nearby, Veris? Somewhere close?”
Five rapid heartbeats, then Veris said, his tone calmer, “He’s in France.”
“What is he doing there?”
“Ask him.”
Taylor rolled her eyes. “I can’t ask him, not now and not when we go back either. Override your distaste for talking about your past, Veris, and tell me. It might have something to do with this…whatever this is.”
Veris shook his head. “It doesn’t.”
“You don’t know that.” She met his eyes once more. “You’re angry. And you’re human hot. You’ve lost the fine edge of your control. Your judgment is compromised. So tell me, and we will decide if it is irrelevant.” Taylor made her voice calm and her tone objective. Logic would appeal to Veris’ intellect and help him calm down.
Veris sighed. “Brody was in a muck sweat for a month over a blonde. Delilah.” He rolled his eyes. “It’s her real name. I checked.”
“You investigated her?”
“Of course,” he said blandly. “Brody wasn’t thinking straight. When it was clear she was mostly harmless, I told him to go cool off his gonads. He did.”
“In France,” Taylor murmured. Then Brody really did have nothing to do with this. She looked Veris in the eye, for it was where his true emotions usually showed themselves first. “You didn’t…mind?”
“Not then,” Veris growled. The fury raged, blazing like a lighthouse beacon, showering her in its invisible heat. “Back then…now…in this time and place, I was still the idiot who believed Brody would never leave me. Not forever.”
Hurt oozed through Taylor at the reminder.
Veris’ hand on her waist squeezed tighter. “If Rafael is from my future, does it mean you are, too? Is Rafael important to you, in that time, Taylor?”
Taylor almost tripped over her feet as her understanding of the events playing out here shifted and revealed more truth.
Veris wasn’t just angry. He wasn’t just jealous. He was afraid. He’d seen her with Rafe and considered the possibility that if the impossible could happen, and Brody could leave him, then so might she. Taylor had blithely told him Rafael was from their future and Veris, the strategist, had extrapolated from there.
“Oh, Veris…” she breathed. She shifted her hand from his shoulder to his cheek. “No, I am yours, Veris. You and I both jumped here from your study on Martha’s Vineyard and arrived barely twenty minutes ago. I know nothing more than you about why Rafael is here.”
Veris closed his eyes briefly, shuttering away his reaction, but not before she saw profound relief write itself there. Then he cleared his throat. “We’re basically strangers,” he reminded her, his voice stiff and hoarse. “You wouldn’t touch me the way you are.”
She dropped her hand back to his shoulder. “Isn’t your contemporary self on the hunt for any willing woman?”
“That’s what those women told you?”
“The Shiraz lady at your table told me. Did you…do you sleep with her, Veris?”
“That was sixty years ago,” he growled.
“That would be yes, then.”
Veris met her gaze. He said nothing.
Taylor nodded. “I should go back to my table, then. Let you get on with your seduction.”
His hand on her waist tightened again. “There is more chance of Odin rising to claim Midgard, than there is of me bedding the damn woman, now.”
“But…history…” Taylor said helplessly, while her heart did a funny little flip and her middle fizzed.
“Fuck history,” Veris breathed. His hand shifted against her torso. “How am I supposed to give a damn about the past, when I have you in my arms, looking the way you do?”
Taylor’s entire body leapt to flames. The flesh between her thighs pulsed, growing slick and ready. Her nipples rubbed against the inside of the confining brassiere.
Veris let out a hard breath. “The look in your eyes...” He raised his head and glanced around the room. “I can’t wait,” he said. “Our business is done here. There’s no reason to wait and I will not wait, not even for the end of this number.” He stepped away from her, so her hands dropped, picked up one of them and lead her off the dance floor.
Taylor let him guide her around the floor, toward the open doors and the night beyond, where they could jump back home without being observed. Her heart hammered and her body throbbed, for she knew exactly what Veris would do when they arrived back at the study they had left a short while ago. It was possible he would not wait to pull her into their bedroom. It would not be the first time he had lifted her onto the desk, shredded her clothes from her, parted her knees and delivered her to shuddering, screaming bliss.
When they passed the table where Veris and Peter Tremaine had been sitting, Veris paused for a heartbeat.
The Shiraz woman… Taylor wished she knew the woman’s name. All she had was her husband’s last name. Whatever her name, her position at the table provided a dollop of relief to Taylor, for the Shiraz woman was now sitting beside Peter with her knees crossed so the coffee-smooth flesh and silk stockings above her knees were on display. She spoke in his ear, while Peter gazed at her cleavage, just inches from his mouth. His eyes held both heat and calculation.
Then he saw Veris and touched the Shiraz woman’s arm and spoke just as softly. He got to his feet and buttoned the white dinner jacket closed over what Taylor was sure would be a raging erection. He sidled around the table to where Veris waited. Veris moved to meet him halfway, which would put Taylor and the Shiraz woman out of hearing distance.
Peter rested his hand on Veris’ shoulder. “It was most peculiar.” His gaze flickered toward Taylor. “Her husband danced with Jasmine, talking hard the whole time. Then she came and just about sat on my knee, purring, her hands all over me like a rash. Sorry, Veris. Although it seems you’re set for the night, anyway.” He spoke with a rich upper-class English voice.
“I am set. Enjoy yourself,” Veris replied. He nodded at Jasmine Shiraz, who smiled with a heated, knowing expression.
Taylor caught up with Veris as he headed for the door once more. The dance set ended. The room quietened as everyone headed back for the tables. Taylor lowered her voice, knowing Veris could hear everything she said, anyway. “Rafael orchestrated that liaison.”
Veris glanced at her. “You heard what Peter said?”
“My hearing is better than it was when I was just human,” she replied. “Not as good as when I am fully vampire, but better than usual.”
Veris nodded. A furrow ridged his brows as he contemplated the puzzle. “When we get back, we must sit down with Rafael and sort this out.”
“That Rafael won’t know about this,” Taylor pointed out. “We have to wait until the other end of the loop closes, when that Rafael has jumped back here, to find out.”
Veris gave a frustrated hiss, then shook his head, as they moved through the doors, across the deep verandah, to a high flight of wooden steps leading down onto a large lawn.
Paper lanterns were strung across the rustling oak trees which bordered the lawn. Beyond them, a wide, slow-moving river gleamed in the light from a small new moon. The ho
rizon was jagged with mountain peaks, black silhouettes with facets lit by moonlight.
It was considerably cooler out here.
There were couples dotted about in the night, most of them shadows in the dark and oblivious to anything around them but the one they were with. Veris looked around, pushing his hand through his hair, his frustration building once more.
“Behind one of the oaks,” Taylor suggested. “Dr. Gardener pressed his attention upon Mrs. Gallagher behind a tree. She objected and stalked off in a huff. Gardener returns to the dinner dance to see if he can score a second time in one night.”
“Let’s hope I figure it out when I come to behind the tree and wonder what happened to the last thirty minutes of my life,” Veris murmured.
“It works, though,” Taylor pointed out.
“Well enough so we can jump now and not wait.” He glanced over his shoulder as he pulled her behind the tree. “Good. At least one person saw us.”
Taylor reached to put her hand around Veris’ waist, already bending her knees to jump back home.
Veris shook his head, gripped her waist and put her back to the huge old tree trunk. “I can’t. Not now.”
“Everything was done, you said.”
His fingers moved over her midriff. Stroking. Teasing. “If you think I can ignore this dress, then you overestimate my discipline.” He bent and ran his lips along the great curve of her shoulder and neck, hovering over the artery. He licked it, and Taylor shuddered. Her body returned instantly to the heavy throbbing state, her clit blooming and pulsing. The tips of her breasts swelled and rubbed with delicious friction against the satin of her bra.
She grew aware once more of the great heat Veris was radiating. He was in overdrive, his heart thundering, his body taut.
He kissed her, driving his tongue into her mouth and pressing himself against her, so she was trapped between him and the gnarled oak. His hand protected her back from the bark, though.
Taylor surrendered willingly, her need overcoming any reluctance she felt about their semi-public position. She felt satin lapels under her fingers, slid her hands inside Veris’ jacket and was bathed in more heat.
He was pressed too tightly against her for her fingers to explore, so she slid her hands around and cupped his ass and pressed, driving him against her. His cock, already a thick, jutting shaft, ground against her with delicious pressure.
Veris groaned and shifted her away from the tree an inch or two. He found the zipper tab on her dress and yanked it down to her waist.
With impatient movements, he tugged the narrow shoulders of the dress down her arms, bringing the wide straps of the bra with them.
The dress sagged around her torso. The satin lining gleamed in the moonlight.
Veris impatiently shoved the bra down to her waist, too, exposing her breasts and the tight, aching nipples. With a fierce sound of satisfaction, he sucked a tip into his mouth.
Taylor clutched at his head as he rolled and nipped the tip, scraping it with his teeth and tongue and driving her need to have him to the end of the scale. She trembled and moaned, while her pussy pulsed emptily.
With the same hurried, driven movements, Veris pulled the hem of her dress up until the tight sheath rolled up around her waist. He splayed his hand over her belly. “Girdles,” he breathed. “Oh, I remember them…!” He slid his hand beneath the open bottom end of the girdle, and up underneath. His fingers brushed her inner thighs, as he found and grasped her panties and yanked.
They tore with a soft sigh and he ripped them out from beneath the girdle and shoved the silk in his pocket. Then he tucked his big hand beneath her ass and lifted her. “Unzip me,” he said, his voice raw with wanting.
Taylor unbuckled the belt, opened the button on his trousers and strained to lower the fly. Her fingers were thick and uncooperative.
She found his cock and released it, then indulged herself by stroking it.
Veris groaned and pushed her back against the tree, wrapped her legs around his hips, and slammed into her in one hard thrust.
For a moment they froze in that position. Taylor could hear and feel Veris’ heart against her. Even his cock shifted and throbbed inside her. His heated breath fanned her neck.
Pleasure rippled through her.
Veris withdrew and pushed back into her again, his fingers digging into her flesh, his breath a grunting exhalation.
Taylor gripped his shoulders and hung on as Veris fucked her with a single-minded intensity, his body tight and hard and driven. He bent and savaged her breasts with his mouth, drawing them out and rubbing the nipples to raw, silvered nubs, sending secondary waves of excitement through her.
Her climax came far quicker than she wanted it to, gripping her and sending bubbles of pleasure coursing through her. She wanted this to last a little longer. Or forever.
Then Veris’ fangs buried deep in her neck. Pleasure exploded through her body, shredding her nerves. Her toes curled, her pussy clenched. Her heart seemed to stop. Her hearing faded. She ground her teeth together, fighting to hold her scream in. For a moment she hung on the edges of consciousness, buoyed up by the thrilling sensations.
Veris paused, as her pussy gripped him. It was barely a hesitation. His driving lust was too great. He slammed into her again. Once, twice…then he stiffened and came with a groan torn from deep in his belly.
All her nerve ends jangled and sizzled. Her breathing wouldn’t calm. Taylor’s nerves were alive and human. She tightened her thighs around Veris’ hips. “More,” she begged in a raw voice.
“Yes, but not here,” Veris said, as he lowered her to the ground, and pulled her dress into place. He closed the zipper as she pulled the arms back into place.
“Home, then.” She sighed.
Veris shook his head. “And miss the pleasure of undoing this dress again? I want to take my time with it, where we won’t be interrupted. I want to follow with my mouth everywhere my fingers move, and take off one delightful layer at a time, then wrap those silk stockings around your wrists, tie you to the bed and make you scream.”
Taylor’s heart gave another little jolt of pleasure at the idea.
“Only, I can’t find my shoe in the dark,” she said. “It dropped off, somewhere…”
Veris bent and put his shoulder against her thighs, folding her over his shoulder. He straightened and patted her ass as she hung helplessly against his back. “You won’t need shoes where I’m taking you.”
Taylor woke with a jolt, for she was no longer used to the transition from sleep to wakefulness. Any loss of consciousness was a fearful thing for a vampire.
Veris’ arms tightened around her. “You’re safe,” he breathed.
Taylor relaxed, her cheek against his shoulder. “You watched over me while I slept.” Beyond his chest, bands of bright sunlight showed through Venetian blinds, playing light and dark upon a white gauze curtain which moved gently in the morning breeze.
Birds chirped and whistled, outside. She could hear a lawn mower and smelled freshly cut grass. From farther away, the crack of tennis balls against racquets. People laughing and chatting softly. The clink of china.
Morning at Whitewitch Falls.
“I watched you sleep,” Veris corrected. “A personal pleasure which has become rare for me.” He kissed the top of her head. “Hungry?”
Her belly rumbled. “God, yes. Food!” She sighed. “Bacon. Waffles. They’ll serve the real things in this time. Nothing frozen. Oh, and fruit!”
Veris laughed and let her go. “You’ll have to learn which is your chalet and change for breakfast. They’re still big on appearances, here and now.”
Taylor reached for the undergarments lying on the floor beside the bed. “I suspect I won’t be the only one sneaking back to her chalet with her shoes in hand. Shoe, in my case.”
“Shoes,” Veris corrected. “I went back and retrieved the other one last night, when you were in a delta wave phase.”
Taylor smiled her thanks. Delta
wave phases of sleep were the deepest and the hardest for a human to wake from. Veris had waited until she would not detect he was gone. “Shouldn’t we just jump home from here? We should leave your original self to get back to his life.”
Veris handed her the stockings he had unraveled from the bed frame and sat to watch her slide them on and buckle them to the girdle. “And give up breakfast?” he asked her.
“If I must. There will be other times, I’m sure.” For Taylor thoroughly understood and agreed with Veris’ reluctance to stay back in the past for a moment longer than they needed to. “We’ve already lingered too long here for no good reason.”
Veris didn’t argue. Yet he still frowned.
“You’ve been thinking during the night,” Taylor guessed.
He nodded. “I can’t fit Rafael into the puzzle.”
“You want to stay until you know why he’s here, too?”
“Or perhaps just ask him the blunt question. I can join you and your husband at your table for breakfast and find a potted palm to pour my coffee into.”
Taylor turned her back to Veris, to let him slide the zipper closed. “You should wait until we can speak to him back in our time, when the loop closes.”
“Only, my gut says do it now,” Veris replied. “We’ve already changed the way last night happened from the first time I was here and—”
A woman’s scream was loud and shocking, tearing apart the sunny, placid morning air.
Startled exclamations followed, as resort residents paused and looked around for the source of the scream.
“That was close by,” Veris said, standing and reached for last night’s trousers and shirt. He moved fast. Vampire fast. Inside sixty seconds, he was dressed and shoved his bare feet into loafers.
Taylor pushed her pumps on and followed him out the door.
The scream came again and now the babble of excited and fearful voices rose around it.
“The police! Someone get the police!”
“Oh, dear god, he killed her!”
Veris froze with his hand on the chalet door. “Damn…” he breathed. “Shiraz!”
More Time Kissed Moments Page 9
