If only she could stay with Maxum’s men without this idea of servicing their sexual needs hanging over her head. She could probably gain a small amount of prosperity if she stuck with them. It could be the turn in her fortunes she had been needing. Perhaps she could renegotiate the terms of their agreement, she thought.
But one look at the hungry way he was devouring her from across the way quickly dissolved that notion. As she narrowed her eyes on him she thought he looked freshly bruised along his cheekbones. As if he’d been punched in the face and broken his nose. There appeared to be dark circles under his eyes.
No. That had to be a trick of the firelight and darkness. How could he possibly have gotten into a fight all the way out here? Wouldn’t he have said something about it?
He was still staring at her and she looked away, terribly discomforted.
Maxum was toying with her. It was cruel, he knew, but he couldn’t seem to help himself. Of course, it wasn’t all that hard for him to imagine himself taking advantage of that supple young body. He had come close to it the night before only to be denied in a cruel twist of fate. The fact that she had conned him hadn’t seemed to put a damper on the way his body had wanted hers. Neither did hours of being crushed beneath the rock and soil. He had found himself a stream to wash up in after the dirt had spit him out, but he still felt the grime of it under his skin and he still was healing broken bones.
Still he wanted her. He had to admit that. His appetite for her had not waned. In fact, it seemed to be growing. Damn her for teasing him…for kissing him. He couldn’t seem to forget the sweetness of her flavor, couldn’t keep himself from wanting more.
But he wouldn’t take her until they were on equal footing. He didn’t want her to give herself to him because she felt she had no other choices. He would wait until she had some fortune in her pockets…until she no longer needed to be with them…until she only wanted to be with them. Then he might take her.
Might. He wasn’t going to give it too much thought. He had other goals. Bedding a little thief should not be one of them. Bedding her would not get him what he needed.
Still, that didn’t mean he couldn’t entertain himself in the interim.
He made a show of stretching out and yawning.
“All right, boys. It’s time for bed. Come on, little thief. You’ll be sharing my bedroll tonight.”
He watched her pale in the firelight. She stood up and he could see her hands were shaking. But she took a deep breath and followed him to where he’d laid out his bedroll. He dropped down onto it and pulled off his boots. Other than that, he didn’t disrobe. He never did when they were on the road. He wanted to be able to move at a moment’s notice if needed. Sometimes he didn’t even take his boots off. But he wanted to give her the impression he was undressing so he pulled his shirt free of his breeches.
The panicked look that entered her eyes almost made him laugh and give himself away. But he wanted to enjoy this to the last possible second. Payback for her stealing from him.
“I have my monthly woman’s blood!” she blurted out suddenly.
He froze for a minute, absorbing the missile. Then he smiled and said, “So? I do not care. I am not squeamish about such things.”
He reached out for her and she yelped and jumped back. He grinned, enjoying himself a great deal.
“Come now, a bargain is a bargain. It’s me or…if you’d prefer the rest of the men…” He trailed off meaningfully.
She looked from him to the other men. Doisy chose that moment to give in to a bout of flatulence. Kyno was picking at his nose. Kilon was scratching his ass. Maxum couldn’t have orchestrated the moment any better. She deflated. “No,” she said glumly. “You’ll do.”
He ought to have been insulted. And he was. But that didn’t keep him from ringing an arm around her waist and jerking her forward, her small body thumping against his. Just the feel of her up against him was stimulating to him. He should tell her she was free of the promise to service him and his men, but he wasn’t quite ready yet. He jerked her mouth beneath his and kissed her until she melted bonelessly in his arms. All the tension simply bled out of her and she went lax and sweet against him. Her mouth fell open and he readily took the invitation, slipping a searching tongue into her mouth.
Ah, damn she was sweet. There was just something about the way she tasted, so smooth and sultry and beckoning. He found himself wishing she hadn’t stolen from him the night before, wishing they were on equal terms and he’d been able to bed her like he’d wanted to in that inn room.
Then she bit down on his tongue, kneed him in the crotch, and ran.
She reached Hero in a flash, throwing herself up onto his bare back. She heard a bellowing roar of pain and fury, but she didn’t stop to look. She kicked Hero’s sides and sent the horse bolting forward. So what if Hero’s saddle, her saddlebags, and provisions were all on the ground by the bedroll she had laid out? She didn’t care. She was getting out of there as fast as she could.
She was riding like the eight hells were yawning open to get her. She didn’t look back once, which was why she wasn’t expecting a hand to grab her at the back of her neck, seizing a fistful of her shirt and plucking her right off Hero’s back.
She screamed and kicked and fought against him. She went for a dagger but only got it out of the sheath before he was wrenching her wrist and forcing her to drop it to the ground.
“Enough, you little hellcat! Enough!” he bellowed.
He dragged her across his lap, her fanny up in the air as he kneed the horse to a halt. He smacked a hand down hard on her buttocks and she yelped with pain and indignation.
“Let me go!” she cried, as she tried to wriggle away.
“If you’d shut up and sit still for two seconds we can put an end to this!” he roared.
With that terrible tone it sank in that she was done for. There was nothing she could do. She might as well stop fighting. If he was this determined to have her, she would just shut her eyes and be done with it. She would find a way to escape him come the morning…or whenever they got to Docking Bay.
She deflated in his lap, hanging there over the sides of his horse dejectedly. She rode like that as he walked the horses back to the campsite in total silence. Maxum’s men were all still sitting around the fire, watching their leader with an unconcerned air. When they approached his bedroll he dropped her unceremoniously to the ground, sending her onto her butt in the dirt, and dismounted. Then he reached for her, causing her to back away on hands and heels. But, of course, he caught her and yanked her up off the ground and into his body.
“Take off your pants,” he barked at her.
“No!” she shouted back, unable to keep from fighting him even though it was a lost cause.
“Do it!”
Defeated and with shaking hands she moved to obey, untying the laces of her breeches. She then hooked her thumbs into the waistband and shucked them down her legs.
She stood there shivering in her underwear as she handed him the pants. She tried to hide herself from the interested gazes of his men but there was little she could do other than to put Maxum between their eyes and her body. He folded her pants neatly, dropped down onto his bedroll and tucked them under his head like a pillow as he settled in. She stood there in puzzlement as he closed his eyes and made as though he were going to sleep. She stood indecisively for a full minute.
“Go lie down and go to sleep,” he barked at her. “Cover up. It’s chilly tonight.”
Not knowing what else to do, she dropped down onto his bedroll and snuggled up under the blanket. He was right—it was cold and he had her pants.
Maxum had meant for her to go to her own bedroll, but she had misunderstood. True, he’d made no effort to explain, but he had thought it would be obvious he wasn’t interested in her. Not anymore. His tongue and balls still hurt from her last attack on him.
“I lost my dagger,” she said softly.
He opened his eyes and looked at her. ??
?We’ll get it in the morning.”
“I only have the two.”
“Go to sleep,” he commanded.
Recognizing that it was too cold for him to lie outside of the blanket, he lifted it up and joined her beneath it. Her warmth immediately seeped into him from head to toe even though she went rigid and held herself as far away from him as she could and yet still remain under the blanket. Growling with frustration and annoyance he ringed an arm around her waist and jerked her back into the bend of his body, seating her bottom into the lee of his hips and her back to his chest. They would keep each other warm at least.
She lay there stiffly for a good ten minutes, until she was sure he wasn’t going to do anything else. Puzzled and exhausted, she finally drifted off to sleep.
The next morning she awoke to the feel of an erection prodding against her bottom. With a squeak she went to pull away, but there was a powerful arm banded around her waist keeping her right where she was. She slowly inched around until she could see his face.
He was asleep. Or most of him was—there was still that stellar erection to consider. She finally took the time to really look at him. He was blond—a dark gold blond—a perfect foil for those green eyes. His hair was shoulder length and fell in fat, lazy curls. Sleeping as he was, his hair fell haphazardly over his face and gave him an almost innocent appearance.
Almost.
There was too much ruggedness and hard living on his features. Not that he looked aged and worn, but just…hard. She got the feeling that life had not been very kind to him. She felt a little guilty for her attack on him the night before, but what had he expected? That she would just roll over and service his needs?
Well, at least she had figured out a way to avoid that. But that was one night. What was she going to do all the other nights if she stayed with them? No. She had to get to Docking Bay and find some other way to make her way in the world. She simply could not live up to this agreement.
“I didn’t plan on making you, you know,” he said suddenly, startling her. Her gaze shot to his.
“Making me?”
“I was just giving you a hard time. I wasn’t really going to make you service me and my men. I wouldn’t do that.”
“You wouldn’t?” she asked suspiciously.
“No,” he said.
She instantly flared with temper. “Then why did you take my pants? Why didn’t you tell me this last night?”
“I didn’t want you trying to run away in the middle of the night. And last night I was angry. I tend to get that way after someone bites off my tongue and knees me in my balls.”
“Ooo!” she ground out. She leapt to her feet and held out her hand with a snap. “Give me my pants!”
With an unrepentant grin he let his eyes roam down her body, taking his time as he coasted down her bare legs. She shivered…and not entirely from the fact that she was standing in her drawers in the cold of the damp morning. Slowly, without any sign of regret, he removed her pants from beneath his head and held them out to her.
“Besides, it’s better to sleep together when it’s cold like this.”
“Then sleep with Doisy next time!” she spat as she shoved one leg into her pants dancing around as she struggled to get her other leg into the tight breeches. Eventually she was forced to sit back down on his bedroll and squirm into them on the ground. She laced them up tightly, yanking at the laces in a temper. “That had to be the most despicable thing I’ve ever been a victim to!”
“And that’s just what burns you,” he said with a lazy stretch. “That you feel you were a victim. I’m thinking you don’t like thinking that way about yourself.”
“Does anyone like thinking themselves a victim?” she snapped.
“Some do. Don’t be so defensive. It’s one of the things I like about you. One of the reasons I’m letting you stay on with us.”
Her temper cooled a little bit and she looked at him from the corner of her eye. “You’re going to let me stay on?”
“For a little while. Provided you make yourself useful and not a hindrance to our goals. But the minute you become too much trouble I’ll drop you like a hot rock.”
She still regarded him with suspicion. “No other conditions?”
“You cook, you clean up, you mend. Just like we agreed. But other than that, no other conditions.”
“And I want ten percent.”
“Five,” he said mildly. But before she could get her back up he said, “Prove yourself once and I’ll seriously consider bumping you up to ten.”
She snorted. “ ‘Seriously consider’? That’s man-speak for ‘it’ll never happen.’ ”
“Not true. My, what a jaded view of men you have.”
“Is there any reason why I shouldn’t?” she groused.
“True. Men aren’t the least bit trustworthy.”
“Some more than others,” she said meaningfully.
He laughed. “Put your boots on and go into my saddlebags. You’ll find dried pork and hard bread for breaking our fast.”
“And what are you going to do?”
“Watch you,” he said, lying back and tucking his hands behind his head with a grin.
“You…you…” But she forced herself to bite her tongue. She should be grateful that she was going to be able to stay with them. That there were no longer any untenable conditions to her staying. As she marched over to his bags, which were only two feet away, she began to understand that her luck might be changing. The understanding made it hard for her to stay angry with him.
She fetched the bread and the pork and returned to his side. Sitting cross-legged, she pulled the bread apart and gave him half and handed him several pieces of the pork jerky. The meat was very salty, so she got up and fetched some water from an animal skin that also hung from his saddle. They traded the skin back and forth in silence for several long minutes.
“So where are we going?” she asked. He laughed out loud.
“I knew it was too good to last.”
“What?”
“The silence from you. Why is it so important for you to know where we are going? We’re going to Docking Bay, like I said.”
“But then where?” she asked. She winced at his dirty look. “Why can’t you just tell me?”
“Because it doesn’t really matter where we’re going now, does it? You’re going to follow us no matter what. You don’t really have any other choice now, do you?”
“I could leave. I could go somewhere…steal something…make my way. I’ve done it before.”
“Except you owe me and you have to repay your debt first.”
“Debt! What debt?” she demanded.
“I got your horse out of the inn for you.”
“Oh please. What was that, a silver? One silver and a few coppers? It’s not like you can’t afford it. I saw the way you all were throwing your money around at the inn.”
“It’s the principle of the thing,” he said.
“Oh, like you have so many principles.” She belched a scoffing laugh.
“I do. You don’t know me well enough to say otherwise.”
“I know enough. I know you tricked me into thinking I was going to have to service every man in this group.”
“I didn’t trick you into anything. You agreed to it, remember? You’re the one reneging on an agreement, not me.”
Damn it, he had a point. But she was going to be the last to admit that. “Well, it was very wrong of you to make me think…it was very wrong.”
“Mayhap it was. But I suppose it’s all a matter of perspective now, isn’t it?”
He sat up and stretched again before snatching up one of his boots and putting it on. “Come on, let’s find that dagger of yours.”
She had forgotten all about it. Eager to find it she pulled on her boots and followed him to his saddle. When he picked it up she went over to hers and made her way to Hero. She saddled him with practiced ease then swung up into the saddle.
Maxum wouldn’t
admit it to her, but he was impressed with her strength and determination. She hoisted her saddle with ease, didn’t ask for a lick of help. Clearly didn’t need to. She was unlike so many of the women he knew. Oh, he knew a few female warriors, but not many. Certainly none her size. Most of the women he came across were pretty much helpless. He supposed they could keep a house or some such thing, but overall, pretty useless. Women were meant to look pretty and make babies in his opinion. But every so often one would surprise him—like Airianne. Although he had never met anyone quite like her. He wondered what she’d be like in pitched battle. Not very useful, he surmised. She was just too small really. He wondered if he was going to regret bringing her with them. He already knew some of the men questioned the wisdom of the thing. They didn’t question him, they didn’t dare, but he knew they were questioning it just the same.
He rode beside her down the forest path, his eyes scanning over the ground. It had been dark last night and he didn’t really know how far they’d made it before turning back, so he really didn’t know what the chances were of them finding the missing dagger.
After half an hour of looking, he opened his mouth to tell her it was lost and they should head back.
“Don’t say it!” she said.
“It’s just a dagger. I’ll get you a new one.”
“I don’t want a new one. I want that one. It’s my lucky dagger.”
“What’s so lucky about it?”
“You wouldn’t understand,” she said with a frown, her eyes still tracking over the ground.
“Try and explain,” he said.
She shot him a wary glance.
“An old friend gave it to me. He said it would never fail me and so far it hasn’t.”
“It failed you last night,” he pointed out.
“It didn’t fail me,” she said. “I just wasn’t meant to use it on you.”
He laughed condescendingly. “You weren’t meant to?”
“Well, look at the big picture. Do you believe in fate? In the way of Hella?”
“You’re religious?” he asked incredulously.