In Other Worlds

by Sherrilyn Kenyon

  She shook her head. "No offense, chain-mail footwear and sweats just don't go together well."

  "I'll take your word for it."

  Taryn decided he was dressed enough to take to the bookstore anyway. Grabbing her keys from the kitchen counter, she led the way out of the house and showed him to her car in the driveway. He walked toward it with a frown on his face. A frown that deepened considerably as another car drove by and he watched it with fear and curiosity warring on his face. "How do these things move with no horses?"

  "They have engines, which probably makes no sense whatsoever to you."

  "'Tis one term I understand, milady. We had engines in my world as well."

  "Really?"

  "Aye, but nothing like this." He ran his hand over the top of her car as if marveling at it. She smiled at the enthused look on his face, and something inside told her he was going to love riding in her rental car.

  A wildly appreciative look came over his face as he took a seat on the passenger side and she started it.

  Once they pulled out of the drive and started down the street, his eyes glowed like a child seeing the Page 62

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  ocean for the very first time.

  "'Tis like wings," he said, watching the scenery fly past. "This is incredible!"

  "It's all right. Not as fast as my Firebird, though."

  His eyes lit up even more. "You ride on a bird that flies faster than fire?"

  "Not exactly. It's a car like this one, only cooler and faster." At least on the days when it ran. Laughing, she drove to the interstate and headed toward where she'd been yesterday. A half hour later they stood outside the vacant store where Esther's bookstore had been the day before. The windows were covered, and it looked as if nothing had been there for at least a year. There was no sign, no books. Nothing.

  "This can't be," she said under her breath.

  "What is it?"

  "Yesterday the store was here."

  He gave her a puzzled stare. "Are you in error?"

  She shook her head. "No, I swear. I sat in there just yesterday and drank coffee while I talked to Esther, who said her book would help me. . . ."

  It was unbelievable.

  "So what does this mean?" Hawk asked.

  Taryn shook her head. "I guess it means I need to teach you to read modern English. 'Cause, buddy, it looks like you're stuck here."

  Sparhawk saw the disbelief in her eyes, and it was on the tip of his tongue to correct her. But he didn'

  t.

  She seemed too eager for him to leave. As had most people of his acquaintance. Mayhap if he could convince her to spend time with him, she could come to care for him, at least somewhat. But then why would she when even your own kind can't tolerate you?

  He squelched that voice. Surely the witch wouldn't have sent him here unless she believed it were possible to make this strange woman crave him in this story.

  Holding on to that thought, he took Taryn's hand from the door and held it in his. "Tell me, milady, would being stuck with me be so terribly bad?"

  Taryn wanted to say yes, but she couldn't. "I don't know, Hawk. I know nothing about you other than what I've read in my book."

  "And I know nothing of you, my lady Taryn, other than you seem a decent and kind woman."

  "Yeah." So decent and kind that her boyfriend tossed her over for a cheap thrill in his office. "C'mon, we need to get you some more clothes and some shoes."

  She took him across the busy road to TJ Maxx so that they could start to outfit him. It was actually kind of fun since Hawk had no idea what was fashionable and what wasn't. He wore whatever she told him to, and hon, he looked damned good in jeans. When he came out of the dressing room, one woman actually walked into a rack of ties because she couldn't stop staring at him. Not that Taryn blamed her. She was feeling rather giddy herself. Hawk didn't seem to notice the stir he was causing with other women. He only seemed to see her, which was really nice for a change.

  "Do these fit correctly?" he asked.

  Taryn bit her lip as she nodded impishly. "Oh, yeah, babe, those fit the way God and Calvin meant for jeans to fit a man."

  "Calvin?"

  "It's just an expression." She reached up to unbutton his collar so that the long-sleeved dark green shirt wouldn't choke him. The color of it made his eyes even more vibrant. Made his skin more tan, delectable.

  It was all she could do not to shove him into the dressing room and rip those clothes off him for her viewing and fondling pleasure.

  Really, no guy should be this hot and tempting.

  Taryn sent him back in to undress while she went to pick out underwear and socks. When he returned to her, he was again dressed in his sweats with the clothes held in his arms. Page 63

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  Once they had those bought, Taryn took him to a sports store for shoes.

  "You have the biggest feet," she said as they measured them. He really was a fourteen. "Good grief, they're earth pads."

  "Are you mocking me?"

  "Nope," she said with a grin. "Trust me, in my world those are a vital asset."

  "How so?"

  "Well, women equate foot size to . . ." She dropped her gaze to an area of his body that she had been curious about for hours now.

  His eyes widened as he caught her meaning. "Milady!"

  "I know, I'm wicked, but I can't help myself. Have you seen yourself in a mirror?"

  He smiled at her as he rose to pull her toward him. He dipped his head down so that he could whisper in her ear. "Anytime my Lady Wicked wishes to appease her curiosity, I am a most willing supplicant."

  Those words sent a shiver over her as did the sensation of his hot breath against her neck. Taryn closed her eyes as she inhaled the scent of him. It really was all she could do not to pull him flush to her body and kiss the daylights out of him.

  "Don't tempt me," she said quietly. "We need to find earth-pad covers."

  But before she could escape, he did place a very quick, very powerful kiss to her lips. Taryn melted.

  "You are too good to be true."

  But then he wasn't. Not really.

  Was he?

  She pulled back with a frown. "How did you get here, Hawk?"

  He let his fingers linger in her hair as he smiled down at her. "I asked the old witch for a miracle that would keep me from Alinor's clutches, and the witch sent me to you."

  "How, though?"

  "I know not. One moment I was there with Alinor screaming at me, and the next I awoke in your bed."

  "Can you get home again?"

  Sparhawk hesitated. If he didn't make Lady Taryn fall in love with him, the witch had said he would be forced back into his own story. That was the last thing he wanted. He'd had enough of Alinor all these past years. Truly, he would rather be dead than forced to woo her one more time.

  "Nay," he lied, unwilling to think of his life in his own book. "I was sent here for you, Taryn. You needed a hero and I am here to be him."

  On her face he saw the joy and the pain his words wrought.

  "Do you not want me with you? Is there another hero you would prefer?"

  She sighed. "It's not that exactly. I just don't know what to do with a man from the Middle Ages. I mean, it's not like you can work a job or anything. There's not much opportunity for a knight in shining armor in twenty-first-century America."

  "Then you do want me to return to my book?"

  She looked confused. "No . . . Yes . . . I don't know. I'm just not sure what I should be doing with you."

  "What is it you want to do with me?"

  Taryn swallowed at his question. The images in her mind were hot and wicked and wholly inappropriate while she was standing in a public place. "I don't know, Hawk," she answered truthfully.

  "Then pretend that I am only here for seven days. Pretend that at week's en
d you will never have to see me again. That I will just go back whence I came. What would you do with me then?"

  She smiled wistfully at that. "I'm not sure."

  "Give me seven days of your time, Lady Taryn. Just seven. Then I swear to you that if you no longer wish for me to be near you, I shall vanish from you forever and return to my book to marry Alinor."

  Taryn bit her lip at the wonderful idea. A hot boyfriend for seven days who wouldn't break her heart. Esther had been right; it was just what the doctor ordered. "All right, then. Seven days."

  Moving away from him, she went to buy his shoes, then led him out of the store, to her car, and then Page 64

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  back to her house.

  It was so odd to have him with her after what had just happened with Rob, and yet there was some part of her that really enjoyed his company. Hawk doted on her in a way no man ever had. He stayed by her side the entire afternoon, and he was actually helping her cook dinner even though he didn't really have a clue about how to do the simplest thing. In fact, the electric can opener had completely mystified him.

  At first he had thought it was possessed and had tried to kill it with her serving spoon. Finally she had convinced him that it was a good thing and had showed him how to use it. She frowned as she tried to get the lid off her jar of spaghetti sauce.

  "Here, my lady, allow me."

  She handed it to Hawk, who immediately whisked it open.

  "Thanks," she said, taking it back. So there was something he was really good at. Hawk inclined his head before he went to the stove to examine the burners. "There's no fire and yet '

  tis hot."

  "It's electricity."

  He turned his frown to her. "Electricity?"

  Taryn tried to explain the concept, then realized she didn't really understand it herself. "It's magic," she said at last. "Cool magic."

  "Hot magic more like," he said, replacing the pot. "You have a most remarkable world here in your book, Lady Taryn."

  "This isn't a book. This is reality."

  He looked puzzled by that. "Nay, milady. I am a character and you are a character. Our world is a book that is being written by another even as we speak. Our every action and every word is being carefully scripted."

  "No," she said, trying to explain it to him. She went to her bookcase and pulled out a paperback.

  "These are books and this is reality. We're not in a book. We're in my house."

  "Are you sure, Taryn? How do you know this isn't a book and that we're not just puppets being led about by someone else's whims?"

  "Because I am a real, flesh-and-blood person. No one controls me. I control myself."

  "And if you asked me that, I would say the same, so how do you know it is true?"

  He had a very weird point that made her horribly uncomfortable. "Let's not do this, okay? I'm starting to feel like those people in The Twilight Zone who were trapped in the giant kid's toy town for his amusement." She shivered, then stopped. "If this is a book, then how is it everything here is crisp and clear? All the colors are vivid and the world is never ending."

  "'Tis the same in my book."

  That surprised her. She would have thought everything would be sketchy and vague. "Really?"

  "Aye. There is nothing different in terms of tactile or sensory experience. Only the setting has changed."

  Oh, that was just creepy.

  He offered her a kind smile. "But I have to say that I much prefer your world to mine."

  "Why is that?"

  His green eyes burned her with their intensity. "Because you are in it."

  She melted at those words. Damn, the man could be unreasonably charming at times. What was it about him that made her want him so? Was that magic, too?

  She tried to imagine what it would be like to have a real-life modern-day Hawk. Would he be so enamored of her? Would she be so enamored of him? It was hard to know for sure. Perhaps all of this was because he was a hero and not a real man. But then, what was real? Wasn't real something that could make her feel emotions? Wasn't it something she could see, taste, touch, smell, and hear? If that were true, then Hawk was every bit as real as Rob had been. And that thought actually terrified her.

  As soon as dinner was ready, she served him a plate of spaghetti, then took it to the dining room so Page 65

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  that they could eat. Something that proved easier said than done. Hawk had no concept of how to eat with a fork.

  He stared at it as if it were some alien creature.

  "Don't you have forks?" she asked him.

  "Nay, milady. I've never seen anything like this before."

  "Oh." She took it from him and showed him how to wrap the angel hair pasta around the tines. He tried to lift it to his mouth, but it slid off the fork, into his lap. Taryn forced herself not to laugh at him as she reached to pick it up, but the minute she touched him, she knew she'd made a mistake. As her hand brushed up against his body, she realized he was completely hard. His eyes flamed as he sucked his breath in sharply between his teeth. Clearing his throat, he shot to his feet and moved away from her. The spaghetti landed with a splat on her floor. "Forgive me, milady," he said as he stooped to clean it up.

  "I didn't mean to offend you."

  "Offend me how?"

  "With my, um . . . my untoward condition. I realize that you are a lady of proper virtue, and I apologize if I caused you any discomfort."

  The only thing that caused her discomfort was his embarrassment. "It's okay, really," she said, helping him clean the floor. "I'm not offended."

  He paused to look at her. "Nay?"

  She shook her head. "I'm actually flattered."

  Those green eyes turned dark, probing. "Are you?"

  "Aye," she said, using his own language. She moved closer to him until they were almost touching. She could see the longing on his face. See the need he had for her. She felt it, too. It was hot and wicked. Demanding. And all it wanted was to taste this man in front of her. Sparhawk wasn't prepared for her kiss. He growled at the taste of her as his body hardened even more. All day long his groin had been aching for her. It was all he could do not to force himself upon her, but he would never do such a thing. She was his heroine and as such deserved nothing but his utmost respect and admiration.

  His head spun at the sweetness of her mouth and the scent of her hair that invaded his head. She clutched him to her as she ran her hands over his back, making him ache even more. And then she did the most unexpected thing of all. She dipped her hand down into the waistband of his breeches. Sparhawk hissed as he felt her hot hand against his bare flesh. Chills ran the length of his body as her hand moved slowly over his hip to his waist.

  "Taryn." He breathed her name like a prayer.

  She kissed him deeply, sweeping her tongue against his as her fingers brushed against his hard cock. He clenched his hands in her hair and groaned as she touched him for the first time. Every part of his body shivered in bittersweet need.

  Taryn's head swam at the feel of him in her hand. Her knight was a large man, and she melted at the thought of having him inside her. She brushed her fingers lower to the base of his shaft so that she could cup him in her hand. He growled deep in his throat as she gave a light squeeze. Laughing in excitement at pleasing him, she nipped at his prickly chin. She'd never been the kind of woman who slept with a guy she just met, and yet she felt as if she knew him intimately. And in a weird way, she did. She knew more about his life from what she'd read than she'd ever known about Rob. More to the point, she knew the truth about Hawk, whereas Rob had filled her with lies. Sparhawk couldn't think straight with her hand on him. In all his life he'd never had a woman so eager to bed him. Could it be his newfound lady might actually have a tenderness in her heart where he was concerned?

  Dare he even hope it?

 
It was all he'd ever dreamed of. All he'd ever wanted. In all the battles he'd fought and in all the women he'd met, it was the thought of finding the one true heart who could love him that kept him going through his life.

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  She pulled her hand away before she whisked his shirt off over his head. "I know we shouldn't do this, Hawk," she whispered. "But I want you too much to just throw myself in a cold shower."

  "I am yours to do with as you please."

  She smiled at that. "Then come, milord champion, and let me please us both."

  She stood up first and started for her bedchamber. Sparhawk took two long strides before he scooped her up in his arms and carried her to the bed.

  Taryn laughed at his enthusiasm. It felt so good to be this desired. She couldn't remember any man ever being this excited to be with her. And definitely not a man who looked as fine as this one. He placed her carefully on the bed before he joined her there. He gathered her into his arms and kissed her soundly.

  She moaned at the taste and feel of all that delectable weight pressing against her. His entire body was on top of hers, and she reveled at the exquisiteness of it. His every muscle rippled under her hands. Desire burned through her, pooling itself into a deep thrumming need at the center of her body. He pulled back to stare down at her as he slowly, carefully unbuttoned her shirt. He spread the fabric open, then frowned at the sight of her bra.

  "What is this?" he asked, tracing the cup of it with his fingers.

  "A bra." She showed him how to unsnap it from the front.

  His eyes glowed as soon as she was exposed to him. "You are beautiful," he moaned, cupping her breast in his hand.

  Taryn's entire body sizzled as he dipped his head to suckle her taut nipple. His mouth was hot and magical. His breath was scorching against her skin. Desire spread through her like liquid fire that wanted more and more of his touch.

  She ran her hand down his hard back so that she could feel his muscles flex as he moved. He was incredible.

  Sparhawk took his time tasting the sweet morsel of her flesh. He nipped at her swollen peak before he pulled back to rub it gently with his whiskers. She shivered underneath him. He smiled in satisfaction, delighting in the way she reacted to his touch.

  Taryn cradled him with her body. It was so good to have a man hold her again. She trembled as he pulled her pants from her, then kissed his way up her body, all the way to her lips. She'd been right yesterday when she first saw his picture. He did know his way around a woman's body. This man had some serious skills.