Twice Upon a Time (7 page)

“I never understood men who don't take the time to bring their woman to orgasm,” he said. “They can't possibly know how good it feels to have this wonderful sensation pulling at their cock. There is nothing like it.” The husky timber of his voice made her tremble deep inside.

He thrust into her hard, ruthlessly. She strained against him, wanting him to never stop. Every sensation was adding to her pleasure, the lap of the water against the tips of her breasts, the scrape of the hair of his legs against the back of her thighs, the fingers of his left hand digging into her hip, his other fingers persistently stroking her clit, the cool marble against her hands as she held her position to accept his vigorous thrusts. His breaths became shaky as he moved closer to climax. She let the sound wash over her, her only regret was that she couldn't see his face when he finally let go.

A thrill of delight snaked down her spine, and then her third climax gripped her. She cried out in surprise and shuddered. Reece groaned in the same instant. The magic of the moment was intense as pleasure carried them away together. Lara’d had no idea that she was multi-orgasmic. Or maybe Farima was the lucky one and Lara was being taken along her path of easy bliss.

Reece leaned against Lara’s back and she went limp in the water. The water supported their weary bodies as they slowly drifted back to Earth from the stars. His arms moved to circle her waist, one hand palming her breast as he cuddled up against her back.

“You're amazing,” he breathed.

“Me? You're the amazing one.”

He chuckled. “Yeah, well I try to please my lady. It’s in the job description.” He planted a gentle kiss on her shoulder.

“Your lady is definitely pleased,” she murmured lethargically, “though I’m not sure you’ve correctly interpreted that job description. Not that I’m complaining.” She could feel his smile against her shoulder. “It only took three orgasms to get you to admit you’re my lady.”

“I hope that doesn't mean you're going to stop working as hard to please me.”

“Now I'l work even harder to keep your interest.”

“No wonder I feel in love with you,” she murmured. “It was definitely for your body and not for your lame jokes.”

“Whatever works, sweetheart. Whatever works.”

Reece was dozing in a collection of soft cushions beside Lara's bed when a eunuch brought their morning meal into the room. Reece watched through hooded eyes as the man set the platters of flatbreads, feta cheese and vegetables on the slab that served as a table. The man kept glancing over his shoulder at the sleeping princess and then her guard, whom he apparently assumed was also sleeping. His nervousness was apparent, which certainly raised Reece's suspicions. When the man moved to leave, Reece cleared his throat.

“Aren't you going to taste each dish?” Reece asked.

The man started and spun around, his dark eyes locating Reece, who was lounging comfortably among the cushions.

“I did, sir,” the man said.

“I must have missed it. Perhaps, you should try it again.”

“I assure you this food is safe for the princess.”

“Then you'll have no problems consuming some for your own pleasure, with me watching, natural y.”

“I assure you this food is safe,” he said. He bowed and headed for the door.

Safe, my ass! “Where are you going?” Reece asked, climbing to his feet.

“I must bring the morning meal to the others,” he said.

“You're not the same man who brought Farima's food yesterday.” Lara was stirring. “Nasir,” she murmured, rubbing her face drowsily and, he couldn't help but notice, looking irresistibly sexy, as usual. “What's wrong?”

“Go back to sleep, Farima,” Reece said, crossing the room to stand in front of the door. This man was not leaving until he tested the food with Reece watching. “I have everything under control.”

The eunuch surprised him by shoving him to the side and running out the door.

Reece shouted, “Don't eat the food, Farima,” before he ran after the eunuch.

The man would have been an Olympic class sprinter in the 21st century. He raced far ahead of Reece, turning corners with the precision of an Italian made sports car.

Darting around pil ars and rushing through common areas that were empty at this early hour, the gap between them lengthened with every step. Reece pursued him, half his mind back with Lara, whom he'd left alone. What if someone decided to attack her in his absence? Or if she didn’t heed his warning about the food? The man Reece was chasing ducked around a corner. Reece fol owed. When he turned the corner, the man was gone. Reece drew to a halt, breathing hard. He concentrated on quieting his breath so he could listen for receding footsteps or any sound that might alert him to the other man’s hiding place. Reece glanced back down the corridor, his fear for Farima tangible.

He needed to return to her at once. He turned to go and caught a movement out of the corner of his eye.

He sidestepped just in time to miss the downward thrust of a knife. Who would have thought that a harem would be one of the most dangerous places he'd ever visited?

Reece ducked and kicked the man in the knee in the same motion. As planned, the man's knee buckled, and he staggered, but did not go down. Reece stood, looking for his next opening. The African man lunged at Reece, swinging his blade in a wide arch.

It slashed Reece across the chest. Deep enough to bleed, but not enough to kil .

Praising his martial arts training, Reece side-kicked the man in the side and then, while the man's concentration was broken, roundhouse kicked him in the jaw, knocking him to the ground. Reece would have kicked him in the balls to keep him down, but, well, a eunuch didn't have any.

On impact, the knife flew out of the man's hand, slid across the floor, and disappeared in the shadows. Reece, bent to force the man back to his feet. Sweat made the wound on Reece’s chest sting, but he was too hyped on adrenaline to feel much pain. The man struggled to free himself from Reece's grasp, but a forearm to the nose settled him down.

“Who is trying to kill the princess?” Reece asked in a cold voice. When the man refused to speak, Reece slammed him into the wall, with his forearm pressed hard into the man's chest. “I'm only going to repeat this once. Who is trying to kil Farima?”

“I will not answer any of your questions,” he said.

“Perhaps counsel with the governor will loosen your tongue. Or with her father, the sultan.”

“I will taste the food now to prove to you it is not poisoned.”

“You most certainly will not,” Reece said. “I want answers, not your death.”

“Is there a problem here?” a feminine voice said from behind Reece.

He glanced at the woman behind him. She was very beautiful, wearing next to nothing, and commanded an unmistakable authority.

“I believe this man was trying to poison Princess Farima.”

“The best way to test your theory is to have him taste the food he has purportedly poisoned,” she said.

“I offered to do so,” the man said.

“Well, there you are,” she said, “Problem solved.”

“No,” Reece said. “The problem is not solved. If he tastes the food and dies, we won't know who sent him to kil her and if he doesn't die, then I'm hard pressed to explain why he ran away like that and attacked me with a knife.” The woman's cold eyes roved over Reece's chest. “You should have that wound looked at.”

“The princess's safety is more important than my own.”

“Depends on who you ask,” she said and turned to leave, walking in graceful steps, hips swaying with practiced seduction.

Reece watched her suspiciously until she vanished around the corner.

“Who is that woman?” Reece asked.

He should have been paying attention to his captive. An elbow connected with his temple and he lost consciousness.

“Nasir,” a gentle voice drifted down from above him. Reece pried his eyes open, but a brilliant flash of light made him groan and close them again. A relieved sigh graced his ears. “Open your eyes, Nasir. Please. Say something.”

“Farima?”

“I'm here,” she said, and gentle fingertips stroked his hair. “I want you to open your eyes and look at me.”

“Don't eat the food,” he murmured. “It's….poi…poisoned.”

“I didn't eat it,” she assured him. “Can you open your eyes for me?” He forced his eyes open and the beautiful face of Princess Farima swam in his vision before his gorgeous Lara appeared before him.

“What happened?” she asked.

“I think I saw the woman who is trying to have you killed.”

“Who?”

“I don't know. One of the harem women.” He sat up, groaning in protest. They were in the corridor where he'd been knocked unconscious. “What are you doing out of your room?”

“I came to look for you. When you didn't return, I got worried.”

“Someone could have hurt you.” His head was throbbing unpleasantly. He touched his left temple and flinched.

“I'm fine. You're the one who's been hurt. You're bleeding and you have a huge bruise on the side of your face.”

“I'll be okay.”

“Let's go back to the room and get you cleaned up, then we can talk to the governor's mother and see if she can do anything about this.”

“I wish your husband would return,” he said. He leaned heavily on her as she helped him to his feet. “I know that is strange, but I don’t think they’d be as likely to hurt you with him here.”

He was still a little wobbly. Lara wrapped his arm around her shoulders and supported some of his weight as they made their way back to the room.

“Somebody real y hates me,” Lara said, frowning.

“It isn't you, sweetheart. No one sees you when they look at you, except me.”

“Reece, will we ever get our lives back? Be ourselves? I don't real y care when I live, and seeing different times and places is exciting, but I would like to be me, not someone else.”

Reece sighed. “I don't know. I really wish we had the other half of the amulet.

Maybe we could get it to work the way we want it to, instead of being at the mercy of these random leaps.”

“So why don't we set up a trap for Carl? We could get the other half of the amulet from him and see if we can return to our time.”

“Too risky,” Reece said, heart thrumming. He didn't even want Carl to breathe near Lara. If he told her what he knew about Reece's past or that he had been responsible for her death, she'd never forgive him. He couldn't stand to lose her. Not when they were growing so close.

“We can't leap through time forever,” Lara said, “and how else are we going to get the other half of the amulet? I don't think Carl is going to hand it over just because we want him to.”

“I’ll think about it. Carl's no push over.”

“Well, neither are you,” she said, her fingers gently tracing the unbroken skin above the gash across his chest. She grinned up at him. “Don't you know better than to bring a fist to a knife fight?”

He chuckled, sending a spear of pain through his skull. “I've been to a lot of dangerous places in my travels, but I don't think I've had this many malicious attacks on my life before. I never would have guessed there was so much danger in a harem.”

“Well, at least your wounds don't seem to jump through time with you. That bruise you got jousting is gone.”

“Yeah, but poor Reg still has to contend with it. On his wedding night.”

“He'll probably be able to suffer through it.”

Reece laughed and then grimaced in pain. “Sweetheart, would you mind not making me laugh? It hurts.”

She examined the wound across his chest more closely. “This looks pretty deep.

You might need stitches.”

“I wonder if the eunuchs have a physician.”

“I'll ask Farima's mother-in-law. She seems trustworthy to me.” When they arrived back at the room, the food that had been set out for the princess's breakfast was gone.

“Covering their tracks, I guess,” Reece said.

“Lie down.” She directed him over to the bed where he col apsed.

“I'll go get my mother-in-law.”

“No!” he protested. “You aren't going anywhere without me. Just let me catch my breath and I'll come with you.”

“Don't be ridiculous. You're injured. I'll be fine.” He struggled out of the bed and back to his feet.

She tried to reason with him. “What good will you be to me in this condition, Nasir?” She glanced around warily and leaned closer to Reece to whisper in his ear.

“Someone's in here with us.”

“How do you know?”

“Try to cal me Lara,” she whispered.

“You know I'll protect you, Farima, even if I have to die to do so,” he declared loudly.

“You're right,” he whispered.

He wobbled around to the back of the bed where there were draperies hanging from the wall. He pushed them aside cautiously. There was no one there. Lara's heart thudded in apprehension, eyes searching the room for potential danger. A movement in the drapes surrounding the doorway to the bathing pavilion caught her attention. Reece saw it, too. He raced across the room and grabbed the figure behind the curtain by the arm.

There was a startled cry as a smal girl was pulled from her hiding place. Lara clutched her chest and let out a relieved breath. The girl's large brown eyes overflowed with tears and she let out an anguished wail. Reece released her as if she were hot to the touch.

Lara approached her and squatted down to the child's level. She couldn't have been more than seven. “Are you hurt?” she asked the girl. When the girl cried louder, Lara turned her head and scowled at Reece. “You scared her.”

“Why were you hiding in there?” Reece asked harshly.

The girl rushed two steps forward and threw herself against Lara. Lara hugged her instinctively.

“Do not cry,” Lara murmured to the girl. “What are you doing here?”

“Someone said you were dead.”

“Who said that?” Reece asked.

The girl shook her head vigorously, her dark brown locks tumbling about her shoulders. “I don’t know.”

“Was it a man or a woman?” Reece demanded.

The girl flinched and her eyes welled up with tears.

“Please answer, Nasir,” Lara said gently. “I enjoy living very much.”