“Oh, yes.” I tipped my head back to nip his lower lip. “And to thank you for taking me to England so I may see my parents. My mother will be thrilled to know we are to have a child.”
His lips thinned for a moment. “Not as thrilled as my father.”
“Your father is an ass,” I told him, sliding out of his embrace and giving him a come-hither look as I moved toward steps that led down to the cabins.
“Do you have any idea what would happen if he heard you say that?” Baltic asked, following with a glint of appreciation in his dark eyes. “Heads would roll at the very least.”
“I prefer something else be rolled,” I said with a hint of a leer as I slipped down the stairs.
“I have heard that women who are breeding often have unnatural appetites for men. I am pleased that you are experiencing this, although I will remind you that you must not be too inventive with your ways to drive me insane with lust, lest you harm the babe. I insist that you allow me to decide what is safe for you to do, and not try to coerce me into performing intricate acts of lovemaking, as you did last night. Ysolde! Cease that! I just got through telling you that you are not to do that! Or that. For the love of the saints, what are you doing with . . . oh, very well, just this once, but this is the last time, do you hear me? After this, you will do as I say!”
I giggled at the arrogance in his voice, feeling warm and loved, and pleased with the world despite the many cares that burdened me.
“You are happy, my love?”
“Oh, yes,” I said on a breath, snuggling down deeper into the soft warmth of the mattress.
“As am I. I, too, missed you.”
Heat started to lick up my back, spreading outward in a slow glow of passion. Warmth nuzzled my neck in a way that left me simultaneously boneless and lit by a fire from within.
“I have to say, much as I love these visions, the real thing is so much better.”
“Mmm.” The heat suddenly pulled away from me, leaving me feeling bereft. “Ysolde.”
“Make love to me,” I pleaded, moving restlessly in the warm cocoon of the bed.
“Not until you wake up.”
I opened my eyes to see our bedroom, not the small, dark-paneled cabin of the ship upon which we’d sailed so many hundreds of years ago. “Baltic?”
“Yes. It is the real me, not the past version, which you seem to be obsessed with watching in moments of lovemaking. And now you demand that you participate in those past moments?” He rolled me over onto my back, all warm, and male, and infinitely desirable. The emotions of the vision lingered enough that I purred as I stroked my hand up his bare chest despite his frown and outrageous accusation.
“I did participate. We both did, so you can stop looking at me like I’m some sort of Peeping Tom pervert. And besides, I can’t help it. You were extremely sexy, you know.”
His frown deepened.
I licked his lower lip. “But now . . . mrowr.”
“I approve of your mrowr,” he said, letting me kiss him. I pushed him over onto his back, reaching under his pillow as I reveled in the taste and feel of him.
“Fire?” I murmured, twining my tongue around his. His fingers were busy pushing up the satin of my nightgown, stroking a path up my legs that left me squirming.
“You have your own—” he started to say, but I wouldn’t let him finish.
“Fire!”
He tried to flip me over onto my back, but I held him down. “You are becoming entirely too demanding, mate. And I have been too accommodating. You forget that I am the wyvern.”
“Oh, I haven’t forgotten that,” I cooed, nibbling along his jaw. His hands caressed my hips, then moved around to my behind when I bit his earlobe. “Before we died, did I ever tie you up and have my wanton way with you?”
“I am a wyvern. I am the one who is dominant, not my mate.” He groaned when my hand swept down his chest to his belly at the same time I gently bit the tendons of his neck. “I would not have allowed you to restrain me.”
“Good. Then this should be a novel experience for you.” I slid back enough for him to see the object I’d pulled out from under the pillow.
“No,” he said, giving it and me a stern look.
“Oh, yes, Baltic.”
“No. Where did you get them?”
“Pavel’s room.” I looked at the leather-and-sheep’s-wool wrist restraints. “I was looking for . . . er . . . Did you get my text message about Thala?”
“Yes. I am pleased that you convinced the other mates to go against their wyverns and free her. She’s here?”
“Yes. She’s . . . uh . . . sleeping,” I answered, thinking about the sleeping aid I’d managed to slip into the beverage she had demanded once she came out of her shock-induced stupor.
“I will see her in the morning. But first, we have been parted, and I must claim you now.”
I laughed at the matter-of-fact way he said it. “That’s just exactly what I’m planning, only with a little twist.”
“What part of ‘I am the wyvern’ do you not understand?” he asked, pinching me on the behind. “I will use the cuffs on you. Perhaps someday I will allow you to reciprocate, but for now—”
“Oh, no. It’s my idea, so I get to go first.” I wrapped one cuff around his wrist and tried to pull his arm up toward the headboard. It didn’t budge. I looked from the rounded bulge of his bicep to his face. “Please, Baltic? You’re always telling me I’m obsessed with our past sex life. I just want to try something we haven’t done before. I promise you will get great pleasure from it.”
“I always have great pleasure making love to you,” he pointed out.
I leaned down and kissed him again, swirling my tongue along his lower lip. “I’ll rouse my dragon fire if you let me do this.”
He narrowed his lovely dark eyes at me. “Are you trying to bribe me?”
“Yes.”
He sighed, and reluctantly let me pull his arm upward, over his head. “I am growing too soft with you. I would say that you have no respect for me, but the truth is that you never did. This is the last time, though, mate. I will allow you to have your way in this because you wish to separate your memories of our past from the present, but this is the last time I will be so cooperative.”
I smiled and dipped my head to swirl my tongue around one pert little nipple that seemed to be begging for just such attention. He sucked in his breath, and quickly I put the other cuff on his wrist, securing that arm, too.
He looked from one arm to the other, then to me. “I do not like this. You will hurry and satisfy yourself upon me so that I may claim you as is right and proper.”
“Oh, I’m going to satisfy more than just me.” I moved off the bed and padded over to a discreet stereo system.
“First you demand to restrain me, and then you leave? What is this torment?” Outrage dripped off his words as I contemplated a small collection of CDs. I picked out one and popped it on the player, turning back to face him.
“This, my darling, is Shania Twain. She and I are going to make sure that you’re receptive to all the things I want to do to you.”
“Music? You desire music now?”
“We never had music while making love before,” I pointed out, tossing my head as my favorite song started. “It all goes along with things we haven’t done in the past. Did I ever do a striptease for you?”
“No. I am not aroused by such things, and my old Ysolde would never have lowered herself to attempting to distract me suchly.” His eyes widened as, moving to the bouncy music, I ran my hands down the slinky satin nightgown, mouthing “Man! I Feel Like a Woman!” to him as I started to hike the material up my legs. I accompanied the move with a few hip shakes that had his eyebrows raising.
“Perhaps I was overly hasty in my assessment of your dance,” he finally said, watching with an avid light as I danced closer to him, leaning over his head so my breasts almost popped out of the thin material.
He tried to reach for me, but Pavel’s cuffs stop
ped him. He made a noise of unhappiness, and was about to yank himself free when I stopped him by stroking my hand down his chest, from his collarbone, all the way down to where his penis was saluting. “Oh, no, you don’t. You said I get to be in charge, and I say you have to lie there and take this.”
“Take wha—” His eyes rolled back in his head when I bent down and took him in my mouth, letting my tongue dance along the length of him, making him moan nonstop.
“We will purchase a new pair of these restraints for Pavel,” he said when I danced away, twitching the skirt of my nightgown even higher. “I wish to keep this set.”
“I thought you might like them once you gave them a chance,” I said, crawling onto the bed, sliding my hands along his legs until he parted them for me. I bent down and nipped at the muscle just above one knee. “You have such wonderful legs, Baltic. I love your calves. I love your knees. And your thighs make me melt.”
There was hope in his eyes as I kissed my way along the sensitive inner flesh of his thighs. “I remember that about you. You used to tell me that you would never have fallen in love with me if I hadn’t loved to ride.”
I laughed. “Well, I won’t go so far as to say that your horseman’s thighs are what made me love you, but I admit”—I spread my fingers along his thighs—“they are impressive even now that you don’t ride.”
“I ride, just not a horse,” he answered with a wicked glint to his eyes.
“I think, my adorable captive, that this time I will be the one doing the riding.” I leaned across him, allowing my hair to drape across his belly. His breath hissed in as I sucked the closest nipple, gently tugging on it at the same time I teased the other.
“Do so now,” he urged, his breath becoming ragged, his legs moving restlessly.
“Oh, no. Not so fast. I want to enjoy the experience of having you tied up.” I licked his belly, focused for a moment on stirring my dormant dragon’s fire, but gave up.
“That is my fire, not yours,” he said with a tiny frown as I bathed his torso in fire. It skimmed along him, dancing as exuberantly as my fingers when they stroked and teased and touched their way down toward his groin.
“I’m sorry. I just couldn’t raise mine. I’ll try again another time. But now . . .” I flicked my hair so it slithered along the length of his arousal. He shivered in pleasure, his hips bucking when I whipped off my nightgown, and pressed my breasts around him.
“Mount me!” he commanded, his head thrown back, the tendons in his neck standing out with strain.
“I am the one in charge, if you remem—”
There was a snap of leather, and suddenly I was pulled upward until his penis was pressed against me. He shifted me slightly so that he rubbed against parts that suddenly became highly sensitized, causing me to moan with pleasure. I slid my knees along his hips as his hands busied themselves with my breasts, tweaking and tormenting and generally making me see stars.
“Mount me!” he commanded again, and this time I didn’t bother to object; I simply positioned him and gasped with the sensation of him entering me. His hands on my hips urged me into movement, the friction of our bodies sending me on a spiraling path that I knew would end in a moment of purest ecstasy.
“Fire,” I gasped, and he complied, his dragon fire sweeping down my flesh as he pulled me forward to catch his cry of completion, my muscles tightening around him in absolute pleasure.
What seemed like an aeon later, I pushed myself off his chest to give him an unhappy look.
“Why do you frown at me?” he asked, rolling us over, his leg heavy over mine as he pulled me tight against him. “I just gave you such intense pleasure I thought you might wrench off my cock.”
“I’m frowning because not only did you break Pavel’s nifty leather handcuffs, but you took over and wouldn’t let me do all the things I had planned to do.”
To my surprise he grinned as he kissed my forehead. “You were too much for me, mate. I would have spilled my seed if you hadn’t mounted me when you did.”
“It’s very hard to be disgruntled with someone when they tell you that you’ve given them pleasure,” I said, sighing with happiness as I snuggled into the warmth of his body. “But now we’re going to have to buy two sets of the leather cuffs, one for Pavel, one for us.”
“Three sets. I shall get a smaller set for you. And perhaps a few other things. I will ask Pavel for recommendations.”
I smiled, kissing his shoulder, content for the moment to leave the worries of life behind and just revel in the fact that Baltic was in my arms, safe and happy.
Chapter Eight
“ Heya, Solders. Whatcha doing?”
I set down my cup of coffee and gawked at Jim as it and Pavel came in from the area that contained the garage. “Gawking. What on earth are you wearing?”
“Kilt!” Jim did a little twirl so the material spun out. Sure enough, the demon was wearing a kilt and a muscle T-shirt.
“By the rood, man! Don’t do that before I’ve had my coffee!” I tried to expunge certain images from my brain. “Why are you wearing a kilt?”
“Pavel took me to buy it in town,” Jim answered, plopping itself down on a chair at the kitchen table and helping itself to a fresh-baked scone. “Ooh, orange cranberry—my favorite. Pavel, my man, got any marmalade to go with it?”
I looked over Jim’s head to where Pavel was pouring himself a cup of coffee. “Why did you buy Jim a kilt?”
He shrugged and gave me a half smile. Pavel was dark-haired and dark-eyed like Baltic, but slightly shorter and a bit stockier. He’d been one of Baltic’s elite guards for centuries before they had found me, and although I knew he had some interesting ideas of what constituted sexual fun, he was also profoundly devoted to Baltic and the best cook I knew. We spent many a long hour discussing the finer points of cuisine, much to Baltic’s amusement.
“The demon said its nuts were being squashed in Baltic’s jeans. It kept wanting to take off the trousers, and I figured its presence was going to go down easier if it didn’t have its dick hanging out.” Pavel gave me a long look. “Do I want to know why the demon is here in the first place? Baltic isn’t going to be happy about it.”
“Yes, but there’s something else he’s going to be a whole lot less happy about, so Jim’s presence won’t really matter. Besides, it’s just temporary. We can take Jim home when we pick up Brom.” I took a big sip of coffee, feeling it was better to face Baltic caffeinated than otherwise.
“Oh?” Pavel asked, looking suddenly wary.
“It’s . . . uh . . . kind of complicated.”
Jim snorted, its mouth full of scone. “You can say that again.”
“I was just sitting here waiting for the explosion, as a matter of fact.” I gave both of them a smile.
Pavel left off looking wary and went straight for worried. “What sort of a—”
Upstairs, a door slammed, followed immediately by a bellowed, “Ysolde!”
“That would be it,” I said, quickly draining my cup before getting to my feet. The thunder of footsteps stamping down the back stairs warned of Baltic’s imminent arrival.
“Enter the deranged wyvern Baltic,” Jim muttered, taking another scone.
Baltic appeared in the doorway, his eyes glittering with an obsidian light, his jaw set with a firmness that boded ill for anyone who crossed his path. He started toward me, pausing when he saw Jim.
“Hiya, Balters. Like my kilt? Pavel got it for me because the ol’ meat and two veg were gettin’ antsy being stuffed away in your jeans.”
Baltic turned his gaze to me, and I knew at that moment if he could have shot death rays from his eyes, he would have.
“I imagine you’ve seen Thala?” I asked, pretending for all I was worth that nothing whatsoever was the matter. “Is she awake?”
“Barely. It appears she has been drugged heavily. She is also handcuffed.” He breathed loudly through his nose for a few seconds. “She demanded I remove you from the house immediately
. I refused. What is that demon doing here, why is it in human form, and what the hell have you done to Thala?”
“Jim came with me to help with Thala. I couldn’t carry her by myself. Would you like some breakfast? Pavel made scones earlier, but if you’d prefer something with more substance, I can whip up—”
“Mate!” Baltic bellowed again, effectively squashing my attempt at innocence.
I sighed and stood up, wrapping my arms around his waist before kissing his chin. “Jim is in human form because my magic is still wonky. Thala is drugged and handcuffed because she got nasty about us rescuing her once she found out she had to come with me—something I don’t quite understand—and I lost the key to the handcuffs, so I couldn’t undo them before you got up this morning. Pavel, we owe you for a pair of handcuffs, too.”
Baltic glared down at me for a few moments, then hoisted me upward, and kissed the breath right out of my body, filling me with his dragon fire. By the time he set me back on my feet, I was a bit dazed with both his action and the ferocity of the kiss. “You are jealous,” he said, looking very pleased. “It does not surprise me, since you were always so.”
“I’m not at all—”
“You need not fear that Thala holds my affection as you do. She is the one who resurrected me, and thus I owe her a debt of gratitude. That is all.”
“I didn’t drug her because of—”
“She helped me reacquaint myself with the world, and find Pavel, and for both I am grateful, but not to the extent that you must keep her drugged and handcuffed to satisfy your need to separate us.” Baltic gave my behind a little squeeze. “I am bound to you, mate, and no other female can change that.”
“Yes, I’m aware of that, but—”
“Excellent. You will cease being jealous of her now that you understand that my affections do not waver. Pavel, do you have an extra key? Good. Let us go release Thala, and then she can tell us what the wyverns questioned her about.”
Baltic marched off with Pavel in tow, the latter grinning at me as he passed.
“I am not jealous!” I yelled after the two men. “I never was! Oh, for the love of the saints, sometimes that man drives me bonkers.”
The Unbearable Lightness of Dragons ld-2 Page 10
