He heard the slither before he ever saw the golden-colored, four-foot snake, again not on his usual guard. Typically, it was impossible for an animal of any sort to sneak up on him. On the contrary, he snuck up on them.
The strike was so fast, so sharp, he didn’t have time to react. One moment his eyes were on the reptile’s darting, forked black tongue. The next, he was being bitten. The sharp, pointed fangs sank into his calf. The stab of stinging pain shocked him, followed by the flooding force of poison sinking into his muscle.
Bloody hell.
Fate must have agreed with his mission.
The taipan was rare, hardly ever seen. But its bite was well known. Deadly enough to kill a dozen people with the poison of one bite.
Jay’s piercing shriek of terror echoed through the air, drawing louder and closer with every second. Reaching down, he grabbed the attached golden snake and ripped it free. Tossing it away, he looked to a panicked Jay.
Absolute fear sparked in her eyes, golden daggers shooting across the green depths. Her mouth hung open, parted by shock. “Oh, my God! Oh, my God!”
“I’m fine.”
“You are not fine. That snake was poisonous.”
Slowly, he turned his leg to her. “I’m fine.”
Chapter Eight
There was no mark. No holes where the snake had pierced his bare skin. No blood. Nothing.
But she had seen it. With her own two eyes, she had seen the snake sink its fangs in. There had even been a brief moment where it had simply hung from his leg, dangling there, until he ripped it away.
Her insides shook, her stomach doing a sickening flip-flop. “I ...” She hesitated, again checking her mind to make sure she wasn’t crazy. “I don’t understand.”
“You want to know me. This is about all there is to know. I can’t die. Ever.”
Jay shook, taking a slow step backward. There was no questioning his words. As sure as she stood here, she knew he was telling the truth. Thinking back on it, she had witnessed the proof more than once.
“Why?” she half whispered.
“I hail from the kingdom of Wulfhere.” Where his accent had been thickly Australian with just a hint of something else, it now turned so thick with a strange tone she could hardly understand him. “My mother, the queen, birthed me in the year 1409. I was the second son. My father had us all poisoned with the liquid spell of a wizard so the family, the kingdom, could never fall. But time brings down all things.”
She tried to steady her shaking jaw, taking several deep breaths. “You’re six hundred years old?”
She sure as hell hadn’t seen this coming.
“Around that.”
He shrugged, walking back up the bank. He didn’t want Jay this close to the bank or near the snake. She didn’t have his privileges. One wrong step was all it took when dealing with wildlife.
Taking long strides, he tightened his jaw as he walked under the tree. As he’d assumed, she followed close behind him, rattling off questions.
“And you’re telling me you’ll never die?”
He nodded, not looking back. “Never. You think I’m crazy?”
A long, drawn-out pause hung in the hot air.
“No ... I actually think you’re telling the truth.”
Sitting under the shade of the gangly-limbed tree, he wished it had more leaves to shade him from the sun.
“So you see, I want more than just a fling. But it’s a bit more complicated than that.”
“I don’t see why.” She flopped down beside him, tucking her knees under her chin. Her fingers drummed against her kneecaps, the only sign that his news made her a bit nervous.
He couldn’t help but scoff. “Because I can never die. You can. That means heartache for me.”
“I see. So, your theory is that you will live forever, but you will refuse to live.”
He’d expected her not to believe him. Or to rave with shock. Be mad. Lots of things, but not to take it so calmly, so frankly.
Bloody hell, she was even analyzing his feelings. Something he hated to do.
His fingers brushed over his sandpaper-like beard. “What’s that mean?”
“It means that if you can’t have what you want ...” She paused and drew a deep breath. “It’s like this. I, for one, would rather have eighty years on this earth, relishing the things that matter, than to live a million years never having what I truly want.”
A natural defense, annoyance, crept through him, chopping at his nerves. So, now she was planning his life for him. Sounded like she was planning herself as part of it. “Well, that’s a little abrupt.”
“How so?”
His tone was hard. “Don’t presume to know where I’ve been, Jay.”
“Then why don’t you tell me?” she asked. “Start at the beginning.”
“We’re talking six hundred years,” he scoffed.
“Okay. A piece at a time.” She gave a little giggle, then went serious. “So, you lived in England, right? How did you end up in Australia?”
He hesitated, not answering at first. Maybe he’d told her enough devastating news for one day. How he’d arrived in Oz hadn’t been pleasant, but he’d done what he’d had to for his little brother.
Thurston had lost it after his wife and baby died. Bloody slipped, practically going insane. What he’d done to that poor midwife ...
But it hadn’t been his fault. He’d loved Mary so much. Wanted that child more than a thirsty man in a desert wants a sip of water. The pain Thurston had been through had been incredible.
The English courts had sentenced Thurston to death. But, of course, hanging him hadn’t proved easy. Bryhan’s guess was that Thurston had spooked them good, because suddenly he was being shoved aboard a ship. They’d skipped right over the usual wait in the Hulk and had shipped him to Australia, which had just begun to serve as a penal colony to Britain.
Bryhan couldn’t have let his little brother come here alone.
But out with it, he figured. After what he’d just revealed to her, not much would make a difference. “My brother was sentenced to life here. So let’s just say, I earned my way here.”
“You mean, you intentionally broke the law so English Parliament would sentence you here?”
“In a way.”
He couldn’t help but smile, remembering Thurston’s reaction. He’d nearly burst, his face burning red in anger when he’d learned that his big brother had come to keep him company. But Bryhan had known Thurston was comforted by his presence.
“In a way?”
“Well, I wasn’t exactly prospering either at the time. Had shoes on my feet, mind you, but no coins in my pocket to pay my way. So I hijacked a ship and sailed it here. Figured, what the hell, I’d end up here anyway, so what was the difference? They sentenced me to life, but I was already settled anyway.”
“Wow.”
“Yeah, pretty neat. You’ve actually made love to a convict, crocodile wrangler who will live forever.” He couldn’t help the sarcasm in his voice.
At first, Jay hesitated. Laughter teased the tip of her tongue. Maybe she was in shock. Stunned beyond reaction. The news he’d dumped in her lap was huge. And unbelievable. Maybe she’d read too many fantasies as a child. Watched too much television.
Was she really so numb?
She sighed, licking her lips and hugging herself. Yeah, she was. But not from sitcoms or daydreaming; no, her visions had made her so. She’d seen so much from the time she was thirteen and they’d begun. She knew supernatural things existed. She was proof. If she could see the future, why couldn’t he live forever?
A strange calm came over her, accepting it. Accepting her future with him. He was no leaver. He was going to be her husband.
She couldn’t help but wonder what he would think if she admitted her secret. A smile broadened her face, breaking into a laugh.
All in good time, she supposed. After all, he had plenty of it.
Weren’t they a pair? A fortuneteller, with
a man who could never die. It couldn’t be anything but funny, the sense of humor fate had.
The tall, whitish-yellow grasses whipped around her legs. They tickled her bare skin, rustling against her rear where she sat. Their wispy touch sent tingles through her.
“You know, we’re still naked.” Her hand went to his knee, stroking her thumb over his rough skin.
She had no idea why she was doing it, but she was. After all, wasn’t she the type who took what she wanted? She still wanted him. In fact, even more now.
Bryhan seemed to grow stiffer, his body emanating a cold struggle against her touch. “Yeah.”
Okay. Now he seemed to be downright resisting her.
She wanted him even more.
Perhaps because he wasn’t real? She almost laughed. He couldn’t be real.
Yet, here he was, impossible and forever and, as far as she was concerned, at her disposal. She laughed. Well, at least she’d like to think that.
She continued to caress his knee. “I bet you could entertain me for a lifetime with your stories.”
He shrugged his knee away, staring up at the bright ball of glowing hot sun. Not for a second did he flinch.
“I saw what losing his woman did to my brother. I won’t do it.” His tone was hard, gruff. Unyielding.
Telling her to give it up.
A smile brimmed on her lips. She knew better. “Okay. But stick around a bit, would ya?”
“You’re crazy, you know that?” To her relief, he laughed. The hearty chuckle made the warm air surrounding her hot. Thick. His humor wrapped around her like a snake, squeezing her with a strange hope for what she knew she would soon have.
The warm-fuzzy feeling she got when she thought of having a husband. A family. Of a forever she never needed to worry over.
Her laughter mixed with his as she nodded and lay back against the thick grasses. “Just a bit. Just a bit.”
Chapter Nine
Slowly, his left hand came to her breast. He flicked his thumb over her nipple, teasing her with the light touch. Tingles shot through the areola as it grew harder and into a pebble of budding desire. Immediate heat pooled in her lower regions, her sex clenching.
It took little for him to make her want. One look. One touch. She was ready. Now.
And yet, he was the type of man a woman could enjoy. The playing, naughty, kinky type she’d desired all these years.
Her sex pulsed, begging her to jump right onto his cock. But she held back, anxious to see what surprises mating with him would hold this time. Since she had little control over herself, she lay back and let him do the work. If she were to take over, they’d be coming in a minute.
Rolling over, he moved atop her and let his other hand join the play. His legs straddled her right near her ribs, so that his cock was but inches from her face. A gleam of pre-cum glistened on its tip, dripping from the tiny hole. She licked her lips, ready to lick him.
She trailed her tongue up his length, slowly releasing him from her mouth. He lowered his body, bringing his lips down to her forehead. He started there, working his way down slowly. He suckled at her skin, nipping and licking it. She imagined that by morning she’d be covered in marks from her face to her legs. He didn’t miss an inch of her as he praised her body with his mouth, slowly moving down her neck and chest. When he reached her stomach, he attacked her belly button and suckled it. She arched against him, tickled by sensation.
When he arrived at her patch of unruly red pubic hair, he ran his fingers through it. He stroked her clit, moving over her vagina to her perineum. He tickled it, making her rise up. As she did, he supported her hips with one hand and pushed his finger into her anus. She arched and screamed out from the intensity. At the same time, he drove into her pussy with his cock, filling her. She arched against his invasions, desperate to be filled with more. In and out he stroked, ever so slowly. The speed was enough to drive her insane. She needed hard and fast. She needed him now. Instead, she was being driven insane with teasing.
Slowly he increased his speed, all the while inserting another finger into her. As he did, a wave of ecstasy washed over her. Her pussy muscles squeezed tight, holding him deep within her. She bucked against him, his head rubbing her G-spot.
Waves of hot intensity gushed through her, her sex convulsing. She squeezed tight as the orgasm came, flooding her so completely, she saw white.
When her vision began to focus once again, she saw Bryhan jerking against her. The warm rush of his seed overflowed her. Then he collapsed atop her.
They lay together, sweat dripping from their sticky bodies, for only a moment. Then he pulled back, peeling away from her body.
The noon sun hung high in the sky. He stared up at it, licking his lips. A powerful passion had curled through him, like a worm eating through his soul. Jay was getting to him. Hard and fast, the feeling went well beyond the sex between them.
He needed to get the hell out of here.
“I’ve got to get.”
She jerked up, nearly knocking her head against his. To avoid her, he jumped up.
“What?” She burst out. “Wait a minute --”
“Your barbie, remember? If you want me to get the croc out of your creek ...” He let his words trail off. It was an excuse, of course. But a valid one.
“Oh, yeah.” Her green gaze wandered away from him, toward the creek. “The barbie. That’s why you’re here. Not to ... Well, anyway, I suppose I’ve little to worry over now.”
He nodded, standing and stretching his body out. “That’s right, luv. I’ll be fine.”
“And you’ll be back.”
Now things got real hard. He shook his head, hating himself for it. “I’m not so sure about that.”
She flopped back into the grass, spreading her arms out and stretching as if she hadn’t a worry in the world. “I am. I am.”
An hour later, Bryhan had the van parked by the creek, ready for him to load the croc. He sat along the red bank in the brush, waiting patiently. He was using himself as bait.
Sweat dripped from his brow. The day had proven to be bloody hot. Torturous. All he could think of was Jay, and that didn’t help either. He was going to die of dehydration, if that was possible.
A croc could stay under an hour, easy. A chemical in its body would slow its heartbeat, shifting blood from its lungs to the rest of its body. Bryhan bet the beast was close. Waiting.
The croc wouldn’t leave this area. Not when it had food so easily available. The chickens and ducks made Jay’s place like paradise. Crocs could go a year or more without eating, but they preferred to eat very often.
A duck swam past him, paddling through the water without fear. Suddenly the croc burst from the creek like a lunging dinosaur, water spraying everywhere. The animal’s jaws opened to snatch its prey and drag it under.
The moment was his. Luck was on his side.
The croc’s back faced him. Bryhan didn’t waste a split second with thinking. Instinct took over as he jumped into the creek, lasso in hand. He landed right on the croc’s back. The beast thrashed, suddenly aware of the danger.
Immediately Bryhan slung the loop of rope around its jaw, drawing it tight. The animal resisted furiously, but could no longer use its teeth as weapons. Bryhan bear-hugged it, guiding the fighting animal closer to the banks. When he could reach bottom, he stood.
The croc nearly knocked him back off balance. Its tail swatted at Bryhan as though he were a fly to be smashed, but he held strong. Despite the aid of the water, handling the several-hundred-pound croc was a hellish task to handle by himself.
But that was how he preferred to work, if at all possible. Of course, sometimes the croc was too big and he didn’t have a choice. But when he did, he worked alone. He knew he was ultimately safe. He’d hate for someone else to be seriously injured or killed on his time. Not when he could take care of it.
With all his might, he continued to heft the beast ashore. The long green bag for containing and transporting it l
ay right at the water’s edge. Pinning the croc with his body, he fought to get the bag around the animal and then zipped up. It wasn’t easy, but he managed.
When the croc was contained, he pulled it to the truck and up the ramp. He strapped it in the back on the board he had rigged for just that purpose, then jumped out.
He had to get the hell out of here, and for more than one reason.
He got about fifteen minutes down the road when her memory snagged him like the lasso had caught the croc. As if rope were around his neck, yanking him backwards, he felt pulled to go back to her.
Of course, he couldn’t. He had the croc to take care of. But after ...
She’d sounded so damn sure he was coming back. So bloody damn sure of them. Not even his revelation had shocked her.
Desperate longing for her filled him, making him literally sick. His stomach roiled at the thought of never going back. The worst feeling in the world took over him, and all he could hear was Jay’s sweet voice. Echoing in his mind over and over. I love you. I love you.
But he’d made her say that. It had only been the heat of the moment. Hadn’t it?
A knot formed in his throat, and he gulped hard. It didn’t go away.
Nor did the way she’d listened to him, so understanding, not shocked at all when he’d revealed the truth. Nothing had ever felt better than getting it off his chest.
He needed someone to be close to. To share his life with. Sure, he had friends. Acquaintances. Family. But he needed someone to be intimate with, on all levels. More specifically, he needed her.
A hot, wet trail slid down his cheek. He swiped it away. Bloody hell! Now she had him bawling. He needed to think of something else.
He turned his mind to the meeting he was missing. Almost immediately, the nagging suspicion filled him again. Who had been that sheila at Edmund’s house? Had he taken a lover?
Spell Of Love: Dragon's Desire Page 6
