For a Roman's Heart (16 page)

Sulla stared down at her and smiled. Many women would have melted under his attention, but she quivered within, her mind whirling. She glanced behind her as the milling crowd pressed closer together.

She couldn’t see Terentius or Victor anywhere. When she’d seen them earlier, her relief had soared. Terentius’s gaze had stunned her with its variety of emotions. His gaze had swung from relief, then hard determination, then to passionate heat that had seared through her in a heartbeat. She hadn’t expected that. No, not from a man who had agreed to her plan so readily. She’d half expected him to refuse when she’d said she would put herself up as Sulla’s bait. He’d hesitated, then launched into her idea with enthusiasm. She knew then he either thought her plan brilliant and wanted Sulla badly enough to agree, or even the possible danger to her couldn’t stamp a dent in his desire to do his duty.

She was proud of him.

Proud of herself for taking on this challenge.

“You look nervous,” Sulla said over the din.

“I am. A little.” She cleared her dry throat. “Perhaps we could step away for some wine before we do this.”

Sulla kept moving forward, his attention focused ahead. “There’s an alley. We can cut through this mess and find a quiet place to talk.”

Talk.

His emphasis didn’t fool her. Neither did the warning signals in her brain insisting she abandon this crazy scheme. She glanced around again. Where had Terentius and Victor gone? Apprehension started a relentless track across her skin, prickling the hairs as if lightning from the gods touched her.

Sulla stopped as a surge of people pushed in front of him. He clasped both her hands in his and turned her to face him. “Who are you looking for?”

His light tone took her off guard, but his eyes darkened with a threat she felt straight through her like a dagger. “No one. I’m worried about the people. I’ve never seen them this restless or so many in one place. I don’t understand it.”

Someone shoved into her from behind, forcing her into Sulla. She was plastered along his body. She pushed out of his grip.

He took her elbow in a tight hold. “This way. I think I see an opening.”

Another surge pushed at them, and his clasp on her tightened. “Sulla, you’re hurting me.”

He ignored her plea. Again the crowd reacted to the growing numbers until her fear of the mob grew as high as her concern about what Sulla might do. As voices grew querulous and louder in volume, Adrenia knew danger escalated by the moment. Her skill to escape it would be her only salvation. Terentius and Victor could not save her.

A woman’s scream rent the air.

Adrenia jerked to look around, but Sulla turned her around. “Come on!”

Sulla pulled her toward the edge of the mayhem and yanked her into the alley.

She tugged away from him. “No!”

He laughed as he pressed her with his full weight against the wall. “No? You whispered a sweet promise to me earlier, and now you’re going to fulfill it.”

“Wait. There is something I must know. That slave girl you bought for my father. You never brought her to us, and I never heard my parents say anything about it. What happened to her?”

He smiled, but there was nothing like amusement in that look. Pure evil gathered inside his expression, and she shivered within his hold, afraid down to the very core of her being.

“She is in a far better place. She’s with the gods, Adrenia.”

“Dead?” The word came out a shade above a whisper.

“Would you like to live with the gods?”

He gripped her head and kissed her.

“Bastard!” The beefy man roared his anger as he aimed at Terentius.

Terentius ducked, his reflexes outmatching the hulking man.

Teeth bared, the man tried to charge him. Growling at the top of his lungs, the beastly man missed and tumbled into another group of men.

Chaos erupted.

Women screamed.

Men shouted.

Fists flew.

Terentius grappled away from the mess, pushing through the fighting, running, screaming crowd. Like a massive, uncontrollable creature, people lost their minds and flew into an incoherent panic. The insanity surged like a wave.

Adrenia.

She was the only thing that mattered to Terentius.

He worked his way through, searching and seeing no sign of her no matter which way he turned. If Sulla had her—

“Adrenia! Adrenia!”

Damn the gods. All of them.

He’d lost her. She was with Sulla and unprotected. Stark fear ripped his gut. He must find her.

Adrenia flinched, then shuddered in revulsion as Sulla forced his lips tighter to hers. She wanted to fight him. A solution came to her.
Do not fight.
Let him think she wanted this. When she eased against him, Sulla’s grip came undone. His hands dropped to her shoulders lightly.

She braced to bring her knee up into his groin.

Something hard slammed into them, and she cried out as Sulla fell away. She staggered as a stream of people carried Sulla away down the wide alley, his face contorted as he fought them. People bumped her as they ran passed and tried to escape the forum. She pressed her back tightly against the wall. A break in the flow gave Adrenia an opening. Someone stomped hard on her left foot and ankle and pain shot up her leg.

She dodged people and headed back the way she’d come toward the forum. All she could do now was run as far as she could before Sulla found her again. She broke into the forum.

People closed around her in a panic of screaming, shoving humanity. It took everything she had to stay upright. She tried looking through the crowd for Terentius, but saw no sign of him or Victor. The noise was incredible, pounding against her eardrums. She put her hands over her ears as she stopped for breath.

Two powerful arms clamped around her waist from behind.

Adrenia screamed and twisted in the unbreakable grip.

“Adrenia! Easy, easy. It’s me. It’s me.”

Terentius’s deep voice broke through the din. She sagged against him in profound relief. He turned her to face him. Blood marred the side of his forehead, his eyes hard command and obvious relief. She clutched his tunic, trembling and so happy to see him.

“Terentius.” Her voice barely broke above the noise.

She realized then that Victor stood with them.

“Where is Sulla?” Terentius asked.

“He was swept down the alley,” she said, gesturing back the way she’d come.

“I’ll go after him.” Victor shoved his way through the crowd in the direction she pointed.

More people shoved and pushed, and Terentius kept a firm hold on her. They laced their arms together. Terentius made progress through the crowd, his large body assuring them easier passage through the mess. Still, they were tossed about like balls in an insane, cruel game.

She tightened her hold. “I’m losing you.”

He slipped behind her and wrapped his arms about her waist in a tight grip, blanketing her back. Walking like an awkward animal, they made their way more slowly through the somewhat calmer crowd. Finally they reached the edge and passed into an alley. He took her through it to the other side away from the surging masses of people, and they turned the corner and braced against a wall.

Immediately he cupped her face in both his hands. “Are you hurt?”

She gripped his wrists. “No, but you’re bleeding.”

He laughed, the sound without amusement. His gaze blazed down at her, no longer cold with the fight, but burning with joy at their survival. “I’m well enough now that I’ve found you.” His gaze turned more serious. “By the furies, I never should have let you do this. Never.” He kissed her forehead, then her nose, punctuating each taste with words. “I never should have allowed you put yourself in danger.” He kissed her cheeks.

Once more his gaze fired, hot with a danger far different than what they had faced seconds ago in the writhing mass of humanity. Breathing hard, she recognized a steady building sensation in her loins. She needed reassurance, his touch, his kisses. She needed…more…

His mouth closed over hers.

The raucous sounds of the crowd in the distance faded to nothingness. Unlike Sulla’s brutal kiss, Terentius’s embrace held hunger designed to arouse and coax. She responded to his delicious request, her body filling with an equal need to satiate longings between them both wicked and tender. This kiss assured and scattered her senses, making her well aware of their differences in height and strength.

She responded with everything inside her. His tongue caressed and she sank into delight, caressing his shoulders to test their strength. His erection pressed against her belly, an intimidating intruder that forced his sheer masculinity into her awareness stronger than anything else could. His touch lingered on her face and then traveled down to her buttocks. He cupped and stroked until her heartbeat hammered, and her breathing came choppy with excitement. Forbidden desires wended a sure path through to Adrenia’s belly. Whimpers of delight left her throat, and his caresses became bolder, urgent, undeniable with possessiveness. One kiss became two, became three…then four. When she felt a featherlight caress over her breast and he gently plucked her nipple, she gasped in shock and pleasure into his mouth.

Breathing hard, Terentius broke from the kiss and buried his face in her neck. He hauled her closer. He wanted her, and she knew it. Yet she couldn’t deny she wanted the same. Despite shakiness in her knees from her violent encounters with the crowd, her need for him equaled in force and brushed away all thoughts of danger.

He drew back just far enough that she could see the lustful yearning and apology so clear in his expression she couldn’t mistake it for anything else. “I beg your forgiveness, Adrenia.”

“For what?” she asked.

“For exposing you to such danger. It’s unforgivable.”

“No. No, there is no way you could have known the crowd would react this way. I’m more worried how this will reflect on you with your superiors. Will they blame you for the disorder or losing Sulla?”

“They could. But they also know I am hunting Sulla and planned it in disguise. Without my official uniform, I cannot maintain order. Everyone thinks I’m a civilian.” His attention scanned her features, as if he didn’t believe she was real. “Did Sulla…”

Trembling, she told him the one thing he probably shouldn’t know. “He kissed me.”

His eyes flashed with anger. “I will hang him from his toes and allow lions to gnaw him.”

“I would have kneed him in the balls, but the crowd swept him away.”

He brushed hair back from her face. “Good.” He laughed gently. “You are a she cat. All claws and hiss.”

“Is that a bad thing? I’m not defenseless. You should go now and find Sulla.”

His thumbs brushed her cheeks, and his gaze burned. “The gods may smite me for losing Sulla, but you are more important to me than catching him right this minute. I will see you totally safe first.”

Her heart soared, her mind dazzled by the thought this soldier would throw over duty in order to keep her safe. Compelled to touch him the same way, she skated her fingers across the stubble on his chin. She savored the sight of him and tried desperately to brush away the memory of Sulla’s dirty paws on her body. She knew deep in her heart only Terentius could remove the flavor of Sulla’s mouth and the violation.

That’s when she realized Terentius was having a strange reaction. Worry spiked high within her. “You’re shaking. Is something wrong?”

“I cannot allow something like this to happen again.”

“It was an excellent plan. It would have worked but for the crowd panicking. We can try again.”

“No.” The denial in his voice remained implacable. “I must take you somewhere safe.”

“I can go home.”

He took her hand and started to walk. “That isn’t safe.”

“What?” She held back, and he came to a stop, his grip on her hand firm. “Terentius, what are you not telling me?”

He sighed and indecision filled his gaze. “I learned some things about your family. Rumors about them.”

Then she understood. Or at least she thought she did. “Vicious rumors about my family aren’t uncommon. Cordus’s daughter Cordia dislikes me intensely and spends an inordinate amount of time spreading rumors. She told me the other day that she has plans for you.”

His brow creased, then cleared as he threw back his head and laughed. Mirth after the events of the last several minutes made her anger roil. She huffed and started to walk away.

“Wait!” He grabbed her arm. “You aren’t going anywhere without me.”

“If you are meant to be with Cordia, I shouldn’t have allowed…you shouldn’t have kissed me.”

Loosening his grip, he nevertheless kept Adrenia in his hold. His expression cleared of amusement. “She’s obviously a very young, very stupid girl.” His fingers brushed in a lingering, tender touch over her cheek. His gaze devoured her, made her feel beautiful in ways she’d never felt before. “You, on the other hand, are woman. Pure woman.”