The Terrible Ones (12 page)

“Thanks, Henri,” said Nick. “Show me the boat.”

Ten minutes later they were out in the bay. It was a small boat with a tiny motor and a lateen sail; nothing much to look at, but it would take them where they were going. On board there were medical supplies, fishing gear, rough fishermen’s clothes, a little food.

A mild breeze edged them seaward. Nick could see the lights of other small boats dotting the sea. Paula sat in the stern and stared at nothing.

“We are early, there is no need to hurry,” she said tonelessly. “If they are searching for us they will not find us out here. But we must wait to go into San Jorge with the rest of the fishing boats or we might be stopped when we get there. Drop the net and fish if you like. We have time. Also it will look better.”

Nick spread the net and calculated how much time they had. Plenty, he decided. They could drift for a couple of hours before heading directly for San Jorge. Both of them could use the rest. A slight foggy drizzle was oozing down upon them, and he lowered the lateen sail over the spar so it could serve as a shelter. Then he found the sea anchor and pitched it overboard so that they would not drift too far out to sea. Paula did not even notice as he opened the medicine chest and applied rough plasters to the two bullet scrapes inflicted by Tom Kee.

When he finished he looked at her in the dim light of their inboard lamp. Her face was expressionless but her cheeks were wet. It was not from the rain, he knew.

“Paula.”

No answer.

“Paula. Get under the sail. I know what you’re thinking— but don’t. We have all the more reason now to take hold of ourselves and get on with the job.” He knew it must have sounded inane, but there were times when even he ran out of the right things to say. “Come here.”

He reached for her gently and drew her beneath the canvas shelter. Then he cupped her face between his hands and kissed her tenderly.

And suddenly she was in his arms.

In the Darkness Before Dawn

He held her while she sobbed silently against his chest, and he went on holding her when the sobbing had subsided. She clung to him as if she would drown without his strength to save her.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” she gasped. “It is most . . . unwomanly of me.”

“It is very womanly of you,” he said firmly, and softly stroked her hair. The firm breasts, surprisingly full and ripe beneath the coarse, loose shirt, pressed against his chest and her fingers squeezed into his back. His breathing accelerated suddenly in spite of all his years of Yoga training.

“Paula . . . .” he whispered. He touched her lips again with his and let them linger longingly, and when she did not pull away he drew her even closer and kissed her with growing heat. Her mouth opened slightly and she responded with an urgency that sent his pulses racing. Her hands moved to the back of his neck and held it with a sort of desperation so that their mouths crushed together hotly and he could scarcely have turned his head even if he had wanted to. His hand slid down her side and down her thigh, and still she did not protest. The kiss burned even brighter.

At last she turned her head aside.

“You don’t have to do that,” she breathed. “I don’t want sympathy.”

“I know,” he said. “I’m not offering it to you. Is that what you think this is?”

He kissed her again, this time almost savagely, and cupped her breast in his hand. It swelled beneath the cloth and he caressed it while his tongue met hers. She kissed back hungrily and her tense body gradually relaxed. They were breathless when they drew apart.

When she spoke she sounded almost formal.

“I have not thought of love since Tonio died,” she said. “I have not wanted any man to touch me.” She began to unbutton her rough shirt. “Did you hear me? I said Move.”

“I heard you,” said Nick, and a little pulse beat in his temple. And not only in his temple. He touched the smooth skin beneath her breasts as her shirt slid off. She caught his hand and held it against her.

“I knew you thought me hard,” she whispered. “Do you still think so?”

“No,” he murmured, sliding his arms around her and unfastening a tiny catch. “Soft, beautifully soft. Are you like that all over?”

“Why should I tell you? Is it so difficult for you to find out?”

It was not so difficult. He found that out as he helped her finish her undressing, and as she helped him finish his. Her skin was petal-soft all over, and beneath it lay a splendid form that was taut where it should be taut and yielding where it should be yielding. Nick made a blanket of their clothes and together they lay upon it, touching each other eagerly as they lay down and drawing close even before their heads touched the skimpy pillow. Their mouths met again in a long explosive kiss and then they were exploring each other with their movements and their hands. Nick felt her thighs tremble beside him as he kissed her perfect nipples and made them rise into tiny peaks. He made his hands glide slowly over her body, although the passion was already so strong in him that he knew she must know it also. She touched him lightly where he ached the most, and he sighed with pleasure. He caressed her marvelous flat belly, covering it with kisses, and moved down. Her legs parted a little as he felt her warmth and softness, felt her eagerness. His probe was gentle, loving, though his kisses were becoming bites of urgency.

“Oh, my darling!” she gasped suddenly. “Not too soon, not too soon! Hold me for a little while.”

He stopped instantly and held her so close that she was almost part of him. Soon she would be part of him, but not until she wanted it. She moved her thighs slowly against his and kissed him with such gentle longing that his desire for her became something more than lust for a lithe body. It had been a little more than that ever since he’d caught the faint breath of her perfume and felt the softness of her lips back there in the cave, but now it was growing into something that he seldom permitted himself to feel. Nick Carter, Killmaster for AXE, was close to something like real love.

Nick caressed her very gently, Paula relaxed like a cat, but like a cat she was ready to respond to every touch, and like a cat she nibbled at the one caressing her. Her hips were undulating slightly, stimulating him, and her fingers clutched at him with all their supple strength. She was no Oriental houri, no pseudo-sophisticated college girl, no succubus to drain the life from him and leave him empty and unsatisfied. She was hungry for love, and so was he, and they matched each other as though they had been born to come together. Nick measured her against him as they lay together and found nothing wanting. For the first time he could fully appreciate the splendors that had been concealed by her workmanlike clothes. His body and his hands discovered what his eyes had never seen—a shape that was perfection, a feminine body at its magnificent best, a streamlined lovely thing that was vibrant with energy and yet wonderfully controlled. And there was a strength about her that excited him enormously, a pliant sort of strength that challenged and yet begged to be subdued.

The boat rocked gently as they rolled together in their mounting need. Nick slid her under him and sank lightly down upon her, into her, and then the little boat rocked in a rhythm that had nothing to do with wind or sea.

“I’ve needed you,” Paula whispered. “Needed you so much. Oh, love me . . . love me.”

“I’ve wanted you,” he murmured, tasting the sweetness of her breasts and feeling her vibrate beneath him. “Wondered if you’d ever want me, too. Wanted you in the cave, in the bushes, in the dungeon, everywhere. Wanted you in the hay, to roll with you, like this.” He demonstrated, and she moaned with pleasure at the grinding motion. “Want you now . . . more than ever.”

Their mouths melted together as their bodies flexed and arched in the exquisite acrobatics of love. She gave him back everything he gave, teasing his body and tempting it, swiveling slowly and provocatively as though relaxed beyond the need to stir him further, and then pulsating suddenly with galvanic movements that made Nick catch his breath and groan with ecstasy. Each moment seemed as though it must surely be the last, yet each moment led to another even more impassioned. Every movement of hers was a charge of electricity that sapped and strengthened him at once, forcing him to fight for control and yet give her even more of himself. Sensations crowded one on top of each other in a sort of symphony of sensuality. Two magnificent bodies clashed and parted, clashed again and entwined about the other. She was passionate and urgent, but she knew the subtleties and nuances and she was savoring every one of them. Nick plunged deep into the wonders of her, lost in the painful pleasure of prolonging each play of his body so that both of them could enjoy it to the full. But a storm of passion was building inside him and he arched to let it burst.

His tongue probed deep between her parted lips and his body writhed with desperate need.

He groaned suddenly and heard her moan with him. Her legs caught at his and held them close and her hips arched to trap his body with hers. Muscles tightened and played against each other until the friction burst into a liquid flame. Thighs trembled violently and then convulsed as the storm within Nick broke and became part of her. The boat rocked violently and a tongue of spray splashed into the shelter, but the fire did not go out. It blazed for long, incredible moments of complete ecstasy as the man and woman sighed together and lay there, rocking, like a single being. Blinding exhilaration held them together in a thick mist that blotted out everything but their mutual sensation. Slowly, very slowly, it began to clear.

Nick lay back and held her lightly in his arms. Her heart was still beating like a triphammer, and so was his, and her giving had been complete. But there was nothing flaccid about her relaxed body. Nick kissed her tenderly and raised her head so that a stray beam of light from the inboard lamp played across her face. Paula’s eyes were bright but calm and there was a smile upon her lips. There was a new beauty about her and a look of fulfilment that had nothing to do with satiation.

“You’re beautiful, Paula,” Nick said softly. “Very, very beautiful . . . in every way.” He pushed a lock of honey-colored hair back from her forehead and brushed his lips against her eyes. And then her cheeks. And then her mouth. And then again her breasts, now soft and round. He felt invigorated and refreshed.

“You lied to me,” she murmured.

“I did what?” Nick looked up, startled.

“You lied. No padded shoulders, no built-up shoes. It’s all you, all you. And all . . . all magnificent.” She smiled again and drew his mouth against hers.

It was a long, slow gentle kiss that only ended when they lay back upon the rumpled clothes and entwined themselves together. They rested in each others’ arms for a little while, and their next kiss was not gentle. It was passionate, explosive, demanding of more kisses and much more than kisses. Paula’s fingertips trailed over Nick’s body, lingering over the patches of plaster and making tender little stroking movements that were like soft words of compassion.

Soon the rhythmic clisthenics began again. The sorrow that had helped to begin it all was blotted out for long, delirious moments of love between two people who both knew how to satisfy and enjoy.

“Ah, it is even better now . . .” Paula murmured, and whispered things that stoked the hot coals of Nick’s desire. He kissed the secret places and marveled at the sweetness and resilience of her body. So cool, she had seemed, so detached in her feline composure. But beneath the coolness there was an astonishing animal vitality and zest that brought an answering exuberance from him. She made him feel expansive and robust —ten feet tall with a mighty strength to match. He wanted above all, to bring her to heights of explosive passion such as she had never known before, and he played upon her with all his considerable skill to give her the ultimate in physical sensation.

Her long legs encircled him and her breasts melted against his chest. Somehow she was different from all the many other women he had known, and he tried to pin the difference down as he pinned her down beneath him against the rough deck of the tossing boat. The sea smell and the damp mist enveloped them as they wrestled in the sensual holds of love, mingling with the warm, sweet scent of her fresh body.

She belonged to the outdoors; she was as natural and unaffected as the wind and sea around them. And she was a loner, like himself, used to making her own tough decisions and acting upon them. He, at least had AXE in the center of his world. She only had herself to call the shots of her own life. In a way she was made for it, with her feminine-tough body and her self-reliance, and yet no woman so lithe and lovely should have to live with loneliness. She was different from the others because she was so much like himself, and yet all woman underneath the mask.

But now the mask was stripped away and she was wild and free. Together they made rapturous, uninhibited love and whispered meaningless words that blurred into moans of exquisite pleasure. Under Nick’s touch her body bloomed and became a paradise for him, one into which he sank voluptuously through a velvet passage. Their bodies fused, blazed, shuddered violently, and consumed each other. Paula tilted her head back and closed her eyes. Her lips parted and a little moan escaped them. Even her sudden, galvanic lurch against him had a grace of movement that enhanced the moment of explosion. Nick’s mind swirled in a red haze as he gave himself up completely to their joint desire. She was on the peak now, high upon the peak of passion to which he had brought her with his thrusting body. Molten lava flowed between them. Suddenly they fell through space together, clutching each other and gasping with release.

This time, when it was over, they were limp and spent. Both sighed with contentment and lay back to rest. Side by side they lay, holding each other but not talking, and when at last they did talk it was of things that had nothing to do with why they were there. They
were
there, and for a while that was enough.

Salt spray licked at their bodies and reminded them that the night outside was cool. It also reminded Nick that there were other things to do beside make love.