Stolen Dreams (33 page)

 

"If you wish."

 

"I
do."

 

She
lowered her lashes so that he would not see the deception in her eyes.
Though she would have preferred to open her mind to his completely as
he was asking, she knew there were two things he mustn't know. Well
hidden behind her thoughts of pleasure was the fact that she still
intended to change history if at all possible. And behind that was the
true depth of her feelings for him. She could bear anything but his
knowing that.

 

As their minds met, he felt her desire and was
assured
that she was coming to him with no ulterior motives or conditions
except to give and take pleasure. Gabriel didn't even realize he'd been
holding his breath until he exhaled with a surge of relief.

 

His
gaze
holding hers, he removed his clothing, but requested that she leave the
gown on ... for now. He took a step forward and raised his hands up in
front of him with fingers spread and palms facing her. As she went to
him and matched her hands to his, their eyes closed and they saw
themselves on three separate planes. Their spiritual selves were
already blended into one existence. Their minds had melded into one.
Only their physical bodies needed to intertwine to complete the joining.

 

Simultaneously
their fingers moved, grazing down each other's arms, and up over the
shoulders to their faces. They traced each feature, then eased their
hands down and around each others waist. With deliberate slowness,
their bodies and mouths flowed together.

 

It felt as though
they were being immersed in sensual
pool of liquid warmth. Each time they had coupled before, the fever had
demanded urgent completion. This was much more arousing, with their
bodies awakening a little at a time, absorbing each other's feelings
and hearing each other's thoughts.

 

His lips on hers were
gentle, yet
incredibly seductive, and her tongue lured his into a leisurely
exploration of her mouth. They didn't move any other parts of their
bodies while the kiss went on and on, promising greater pleasure ahead,
but they were reluctant to leave this stage behind.

 

And when
they
did, their actions remained unhurried, for with each touch they learned
more of how to please and be pleased. He slipped the straps of her gown
over her shoulders and lowered the lace only a bit at a time, so that
her unveiling became a separate act of pleasure for them both.

 

His
mouth on her breast was adoring rather than hungry; her hands stroking
his hard muscles were admiring rather than pleading. They moved to the
bed and devoted themselves to finding every sensitive area the other
possessed until their passion could no longer be held at bay.

 

Shara
was vibrating with the need to have him inside her and yet she didn't
want the beautiful waves of pleasurable sensations to come to an end.

 

Don't
fret, sweetling. It isn't ending; it's only beginning.

 

And
with that thought both thrilling and consoling her, he joined their
bodies, and together they climbed to the top of the volcano and leaped
into its fiery heart . . . together.             
 

 

The next morning, Gabriel awoke determined to give
Shara a part of what had been stolen from her.

 

He
began courting her. Though confined to the ship, he made a point of
keeping her entertained. When he wasn't holding her hand, he was
stroking her arm or her hair. He complimented her, teased her, and
whispered enticing suggestions in her ear when she least expected it.
His supply of Caresses had run out, but Shara's sweetness was better
than the finest chocoberry.

 

Shara found herself responding to
his
attention with suggestions of her own, and a great deal of time over
the next week was spent in the big bed in their cabin. If she didn't
know better, she would have thought they were just like any other newly
joined couple.

 

Since he was unable to block any of his
thoughts from
her, she knew his compliments were as sincere as his desire, and she
knew he truly enjoyed everything they were doing together. She also
knew he had yet to think of her in terms of love, though he did care
for her. Given enough time, she hoped he could learn to love her .. .
just a little.

 

If he loved her enough to want to share his
life with her, they would find a way to deal with their different
careers.

 

However,
there was still one major problem that could prevent that love from
ever developing. They had momentarily set aside any discussion of their
opposing goals, but she was aware that he hadn't changed his mind about
her tampering with history. Because she was blocking her intentions to
defy him, he seemed to be under the impression that she had conceded to
his opinion. She decided to allow him that impression for the time
being.                
 

 

Each
time she allowed herself to think about it, she became more frustrated.
If he loved her, perhaps he would understand the importance of her
mission and not attempt to stop her. If he loved her well enough,
perhaps she would do anything to keep his love, including giving up
that mission.

 

If only he loved her. . . .

 

During one
of their
practice sessions, she sensed him worrying about how their joining
would affect his future. Not wanting to face his exact plans quite yet,
she blocked his personal thoughts from that moment on.

 

The
morning
they were to arrive in Innerworld, Shara awoke to find Gabriel propped
up on his elbow beside her with a distinct sparkle in his eyes. You're
looking very pleased with yourself, she thought to him with a satisfied
smile of her own.

 

"You can speak aloud."

 

That was
hardly the
greeting she had expected from him, but it made her realize that she
hadn't reconstructed the partition and yet she wasn't hearing his
thoughts.

 

"Go ahead," he encouraged her. "Say something."

 

"Good
morning."

 

His
wide grin was contagious. "I can hardly believe it," he said, bouncing
up off the bed and crossing the cabin. "Say something else."

 

She
sat up, her curiosity increasing by the second. "I'll say more when you
explain what this is about."

 

"Look."
He held out his hand and showed her the jammer. "I woke up this morning
and realized it had come off during the night. When I couldn't find it
right away, I tried blocking out the voices, the way you've been
showing me." He came back and pulled her up off the bed. "Don't you
see? I finally did it!   
 

 

Once
I got used to that, I tried separating our minds, and I did that, too!"
Giving her a great hug, he lifted her off the ground and swung her
around. "Isn't this great?"

 

When he set her down again, she
tried to
give him the happy response he wanted. It was just that she hadn't
expected his liberation from her to happen so soon or so abruptly. She
thought she had more time.

 

"Shara? What's the matter?" She
lowered her lashes so that he couldn't see her eyes, so he simply let
go of the mental block.

 

Immediately
she raised a partition, but his ability had strengthened so much that
she had to strain to hold it against his efforts to tear it down.
Finally she let him win, but asked, "Would you rape my mind against my
will?"

 

As he realized what he had just done, shame washed over
him, and he mentally backed way. "Forgive me. I wasn't thinking."

 

Understanding
how new and tempting this was for him, Shara stroked his cheek as she
carefully closed off her thoughts. "The power can control you if you're
not careful. Do unto others, Gabriel, and they might give you back more
than you can handle."

 

"Something I said caused you distress,
sweetling. I only wanted to know what it was."

 

"It was
nothing. A selfish thought, that's all. I'm embarrassed that it even
occurred to me."

 

Gabriel rubbed his chin. "Now you've got me
more curious about what it was. Shall I guess?"

 

"Why don't we
see if you've acquired any of my other skills instead?" She slipped out
of his arms and went to the supply station to order something to
wear.

 

"I
already tried. I still can't do anything else on my own, but none of
those powers are as important as the blocking. I know this is a small
thing to you, but . . ."

 

Shara's pulse pounded in her ears,
drowning
out whatever he was saying, but his excited pacing said enough. This
was it. He didn't need her any longer. As soon as they got back, he'd
be leaving on a long journey . . . alone. He would probably take her
hand, give it a kiss and say something like It's been an interesting
experience, but there's really no reason to spend the rest of our lives
together. Let's keep in touch, though. And then he'd be gone.

 

She
welcomed him back to bed when he was done pacing and wanted to share
his joy with her in a more physical manner. He was too caught up in his
own happiness to think there was anything unusual in the way she clung
to him, but while he was celebrating his accomplishment, she was saying
good-bye.

 

Once everyone disembarked and went their separate
ways,
Shara and Gabriel found an empty alcove off a remote corridor of the
transportation hangar to prepare for their transmigration to Outerworld.

 

As
she searched through her bag, she said, "I wasn't sure I would need
this, but I'm glad I brought it along just in case." She pulled out an
ornate gold ring with a large fire opal in its center and put it on her
finger.

 

Gabriel recognized the special Innerworld ring
immediately.
Only a handful of people possessed them, since they were the key to so
much power. Its obvious
use was as a means of identification, but it was also a direct
connection to Innerworld's central computer and an extension for the
transmigrator unit. "Are they issuing those to genetic scientists
nowadays?" he asked with a doubtful expression.

 

She clucked
her
tongue at him. "I only borrowed it from my father's office. With luck
I'll have it back before he knows it's gone. I'll need some help with
the coordinates."

 

Gabriel extracted Beauty from a pocket of
his
jumper. "Beauty, give me a map of the Western Hemisphere of Outerworld
Earth showing the former location of the continent of Atlantis in
relationship to its neighbors' borders today." A grid appeared on the
mirror and the land masses were outlined.

 

He showed Shara the
map
and said, "Atlantis covered an area west of Europe and Africa from
approximately twenty-two to forty-five degrees longitude and twenty to
fifty-five degrees latitude. Beauty, highlight the royal city and the
nearest seaport on the coast of Europe."

 

One dot appeared on
the easternmost extension of Atlantis, and another identified Lisbon,
Portugal.

 

Gabriel
arched an eyebrow at Shara. "I hate to criticize your plan, but that's
a distance of about a thousand kilometers over some very rough seas.
Even if we located a boat large enough to safely make such a long trip,
we wouldn't know how to pilot it ourselves. The more critical problem
would come when we needed to time-hop from the past back to the
present. Without being able to pinpoint the arrival time, we couldn't
count on the boat being where we left it."

 

"I've been working
on that aspect and I think I've improved
it, but I see the problem." With a thoughtful frown, she studied the
map for a moment. "If we time-hop backward from here, then we wouldn't
be able to get to a location on Outerworld, since transmigration hadn't
been invented yet. And if we migrate out to where Atlantis was, we'd
wind up in the ocean. A boat was the only solution I could come up
with."

 

Gabriel put Beauty away. "I think I have another one.
Keep an eye out for anyone passing by while I build us a raft."

 

Shara
knew better than to question one of Gabriel's plans, no matter how
impossible it sounded. Her gaze alternated back and forth between the
corridor and Gabriel. From his satchel he removed the square of silver
that had formed the base of his tent, spread it out on the floor, and
inflated it.

 

"The underside is sturdy enough to hold us and
our bags
on top of water," Gabriel assured her. "And if we don't arrive on solid
ground when we time-hop, I can improvise a sail to direct us toward
land. The only serious difficulty we might have is, if the ocean is
extremely choppy, we could be tossed overboard. I'd suggest you put the
tempometer on, program it now, and have it set to go the minute we hit
Outerworld."

 

Shara did as he suggested, then asked Beauty for
the
exact coordinates of a spot on Atlantis's coast near the royal city. By
pressing a series of the raised gold nodes on the sides of the ring,
she tapped into the main transmigrator unit and programmed it to send
them to their destination. "I'm set," she said, and they both sat down
on the raft.

 

It took a little maneuvering, but with Shara
sitting between Gabriel's legs, they managed to maintain contact with each other while he kept one hand on
their luggage and another on the raft, so that nothing would be left
behind.

 

"Sweetling, promise you'll stay by me so we can hop
out again if the situation is too risky."

 

"Yes, Gabriel."

 

Her
tone was almost too sweet to be believable. "And another thing: I
haven't said it, but I am glad you've come around to my way of thinking
about not altering history." He suddenly felt as if she were mentally
squirming. "Shara? You do agree with me now, don't you"?"

 

Rather
than say a word, she turned the opal stone halfway around to the right
and they were on their way.