by Cerys du Lys
“I—I’m sorry. I never meant to...”
“I know. You’re uncomfortable here, but you’re loyal to Nick. You won’t betray us, however much you might despise the nature of our activities. Am I not correct?”
I slowly nodded.
He chuckled and patted my shoulder. “I’m fond of you, my dear. If my grandson gives you any more trouble, come to me and I’ll set the rascal straight.”
I didn’t see Nick again until suppertime. His withdrawal was all the more obvious when the men tried to get us to dance again. Nick refused, and no amount of teasing could get him to change his mind.
He didn’t avoid me. He was courteous, yet distant. Even when the meal was over and he rose and took my arm, saying, “It’s late, Ellie. Let’s go,” there was no fire in him, no anticipation.
When we reached our room, I felt all the tensions of the day rising like mist to surround me. We were finally alone. Surely now he would catch me in his arms. Surely now he would hold me, kiss me, or, hell, even order me to kneel. Surely that cold expression on his face didn’t mean that he didn’t want me anymore.
Even as I had these feelings, I hated myself for them. Just because we’d had good sex last night, I seemed to have forgotten the way he’d been abusing me.
“I’m going to have to spend the rest of the night on the boat,” he said, his voice expressionless as his face. “To prevent any further accidents to the yacht’s electronics.”
“And you want me to stay here.”
He handed me the key. “You can lock the door. You should be safe.”
I met his crystalline green eyes. They were fathomless as the sea. “Fine,” I said, trying to sound as cold as he did.
“Good,” he said, and turned to go.
The words came out without my volition: “Why are you treating me like this?”
“Like what?” he asked, but I saw the muscles jump around his tight-clenched jaw.
“As if last night didn’t happen.”
He hesitated, and my heart took a dive. “I’ve got a lot on my mind.”
“Okay.” That was hard to argue with, but I wanted a clearer answer. At the same time, though, I was asking myself what the hell I’d expected? Hearts and flowers? He had kidnapped me, and now he had fucked me. End of story.
“You’re not going to make a big deal about this, are you?” he said.
“No. It’s just...” I fumbled for words. “You were so sweet and affectionate last night.”
“You mean after I tied you up and jerked off on you? Or after I fucked you?”
My breath left me in a rush. Oh, yes, Nick’s been getting back at the fair sex for a while now. Jerk. My stomach felt hollow. I should have known better than to let myself start crushing on the man who had put a rope around my neck and whipped me with a belt.
“Get out.” He’d seen me panic; he’d seen me in a state of sexual bliss. But I was damned if the asshole was going to see me cry.
Chapter 27
Nick
I made for the door, feeling every bit like the asshole I was trying to be. I couldn’t let her get too attached to me. It would hurt her even more if she started harboring any doomed romantic feelings. She deserved someone better than me. Someone kinder. Someone less fucked-up.
But at the door, I fumbled with the handle, palms slippery with sweat. A great sense of misgiving came over me. I felt dizzy and had to lean my forehead against the door. Her violet eyes, dark with pain, haunted me. Shit. Not like this.
I turned. She was staring at me, frozen, her hands clenched into fists. “I mean it. Leave,” she said, her mouth forming the almost-silent words.
“Fucking hell.” I went back and jerked her against me, cradling her for a moment, and then hauling her off her feet. Next thing I knew, I was whirling around and around with her in a confused, silent dance. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it. It’s just that I’m no good for you, no damn good at all. I was only trying to free you. You don’t need a man like me.”
Her head came up, her eyes searching mine, her lips so damp and wet and open that I couldn’t resist them. I wrapped my fingers in the hair and sought her mouth with all the hunger of a starving man. For an instant she was stiff, resistant...for an instant she fought me. Then she made that familiar crooning sound in the back of her throat and pressed against me, arching.
“Ellie, Ellie, Ellie...” Muttering the litany of her name, I carried her over to the mattress and laid her down, falling upon her, crushing her beneath my hard and ready body. I drove against her belly, cursing the clothing that divided our flesh. She whimpered and dragged her fingers down my spine; I could feel the imprint of her nails.
Tomorrow I’ll stop, tomorrow I’ll leave her fuck the alone, I promised myself as I rose to my knees and tore at her jeans. She helped me. She was as eager as I was. I could feel her thighs trembling as I bared them. They convulsed around me as, not even bothering to strip off my own jeans, I unzipped and freed my dick. She pulled me down on her, sliding her hands under the tight blue denim to clutch my ass as I arched and drove into her.
Christ! She was so soft, so silky smooth, so sweet. She fit my body perfectly. Glove-tight, she surged around me. Breathing hard, I thrust in long, slow strokes, rough cloth against silken skin, half-aware that I might be hurting her, yet hearing nothing but pleasure in the low, ecstatic cries she gave. Our rhythm increased. She writhed and wrapped her legs around me as if to draw my entire body inside her. “Please,” she panted. “Please, Nick, please!”
Tomorrow I’ll make her see that I’m bad for her. Tomorrow. God forgive me, but I can’t stop it now.
I loved her. Harder, faster, deeper. Then suddenly I felt as if I were outside myself. We were both transported into a tunnel of light stretching ahead in time and back in time in an endless series of meetings and partings, unions and reunions, births and separations and deaths. I cried out her name, but it was not her name; it was a name I’d never heard before. And yet she answered, calling out to me in an unknown language.
Total freak-out.
As the convulsions of orgasm rocked us both, I knew the bodies that gave suchpleasure were dust and ashes, reborn like the phoenix to livea short while, then die. But we were joined; we were mates. Our souls were eternal. I might deny it; I might dismiss the experience, laugh, or try my best to forget it—in fact, I was sure I’d dismiss it as soon as the weird-ass climax faded. But it would still be true.
Chapter 28
Nick
Having weird, mystical-shit sex with Ellie didn’t exactly do good things for my peace of mind the next day while I worked my ass off dismantling the excavations. I suppose it was better than brutal sadistic sex, for her, anyway. For me, shit, who knew? My head was a total mess.
It didn’t help that I was afraid Nigel was about to bolt. That was always the risk—that he would spirit himself out of the way before the troops came in and arrested him. He had always been a slippery rat. He seemed to sense the traps that were laid for him. Gossip had reached Metin, who had a knack for getting along with everybody, that Nigel and his small group of loyalists were packing up their gear.
I needed to get Granddad away before Nigel left. I wanted him, not my grandfather, to be caught with the loot. If my cousin was planning to skip out on us, I had to follow through with my plan to distract him.
Which meant using Ellie.
When I returned to the compound after an afternoon keeping watch on Voyager, I hoped Ellie would be glad to see me. Even though it wasn’t bedtime, I pictured her lying in bed, waiting up for me. Her silky-soft skin. Her lush, fragrant hair, her small breasts, so pale but for their crimson-brown peaks that jutted when I stroked them. Her slender thighs and the moist, dark triangle in between.
I wanted her naked this time. Making love almost fully clothed had been exciting, but tonight I wanted to see her. I wanted to watch her body arch in the moonlight. On her hands and knees, arching her spine in pain/pleasure as I spanked her ass and thrust into h
er from behind. I imagined plucking, twisting, pinching the crests of her breasts as I rode her. I knew now how much she liked that. I needed to watch her writhe and hear the little gasps she released as she made her pleasure sounds.
I’d buried all my qualms from the previous night. I couldn’t stay away from her. No, this fire would burn until there was nothing left to feed it. Maybe I shouldn’t have kindled the blaze in the beginning, but it was far too late now to damp down those flames.
She was sitting on the chair and brushing her lovely hair when I entered our room. For a moment I envisioned her tied to that chair, naked, her arms bound behind her and her legs spread apart. I couldn’t seem to help it—every time I looked at her, I thought of sex.
Get it together, fool.
She smiled at me. “You look tired. Rough day?”
I crossed to her and kissed her, thinking how domestic this seemed...I came home from work and here was my beautiful partner waiting for me. We had come a strange distance in just a few days from me holding a gun on her and wrapping a belt around her throat.
“You should be naked and crawling to greet me, slave.”
She laughed. “Stop trying to dom me all the time. I don’t know what your game is, Nicholas, but I’m beginning to realize that about 80 percent of everything you say is a lie. I don’t know who you are, exactly, but you’re not who I thought you were.”
Well, she had that right. I decided to go with it. “Do you trust me, Ellie?”
“Not really,” she said, with a certain charming candor.
“Let me put it this way—how much do you trust me?”
Grinning, she held her finger and thumb about a quarter of an inch apart.
“Try this: how much do you trust me to keep a promise that I make to you?”
Her expression melted. “Fine. Maybe in some respects you’re trustworthy.”
“I am going to ask you to do something for me. Something dangerous. Something you will hate. But no harm will come to you if you do this thing for me.” At least, I sure hoped it wouldn’t. I was going to make damn sure she was protected. “It’ll be unpleasant, but that part won’t last long.”
She blinked. “If you are going to ask me to go into that cave and take those photographs—”
“That’s not it. More unpleasant even than that, I’m afraid.”
I had her now. Silly brave girl.
“What could possibly be more unpleasant than that?”
I swallowed. This part was difficult even for me to say, much less expect her to do. “I want you to flirt with Nigel. Make him think you could be his submissive.”
Her face went pale. “Are you crazy?”
“Nothing will happen to you. I promise. I won’t let him hurt you. I just need access to his stuff, and for that, I need you to distract him for me.”
“He creeps me out. And I don’t want to submit to anyone except you.”
I rounded the chair and draped my arms around her from behind. She resisted for a couple of moments, then let her body go partially limp. I stroked her back, fondled her hair, and instantly had a hard-on. So what else is new?
“If you do this for me, I’ll explain everything. You’re right that I’m not who you think I am, but I need you to go on playing the part you’ve been playing so well for the past few days. My not very submissive slave, who has caused me one headache after another. Who is not very trainable and might be better off with another master.”
“How about with no master?”
I leaned forward to kiss the top of her head. “I need to get you and my grandfather safely away from here. The price for that is Nigel on a silver platter. That’s as much as I can tell you right now. Please trust me and, for once, follow my orders.”
She twisted around in the chair to stare at me, her violet eyes wide. “You’re working undercover?”
I gave the slightest of nods.
“Oh my god.” Her face lit up. “Okay. I’ll help you if I can.”
Fuck. She did trust me.
I told her what I wanted her to do. She was skeptical. I really couldn’t blame her.
“You’ll be safe. Metin will be looking out for you. Granddad will be there and he’s already grown fond of you. He won’t let anything happen. And I won’t be gone for long.”
“But what if...”
“It’ll be okay. Just stay in the main hall where everyone else is. Don’t go anywhere with the creep. The worst he can do is insult you. I don’t think he’ll even do that, but if he does, remember what I’ve told you about maintaining a submissive mindset. Just bow your head and let whatever he says float over you. Don’t respond.”
“What if he touches me?”
“He might. He’s a touchy kind of guy. But as long as he doesn’t touch you in a sexual manner—and I’ll kill him if he tries that—it should be endurable, right? In public, what can he do? It’s not considered polite to engage in public displays of affection in Turkey, particularly with a woman who belongs to someone else. He would incur disapproval, even from his own men.”
“I’m not sure he’d care.”
“He’s not all-powerful. He has weaknesses, and I am going to use them. If it works, this’ll all be over, and we’ll be able to clear out of here.”
“Okay,” she said, still sounding uncertain.
I couldn’t think of any way to reassure her that wouldn’t be a lie, so I kissed her instead.
Chapter 29
Nick
I talked to Metin, and then I went after Nigel.
He was hanging out with his thugs in the main hall, drinking. His guys were drinking, anyway. Nigel rarely indulged in alcohol. He had always been contemptuous of people who gave in to their weaknesses.
From the delicious smells coming from the kitchen, dinner was being prepared. My stomach growled, but I ignored it. Dinner had become a ritual around here, and a dependable ritual was exactly what I needed.
I sat down among them and accepted a glass of raki. They didn’t exactly make me welcome, but I ignored the vibe. “Can we talk?” I said to my cousin after knocking back the milky liquid. Fortunately, it took more than one raki to affect my mental acuity.
Nigel gestured to his men, who obediently rose and moved away. I suspected some of them could still hear, so I spoke English. Several of them would understand, but I didn’t really care about that.
“I don’t know how sincere your interest was,” I drawled, “But I’ve decided to get rid of my slave. She’s not as tractable as I hoped she’d be. I’m going to auction her off via an intermediary I know. Just in case you want to get in on that action.”
His eyes narrowed. “Why would I care about your leavings?”
I was tempted to remind him that he’d cared in the past, but I resisted. I was having a tough enough time keeping myself from smashing his face in. “No reason. Except that I’ve seen you following her with your eyes. She’s easy on the eyes, isn’t she? Too bad she’s so difficult to train.”
He smiled in his lazy, superior manner. “Maybe your methods are faulty. I heard she caused some trouble at the dig yesterday. Refused to take the photographs?”
“She had a problem with her equipment.”
Nigel cocked a disbelieving eyebrow. “That’s not the way I heard it.”
“Whatever. I don’t care whether you’re interested in her or not. The arrangements will be made through an agent of mine.” I slammed my empty glass on the table and stood. “If you want the guy’s contact info, let me know. Otherwise forget I mentioned it.”
“Does she know?”
“Of course not. I want to keep it that way. She’s enough of a headache as it is.”
He was about to say something else, but I cut him off with a gesture and stalked away.
I called up to Granddad that I was going to spend the night on my boat and left the compound.
I met Metin, as previously arranged, in the shelter of a dark cliff. He had brought the items I’d been keeping locked up on the boat
: several small but valuable Hittite coins and a couple of gold earrings. They were hot and precious. I hadn’t stolen them; they were plants donated by Hepburn. Where the fuck he had gotten them, I didn’t know and I didn’t ask.
Nigel had always been careful. It was one of the main reasons that he had so far escaped prison. He made sure never to implicate himself. He had lackeys to cart around his stolen items. He never carried anything suspicious on his person, not even a fake passport. Even though he was working closely with our grandfather, he’d made sure that if anybody got nailed for this, it would be Granddad, not him.
Yeah, nice guy.
He had my number, but I also had his. I’d known him all my life and I knew stuff about him that few others knew.
He wouldn’t be able to resist going after Ellie tonight. I didn’t think he would try to rape her, given the number of people in the building, but he was sick enough to want to taunt her. He would gloat over her, taking pleasure in her ignorance of my supposed plans to sell her.
Stuff like that got him off.
She would be alone and vulnerable. He wouldn’t be able to resist. And while he was stalking her, I was going to hammer the last fucking nail in and make sure that when Hepburn moved in a couple of days from now, Nigel would be caught with the goods on him.
Assuming, of course, that everything went as planned.
It usually didn’t.
I waited in the dark outside the room where Nigel slept. It was, of course, the best room in the place—the largest, the one closest to the bathroom, the one with the best view of the ocean. I’d have given that room to Granddad, but Nigel’s mind didn’t work that way. He wanted the best of everything, and if it didn’t come naturally to him, he found a way to take it.
Fine. I planned to use those tendencies against him.
He left the room, as I’d expected he would, striding past the corner where I was concealing myself. Better still, his hound, Sinan, shadowed him. Sinan served as a sort of bodyguard for Nigel, although I doubted that was his actual role. But he seemed to be loyal to my cousin, and he stuck to him and probably shared most of his confidences. Nigel trusted him more than he trusted anyone else, but Nigel didn’t fully trust a soul. Nor would he hesitate to stab a comrade in the back if it suited him.
