“I’m a soldier, my lady,” he said reasonably. “The son of an earl. For me to take to the stage would be scandalous.”
She turned her head ever so slightly, as if straining to hear whether his voice betrayed his true feelings on the matter. He was suddenly very thankful that she could not see him. Although he’d been a fine liar in his lifetime, he suspected that Lauren Cole was better than most at ferreting out untruths and manipulations. She had, after all, survived a marriage to a master manipulator like Ross Marchand.
“In your time period, maybe. But now you’ll be this mysterious, intriguing, powerful man who will sweep Athena off her feet, and then…”
“Then what?”
Lauren’s eyes narrowed, though her glare was focused about two paces to his left. He’d known her for a very short time, but he already understood that she was a woman of great resourcefulness and cunning. He had to admire her pluck, even if he also had to guard against it.
“Then you’ll have the whole new world at your disposal. Look,” she said, then sighed in frustration. “Where are you?”
“Can’t you sense me?”
“I know you’re here.”
“You can hear me, of course. But can you sense me?”
Aiden watched as she closed her eyes and concentrated.
Determining the scope of their connection could help him outwit the curse, and it also gave him a moment to think. He had to explore the full breadth of his control over the magic, and perhaps his influence over her. Could he use Rogan’s magic to bend Lauren to his will? Did he want to?
Open your eyes
, he thought, swooping closer and watching her lids vibrate, the lashes fluttering against her cheeks.
She lifted her hand, but her eyes remained shut. “You’re right here.”
He didn’t reply, but tried again to force her to open her eyes.
They squeezed tighter.
He moved away. Only then did he realize how the tightening in his chest meant he’d been holding his breath. Unexpected relief flooded through him. He was pleased that he could not will her to do his bidding. He wanted her, despite his better judgment, to help him of her own free will.
“You moved,” she said, her eyes flashing open.
“Try again,” he replied.
She smiled, closed her eyes and concentrated.
He couldn’t help admiring the sculpted beauty of her fair cheeks and proud chin as she searched for him. He’d made love to his fair share of women, but Lauren Cole had been his equal, offering intimacy as he’d never experienced. The way she spoke to him with a glint of humor in her eyes, the way she cajoled and influenced with no pretense about her true intentions, was wholly intriguing. Women of his time had no trouble asking for what they wanted, but none he’d met had ever appealed to him with such an irresistible combination of need and confidence. Lauren knew she would get precisely what she wanted—without bribery or coercion or blatant seduction.
She took a step closer. After a moment she closed her eyes again, took a deep breath; then, with a smile curving her generous lips, she walked straight through him. Into him. His essence surrounded her, penetrated her, and the vibrations of her need struck him at his core. He knew then that he could deny her nothing—even this outrageous request.
“You’re here,” she said confidently.
“My lady, you are irresistible.”
She opened her eyes, which sparkled bright blue.
“Does that mean you’ll tarnish your good name and lower yourself to my vocation?”
“I’ll lower myself,” he said, dropping onto invisible, insubstantial knees so that he could blow a heated breath across the exposed flesh of her stomach. “As to my new vocation, we shall have to wait and see.”
Ten
Lauren allowed the sweet sensation to tickle across her tummy, and for an instant forgot what she’d asked Aiden to do. She had a whole new request for him that had absolutely nothing to do with movies or Athena or swords, except for the fleshy kind he’d wielded on her last night. The needs of her body instantly overrode the requirements of her mind. When his hot breath swooshed intimately between her legs, she nearly lost her balance.
“Stop that,” she said in a voice she found entirely unconvincing.
Luckily, so did he.
He blew again, harder this time, so that a concentrated curl of heat spiraled into her.
“Honestly,” she insisted, “I can’t make love to you again. Not like this.”
“Why on earth not?”
He was behind her now, and she nearly jumped out of her skin when she felt the luxurious pressure of his touch on her breasts.
“I need…” she started, her thoughts derailed the moment pinpricks of pressure lengthened and pleasured her nipples.
“Oh, yes, my lady,” Aiden purred into her ear. “You do need.”
Slowly the sensation of her blouse bunching at her waist lured her deeper into sensual hypnosis. In seconds she’d lifted her arms. He tugged the blouse until she was bare breasted and open to whatever magical seduction he had to offer. Only she shouldn’t be doing this, should she? Not before she’d ensured his agreement. Women were supposed to use sex to get what
they
wanted, right? Not just for pleasure. But, ooooh, the pleasure.
“Stop!”
This time her voice reverberated in the emptiness of the room. Instantly her heated flesh chilled. Had he left?
“Aiden?”
A knock shook the trailer. Lauren crossed her arms quickly to cover her nudity, but then remembered she’d locked the door.
“Who is it?”
“Oh, Lauren! You’re inside? You’re not supposed to be on the set yet!”
Lauren struggled through her muddled mind to recognize the voice.
“Cinda?”
Her assistant. Great kid. Bad timing.
“I was just coming to stock your fridge and tidy up,” she explained.
Lauren coughed and shook her head, trying to restore her equilibrium.
“Can you come back later? I was just about to jump in the shower.”
Lauren knew the excuse sounded totally bogus. Actresses, by their trade, were not shy or prudish. Cinda had seen Lauren in her altogether more times than Lauren could count. Then again, so had most of the cast and crew of her films, since she’d never shied from nudity on-screen if it enhanced Athena’s sensual nature, which it often did. But the last thing Lauren needed right now was people around. She had her hands full with her phantom. If he hadn’t left.
But then, he couldn’t leave, could he? Not without her? Without the sword?
“Oh, sure,” Cinda answered. “You need anything?”
“Just about an hour of privacy,” Lauren replied, wincing at the way that sounded. Cinda might have been the gofer assigned to her by the studio two films ago, but they’d become friends. Now she was blowing the girl off.
Lauren walked over to the door, but denied her urge to open it. “Could you do me one favor before you leave?”
“Sure!” Perky, as always.
“Could you head over to my place and feed Apollo? Take him for a walk?”
That she had gone this long without thinking of her dog was criminal. Sure, the housekeeper would let him out into the dog run first thing, but the poor guy had to be miserable without real company. He’d been the only loyal male in her life since…well, since
ever
.
“Why don’t you pick up your Princess, too, and take them on a play date at the dog park? It’s supposed to be a gorgeous day today.”
Cinda’s squeal of delight told Lauren that she’d not only fixed any hard feelings with her assistant, but she’d just gotten rid of her for the better part of the day.
“Really?”
“Honestly,” Lauren reassured her. “I’m going to be here all day working on the casting of my costar.”
“You’ll call me if you need anything?” Cinda asked.
“Before I call anyone else, I promise.”
After a shouted, “Thank you,” Lauren heard Cinda fly down the metal steps outside the trailer.
Her assistant was gone. She was alone.
Or was she?
“Aiden?”
He did not reply. She closed her eyes and concentrated as she’d done before, conjuring his scent in her mind as she attempted to find the leathery essence lingering around her. She smelled nothing but the cold crispness of newly recycled air.
Though Cinda had already dumped Ross’s pictures out of the now empty frames, Lauren realized she’d been married the last time she’d used this space. The other pictures were candid shots of her with costars, crew and fans who’d won trips to the set. Still, the gaping holes made a statement. About loneliness. About betrayal. About lies.
Aiden’s sudden appearance, however, had torn away the veil she’d kept over her emotions for so long. She
was
lonely. She
was
starved for intimacy and sex. Lauren needed those things in her life—and preferably on a regular basis…preferably with a man like Aiden: Strong. Honorable. Not entirely real.
Which made her wonder…was she going from an earthbound, human Svengali to an ethereal one? Over the course of her life, she’d gone from depending on no one to relying on Ross’s money, Ross’s contacts, Ross’s advice and approval. Now she was finally on her own again. Did she really need another man in her bed, even one who was solid and visible only during the night?
Actually, she couldn’t think of a better way to ease into her life as a single woman again. Aiden needed her more than she needed him. He wanted his total freedom, and she could, once they figured out how, give that to him. Maybe he could give her the same.
On that hopeful note, she pushed into the bathroom at the back of the trailer and tore off the rest of her clothes. She really did need a shower. And a nap.
If she hadn’t watched part of the video, she might have believed that her rendezvous with Aiden had been nothing more than a very hot dream. Or maybe—what was the word her therapist would use—a “manifestation” of some deep-seated, unfulfilled desires. Well, if that was the case, Aiden put the “man” in “manifestation.”
But despite everything she knew about reality and dreams, Lauren believed Aiden was real, a phantom of his living self, trapped by an ancient curse in the blade of a magical sword. The evidence on the recording was incontrovertible. He’d seduced her last night, just as she’d seduced him. The heat they’d generated could have started a California wildfire during the rainy season. She knew all this, and yet she wasn’t afraid. Why should she be? In her life before she became the famous Lauren Cole, she’d certainly dealt with greater dangers. So far the only risk Aiden had brought into her life was the risk of orgasmic over-dose.
The shower door was stuck, so with a grunt she tugged it open, reached in and turned the lever, allowing the water to run through the long-unused pipes. Steam instantly blossomed, so she opened the door to the living area and turned on the vent. For an instant she glanced longingly at the sword nestled on the table and wondered whether Aiden would come out to play again anytime soon. Just the thought sent a gentle throbbing between her legs. God, how long had it been since a flash of erotic memory had wound her up so tightly? How long since she had had anything remotely erotic to remember?
Lauren tested the temperature, found the scalding water irresistible and stepped beneath the stream. She was so caught up in the delicious way the heat eased into her stiff and constricted muscles, she didn’t bother to close the door completely. She wasn’t entirely surprised when the chill of its falling open blasted her bare backside.
Then the feel of Aiden’s hands against her skin nearly sent her flying.
She spun.
“Aiden?”
A sensation began at a precise spot between her inner thighs and knees, much like the tips of fingers tracing over her skin. Primal heat immediately suffused her body from every direction: Inside, from the needfulness. Outside, from the water. She leaned forward against the tile and concentrated on the sweet pressure rising higher and higher up her leg and then disappearing into the tawny curls at the juncture of her thighs. Somewhere between a breath and a probing touch, the invisible finger parted her feminine lips and slipped inside, slim at first, teasing the tip of her clit, then broadening, stretching, touching every sensitized part of her. She gasped, choking down water as her heart sent needful pulses through her veins. Her hands itched for someone to touch, someone to cling to, even as she tripped on to the edge of a climax. With no male flesh to hang on to, she grabbed the showerhead for balance.
Her breasts made exquisite contact with the chilled tile, adding to the explosion of sensations detonating across her body.
She was panting, moaning uncontrollably as pleasure built to the pressure point. Then the contact disappeared.
“Aiden?”
“I’m here,” he said, his whisper barely audible over the shower, his form entirely unseen, even amid the steam.
Though her body throbbed for him to finish what he’d started, Lauren forced herself to breathe. Not to sound anxious. Or worse—desperate. “I hoped it was you and not some other phantom haunting my trailer.”
“I am not dead,” he replied, his voice deep and throaty and decadent. “I cannot haunt you.”
“You’re sure?” she asked.
Once again the sensation of having a man inside her—and yet…not—threw her body into extrasensory overload. She gasped, then cried out when an added force tightened around her nipples. She squeezed her eyes tight as an orgasm rocked through her, prolonged and exquisite and maddening.
“Why are you,” she asked, spinning around, “doing this to me?”
“Do you not enjoy my attention?” Aiden teased.
She swiped water out of her eyes. “You know I do.”
A slither of a touch snaked across her neck and shoulders. “You found me, my lady. Fate drew you to me.”
“I don’t believe in fate,” she argued.
“I’d venture to guess that less than a day ago, you did not believe in phantoms, either.”
She couldn’t resist laughing. At him. At herself. She pushed the water out of her eyes again and decided she’d better get lathered soon or risk running out of hot water. She loved her luxury trailer, but it was a trailer, not a suite at the Crown Chandler Beverly Hills.
“You’ve got me there,” she agreed.