He shook his head. “You here. I there,” he said, pointing toward the hallway.
“Oh.” Riana felt her face heat, mortified to discover she was the one that had her mind on sex, not him. No wonder he’d laughed! “I’m so sorry! God! I feel awful for putting you out of your room. Where are you going to sleep if there isn’t another room?”
He shook his head, either because he hadn’t grasped everything she’d said or because he didn’t want her to worry about it. She wasn’t sure which.
He lifted her suitcase and placed it on the bed again and then moved back to the closet. Making a pretense of searching for clothes for herself, Riana watched him out of the corner of her eye as he pulled a pair of dress pants out and stepped into them, adjusting himself before he dragged the zipper up.
No underwear, now that was something that was going to haunt her dreams, she thought wryly, wondering if he never wore shorts or he was just in a hurry to cover himself. He didn’t seem to be. He seemed supremely indifferent to his nudity.
As mesmerized by that truly impressive cock as she was, she couldn’t help but wonder about his complete lack of discomfort at being naked in front of a total stranger.
She wasn’t exactly ‘world weary’ but she’d been around a few guys, dated her fair share, and had sex with a good many of the boys/men she’d dated, though certainly not all. Most of them at least tried to act unconcerned about being naked, but most of them were uncomfortable, at least a little bit. They pretended they weren’t because they thought it wasn’t macho to be bashful.
But then, he had nothing at all to feel the least bit self-conscious about. She’d suspected the men were all built like body-builders, but she knew she hadn’t really believed it or she wouldn’t have been so stunned. He certainly was. There didn’t seem to be a spare inch of fat on that body anywhere, back or front. As masculine beauty went, he was a definite ten, and he had a really nice face and a gorgeous smile to go with it.
And he was hung like a stallion.
She threw him a fleeting smile as he strode toward the door. He inclined his head slightly and kept going.
Her shoulders sagged with relief when he’d shut the door behind him.
Frowning thoughtfully, she dug a change of clothes out of her suitcase and went into the bathroom to dress, wondering if it was just because they were foreigners that they seemed so very strange to her.
And where did those eyes come from? She supposed they could’ve been classified as hazel, like hers. Hazel was a color that was hard to pin down. Depending on what she wore, hers could look brown, blue-green, or deep green, but his and Simon’s had looked golden, not brown, not yellow, not some shade of greenish brown, just golden--with rusty glints--strange, strange eyes and the odd shape of the pupils wasn’t something she’d imagined either. As handsome was he was, as pleasant as he seemed, those eyes made uneasiness creep along her spine.
* * * *
Simon was pacing his sitting room restlessly when Audric arrived and slipped soundlessly into the room. Surprised, he slid a questioning glance at Haig. Haig shrugged infinitesimally, but Audric wasn’t left to speculate long on what the cause of Simon’s agitation was.
Simon whirled on him within moments of his arrival. Already taut, his face hardened even more with anger. “I want her gone from here!” he said in a low, threatening growl.
Surprise, confusion, and uneasiness flickered through Audric in quick succession. He had wanted to provoke some kind of reaction out of Simon, hoped to. He hadn’t expected this simmering rage, however, in point of fact was thrown off completely by it since, as far as he knew, Simon hadn’t caught so much of a glimpse of the woman since that first encounter nigh a week earlier. “Raina?” he asked, sparring for wind.
Something flickered in his eyes and then Simon’s lips curled back in a snarl. “I do not want to know that little whore’s name!”
Audric studied him. He hadn’t given a great deal of thought to how he would handle Simon if he did manage to pierce his shield and make him acknowledge that he was still among the living and could feel. Mostly, he supposed, because he hadn’t expected an avalanche of emotion. Before he could decide how to proceed, Simon turned to pacing again. “That … squat, graceless speck of humanity has no appeal to me whatsoever. Did you think she would?” He demanded with a growl. “She gallops down the stairs when I come upon her! I can not walk through the house without the certainty of stumbling over her, or feeling her peering at me from around some corner like she has spied an ogre and expects to be eaten. I do not believe she can walk and speak at the same time without tripping over her dainty little feet! She falls in and out of doors with great regularity or trips over something that does not exist.
“She is not even pretty, let alone beautiful! She speaks as if she is from the gutter--I hear her swearing and muttering to herself even if I do not see her--and she behaves as if she is! She is as bad or worse than the one you dragged here before. That one at least had beauty in form, and grace, even if she was human! She did not look as if she would be crushed by a man’s passions! She did not look like a startled hare whenever a man looked at her and bound into hiding!”
Audric exchanged glances with the other men ranged about the room. Struggling to tamp his anger over Simon’s less than flattering ranting over all of Raina’s perceived flaws, he folded his arms over his chest and leaned back against the wall.
Jorell frowned. “She can not be a whore and shy of men at the same time,” he said reasonably, if unwisely.
Simon whirled upon him with a fulminating glare.
“I thought she was pretty myself,” Haig put in. “I find her daintiness very appealing. She looks sturdy enough for a man to ride ….”
“She is only being coy!” Simon snarled. “No woman of her age with a body like hers would be ignorant of a man … especially no human woman!”
Audric studied his nails. “I confess I am counting on that. I have never seen the appeal of virgins myself. I far prefer a woman who knows her way around a man.”
The startled look Simon sent him might have been amusing if Audric had been in any mood to be amused. As it happened, he wasn’t. He had been keenly aware of Raina’s presence, had been so intrigued by her, in point of fact, that he’d all but forgotten why he’d thought bringing her into the house was an excellent notion to start with. He felt a sense of possessiveness move through him at Simon’s speech that was almost disconcerting, mostly because it was a clear indication that Simon was just as fascinated with her as he was or he wouldn’t have noticed so much about her.
Simon recovered himself with obvious effort. He moved to the window. “Suit yourself,” he growled finally. “If it does not bother you to fuck the whore, far be it from me to try to dissuade you, but I would take care that you do not catch some disgusting disease.”
Audric came away from the door, abruptly angry himself. “She is no whore, and as you pointed out, she is human. I could no more contract disease from her than give her one … even if not for the fact that I have had no woman in … Fuck! I can not even recall the last time I had a woman! When did you become so ‘nice’ in your requirements? I can recall many a time when we drank and whored together halfway across Schalome and back again!”
Rama frowned at him. “It is not as if you have not been invited to come with us when we go to look for women! I, myself, have tried to persuade you to come! I thought that you did not want to because of Willa or I would have tried harder.”
Audric shook his head infinitesimally, but he saw it was too late. The mention of his lost companion had prompted Simon to think of Evangeline. To his surprise, the haunted look, instead of intensifying until Simon forced the mask of indifference over his face again, seemed to plateau for several moments and then lessen.
Mayhap that was where they had gone wrong before, he thought? Mayhap, instead of allowing Simon to hold his grief inside they should have forced him to let it go? None of them, least of all him, had been able
to bear watching Simon’s agony, though. Beyond the fact that he had grieved for Evangeline and did not think he could endure having his raw emotions lacerated, he also had not been able to bear the thought of dealing with Simon’s inconsolable grief.
“I grieved for Willa,” he said finally, and with complete truth. He’d loved Willa, and yet, unlike Simon, Willa had not been his first love. Evangeline had. He had come to love Willa because she was worthy of being loved, worthy of more than he’d been able to give her, but she had loved him and he hadn’t been able to help loving her back. “In the beginning I did not want to think of laying with another woman and certainly not replacing Willa with another. No woman could replace her. I am a man, though. What does it serve her for me to be alone and miserable? She can not come back. She can not suffer any longer. She does not need as I need. It does not feel wrong to seek what comfort I can find.”
“With that … shadow of a female?” Simon growled.
Audric gave Simon a level look. He had done his utmost to hide his love for Evangeline, but he knew very well Simon had known. And knowing that, he had to know also that Willa was a ‘shadow’ herself. It was not new that he would be willing to settle for a woman he could love instead of the one he was in love with.
He saw something then in Simon’s eyes that he had not expected to see.
Simon wanted Raina--so badly he could taste it--and it terrified him.
For a moment that fear made Audric feel vaguely nauseous. Simon would not have been afraid if he’d felt no more than lust for Raina. He was afraid to go near her because he was afraid he would feel more than lust.
And he wanted her removed from his temptation before it got the better of him.
The sense of possessiveness tightened in his gut again, making him feel more ill.
Maybe, he thought, it had been unwise to bring Raina here? He hadn’t intended or expected to do more than crack the shell of ice around Simon, to bring him back to the living. It had certainly been no part of his plan to place Simon in harm’s way again, which he would be if he fell in love with Raina.
She was totally unsuitable. She was human, unacceptable as a mate … for any of them, really, but especially for Simon. Simon would have to produce an heir, for his heir had died with Evangeline.
Beyond that, his own heart was threatened or he would not have felt ill at the thought of stepping aside for Simon, again. Swallowing the sense of drowning with an effort, he struggled to think, and do, what would be best for Simon, and therefore their homeland. This would be far more tricky than he’d expected. “I do not see her as a shadow,” he responded to Simon finally. “I know what is due my family name … even in exile. I would not set out to love her, or consider binding, for one day I expect to return to Schalome. She will suit my needs of the moment, though.”
Simon snorted. “One never sets out to fall in love,” he said dryly.
Audric smiled wryly. No truer words were ever spoken. He had painful first hand experience with making an utter fool of himself, and bringing misery down upon himself for a loving a woman he could never have. “Assuming that I can coax her into my bed,” he continued as if he hadn’t heard Simon’s muttered remark, “which might take a bit more work than I have been accustomed to in the past. She does not seem indifferent to me, and although she is certainly no whore, she is not ignorant of men either. I have the uneasy feeling, though, that she finds my size as unnerving as I do hers. I think that is why she is skittish, but, to my mind, I think she is not easily intimidated. Once she grows accustomed to my hulking size and realizes that I am not so clumsy that I will step on her and crush her like a little bug, I believe she will be receptive to the notion.
“I could be wrong, but she seemed to find my body appealing,” he added.
Haig looked him over with interest. “How did you manage that if you have not ‘coaxed’ her into your bed as of yet?”
Chagrinned, Audric chuckled. “I am no hand at mechanical things. I broke the pipes trying to fix them and soaked us both. I had to remove her from the area of disaster. I have put her in my room for now. Unfortunately, she did not fall for the ruse. She has made it clear that she is not prepared to share my bed with me … at least not yet.” He paused, reluctant to continue, but at the same time unable to resist prodding with another dig. “Her face might be merely pretty, but her body takes my breath away. I do not believe that I have ever seen a woman whose body was more appealing.”
“I had thought so. Is her patch the same color as the hair on her head?” Jorell asked with keen interest.
Audric grinned, discarding his reluctance to discuss the intimate details with an effort. Mentally, he shrugged. It was in a good cause and it seemed obvious that, however tempted Simon was, he was determined to resist. It could not hurt to give him a little push. “Much lighter, more red and her nipples a shade of pink that begs tasting.”
Haig smacked his lips, chuckling lasciviously. “Then her little lips will be as pretty a pink and as enticing to taste.”
Elden, who had said nothing until that moment, looked Audric over speculatively. “I had thought the moment I set eyes upon her that I would welcome the opportunity to lick her all over. If you have no luck with her, will you take it badly if I try my hand?”
Audric stiffened, feeling the sense of possessiveness clench at his gut again, before he could think of a response, however, Simon turned from the window and released a hissing breath. “I will go down and work out,” he announced tightly, stalking from the room angrily.
When he had stormed out, slamming the door behind him, Audric looked at his companions. Almost as one, they moved to settle in the chairs and sofas arranged into a comfortable conversational grouping. “I do not think any of us should count upon collecting the woman’s favors. If you’ve need of a woman, you should look elsewhere. Whatever Simon has said to the contrary, he wants her and if he sets his mind to have her, she will fall into his hands like a ripe plum. I have not seen the woman yet who could resist his charm when he blinds her with it,” he said wryly.
The men exchanged varying expressions of disappointment, resignation, and irritation. “That is because he is the prince,” Rama agreed glumly, nodding.
“Comfort yourself with that thought if you like,” Audric retorted dryly. “But she does not know who he is, and it would mean nothing to her if she did. These Americans are not nearly as impressed with royalty as they are with their film stars! In any case, I saw the look on her face when she first saw him, if you did not. She is his if he wants her, whether any of us like it or not--whether she likes it or not. Even if we wished to challenge his right to have whatever he wants, and I would not consider it, none of us would have a chance with her.”
Haig grinned. “Aye, he was ever a silver tongued devil!”
Despite his mixed feelings over the situation, Audric chuckled. “His silver tongue is not likely to help him now--I doubt that he has much more facility with her tongue than I do, and I am nigh hopeless. I had not thought that I would come to regret not putting myself out to learn it. But he does not need it. The man has a … presence. There is something about him that draws women to him even when he does not want to draw them.”
He grinned more easily as the comment caused memories of more pleasant times to surface. “I have ‘rescued’ Simon more than once, for he has no more idea how he does it than I do, or of how to dissuade those he has no desire to entice. You have never seen such panic in a man’s eyes as I have in Simon’s. Not a flicker of fear on the battlefield and abject terror when some completely undesirable female crawls upon his lap and tries to seduce him into her bed--and they have done that, amazingly enough--for whatever it is that draws them to him also makes them brazen as bedamned.
“But when he wants them, he only has to look at them and they come to him as if they have been summoned. Even Evangeline, although she was wise enough to lead him a merry chase before she allowed him to ‘catch’ her, was his the moment she met his gaze.”<
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He shook his head. “There have been many times when I have wished that I had even half whatever it is about him that makes women go weak and hot all over the moment he looks at them … and almost as many times that I have been very grateful that I do not.”
Jorell burst out laughing. “Do you recall that toothless whore in Babayon? I swear I nigh snorted my ale through my nose at the look on his face when she crawled upon his lap and offered to suck his cock, pointing out she had no teeth to cause him any discomfort. I believe the little fellow crawled up into his belly to hide! He had the devil of a time coaxing it out again when he found a woman that did appeal! We had tried two more whorehouses before he had steadied his nerves enough to bed one!”
Haig snorted. “Little fellow? Your eyes are bad, or your ego inflated. I am loath to drag mine out when he is anywhere around for fear my ‘little fellow’ will be too ashamed to poke his head out.”
“I remember that! He sneaked out the back!” Elden said, laughing heartily at the memory. “No small feat for a fellow his size. I do not know how he managed it.”
Audric gave him a look. “He managed it because I offered myself on the altar of sacrifice,” he said dryly. “And coaxed her into my bed instead. The things I have done for my prince!”
Rama grinned. “Well? Did the lack of teeth improve the ride?”
“I did not ‘ride’. I offered to let her suck my cock instead. It was not half bad, actually. The woman could have sucked the etching off of a steel blade,” he admitted with an easy laugh. “I thought for several panicked moments that my head would cave in.”
Elden rubbed his cock uncomfortably. “I am thinking I might go to the mainland and look up my woman,” he muttered. “I have not had a good ride in a while.”
“Did she not toss you out on your ear the last time you went sniffing at her mons?” Haig asked with a grin.
Elden sent him a sullen look. “She did not! She was not happy to see me … at first, but these Earth women have very interesting customs. I reminded her that she had offered to be my ‘fuck buddy’ and she allowed me to persuade her. Simon can say what he pleases, but I like uncomplicated sex myself and I like Earth women! I do not mind paying for it when I must, mind you, but I have never particularly cared to be serviced by a whore when I know that they are only doing it for the money. These humans, which Simon is so set against, give passion if a man is willing and skilled enough to draw it. For myself, I will miss that when we go home and have only the choice of binding or paying for service and may or may not get passion either way.”
Dragon Lord Page 5
