Geared for Pleasure (13 page)

She had been so distracted by her inner turmoil that she hadn’t noticed the door opening. How had she missed it?

Bodhan made an imposing figure framed in the doorway, the light behind him throwing him into shadow. He took a step back, gesturing with his arm to invite her in.

Willing her feet to move, Dare let her gaze flit from the panoramic view of the sea to the luxuriously inviting bed beside it. A bed she had once been invited to share.

Had he done what Phina said he never would? Had he chosen one of the other women to fill his bed while she was stuck playing sticks with the bored guards? The voluptuous Ivory perhaps?

She took a deep, slow breath, telling herself she was not interested in his bed, his sexual proclivities, or his reasons for staying away.

“Dare.”

She whirled to face him, and it became clear there were sights far more dangerous for her peace of mind than his bed. Shirtless, irresistible sights.

Having an unobstructed view of Bodhan’s muscled chest and broad shoulders made Dare feel as though she was still trapped in her constricting corset. She had imagined him like this for days, but he defied all her fantasies. Surpassed them.

She let out a long, shaky breath and let her gaze drift over the lean, chiseled angles of his chest and stomach. The broad shoulders
and back narrowing to his waist. His skin like dusk, with a sheen of sweat making him glisten, making her mouth dry with the need to press her lips to his skin.

There were scars on his left arm and side. Jagged and deep. She opened her mouth to ask how he’d gotten them, but was distracted by the brand on his right arm. It was… unusual.

She knew most members of the Wode, as well as particular tradesmen, had distinctive brands on their skin as a source of pride. Some had more than one, branding their arms, enhancing the scars with colored dyes to show their alignment with a special group inside their caste. It was their way of setting themselves apart.

Dare and her companion guard were not permitted branding when they were given their Arendal and Senedal names. In fact, they were the first Sword and Chalice to be without that honor since the creation of the post.

Several members of the Theorrean Raj had instituted the ban as a new safeguard upon Dare’s arrival at the palace. They’d stated the queen’s companion guards, with their intimate knowledge of Her Majesty, could be punished or used in some way to harm the queen. Without identification, they cited, one shield guard looked much the same as another. In keeping this change secret, they protected themselves, and Queen Idony, that much more.

Dare envied his mark but did not recognize the design. Was it unique to owners of submersible brothels? Or merely meant to draw her attention to his lean biceps?

She swallowed. If the latter, it was effective. And focusing on the clothed parts of him did little to ease her anxiety. He still wore his black buckled boots, his dark, fitted pants and, if she was not mistaken, the gun strapped to his thigh.

That
made her heart race for an entirely different reason.

“You wished to see me?” Dare subtly changed her stance, readying herself in case she was wrong about him. In case her current
belief that, despite his criminal behavior, he had nothing to do with Idony’s disappearance, was incorrect. Wouldn’t James Stacy be surprised if Bodhan disappointed so dramatically?

The “boss” was taking his own inventory of her outfit, and whatever he saw made him grin. “I hadn’t realized I’d hired a guard so short in stature. I told them to clothe you, but I had no idea they would give you a uniform. Who did you talk into getting you that?” He held up his hand. “Don’t tell me. James is ready to leave Coral for you and will do anything you ask.”

Dare’s chin rose defensively. “Never.
He
is too loyal. He simply knew I would be more comfortable. There was no reason for me to dress in finery for myself. Certainly no reason for me to stay in that revealing costume around the guards.” He stiffened at her reference. “I could have been wearing Ministry robes, for all it mattered. Your men kept me well hidden.”

“That was for your protection.” He stepped closer, his smile turning sensual. “I like you in finery.” His gaze dropped to the formfitting, but not confining, uniform. In particular, the front seam of her pants. “Then again, there is something to be said for this look on you. Less a princess and more a little warrior. In fact, one might say you look too comfortable in a guard’s uniform. As if you were born to it. Though we both know there is no way you could have been. Anyone can see by looking at you that you are only half Wode. Correct?”

Her cheeks warmed again and she tugged her brown button-down jacket self-consciously. Perhaps this had been a bad choice of outfit, adding fuel to the flames of his suspicions, but she felt more prepared to face her departure than she would have in flounces of lace. “One might also say that your look is too comfortable as well. Should I wait outside while you finish dressing?”

He chuckled. “Then you admit you were looking. I thought you were too proper for that, princess.”

She grimaced. He was right, she
had
been looking. “I admit to
nothing. Perhaps you could tell me what it was you wanted to see me about instead? And why now?”

“I wanted to apologize.”

She hadn’t been expecting that. “For what?”

How had he gotten so close?

“For taking you aboard the Siren instead of waiting for you to make a choice. For allowing you to wake in a strange environment in chains. For making you a part of my parlor games and putting you in danger, despite my better judgment…” His voice trailed off as his hand reached up to finger a button on her coat.

Dare licked her dry lips and made an attempt to seem unaffected. “I volunteered for that. I wanted to help.”

Bodhan’s jaw tightened. “You did. In fact, because of your actions I believe I learned more secrets than I’d planned on.”

She hesitated. “Are you sorry for what happened in the lift?” Why had she asked that? If he was, she had no desire to know it. It was a memory she wanted to hold on to after she was gone.

His ice-colored gaze snared hers. “No. Never for that. That is the one thing about this particular journey I will not apologize for.”

He had no regrets about what happened between them? Despite his misgivings about her? Her secrets? “Oh.”

“Oh, she says.” His head bent until his lips were a breath away from hers. “I can only hope you will remain this biddable for my next request.”

“Request?” Was it wrong for her to hope he would ask her for a kiss instead of her silence? “Would this have to do with our arrival at Two Moon Bay? I promise I will breathe no word about the Siren, though it seems I am the only one living who had no knowledge of its existence.”

Even Cyrus had known. James had talked about him, too. He
had
been here. Cyrus Arendal had come to the Siren in disguise, and
somehow, between his last night aboard and the passengers disembarking, he’d gone missing.

Dare now knew it was Lennis’s partner. She also knew Seraphina had been attempting to seduce Cyrus. She had to talk to the Felidae once they were freed. Had to find out everything she knew. Surely Phina would want to help. Unless she’d been an accomplice.

Bodhan’s response was slow. “Not the only one. But no, my request has to do with my curiosity. I’m afraid it must be satisfied before I can let you leave. You were too capable with Lennis. Uncowed by his threats, too sure of his incapacitation. You know more than you should for being so unschooled in so many other areas. Very like the last
half-breed
I had on board and I simply have to know why. To know if I’m right and that you are not at all what you seem to be.” He stepped back abruptly, his expression closed. “Take off the jacket, Dare.”

“Pardon me?” His words held no seductive timbre. This was no request. It was a command. Did he suspect she was pure Wode? A palace shield guard? Connected to Cyrus? She should have never left the safety of his hidden room. Regardless, he could not learn her secrets. The queen’s life depended on her. Everything did.

“Take. Off. Your. Jacket.” His fingers tapped out a warning against his holster. Was he threatening her?

Her ire was as intense as it was unexpected. This was not the gentleman the women fawned over and the guards idolized. This man was a bully. “I see. Do you intend to finish what Nettles started then? Or Lennis? Did you allow me safe passage, keep me hidden with the guards so I would feel beholden to you? So that I would experience more humiliation when you finally demanded your compensation?”

The lift of his eyebrows was subtle, but the burst of true surprise and confusion she sensed from him was as clear as desert glass.
It had never even occurred to him.

He raised both hands, palms up, in her direction. “I have told you before that I have never, nor would I ever, force a woman. I believe you should know
that
, if nothing else about me, from our short acquaintance. I could have seduced you fully in the lift. Could have taken you the other night. Believe me, it crossed my mind, all the ways I could have had you.” He shook his head. “You have been safe aboard the Siren as I promised. How can you still think so little of me? There is a reason for my request, but it is not your humiliation.”

“Too late for that.” She turned on her heel, her unblinking eyes focused on the door. “If you will please excuse me.”

He was there before she could reach for the brass knob. “I cannot. I do apologize, sincerely and profusely, but I must insist. No matter what you think of me afterwards, right now you must remove your jacket, no more than that, and then I will let you leave.”

Dare was shaking with rage, disappointment, and regret. The last was the hardest to take. She had been safe with him. She’d begun to trust him. And then he’d locked her away, only requesting her presence to prove something to himself. To steal some of her secrets.

She lifted her hands to the top button of her jacket, knowing Bodhan was watching her every move. She thought of what Phina told her. She had no clue what he was attempting to do, why he had made such an inappropriate request, but perhaps she could discover it for herself. Loosen his lips for her own purposes.

She took a long, calming breath and her fingers slowed, releasing the first catch. She glanced up at him from beneath her lashes and, recalling an expression she’d watched Seraphina use with some success, attempted a coy smile.

A vein pulsed in his temple, and with it, Dare felt the change come over him. Emotions that had been consistent, if tempered, sparking to unrestrained life.

Distraction. Desire.

She could do this if she could keep her own feelings under
control, not allow her own fantasies or desires to take hold. There was nothing for him to find that would reveal her identity. All she had to do was focus.

She released the second button, knowing she wore nothing beneath but a thin muslin band to restrain her breasts. Would he be shocked by it? As aroused as he had been in this very room, when she’d worn nothing but a strategically wrapped scarf? When he’d had her bound? Perhaps he would take her breasts into his mouth again, or change his mind about whatever it was he was trying to do.

Perhaps, in lieu of that, he would be distracted enough to remove himself from her path of escape. She could return to the safety of the guard barracks below and wait to surface.

The idea was not as appealing as she’d imagined it would be.

Need.
There was no disguising how each newly revealed inch of her flesh increased his arousal. The vulnerability beneath his desire.

Bodhan’s mercurial behavior made Dare waver as she unhooked the last button. What was he really after? The truth he’d said. But what truth? That she wasn’t to be trusted? That she was Wode? Or that he could resist the feelings she could clearly sense. Feelings she shared.

She held the edges of her jacket together with clenched fingers, unable to hold her tongue. “What is it you expect to find? Why are you armed against someone you know is no threat to you? Someone who arouses you? Someone who helped you? You have yet to tell me what you learned from Lennis.”

Had she truly said that aloud? Despite her embarrassment, she refused to look away when Bodhan let go an open-throated laugh.

“I have one less question, my princess.” When her brow furrowed he elaborated. “Your name. Blunt, thy name is Dare. How could you be called anything less?” He unstrapped the holster on his thigh and set it behind him on the desk. “I learned he has a partner named Muller, and that neither are the brains behind what is happening.
Whoever
is
has unlimited funding and resources, but Lennis has never met them in person. You were the one who confirmed the people had been taken to the Avici. As to the pistol, I’d forgotten I had it on, princess.” His grin was distracting. “I would never
dare
… You would no doubt break my arm before I could take aim, warrior that you are.”

He chuckled again, and she felt oddly insulted. He’d lost his tension. Was he laughing at her? “You are amused at my expense?”

“No, no of course not.” He shrugged. “This is more at my own expense. I am a hardened criminal after all.” His voice sounded mocking to her ears. Dismissive. “My kind sees conspiracies and spies where none exist.”

Why was she not relieved? “You don’t believe I could fool you?”

“I don’t believe you mean harm to me or mine. I don’t believe you would fool me. It isn’t in your nature. You will omit, you will distract, but you do not hide your feelings well. You would never be a very good spy, princess. I am paying you a compliment. You are most certainly keeping things from me, but you are no sabateur or threat. You are too much of an innocent.”

Dare dropped her arms and let her jacket fall to the floor, feminine satisfaction coursing through her limbs at his stunned reaction. “All things I believed I told you when we first met. And innocent or no, I think you’ll find me a quick study.”

Bodhan’s stare burned through the loosely woven fabric and Dare’s body reacted, her nipples hardening to a near painful degree.