The Gladiator Prince (5 page)

Thane ran his eyes the length of her slowly; it was the first step in a dance he knew very well. “What do they call you, my beauty?”

A whisper of demure colored her cheeks pink, and her voice came out quiet. “My name is Salihah.”

“Salihah.” He rolled the name carefully over his tongue. Watching her open posture, he leaned back against one hand on the bench and spread his legs. “It is beautiful.” Tilting his head to one side, he raised an eyebrow. “It suits you very well.”

A shudder ran through her, and he was satisfied that the baritone of his voice had done its job. Blowing out a breath, she tipped her head to the right and laughed. “They told me you had skill.”

“It does not take skill to make love to a beautiful woman, Salihah. It takes desire and passion.”

The smile faded from her face. “Do you desire me?”

In answer, he removed the loincloth from his lap and watched his swollen erection stand. He broadened his smile. “What do you think?”

Her eyes moved boldly to his phallus, and the soft smile returned. She raised both brows. “By the gods…” she whispered.

Thane held out a hand to her and laughed. “Come to me, my lady.”

Without a word, she slipped her hand seductively under one sleeve of her tunic to push it off her shoulder then the other, allowing it to fall into a white heap around her feet. She was naked underneath.

The woman’s mouth rounded to an “o,” and her eyes sparkled in the muted torchlight in the garden. With a refined grace, she drifted to him and spread her legs to straddle his lap. Putting her arms around his neck, she searched his face. “You are large, Briton,” she said running her fingers down both of his shoulders. She closed her eyes and breathed in his scent. Her perfume was making his eyes water, but he endured it. Abella paid him well for this service, and he needed the coin for his children.

Pushing that thought aside, he tenderly touched her face. Her deep brown eyes narrowed with desire, and her face, though severe earlier, now softened into that universal splendor all females carried at coitus.

The dazzling strength of women always astonished Thane. He understood why the Romans chose to suppress these creatures; their power was impenetrable. Any one of them could bring the strongest hero to his knees with but a flash of her eyes during the act of love. Even the least desirable female could, in this moment, spark a man. His rod hardened painfully.

From experience, he knew what would please her, so he drew her hard against his chest, evoking a gasp. This one wanted aggression, to be taken by a man, not pandered or pampered. Many strong women, he had learned long ago, preferred her mate to be decisive, to take his pleasure from her flesh with passion and tenacity.

Throwing her head back, she presented her breasts to him. The nipples stood out engorged with blood, red, hard, small, like the fruit of the hawthorn tree, the areolas dark and thin. He tightened his grip around her waist and pulled one of them into his mouth, sucking hard then biting. He watched her mouth open into a moan, and her hips moved on his lap, rubbing against his sensitive erection. A bolt of pleasure surged through Thane’s blood.

Slowly devouring first one then the other of her nipples, he touched them with the tip of his stiff tongue. They grew to small pebbles in his mouth sending a cascading need through his chest. Thane teased her until she begged him to stop.

In a swift move, she was suddenly off his lap, on her knees before him. His erection sprang up before her eyes when she forced his legs apart and crawled between them. The look of wanton greed made her eyes dance in the torchlight.

Surprised by the gesture, Thane nevertheless knew what she wanted. Most Romans thought fellatio vulgar, and he would not argue with them. That seemed to be part of its charm. Brits, fortunately, had no such bias.

Scooting to the edge of the marble couch, he leaned back onto his left hand and wrapped the other around his shaft, stroking it slowly, with only his fingers to begin with. He had to clinch his backside and jaw to keep the erection from erupting too soon. It had been weeks since his last climax. He hoped he could hold it long enough to satisfy her, angry that he had not been given enough time to prepare for her.

The woman’s breath came in short huffs as she watched, her face transfixed on the motion. He increased the speed and wrapped his full hand around the erection. It felt hot against the sensitive skin. When she whimpered her need, he lowered it to her mouth and her reddened lips parted. A small pink tongue delicately touched the line beneath the head of his erection when he pulled the skin back for her. Her dark sparkling eyes caught his as she took him into her mouth.

Pins of lust charged through him, and Thane sucked a breath through his teeth, bringing his shoulders up and expelling a groan, letting the passion envelope his senses. Pleasure was a rare thing for him, despite what the gossip said about his prowess. Abella shared him with very few women: only those who could pay his exorbitant price. Thane had never requested a woman for himself, preferring to channel his energies into the fight.

When the woman mewed around his cock, Thane sat up and snaked his fingers into her hair, making it cascade in jet-black ringlets around her shoulders. Allowing her to set the pace, but holding her head firmly, he pushed himself into her mouth as far as she would allow until she moaned more deeply. He knew from her urgency and smell that she was nearly ready. This would not take long.

Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, a strange thing appeared over the side of the open roof above his head. He thought at first it must be some animal, a cat perhaps, hiding in the shadow of the tiles, but when he squinted to see more clearly, it was obvious what it was; the dark brown locks of a woman. In a twinkling, it was gone, yanked away into the darkness.

Thane knew who it was and puzzled for a moment why she would spy on him. If what Bahar had told him was true, then she was a virgin and should not be practicing this type of voyeurism. He could not stop to investigate.

He brought his attention back to the woman who pulled her mouth off him and stared up quietly. In a single move he pulled her to her feet and smashed her into his embrace, forcing her legs apart and making her straddle him again. Sinking his teeth into one nipple, he slid his hand into her wetness and opened the hot flesh with two fingers, sliding them back and forth several times across the outside to make sure she was wide enough to receive him. When he forced them inside her, she gasped and closed her eyes.

“Now,” she said in a breathless whisper. “Take me now.”

He took his fingers out and grabbed his erection. Guiding it to her, he took care to glide it in slowly. He needed little caution; it was obvious the woman was well prepared. Putting her hands on his shoulders, she placed her knees on either side of his legs and impaled herself on his shaft.

Her scream ringing in his ears, Thane took her by force then, holding her wrists behind her back in his hands and penetrating her firm and fast. She writhed in pleasure with each thrust and clamped down on him in uncontrollable spasms again and again.

Feeling her begin to wane, he plunged in three more times with vigor and released his seed inside her, melding his groan with the sound of her screams. In seconds, it was over.

She fell against his chest with her head to one side, and he enfolded her with his arms to keep her from falling.

In a few moments and without a single word, she crawled off his lap, stumbled to her tunic, picked it up and slipped it over her head with her back to him. Taking a few deep breaths where she stood, the woman crossed to the entrance, almost turned her head back to him, but instead, lifted her chin and left the way she had come in.

As he watched her go, a pang of loss rushed through him. Was that all there was going to be? A parade of rich wenches who needed nothing more than the touch of his mouth and the lunge of his rod?

A small sound filtered down from the roof, invading his thoughts. He lifted just his eyes so as not to frighten her. Reaching cautiously to the ground, he found a small piece of broken tile and wrapped his fingers around it. Getting up and stretching, he pulled a long yawn into his lungs. With a sudden move, he hurled the tile onto the roof.

First, a startled cry, then the
fop-fop-fop
of something sliding down the tiles echoed down to him. All of a sudden, a bundle of white and tan tumbled down out of the sky. He barely reached her in time, but she landed with a thump in his arms and stared back at him in terror, panting in his arms, her chest rising and falling, her lips full and moist, her eyes misted and wide with shock.

Whether it was the aftermath of his tryst with the Egyptian, or a deep need for fulfillment, he did something then he could not control and would soon regret. He crushed Phaedra’s lips with his own in a stolen kiss.

To his surprise, she returned it.

Chapter V

“Let go of me, you diseased camel!” Phaedra cried against his mouth, futilely pushing at his chest with her hands. Thane pulled back stunned, watching her swollen, wet lips. He could not take his eyes off them.

He set her down, and the young woman gasped when she saw her tunic twisted and her breasts peaking from an armhole. To his disappointment, she quickly got it under control and set her face into an angry line.

Thane sat down and folded his arms, amazed at what he had done. “I am sorry,” he said stiffly. “I did not mean to…”

“How dare you!” she bellowed, obviously still out of control. “I should have you flogged for that!”

Fury flared and pushed all regret from his mind. “You were spying on me,” he said through his teeth. “If anyone is going to be flogged here…”

“I am leaving,” she huffed and headed for the entrance.

Thane scowled at her retreating back. “What were you doing up there?” he asked in a quick commanding voice, a voice he usually reserved for his charges.

Phaedra stopped and lifted her eyes to the open ceiling. Thane could not see her face, but knew she was no doubt preparing some shallow little game. She surprised him.

Turning about, she balled her fists at her sides and hardened her jaw. “I was curious.”

He looked at her. “Curious.”

“Yes,” she said nodding. “Does that surprise you?”

“You were not curious,” he replied breathing a laugh. “You have no experience whatsoever with sex,” he said then remembered his promise to Bahar. “Do you?”

A hard blush colored her cheeks adding depth to her astounding beauty. The sorrel eyes narrowed at him.

“Of course I do,” she quipped. “What do you think I was doing?”

Thane got up from the bench, and his shaft fell between his legs. Her mouth tightened, and her eyes did not move from his face, though the tick in her brows betrayed her interest. He reached for his loincloth and tied it around his waist. “You were looking for instruction,” he said simply.

She gasped at him, and the red blossomed into her ears. “I…I… was not…” she sputtered then turned again to go.

“I could teach you, you know?” Thane was startled that he said it and even more when she turned around.

Her eyes darted quickly over his body, finally settling for his chin. “What?”

An irresistible thought sparked in Thane’s mind. Perhaps he could teach her something at that. He pulled the flap up between his legs, making certain to do it slowly for her benefit. Phaedra would get a lesson, all right, but not the one she came for.

“I said I could teach you.”

“What makes you think I need lessons in… in…”

“Sex?” He lifted one hand and ran it through his hair, knowing this was going to be very satisfying. “Partly because you cannot even say the word and partly because it is obvious you are still a virgin.”

Her eyes got as big as Persian tiles. “A virgin? Me? Why, I will have you know I was married to the son of a very famous Roman senator. Virgin indeed!”

Thane nodded and rubbed his hands against his thighs. If he thought he could get away with it, he would have turned her over his knee first, but this was better.

“I have heard,” he said quietly. “There is a rumor your husband preferred men to women.”

That very instant all the posturing, all the lies and manipulations dissolved from her face leaving only a mask of stark truth. “You know nothing about my husband.”

A twinge of guilt tugged at Thane’s heart. He had almost betrayed Bahar and had to be more careful, but this beautiful girl was threatening his composure.

Taking in some air, he stared at his upturned palm, wondering if he had the courage to finish this.

“You are right. I know nothing of him. I apologize for my presumption.” He circled around her, making certain he was close enough to almost touch her, expecting her to bolt at any moment. “I think I know a little about you.”

She would not meet his gaze. “I doubt that.”

“You are curious about what you saw here tonight. I can see it in your eyes.” He stopped at her back and lifted a lock of hair into his fingers. “I can smell it from your…”

“Animal!” she spat. “Insanity!”