by Rebecca York
“That doesn’t prove she was with your father of her own free will.”
“She was. She left the spa because she was unsure of her place in the Sisterhood. She went to San Francisco in the mid-sixties and became a Tarot card reader. When a drugged-out hippie tried to rob her, my father saved her.”
“Is that where you got the idea of ‘saving’ me?”
“Of course not. I was just in the right place at the right time.”
They glared at each other, and she saw him making another effort to control his emotions.
When he spoke again, it was in a softer voice. “At first my mother didn’t trust my father, but she finally accepted that he wanted a real relationship with her. And when she opened herself to the possibility, she found out how much it could mean to the two of them. Even so, she wasn’t going to abandon her heritage.”
Sophia kept her gaze on him, trying to judge the truth of his words.
“She came back here to get permission from the high priestess to marry, and she was told she had to choose between the Ionians and my father. She went with him.”
“And she’s still with him? Can I ask her about her marriage ?”
“They’re both dead. For a while they were happy. The relationship with my father was new and exciting, and they shared so much, but she started pining for contact with her sisters. I think you can understand that.”
“Yes,” she whispered.
“Finally she couldn’t cope with being cut off from the order. Eventually she died. And after that, my father sort of gave up. He was killed in a sailing accident, probably because he didn’t want to go on without her.”
“You expect me to believe that story without any proof?”
“It’s true.”
“Why are you here?”
“Because I saw what my parents had, and I want the same thing.”
She laughed again. “Or something else.”
He kept his gaze fixed on her. “You can read my mind. You know I’m not lying.”
“I can get flashes of your thoughts. Nothing that’s sustained. Nothing I can trust.”
“I’ll do anything you want to prove that I’m telling the truth.”
She considered his words and decided to make a request that no Minot could ever accept.
“Put yourself completely in my power.”
He answered without hesitation. “All right.”
For a shocked moment, she couldn’t respond. Then she asked, “You agree, without knowing what I have in mind?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I have to. It’s the only way you’re going to trust me.”
“It means that much to you?”
“Yes.”
“I could have you in my power—and kill you.”
“I’ll take that chance.”
He sounded convincing. Was he telling the truth? Or did he have some trick up his sleeve that she couldn’t anticipate?
She wanted to know the answer, and at the same time, she was afraid to find out. Before she could change her mind, she said, “We’ll do it now. You come with me into the desert—to a place of power.”
He swallowed, and she noted that he didn’t look quite so cocky, although he answered, “All right.”
Her mind was whirling, but she said in a mild voice, “I want to get some things. I’ll be back in twenty minutes. You’ve got that long to change your mind and get out of here. For good.”
SOPHIA hurried back to the spa. In her room she grabbed the knapsack she used when she went out into the desert. After a few moments’ thought, she went down the hall to a storeroom that her sisters maintained. She had played with some of the toys here with previous lovers. But it had only been play. Now she was deadly serious as she began filling the carry bag with things she might need. Next she went to another storeroom and got camping supplies.
As she worked, she thought about Jason. He’d said his mother was an Ionian. He’d said his parents were happy together. She had to assume that he knew more about the Ionians than anyone who wasn’t in the order—which was unthinkable. Yet the confidence with which he spoke about the Sisterhood argued that it was true.
And what about herself? Was she doing this to prove that she wasn’t in his power? Or to discover something that she had longed for and hadn’t found with her sisters? She couldn’t answer the question. She could only proceed with her reckless course of action.
Although she was probably endangering herself, she hoped she wasn’t putting the rest of the order in jeopardy.
She had hoped to get back to the stable without meeting one of her sisters. When she left her room, she passed Ophelia in the hallway. She’d tried to like Ophelia, but the other woman had always been very aware of her position as Sophia’s senior.
“I saw the vet’s truck down at the stable,” Ophelia said.
“Yes. I’m going to talk to him,” she answered, sorry for the evasion. She was planning to do a lot more than talk, and the prospect had her blood pounding.
“And report back to Cynthia?”
“Yes,” she answered, wondering if it was a lie.
Struggling to keep her own emotions under control, she returned to the barn, where she found Jason standing with his arms folded across his chest, waiting for her.
She gave him a direct look, then laid out the situation in the starkest possible terms. “You said you’d put yourself in my power. You’re saying you agree to be my slave—until I find out the truth of your words?”
He licked his lips but answered quickly, “Yes.”
“Then you will not speak to me again unless I give you permission.”
He answered with a tight nod.
“Come on. We’ll take your truck. Give me the keys.”
He handed over the keys, and she threw her pack in the back before climbing behind the wheel. When he’d joined her in the passenger seat, she started the engine and headed for the main entrance.
The uniformed guard gave her a questioning look as she pulled up at the barrier. “I was instructed to make sure none of you women go out alone,” he said.
“I’m not alone.”
The guard glanced at Jason. “He’s your escort?”
“Yes.”
The man raised the gate, which had been repaired after Ames broke it, and she drove through. From the corner of her eye, she could see Jason shifting in his seat. It looked like he wanted to say something. Maybe he wanted to warn her that they shouldn’t leave the compound, but she didn’t want his advice.
“What if he’s out here?” he blurted.
“You took care of him before.”
When he opened his mouth again, she said, “We’re five minutes into this, and you’re already breaking the rules.”
He clamped his teeth together, and gave her a frustrated look.
Before she reached the end of the access road, she turned off onto a dirt track through the desert that circled around toward the back of the compound. Her destination was a huge outcropping of red rock, but they’d have to get out and walk before they reached it.
They drove past familiar desert vegetation, reddishbrown-barked manzanita, clumps of snake grass, and prickly pear cactus that was blooming with yellow flowers. As they headed for a small stand of juniper trees with twisted trunks, she saw Jason eying them.
Had he learned that twisted junipers were a sign of powerful forces in the desert?
She pulled behind a clump of sycamores that would partially hide the truck from the spa.
There were places of power called vortexes all over the Sedona area, which was one of the reasons the Ionians had settled here.
Most of the vortexes were well marked, and the public often visited them to see if they could feel the energy vibrations. This spot was different. It was on land owned by the spa and seemed to affect only the Ionians.
Perhaps it would affect Jason, too.
He was half Ionian, if he was telling the truth. And there was ev
idence that he might be, like the way he’d driven onto spa property with no problems. And he had said his mother’s name was Julia—one of the women Sophia and Tessa had discussed. Which didn’t really prove anything; if Tessa had found out about her, maybe Jason had, too.
She couldn’t determine anything about him yet. But what about herself? Was she doing this because she was dissatisfied with her life? And Jason had just offered her something more.
No, something different, because if they followed in the path of his mother and father, she’d be cutting herself off from her sisters. And ultimately, that hadn’t done either one of his parents any good. Yet he was still longing for what they’d had. That said something about his motivation—if his story was true.
And then there was her ability to dip into his mind—perhaps that did mean something. She’d never read a man before and never heard of an Ionian doing it.
She kept going back and forth, wanting to believe him, then sure that he was only trying to use her, the way they all did. Finally, she broke off the debate. She was getting way ahead of herself. It didn’t matter what he told her. Only his actions and his thoughts counted. The Minot were proud men who would never submit to a woman’s will. Unless . . .
Cutting the engine, she jerked her head toward Jason. “Grab the knapsack.”
He silently climbed out and did as she asked, slinging the bag comfortably over one shoulder.
“We’re going up there.” She pointed to a red rock formation that was partially obscured by its own shadow.
RAFE was out for a run in the desert. Killing Ames had helped satisfy his craving for vengeance, but it had done nothing to get him any closer to capturing Tessa.
And he would not give her up.
He still had several sources of information about her. One was a guy named Tex Somerville, who was a fitness instructor on the property.
He liked to relax at a bar in town called the Silver Bullet, and Rafe had chatted him up a couple of times, making it look like a casual conversation. They’d gotten into several discussions about the Ionians, although the guy apparently didn’t know that word.
But from his own accounts, he was a stud who was fucking a bunch of them, sometimes two in the same bed.
He was happy with the arrangement and didn’t want anything besides sex with them, and that was what they wanted, too.
Everybody was happy.
Except not now, because the spa was closed, thanks to Ames’s screwup, and Tex was temporarily out of a job.
Rafe’s cell phone rang, and he pressed the receive button. But apparently he was too far out in the desert to get anything but a garbled signal.
Was it an important call?
About what for Christ’s sake?
He looked toward an outcropping of rock in the distance. If he went up there, maybe he could get a signal. Or maybe not.
He’d find out who was calling when he got home. Or maybe he’d better go home.
WHEN Sophia started along a rough trail that wound upward through the scrubby vegetation, Jason followed.
She knew he must want to ask her a million questions, but he was abiding by the rules she’d set out. She hoped that was a good sign.
Still, they were out in the wilderness, far from help now, and he was a man whose strength far exceeded her own. If he decided to turn on her, she’d have little chance of fighting him off.
Instead, she’d recklessly brought him out here.
As they climbed the winding trail, small lizards skittered out of their way, and a jet-black raven landed on a nearby cactus, watching them with appraising eyes.
They entered the shadow of an outcropping. When they stepped to the other side, they were facing a shallow cave that had been hidden from view by rocks that stood between the entrance and the rest of the landscape.
“Put the knapsack down,” she said.
He did as she asked, and she took out a flashlight, stepping inside and inspecting the interior, looking for snakes and scorpions.
When she was satisfied that they were safe from any dangerous creatures, she turned back to Jason. He was standing with a wary expression on his face.
“Come here.”
He followed her into the cave and watched as she took a blanket from the knapsack and spread it on the ground between them.
“Take off your clothes,” she said.
He kept his gaze on her as he pulled off his running shoes and socks and tossed them aside. Then he dragged his T-shirt over his head, revealing his broad, well-muscled chest, with a mat of hair fanning out across the middle and arrowing down toward his waist.
He was staring at her as he unbuckled his belt and unzipped his jeans. She watched him slick them down his legs, revealing most of his firm body. Only his navy briefs remained.
“Those too,” she ordered.
He hooked his thumbs under the waistband, pulling the briefs down and kicking them away.
She took her time running her gaze over him, struggling to keep her face impassive as she looked at his wonderful body with its impressive male equipment.
“Lie down on the blanket. Spread-eagle.”
He gave her a long look, then complied.
She stood over him for a moment, then returned to the knapsack, pulling out cloth cuffs, wooden tent stakes, and a hammer.
Kneeling, she slipped a thong over one wrist, attached the end to a stake, and hammered it into the ground. Then she did the same with his other wrist and his ankles until he was staked down at all four limbs like a victim at an ancient sacrificial ceremony.
THE knock on the door had Cynthia sitting up in bed. She was with Matthew, who had stayed when the other guests had left, another precedent-breaking decision.
With no urgent work to take care of, she’d spent a lot of her time with him. No one at the spa would dare to disturb her when she was with her lover, yet the knock sounded again.
He looked questioningly at her. “Who would come here now?”
“I don’t know.” She reached for the robe she had thrown on the end of the bed. “Just a moment.”
When she climbed out of bed, Matthew also got up and went into the bathroom where no one could see him.
Cynthia padded to the door and opened it to find Eugenia standing in the hallway.
She gave the other senior woman a hard look. “You had better have a good reason for bothering me.”
“I do. Something’s happened. The guard at the gate called me. Since then, I’ve been turning the spa upside down.”
“Because . . .”
When Eugenia began to speak again, Cynthia felt her throat tighten with alarm.
SOPHIA struggled to keep her expression neutral as she watched Jason test the bonds. An ordinary man would not be able to free himself. A man with Jason’s strength might well wrench the stakes out of the ground. Did that mean he’d truly given her his trust? There was a way to find out.
She heard him drag in a breath as she turned toward the knapsack. When she came back to him, her right hand was hidden by her side. She placed her other hand on his chest, feeling the beating of his heart.
She spoke low, ancient words, asking the spirit of the universe for guidance, for she knew that this was about more than one man and one woman striving to come to an understanding. It could mean the breaking of traditions that had lasted for centuries. Or perhaps she was throwing away her own legacy.
Her own heart was pounding as she brought out the knife, raising it high so her captive could see it. His gaze shot to the sharp blade, and she heard him catch his breath.
Before she could change her mind, she brought the weapon down in a quick strike, stopping at the last second so that the point barely penetrated the flesh of his chest. His body jerked, but he didn’t try to free his hands.
She could have killed him with that one blow. He hadn’t tried to stop her, or get away, she thought with dizzy wonder.
It took a moment before she could meet his eyes. As their gazes locked, she saw
a flash of anger.
“You don’t like to be tricked,” she said. “Was it a trick to pretend that the man on the road and the vet weren’t the same person? Don’t bother answering.”
His mouth hardened. She knew he wanted to speak, but he was sticking to her rules.
He had passed one crucial test, but she couldn’t base a life-changing decision on that. What if he were only pretending to go along with her? Even a Minot might be able to hide his real self for a short period of time.
But he might still give himself away. Like all of them, he was a proud man. Perhaps he had preferred death to rejection. Could he accept punishment at the hands of an Ionian?
She put down the knife, went back to the knapsack, and took out a small whip with a braided leather handle and thin leather strands at the business end. Keeping her back to Jason, she unbuttoned her blouse. Under it she was wearing a sheer black lace bra. Hiding the whip in the folds of her blouse, she turned back to him. He licked his lips as his eyes went to her breasts. Unable to look away, he watched her take off her shoes, then her jeans, moving slowly, making each action a sensual show.
Even in his restrained position, he reacted as she’d thought he would, his penis coming to attention as he watched her undress. And she was gratified to discover that he was fully aroused by the time she stood beside the blanket, wearing only her provocative underwear.
His magnificent cock stood up straight from his body, and she wanted to kneel down and grasp it, but she only gave him a slow, simmering look, her gaze raking his body and coming back to the main attraction.
She could see his hands clenched into fists as she knelt beside him, leaning over so that her breasts were inches from his face, then shifting her position, touching his chest, sliding her fingers down his body, feeling his muscles jump as she caressed him. His breath hitched as her hand drew near to his penis, but she bypassed that proud shaft, sliding her hand onto his muscular thighs, then down to his ankles and finally his feet, taking each of his toes in turn, pulling and twisting on them as she watched his face.
His breath came in ragged gasps now. His eyes were pleading as she moved up his body again, playing the same game, touching him everywhere except the place where he must ache to feel her hand.
