The Farthest Shore (Eden Series Book 3) (17 page)

The candleflame between them blurred. Miri bit her lip until the prickling in her eyes faded in comparison. No one had ever said that to her before, because no one in her family referred to the circumstances of her conception. And none of the men she’d ever known had been aware of her past.

“Let’s not talk about that any more,” she managed to say.

“I’m sorry,” Alyster said. “I shouldn’t have asked.”

When she was certain her features were well under control again, she looked back at him. She wanted to say she didn’t blame him for being curious when she was, after all, insatiably so, but once again the thoughts went out of her mind. The candlelight picked out the angles of his face and made the slight hollows beneath his cheekbones look fractionally deeper. She kept her gaze riveted on the reflections of flame in his eyes, determined not to stray any lower.

“You know something strange?” Even as she spoke, she realized her nerves rather than her mind were starting to talk now. “I’ve never before just talked to a half-naked man.”

He raised a brow. “Half?”

She looked down then. She couldn’t help it, though the table blocked her view. And in one quick movement, he leaned forward and blew out the candle.

Miri’s heart thudding in her ears didn’t drown the sound of a chair scraping back and the rustle of linen as it fell. She got to her feet, feeling unaccountably nervous. In the dark she couldn’t tell where he was, and all her senses were honed to a fine edge as she listened for the footfalls that made their way to her.

When his hand touched her arm, she trembled but managed not to make a sound. Her skin felt sensitized even through her clothes, and as his fingers curled slowly around her arm and slid up to her shoulder, a hot shiver spread beneath his hand, tremoring through her body. She concentrated on standing still, maintaining some last vestige of control.

He took his hand away, which helped. Then he spoke, which didn’t.

“Take your clothes off for me, Miri,” he said softly.

The words were a command that carried a calm expectation of being obeyed, but his tone belied them. Beneath a surface as cool and polished as a steel sculpture, his voice was rough with suppressed desire and with a longing that told her exactly why he’d stopped touching her. He was as aroused as she was, if not more so, and she guessed that if he hadn’t let go of her, he would have ripped her clothes off himself.

Her heart pounding, she began to undo the buttons of her shirt. Her fingers shook, and she lost patience before she had gone more than halfway. She pulled the shirt over her head and tossed it aside, then kicked off her shoes. Alyster’s patience seemed to run out just as fast, because he pushed her hands aside and yanked open the buttons of her trousers. In the next moment she was bare down to her ankles. He caught her waist and pulled her close.

His chest felt hard and warm, a warmth that spread through her, a hardness that tightened her nipples where they rubbed into the fine hair on his skin. His erection felt harder, and a quivering flutter went through her belly where he pressed against her. That time, she knew neither of them would call a halt.

When his hand slid beneath her chin, she turned her face up. The strong supple musician’s fingers tightened fractionally on her jaw, and his mouth covered hers.

She expected the demanding hunger of their kiss in the passageway, or the tenderness he was also capable of, but it was different again. Slow and sensual in the way his tongue stroked hers, but pulling away as she responded, though he didn’t draw back far at all, only to her lower lip. He grazed it with his teeth, sucked it gently and muffled her whimper with his mouth again, though he barely traced her tongue with the tip of his.

Teasing me
, she managed to think through the dark whirling rush of desire. Well, two could play at that. Her arms had gone up around his neck of their own volition, but she loosed her grip and slid one hand between them, down his chest to his belly.

Before she could go any farther, he pulled her hand away and picked her up in his arms, almost in the same fluid movement. She clutched at him as her feet left the floor. Without pause he carried her into the bedroom and set her down on the edge of his bunk. His hands spread her legs apart.

His mouth on the inside of her knee made her shiver. She buried her hands in his hair and drew her fingernails down the nape of his neck. Breath hissed out between his teeth, and he began to kiss his way up the inside of her thigh, his mouth hard and his tongue only slightly more gentle. She shut her eyes, not that that made any difference in the dark, but her thighs were trembling so much that she could not have closed them if she had wanted to. He slid his hands under her knees and lifted her legs easily over his shoulders, angling her body for his assault.

She felt his breath first. Hot, branding hot and yet not even touching the damp curls between her thighs. Then his thumbs gently pressed her folds apart, opening her wider. She braced for his mouth, but all she felt was the warm whisper as he breathed out against her wet, aching flesh.

A whimper trapped in her throat, she bent her knees, trying to force his mouth closer to her, but she might as well have been trying to shift a mountain. He made a sound that might have been a laugh if it hadn’t been so raw with need, and buried his face between her thighs. The roughness of the stubble on his face made his mouth feel more sensitive and sensual, and he impaled her with his tongue.

The world vanished in a soundless explosion. Her body jerked in a climax so fast and hard she couldn’t even scream. Her spine locked rigid, her head fell back as wave after wave of clenching release slammed into her, and he drew out the last shudders as he licked her swollen, spasming flesh.

When he finally lifted his head, she sagged back until her shoulders touched the wall. Aftershocks still rippled through her, so randomly she couldn’t anticipate them, only close her eyes and ride each one out. And she wanted him all over again.

Panting, she released his hair and pressed her hands flat, trying to struggle back up to a sitting position. Alyster lowered her legs and moved away, so she let herself fall to the bunk instead, on linen sheets cool against her skin. Yes, that was much better. She waited for him to join her.

Instead a latch clicked open, and wood clacked on wood. Propping herself up on an elbow, she listened intently. There were quiet, somehow furtive movements in the dark.

What exactly was he doing? For the first time she wondered if he had some ulterior motive for snuffing out the candle. She knew about men who liked hitting women, so maybe he was getting out a cat-o’-nine-tails, in which case she would plead an instant headache and go back to her cabin.

“What are you doing?” she said.

“Just being careful.”

That didn’t sound too ominous, but she wasn’t reassured. “Being careful of what?” He’d been moving something out of the way; did he think their lovemaking was going to be so energetic it would damage his possessions?

He made an exasperated sound. “I’ve never known anyone who asked so many questions. If you must know, I put on a sheath.”

“Oh.” Miri was much more interested than puzzled now. She knew about preventatives women could take, but she wasn’t as familiar with those men used. “Wait…is that why you asked me to come to your cabin?”

“Of course.” The latch clicked again.

She wasn’t sure to be pleased at his thoughtfulness or chagrined that he’d clearly expected her to end up in his bed.
No, don’t flatter yourself
. He’d hoped to have female company, just not hers.

“Did you buy those with Reveka in mind?” She tried for a tone of casual inquiry rather than anything near jealousy.

“What did I just say about too many questions?” Alyster paused. “Unity, now I’m doing it too.” He sat on the bunk, and she shifted closer to the wall to make room for him.

“Does it matter so much?” he said. “I respect her on a professional level and I appreciate her looks. Most men do. But I can talk to you. I know a lot more about you than I do about her, and I like what I know.”

Most of what you know
. Then again, she couldn’t blame him for reacting like everyone else when it came to Tureans, and it wasn’t as if she found everything about him adorable either.

“I like what I saw as well,” he said quietly. “You’re lovely, Miri. And you’re the woman I want to be with.”

An unexpected warmth filled her chest and spread out to the rest of her, as though she had been sleeping in the sun. She reached out, touched his shoulder and slid the palm of her hand down his spine. Before she could reach the small of his back, he turned and was on the bed.

She squirmed away just enough to work a hand between their bodies, wondering what the sheath was like. The muscles in his belly tensed beneath her nails, and he grunted as she closed her fingers around his swollen length, searching with her thumb for the tip. Soft and faintly moist, the lambskin fit tightly enough for her to feel the hard pulse of his flesh beneath.

“Can you feel it when I touch you?” she said.

“No, I’m afraid not.” Alyster sounded as though he was speaking through set teeth. “But if you keep fondling just there, I may recover some sensation eventually.”

Miri laughed and let go so she could cup his face in her hands, drawing his head down to her. When she kissed him, he responded as if it was the last time he would ever do so, as if he wanted to possess her completely in that one action.

Then he was moving over her, nuzzling her throat before he gently bit her shoulder and she bucked under him. One hand skimmed her breasts, barely touching, barely grazing the stiffened nipples with his palm as he made leisurely circles over them. And just when she couldn’t bear the teasing any longer, the wet heat of his mouth closed over her tight sensitive flesh and he sucked mercilessly.

She tried and failed to stifle a moan. Her hips arched again, involuntarily, her head pressing back into the pillow.

“Now,” she whispered, but he only shifted position, and his tongue played slowly over her other nipple. She squirmed, unable to bear the ache between her thighs. “Alyster, now—”

He came into her deep and hard, stretching and filling her. She cried out, a sound as much plea as it was pleasure. Her arms tightened around him to hold him where she needed him, her hips rose to meet his fierce thrusts, and she was close, so close, so—

“Miri,” he groaned against her ear, and that was enough. Everything in her tightened at once, clenching and rigid, and Alyster pulled back before driving in again, faster now as if he had lost all control too. She shuddered through the wrenching spasms of her release, and the last thing she felt before she slumped bonelessly beneath him was his body jerking against hers as he muffled his shout in her hair.

Slowly she drifted back to herself, back in his arms, but it was all she could do just to recover. The aftermath of their lovemaking left a drugging sweetness in her, tying lead weights to her limbs. She was vaguely aware of the slickness of his sweat mingling with hers, the steady thud of his heartbeat against her breast, but he was so still he might have gone to sleep right there on top of her. Which was good, because he wasn’t heavy—for all his height, he was as lean as if he hadn’t been eating too well recently—and because it meant she didn’t need to get up, let alone dress again.

Except she had to do so. For all his spontaneity when it came to lovemaking, Alyster was careful in every other respect of his life, so he wouldn’t want anyone to know she’d spent the night with him. Besides, it was better to be asked to stay than asked to leave.

Not that either happened. She shifted as best she could under the circumstances, and he raised his head. “Going back to your cabin?”

“Unless you have something else in mind.” She made her voice light and flirtatious, because while she would have enjoyed nestling close and talking, she didn’t want him to know that.

“I might, but we both need our sleep.” He got off the bed. “Wait, I’ll light the candle.”

“All right.” Miri wished he wasn’t so businesslike. It was a letdown, but she shrugged it off and told herself to be content with what she had, which had been a night to remember. Clothes rustled in the dark, and by the time the candle flared back into life, he had pulled his trousers back on, as if to make certain he wouldn’t tumble back into bed with her.

It didn’t matter. By then she had already decided she wouldn’t repeat the experience, intense and passionate though it had been. Maybe that was why—it had been too good, the kind of thing that could easily make her want more of a man who couldn’t accept her for what she was. She would rather deal with loneliness than with disappointment, because the one was predictable but the other wasn’t.

So she began to dress. Alyster held her shirt for her arms to slip into, and she did up the buttons as she stepped into her shoes. “Sleep well,” she said, and let herself out.

For a second night, Vinsen slept in the brig, which gave him more privacy than the shared quarters of the fo’c’sle did. The crew seemed in higher spirits now that they were, technically at least, back in their homeland, whereas Vinsen had never felt more frustrated. He also needed to be alone after his futile attempt to persuade Terlow to warn the other Denalait ships.

“You know where they are,” he had said. “You can plot an intercept course.”
Think! What’s in it for him?
“There’s safety in numbers, and you would have our gratitude for saving hundreds of lives.”

Most of all, either Lera or Alyster might somehow persuade Terlow to put aside his chivalry or squeamishness and hand over his prisoner. Phane would get the treatment he deserved on board a Denalait vessel and would be no danger at all in chains.

“Were we not in a race, Captain Solarcis, I might have agreed,” Terlow replied. “But turning our course to intercept either of those ships will take too much time. Kraken or no kraken, I intend to win.”

“I have different priorities.”

“I’m sure you do. And had I lost both my ship and my crew, I would no doubt feel the same.” The bluntness was like a fist in the stomach. Vinsen said nothing more and returned to the brig.