Allura and Noor exchanged looks. “We stopped just outside of the McFarlands’ ranch to talk, and the next thing I knew these, ah, men approached us.” She shrugged nonchalantly. “I assumed their intent was to rob us, but Noor thwarted the attack before things got out of hand.”
“You got shot, sis.”
“Channing, let it go,” Allura warned.
“What do I explain to our parents about this when they return? I want the truth. Damn it.”
“I will explain the situation to them just like I did you. Things could have gone wrong, but, as I said, Noor handled matters to my satisfaction, and I don’t hold any ill will against him and no one else in this family should.” Her point was clear. She sided with Noor.
Channing’s feature hadn’t relaxed and he stood firm, tightly wound, glaring at Noor.
“Throwing a fit isn’t going to get you anywhere, Channing,” she said.
Allura was thankful, seeing him calm down. She could tell he was still angry but managed to throttle things down enough to be amicable. He said, “Noor, I would still like to discuss everything that occurred yesterday. You think Matt Graham had anything to do with this?”
“No. These guys weren’t locals.”
“Matt Graham could have brought hired guns in from the outside to do his dirty work,” Channing said.
Allura shook her head no. “I don’t think so. I don’t give Matt Graham a lot of credit, but I get the impression his battle is with you and Father. He wouldn’t be foolish enough to attack Mother or me. I just don’t get that cold-blooded sense about him.”
Channing scratched his head. He frowned. “Maybe you are right, sis, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want to hear the entire story, detail by detail, and judge for myself. Noor, I will see you downstairs.”
“Be there in a minute.”
Channing looked between Allura and Noor. Allura had the sense he wanted to insist Noor leave with him now, but knew that wouldn’t work with Noor. He left the room reluctantly. She waited until she was sure Channing wasn’t in hearing distance before she spoke. “What will you tell him? Channing won’t give up interrogating you until he is satisfied with your answers, and even then, he will remain stubbornly curious.”
Noor rubbed his chin. He yawned and worked his jaw back and forth. “Somehow I figured that out. I will tell him what he needs to know. Of course, I will leave out the information about my planet and mission and Txtrca.” He popped his neck and then fingered the area on his cheek where a bruise was forming.
“Channing is a good man, Noor. He is protective of me, hotheaded, and can be irritating at times, but he genuinely is a decent fellow. Even if he is my brother, I can truthfully say I’m lucky to have him. He would do anything for me, be it wrong, right, or indifferent. Of course, if I’m wrong, he will give me hell. In the end, though, Channing can be counted to be there for me unquestioningly.”
“I’m always going to be available to you also, Allura. I’d rather die than let anything happen to you, sweetie. When you fainted, I saw the blood, and it sucked something out of me. Are you apologizing for Channing’s immature and violent outburst?”
“Sometimes he reacts before he thinks. Knowing what I know, you could possibly be calling the kettle black. Don’t you think?”
“He tried to take my head off,” Noor said, and then chuckled softly. “He’s got a serious right hook. I have to remember that.” He turned serious and his expression hardened. “Your brother loves you. I can see this. Honestly, if he acted any other way, I would have smashed his face in.” He walked over to where Allura sat in bed. He leaned close and captured her chin. He caressed it with his thumb. “I should have been more alert. You never should have gotten hurt. I can’t forget why I’m here and need to remain focused on the assignment.”
“So, I’m just an assignment?” Her tone was curt.
“Sweetie, we both know what is at stake here. What I feel…my mission is to keep you safe,” he muttered, and moved away.
It was a dumb reaction on her part. He was telling her he didn’t want to get involved, and she should have heeded his advice. She called herself many things, including irrational, at times. Before Noor could run, and she could see him ready to take flight. She secured his arm, looped hers in his, and pulled him back to her. She framed his face with her palms and gently stroked the skin beneath his eye that was beginning to discolor. She said softly, “I’m not giving up on you. Don’t give up on me.”
“This…us…will not work, Allura. I’m trying to save you here, if you haven’t noticed.”
She smiled warmly. “I don’t need you to protect me from you,” she whispered.
She kissed him then. Hard, then tenderly, meshing her mouth against his full lips until he let out a contented breath, encircled her waist, pulled her closer, and deepened the kiss to sensual bliss. Their moist mouths heated, branded, and seared as the kiss intensified to a boiling point. That is when Noor pushed away.
He stood up, shoved his hands in his pockets, and gave her that look. His lips curled slightly. “You are one forward woman.”
“I scare you? Good.” Her tone was light, cajoling.
“Hell, yes,” he said. “You aren’t getting your gun back today. Get some rest, Allura, and I will see you later. I need to go below and settle things with your brother and soothe him before he starts in on another round of throwing a conniption.”
She watched him leave. A feeling of loneliness manifested. It overwhelmed her and left her feeling emotionally detached. This was all new to her. Never in her twenty-three years had she ever yearned for something, especially not a man. Not even during the times she fathomed herself in love with Dunst had she felt like this. All giddy, her head floated in the clouds, and she felt like a juvenile girl responding to a first crush. This was more serious. From the time she laid eyes on Noor when he smiled, everything about him ebbed inside her veins and made her feel woozy just standing in his presence.
Foolishly, she had fallen hopelessly in love with Noor.
He called her an “assignment,” a “mission,” a “target.” Allura frowned, snuggled against her pillows, and closed her eyes. He was from another time and place, for god’s sake. She quickly assessed what she learned, he told her, those awful creature things, and would have thought Noor suffered from dementia if she hadn’t witnessed everything for herself. Even still, the totality of it was frightening, so strange she still struggled with the many questions swirling inside her head.
Allura sighed heavily. None of it was important. When she deciphered the entire bizarre circumstances that brought her Noor, nothing mattered a damned bit.
She rolled onto her back and grinned like a loon. She was always up for a challenge, and Noor was certainly going to be one. Where he was from, who he was, nothing worried her except how she felt about him and him not returning the feeling.
Allura switched sides, laid her bandaged arm on the pillow, and stared at the sunshine breaking through the sheer drapes of the window. Noor made her days brighter, dreams vivid, and she wasn’t about to give up on him so easily. She could rope a calf, break a stallion, and shoot the center of a can with her pistol from a great distance.
How hard could it be to tame one man?
Chapter Seventeen
Sterns was an asshole.
He was an idiot.
He made dumb decisions, but he was far from stupid.
Noor disconnected the transmitter, switched the frequency to scramble, and shoved it in the pouch. He walked over to the door and looked outside, past the corral and pastures and into the darkness, concentrating on nothing in particular. The quiet offered some opportunity to reflect on his circumstances. Outside his normal habitat, he still felt an unease about the entire case and wished he was somewhere in an oxygen bar sucking it down. It was something he did to clear his head. The luxury unavailable, he inhaled the clean crisp night air and was content it had the same effect.
He reported to Sterns he’d found Allura. What he didn�
�t reveal was about the presence of the Txtrcas. He wasn’t sure why. He just knew he wasn’t ready to confide that part to his superior. Maybe the next time he called in he might not lie through his teeth.
His conscience didn’t plague him for leaving out the major detail. Nor did he feel an ounce of remorse for keeping things from Sterns or the others. When he felt they were being straight with him, he might return the courtesy.
The Txtrca didn’t act alone. He was sure of this. Somebody sent them, using them as assassins, and he had a good feeling either whoever was behind the act had to have damaging blackmail information on them or they were scared.
He cautioned on the side of the latter. He read the complete report on Emperor Agaci and knew he was seizing smaller planets of species to add to his army. Using strong coercion wasn’t beyond the man’s tactics, even threatening death if someone didn’t comply to his wishes, which meant he could have intimidated the Txtrca enough to force them to handle his dirty work. More than likely, he had attacked the defenseless planet, enslaved its people, and held the women and children hostage to compel the males to do unthinkable acts. This wouldn’t be the first time something like this happened. An entire planet of Dellons was slaughtered indiscriminately when a rival ruler from another planet had wanted to take over, bind the people, and gain their mineral rights. The Dellons had resisted and thousands were massacred. Men, women, and children were annihilated from existence because they wouldn’t concede to the demented mind of one nutcase.
The Dellons were a stronger nation, more strong willed than Txtrca, who would fold and buckle under the threat of extinction to persevere. He could see the cretins doing whatever necessary to survive. It was just too bad they trusted Emperor Agaci to keep his word. He read enough about the man to know better. After they did as he wanted, he had a gut feeling the bastard would murder all the species anyway.
Something moved in the distance and caught Noor’s attention. He squinted and focused on the shadowy figures that kept to the back of the umbra. He studied the area a long time and then relaxed, seeing miniature cows, no, Allura called them calves, gait around under the moonlight.
Even after he gave his account to Sterns, Sterns didn’t seem satisfied, and prodded him endlessly for more details. It was as if Sterns knew he was aware of more than he reported. Of course, Sterns seemed peeved by the fact. Yeah, as if he gave a rat’s ass if Sterns got bent out of shape about something he did or not.
Superior Sterns, aka prick, seemed extremely upset. He actually went into a tangent with his accusations of him holding back, but he couldn’t prove a damned thing. Or scarier, he did know the truth and that’s why he refused to take his neat and convenient answers. A few viable explanations popped inside his head about Sterns’s behavior. More viable answers, nothing factual, and that made him pissed. He couldn’t sling allegations at a commanding officer in the agency without any solid evidence to back it up.
Then there was his gut feeling about Sterns. He was a first-rate jerk, and he’d give him the title hands down. What he couldn’t do was see the spineless man tinkering in treason. The mode just didn’t fit Sterns, no matter how he spun it. He’d rather sit there and play with his dick instead of get into something overly complex where he might have to think his way through a situation. His superior preferred to play his games easy-like, mentally fuck him, and try to make his life a living hell, but he couldn’t honestly say he believed Sterns would go against the government.
As soon as he gave him brownie points, he remembered his superior worked his way to the top by greasing palms, kissing much ass, and sucking up big time to those he felt had power. That’s how he operated. And if Emperor Agaci’s threat to take over Sanguine and the other powerful planets that ruled the Northern Sector was plausible, he wondered, would Sterns sell his soul to the highest bidder?
He hated being on the outside looking in. At home, he had more personnel at his disposal, people within the agency who didn’t trust Sterns as far as he could throw him. They kept their ears and eyes open, but they weren’t in reach. He was flying solo, so to speak. It bothered him he was too far and disconnected from the agency to get a good pulse on what went on inside the department. Was he giving Sterns too much credit or not enough?
Noor heard something at the side of the house.
He stopped breathing and listened.
His late-night ventures outside made him familiar with the sounds of the night. The muffled noise was barely audible, distant-sounding and definitely new. The person walked as if their shoes had padded cushion for soles or they were barefoot. They moved almost ghostlike, stealthily in his direction. He had to give them kudos. The sneaky bastard got damned close before he realized someone was coming. That hadn’t happened since he was a first-day rookie, and even then no one ever got the jump on him.
He was coming up on his blindside.
He rested his hand on his gun.
He inhaled deeply, sucking air into his nostrils to see if he could catch a scent.
Now was the time.
Did he make the first move? If he continued to act clueless, the element of surprise was on his side. He caught a whiff of something. What the—he spun around and caught Allura around the waist and pulled her body into his.
“What do you think you are doing? Are you trying to get shot?” He scowled, eyeing her and seeing she found the entire situation humorous. She smiled brightly. Damn, she was beautiful. “What are you doing out here at this hour?” he said, releasing her. He watched as she slipped on her shoes. Ah, she was barefoot. Interesting. He wondered where she learned the tactic.
“I came to get my gun back. I feel much safer when it is with me,” she said.
He eyed her guardedly. “So, what you are saying is you sleep with your gun beneath your pillow?” He all but called her a liar. He knew, she knew, why she came. Their interlude earlier did nothing to ease the sexual tension between them.
“No, I do not, but that doesn’t mean I don’t want it returned, Noor. You had no right to take it in the first place,” she challenged him.
She was a spitfire. A fiery bit that rubbed him raw and burned him in the right places until he was aching beneath her gaze, which he noticed was sultry and not perturbed as she pretended to be. Having enough experience around females, he could identify one in heat a mile away. Allura might as well scream for him to fuck her.
This was insane. He had enough sense to run from a situation that couldn’t go anywhere but out of hand. Every innate warning sounded for him to turn her around and force her to leave. Why he stood there statuesque, unable to think coherently, mesmerized by her allure that made him simple-minded was beyond him.
He knew why she had to go. Her safety, his sanity, was at stake if he didn’t put an end to the situation already out of hand.
“You need to leave. Now.” He intentionally sharpened his tone, putting the authority bite in his voice that told the cadets he trained he meant business when they goofed off too much. It usually worked. Allura didn’t budge.
She raised her stubborn, adorably cute chin. He wanted to trace the outline with his fingertip and tickle the cute indention with his tongue.
He was losing it. The mere thought of the innocent act made his cock swell and press against his pants. A telltale swell that he was aroused and harder than the wooden spikes he saw Channing hammer into the ground and secure barbwire around to hold the post in place in the ground.
Allura escalated his damned uncomfortable state by stepping closer. He was near enough that he smelled the faint fragrance of honeysuckle perfume. The heat of her body seeped into his, making his sweat glands overreact.
Run, Noor, run.
A warning drummed in his head that he ignored.
What would a little heavy petting hurt? They would cuddle and kiss, and he definitely intended to put his hands all over her silken body, but that was as far as things would go. He wasn’t juvenile and could control his actions, if need be. That’s not what conce
rned him. Allura had to agree to behave and follow his lead.
He even told her as much to ensure they were on the same page. “I probably shouldn’t offer this, but I will. You can come inside, but when I say enough is enough, Allura, you must agree and we stop.”
“Yes, of course, whatever you think is best.”
She agreed. Maybe too quickly, and that should have been a warning to Noor.
By the time he reached his bedroom, Noor believed he was in total control of the situation.
Yeah, and cows can fly.
Chapter Eighteen
For ten brief minutes, Noor kissed, fondled, and caressed Allura’s body until both were gulping for air and fighting to restrain the madness frothing inside them to take things further. She wrapped her arms around his neck, slid her body against him, purred, and accelerated Noor’s heartbeat to dangerous levels.
He glided down her body, slipped his hands beneath the folds of skirt, and slowly inched the material around Allura’s waist. When her stomach was bare, he kissed caramel smooth skin tenderly, causing her to suck in her breath.
Her fingers toyed in his hair, pulling him closer. Her hips gyrated, grounding into his pelvis when he went horizontal and was on top of her.
All was lost when he eased a hand beneath her underthings and settled into the dampness between her thighs. A finger parted the moist, plump folds, and Allura spread her thighs anxiously.
Noor spoke, against her parted lips. “You promised to behave, or at least make me behave,” he said, popping the buttons on her bodice.
She said breathily, “I lied.” She may as well have given him the green light and put a blast in his career, maybe even his head. The thought was disconcerting, but he grinned, thinking he’d die a happy man.
Throwing all caution to the wind, Noor worked methodically to shed her clothing until she was naked. He examined her with an appreciative eye, running his fingers over the sensitive honey skin on her belly. He kissed her navel and she quivered.
Pure Desire [Pure 3] (Siren Publishing Allure) Page 14
