He was man enough to know when the end had come. Ace turned and disappeared into the darkness.
*****
Clio bit her lip and contemplated how to tell her father she had chosen a human mortal mate.
“Daddy there’s something I need to tell you.”
He stepped back and cocked one eyebrow. “I don’t think I’m going to like what you’re about to tell me.”
“Sit down, please.”
He glanced at the chair and then moved toward the bed. Zeus was no lightweight. He sat down and gestured for her to proceed.
“While I was here I discovered something amazing. Humans are so much more than I ever thought they were. They experience emotions so intensely that I was weak compared to them.”
Zeus snorted in disbelief.
“Really, Daddy! I, I found myself with a new respect for everything mortal. They love, they laugh, they experience joy and sadness, hardship and hardness. It was life. Life. Until now I only read about it in books.”
He rubbed his chin with one hand. “Go on.”
She started pacing, her nightdress flying behind her like a pennant. “I found one emotion stronger than all the others. Love. I fell in love, Daddy. With a mortal.”
Zeus’ chin twitched. “A mortal ?”
She fell on her knees in front of him. “Yes! His name is Ace and he’s my mate, Daddy.” She pressed her fist to her chest. “In here, in my soul and my heart. I know it. He’s mine.”
Zeus sighed dramatically and ran both hands down his face. “You girls are going to turn me into a blithering idiot.”
“Please, can he return with us?” She had never begged before, but she wasn’t above it now. Not when it was so important.
“I must meet him before I make my decision.”
Clio’s heart leapt along with the rest of her as she jumped around the room. “You’ll like him. Just wait and see.”
She dressed quickly and realized belatedly that she chose one of her new dresses, not her royal purple toga. Zeus looked at her questioningly, but she just shrugged. She couldn’t wait for her father to meet her lover.
Unfortunately, they couldn’t find him. Clio looked for hours and found no trace of him. Ace had disappeared.
Clio sat on Maybelle’s porch the next morning with her father beside her. They were dressed in their togas and he was trying to convince her to return to Mount Olympus. Without Ace.
“Let’s go home, doodle bug. He must have changed his mind about you. Mortals do that.”
“No, he didn’t!” Her father seemed surprised by her vehemence. “Something forced him to leave.”
She looked at her father with narrowed eyes. “Did you say something to him?”
He held up his hands. “I don’t even know what he looks like!”
Clio sighed and held her head in her hands. The door opened and closed behind them.
“Clio, honey, you know he left because he thought you didn’t need him, what with your Pa coming to get you,” Maybelle said.
Clio looked up at her friend in misery. “Do you think so?”
Maybelle cupped her cheek. “Use your heart, girl. You’ll find him.”
Clio closed her eyes and thought about him. She thought about everything they’d done together. How she felt when he held her in his arms. How their bodies fit together as though they were made from the same mold. How she loved him.
“Ace,” she whispered.
In an instant she was transported to an unfamiliar saloon. She was standing at the door looking in when she saw him.
Ace.
She pushed the batwing doors open and strolled in. A few whistles and catcalls greeted her. After all, she was wearing her purple toga again and it did reveal quite a bit of her ample curves.
“Hey there honey, you new around here?”
“Hell, Bart, lookit that!”
“Quiet!” she commanded and everyone in the saloon fell silent and still. Except Ace. He looked up and blinked. His gaze worked its way around the saloon until it landed on her.
“What the hell did you just do?”
She shrugged and walked toward him. “I told you I was a goddess. I told you I had powers. You chose not to believe me. You chose not to believe in us.”
He ducked his head and avoided her gaze. “You’ve got a family to get home to. Now leave me alone.”
His words stung, but Clio wasn’t about to let him go that easily.
“Okay, cowboy, I’ll make you a bet. If I can make love to you without you telling me that you love me, I’ll leave you alone. Forever.”
His pupils dilated and his nostrils flared. She had him.
“Fine. Let’s go.”
He grabbed her arm and started pulling her toward the stairs. She stopped and he looked at her questioningly.
“Oh no, not here.”
She snapped her fingers and they were at Maybelle’s boarding house in Clio’s bedroom. Ace’s jaw dropped and his eyes seemed to grow wider than his face.
“I don’t want to scare you, honey, but we’re back in Peyote.”
She smiled. “I know. Now for the bet.”
Ace’s eyes were unreadable in the shadows of the room. She snapped her fingers and a candle on the dresser lit. He jumped just a smidge.
“Warn me when you’re going to do that.” he growled.
Clio reached up and tugged the tie on her toga. It slid down her body like water, leaving erect nipples and excitement in its wake. His breath hitched in his chest and his eyes devoured her. Her hands reached up to cup her breasts and her thumbs moved back and forth across the nubs. One hand dipped down between her legs and she felt her own juices coat her fingers.
“Damn, Clio.”
She eyed his pants and the bulge that was building nicely in them. Her heart fluttered at the sight.
“I want you, Ace.” She walked toward him and held out her finger to his lips. His tongue snaked out to taste her. Her body shivered in anticipation.
“Ah, woman, goddess, you are gonna make me mess my pants.”
She grinned and reached for his shirt. As she unbuttoned it, she kissed the expanse of skin until his belly showed. The sexy trail of hair led down into his pants and she let her hand follow it. Her other hand pulled the buttons loose on his pants to give her freer access. By the time the buttons were undone, his pulsing member was in her hands and she stroked him up and down.
Clio enjoyed the power that was coursing through her. She pushed him toward the bed and when he sat down, she paused long enough to pull off the rest of his clothes until he was nude. She ran her hands up and down his body, kissing and licking as she went.
“Clio,” he said huskily. “You need to stop and give me the reins.”
“No.” As she cupped his balls her mouth closed over his salty erection. She licked the tip and he groaned from somewhere near his toes. When the whole of him was in her mouth, he jerked on the bed and went deep into her throat. She sucked and swirled her tongue, showing him how much she loved to give him pleasure with her mouth.
His hands tried to grab her, but she kept out of his reach. After his cock was as hard as an iron bar, she stopped and straddled him, mere inches away from his throbbing staff.
“Put it in,” he growled.
She shook her head and started playing with her nipples again. “Tell me you love me.”
He clamped his lips together. Clio felt her resolve harden along with his body. She was going to win this fight. He watched wide-eyed as she pulled one breast up to her mouth and started suckling herself. His engorged flesh slapped against his stomach.
“Please.” He sounded desperate.
She let the nipple pop out of her mouth before she leaned down and licked him from bottom to top, pausing long enough to nibble his balls.
“Hell, Clio, you know I love you. I wouldn’t have left if I didn’t. I don’t want to fuck up your life too.”
Clio stared into his eyes and knew he spoke the truth. He honestly though
t if he stayed, she would come to ruin in his arms. Nothing could be farther from the truth. She leaned down and kissed him softly.
“You are mine. I am yours. We will always be together.”
His brown eyes looked liquid in the shadows thrown by the candle. “Mine.”
In one swift motion, she was beneath him and he was buried deep inside her. He made love to her like a mad man, bringing her close to peak and then stopping to lap at her breasts and pussy. Keeping her on the edge of release and then pulling back, a tease over and over.
When he finally pumped into her in earnest, rhythmically, with enough force to make the bed slam into the wall, she knew it was time. She felt the passion building again and opened herself wide to it. This time he did throw back his head and howl and Clio’s heart took flight, along with her pleasure. Soaring higher and higher until she melted and landed back on Earth.
Ace’s heart beat like a lion’s against hers. His weight was comfortable and she wrapped her arms around him.
“I won.”
He leaned up on his elbow and looked down at her with narrowed eyes. “You cheated.”
“I did not!”
He withdrew and lay down beside her, tucking her into the crook of his shoulder and anchoring her there.
“Yes you did, but that’s okay.”
“It is?”
He grinned at her. “Yep, I was kind of tired of Peyote anyway. What did you say the name of your home was?”
Clio smiled and kissed him with a loud smack. “Mount Olympus. And I can’t wait for you to meet my father and my sisters.”
Ace groaned and laid his hand on his forehead. “Jesus, the thought of eight more like you. I think I’m going to die young.”
Clio giggled. “Nope. As a matter of fact, as my mate, you won’t ever die.”
One eye popped open and he looked at her with surprise clearly written on his face. “Really?”
“Really. It’s one of the advantages of being a goddess’ mate.”
He looked up at the ceiling and Clio felt a moment of fear. Was the threat of immortality enough to send him running?
“You mean we can do this every day, all day, forever?”
She laughed. “Yes, we sure can.”
Ace leaned over and kissed her. “Count me in, goddess.”
Clio snapped her fingers and the candle went out. The muse of history had just added a page of her own to the books.
Biography
Beth has never been able to escape her imagination and it led her to the craft of writing romance novels. She’s passionate about purple, books, and her family (not to mention long cruises). She works full-time and writes romance novels evening, weekends, early mornings and whenever there is a break in the madness.
She is compassionate, funny, a bit reserved at times, tenacious and a little quirky. Her cowboys and western romances speak of a bygone era, bringing her readers to an age where men were honest, hard and packing heat.
For a change of pace, she also dives into some smokin’ hot contemporaries, bringing you heat, romance and snappy dialogue.
Beth is a Career Achievement Award Nominee in Erotic Romance by Romantic Times Magazine, in both 2009 and 2010.
Visit Beth at her website, www.bethwilliamson.com.
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