**And no one notices this?** Again he reached out to help, but caught himself and backed away in a crouch.
She shook her head. **We’re not a very touchy society, Londo. How often do you go around touching people?**
**I like to touch people. I just have a problem with controlling my strength when I’m doing it. Why didn’t your parents do anything?**
Lina gave a soundless laugh. Her eyes peeked out above her hands. **They would have had to care first.**
Londo digested that. **D’accord. So what are you going to do about it now? You, yourself?**
**I hadn’t planned on doing anything.**
**So you’ll live the rest of your life not being able to touch or be touched? You’re planning on dying a virgin? Is that Goal A?**
Lina’s eyes narrowed as she raised up, her shoulders squaring. **I hadn’t put it in writing.**
**So when are you going to get over this? When are you going to want someone to touch you, to have sex with you? Will you wait until you’re eighty or ninety, and then suddenly decide you don’t want to be lonely anymore? When?**
She sat silent, hands clasped, and stared into the woods.
**You’ve got to get past this sometime. Today’s as good a day as any, and maybe better than most. Have your phobia for everyone else, not for me. Please.** He leaned in to her line of sight, so close she couldn’t turn away.
“Help me, priest,” he whispered. His brown eyes held a sharp sheen of desperation as he took her hands firmly in his own. He held them up so she could see that was all he was doing.
She gasped at his temerity. **That’s a dirty trick,** she said. She began to squirm in his solid grasp. He gave a nod as if she’d done well and released. Lina gulped her relief.
**You have to help anyone who asks. Please, Lina, you’ve got to do this for me. Get over this touching thing. Let me have sex with you tonight—if I can find us a safe place. If my powers haven’t returned.**
Her green eyes flashed outrage. **You’d force me to do it?**
**I’m not going to rape you.**
She scrambled out of his reach. **By asking me as a priest, you’re taking my free will away. This is a legitimate request; I can’t refuse. I took a vow.**
**Maudit!** he exclaimed and threw up his hands in surrender. **D’accord, I’m not asking you as a priest. I’m just asking you to tell me what might put this phobia off, make things better so that maybe you’d consider having sex with me tonight.**
She rubbed her hands as if she were washing his presence off herself. Somehow he had to get through to her!
**It would just be a... an hour, a night, maybe an entire day. Just a few hours out of your lifetime,** he pleaded with her. **But for me it would be a something I could look back on for the rest of my life.**
She didn’t look at him as she sat on the ground. **It, it’s probably impossible.**
**We don’t know until we try. Consider this: there are times when you can touch and you’re fine. All you have to do is to enlarge that idea to include me in it.**
**I’ll think about it,** Lina told him.
**About what we can do about the phobia, or about—the proposition?**
**Let me think about it,** she said.
Londo huffed in frustration. **Okay, you do that while we get out of here. Don’t forget to come up for air every now and then to check in with your guides.**
She nodded, afraid to respond? Not looking at him at all. He stood up and took her hand firmly in his, crooking an eyebrow at her. She met his eyes dangerously: watch what you’re doing. He smirked back. He knew exactly what he was doing.
**C’mon,** he said, and led her back into the forest.
The next hour they spent scrambling through rough terrain that quickly rose to long, lumbering ridges. Once Londo got stuck in a briar and fought against it, entangling himself so thoroughly that he was forced to a standstill. He fluently cursed the entire time it took Lina to pry him loose and then gave what he could of the sprawling briar a good kick of adieu.
The two pushed through thick stands of forest only to come unexpectedly upon sunlit clearings where massed orchid blooms made delicate mosaics upon tree trunks. The sudden beauty made even Londo pause—for a few moments. They continued on.
Lina knew Londo was tired, but then so was she—exhausted—and terrified as again and again they stopped when they spotted a patrol of big men with guns. Yet she found herself dozing for the fifteen minutes they took to make sure that a patrol was far enough away from them before they resumed their journey north, always north.
Once she woke wondering what the weight on her back was. It turned out to be Londo asleep. He wouldn’t trigger any of her fears that way. They had both fallen asleep sitting up, their backs to one another. She let him rest for a few more minutes while she sank into a deep session with her guides, a thorough clairvoyant scan of the area.
**You wanted some adventure,** her guides told her. Other than that, they said very little. Still no word of when Lon would get his powers back (but yes, she knew in her gut that he would, if they could survive long enough). Still the information that north was the safest way. Nothing else.
So she let her thoughts slide through the forest, picturing the island as a map in her mind to pinpoint where they were on it. Ah, there: crosshairs on the map, practically in the middle of the lower half of the bloated C-shaped island. She zoomed in, asking: closest phone, closest working phone. Little arrows flickered across the landscape, very possibly indicating phones, but judging from the map, the size she knew the island was, and the fact that the majority of Tiawa was a private eco-preserve, they were too far to do any good—except for that one there. That arrow held steady and didn’t blink. It wasn’t too far away, considering how far they’d already come. Northwest. North-northwest. Try to get it exact so they wouldn’t overshoot it.
**Londo.** She was afraid to speak out loud, for fear that someone would be listening to the sounds of the forest.
Judging from the jerk he gave, he woke instantly. A second to get his bearing. **How long—?**
**Just a few minutes. I was asleep for a while, too. Which way is north?**
He pointed.
She considered and pointed just off to the left of that. **About two or three miles. A phone, I think.**
He squeezed her shoulder and she tensed. **Good girl.**
**Arf.**
**Oh be quiet,** he said with a smile as he stood up. He held out his hand to her.
This touching thing was ridiculous. Lina set her jaw and took his hand—a small victory.
**That way’s north. Which way is it again?**
**You know.** She pointed definitely. **North-northwest.**
**Just making sure that you’re sure.** He squinted in that direction, then nodded. **Voilà, I see an estate. There’s a stone wall on this side, but I think it’s climbable. Come on, hup hup.**
The rough wall was indeed climbable if they made sure their handholds and toeholds were secure. A novice to rock climbing, Lina took her time on the fifteen-foot wall. Lon went first and checked at the top that she was climbing well. By the time she reached the top to pause and rest, he was scouting on the ground beyond.
There didn’t appear to be anyone around, but this was a forested corner of the estate. Well-kept gardens and a swimming pool lay next to a large villa about a half mile away. The house was two stories, an uncomfortable pink mix of modern and pseudo-Italian renaissance, lavish in a nouveau-riche way.
“Come on down,” Lon called softly from the ground. “I’ll help you.”
“Don’t! I can make it on my own.”
Lina searched for good handholds on the hot, pocked stone. Then she slipped. She scrabbled to get a secure toehold.
“Just drop,” Londo commanded.
“No!” Lina closed her eyes and double-checked by feel what holds she did have. Left, left... there. Yet her toe still wanted to slip.
Londo’s arm suddenly wrapped around her wai
st. He’d climbed up to her. “I’ve got you,” he said in her ear as she jumped. His legs pressed against hers; his stomach squeezed up against her butt.
“Lon—” A suffocating white curtain of fear wrapped itself around her. Her left hand lost its grip as the world faded away.
“Don’t panic because I’m touching you. Now I’m helping you; I’m allowed to do that, you know. Concentrate on your handholds, on your toeholds. I’m just here to steady you, got that?”
With a ragged breath, she tried her damnedest to focus. Lina crept down the wall with him beside her, his hand on the small of her back. Almost down, and he dropped to the ground below her. Now that she was within reach he caught her, sliding his hands up her hips to her waist. The shirt slid as well. Londo took firm hold of her to lower her gently to the ground, and then loosened his grasp to allow the shirt to slide back down.
“You’ve got nice legs, too,” he said softly as she looked up at him.
She just wasn’t used to having to look up at that many men, but Londo stood over her, all broad shoulders and thick, bare arms. He made her feel small and vulnerable in comparison. He backed her up against the wall so that their bodies brushed together. There was no place for her to go.
“Londo, please...”
“Feel me touch you, Lina,” he whispered. His eyes said you’re mine tonight.
“I don’t belong to you,” she said. She knew she was blushing. No one had ever looked at her with this intensity. He radiated a tightly-controlled lust. She clenched her jaw to keep it from touching her.
He played with her hair with one hand, regarding her chin and mouth before he gazed into her green eyes. “I can’t imagine fate being any clearer than this,” he told her. “Me, powerless, and along comes you. On a tropical island, yet. Is the moon full? That would make it complete.”
“It isn’t,” she said. She didn’t tell him that it was gibbous, close enough to full.
“Close enough to full.” He laughed softly. Damn, had he read her? They had been using telepathy a lot.
He stood there with one hand still on her waist. “It’s working, isn’t it?” He trailed the other down a curlicue of hair and suddenly that hand was on her arm. He pressed her closer to him and leaned in for a kiss. His clothed legs brushed the naked skin of hers.
In order to escape the hand he had in back now she’d have to move forward, but there he was. She couldn’t escape backward, because of the wall. Sideways? He had her trapped. The entire expanse of her skin tried to shrink away from him. The only parts of her that could roll up upon themselves were her hands, and they balled into fists.
Heart pounding, Lina fiercely ordered herself not to faint, dammit! The world narrowed into far-off tunnel vision. She shuddered against the cold numbness of panic. The only action she could take was turn her face away from his.
“Car,” she gasped, and his lips brushed her cheek when she said it.
“Hm?”
“Jeep,” she said, nodding to the distant driveway through the trees. A camouflage-colored Jeep sat outside the ornate entrance to the pink villa, incongruous at best. There were no people around, though a cloud of dust hung behind the Jeep as if it had just arrived. They must have missed hearing it while she was having her panic attack. Lon leaned away from Lina to look in the car’s direction.
Then he sighed. “Woman, why can’t you keep your mind on the important things?”
“Silly me,” she replied, easing him farther away using just the tips of her fingers on his shoulder blades. “I thought you might be interested.”
He closed his eyes in defeat and shook his head. “You arranged this, didn’t you?” He lowered his hands. “D’accord, don’t move too quickly. They might see the movement.”
They kept to the purple shadows of the trees as Lina took deep breaths, trying to counteract her shudders.
“There are three of them,” Lon reported as they crouched behind a thick stand of bushes near the house. “They’re inside, checking it out.”
With the slightest of leftover trembles, Lina asked, “Do you know how to hot-wire a car?”
The question must have surprised him because he blinked three times at her. “No,” he finally said. “That’s a skill they missed in self-defense class. Seems stupid now that they did that.” He gave a slight snort as he eyed the car again. “Quick escape, transportation, maybe a cell phone....”
“How difficult can it be? Kids do it all the time. Let me try.”
“I don’t see keys in the ignition,” Lon said. “If I give you an all-clear signal from the side second-story window, or maybe the first floor, then you try hot-wiring. But stay hidden here until I signal you, you got that?”
She considered. “You don’t have any powers,” she said. “We should try the car. Leave the bad guys in the house; get away while we can.”
He shook his head, his eyes on the house. “No arguments. I’m in charge of battle teams.” He glanced back at her. “I’m not used to explaining myself,” he said and nodded to the house. “There are three highly-professional, heavily-armed mercenaries in there, and they’re moving around at a good clip. By the time we figured out how to get the car going, they’d probably draw a bead on us. And if we can start the car, we’ve made a little noise, maybe attracted attention. Non, I take care of them first, and you try the car when I signal you. Those are your orders.”
Lina thought about it for a moment. He certainly had more experience at this kind of situation. Follow Valiant and be safe. “You don’t have to signal; just give me a call.” She tapped her forehead.
“Even better.”
“And remember that you aren’t up to your usual standards. Don’t overestimate your abilities.”
That provoked a scowl. “You don’t question team leader in the midst of battle,” he said.
“We aren’t in the middle of battle,” she retorted.
“That shows how much you know,” he told her with a grim smile. “We’ve been in a battle all morning. Now stay out of sight.” He patted her on the fanny as he left, chuckling quietly.
Lina watched him as he slipped through the noon-day shadows, stealthy and powerful as a hunting lion, grace and taut energy dressed in tight black leather. He was Valiant; he could take out three goons, couldn’t he?
Valiant or not, he was certainly sex personified. She wanted to respond to him. She wanted to enjoy his touch, maybe even try to touch him herself, but her brain just wouldn’t let her. Every time he got close, a switch inside her mind labeled “FEAR” clicked on and obliterated any rational thought with panic.
But maybe he was right.
Maybe just being around him so closely with his desires so easily read, was doing something. Now that he was gone and she could allow herself to remember, she could still feel his hands on her, warm and firm. The softness of his lips. His sweet whispers. Here and now it wasn’t frightening at all. It was, well, rather arousing.
What the hell was wrong with her that she couldn’t feel that way when he was doing it? Stupid, stupid Muttbutt!
Only one day in his whole life that this opportunity would present itself to him. Who was she to refuse him? Who was she to refuse Valiant, the champion of Earth? But what he wanted was more than she could give.
Maybe they would find another woman somewhere on this island. At the very least, there was that Terry person. She had the hots for Lon, and he could probably call up some reciprocal feelings if the situation presented itself. Lon was very resourceful that way.
Lina wondered: Terry’s plot had condemned Lon to this condition. Was this the plan, so Terry and he could make love? It made sense. But if it was, where was she? And why send all these mercenaries or terrorists after them? It seemed to Lina that a bouquet of flowers or an invitation to a candle-lit dinner would get Terry what she wanted a lot more efficiently.
It also occurred to Lina that if Terry were romantically pursuing Lon then her own female presence so near to him might not be in Lina’s own safe
st interests. Still she felt much, much safer with Lon around than she would ever have out on her own, trying to survive the jungle. Even powerless he seemed to be a lot savvier in stealth matters than anyone else she could think of.
She watched Londo disappear behind a corner to enter the front door of the villa—without bothering to check in any windows. Of course. He could see the men’s locations right through the walls. With a shock Lina realized again that this was Valiant, not just Londo. What a shame. Valiant remained too far beyond her reach, but Londo might not.
What was she thinking?! With her phobia, any man fell beyond her reach, and no one but a very desperate man would ever want the likes of Lina Muttbutt. She groaned at her miserable reality and waited for Lon’s signal.
Londo crept silently into the house. Thank god he still had his vision powers. If he hadn’t he would have been near terrified of doing this. He would have felt human and helpless.
But he was Valiant, ParaNetter and MegaLegionnaire. These were merely Terry’s hired men. Enough already! She dogged him, always testing him with something worse than the time before. She needed to be taught a lesson and he’d teach her so she would never forget.
But just for now he must lay low, protect himself until all his powers came back. Protect Lina, the civilian caught in all this. Protect Lina, who held his dreams in her hands. And other places.
God, she was a luscious woman. Between the thin material of her dress and his shirt pulling up on her, Londo had gotten a very good look at what lay underneath those clothes, and he was going to enjoy it just as soon as they got to safety, wherever that might lie. He’d work around her phobia somehow.
He smiled to himself before he remembered his new vulnerability and the three well-armed men in the house. Concentrate on the here—concentrate on the now. Kuttr and Jae’s voices echoed in his head as years of combat lessons rewound themselves for him. How would Jae handle this?
As Lon advanced his smile returned, a grim promise to those who would stand in his way.
Upstairs first. That would put him above the other two on the way back. He kept his steps on the supporting framework of the stairs, lessening the possibility of squeaks. The house was quiet but not silent; that helped. Birdsong and a breeze’s rustle came through open windows.
Touch of Danger (Three Worlds) Page 6
