My Man Michael (32 page)

Love.
Her throat constricted and she went mute.

Michael didn’t seem to notice. “But for now, I want to talk to you about . . . other things.”

Now what was he up to?

His fingers tunneled into her hair, massaged her scalp, then just held her. “You gave me one hell of a shock this morning.”

Did he mean with her attack? He’d deserved it. “You came into my room unannounced.”

“And busted you watching that skin flick—”

Her hand smashed over his mouth, cutting off the rest of what he might have wanted to say. Assuming that
skin flick
referred to the sexual images she’d been studying, she told him, “Do
not
bring that up.”

He nibbled on her finger, then curled his tongue around it.

Her stomach went all fluttery. She wanted to stop him . . . but then again, she didn’t.

It seemed every time Michael touched her, kissed her, he showed her something new, made her feel something different and exciting.

Kissing his way from her wrist, up her arm, over to her chest, throat, and chin, he left tingling skin in his wake.

By the time he reached her mouth, she was starving for him in a way she hadn’t known existed. Right before he took her mouth, he whispered, “Not to hit a sore spot, but it was a major turn-on to see you watching that.”

“Michael,” she warned, without much heat.

“Damn, woman, but I do love how you say my name.”

He sure felt comfortable flinging that “L” word around a lot. His good mood and her own overwhelming emotions battered her resolve.

“There’s nothing wrong with watching.” He brushed his mouth along her jaw before settling back to smile at her. “Next time, if you want, I’ll watch with you.”

The thought made her dazed with embarrassment. “No, never.”

His hand opened at the side of her face. “In that case, I guess there’s no reason for me to wait to say what’s on my mind.”

Bracing herself, Kayli asked, “And that is?”

He caressed with his thumb. “Anything you saw, we can do. If it interested you, count me in.”

Oh wow. She got an immediate image of Michael as the male star of those movies, naked, sexually aggressive, aroused to the point of fulfillment.

She wondered if he’d throw back his head, grit his teeth, and groan long and low as the male in the movie had.

Burgeoning need made her voice thin and a little too high. “I wasn’t . . . sure about some of the things they did. That is, I didn’t know if they were . . .”

The smile widened. “You can ask me anything you want, and I promise that I’ll always give you a straight answer. And just so you know, I also do a really good show-and-tell. You might want to keep that in mind in moments of . . . curiosity.”

Kayli imagined that he did, and a dozen questions came to mind. “When would you want to—”

He sucked in a breath. “No time like the present.” And then he kissed her, and Kayli didn’t want him to stop. Ever.

 

 

LEAVING half of his twenty-man team behind, Valder and the rest crept into the heart of the colony, using the tall buildings as cover. He didn’t see Raemay, but then, he hadn’t expected to.

He’d wanted to. Oh yes, he definitely wanted to see the witch. But his Raemay wasn’t stupid.

Never that.

Instead he saw many women and a few men milling about. Girls played in the street, outnumbering the boys three to one. He didn’t see a single warrior, or a male of any competition.

He didn’t see anyone worth taking or challenging.

“Remember,” he said to the men behind him, “we are not here to steal away more women.”

A grumble of grudging consent was the only reply. Though he knew no man under his leadership would ever go against his will, many were still without mates, and therefore anxious to remedy the situation.

But Lydina, the last woman he’d appropriated, wasn’t adjusting well. She didn’t seem unhappy, per say, but she continued to deny all the men and her expression remained unemotional, as if carved in stone.

It worried Valder more than he wanted to admit. He was a hard leader, ruthless when need be, but he wasn’t a man to force a woman to suffer.

Before her, none had.

Most of the women, unable to find a mate in their own colony, were overjoyed to find more than a few for their choosing.

But not Lydina.

When he heard the feminine giggling, Valder sought the source and located a pleasingly plump, dark-haired waif. She was smiling, talking intimately to a scrawny fellow who showed signs of honey-dipped joy over her nearness. Before they parted ways, he took her hand and kissed it briefly. After he’d gone, the woman sighed wistfully, put her hands to her heart in melodrama fit only for females, and closed her eyes.

The very young woman was rounded in an adorable way that Valder knew his men would appreciate, so he made his tone stern as he cautioned them.

“Her,” Valder said. “I’ll grab her, and we’ll question her. Nothing more.”

As the girl began strolling again, she paid little attention to her surroundings or any possible danger. Smiling, Valder was about to step out in front of her when the young man suddenly turned and called out to her, saying, “Mesha!”

She ran to him as if she hadn’t seen him in ages. The young man peeked around, didn’t know he was watched, and kissed her, quick and light.

Hand-in-hand, they veered off in a different direction.

Disgusted, Valder watched them walking away until another woman came into range. This one was older, not quite as attractive but still appealing, especially to a group of men suffering from a shortage of females.

Before he lost another opportunity, Valder came out from behind the building.

“Hello, darlin’.”

She stopped abruptly and stared at him with widening blue eyes. Pink tinged her skin as she took in his size and unfamiliar clothes. Strangely, she didn’t appear afraid so much as intrigued.

“Hello.” She looked around, confused by his sudden presence. “Are you new here?”

“Very new.”

Head tipping to the side, mouth twitching with a nervous smile, she inched closer—and within reach. “Are you a friend of Michael’s?”

Assuming she drew a correlation from their heights, he asked, “Big fellow, loud and pushy?”

“Yes, that’s him.” She started to relax. She even eyed him head to toe with appreciation. “I didn’t realize that he’d brought any friends with him.”

Valder smiled over her assumption. “We know each other on a basic level. You see, darlin’, we’re adversaries—whether he knows it yet or not.”

“Adversaries? But then that must mean . . .” Without finishing that thought, she tried to dash away. Valder caught her before she even got turned around. Clamping a hand on her mouth, he dragged her back behind the building. Her wild thrashing did her no good, and Valder tried to calm her by shushing into her ear and saying nonsense words of comfort.

“Easy now, woman. I won’t hurt you. I only want to ask you some questions.”

The second he uncovered her mouth, she screeched. Quickly, Valder clamped a hand over her mouth to silence her again. He held her back tightly to his chest, and bent low to speak into her ear.

Her long, curly hair tangled as she continued to struggle with him.

His men watched on, some of them frowning in concern, some unwillingly drawn to survey her lush body. His second in command, Toller Bryn, had an altogether different look that Valder recognized too well.

Toller wanted her.

“Woman,” Valder warned, anxious to have this bit of business over with, “that won’t do. I only need you to stand here a few moments, to quietly answer my questions, and then I’ll let you go. But if you can’t collect yourself, I’ll have to take you back to my colony with me—where no one will hear your screams.”

Toller didn’t like the threat, but he held himself silent.

“Which would you prefer?”

She pondered the question for far too long, drew an uneven breath, and stopped fighting him.

“Better.” Valder regretted the need for brute force. She might have ample padding, but she was still a woman, delicate as only a woman could be. “Shall I take that for agreement?”

She nodded.

Cautiously, Valder lifted his hand.

She stepped away from him, turned to slowly face him. In a defiant pose that he admired, she asked, “What do you want?”

“I already told you. A few answers, nothing more.”

She cast a cautious glance around at his men, and got caught on Toller’s intent stare. She blinked, forced her gaze back to Valder, and said, “I’ll try.”

“Good choice.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “Let’s start with your name.”

“I am Nayana.”

Nodding, Valder asked, “And the other girl? The one who was just before you?” He shrugged toward where he could still barely see her with her beau. Why it mattered to him, he couldn’t say, but he felt compelled to know her identity.

“That one is Mesha Raine, daughter of the Arbiter.”

Valder’s heart slammed into his ribs. He felt his men stirring around him, saw the confusion on the woman’s face. “She is Raemay’s daughter?”

“One of them, yes.” Her gaze was far too astute. “You know our Arbiter?”

“I did. Years ago.” He needed a moment to collect himself, but that was a luxury that’d have to wait. He should have known; he’d seen the resemblance in the petite build, the smoldering eyes, the dark, silky hair. “She resembles her mother.”

“As does Idola.”

“Ah, Idola. The reason for my visit.” New inspiration came to him, and Valder held out his arms. “I need to see Idola, but it’s a surprise, so I don’t want anyone to know.”

Nayana’s brows pinched down with suspicion. “See her for what?”

“As I told you, I haven’t seen Raemay for many years. I’d like to set up a . . . reunion.” And what a reunion it would be. He could barely wait to witness Raemay’s reaction. He would bring her to her knees—which was where she’d left him after she’d run away. He shook his head, knowing he needed to advance one step at a time. “I want to surprise her. As the heir, Idola can assist me.”

“I see.” Nayana didn’t look entirely convinced, but she wasn’t alarmed, either. She kept glancing at Toller, distracted by his presence and the way he focused on her. “When did you know our Arbiter?”

“It’s been more than twenty years, before she married and had children.” He fashioned a look of concern. “I understand that her husband passed away.”

“Yes.” She said nothing more for several moments, then she looked around at all of them. “I am a loyal member of my colony, as well as a close friend of Raemay’s. I will not betray her.”

Valder’s brows went up. “No one asked you—”

“Neither am I stupid.” She said it in a chastising way. “You are the infiltrators, the ones we are at odds with.” She turned to Toller. “You are the men who are stealing women, are you not?”

Toller gave a slow, lazy smile. “The women we’ve taken have no complaints.”

“Truly? We had all wondered since we never heard back from them.”

Because Toller stepped forward, Valder allowed him to explain. He had a feeling they’d be taking another woman after all.

“We have yet to allow them correspondence, but it is their only restriction. Most have taken union with men from my colony. They have set up homes, and they are happy.”

“Then why not let them—”

Toller put a finger to her mouth, silencing her. “You ask too many questions, Nayana. There are things that do not concern you.” He traced her mouth. “Make up your mind right now.”

She swallowed. Against Toller’s finger, she asked, “About what?”

“We will not take you by force—but I would be pleased if you came with me all the same.”

Valder sighed. “We haven’t found out what we need to know.”

“But we will,” Toller told him. “Isn’t that right, Nayana?”

Her chin lifted, and her eyes challenged them all. “Perhaps I will go with you, and if I agree that the women are happy, then . . . I may choose to assist you.”

Toller turned to Valder. “She rides with me.”

“Of course.”

As they all started to exit, Valder again looked toward Mesha, but she was no longer in sight.

Raemay’s daughter.

If Raemay hadn’t betrayed him, she could have been
his
daughter, too. He’d missed out on so much, on family and home and love . . .

That damned lump formed in his throat. Damn near twenty-five years was far too long to pine after a woman. When he finished with Raemay, she’d be exorcised from his soul, once and for all.

CHAPTER 18

D
ETERMINED to win her over the old-fashioned way, with hot sex, Mallet turned up the charm and the seduction. “Tell me what you want to know, Kayli. Tell me what you saw?”

She chewed her bottom lip, making him a little crazed. Her fingers caressed his nape, and every so often, she squirmed, moving her body against his, amping up his desire.