My Spartan Hellion (12 page)

He grinned at her as he removed his armour, and for just a moment he appeared boyishly handsome…flirtatious even.

“You do not need to prove yourself to me, Lamia. I know you can ride all the way to Alexandria if need be, but there is no need to push you to the point of exhaustion.”

She narrowed her eyes, her lips pursed into a tight line as she battled against the embers of warmth that his tenderness towards her always sparked inside her. It touched her that he always sought to please her, and yet, as much as she appreciated his protectiveness towards her, she wrestled with it. She didn’t need him to coddle and shield her.

“What is it that I’ve done to upset you now?”

She frowned at him in exasperation. How was it that he could seemingly read her thoughts just by gazing upon her face?

“It is just what I said.” She sighed. “I do not need you to make exceptions for me.”

He drew nearer, and she had to force herself not to let her eyes stray to the bronzed muscles rippling across his bare chest.

“It is your nature to hate that I try to protect you, and yet it is my nature to always see to your needs.”

He was so close she could feel his breath against her cheek, and she couldn’t stop the shiver that raced through her body. It was more than just his physical presence. His words also stirred something deep within her. It was beyond frustrating that he kept trying to take care of her, and yet, deep down inside, it warmed her that Thanos was the first man who didn’t look at her and see her as other men did—as a woman far too strong to be cherished and protected.

She didn’t know what it was—maybe it was the way he regarded her, with such intense passion smouldering in his eyes. Or maybe it was the sincerity of his words that made her feel so cherished. But, for the first time since they’d met in Athens, she felt emboldened with him, and she found herself initiating the intimacy between them—not because she was trying to escape, but because she truly wanted him.

She slid her palm across the bare flesh of his chest, tunnelling her fingers through the sprinkling of dark hair. “And what of your needs, Thanos? Who shall see to them? Who shall protect
you
?”

He grinned, the tiny dimple creasing his cheek. “I imagine you would fulfil that role.”

She arched her brow. “A woman?” she queried with a chiding smile. “You would entrust your welfare to but
one
woman?”

He chuckled, and the sound was rich and warm as it curled around her. It was a sound she’d grown accustomed to. Over the passing dawns, there had only been one another to talk to, and she’d been surprised by just how easy it was to talk to Thanos, how natural it was to banter with him.

“I guess I deserve to have my words thrown back in my face. But if ever there is a woman to protect me, I know it is you, Lamia.”

She wondered how much of his pride he’d had to swallow to admit that maybe he’d been wrong before when he’d referred to her as ‘but one woman’ after she’d helped him battle those thieves. She smiled inwardly. Maybe there was hope for him after all. And, with that thought, she realised that maybe there was hope for her as well. After all, she was keeping her word and travelling to Sparta. She didn’t know how long she would stay, and, despite what Thanos believed, she still had no plans to wed him. But he was a kind man and he’d saved her life. At the least, she owed him her word—she would not jeopardise Sparta’s truce with Athens. She wouldn’t have to as long as she just bided her time.

With war coming, Athenian and Spartan soldiers would soon be marching into battle with Rome. And with Greece at war, Thanos would have to leave at some point to defend his state. When he did, she would leave Sparta and Thanos far behind and return to Athens to deal with Atallus.

It was the perfect plan. She would keep her word, Sparta would have its truce, and she would have her revenge. She just needed to be patient.

She gasped in surprise when, without warning, he scooped her into his arms.

“What are you doing?” she questioned when she realised he wasn’t walking towards the bed mat he’d rolled out, but away from it.

“I want you to bathe with me.”

She shook her head vehemently. “Thanos, this is the last
chamlys
,” she complained as she wriggled around in his arms, but he held fast.

He ignored the warning in her voice, his clear, blue eyes twinkling with laughter.

“We’ll leave it out to dry beside the fire this eve.”

“Thanos, no—” Her next words died on her lips when she was hurled into the air, her body suspended for a scant heartbeat, before she plummeted into the chilly water.

When her head finally broke the surface, she glared at him as he waded into the water with a smile on his face.

“That wasn’t funny,” she sputtered. “What if this doesn’t dry by dawn?”

“Then we shall both ride into Sparta nude, since I still have on my
pyterges
and it may not dry by dawn either.”

She started to tell him that wasn’t exactly the answer she’d been searching for, but found it hard to form words when he clasped his hands around her arms and drew her flush against his body.

“I thought we were bathing.”

“I find the idea of bathing less exciting right now.” His eyes twinkled. “I would have never thought it possible, but you are even more beautiful wet.”

His voice was deep and husky, and his eyes darkened to twin pools of sapphire. She knew she should stop him before they went too far. She was much too sore from riding and their vigorous lovemaking of the eves past to take him inside her body this eve.

“Thanos, I—”

“Shhh,
agapetos
,” he whispered, silencing her with a single finger against her lips. “I know we cannot make love. I just wish to kiss you.”

He’d barely said the words before he pressed his lips to hers, his tongue eagerly searching inside her mouth. His hands settled along her hips, and he held her close, rocking gently against her. She twined her arms behind his neck, a low moan tumbling from her lips as the evidence of his need dug deep into her belly.

She ached to feel him inside her, pressing her back into the bed mat as he rode her body, but knew she just couldn’t. So she poured every single measure of her desire into their heated kiss. She hungrily devoured him, until every centimetre of her skin grew flushed with heat despite the chill of the water.

When their kiss grew more insistent and urgent, Lamia forced herself to pull away, although her movements were slow and unhurried.

“We had better stop,” she breathed, her words choppy.

He rested his forehead against hers, his eyes sealed shut as his chest heaved and he panted. He struggled for several heartbeats to gather his control before his eyelids fluttered open.

“I will leave you to bathe, and when you are done I shall take my turn.”

She nodded when he released her and trod through the water towards the shore. She missed him immediately but batted aside the unwanted neediness as she set about cleansing herself. How was it that whenever he touched her she somehow forgot that at one time, not so long ago, she’d vowed he never would?

“You’re becoming soft and weak,” she muttered under her breath as she finished bathing and waded towards the bank. She settled her gaze on Thanos, who was watching her with steady eyes.

It was unacceptable to her that she was growing soft towards him…and yet, if ever there was a man whom she could be vulnerable with, Thanos was that man. She didn’t know why all of these thoughts bombarded her now. Maybe she’d been alone with him for too long on this journey.

That had to be it.

Lamia never would have imagined she’d come to accept being dragged to Sparta, but right now she actually welcomed the distractions that would come with their arrival. Being alone with Thanos for so long was wreaking havoc upon her senses, but as soon as they arrived in Sparta, she and Thanos would thankfully part ways, and she could once again focus on her original purpose, and not one temptingly handsome Spartan general who now occupied almost every single one of her thoughts.

* * * *

“What is Sparta like?”

Thanos had just returned from his bath and was wringing the excess water from his hair when she spoke. He studied her from the other side of the fire, the burnished flames casting a golden shadow across her lovely face.

He bit back a smile. He’d known her for less than a fortnight, and yet he could glimpse the truth of her intentions so effortlessly. She’d never been eager to talk of Sparta before, and that she was now had little to do with their impending arrival. They were growing closer, developing a deeper intimacy. If he could feel it, then he knew she could, too. And while it unsettled him to know she’d turned his world upside down and so soon, he accepted it, for he believed the words of the Oracle. But he knew the feelings growing between them frightened her—that she did not welcome them.

And now she thought she could somehow escape this unyielding attraction between them once they were in Sparta. She naively believed he would throw himself so fully into whatever she imagined he did there, while she went about plotting her return to Athens, and eventually they would just drift apart until the dawn came when she would simply slip out of Sparta without him noticing or caring. His lips twitched. If Lamia believed that, then she was woefully mistaken. They would only grow closer once they were in Sparta—of that, he was determined.

“Sparta is a very simple place,” he answered finally. “We live comfortably, but not extravagantly. It’s not like Athens or Thebes where there is a great emphasis placed upon the arts and politics.” He settled down on the bed mat beside her, tucking his knees to his chest. “In Sparta, we have one purpose and that is to protect Sparta. So the men train to defend the city, while the women run it.”

Her nose wrinkled. “You mean the women run the government?”

He smiled. He certainly found the notion of women running the government, as opposed to the current cadre of stuffy old men, far more appealing. “Not quite. I meant that they own most of the businesses, they run the households. The men are soldiers, so the rest of the duties in the city are seen to by the women.”

“Interesting.”

“I think so. It is certainly very different from the rest of Greece, and I think that is why you will like it.”

She smiled at him, a teasing gleam in her eyes. “You seem so certain of that, Spartan. But what if you are wrong? What if I hate it? What will you do then?” She balled her fist against her mouth as she yawned, then lay down to stretch out across the bed mat.

He didn’t flinch at the challenge in her eyes as he spoke truthfully. “I’ve already told you that if you hate it then you will be free to leave once the threat from Rome has passed.”
But you won’t,
he said to himself, purposely not voicing his thoughts when her eyelids drifted shut, because that would only provoke her to disagree with him, and right now he didn’t want to argue with her. He wanted her to do as she was doing—sleep.

He couldn’t stop the warm grin from spreading across his face as he watched her rest. Despite her endless protests, he knew she would come to find a place for herself in Sparta, and he was determined to make certain that was the case.

He listened to the sound of her even breathing until the moon was high in the sky. Stretching out beside her, he pulled her into his arms, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth when she instinctively curled up against him. He couldn’t ignore the invisible knot that tightened inside his gut. It wasn’t just how she unconsciously sought him out in her sleep, but also the words she’d spoken earlier that made him hope she could come to accept Sparta, just as he knew she was coming to accept him. She still struggled against it, but, when she’d asked who would see to his needs and protect him, he’d glimpsed a tiny flicker of longing in her eyes.

He’d done well in masking his own reaction to her words, but he could not deny that until she’d spoken them he’d never once thought he’d want or need someone to actually see to
him.
He was so used to being in charge and in control. All of Sparta relied upon him and turned to him for guidance and leadership. It wasn’t until he’d met Lamia and had her voice the question that he’d realised what he’d been missing in his life. He’d had no one to see to his needs, to help shoulder the heavy burden that he carried around. He’d been trained not to need anyone, to be completely self-reliant, and yet, it was a lonely existence.

He glanced down at the woman nestled in his arms, the heat of her body warming his as the cold eve air swirled around him. Until she’d barrelled into his life, he’d never thought he would need anyone else, but he was quickly starting to realise that maybe he’d been wrong.

Chapter Ten

Nestled between two mountain chains—the Taygetus to the west, and the Parnon to the east—Sparta was a large city-state that sat on a fertile plain just north of the Eurotas River. Unlike all other Greek city-states, Sparta was the only one without protective walls. Legend had it that Lycurgus, the founder of modern Sparta, had had them torn down, proclaiming that the men should be the walls of Sparta. And so the
agoge
and the legendary Spartan
phalanx
had been born.

Early the next dawn, Thanos and Lamia rode into Sparta, their arrival a bit earlier than he’d expected. He was glad the journey had been swift because he knew the Spartan government was eager to hear his report from Athens.

As they neared the city from the east, he tugged on the reins until Zeus came to a stop.

Lamia brought her own mount to a halt beside him, a frown spreading across her face when she glimpsed the disquiet in his eyes.

“What is it, Thanos?”

He’d dreaded this conversation from the moment he’d spotted the city buildings in the distance, but he knew he had to tell her the truth.

He turned towards her, meeting her searching gaze as he released a long sigh, gathering up the courage to finally speak. “Before we enter Sparta, I must tell you something.”