The Dragon Legion Collection 9 (5 page)

Alexander unbuckled his belt and cast it aside, liking how she smiled as he shed his clothes. She sat up on the bed, reaching to touch each exposed increment of skin, as if she were as anxious to caress him as he was to caress her. Alexander shed his clothing and boots with record speed, his boots falling to one side, his shirt and trousers to the other.

“Your clothing is so strange,” she said, and a question filled her gaze. “I wouldn’t have known where to start.”

Alexander didn’t want to talk about where he had been. Not yet. The tale would take too long and he wanted this reunion first.

“Is that why you watch me so closely?” he teased. “To have me naked whenever you so choose?”

“Maybe I’ll keep you naked for a while. Until you please me enough.” Katina laughed, then stopped, confusion lighting her gaze. She stood up and reached a fingertip to touch the tattoo on his upper arm, the one souvenir he still bore from the future. Alexander winced when she touched it, not because it hurt but because he didn’t want to explain all of that as yet. “A magical beast upon your skin,” she said with wonder, and met his gaze. She clearly was curious.

“It doesn’t matter,” Alexander said, his voice rougher than he intended. He knew that once her questions began, she would not fall silent until she knew everything of where he had been. Her inquisitiveness was a trait he admired, but he needed her touch first. He put a fingertip on her lips, savoring their softness. “This first,” he urged, knowing he would beg if he had to. “I’ve been without you too long to keep to the thread of any story otherwise.”

“So honest.” She smiled. “You never could lie.”

Alexander shook his head. “Not to you.”

Katina was clearly pleased by this. She drew him into her embrace, then granted him a thoughtful glance. “How many other women?” she whispered when he would have kissed her again. Her gaze was searching. “Just tell me that.”

“None,” Alexander said with finality. “For there can be no other woman for me.”

“Only you could have managed that feat,” she said with pride, which confused him.

“I don’t understand.”

“Your word is your bond, Alexander. I knew that long ago. It is something I admire about you.” She ran her hands over his head again and her eyes glowed. “Only you could have denied your pleasure so long to keep a pledge to me.”

Alexander took that as an invitation. He kissed her and his embrace soon turned hungry, his passion for her contained far too long. Now that he was with Katina, he wasn’t certain how long he could last. He’d denied himself for so long, and his passion was a tide that couldn’t be stopped. He moved them with purpose to the narrow bed, not wanting to rush her, but compelled by his body’s need. Katina smiled and leaned back, opening her thighs to him in invitation.

She’d always understood him so well. Alexander couldn’t have refused her to save his life. He slid into her wet heat with a sigh, unable to remember when any sensation had felt so good.

Or so right.

Katina ran her hands over him, delight in her eyes. Alexander rolled on the bed so that he was on his back and she was sitting astride him. She smiled as she pulled her tunic and chiton over her head, then tossed them to the floor. She was even more beautiful than he had recalled. Her nipples were tight and dark, her breasts high and just large enough to fill his palms. Her waist was narrow and her belly not quite flat. He ran his hands over her, remembering how he had loved the look of her when she’d carried his son and wondering if they would have more.

The idea made his chest tighten. It seemed impossibly wonderful that he could have a future again, that he could plan his days and nights with his beloved, that the darkfire had given him such a gift as this.

Then Katina unfastened her hair, letting it fall over her shoulders like a dark veil. It was as glossy and thick as he remembered, as wavy as the curl of the ocean’s tide and darker than a river at midnight. It flowed over her shoulders and down her back, cascading all the way to her hips. He’d always loved her hair. At the sight of its loosened splendor, Alexander was lost all over again.

Katina moved atop him, caressing her own breasts as she rode him, her smile making Alexander dizzy. He ran his hands over her slender strength and let the scent of her skin inundate him. How he adored her. How he had missed her. How could she have imagined there could be any other woman who might compare or even suffice? He gripped Katina’s hips and urged her to move faster as his need built.

Alexander murmured her name even as his heart pounded with greater intensity. She tormented him as he had teased her, building his passion to a peak then slowing her pace, before building his desire again. Alexander heard himself moan and the bed creak, even as all rational thought left his mind.

There was only Katina with her slick heat, her shining eyes and her sweet smile. He lost track of how many times she teased him, but suddenly knew he could bear it no longer. He whispered her name with greater urgency and she leaned over him, surrounding him in the dark spill of her hair. Alexander closed his eyes and held fast to her, wanting to lose himself in the embrace of the woman he loved. His heart pounded as her breasts fell against his chest, his breath caught when she kissed him. The tide rose within him with sudden vigor and this time, he couldn’t hold back.

Alexander caught Katina’s nape in one hand and wrapped his other arm around her waist, driving deeper and faster. Her sweet perfume enveloped him, her soft curves were crushed against him, her hair tickled against his skin. Her fervid kisses eliminated his awareness of anything but his lovely lady wife. Alexander came with explosive force, an orgasm that seemed endless and left him shaking with exhaustion.

And then he kissed Katina’s temple, feeling more fortunate than he had ever expected to be in this lifetime.

Alexander was finally home.

Chapter Two

The hot spill of Alexander’s seed recalled Katina to her senses.

How could she have been so foolish?

Alexander dozed in her arms as he always did after his release, looking so handsome and relaxed that Katina wished she could let him sleep. But that was impossible. She’d put everything at risk with her impulsive and passionate greeting. She wanted nothing more than to stay wrapped in his warmth, but she heard the slaves preparing the evening meal. It was becoming darker, which could only mean one thing.

Her husband, Cetos, would return. What would he do to Alexander?

“Wake up,” she whispered urgently to Alexander. “Wake up! Alexander, you must leave.” She tried to get out of the bed, but he wrapped himself around her, holding her close to his warmth. He kissed her temple sweetly and she knew he’d fall asleep with her trapped against his nude body.

If only she could have enjoyed that pleasure.

“Not yet.” Alexander opened his eyes and granted her a sleepy smile that wrenched her heart. “Give me a moment, then we’ll greet each other again. The second time is always slower, and better.” He slid his fingers into her hair and would have pulled her back down for another kiss, but Katina squirmed out of his grip.

“No!” she commanded in an undertone. “You have to leave before there is talk.”

Alexander’s smile didn’t waver. “There’s probably already talk. I didn’t sneak into the village.” Katina backed away from him, searching for her clothes. “The meal can wait,” he murmured, then patted the bed beside himself.

Katina turned away from the temptation he offered, wishing she had been able to resist him before. She tugged on her chiton and knotted the belt swiftly around her waist, noting that her hands were shaking.

Cetos had such a temper. He’d only shouted at her in the past, but she feared that finding her first husband naked in her bedroom might push him too far. She already knew that he resented her choosing Alexander over him before.

The one thing they argued about was her determination to continue to wear Alexander’s ring.

“What’s wrong, Katina?” Alexander asked softly and she spun to find that he was watching her closely. His eyes glittered and he already sat on the edge of the bed, so taut that he looked poised to leap. She hadn’t even heard him move.

“Everything is wrong!” she whispered, not knowing where to begin.

“Everything is finally right,” Alexander corrected firmly. He got to his feet with purpose and crossed the room to her side. “I’m home, and we’re together again. We’ll raise our son and maybe have a few more.” He lifted her hair and pressed an enticing kiss to the side of her neck. Oh, how well she remembered that Alexander was never satisfied with one mating.

“There’s no time for this! You must go!”

Alexander sobered and his eyes narrowed. He flicked a glance around the bedroom, his gaze lingering on the second bed. His eyes seemed to brighten, and he turned in place, clearly seeking something. “Where’s the cradle for Lysander? Is he walking yet?”

Katina was impatient with the question. She picked up one of his garments and flung it at him. “What difference? He has no use of it now.”

“What do you mean?” Alexander froze, his expression horrified. “What’s happened to him?”

“He’s grown up, of course.” Katina poked at the garment he hadn’t yet put on. “A man named Pelias came last week to collect him.”

Alexander didn’t move. “Why?”

“For the
agoge
,” Katina said, not understanding why Alexander should be so shocked. The mandatory military training for the young boys of Sparta was part of his legacy to their son.

Alexander sat down hard on the bed, as if his legs couldn’t support him. “But a boy must be eight years of age for the
agoge
.”

“Yes. Please get dressed!”

Alexander gave her a challenging look. “
Eight
years.”

Katina stared at him as she understood his surprise. Her fear abandoned her, replaced by a ripple of anger. “Yes, he is eight.” She propped a hand on her hip. “Don’t you know how long you’ve been gone?”

If she’d expected him to deny it or make some excuse, she was to be disappointed.

Alexander stared around the room, as if seeing it for the first time. He surveyed every detail, but avoided looking at her.

His confusion tore at her heart, but she couldn’t understand how he couldn’t know how much time had passed. What game was he playing? “How long did you think you had been gone?”

Alexander’s expression turned weary. “It’s been as thousands of years for me.”

Katina bit her lip. Alexander wasn’t a poetic man and she knew it. He could be evasive, and he wasn’t one to easily share all the secrets of his heart. Now that their moment of passion had passed, she remembered all the fault lines in their short marriage. There was so much she didn’t know about Alexander. He couldn’t
literally
mean thousands of years, could he? Where had he been? What had happened to him?

As much as she wanted to know the story, there was no time to hear it. Not now. “You have to leave,” she repeated. “Please, dress yourself and go.”

“Go?” Alexander frowned at her. “Katina, I’ve dreamed of returning to you all this time. Why would I leave now?”

“Because you can’t stay here.”

“Of course, I can stay here.” He became indignant. “You’re my wife...”

“I
was
your wife, but you left.”

Alexander stared at Katina and she knew from the intensity of his gaze that he’d guessed the truth. He took a deep breath, one that made his nostrils flare. His eyes began to glitter with a strange light, one that made Katina take a step backward. “You married again?” he asked as if this were incomprehensible.

“You sent no word,” she replied with frustration. “Not a single message in eight years! What would I think except that you’d been killed?”

He ran a hand over his head. “But if it’s been eight years, then my service is done,” he said, almost to himself, then turned to her with his eyes alight.

Katina refused to be seduced by his hopeful expression. Even so, she knew that if he touched her, she’d lose the battle. She held up a hand between them. “Wait. You
knew
it might be eight years? You knew and you never mentioned as much?”

“I didn’t expect it would be...”

“You should have told me!”

He stood up, looking grim. “Would you have married again if I had told you?”

She knew the promise he wanted, but couldn’t give it. “Eight years is a long time,” she replied. “I had a son. I had no husband. I had to survive. We would have starved in eight years, easily.”

“But you had your pottery...”

“And no trade in it.”

“Why not?”

“Alexander, I’m not skilled at this craft.”

“You should have been able to sell enough.”

Katina had to avert her gaze. “And there were stories...”

“What kind of
stories
? What did people say about you?”

“It doesn’t matter! No one would come to me to buy, and Lysander had to eat.” She spun and paced the width of the room, knowing there was no short version of the story he would accept. “You were gone, and I had no word from you. I made a
choice
, because I had to.”