Kiss Across Swords (Kiss Across Time Series) (18 page)

“There will be no fighting for at least three days. The siege engines won’t be ready for at least that long,” Taylor countered. “In the meantime, the knights you have can take care of any skirmishes.”

“You are an astute woman,” Selkirk responded. “However, it still leaves the question of
why
you want William’s services for this search for water.” He sat back on the big chair.

“Why do my motives have to be a part of the bargain?” she demanded. “You would not ask this of a man.”

“True,” Selkirk replied easily. “But as I have the commodity you seek, you must fall in with my conditions. Yes?”

Taylor seethed. “Yes,” she replied, as sweetly as she could.

Selkirk’s smile was broad. “I heard that you kissed him.”

Taylor drew a calming breath. “You heard correctly.”

She enjoyed seeing Selkirk’s eyes widen. “You do not deny it?”

“It was a greeting. A gesture. The French—the Normans—do it all the time. But of course in this camp where boredom has driven everyone to invent games and fantasies, a simple kiss of greeting becomes something wicked, instead.” She smiled at Selkirk. “I have heard the same rumor myself, at least three times. Each time it becomes more exaggerated. Next, they will have it that my husband and myself are trying to seduce your captain or something silly like that.”

Selkirk actually blushed.

Taylor spread her hands. “My husband and I are familiar with William’s past and his expertise. He knows the lands around here and the ways of the desert dwellers. He will be an asset on our search for water and food. That is the sum total of my motives in asking for his assistance. The reason I approached you instead of my husband is that I wished to surprise him with this arrangement, for he is feeling the strain of this assignment. I thought William’s company would be a welcome addition.”

Selkirk sat back and thought about it. “In the end all mysteries are so simple, aren’t they?”

“There has been speculation, then?” Taylor asked, feeling a touch of alarm.

“One or two questions, Lady Norwich. That is all. Your reputation is far from besmirched, let me assure you.” He stretched out his legs and crossed them at the ankles. “It is an intriguing offer, my lady, but in all honesty the threat of the Fatimids is greater than my domestic troubles. I can’t risk sending Will on a trek into the desert that would bring no bounty to my men, simply to satisfy a personal gain.”

Taylor knew she had no authority to offer a portion of the water or food they found, either.

She was stumped. Then she remembered something Selkirk had said earlier and sat up.

“I’ll bet you for Will,” she said.

“Excuse me?”

“A wager,” she re-interpreted.

Selkirk’s eyes narrowed and an eager expression crept into his face. Clearly, the troops on the ground weren’t the only ones suffering from
ennui
.

“How do we decide the matter?” he asked.

“There’s a game called Rock, Paper—I mean, Parchment, Sheers.” Taylor got to her feet and pushed back her sleeves.

Brody rose from his crouch in front of the fire as the hoof beats grew closer. They were at the far south end of the encamped Christian forces. To the south lay nothing but desert, so anyone coming this way was coming for the camp, the fire or the siege engine they guarded.

“Someone comes at great speed,” Alexander observed. His olive face was calm. He was a Fatimid, but a Christian and lived a precarious life constantly justifying his existence to anyone he came across. It had not surprised Brody to find Alexander working on the most remote fringes of the Christian forces. He was outcast no matter where he went.

“They’ll kill that horse, riding it at that rate,” another soldier murmured on the other side of the fire.

Somehow, Brody knew this was about him. He turned to face into the inky black night and waited.

It didn’t take long for the horse to appear, not ridden like that. Its forelegs climbed into the air in front of Brody as the rider yanked on the reins, halting it. Froth gathered at the bit and the inside of its nose showed red.

“You!” Veris roared, pointing at Brody. He jumped from the back of the horse, landing lightly in the sand, despite the height. He threw the reins to the terrified page who’d come running and strode over to Brody. His forefinger thudded against Brody’s chest. “I will have words with you, Norwich.”

Alexander rose gracefully to his feet. “I will give you the fire, my lord,” he said and bowed. “Until the morrow.” He turned to the others. “Come, come my friends. Let us find another fire and wine.” The others grumbled, but not very loudly. Veris’ anger kept their protests down to almost nothing. Alexander gathered them up and swept them away with quiet promises of more drink, more food, more laughter. They shuffled off across the sand toward the next campfire where there was a minstrel singing softly, leaving Brody alone with the heaving horse, a half completed siege engine and Veris, filled with more pent up fury than Brody had ever seen in him.

“I’ve had the devil’s own time finding you,” Veris complained. “Your men didn’t know where you went.”

“How
did
you find me?” Brody asked curiously.

Veris stepped closer. “Your scent, vampire. I’ve marked it now.”

It still would have been a hell of a task to track him. Brody’s search for sustenance tonight had taken longer and been more protracted than usual because of sentries and alert guards. He’d wandered farther than usual.

Veris’ hand trembled as he gripped Brody’s tunic. “How on earth could you marry that…that creature?” he breathed.

Ahhh
. Brody wondered what Taylor had done, but at the same time he mentally kissed her. She had prodded Veris somehow and wound him up to the point where he had been shot like a bolt straight at Brody.

“Tyra is unlike any human you have ever met.” Brody kept his voice calm. Quiet.

Veris whirled away. “Humans!” He laughed, but it sounded tight, hard.

Brody caught his breath as he realized that Veris wasn’t just angry. He was aroused. Taylor had reached through his considerable defenses and touched him, strongly enough to send him running for the one person he thought he wanted.

Brendan.

Brody acted fast. Vampire speed fast. He grabbed Veris by the back of the neck and pushed him up against the half-completed siege engine. The wooden sides creaked as their combined weights tested it.

Veris groaned, his hands spread against the wooden wall, trying to press back. But he was too surprised to do much and Brody had his legs spread and the weight off his feet before he could balance himself for a counter move.

Brody pressed up behind Veris, leaning his whole weight against Veris’ back. His heart skittered at the familiar contact.

He snaked his arm underneath Veris’ and grabbed the man’s throat. Veris didn’t need to breath for a while, but he knew Brody could take out his throat with that grip if he needed to. It kept Veris locked in that position as solidly as with irons. He didn’t know that Brody would sooner tear out his own heart.

Brody closed his eyes. Their positions reminded him of so many other times and places. He pushed the memories away. Those memories were all at risk if he didn’t play
this
moment exactly right.

“You liked what she did to you,” Brody breathed in Veris’ ear. “That is what you will not admit to yourself. A mere human knows you better than you feel comfortable with and it’s driving you mad that you’re responding to her.” Brody reached under Veris’ tunic and heard his hard exhalation as Brody’s hand found his thigh. The thigh trembled.

“Who is she?” Veris breathed.

“Your future,” Brody told him. He found the opening in Veris’
braies
and pushed his hand inside. “So am I.” He closed his hand around his cock. He wasn’t surprised to find it as hard as marble.

Veris groaned, his eyes closing. “Impossible,” he muttered. “I decide…”

“You will,” Brody assured him, stroking smoothly, the way Veris liked it best. He could feel Veris responding, the tautness in his hips, the gathering tension in his back. His breathing shallowed. His hands against the wood curled, trying to tighten into fists.

Brody’s own body was hard with excitement, his cock pulsing. So close, so close…

Abruptly, Veris pushed back with a roar of protest. Brody had let his grip on Veris’ throat relax and the bigger man reared back, pushing himself off the wall. It took upper body strength that few men, even few vampires, possessed, especially deep in the grip of direct and erotic arousal.

Veris moved with a speed Brody barely was able to follow. He spun, his arm slamming across Brody’s chest. Brody was dragged around in almost a complete semi-circle. His back slapped up again the wood.

Brody remembered to breathe again.

The
speed
at which their positions had been reversed… He’d always known Veris had been strong, but Veris had never used that strength against him in anger. Brody could feel the trembling deep inside him.

Veris’ eyes were inches from his. Hard. Unforgiving.

“I decide,” Veris said flatly. “Not you.”

“You’ve always had that choice,” Brody said truthfully.

The hardness, the anger in his eyes shifted. Puzzlement crept in. He leaned even closer. His face tucked into the nape of Brody’s neck. Brody heard him take a delicate sniff.

Veris lifted his head to look Brody in the eye. “You’ve fed tonight.” His voice was strained.

Veris always loved taking Brody when he was freshly fed, hot with new blood and vital with humanness. This younger Veris didn’t know that was what he was responding to now, but he was feeling the pull of it, anyway.

Brody tried to breathe around the restricting iron band of Veris’ arm against his chest. “I’ve fed tonight,” he confirmed, his voice low.

Veris’ canines descended. He growled deep in the back of his throat. The predator was rising.

Brody did the only thing he knew that was guaranteed to keep the predator at bay. He kissed him.

Brody could only move his head. Veris was the stronger one, even despite Brody having fed so recently. So he pressed his lips against Veris’ and it was like every other kiss they had ever shared. Brody felt like he had come home. He leaned into it, driving his tongue deeper, pouring his soul and heart into the man.

It felt right that Veris’ hand would grasp his hair and hold him steady. The barely-heard groan at the back of his throat made Brody’s body tighten and thrum even harder.

So when Veris gripped his wrist and sliced the knife through his hand, pinning it to the wall, Brody was shocked speechless. He stared at Veris as the man backed away, barely even feeling the petty pain of the knife.

“You and she are trying to bewitch me,” Veris accused.

Brody felt an insane urge to laugh. He shook his head. “You, a vampire, are concerned about witchcraft?”

“You pursue me,” Veris insisted.

Brody shrugged, even though it made his pinned hand hurt like crazy. He could feel blood running down his arm. “Of course. Are you so arrogant, you must only ever be the one to hunt?”

Something darkened and shifted behind Veris’ eyes. It alarmed Brody.

“I’ve lost my taste for this game, Norwich. Stay away, do you hear me?”

Brody desperately sought for words to claw this moment back, to reverse it. None would come.

“Do you hear me?” Veris demanded. He was moving away, leaving. The shadows of the night were swallowing him.

Reluctantly, Brody nodded.

Veris was gone.

* * * * *

Taylor heard the thud of a horse being ridden hard. At this time of night, it could only be Brody returning. She almost threw herself off the bed and raced out of the tent, into the moonlight and firelight, to see the horse halt with a spray of white sand. Brody saw her and focused on her. His face was grim and hard with some emotion she could barely process for the news pressing against her own heart.

He jumped off the horse and came straight to her, for which she would be forever grateful. No leisurely time with his men, orders, lingering jovial moments in this man’s world.