by Mary Martin
Without touching her with his hands he sought to take away the fear that he knew held her in its wake. He had never experienced anything so all-consuming in his life. He longed to tell her so much. "Your innocent provocativeness is enough to set my blood afire as no courtesan has ever done," he murmured against her cloud of thick hair. How his hands ached to roam over her, his body to join with her, yet he knew he must go slowly. She had been created for him, and had surely known no other man's touch.
Starlin was intensely aware of his lips doing strange, erotic things to the back of her neck, behind the shell of one delicate ear. His mouth was hot and moist now nibbling at that sensitive place just beneath the lace edge of her collar. She could feel the firm hardness of his jaw, the roughness of his unshaven chin against her upper back as he deftly unfastened the first few tiny buttons of her blouse and lightly placed a kiss there. The rippling muscles of his arms now held her prisoner, making her very much aware of the unsettling strength of him. He was big, big enough that he could easily encompass her entire body and keep her quieted beneath him.
Something warm and sticky trickled upon her bare skin. His blood ... from the wound she'd inflicted on his cheek warm upon her back, in marked contrast to the cold steel of his blade that lay pressed against her side. Did he intend to seduce her tenderly, then force her to succumb to him .. . then kill her just as ruthlessly? And if so, how could she find the strength to stop him? At the same time every limb and nerve she possessed felt as if they were drowning in a sea of honey. Was there indeed something evil within her to
make her feel so ... so filled with desire for him? Even as Starlin's mind had fleetingly conjured up the violent image of her own demise, another had quickly replaced it. One that surprisingly reassured her. It seemed impossible, yet she felt she knew at that precise moment what he was feeling. They were as one in every thought and emotion. Shocked at the revelation, and her body's slow awakening to his hungry, persuasive mouth moving over the indentation at the base of her spine, she gasped hoarsely.
"This is absolute madness. The moon and the night have caught us in its spell." Tears of confusion spilled from her eyes.
He brushed a soft kiss across one shoulder. "It is not my touch that frightens you any longer, but you still tremble. Tell me what you fear," he whispered.
Her breathing was hoarse and ragged. "I feel as if our very emotions intermingle ... as if there is only one of us and not two."
"Because I think ... we were meant to meet this way," he said quietly. "And soon, you and I shall be one in every way." He nuzzled her ear. "Does that frighten you?'
"This can't be happening. It... has to be nothing more than a dream."
"It's much more than that, love, you will know it, too, very soon."
"But... but, is this not wrong?' she asked.
"No . .. no," he whispered feverishly, "it is not wrong. Nothing this beautiful could be wrong."
All expectations of a violent demise by this man's hand flew from her mind. In its place, and just as consuming to the emotions, awakened passion so heady it nearly took her breath away. He held her in his willful vise against his hard body and, of a sudden, she found a tingling warmth begin in the pit of her stomach, spreading to the very ends of her toes and fingertips. His caress was as gentle as a kiss.
Passion was fanned with exquisite care until, at last, throaty sounds of breathless wonder escaped her. Nothing and no one, she realized, had ever prepared her for these feelings now coursing through her, or for a man such as him.
Scorpio's own blood thudded in his ears. He was stunned by everything he was experiencing. Every fiber of his being intermixed with hers. Some inner voice kept telling him that she was the one .. . the temptress of his dreams. Never in his life had he felt this way about a woman. Temptress or shy maiden—what was she? And even more important—who was she?
After his first all-consuming rage and mingled passion had come rushing to a head, he'd regained some measure of control, his taut muscles had relaxed, and he'd begun to entice her slowly.
It excited him further to know that she was beginning to respond to him. With slow languid movements he awakened the woman in her. And then so swiftly that she wasn't even aware, he allowed his fingers to skim along the back of her thin blouse, unfastening the last tiny button with ease before sweeping aside the material to fix his smoldering gaze upon the creamy smoothness of her naked back. She was trembling beneath him.
Shaken by an inexplicable sensation of yearning, Starlin's fingers reached forward, wanting so to touch him, only to clench the sand, waiting ... longing ...
She wanted him . . . terribly ... yet was no less unsettled by the thought. She was spinning toward some boundless apogee of pleasure, totally out of control and no longer able to resist the heady fires he stirred inside her.
Gently, his hands kneaded the tense muscles along her slender spine until she was soft as a kitten in his arms.
Starlin writhed against him, feeling like screaming for him to touch her everywhere, not to torture her further.
At last his hands slipped inside her blouse and beneath her, playing skillfully over her pliant form, long fingers sliding sensuously up and down her belly. Finally, when she could stand no more and cried out in passion, he cupped her breasts with rough expertise. The satiny tips of her nipples firmed against his palms, reveled in his touch. He encircled the rigid buds gently with his fingertips, rolled the sensitive flesh slowly . . . so achingly slowly between thumb and forefinger.
Starlin shuddered beneath him, intense feelings of longing searing her every nerve and claiming the last vestige of her reasoning. She wondered what it was like to have a man inside you—to love you in every way. Arms like steel clasped her tightly against him. His hips moved against hers, the hard swell of him letting her know just what it was that she longed to feel within her.
"Now you know," he said in a voice heavy with desire, "what it is that will claim you as truly mine."
She could feel the hard length of him throbbing hotly against her through her skirt and moaned down deep in her throat. Long lashes fluttered shut when she felt him reach down and impatiently tug the material up over her hips, leaving her partially naked and vulnerable and consumed by her own need. However mad it might seem, she was powerless to resist the raging fires he'd awakened.
"Take me now if it is to be," she said urgently, "for you have surely bewitched me ... I want you so."
He made no verbal acknowledgment, only his hands stroking over her body with a lover's sure touch. The back of a silken shoulder bared to his view sent shock waves of desire through him. He caressed it, placed his lips there, just behind her arm where it joined her body, found the flesh heated and velvety soft to the touch.
Lightning snapped across the sky again and again, the storm hitting at last with gale force. Rain fell in torrents, the flashing streaks of silvery light bursting into the shadowy cavern, playing across their bodies in tempo with their movements.
Instinctively, the roundness of her hips arched involuntarily against him, and he could think of little else at that moment to take his mind away from that one place that he longed to possess.
"Turn over," he commanded raggedly.
Wild pleasure washed over her like nothing she'd ever experienced before, prompting Starlin to unhesi-tantly comply, her arms coming up to wrap about his neck as his mouth slanted hard across hers. His skin smelled of sea wind and lime, an elusive scent that suited him well. Her fingers touched the shaggy curls near his collar and longed to burrow in the silky mane. Without hesitation, she slipped the knotted cloth from his head, freeing his thick hair to her touch. She pulled him closer, clinging to him. Her mouth moved in erotic surrender to his kiss, and she thrust her tongue deeply into his mouth, offering him all she had to give.
She was his. He knew that he would cherish her forever. Their bodies clung in a heated passion as boldly electrifying as the storm.
Something cold as ice brushed across the
back of his neck—a serpent's caress, Scorpio was chilled by thinking.
His fingers caught in her hair, tearing her lips free of his and dragging her head back. His eyes held her pinned. Starlin did not like what she saw in his. They were aglitter with rage.
Unbidden words—his own now recalled—broke through his haze of passion.
"For love ... or hate ... for love or hate?"
Bettina's voice echoed back at him. "One will be an ally, the other, an enemy."
Was this lovely beauty . . . the enemy? It is in her eyes, fool, taunting back at you in violet hues! Please, God, why did it have to be so, he thought angrily, then snarled savagely.
"How in the hell did you come by it, girl?"
"By ... by ... what?" Starlin rasped, her eyes wide, bottomless pools. She thought he must surely be possessed by some strange madness brought about by the full moon.
"You appear so sweet... so pure. But I think that is a clever ruse—I know you cannot be!" he hissed bitterly, lips but inches from hers. "You refuse to tell me how you came into possession of it, don't you? But then, I am not surprised. I am certain you must be one of them—and I know what I must do." The fingers of one hand, relentless and cruel now, where once they'd been so tender, snaked out to encircle her throat, squeeze slowly.
"Please ... you're choking me," she gasped, her hands clawing at his.
"I'll do more than that if I don't get the right answers ... I promise you," he threatened. "Tell me ... my enemy ... how did you know that I sail these waters? Were you spying for someone?'
"I have no idea what you're talking about," she sobbed, absolutely rigid with fear. She viewed the dark hatred in his eyes and knew he meant every word.
"This," he spat, jerking her hand up between their faces, "is what I'm damned well talking about!"
The ring given to her by her stepfather the day that he'd disappeared in a boating accident along with her mother sparkled before her eyes.
"How is it you came to wear this ring?' he demanded.
Her thoughts swirled. Feeling degraded and used, Stariin experienced an overwhelming need to strike back. Frightened but defiant, she choked. "Go to hell, sea wolf, for I owe you no explanations."
"You speak bravely, but for how much longer." Looking at her now, hatred flared, mingling with lusty desire. He wanted to destroy her and everything painful that she represented with the same driving intensity that he'd yearned so tenderly for her just moments before. Long-smoldering hostility overwhelmed awakened desire, and he unsheathed his sword and held the razor-sharp blade up before her eyes. "I seek answers, now."
Stariin swore to face death bravely. "Slay me if you will, for I would rather be impaled by cold steel than by your mad man's flesh."
With a cool, derisive laugh Scorpio released his grip on her throat and yanked her hand downward, pressed it between their bodies. "Would you now," he sneered, holding her fingers firmly against his pulsing desire. "The devil's own son if I should mistakenly give you what you prefer."
Her chin tilted forward haughtily, and her purple gaze did not waver from his all-consuming eyes, yet he saw the vulnerability in her trembling, kiss-ravaged mouth and a flicker of awakening horror in her look.
"So, that is what you fear now even more than death," he said tersely. "Pure as an angel? Aye, I think so." He smiled cruelly. "But not for very long .. . for nothing can stop me from marking you justly. You will remember, my beloved enemy, having confronted me, and lost."
Starlin felt the pressure of his throbbing flesh against her crushed fingers and lapsed into a breathless plea. "Not this way ... oh, God, no."
"Yes, exactly this way," he growled at length, his face contorted by something she did not wish to define.
With revenge in his eyes, he tossed aside the sword then lay his hand upon her bare thigh. She heard cloth slowly ripping, felt long fingers seek out her moist warmth. I will not cry out, she told herself firmly, trying not to flinch as his touch seared virgin flesh. One finger delved .. . then withdrew.
"You are chaste as a new budding flower," he said throatily, passion and hate all at once firing in his eyes.
Starlin was so overwhelmed with contempt that she didn't think of the possible consequences, but spat directly into his face. He froze in motion, did not move a muscle. She did not dare. Spittle ran down his ravaged cheek, yet he paid it no heed. He shook his head as if to clear the red mist before his eyes, tawny hair spilling in wild confusion over scowling brows.
She was to think then that if ever there were truly demons sent up from hell that this man was surely one of them.
Long suppressed hatred burst from him in sudden blinding fury. No longer was she but an innocent girl he sought to woo, but an enemy of past events that even now tormented his soul. Rising swiftly to his knees, he grabbed her behind the legs and yanked her hips to him. She screamed, trying to entangle her legs within his to keep him from her. She fought like a tigress, with teeth and nails and spirit. He only sneered at her futile efforts, enjoying the battle and the lusty awakening of other senses. Then, tiring of the game, he grasped her beneath the arms and pulled her thrashing body up against him, jade-hard eyes staring straight into hers that were slitted like a cat's and filled with hate.
"Place your legs about my waist," he ordered huskily, and when she did not respond, grabbed her beneath the buttocks and forced the slender limbs there himself.
The relentless pressure from one hand encompassed the back of her skull and pushed her head forward until their lips touched, and caught fire.
Hungrily, his mouth moved over hers seeming to draw every drop of fight from her. Starlin was shocked to feel a perverse pleasure amidst humiliating shame as their lips clung in a fiery kiss. What was wrong with her, she screamed inwardly? Never had a man's kiss excited her before. This was awful, wasn't it? He was an unfeeling monster who was hell-bent on degrading her, not making love to her. His tongue darted in and out of her mouth, plundering the sweetness within and her reason, until she moaned in despair. Her body shuddered against him. It was as if she realized that she could not fight him and hope to win. She lay limply in his arms, tears streaming down her face, the final debasement.
That small indication of defeat should have made him feel triumphant. After all, that was what he sought from her wasn't it? He wanted to ravish her, punish her flesh until she was broken and shamed and lay sobbing in his arms while he took her. Yes, that was exactly how it was to be! His lips and hands continued their arrogant assault, but his mind just could not continue. Buried in the back of his hatred lay a strong conviction that to do this thing was wrong, and that he would, for some reason, regret it terribly after.
"Damn you .. . damn you . .." he growled suddenly, chokingly. Raising his head, he stared upon her features as though dazed. "Oh, God, what are you to me?'
Eyes blurred by tears, Starlin looked up at him, stunned by the pain she glimpsed in his dark gaze. Neither moved for a moment, but just clung to each other, studying, searching, raw emotions plainly visible to see.
At first when he dipped his head forward and his lips brushed across hers she automatically drew back. But they proved no threat this time, moving languorously over hers, sending sparks of fire to all of her nerve endings. In her innocence, she had no conception of how devious a man like him could be, or how persuasive. His ardent pursuit of her senses thrilled her treacherous body, and he knew now that there was yet another way. She would come to him . . . and it would be enough.
Starlin was lost in his web of passion and helpless to her own emotions. Somehow, without her awareness, he subtly untied her chemise and pushed aside the offending garment. Then his hands and lips were everywhere, touching, kissing, his mouth so warm against her skin. The curious hunger inside her kept building, seeking something more, until it became unbearable, and she cried out to him in a sweeping rush of desire.
He was totally calm now, but ever devious. What she'd almost made him do sickened him, and he vowed that she
would pay double. Beneath him she writhed in her passion, and she was magnificent to behold. He kissed her pale throat, her lush breasts, suckled the rosy nipples until they stiffened pertly in response. She was totally his now to take when he was ready, and he surrendered to his own desire as his lips grazed downward across her quivering belly to tantalize intimate hollows, raven black curls, kissing lingeringly her soft, vulnerable flesh until it was trembling and grew moist and warm against his mouth.
Again and again he plundered the delicate folds and pulsing bud with the tip of his tongue until, at last, long wracking shudders encompassed her body and a bubble of a sob tore from her lips.
Unfastening his breeches with deliberate slowness he positioned his hips between her legs, supporting his weight on his hands as he stared down at her. Vulnerable violet eyes held his, seemed to be begging for a reassuring word.
"You are truly the most fiery little thing I've ever come across," he whispered raggedly, and felt a measure of satisfaction when he saw her flinch as if he'd just struck her across the face.
Her lips bared back from her teeth and she screeched in fury. "You despicable bastard! I hate you ... I hate you! And I swear as God is my witness I will live to see you hang!" She bucked her hips against his, wild now to escape the final loathsome act that would mark her his conquest.
A voice seeming far off in the distance echoed through the cave passages. It was some minutes before Starlin's shocked brain realized that he'd moved away from her to rearrange their clothing, and for some reason known only to him, was shielding her body from the intruder's eyes.
"Scorpio! For the love of heaven will you answer me!"
Starlin looked up to see a glimpse of another man dashing through the entrance, a flaming torch in hand. She quickly pulled her tattered garments closer about her and huddled behind Scorpio.
"It sounded like you were tangling with some wild she-cat as I approached," Ely said to his narrow-eyed brother. "What is going on in here?" He stared at Scorpio, barely able to glimpse the disheveled girl shielded by his body. His eyes registered shock. "And who is she, Scorpio?"
