Jayne Castle [Jayne Ann Krentz] (45 page)

that we belong together. Will you consider making the marriage permanent?"

Kalena blinked back her tears. She was afraid to meet his eyes. "You honor me with your proposal, Fire

Whip."

He was very still. The tension in him was palpable. "Kalena?" "I accept your offer of a permanent

marriage," she stated with gentle formality.

He drew a deep breath. His eyes burned into hers. "Just like that?"

"Do you want me to make it more complicated?"

He groaned and reached for her, pulling her head down to cradle against his shoulder. "No, I do not

want you to make it more complicated. I want it to be just like this. Simple. Honest. Real." His hand

moved in her hair, twisting in the thick curls. "You're mine, Kalena. I could never let you go now"

"You are as trapped as I am, Fire Whip."

"Don't you think I know that?" He bent his head and found her mouth with his own.

There in the firelight they sealed their vows with a kiss that carried the power of a love that was strong

enough to defy both ends of the Spectrum. Without words they acknowledged the bonds that held them

fast to each other.

After a long time, Ridge reluctantly lifted his head. A brief, knowing smile edged his mouth.

"What kind of trader's luck brought you to me, Kalena?" he asked whimsically.

She smiled back, touching the hard line of his jaw with a soft fingertip. "It wasn't trader's luck. It was a

trade marriage, remember? Not the most auspicious start for a permanent arrangement, I'll wager. I

never dreamed my future would take this form."

Ridge put his hands on her shoulders and turned her to face him. His eyes narrowed. "From what I can

tell, your path has never been clear to you. You were born with the Talent, but never got a Healer's

training. You thought you had to kill a man in order to avenge your House, but found yourself incapable

of killing in cold blood. You wanted to be a freewoman, but instead you got yourself chained to a

husband and dragged along on a wedding trip that could easily have gotten you killed."

"No wonder I never had a clear vision of my future," Kalena murmured. "I wouldn't have believed it,

even if I had been able to envision it."

"The one thing you did see for yourself was freedom. And it's the one thing you don't have," Ridge said

carefully, as if suddenly feeling his way over a difficult path.

"I have learned a thing or two about freedom, Ridge. It is a difficult concept. I'm not sure there even is

such a thing as freedom. But there are choices. And I have made mine willingly and with a whole heart. I

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can only be truly happy with you."

He sighed into her hair, holding her to him. "I have learned that I could not have the future I want without

you, Kalena. Such a future would be meaningless. I would walk away from it in a minute if I couldn't

have you with me. The choice would be easy. I wouldn't even have to think about it. You are life and

peace and joy. You're the only really important thing in this world for me."

"And you are the most important thing in this world for me," she whispered.

He groaned and pulled her more tightly against him, his hands tangling in her hair. "You're my wife," he

muttered into her hair as if he were having trouble believing it.

"Yes." She heard the sense of wonder and possessiveness in his words and smiled.

"I need you tonight. I have never needed you more than I do right now"

She put her arms around him, nestling close to the reassuring warmth and strength he offered. "I need

you, too, Ridge."

"I won't hurt you. I'll take care not to frighten you with memories of the last time we were in this shelter,"

he promised earnestly. "We'll take it slow and easy this time. Hurting you would be hurting myself." His

fingers trembled slightly in her thick hair. He tightened his hands in silent urgency and then forced himself

to release her completely.

Kalena lifted her head, eyes wide and trusting. "It's all right, Ridge."

"What nearly happened here that night when the mist surrounded us isn't the only thing I regret, Kalena. I

never apologized for the way I took you that night in Adverse," he said heavily. "I had no right to do that.

A man shouldn't treat his wife that way."

"You didn't hurt me." Kalena smiled tremulously. "As I recall, you were rather insistent on exercising

your marital rights, but you didn't rape me or frighten me, Ridge. As a matter of fact, I was very

disappointed when you didn't bother to exercise your rights again until we got to the valley."

"Where it was you who exercised her marital rights, as I remember," he concluded with a husky laugh.

He shaped her head between his palms, his thumbs moving on her temples as he stared intently into her

eyes. "I haven't always made the right decisions around you, Kalena. I didn't realize being a proper

husband was going to be so complicated at times. I thought I would always know my duty to you, but it's

not that simple."

"As far as I can tell, nothing is simple."

"There are other complications," Ridge murmured. "Take now, for instance. Right now I want to make

love to you so badly it's eating me alive, but I'm afraid of frightening you with the force of my desire."

She put her hands on his shoulders, feeling the hard planes of muscle and bone. The heat in him warmed

her palms. "After what we have been through together, do you really believe it would be possible for the

power of your desire to frighten me?"

He answered the smile in her eyes with one of his own. "It would seem my biggest mistake in dealing

with you is that of occasionally underestimating you."

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"A dangerous error."

"I have a feeling I'm in good company. I think many men make the mistake of underestimating their

women. Or perhaps it's just a matter of not being able to read their minds."

The humor faded from Kalena's gaze, replaced by the glimmering intensity of her emotions. "There was a

time during our meeting in the black chamber when I wondered not only if you could read my mind but

whether you might be sharing it with me."

"Ah, that." Ridge said nothing more. He just continued to gaze down into her flame lit face. His own eyes

were gleaming with both reflected fire and the flames that were so much a part of his nature.

Kalena groaned and sank her nails lightly into his arm. "Don't you dare tease me, Ridge. Not about this.

I must know.I'll go crazy if you don't tell me."

"Perhaps it's only fair for a man to have a few secrets. Women have so many of their own." Tantalizingly,

he drew his palm down her shoulder until his fingers rested on the tunic just above her breast.

Kalena felt her nipple blossom under the heat of his palm. Her eyes widened. She covered his hand with

hers. "You know, don't you?" she whispered half accusingly. "You were there in my mind, touching me,

seducing me. It wasn't some kind of waking dream."

"It seems to me that I am always trying to seduce you. I spend a great deal of my time plotting ways to

do it." He leaned down to nibble lightly on her earlobe.

"But back in the cavern," she persisted. "Was there something more than just my imagination at work?

Tell me, Ridge! If you don't tell me the truth, I swear I'll ..."

"You'll what?"

She drew a deep breath and boldly let her fingers slide down his leg to the inside of his thigh. "I might do

this," she threatened against his chest. She touched him lightly, stroking the hardening shaft of his

manhood through the fabric of his trousers. Ridge groaned huskily.

"Such torture," he complained encouragingly into her hair. "You are a ruthless woman."

"I've had an excellent teacher."

"I don't break easily," he warned.

"We'll see." With growing exhilaration, Kalena nestled closer and found the fastening of the leather belt

that clasped his waist. When she had the buckle undone she let her fingers trail inside. Ridge sucked in

air. "Ready to talk?" Kalena asked.

"Talk? I can hardly breathe."

"Why are you being so stubborn about this, Ridge?" She cupped him in her palm and felt his immediate

reaction. "I'm only asking for the truth."

"Maybe I happen to enjoy your brand of torture."

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"That's what I'm beginning to worry about. I would know exactly what happened back there in the

cavern, Fire Whip."

"Would you?" He slipped the tunic from her shoulders, baring her to the waist. He smiled down at her

with lazy sensuality as he let his rough palm graze her nipple in exactly the manner it had done during the

strange lovemaking in the black chamber.

Exactly the same manner, Kalena thought dizzily. She shivered and curled closer to his heat. She felt him

shift his position, rising to his feet with her in his arms. Kalena closed her eyes and the next thing she

knew she was lying on the pallet. Ridge's hands were on her thin trousers, sweeping them aside. He

pulled briefly away from her, ridding himself of the remainder of his own clothing. Then he was beside her

on the pallet.

His teeth nipped at the inside of her thigh, and the sensation was eerily and exactly as it had been in the

black glass chamber. "Ridge."She clutched at him, pulling him to her.

He waited a moment longer, discovering the dampening warmth that was heating her. He stroked her

until she began to twist beneath him. When the excitement flared, causing her to tremble with need, he

touched her with his tongue. Kalena sank her nails into him, her desire overwhelming her.

Then he caught her wrists, pinning them gently to the pallet on either side of her head. Kalena vividly

remembered the way she had been held in her dream. Her wrists had been captured just like this. The

weight of him had pressed against her in exactly this manner, exciting her, encouraging her, teasing her

until she cried out again and begged for his possession.

"You were there," she breathed. "You were with me somehow, weren't you?"

"Don't you know for certain?" He parted her legs with his own, sliding into the silken warmth between

her thighs until the hard, blunt shaft was demanding entrance.

"Yes," Kalena managed, "Oh, yes, Ridge. Come to me. Take me, fill me, I need you so."

He drove into her, a ragged groan on his lips as he possessed her completely.

And that moment, too, was just as it had been in the glass chamber. The moment of possession was also

the moment of surrender. It took them both simultaneously.

Ridge began to thrust heavily, deeply into Kalena, following a rhythm as old as the Spectrum. His hands

gripped her shoulders as he began to move in a pattern that made the whole world spin.

Kalena cried out again, her nails scoring across his shoulders in ancient, feminine patterns that drew

Ridge even more completely into her. He took her with a gentle savagery that freed Kalena completely.

She was one with him, bound to him, yet wild and free. He soared with her even though he was forever

chained to her. The paradox was as inexplicable as it was unquestionable. It existed. It was real. Kalena

didn't try to comprehend it, she simply accepted it, knowing that in that moment Ridge, too, accepted the

glittering reality.

"Kalena!"

She heard her name on his lips, felt the deep, shuddering climax that he was no longer able to restrain.

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Then he moved one last, forceful time within her and she, too, was whispering his name in surrender and

triumph.

They clung together, caught in a union that was full and complete. They held each other with the same

passionate strength they had used to control the Keys until slowly, inevitably, the room stopped spinning

and a languid peace descended.

Kalena eventually lifted her lashes and met Ridge's lazy, sensual gaze. The remnants of passion were

fading slowly from his golden eyes, and there was a deeply satisfied curve edging his mouth. He made no

move to roll off of her, and she savored the feel of the weight of him down the entire length of her body.

"So," he murmured, "you have learned to find some form of freedom in my arms, haven't you?"

She speared her fingers lightly through his tousled hair. "It's a paradox, but it's true."

"Will it be enough for you, my sweet Kalena?"

"More than enough. And now I have the truth about what happened today in the chamber."

"Do you?" His eyes teased her.

She punished him lightly with her nails and laughed silently up at him. "You seduced me somehow, didn't

you? We made love in a way I can't explain. It was no dream, nor was it a thing of imagination. You

were with me, touching me, making love to me."

"I will always be with you, touching you and making love to you," he vowed with sudden fierceness.

"You set out to subdue me today," she said thoughtfully.

"You set out to do the same to me," he reminded her. "But there was no difference between surrender

and victory for us, was there?"

"No. They are bound together, just as all opposites are linked."

"Just as you and I are linked," Ridge said roughly. Then he smiled wryly. "I think there are going to be