The Challenge (37 page)

“Just remember, woman. I will soon fully recover from the stun.”

She angled her chin up and tossed her hair over her shoulder. “I’m counting on your full recovery, only perhaps it won’t be as soon as you might like.” The sexy lilt in her tone combined with the naughty heat in her grin made his heart charge up his throat. “By my estimate we have at least an hour.”

An endless amount of time.

She used her psi to tug on his nipples, stroke his ass and balls and the inside of his thighs. Letting the psi continue to caress him, she turned her attention to his face, threaded her hands through his hair, swiped her mouth over his for a kiss, her tongue tangling with his until once more he reached the point of explosion.

Again she applied pressure to hold him back.

Enticed by the scent of her, the taste of her, the silky feel of her hair tickling his chest, he gasped and moaned. Caught in her pleasure trap, he ached for release, burned so hot, he couldn’t think of more than what her psi was doing to him.

“You know what I want?” she asked, her nipples hard and pointy as they peeked through her dress, teasing him, taunting him.

“You want . . . to . . . remember . . . ah . . . that you promised to . . . obey . . . Rystani ah, ah. No!”

As he spoke the word obey, she leaned over and took his
tavis
into her mouth! The shocking act was so incredibly pleasurable that his head spun with the scandalous wonder of it.

“If you don’t . . . stop . . . I might . . . um . . . ah . . . ah stars.”

She circled her tongue around his sensitive
tavis
ridge. When she sucked, he thought the roof of his head might blow off. His fingers clenched. He needed her to stop. He needed her to continue.

His fingers had clenched! He could move.

And yet with his
tavis
captured between her exquisite lips, he couldn’t bear to do more than let her swallow him so tight in bliss that he never wanted it to end. But he must . . . stop or he would overflow in her mouth.

With a fierce roar of need, he sat up, gripped her waist, changed her suit to transparent and lifted her over him. Without hesitation she spread her legs and grinned. In one heated swoop she took him inside her, purring with satisfaction.

When he used null-grav to lift them, he forgot finesse, he forgot control, he simply let the gathering storm coalesce until thunder roared in his heart and lightning zinged in his head. As ready for him as he was for her, she spasmed around him, her thighs clenching his hips, her arms wrapping around his neck, their psi melding into one.

And as his tingling senses eased, he realized that Tessa may have taken advantage of him, but she’d let him keep his dignity when she could have so easily pushed him over his limit. That consideration showed him that her heart might beat with Earthling blood, but her precious spirit was with her Rystani husband.

He might not always understand her. He sure as stars didn’t always approve of her ways. Yet, she was his, and he would not have traded her in for an obedient Rystani wife, even if he’d had the power to do so. It was an odd thought, but true, and the power of his feelings stunned him. He wanted to keep his Earthling wife. She would cause him trouble—yes, but that no longer seemed so important. What they had between them was growing stronger, each time they linked, their psi melded tighter. Each time they made love, she pleased him more. And if she broke a few customs, so what?

SINCE THE
MASDONS
had all gone on ahead to Rian, Kahn suggested they use the motorized sleds the Endekians had brought to their world. His men obeyed, but Tessa noted that they gave her a wide berth and scowled at her untraditional black pantsuit. Only Xander seemed to accept her as one of them.

She approached her husband, who stood outside the tent where the snow scooters were lined up ready for their riders. Speaking quietly to avoid others from overhearing, she straddled her scooter. “Kahn, I’m sorry, but I can hardly wear the traditional travel dress and ride one of these snow scooters.”

“I know.” He placed an arm over her shoulder, but raised his voice, no doubt so the others could hear his logic. “And since there is only room for one rider on each machine, there is no choice but to allow you to ride alone.”

Once she’d climbed onto her own snow scooter and revved the engine, the roar of the motor allowed her a private conversation with Dora whom Tessa quickly brought up to date. Dora in turn, linked with her mainframe hardware that had been dropped in Rian with the food and shared her own news.

“Rob One has unloaded my hardware and installed me in a secret chamber he and Rob Two dug out behind Kahn’s quarters.”

“Rob One and Two?” Tessa asked, pleased that Dora seemed happy again. Her friend might be adapting to life outside of a spaceship, but Dora didn’t seem to handle physical danger that well.

“I gave the work robots that you purchased names. They’ve already dug out a cozy and protected spot for my mainframe, stored the food processors and installed the satellite equipment.”

“Great.”

“Security is in place. Without knowing your password, no one can open the secret door and find me.”

“I’m impressed you’ve gotten so much done.”

“Seems to me you’re the one who has worked wonders. You saved many lives, and in discussions with his men, your husband has taken your side three times already.”

Dora’s listening sensors were more sensitive than Tessa’s ears, and she loved to gossip. With the ride to Rian just a few hours long, they had a bunch of planning to do. Still, Dora’s words intrigued Tessa. “What do you mean?”

“Kahn’s letting you drive and wear pants. In addition, he told the men you need to have more grit than the average female to win the Challenge.”

Kahn’s verbal defense of her warmed her. Making concessions wasn’t easy for him, and it gave her hope that eventually their marriage might be one where she could be herself.

“Any messages from Osari?”

“Work is on schedule.”

“And the hydroponics equipment?”

“Your co-wives weren’t happy—”

“What!” Her heart slammed into her ribs with thundering force. “Co-wives?”

“Miri and Shaloma.”

“Co-wives?” She could barely get her stunned and tumbling thoughts to settle into less than furious words.

“Apparently once a Rystani man marries, he takes other wives.”

Other wives
. Tessa’s grip loosened on the handholds, and when the scooter slid sideways, she almost tumbled off. If Kahn expected her to accept this degenerate arrangement, he’d thought wrong.

“Miri and Shaloma are wonderful,” Dora cooed enthusiastically. “You’ll adore them.”

“Dora, slow down. Are you telling me these wives are already—”

“—living in the family compound? Yes.”

Not about to accept harem living conditions or any variation of the theme, Tessa’s tone turned bitter. “Kahn didn’t waste any time. He made these arrangements from space?”

“Only for Shaloma,” Dora chattered as if she hadn’t just imparted the most devastating of news. Maybe she did need a circuit overhaul. “Miri has been installed in the household since before Lael died. The exciting news is that Miri’s expecting a baby.”

Tessa’s gut twisted. What in hell had Kahn been thinking? He’d left a pregnant woman behind? Then lied to Tessa when he’d told her there was no one special waiting for him at home. For God sake, Miri was having his baby!

Going from almost contented to fuming outrage in less time than a shuttle’s liftoff, Tessa took deep breaths that did nothing to calm her. “I’m going to kill him.”

“Why?”

“I don’t share.”

“That’s not a very progressive attitude. In fact it’s—”

“Dora. Shut up.”

“You sound upset.”

“Of course I’m upset.” Jealousy had never bit her before. “Is Kahn going to flip a coin to see which one of us he takes to bed? Or maybe sleeping with him will be our reward for following his rules. Or maybe—”

“Kahn doesn’t have sex with his other wives.”

“What?” Tessa drew in quick breaths, but the air didn’t have enough oxygen to keep away the retching dizziness. “You just told me Miri is having a baby.”

“Etru’s baby.”

“Dora, you aren’t making sense. You said Miri is Kahn’s wife.”

“Miri is also Etru’s wife, and she’s pregnant with Etru’s child. She sleeps with Etru. Only him. Shaloma is too young for sex, and you are supposed to teach her how to run a household.”

“I don’t know how to run a . . . Kahn only has private relations with me?”

“Yes. You’re the only one he gets naked with. Feel better?”

Much
. Air inflated her lungs again. Her temper subsided as Dora explained the family grouping.

Still, the revelation had thrown her because she’d reacted like a jealous lover. She shouldn’t have cared this much. It was one thing to like and respect Kahn but her reaction revealed to Tessa just how deep her feelings went. Feelings she didn’t want to admit, not even to herself. “So why are all the women called wives?”

“Because if Etru dies, it’s Kahn’s responsibility to help raise the child. And Shaloma would be the baby’s big sister.”

Now that Tessa had calmed down, and her thoughts had stopped spinning useless cartwheels, she supposed the system made sense. Children on Rystan wouldn’t grow up without family, even if one set of parents died like hers had. She wasn’t sure about the living arrangements, or how she’d feel about having so many people around, but she would try to adapt. Glad that Dora had warned her of the unusual living arrangements before they arrived in Rian, Tessa told herself not to jump to conclusions.

“Dora, thanks so much for explaining. I shouldn’t have told you to shut up. I apologize.”

“No problem.”

Tessa grinned at Dora’s love for slang. “If Kahn had told me he had a co-wife, I would have jumped all over him—”

“Is jumping all over him different from jumping his bones?”

“I have never used that expression.”

“But during our stay in Earth’s orbit, I monitored North American television channels. Some phrases were difficult to learn from the context. For example—”

“Tell me about Miri and Shaloma.” Tessa needed to distract Dora before the computer went off on a language tangent.

“Shaloma is sixteen-years-old, pretty with long blond hair and amber eyes. Miri is voluptuous, and her belly is rounded from the child in her womb. Both women are taller than you, with less delicate bone structures.”

“But what are they like?”

“Can you be more specific?”

“What makes them tick? What makes them happy?”

“Right now both of them are pleased that Kahn has taken a wife. Miri because she worried over him ever finding the right woman, and Shaloma because now she has moved out of her childhood home and is one step closer to adulthood.”

“What makes Miri think that I’m the right woman for Kahn?”

“Etru told her on the talkie—”

“Talkie?”

“Like your radio but without towers,” Dora explained. “Anyway, Etru told Miri this morning that Kahn seems less severe since his return. The women are preparing a feast in honor of your wedding.”