Catching Moonlight (Man Season) (9 page)

“Oh,
Dio
,
stop! My heart is breaking for you!”

He swept her into his arms, kissed
the tears away.

“
Eureka
!” Stephan yelled. “I’m sorry … that
was so cliché … but I have found the answer! Toby, come here!”

They shrugged at each other, joined
Stephan by the shelves.

“What is it?” she asked.

“You must read the spell, Toby!
Hera
was a
manhater
, though she
managed to fall in love with a great many of them. Still, she spoke of her
descendents as females … the males didn’t count for so much in her view. You
are her descendent, yes? So you must read the spell!”

“Oh, but I don’t know if I can! I
only started doing this last night!”

“Well, I only started today. I can
help you read it properly … if
Dio
is willing?”

“Toby, I won’t blame you if you say
no.”

“But you want to be free. If I can
make that a reality … yes, Stephan, I’ll read it!”

He began to coach her with a tender
voice, helping her pronounce each syllable exactly as it should be. They spent
an hour going over it – until Stephan was hoarse from whispering and Toby was
shaking with fear and anxiety.

“Enough!”
Dio
said. “This can’t go on! Try it now, Toby. If it fails, we will still be
together. That’s all I really want!”

She nodded, cleared her throat. Then
she recited the spell in a lyrical tone that charmed and soothed him. A glowing
blue light swirled about the room, enveloping their sight. Toby continued the spell
until the last line then stood waiting, searching the blue haze for a certain
pair of emerald eyes.

“
Dio
?
Are you still there?”

He didn’t answer. She moved through
the haze, reaching her hands out for him.

“Wait, Toby,” Stephan said quietly.
“Something is coming towards us.”

They saw a tall shadow drifting
through the blue. A face appeared. It was the crone in Toby’s dream –
Hera
!

“
Dio
, you
are free at last!” she announced with a regal air.
“Thank
you, child.
When you set him free you saved me as well. I have suffered
for cursing him. But now I can go to my grave, gladly. Thank you a million
times over!”

She vanished like a puff of black
smoke in the wind.

“Her grave?”
Toby cried. “Is that where he has
gone, too? Oh,
Dio
? Where are you?”

“I’m here!” he called. She could
barely make out his form in the haze, ran towards it, afraid of what he might
have become. But when the haze cleared he was more beautiful than he’d been
before – the miserable sorrow no longer haunting his emerald eyes.

They flew together, drew kisses upon
each other’s cheeks and lips.

“You’re real! You didn’t turn to
dust, or vanish like smoke! Do you feel different?”

“I feel happy, truly happy! But let’s
see if it is real!”

He let her go, took the steps three
at a time, bounded through the apartment and the temple chamber and jumped
across the doorway into the hedges beyond. Then he sprinted like a giddy child
around the olive grove and up the hills, scaring the goats into terrors and
laughing till he ached. Toby and Stephan watched him from the olive grove; his
laughter was contagious. They joined
in,
creating a
harmony of sounds that filtered the air, rising up to the house.
Aella
and Kosmas heard them, came hurrying through the
grass. Lauren Styles stirred from her nap, peered out the window, and smiled.

Dio
grabbed
Toby,
slung her up in the sky like a feather and caught her as she squealed.

“It is real! I’m free! And all thanks
to you, Toby!”

He kissed her, left her breathless
and hungry for more. But that would have to wait.

Dinner that night was a glorious,
thankful feast.
Aella
made all
Dio’s
favorite dishes, like
Fasolada
, which was a
delicious bean soup, stuffed cabbage rolls, and fried meatballs with mint, and
for dessert –
Loukoumades
, Greek doughnuts
dipped in honey and showered with cinnamon.

“I feel like it’s my birthday!”
Dio
announced to the gathering.

“It will be, from now on!” Toby
decided.

“I wish someone would tell me what
all the celebration is about.” Lauren Styles sighed.

“It’s
Dio’s
birthday, Mom!” Toby giggled, the others followed suit, leaving Lauren more
confused. She glanced at Stephan, who couldn’t seem to take his eyes off the
lovely red-haired woman. She was a
fortyish
version
of Toby – which meant he was smitten immediately. She, however, was too sore from
losing the two loves of her life to be interested in a dandy of a Greek lawyer,
though the attention he was giving her made her blush.

“I’m going to be staying at the
temple for a long while,” he told her. “I’m cataloging some rare documents we
found there. When I’m not working I can show you the island. It’s a beautiful
place.”

“Yes, I know. But I don’t think I’m
up to sight-seeing just yet. I’m a widow, you know.”

“I’m sorry for your loss. Or should I
say losses? Gregory was my friend.”

“Really?
Then you can tell me all about him?”

“Of course.”

“Maybe I will take you up on that
sight-seeing trip.”

He smiled and bowed his head a bit.
Toby was watching them, gave
Dio
a knowing look. He
nodded.

She pulled him away from the crowd
after dinner for a stroll in the brilliant moonlight. The island glowed under
its spell – the whole world seemed to glisten like gemstones.

“I can’t wait until everyone goes to
bed,” Toby whispered as she clasped his hand. “We can make love in my room.”

“I don’t want to wait. Come with me
to my apartment.”

“But … aren’t you afraid to go back
in there now?”

“No,
it’s
home to me. I guess it’ll take me awhile to get used to my freedom. But I don’t
ever want to forget where I came from. Let’s go!”

He took off, still holding her hand.
They scurried over the hills, and raced through the olive grove. Once they
reached the temple door Toby hesitated.
Dio
shook his
head,
tossed her over his shoulder and plopped her
down on his bed.

He carefully removed her jeans and a
blue buttoned-up shirt, fiddled with her white bra, wondering out loud why
women bothered with such things, and yanked her pink polka dot panties off so
hard they ripped. Then he worshipped every inch of her skin with hot, licking
kisses, dipped his tongue into her and sent her reeling with excitement. She
reciprocated by pulling down his slacks and manipulating him until he was
desperate for release. He shed his clothes, rose up above her like the moon
itself, shining a pale blue light over her that seemed as real as he was. It caressed
her and incited her and invaded her with a sizzling white heat.

“Then it was really you, touching me
in my room that night? You are the moonlight,
Dio
?
Just like in the carving on the front doors of
Moonsea
!”

He smiled, knelt down to smother her
lips with his. Then he pushed himself inside her and drove her into a fit of
screaming so loud and wild she feared the others would come running to see if
she was hurt. But if she was it was a blissful pain.
Dio
held off until he knew she was about to start once more then he pummeled her
into the bed. They both let out a primeval wail and collapsed in exquisite
exhaustion.

“Don’t ever stop loving me,
Dio
,” she hissed softly into his ear.

“I won’t. You’re my reward for all
those years of misery, and suffering. Can we sleep here tonight? It may be the
last time I see this temple for awhile.”

“Why?” She sat up, gazed into his
eyes. “Where are you going?”

“To buy a big white boat, remember?
So we can go take a look at all those big cities and mountains and oceans that
I read about in my books!”

“Oh, of course!
I’ve always wanted to do that, too!
I’ll take you to Athens first, so you can see how it’s changed, then Italy,
France … I want to stand on the Eiffel Tower and shout out to the world just
how lucky I am … then we’ll go to England, and Japan … oh, but what will we do
for your ID? It’s a crazy world out there. They won’t let you in without
papers.”

“I’m sure Stephan can think of
something. He’s very resourceful.”

“Ha! You’re right!” Toby
paused,
a look of concern clouded her eyes. “
Dio
, do you think you’ll live very long? I want to have a
baby with you and raise it with you and grow old and cranky with you …”

He sighed, slid pale, warm arms about
her. “We will be together for as long as the Three Fates allow. We’ve trusted
them so far, and they haven’t failed us yet.”

“I guess I need to stop thinking
about the future. It’ll take care of itself. Let’s just live in each moment, as
it’s
happening.” She lay back down, turned to face
him. “Kiss me,
Dio
. If you kissed me a thousand times
a day, it’d never be enough!”

He obliged, eagerly, let the
moonlight invade her again and again, until the sun gently urged the moon from
the sky.

THE END

 I have
two more books in the MAN SEASON series. Here are their Amazon pages,
descriptions, and an excerpt from each book. I hope you like them:

A BILLIONAIRE FOR
BREAKFAST -
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00B2C5WMQ
When
Tess
Jenkins impulsively agreed to join Kylie Preston
on a hunt for billionaire husbands in the Cayman Islands she had no idea what
kind of trouble they’d get into – or that she’d fall head over heels for a
gorgeous beach bum named Angel. But is he all he seems to be, or someone
completely different?

EXCERPT:
There was a screeching
noise just to her left. She turned, holding her heart in shock, as she watched
a black motorcycle fly over her head and land abruptly in a mound of sand. But
where was the driver? She quickly scanned the grassy area beneath the hilltop
road. He was there, lying in a ditch.

Tess
ran to him; began to examine him for
injuries. There weren’t any, but what she saw there disturbed her all the same.
He was insanely handsome, with chin length, naturally blue-black hair, and a
rugged, tanned body that oozed “Come take
me
.
” from every pore. And his eyes –
whoa – when he looked up at her she thought her heart had stopped completely –
they were green with strange flecks of blue that made them glitter like jewels.

“Are you okay?”

“Sure, just a skinned elbow and a
sore bum.
Serves me right for thinking I could make that curve at 100 miles per hour!
I’ve never seen you. What’s your name?”

“
Tess
Jenkins.” She was shy under the heat of his stare. You’d think he had never
seen a girl before.

ADDICTED TO HIM -
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00B8EOQ9S
Tegan
St. Clair works in a florist shop in
Burbank
, and
fantasizes about her dream man, Fleet Westcott, the billionaire film producer
who owns the studio across the street, never imagining that she could ever meet
him in real life.

Then Fleet steps out of her dreams and into her bed,
and she is swept up in a passion so electric it leaves scars. But Fleet is a
complicated man, with some dark, dangerous secrets. Can
Tegan
find the courage to save him, even if it means her own life is on the line?

EXCERPT:
He knelt down in the
darkness, hiked up her skirt and yanked her panties down. Then he lifted her
hips and began to drink at her like a cup.
Tegan
couldn’t help but gyrate beneath him, the orgasms building in little waves
until they burst out of her in a torrent of pleasure. She put her hand to her
mouth to keep from screaming.