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. “Wa
it. 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.”
Alexander folded his arms across his chest. His body rigid and there was a curious flicker of blue light surrounding him, although Katina couldn’t guess what it was. “Who?” he demanded in a low voice.
Katina simply held his gaze and let him guess.
Alexander swore thoroughly as he turned away from her. He marched the width of the room twice and looked as if he’d put his fist through the wall.
Katina was shocked. She had never known she could provoke him to such a visible display of anger. She supposed it was the sign of his feelings that she’d always wanted, but in this moment, she didn’t like the sight.
Alexander returned to face her. He caught her shoulders in his hands so that she couldn’t evade his gaze. “Not Cetos?” he demanded, clearly guessing that it was. “You didn’t want to marry him before.” His voice rose. “I ensured you didn’t have to!”
That blue light surrounding his body became more vivid, like a lick of lightning. Katina felt the intensity of his anger, but she was unafraid of him.
Alexander would never hurt her.
Katina held his gaze. “I had no choice,” she said, biting off the words. “No other man would have me. I did what had to be done for Lysander. Our son needed a future and I was the only one here to give it to him.” She decided she might as well tell him all of it. “I asked him to marry me.”
Alexander flinched at that, but Katina had no satisfaction from his response.
In fact, she felt sad and empty. He was back but she had to send him away, because of choices she’d made. She knew Alexander’s opinion on pledges and promises.
She lifted his hand from her shoulder, kissed his fingertips, then dropped his hand and stepped back. “You must leave now.”
Alexander didn’t move. “Was he kind to Lysander?”
“He wasn’t unkind,” Katina acknowledged, sure that Alexander would hear the difference. “He wasn’t pleased to raise another man’s son, which is why he’ll be glad that Pelias came.”
“He’s not here?”
“He was gone, trading. He’ll return tonight.” Katina frowned at Alexander’s obvious dissatisfaction with her answer. “Cetos never treated Lysander badly. He just ignored him.”
That still wasn’t enough. Alexander’s voice dropped low. “Was he kind to you?”
“I made a vow,” Katina said softly. “You, of all people, should respect that.”
“No!” Alexander retorted. He was furious, as outraged at injustice as only a man of honor could be. “No, I’m back and I will stay. You don’t love him, Katina, and you never did.”
“You don’t know that...”
“I do know that. Your body told me the truth of it.” Alexander watched as she caught her breath. “If you loved him, I would never have been in your bed again. We both know that to be true.” He put out his hand in invitation and offered her heart’s desire to her, as easily as that. “Come away with me. Let’s be together. Let’s go now.”
Katina was tempted. But now she remembered all the moments in her marriage to Alexander when she’d had doubts, when she’d known that Alexander hadn’t been telling her all of the truth for whatever reason. When they made love, she felt a powerful connection, but otherwise, he’d often been impassive and beyond her reach. She remembered her own fear that he would discover her secret, and how he might react.
She’d asked Cetos to marry her and he’d kept his vow. Cetos had ensured that she and her son survived. Cetos put no stock in the stories told about her, and even if he saw the truth, she didn’t think he’d care. She wasn’t nearly as certain what Alexander would think.
Alexander lifted a hand to her in appeal. “Katina, I love you...”
She was swayed more than she knew she should be, for love might not prove to be enough. “Will you ever leave me again?” she demanded.
Katina saw the answer in his eyes. He made no promise and she knew the meaning of that, for Alexander didn’t make promises he couldn’t keep. She saw the doubt in his eyes, and it was all she needed to know.
Her compromise was better than having nothing at all.
“If ever you cared for me, leave before Cetos finds you here,” she whispered. She saw a strange sparkle in Alexander’s eyes in the same moment that she heard her husband’s step approaching the courtyard.
“Hide!” she muttered, then swept past Alexander to welcome her husband home.
* * *
Cetos whistled to himself as he led his burro toward the house he shared with Katina and her son. It had been a long journey, but he was pleased with the results. A weight of extra coin jingled in his purse, the sound making him smile.
His trade had been terrible. The price of olive oil had dropped, due to a large supply after the last harvest, and he hadn’t been able to sell his for a price that was worth his trouble. No one wanted Katina’s pots, but that wasn’t new.
Still she had provided an unexpected asset to him, one that made all the difference.
Talk about an offer Cetos couldn’t refuse. He’d sold Katina’s son, simultaneously making up the difference in bad prices for olive oil and ridding himself of a nuisance. The boy wasn’t much trouble: it was the look of him that caused the problem. The brat so strongly resembled his father—who could have expected there to be no hint of Katina in his features? Alexander might as well have been living in Cetos’ house, every glimpse of the boy making Katina sigh for the past again.
Cetos couldn’t understand why she didn’t appreciate her good luck. He couldn’t imagine why she still longed for a man who had abandoned her, and never sent a single word of how he fared. Cetos had done her a favor in marrying her, taking on her son, even letting her stay in the house she’d inherited. But what did she do for him? She was dutiful enough, serving him at table and spreading her legs when he demanded as much.
But she had never yet given Cetos a son.
And worse, she whispered Alexander’s name in her dreams.
It was possible that she thwarted him on purpose. They all said there was something strange about Katina, that she’d been touched by the gods and would earn their blessing or punishment. Cetos had been hoping for the former, but it seemed his wife had earned the latter. He was impatient with childlessness and determined see his situation changed.
He needed a son.
He would bed her daily, perhaps twice daily, until she bred.
Then he’d do it again. He’d have half a dozen sons if it were up to him.
Cetos paused before the house, composing his story. Katina wouldn’t take well to the news that her son was to leave, but he was ready for that. He’d never tell her that he’d sold the boy: he’d say that he’d found him a paid position, providing companionship to the son of a rich man. He’d say he had to do it, to make up for the low prices of olive oil and the fact that her pots never sold. He’d say he was ensuring that the boy would eat, that he?
??d have an education and a future.
She’d be grateful, if he told the story right.
She’d never see the brat again, which suited Cetos well.
It was all arranged. The buyer would arrive at the house after dark, the better to ensure that the neighbors saw nothing. Cetos had planned everything perfectly. Katina would be completely beneath his hand and carrying his child before the month was out.
The merchant had been right. Cetos deserved far more from his beautiful wife than she’d given him so far.
* * *
Katina had married Cetos.
And he’d been gone eight years.
Alexander didn’t know which detail he found more astonishing. Both together were incredible. He hauled on his pants and buckled his belt, then tugged on his boots. If he’d been gone a full eight years, did that mean that his term of service to the Pyr was complete? Alexander thought it must be, but he wouldn’t make a promise to Katina until he was sure. He put on his shirt but left it open, freezing at the sound of voices in the courtyard.
She’d asked Cetos to marry her. There was another incredible detail.
But then, his Katina was nothing if not practical. If no other man would have her, she would have spoken to the one who would. He had no doubt that she would have done anything possible to ensure Lysander’s welfare, regardless of the cost to herself.
But why wouldn’t any other man have her? She was beautiful, perfect in his eyes. Alexander couldn’t make sense of that. What kind of stories had people told about her?
He also couldn’t understand how he’d missed the signs he should have noticed. As soon as he paid attention, he smelled a man’s routine presence in this room. Initially, he’d been savoring the scent of Katina and had ignored everything else. Only the joy of seeing Katina could make him forget his years of training and experience.