Hers To Cherish (Verdantia Book 3)

by Knight, Patricia A.

  Reality clamped its jaws on him with razor-sharp fangs and tore massive chunks from his soul. He would never have enough of this woman – never. She was a luxury he could not have. He couldn’t afford Steffania Rickard. She made him want more than a casual lover.

  ~ ~ ~

  Steffania caught the questioning, fearful glances that Pansy directed toward her across the breakfast table. When Steffania knew Ramsey would not notice the gesture, she shrugged. He had been snapping and snarling all morning. Steffania had no idea what prompted his surly disposition. Hour upon hour of astonishing sex last night should have sapped his prickliness. Unless she was completely misled, he had found it as stunning as she had. Her mind still reeled. Ramsey DeKieran was an impossibly virile lover.

  Steffania occupied herself with applying a creamy spread to the warm panis sitting on her plate.

  {DeKieran?}

  He glared at her from where he hunched over his meal as if he were a raptor protecting his kill from theft. His upper lip pulled back in a silent snarl. {What?}

  {I don’t care how much you stomp and growl at me, you ass, but you are frightening Pansy.} As she finished garnishing her panis, she ventured a peek at him.

  He sat with closed eyes. A small muscle at the corner of his eye ticked regularly. Every muscle in his jaw stood out in high relief. His eyes opened to regard the tiny beauty. A forced smile broke the tight line of his mouth.

  “Pansy, you needn’t accompany me to the training complex today.” His gravelly voice came out remarkably level. “You may have the day to yourself.”

  Ram raised a steaming cup of kaffé to his lips and took a sip.

  {I’m impressed, Ramsey. That smile had to hurt.}

  Kaffé spewed from Ram’s mouth, and Pansy leapt up in alarm. She grabbed a towel and daubed at Ramsey’s chest.

  “Oh! Sir! Is something wrong with the kaffé?” Pansy took a cautious, tasting sip. “Shall I make another pot?” Pansy dithered around Ram, unhappy chirps of concern accompanying her anxious ineffective swipes of the towel at his chest.

  Steffania sat decorously and took a dainty bite of her breakfast pastry, wondering what mental defect rendered her incapable of leaving well enough alone. Her brain must be wired incorrectly. She lacked the caution gene, the discretion gene or the prudence gene. Or maybe, she just enjoyed crossing swords with Ramsey.

  “No, the kaffé is fine, Pansy. I merely swallowed wrong.” Ram wrapped a large hand around Pansy’s delicate arm, stopping her from removing the pot. “Leave it. I am out of time in any case. Steffania, attend me.”

  Curiosity overcame caution and Steffania’s glance rose to meet Ramsey’s. She expected to glimpse anger or the promise of retaliation. His face still bore the same cold, dispassionate appearance it had worn all morning. But his eyes, those orbs that betrayed the secrets of his inner life, they sparkled with an unexpected emotion – humor. Their comm-linc remained suspiciously silent.

  She slipped out of her chair and followed him to the door. Ram turned and she stopped, facing him.

  {How extensive is your knowledge of Interspatial Net access?}

  {It used to be quite good. I’m probably not up on the latest advances but from what I’ve seen of the Vxloncian technology, neither are they.}

  {Could you find a way to access the security layout in, on and around Narr’s estate from the villa’s intella-system? Get me a schematic? Can you do it without anyone knowing?}

  Steffania paused, considering the problem. She frowned. {Possibly. I can try.}

  Ram nodded. “I have changed my mind. I won’t need either of you with me today. I will see you this evening.” Some emotion softened his eyes as he studied her.

  Did she see concern? Regret? She must be mistaken. DeKieran disallowed emotion. The tiniest hint of a smile teased the corners of his mouth. His hand lifted as if to touch her face then fell back to his side and the nascent smile vanished. His eyes became as bleak as his expression.

  {Do I see concern about me, or about our mission, DeKieran?}

  {Don’t leave a trail, Captain Rickard.} The comm-linc vibrated with his cold command. Ram turned, walked out the door and never looked back.

  Feeling unaccountably rebuffed, Steffania watched him get into a waiting transport vehicle. With a final puzzled glance, she shook off the feeling of rejection and turned back into the villa. Finally, some real work. Pansy glanced up in surprise as Steffania walked back into the kitchen.

  “Dominus DeKieran forgot something?”

  “No. He decided he didn’t need me. Both of us have a lovely day free of his demands.” Steffania smiled at the other woman. “I think I’m going to enjoy a restful morning with my holo-reader. I have several new titles. Surely, one of them will interest me. I’ll see you for lunch?”

  Pansy nodded mutely and Steffania walked back to the master suite. She closed the door behind her and quietly engaged the lock. The first order of business was to disable the villa’s spy system in such a fashion as to make it look accidental.

  Walking by the disordered bed, she grabbed a handful of covering and casually draped it over the vid-corder lens hidden in the corner statue. Turning, she dropped to her hands and knees and pulled a long case from under the bed. She snapped open the locks and raised the lid. A smile of satisfaction pulled at her mouth as she removed the gleaming silver UniLinc 4.5 from its bed of waffled insulation. She loved her personal gateway into the galaxy-wide network but had not touched it in several years. Verdantia’s magnetic resonance screwed any hi-tech device to the point of uselessness.

  Casually eyeing a long row of flat, black, plasti wafers, she slipped one from its sleeve and inserted it into a port in the UL4.5. The non-descript surface lit up, projecting a neon-green, holo-display into the air above it. “User identification required.” Steffania leaned forward and looked into the display without blinking as the system scanned her retinas. A pulse of light caused her pupils to contract, confirming she was a living person. “Identification verified. Welcome, Steffania May Rickard” flashed up on the display.

  With a casual stretch of her fingers, Steffania began tapping the screen’s virtual command menu. She hacked into the house monitoring system and retrieved a vid and audio recording of the empty villa bedroom. She prepared an endless loop of the empty room, installed it in the vidcorder, disabled the audio pick-up in the room and rebooted the entire security system for the villa. It would not do to have ‘visitors’ showing up to repair the spy system while her data-miner program ran.

  As soon as she had disabled the villa’s “spying eyes,” she activated the voice command feature for the UL4.5 and quietly got down to the tricky business of hacking into Narr’s security system.

  ~ ~ ~

  With a backward arch to relieve muscles stiffened by remaining in one position for several hours, Steffania glanced at the clock – hours past lunch. The data-miner program she had set up to run on Narr’s house system would take time to infiltrate the network—more to produce any useful information. This assumed her program didn’t trip Narr’s security software’s alarms, but after forty-seven missions involving technology more sophisticated than the Vxloncians’, she doubted her program would even register.

  Her stomach reminded her of its presence with a liquid gurgle. Time to find some food. She wondered if Pansy thought Steffania had forgotten her, as she wandered through the house calling. Worried, Steffania then searched the grounds. The tiny brunette was not in the villa. She couldn’t imagine where the woman had gone—or why. With a disgruntled shrug, Steffania wandered into the kitchen. A covered plate sat out for her on the central table. Pansy. Steffania slipped into a chair and began to eat the fruits, cheeses, and small vegetable cakes arranged attractively on the plate. Steffania appreciated the woman’s thoughtfulness. But where is she?

  Ram must appreciate Pansy’s selflessness also. Steffania snorted. Pansy certainly irritated him less than she did. A slight feeling of melancholy washed through her. What had Ramsey been thi
nking before he left this morning? For an instant, she could have sworn he was going to touch her with tenderness then a switch flipped and the callous, cold dominus returned. Steffania chewed thoughtfully, not really tasting her food despite Pansy’s culinary skills. Today was day three. The Estrella Racha left mid-morning tomorrow. Steffania would give a goodly sum to know Ram’s thoughts this morning. She’d give even more to know what he planned for tonight.

  Chapter Ten

  “Do you think the Verdantian presents a danger to us?” Vittal Lontz murmured. He and Strom Kella stood outside the practice ring where DeKieran and another combatant exchanged strikes. Ostensibly, they observed the fighters. DeKieran clearly overmatched his opponent and just as clearly tempered his blows. The ring of steel upon steel, the screams of fury when a strike found flesh resounded in the air. Fine particles of dust hung lazily, stirred by fast-moving feet. Heat climbed in small shimmers from the sandy surface of the training rings.

  Kella shrugged. “Hard to say. The surveillance vids reveal little beyond some interesting sex. The Verdantian puts rope to an unusual use. If he knew anything incriminating, the League of Federated Planets would be crawling down our throats by now. He’s been here long enough to report back to them.”

  Lontz never took his eyes from the occupants of the ring. “I don’t like the uncertainty. We have too much to lose. I, for one, have little desire to spend ten years on a mining asteroid – assuming Narr’s cartel lets us live that long if the League of Federated Planets becomes involved. I want you to handle this, personally.”

  “I anticipated your request. I have already instructed my man to take DeKieran out.”

  “I know your man. I’ve watched DeKieran. I need more reassurance.”

  Smug confidence laced Kella’s response. “Just trust me.”

  Vittal grunted. “I’ve seen nothing that could slow him except the Khlossian.”

  “Strange things happen in the ring.” Kella turned to walk away.

  “What do you plan?”

  “I won’t burden you with the details. Let’s just say when DeKieran faces my fighter, he won’t be at his best.”

  “The bastard bleeds suspicion. I hope you have a fall-back plan.”

  Kella chuckled softly. “I already have the perfect means to get to him – someone he sees daily, someone he’ll never suspect.”

  ~ ~ ~

  Steffania curled on the sofa in the main room, happily immersed in the end of the diverti vid. After satisfying her hunger, she had taken a long nap. The activities of the previous night hadn’t allowed for much sleep. She gave half a thought to Ramsey. Even his astounding endurance must be failing. Dare she hope for a restful – uneventful – night? A small sound in the hallway alerted her and she looked away from the vidscreen to see Pansy enter through the service entrance. She held a black cloth sack in both arms. The woman had all the life of an animated corpse. Her eyes appeared swollen and bloodshot and she sniffled repeatedly.

  “Where have you been?” Steffania asked quietly.

  Pansy wouldn’t meet her gaze. “I went to the house of Dominus Mestrios.” Pansy placed the black cloth sack on the floor in front of Steffania. “This is for Dominus DeKieran.”

  “What is it?”

  The tiny beauty’s voice dropped to a mere whisper. “Armatura. Carbon filament armor. It is weightless and almost impossible to pierce. Make him wear it.” Her violet eyes filled with moisture and with a low sob, she whirled and ran to her room.

  Concerned, Steffania rose to follow her but the door to the bedchamber slammed in her face with the click of the lock clearly audible. She knocked softly. “Pansy? Are you all right?”

  “Go away. I can’t speak now. Just go away.”

  With a puzzled shake of her head, Steffania did as Pansy asked. She entered the main room, intending to examine the contents of the bag. Ramsey’s entrance prevented her exploration. He slammed in through the front door, and with the reverberation of its closing still echoing through the villa, he braced against the wall on one arm, his body slack and peered up at her through sweat-darkened hair.

  “I’m exhausted, dirty, hungry and thirsty. I want a bath, something to eat, and a stiff drink. Make it happen and join me.” He walked toward the master bedroom, each footstep carefully placed as if he concentrated on staying upright.

  Concerned, Steffania trailed him, holding the bag that Pansy had brought. She stopped at Pansy’s door and knocked softly. “Pansy, Dominus DeKieran has returned. Will you please bring him some food and drink?”

  She waited until she heard a soft confirmation and then went to start a bath for Ramsey.

  ~ ~ ~

  Steffania ran a soapy sponge over Ram as he stood before her in the large tub. His eyes closed and he swayed slightly. Even the indefatigable organ between his legs hung flaccid.

  {Sit down before you fall down, DeKieran.}

  He grunted, but complied and sank into the water up to his neck. {How did you fare with the Interspatial Net?} His mental voice sounded ragged, his words carefully enunciated.

  {I planted a data-miner in Narr’s household system. By morning, we should have good intel, providing his security doesn’t detect the tap and shut it down. Oh, and I disabled the ‘eyes and ears’ in the master bedroom. The surveillance vids will show an empty room. I need to restore the regular feeds before too much longer.}

  Their conversation ceased when a withdrawn and unusually subdued Pansy entered, arranged food and beverages along the tub ledge, and left.

  She and Ram slowly consumed the food and drink. The hot, bubbling water, the strong brew and his fatigue must have worked on him. He watched her silently through weary, hooded eyes and Steffania began to think her wished-for “uneventful” evening would become reality. She looked up at him with a significant glance.

  {I need to enable the vid and sound recorders in the bedroom. It will be suspicious if I don’t.}

  {Yes. When you are finished, put six sections of rope on the bed. Find the wrist cuffs in my black bag. Put them on. Get on the bed, nude, and wait for me.}

  So much for the uneventful evening. Steffania nodded and rose from the water on legs that shook ever so slightly. Entering the bedroom, she moved the UniLinc 4.5 to the only blind spot in the room and restored the vid-corder to real-time pickup. She carefully arranged the items Ram had requested and donned the cuffs. She lay on the bed, looking at the ceiling and brooding over Pansy’s unusual behavior. The little slaaf had always been submissive, but the woman who returned to the villa was lifeless. Steffania wanted to share her observations with Ramsey but she didn’t know exactly what to tell him.

  Her treacherous body hummed to a different theme. Already, arousal warmed the flesh between her legs and stiffened her nipples. A low level of anticipation and anxiety spiked her heartbeat to a faster rate and she turned the broad leather cuffs on her wrists. Heavy padding lined the inside and several securely attached rings dotted the outside. One more trial to get through, then he must let me stay. I can do this.

  {The villa’s security, our spying “eyes and ears” are back online?} Ramsey’s loose-limbed frame prowled into the bedroom. His bare body never failed to arouse a yearning in her to touch, to stroke, to pass the sensitive palms of her hands over the tightly-muscled glory that was Ramsey DeKieran.

  His eyes ran the length of her nude body as if bestowing a physical caress. She shivered involuntarily.

  {Yes.}

  He nodded subtly. “Put yourself in the middle of the bed. Extend your arms to each corner.” When she had done this, Ram picked up two pieces of rope and tied her wrists to the bedposts. “Spread your legs. Put the soles of your feet together.”

  He bound her legs to her thighs, binding each shin to mid-thigh and then looping rope again around her ankles and upper thigh. The constriction created no discomfort, but neither could she straighten either leg. Ram then pulled her entire body down the bed until her arms extended fully with no play. Running loops around her bound
knees, he tied them open to either side of the bed.

  Her heart careened around her rib cage like a trapped wild thing and her breath came in rapid pants. Cool air brushed her most private places, a blatant, provocative reminder that she was open, vulnerable and helpless to prevent Ram’s use of her. The imagery washed waves of stimulation over her most wanton triggers. Sexual arousal swamped her body in a remorseless, rising tide.

  She watched in silent anticipation spiced by apprehension as Ramsey approached her, the familiar indigo-blue bottle in his hands. His eyes narrowed. His brow furrowed as, with careful precision, the cool tip of the brush painted just the buds of her nipples then withdrew. Her eyes tracked him as he moved between her legs. He looked up at her with a knowing smile.

  “You’re already wet, vixen. You enjoy being bound.”

  She tried to raise her head to see what he would do next but Ram had tied her too securely to hold the position for more than moments. Her head fell back onto the bed and she stared at the ceiling. One broad hand separated her delicate folds to isolate her clit. The same stab of cold that had brushed her nipples now circled that most sensitive bundle of nerves. Panic coursed through her when she felt the remorseless tease of the little bots.

  “Ramsey, please...no.”

  He cocked his head and regarded her coldly. “Is that complaint? Objection?”

  She shook her head slowly. “No.” Quiet despair settled in. If he told her not to climax, she could start packing her bags for Verdantia.

  She felt the tap, tap, tap of the cold brush directly on top of her clit and flinched. The bed shifted underneath her as Ram pulled back. She watched him place the indigo bottle on the table and move the chair closer to the bed. He sprawled into it, one leg slung carelessly over an arm. His head lolled back until he gazed at her through half-lidded eyes. An idle finger teased up and down his rampant cock.