SnaredbySaber (15 page)

“Punishment and pleasure,” he said, and
stroked her pussy with his dick.

“Again? Already?”

“Must be the comfortable sleep-bed.” He
wondered for an instant if she’d turn and look at him, but to his relief, she
remained with her head down, in the position he’d placed her.

She chuckled. “I feel wonderful. Maybe it
is
the bed.”

She hadn’t mentioned her neck, yet she’d
cried out when his teeth had bitten into her flesh. Saber tried to remember the
legend, the things his father had told him as a teenager. He wished he’d
listened harder instead of fidgeting like the embarrassed teen he’d been.

Saber moved over Eva until he was draped
along her back. He guided his cock to her entrance and pushed into her in a
seamless stroke. “You feel so good, kitten. I love fucking you.”

“Feels good on my end too,” she whispered.

He withdrew and thrust again in an easy
plunge.

The white shapes floating around the bed
took on the faint hue of color. No amount of blinking changed the fact that
they were becoming more corporeal. Saber’s gaze went to the tiny leopard at her
neck. That hadn’t disappeared either.

He pushed into her, thought he rather loved
her new tattoo, and gave in to the temptation to lick the black cat. She
trembled hard and her pussy tightened around his dick.

Holy fuck.

He repeated the lick and she responded in
the same way, massaging his cock internally.

He quickened his strokes until he was
slamming into her. He licked the tattoo at her neck and slipped one hand
between her legs to tease her clit. She came almost immediately. Saber groaned.
Thrust into her for two hard strokes. Felt good. Too good.

He wanted to hold back his orgasm, hold on
to this magical sensation thrumming through his veins. But his third thrust
annihilated his brain, pushing him into a mind-blowing climax.

He gasped for breath, his pulse thundering
in his head as he planted his weight firmly on her back.

The whisper of a sound had his eyes
opening, and he saw a man sitting in a chair by the side of the bed, one knee
crossed over the other while he nursed a glass of ruby wine.

“Something wrong?” Eva asked?

Saber moved off her quickly and drew her
protectively into his embrace.

“What—
Frying fungus
,” she muttered
when her gaze hit the same spot as his.

The man—who was clothed like a male out of
one of the old costume dramas his mother and sister enjoyed so much—lifted his
glass in silent salute. Then he smiled.

“Thank you,” he said in a rich voice. An
upper-class voice that also belonged in one of those bloody costume dramas.

When Saber started to speak, the man held
up a hand. Saber shut his mouth and waited. No need to panic—not until the man
threatened Eva. Then all bets were off.

“Thank you for gifting us with your sexual
energy.” He smacked his lips. “A very piquant flavor. Tasty.”

“Who are you?” Eva asked.

Saber’s arm tightened around her shoulders
but a sense of pride filled him. His woman was full of courage.

“We are an incorporeal race. For so long we
have been starved of energy. So long,” he said. “But you have gifted us well.
We’ll leave you in peace.” The man lifted his glass in another salute, took a
sip and faded away in front of their eyes.

“Well, hell,” Saber muttered, still staring
at the empty chair.

“I wish he’d taken the chair with him. If I
need to use the restrooms in the early hours of the morning, I might stub my
toe.”

No sooner had she said the words than the
chair disappeared, a rich chuckle echoing in the air around them.

“Hell,” Saber repeated. “Was that real?”

“If you’re hallucinating then so am I,” Eva
said, staring at the empty spot where both man and chair had been.

“They were all around us while we were
making love,” Saber said, his gaze turning to hers. His green eyes glowed a
little eerily, yet she didn’t fear for her safety. The ghostly man hadn’t scared
her either. Something had told her they had nothing to fear.

“And you didn’t say anything?”

“I thought I was seeing things.”

Eva yawned. “I need some sleep. Maybe this
will make sense in solar light.”

“I doubt it. This is some freaky shit,”
Saber said.

“You won’t get any argument from me.”

His quick smile warmed her all the way
through. He tugged back the bed covers. “It’s getting cool.”

She slid under the clean coverings with a
contented sigh, turning on her side and closing her eyes. Saber settled in behind
her, his larger body feeling protective and safe. She fell asleep with a smile
on her face.

* * * * *

“Wake up.” An insistent voice whispered
against her ear.

“Is it time to go?”

“Soon.” Saber wriggled against her, and she
felt the prod of his erection against her bottom.

“Tired. Start without me.”

His dark chuckle pulled a sleepy smile from
her. “I can do that.”

His nimble fingers tugged and stroked,
caressed and teased until the hum of arousal heated her blood. He remained
behind her so they were stacked like two cooking spoons. He lifted her leg,
rearranged her body a fraction and slid inside her.

She was a little sore, but she still wanted
him, her wetness allowing him to move with ease.

He kept his thrusts lazy, her climax
building in an easy fashion. He nuzzled her neck and licked the spot where her
neck ended and her shoulder began.

“Feels so good,” she said, and when his
rough tongue rasped across the spot again, she exploded.

Saber grunted, moved into her with
deliberate plunges now and came four thrusts later, the splash of his seed
filling her with warmth.

He held her for long moments afterward, the
caress of his hand both soothing and arousing. Protective. Yes, she loved how
he made her feel safe.

“Hungry?”

“Yes,” she said after a few seconds’
thought. Her stomach rumbled, an emphatic agreement.

“Right.” His lips quirked, the corners
moving in an uptick of humor. “Stay there. I’ll bring you something to eat.”

He slipped out of her, the covers rustling
while he climbed from the bed. She must have drifted off to sleep again because
she woke to him shaking her shoulder.

“Hey, sleepyhead. Breakfast is served.”

He waited until she sat up, her back
against the headboard, before he handed her a tray.

“I made bacon and eggs and toast,” he said.

He lifted a red teapot and poured amber
liquid into a cup. He handed it to her and she accepted it with a smile.

“I’d never tried tea until I went to your
resort.”

“Another Earth tradition,” he said with an
easy smile. He’d dressed while she slept and wore a clean pair of tight black
trews and a pale green shirt that made his eyes more noticeable. His hair was
tied back, baring the hard angles of his face. Long, glossy black boots covered
his feet, hitting him at knee level.

“Very sexy,” she said.

“Eat your breakfast before it gets cold.”

She took another sip of her tea then tucked
into the food. “I must’ve been hungrier than I thought,” she said minutes
later, staring at the empty plate with a kind of wonder. She never ate this
much, never had the time when she was hurrying to complete day-to-day tasks and
overseeing her employees.

“It’s a pity we don’t have transport to
travel the last bit to the resort,” she said. “A small shuttle. Even a fly-mo
would do me.”

“Until you came nose-to-beak with another
colossal bird,” Saber said.

“True. One close encounter is enough for
me. Just seeing them glide through the sky is scary, even knowing they can’t
see me beneath the trees.” Eva sighed. “So we walk.”

“A skimmer would get us there,” Saber said.
“We could skim the contours of the land.”

“A nice dream.” Eva drank the last of her
tea. “I suppose we should clean up and go.”

“The place appears to be self-cleaning,”
Saber said. “The things we used at dinner were clean when I went to make
breakfast.”

“How?”

Saber shrugged. “I don’t know. Our host has
mysterious ways.”

Eva hurried through a quick wash and dress,
thrilled to find a pair of black trews to fit and a thin blue top, perfect for
the heat. She even found black boots, replicas of the laced ones she’d seen in
a High Street shop years ago and hadn’t been able to afford.

“I’m ready,” she said, walking and twisting
her hair into a braid at once. She checked the result in a mirror and frowned.
There was a black mark on her neck. She leaned closer to the mirror.

“You look gorgeous, but I like you naked
best.”

“What this?” She tapped the black mark,
shivering the instant her fingertip touched her skin. It was a black cat—and it
resembled the same species of feline as Saber.

Saber’s face went passive, all expression
wiping clean. He knew something.

She glanced in the mirror again and rubbed
her fingers back and forth over the black cat. She gasped when a streak of
pleasure darted from her shoulder and frisked her hot spots before settling
between her legs.

Coincidence?

Probably since her mind constantly dwelled
on sex and Saber.

She lifted her fingers away, noted the
cessation of tingles then stroked the cat again. She whirled to stare at Saber.

“What have you done to me?”

“I haven’t done anything to you,” he said,
but his gaze connected with hers for a fleeting second.

“Saber…”

“I don’t know what that is or why it
happened. We should leave now before the solar star gets too high in the sky.”

Eva shot him a swift look and decided she’d
ask again later. He seemed off-balance and, having come to know him, that
concerned her. “Let’s go then.”

They headed for the door and it opened by
itself. Eva came to an abrupt halt. Saber slid his arm around her waist, his
silent reassurance easing the prickling flesh on her arms and legs.

“Thank you.” The ghostly voice echoed from
all corners of the room. “We are pleased. Visit again soon.”

“Right,” Saber said, and he urged her
outside.

Bluebird appeared from inside a small house
and gave a honk. Eva bent to stroke his brilliant blue feathers before
something caught her attention.

“Look,” she whispered.

A shiny shuttle sat not far from the
building they’d exited.

Eva walked closer, wonder and hope
tightening her chest. “It’s a two-man shuttle.”

“They heard us talking.”

“They did a lot more than eavesdrop,” Eva
said in a dry voice. “I felt them touching me while we were making…ah, having
sex. I’ve never come so hard in all my life.”

“Me neither,” Saber said. “Let’s go.” He
strode to the shuttle, not even hesitating when a door opened before he reached
it. “We can fly to the resort.”

Eva hurried after him and tried not to
think about the where and the how of this situation. Thinking too hard would
just freak her out.

After placing Bluebird at her feet, she
strapped in beside Saber. When the engine purred to life, a sense of loss
enveloped her. Revenge was within her grasp, so why didn’t that give her
satisfaction?

The shuttle lifted into the air, and
Bluebird honked and trembled. Eva stroked his feathers and the bird settled.

“You don’t have to go to Dalcon with me,”
she said, her hand stroking over Bluebird’s back.

“I’m going with you,” Saber said. “Once you
bring down your in-laws, we’ll talk.”

“Talk about what?”

“Later,” he said.

Eva scowled out the window, watching but
not registering the flash of the scenery far below the shuttle. He was back to
bossy, remote Saber—the man she’d first glimpsed at the resort—and she didn’t
understand why.

“We’ll get one of my brothers to return the
shuttle once we arrive at the resort. We can take the resort shuttle.”

She nodded and an uncomfortable silence
fell between the pair. Eva idly stroked Bluebird, her thoughts drifting from
bad to worse. What if she were too late? What if Pryce’s parents had done
something to make her lose everything? She wouldn’t put it past her in-laws.
Frying
fungus
, this was so unfair. She’d worked too hard for everything to implode
on her now.

Pryce’s legacy weighed on her shoulders
like a load of grain-flour.

Saber concentrated on flying the shuttle.
His hands clenched the controls while he struggled to maintain his temper.

She thought she was going to walk away from
here, from
him
. Didn’t she understand how right they were together? He
tried to remember all parts of the legend. If they were mated, as he suspected,
he wouldn’t want any other woman. No other female would appease the longing,
the need, the plain desperation he held for Eva.

Surely she’d felt how good they were
together? Each time they touched, it was magical. She soothed him, settled him,
made him feel whole in a way he hadn’t experienced since leaving Earth.

Eva was home.

He shot her a glance, saw her averted
profile.

Hell, this wasn’t gonna be easy.

But no way, no fuckin’ way, did he intend
to let her walk. She was his, as much as he was hers.

The acknowledgment eased the tightness in
his chest. He’d deal. He’d go to Dalcon with her then once they’d sorted out
her problems, he’d tell her of his suspicions about the mating and ask her if
she’d consider returning to the resort with him. She could open restaurants to
her heart’s content on Tiraq. He didn’t care if she worked or lazed by the pool
each day, just as long as she shared his bed every night.

Finally, still in a pulsing silence, the
resort came into view. Saber hadn’t bothered contacting his family on the
com-unit, but he did so now.

“Come in, Scarlett,” he said in a brusque
tone.

The reply was almost instantaneous. “Saber?
Is that you? Where are you? Let me get Felix.”

“No, Eva and I will arrive soon. Can you
get Felix to prepare the shuttle? Eva and I need to go to Dalcon.”

“Dalcon? But I thought you’d—”

“Over and out.” Saber cut in before she
blabbed anything about the chase. He wanted to tell Eva the truth in his own
time. Hearing a patchy explanation from his sister would complicate matters,
more than they were already.

Saber landed the craft on the shuttle pad.
Felix was waiting for him.

“Where the hell have you been?” Felix
demanded. “Are you both okay?” His gaze landed on Bluebird. “What the hell is
that?”

“Is the shuttle fueled?” Saber saw Laurence
skulking in the background and sent the man a curt nod. Lori’s twin was
definitely an odd man.

“Yeah,” Felix said. “I got Laurence to take
care of that for you.”

“Thanks. We’d better go. I need someone to
return this shuttle.” Saber plucked Bluebird from Eva’s arms and handed the
honking bird to Felix. “This is Bluebird. Give him to Scarlett to look after.”

“It’s not dinner?” Felix asked.

“Bluebird is
not
dinner,” Eva
snapped. “And if I come back and discover Bluebird missing, I’ll hunt you
down.”

Saber caught the quirk of his brother’s
lips, quickly controlled, and grinned.
His woman
.

“Yes, ma’am.” Felix turned to him. “When
will you be back?”

“I’m not sure.” Eva had implied she was
returning. Thank god. Maybe this task wouldn’t be as bad as he feared. “A few
days, maybe longer.”

Felix frowned but didn’t ask any questions.
“Contact Ma, will you? She’s been worried about—
What the fuck
?”

Saber whirled and saw the shuttle they’d
borrowed shimmer out of sight. He strode to where they’d parked it, walking
straight through the empty air. “Fuck, that’s all kinds of disturbing.” An
understatement.

“It’s lucky we flew straight here,” Eva
said, her cheeks bleached of color. “What if it had disappeared while we were
in flight? We could have died.”

Saber went to her and pulled her against
his chest. “We made it here in one piece, kitten.” He stared over her head, his
gaze connecting with Felix’s before he closed his eyes. He could have lost her,
and that didn’t bear thinking about.

Eva pulled away to glance down at her
clothes, her expression one of horror. “Do you think our clothes will vanish
too?”

“Could be quite a show,” Felix said, a lazy
grin taking root on his features as his gaze did a visual sweep of Eva.

Saber’s feral snarl charged from his throat
without warning, and Felix straightened, his expression wiping clean. “Your
call,” he said to Eva once Felix backed away two steps. “We’ll lose time
because my mother will want to meet you and feed us.”

She swallowed visibly. “Let’s risk it.
Can’t be worse than a cooking pot.”

* * * * *

It felt strange being back on Dalcon. They
left the shuttle at the spaceport and walked the short distance to the market,
Eva leading Saber through the dark alleyways with confidence. The city was
crowded and seemed much noisier than she recalled. People—strangers—pressed
close, and the smells made her nose wrinkle in distaste. She felt out of step
even though she was confident no one would eat them here, nor openly attack
them, not unless they were on the Dearbhorgaill payroll.

Saber stayed close, a solid presence at her
back as she skirted a smelly pile of garbage in the middle of the alley. Eva
held her breath to avoid inhaling the stench and gave thanks she wasn’t
barefoot. Not yet, at any rate.

“How much farther?” Saber asked.

“At the end of the alley and to the right.
This alley opens onto a wide lane, the main thoroughfare of the market.”

“Hey, Eva,” a voice called from behind a
fruit stall. “Where you been, lady?”

“On holiday, Jimbo,” she said. “How is
Maria?”

“Good, good. There bin trouble at your
rest’rant,” he said.

Eva’s stomach plummeted at his words, even
though she’d expected the Dearbhorgaills would wreak havoc during her absence.
“I’m back now.”

“Who he?”

“Saber Mitchell,” Saber said, moving
forward to stand at Eva’s side.

“Who-ee. He a big ’un.” Jimbo gave a laugh
that bore a faint air of nerves.

“Talk to you later,” Eva said and
lengthened her strides. Saber kept pace, walking at her side in silence. He was
watchful though, his gaze never still as he kept tabs on their surroundings and
the people of the market.

Several waved at her, let out cheerful
calls of greeting, but no one approached her and Saber.

“This is one of my restaurants,” she said,
her heart sinking upon seeing the boarded-up windows. At least it was open. She
started for the door, but Saber stopped her.

“I’ll go first.”

Eva gave a swift nod, following him inside.

“A table for two?” a familiar voice asked.

“Robbie,” Eva said. “Where is the solar
light?” The few candles weren’t providing much illumination, apart from showing
her they had no customers.

“Eva! You’re back! Thank the lady.” He
rushed to embrace her, his cane tapping the stone floor, but came to an abrupt
halt at Saber’s warning snarl.

“Saber, stop that!” Eva said. “This is
Robbie Campbell, my assistant and co-conspirator. And
friend
,” she said
firmly. “This is Saber Mitchell.”

Saber growled again, but this time the
sound wasn’t as pronounced. Eva scowled and decided to ignore him. “What’s
going on?” she asked.

“Lady Almeda Dearbhorgaill came in person,
with a bully-boy, to retrieve the currency transfer certificates. She was very
put out when you weren’t here and we couldn’t contact you. She was desperate
for your signature.”

“On what?”

“She didn’t say.”

“Why don’t we have any customers?”

“The stock deliveries have dried up, our
solar-light contact was vandalized and the new one hasn’t come yet. Everything
that could go wrong,
has
gone wrong,” Robbie said simply. “I’ve tried,
Eva. I tried to keep everything going. The other restaurant has fared about the
same. We’re lucky if we have a dozen customers each day.”

“I see,” said Eva. “And the balance of our
account with the bank?”

“Lady Almeda has taken everything. Just as
we planned.”

“Good. You close up here. I want to start
taking notes and do a quick stock take.” Eva paused to study her friend with
concern. “Robbie, you need to take care. I don’t want you getting hurt in the
backlash.”

Robbie nodded. “What about the other
restaurant?”

“I’ll stop by and tell them to close too.
I’m actually surprised I have staff left.”

Robbie winced. “Not many.”

“And the building on the third restaurant?”

Robbie winced yet again. “It’s come to a
halt.”

A pained sound escaped and desolation
kicked her in the guts. Bloody
dromgoose
Dearbhorgaills.

Saber slipped a comforting arm around her
waist. “We can fix this.”

Eva bit back her pain. When Pryce was
alive, his parents hadn’t been quite as dedicated in destroying everything he’d
built. And now she was failing her husband.

“Kitten, it’s time to play hardball.
They’re bullies and you need to stand up to them.”

“He’s right,” Robbie said. “They murdered
their son and they should pay.”

“Why are you so sure they’re responsible for
their son’s death?” Saber asked.

“The marketplace is full of gossip,” Eva
said. “There were rumors.”

“Have you followed the rumors to the
source?”

“No. Robbie and I have spent every waking
moment trying to keep the restaurants afloat.”

Saber nodded. “Take care of your plan, sort
out the problems. Submit a formal complaint.”

“Most of the lawmen are in their pockets,”
Robbie said.

“There must be someone,” Saber said. “How
are you intending to spring your trap?”

“I intend to dress in my finest gown and petition
the King of Dalcon for an audience. I met him once when Pryce took me to a
court ball. He struck me as a fair man.”

“Do it, but take Robbie with you as a
witness to their skullduggery. Gather names from others in the market who have
witnessed the Dearbhorgaills’ tactics. Embarrass and shame them in front of
their peers, but do a good job of it because a wounded enemy is a dangerous
one. You don’t want to give them a chance to regroup.”

Eva nodded, seeing the sense of his words.
She needed a perfect plan in place before she pushed the Dearbhorgaills. “What
are
you
going to do?”

Saber brushed her cheek with his
fingertips. “I’m going to investigate your husband’s death and discover who
killed him. Add another layer of damming proof against your in-laws. Where is
your place?”

Eva rattled off the address, befuddled.

“I’ll meet you there later tonight. Keep
safe.” He pulled her in for a hard kiss then set her away and strode from the
empty restaurant.

“Where did you meet him?” Robbie asked,
staring after Saber. “I like a man of action.”

So did she. “At the resort. He owns it.”
She sucked in a deep breath and righted her rioting senses. “Let’s do this
stock take and then I’ll deliver the second payment to the lawyer.”