Sheala let her gaze travel down his body. His own bathing suit was brief, though his entire backside was covered. The brevity of the suit, however, left little doubt about his manhood. Yes, Ban was a very handsome man. She could see why women on all the known planets wanted him in their beds.
She smiled. As handsome as Ban was, she felt absolutely no sexual attraction towards him. Besides being her cousin, he was too—Ban. She shook her head. Any woman who fell in love with him would spend much of her life fighting other women off.
When the girls removed their robes, Ban’s rakish grin grew wider. He certainly wasn’t interested in Shea, Jami, or Vani sexually, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t appreciate their beauty. After a quick perusal of Jami and Vani, his gaze lingered on Sheala.
During his years away from Drakan, she’d developed into a beautiful young woman, her body filling out in all the right places. Thank goodness for her Medirian blood which gave her more curves than the average Drakian woman.
Ban’s gaze drifted to her face. To someone who knew her parentage, Sheala’s Medirian blood was evident. But to the average Drakian, she looked much like every other Drakian woman—yet somehow different. Her hair was thicker and longer. Her lips were fuller, redder, lusher, her dark brown eyes slightly less slanted. Her skin was the same ivory hue as all other Drakians, her cheekbones were high and her ears were pointed. Granted, she was short, barely over six feet tall, but there were other Drakians as short as she.
All three dropped their robes and stood before him.
“What do you think of my new bathing thong, Ban?” Sheala asked as she turned slowly.
The last thing those three need are compliments on their looks,Ban thought as they preened before him.
Leaping forward and upward, he grabbed Sheala around the waist and threw her into the pool.
“This!”
He tossed Jami and Vani in after her.
All three girls screamed with delight.
Ban dove in after them. The battle that ensued had him exactly where he wanted to be—the center of attention of three beautiful women, even if they were his cousins.
Ten minutes later, as he managed to dunk all three girls at once, Ban saw a chuckling Brianna settle her heavily pregnant body into a lounge chair with the ever-watchful Aradab Kahn close by.
Then two tan streaks flashed by. With identical yells, Denieen’s twin sons, Hendjas and Charjas, tumbled into the pool and attacked all of them.
A pained expression on his face, Marljas appeared from between two hedges and stopped behind Brianna’s chair where he remained standing.
Laughing, Ban pushed the girls out of the way and captured the two young Gattans. He’d spent the last weeks watching the three adult Gattans and come to the conclusion that they were exactly what they claimed to be, a family interested in negotiating a trading contract. So, he relaxed his vigilance—somewhat—and he spent as much time in their company as he could. Wendjas and Denieen were friendly. Marljas, however, was not. Though he obviously supported his brother and sister-in-law, he didn’t make any friendly overtures to anyone except Brianna, and with her only because of their new bloodbond.
And though Marljas spoke to Sheala only when propriety and good manners demanded, he still watched her when he didn’t think anyone was watching him.
So, Ban watched him.
Hendjas and Charjas attacked him simultaneously.
Sinking to the bottom of the pool, Ban attacked from below. Tucking a struggling boy under each arm, he climbed out of the pool. Their shrieks echoed joyfully as he heaved each one back into the water where the three girls converged them. Wiping water out of his eyes, he sat down next to Brianna.
“Must you drip water all over me?” she jested. “With all the splashing that’s going on, I may as well be in the pool.”
Ban grinned at her. “Coz, if that belly of yours weren’t so huge, you’d have been tossed in long ago.”
He ignored the low growl that rumbled from Marljas’ chest. He didn’t give a damn what that particular Gattan thought.
Behind them, Marljas flexed his claws and snarled to himself as he stared at Ban. Why did that arrogant womanizer have to be cousin to Brianna? He couldn’t challenge a relative of his new bloodsister unless he was provoked, something he was sure a coward like Bandalardrac Hardan wouldn’t do. The half-breed Medirian prince was only interested in how many women he could lure into his bed.
His nephews’ joyful laughter drew his attention just as Sheala surged up out of the water to stand on the side of the pool. Leaping upwards, she twisted and caught the missile-shaped object Hendjas had just thrown at her. For a brief second, her gaze locked with Marljas’. She smiled as water rolled down her lithe body. Her full breasts jiggled as multicolored drops tumbled from warm, brown nipples to splash at her feet.
Then, turning, she dove back into the pool.
Marljas remembered to breathe a minute later. Since she was wearing nothing but a tiny strip of material that barely covered her crotch, there was little of her firm body left to his imagination.
He shuddered.
She may as well have been naked.
And by all the seven hells, he wanted her naked, wanted her legs wrapped around his waist while he plunged his cock into her over and over and over until neither of them could stand the sensation any longer. And that tail! What would she do to him with that tail?
Marljas closed his eyes and her almost naked image appeared immediately in his mind’s eye. No Gattan maiden would allow so much of her body to be seen in public, but then, Sheala was not a Gattan maiden.
He shifted his feet to accommodate his growing erection. Ever since the afternoon when she’d run into him, her lithe figure had never left his mind. Now, though, standing practically naked before him, he had seen what he’d previously only been able to imagine.
More laughter drew his attention, and he opened his eyes.
Again, Sheala rose from the water before him and perched on the edge of the pool.
Gritting his teeth, Marljas let his breath out slowly as he stared first at her slender back then allowed his gaze to slide lower.
Her behind was perfectly rounded, not flat like so many Drakian women’s. Just the right shape for a man’s hands as he cupped her cheeks and drove his cock between her legs whether from in front or behind.
Raising her hands above her head, she dove back into the water.
Shifting uncomfortably from one foot to the other, Marljas continued to watch Sheala. His erection grew harder and more painful every time his gaze rested on her bouncing breasts.
Brianna’s merry laughter finally wrenched his attention away from Sheala.
“You’ll never see me wearing anything so skimpy, Bandalardrac.”
“A man can dream, can’t he, sweet Coz?”
Before she could answer him, the Aradab Beti appeared from between the hedges on the other side of the pool, walked to the edge, and called to Sheala in a quiet voice.
Sheala groaned, but she nodded, hoisted herself up and out of the pool and wrapped a thick towel around her almost-naked body. Then she followed Beti back through the hedges.
“Time for her lesson, I imagine,” Ban commented as he lay back on the lounge next to Brianna.
Marljas pulled his attention away from the disappearing Sheala and concentrated on what Ban was saying.
“Lessons?” his bloodsister asked curiously.
Ban closed his eyes and laced his fingers behind his head. “Hmmm. Beti, one of the Aradabs, has been teaching her Aradab hand fighting.”
Marljas swallowed. Sheala was learning to fight. A picture of her supple body twisting and gyrating burst into Marljas’ brain, twisting and gyrating as she fought hand-to-hand—with him—naked.
His erection began to throb.
His tail jerked. How was he supposed to survive this stay on Drakan with his cock aching all the time?
He shifted again, trying to ease the ache between his thighs.
Again Ban laughed at something Brianna said.
Marljas’ frustration slipped towards anger. Why should that bastard be so relaxed and comfortable around all these half-naked women! He, not Marljas, was the womanizer!
Then a sheet of water erupted from the pool to soak not only Brianna and Ban but also Marljas. The Medirian princesses tried to dunk his nephews and they splashed back.
Enough was enough! Snarling, Marljas strode to the edge of the pool. “Both of you, out now!”
Thoroughly dejected, both boys crawled from the pool.
Grabbing hold of their upper arms, Marljas turned towards Brianna and Ban. “Undisciplined and ill-mannered. It’s bad enough that these two five-year-olds lack proper decorum. One can excuse them because of their youth,” he snapped. Then he glared back over his shoulder. “What reasons can two Medirian princesses offer, however?”
Brianna tried to push her bulky body up. “Marljas!”
“And tell them to cover themselves. No decent woman displays her wares so blatantly!”
Instantly furious, Ban flew from his chair. Before he could get his hands on Marljas, though, Kahn wrapped both arms around him. Trying to move the Aradab was like trying to move a mountain. Still, Ban struggled against his hold.
Kahn’s muscles bulged as he held Ban, who almost slipped free.
Then he stopped struggling. “I’ll take whatever insults you throw at me, Gattan, but I won’t take slurs against my family. Consider the feud renewed.”
“My pleasure, half-blood,” Marljas growled in answer as he released his nephews, who immediately sprinted towards the house.
Claws extended, Marljas glared at Ban. He ached to attack, but as long as Kahn held Ban, Gattan honor would not allow it.
Finally up from her chair, Brianna opened her mouth, but Kahn’s flat voice stopped whatever she was going to say. “They must test each other. Neither will be content until they discover who is dominant.”
Marljas felt a smile slide onto his lips. Yes, let him “test” Bandalardrac. A few deep cuts on that pretty face might make women think twice about falling into bed with him. An apt revenge for spiriting Sosha away from Gattan.
While Kahn held Ban, Brianna walked over and put her hand on Marljas’ arm. Her voice dripped ice.
“Very well,
Brother
. If you wish to fight my cousin, who is as dear to me as a brother, you will do so following my rules!”
“No,” Kahn rumbled in his gravelly voice. “You know nothing of challenges such as this, therefore, I will enforce the rules. This fight will not be to the death, there will be no weapons, and I will stop it when I feel there is a winner. Do you both agree?”
Marljas’ answer was delivered with an affirmative snarl. He wouldn’t kill Bandalardrac. To do so would be a gross insult. But the bastard had challenged him. Gattan tradition demanded that he defend his honor, even if the man who challenged him was a family member of his hostess.
Ban’s yes was just as surly.
“Good,” Kahn grunted, “we go to the ring, now.”
With those words he released Ban and motioned him to proceed. “Take the Gattan’s arm,” Kahn directed Brianna with a nod in Marljas’ direction. “Prince Bandalardrac is already sure of your affection.”
With those words he followed Ban away from the pool.
As Marljas began to step after his adversary, Brianna cleared her throat. “We go nowhere until you apologize to Jami and Vani.”
With Ban’s infuriating presence gone, Marljas’ mind cleared. Glancing over his shoulder, his gaze was met by two icy stares. Swallowing nervously, he realized that he had insulted the daughters of the Medirian king in such a way that he could totally ruin his brother’s future trade negotiations.
Shoulders hunched, he dropped his gaze and mumbled an apology.
Vani’s angry retort cut like a knife. “I sincerely hope that Ban pummels some sense into that narrow-minded head of yours, Gattan. If you were on Mediria, you’d have been dragged before my father immediately. Whatever he did to you, I strongly believe that your brother would approve.”
Marljas winced at the truth of her words.
Brianna’s tone was no less disgusted. “Hotheaded, idiot ass! Come on! Let’s get this over with.”
With those words, she wrapped her fingers around his thick wrist and tugged him after her.
* * * * *
Kahn bowed. “Prince Bandalardrac and the Gattan Marljas Drefeson are finally no longer able to tolerate each other. They must fight to see who is dominant.”
Sheala stared. Ban and Marljas fight? Were they fighting about that girl Ban was supposed to have taken from Gattan? “Don’t you think we should stop them?”
Kahn shook his head. “No. They will fight sooner or later. Sooner is better. Hate has less time to fester.”
“Men,” Sheala muttered. “Why are they so obstinate? Char told Marljas Ban didn’t take that girl from Gattan. Why won’t Marljas believe him?”
Beti snorted. “Men are not known for logical thinking.”
Kahn glared at her but said nothing.
With a curse and a snarl, Bandalardrac and Marljas flew at each other.
Marljas’ claws flashed, and Sheala began to chew her lip.
“I thought you said no weapons!” Brianna hissed to Kahn. “Marljas’ claws must be at least three inches long!”
“A Gattan’s claws are part of him, and he will rely on them too much,” was Kahn’s noncommittal answer. “I myself have taught Prince Bandalardrac every skill I know. He will not fail me.”
Sheala shifted her weight.
Was
Ban in danger? She shook her head. No. He couldn’t be. She’d seen him spar with Kahn. Marljas’ claws weren’t as much of a danger to Ban as the Gattan thought they were.
“You should probably worry more about Marljas. He is relying on those claws too much. Even I can see that, and I’m no expert.”
Brianna snorted. “You better be right. If either one of them gets hurt, I’ll make them sorry they lived.”