The Claiming (18 page)

It was a fascinating and strangely pleasing combination; the rough sprinkling of hair, atop silky skin, atop tautly bunched flesh. His breasts, she discovered, unlike hers, were very firm, flattened bulges of muscle. Beneath them, the flesh of his stomach formed hard, rounded ridges. On his stomach, she discovered an oddity, a long line of raised skin, perhaps the length of her hand. Almost parallel to it were two others. She ran her finger along it curiously.

“A scar.”

She looked up at him questioningly, frowning in puzzlement. “A scar?”

“From an old wound. Orleans … can be as deadly as it is beautiful. I had an … unpleasant encounter with a camar … one of Orleans’ jungle cats.”

She found others, smaller, some hidden beneath the hair, one along his other side, a round, puckered one on the upper part of one arm.

“Battles. Civilization here is little more than a thin veneer. I’ve been in more than one skirmish with the primitives. They did not accept my claim upon the plantation. I had to … convince them it was mine.”

She realized at last that he meant that he had been injured—many times. The flesh had not healed smoothly. She hadn’t realized so completely what primitive meant on the world of Orleans. Their flesh was not mended by lasers that knit the skin together as if it had never been marred, their pain eradicated by nuro-blockers. They suffered. Their flesh when torn was healed only by their bodies, just as she had been forced to endure over and over as her flesh was torn and left to heal on it’s own.

Sympathy for his pain flooded her. Very carefully and gently, she moved her fingers over the scars soothingly.

He tucked his fingers beneath her chin, forcing her to look up at him. “You do not find my scarred body … repugnant?”

She was surprised to discover it seemed to matter to him. Slowly, she shook her head. He studied her for a long moment, as if searching for the truth in her eyes. Finally, he lifted her against him. Laying her across the bed and following her down in almost one seamless motion, he covered her mouth with his own.

A little startled by the abruptness of his possession, Jana tensed slightly, but whatever pain she expected to feel upon penetration, his kiss was pure pleasure and she could not help but enjoy it. She welcomed the feel of his mouth on hers, savored his taste, delighted in his scent as it enveloped her. As she had come to expect, the first touch of his tongue as it entered her mouth to explore sent a shock wave of pleasure through her, making her whole body almost seem to melt with the heat that traveled through her, banishing her concerns to the furthest regions of her subconscious.

As he had that first time, his touch was surprisingly gentle and restrained as he explored her body with one large hand, but she was barely aware of anything beyond the sensations he created with his mouth.

She was vaguely disappointed when he ended the kiss, until he brushed his lips along her neck to her ear. His moist, hot breath cut a wide swath of tingling sensation from her ear, down along her neck and arm. Her nipples hardened into almost painfully tight nubs. Unconsciously, Jana gripped his shoulders, digging her fingers into his flesh.

“Kiss me. Touch me,” he whispered into her ear.

Already more than a little dazed, she wasn’t entirely certain what he expected of her, but she was quite willing to oblige and lifted her head to kiss the nearest part of him, his shoulder, then the upper part of his chest, his neck. He gasped, shuddering as she mimicked his caresses, brushing first her lips across his flesh, and then her tongue.

To her surprise, touching him produced as much pleasure inside her as his touching her had created. She sank deeper into the abyss of pleasurable sensation as she explored him with her mouth, her tongue, and her hands until she lost awareness of being separate from him.

He pushed her back gently onto the pillows, nibbled a trail downwards from her neck, along her collar bone, closing his mouth finally over one puckered nipple and sucking.

Jana gasped out loud as sharp needles of pleasure shot through her, culminating in a flood of moist warmth in her femininity. The muscles in her belly clenched and unclenched spasmodically, as if grasping for something. She felt intoxicated, completely disoriented by the time he lifted his head, nuzzled a path to her other breast and took that nipple into his mouth as he had the first.

The faint sounds of him removing his trousers invaded. Resolutely, she blocked it from her mind, focusing on the waves of pleasure emanating from his mouth, through her nipple and into her belly.

Still, she couldn’t help but tense infinitesimally as he pushed her legs apart and settled his lower body between them. He lifted his head to study her, slipping his hand from her breast, over her belly and finally cupping her femininity. She gasped when she felt one large finger probe her, delving inside.

He shifted upward, until his face was level with her own, holding her gaze as he slowly moved his finger in and out of her tight, clinging passage, then pulling free and rubbing a tiny nub of flesh that sent such powerful jolts of pleasure through her that she closed her eyes to relish it.

“You want me,” he said quietly, his voice almost a hoarse growl.

Jana opened her eyes languidly to look at him.

He rubbed the focal point of pleasure again and again. Jana gasped, her fingers digging into his arms, her body tensing of its own accord as the waves of pleasure became more and more intense.

He bent his head, taking her nipple between his teeth and nipping gently. Jana moaned, her back arching up to meet him as twin bolts of intense ecstasy traveled from the point his finger touched and from her breast to meet in her lower belly, causing the muscles to contract almost painfully.

He shifted and Jana felt his fingers parting the flesh of her femininity, felt the hard, round head of his erection probing her, slipping in her body’s juices as it slowly entered her.

As she’d felt before when he possessed her, had never felt for any man but Alain, she welcomed the penetration, wanted it. She felt that she was hovering near something exquisite, instinctively knew that his full possession was what her body craved to take her there. She spread her legs wider to accommodate his hips, opening herself fully to him.

The pain she’d learned to dread ripped through her as he thrust fully inside of her. She bit her lip, but could not completely contain her muffled cry of pain. He stopped, lifting away from her slightly to study her face. Something flickered in his eyes and then was gone as he lowered his head, kissing her.

Slowly, the pain subsided. Slowly, the pleasure took its place once more as he pulled his flesh from her body and touched as he had before, kissed her, suckled her breasts. There was little pain when he once more entered her, slowly, carefully, and Jana was beyond the reach of it, so enthralled with the pleasure he’d built in her once more that she arched her hips to meet him.

He groaned, went still for several heartbeats, and then began to move inside her, slowly at first, then more quickly, sinking deeply inside her with each thrust. Jana found herself rising to meet him each time, felt her body once more moving toward something.

When it caught her, it was so intense, so glorious, she cried out, going still as it pounded through her in jolt after jolt of exquisite rapture. He groaned, slamming into her hard once, twice more, then shuddering as he, too, found release and finally collapsed against her.

Weak, shaking, Jana went limp, as well, as if her bones had suddenly vanished and her whole body was nothing more than flaccid, quivering flesh. But, as the weakness left her, something else seemed to infuse her—joy, gratitude … something unnamable. She lifted her arms, wrapping them around him, stroking his back.

Not once had she ever felt anything even approaching what Alain had made her feel. No one, save Alain, had ever seemed to care if she felt only pain. She was more than grateful for his gentleness and the pleasure he’d given her. Something inside her that he had planted the first time he came to her, that had grown roots as she had begun to know and understand him, had germinated into more than just appreciation for his male beauty, for the gentle side he had shown her. She could not find a name for it, but she felt that she had been changed forever.

She was unaccountably disappointed when he roused himself finally and rolled away from her. He studied her for a long moment and finally reached for her, pulling her snugly against his length. She welcomed the contact, settling herself comfortably, draping an arm around his waist. As he stroked her back slowly, she began to drift and finally slept.

His touch woke her sometime later. Sleepily, she lifted her arms to wrap them around him, lifted her lips for his kiss. She found, when she ran her hand along his back to cup his buttock, that he had discarded his trousers. She smiled faintly, remembering that he had not waited to do so the first time he’d possessed her.

“Something amuses you?” he growled in mock anger.

“I like you better without clothes,” she responded.

He chuckled, but his expression was wry. “I was distracted, and then found I did not want to wait.”

“And now?”

His response was an assault to her senses that brought them both swiftly to culmination.

Jana slept so deeply afterward that she didn’t so much as stir when Alain rose from her bed in the predawn hours and returned to his own room. Waking sometime later with an enormous, though unnamable, sense of well being, Jana discovered that she was vastly disappointed to discover that she was alone in her bed.

She dismissed it, finally. Closing her eyes once more, she savored her memories of the night before.

It had never occurred to her that she might actually enjoy sex as men seemed to enjoy it. She had thought she had been designed so that she was incapable of it, possibly to enhance her role as virgin. She had never before understood why it was so sought after that men were willing to pay vast sums for it.

She pondered that thoughtfully for some time before it occurred to her to wonder why Alain had been able to give her such pleasure when no one else had. She had serviced several other clients before. Not only had none taken her to the culmination of pleasure that Alain had, none had even given her so much as glimmer of pleasure. She had been repulsed when they had kissed her, or tried to. She had been annoyed or disgusted, and sometimes hurt when they had pawed her body, depending upon how rough their ‘play’.

That not only puzzled her, it disturbed her. Alain had unnerved her from the moment she had first met him upon her arrival on Orleans, even though she had not recognized him then. His moodiness, his temper, his constant probing in an effort to trip her up and make her reveal her secrets, had encouraged her to avoid him when at all possible, but she realized now that concern for her secrets had rarely been uppermost in her mind when she was around him. She had felt jittery, and slightly breathless when ever he had come near her, but she knew now that those feelings had had more to do with excitement than fear.

Finally deciding it was not a circumstance that she could puzzle through without more information, she dismissed it, rose, bathed, and dressed herself.

Both Blane and Alain were in the breakfast parlor when she arrived, Alain reading the news sheet, Blane polishing off the last of his breakfast.

Blane looked up at her entrance, giving her a wink. “Morning, brat!”

Alain did not look up, even at Blane’s comment. He seemed completely oblivious to everything but his paper.

After studying the back of his head a moment, Jana turned to the buffet and served herself from the platters laid out. She smiled at Blane as she settled herself, sending Alain another questioning glance and finally focusing her attention on her food.

She had just finished when the butler tapped on the door and announced visitors.

Alain lowered his paper and lifted one brow questioningly.

“It’s the … gentleman who came yesterday, and Doctor Jenk.”

“Show them in.”

Marty was grinning from ear to ear when he waltzed into the room. “Good day!”

Alain nodded but did not rise to greet his guests. “To what do we owe this honor?”

If possible, Marty’s grin widened. “As there’s been a dispute between us, I consulted with a local attorney and was informed that my claim would supersede yours if it was found that the contract between you and Jana had not been consummated.”

Alain regarded him coldly. “You have some reason to believe that it has not been?”

Marty chuckled. “Indeed, I do. I’ve brought Dr. Jenk to verify whether or not your claim is legal.”

Alain shrugged, turning to Jana. “Jana?”

Jana wasn’t at all certain she understood the discussion, but she could not dismiss her fear of Marty. Whatever it was he had in mind would almost certainly be unpleasant for her. “What?” she asked a little breathlessly.

“I apologize for any embarrassment or discomfort this causes you, but I’m afraid you will need to go with Dr. Jenk.”

Jana glanced quickly at the stranger, then at Marty before returning her attention to Alain. “I don’t understand.”

Alain stood, holding out his hand. Jana grasped it, looking up at him questioningly. “He won’t hurt you. He needs to examine you, that’s all.”

Jana rose from her seat, moving closer. “But … Alain,” she whispered. “What am I to do?”

Alain squeezed her hand. “It’ll be all right. I give you my word.”

When Jana had left the room with the doctor, Blane surged to his feet so abruptly his chair fell to the floor. Grasping Marty by the back of his jacket, he thrust him from the room and slammed the door behind him before turning on Alain. “I’ve never in my life felt anything but pride in you, Alain, but right now I’d like to punch your teeth down your throat, so help me!” he growled furiously. “How could you do that to her?”

Alain flushed. “If I had not allowed it, he would only have returned with his lawyer, and possibly the sheriff. I can not, legally, prevent it.”

Blane slammed his fist against the table so hard the china rattled. “You are a damned fool, Alain! I’m not talking about that. I know it had to be done, but she was afraid, and you sent her away without even explaining it to her. She had no clue of what you just sent her to do. None!”