Gift of Gold (28 page)

“In other words you fell for my brain, not my body?”

He squeezed her hand a bit too tightly in retaliation. “Spare me the sarcasm tonight. I’m trying to explain things to you. At any rate, when I found you again, nothing really became any clearer until the night I tried picking up the pistol with you standing next to me. I hadn’t stepped into that corridor for years but I recognized it instantly. I also realized something else. All of a sudden I wasn’t alone in that tunnel in my mind. You were there. It was the first time I had ever had anyone else with me.”

“Not even when you were testing your ability at Vincent?”

He shook his head. “No. Until I met you I had no idea it was even possible to take anyone with me into that corridor. I had always found myself alone in there, and believe me, that damn tunnel has got to be the loneliest place in space or time.”

“I can believe it.” Verity’s fingers tightened comfortingly through his. “My God, I can believe it.”

Jonas felt the gentle warmth in her touch and smiled to himself. He was supposed to be the one doing the comforting tonight. Underneath all those prickly thorns there was a decidedly soft, empathic streak in his flame-haired tyrant. Knowing that made him feel more protective and possessive than ever. No wonder Emerson had felt obliged to give her as many self-defense mechanisms as possible. She would never admit it, but Verity needed protection in this hard, cold world.

“That first time I found you in the corridor with me I reached for you and you ran,” Jonas explained slowly. “I dropped the pistol and that was the end of it. I still wasn’t sure what it meant, but I knew I had to find out.”

“And the next time you found me there?” she prompted. “When it happened last night at Evanger’s house, things were a lot more serious.”

“Because that rapier was from the era you’re so attuned to?”

He nodded. “It’s a much more dangerous time zone for me and I was really caught up in it last night. I made a mistake. I took a chance and I paid for it. I knew I had to get to you before I was completely overwhelmed by the forces that were attached to the rapier.”

“So you came traipsing down the hall to my room.”

“I went after you because I sensed you could keep me from being swamped. I was right. At first you ran, but at the last moment you stopped and turned around and came to me. Once you were with me I was back in command of myself. It was close but we got through it together. Last night I had my proof. Tonight was a controlled exploratory trip. Now I’m convinced. With you around, I can learn to control my trips into the corridor. Do you have any idea what that means to me, Verity?”

“I’m not sure I want to know,” she retorted gloomily.

He ignored that. “The rapier I had last night, or anything else from that era, is not a good test object because it’s too powerful. The pistols were much easier to experiment with. They’re infinitely more manageable.”

“Hah. Manageable my foot. Two men were getting ready to kill each other in
that corridor. I couldn’t see very well, the image was all broken up like an Impressionist painting, but I got the overall picture.”

“I’ve never seen such a clear image in that corridor,” Jonas mused. “But then I’ve never had the luxury of taking my time and studying what was going on around me. Every other time I’ve gone in, I’ve been moving fast, trying to avoid too much contact with those twisting streamer things. It was interesting to be able to stop for once and look around.”

“What would have happened if that other man had fired?”

Jonas shrugged. “Nothing. What could have happened? It’s like watching a movie. The images never last more than a few seconds.”

“I’m not so sure that the images are harmless. I got the impression you were somehow being drawn into one of the men holding a gun. Does that make sense?”

“In a way, I guess. I was feeling what he was feeling. I knew things he knew, such as why he was fighting the duel. But there was no danger. I wasn’t him. He wasn’t me.”

“I was frightened, Jonas. I thought that if the other man fired, you might actually be killed.”

Jonas stopped short in the middle of the path. “What the hell are you saying?”

“I can’t explain it. I just had this fleeting feeling that you were in as much danger as the man who was holding the pistol in that image. That’s why I started yelling about getting out of the corridor. You called me Amanda and dropped the pistol and the next thing I knew we were out of there.” She shivered. “You shouldn’t have touched that golden ribbon.”

Jonas felt a prickle of cold sweat. He banished the queasy feeling at once. “Verity, your imagination got away with you. Perfectly understandable. After all, that was the first time you were ever caught up in one of those corridor situations. You don’t realize how easily corridor reality gets mixed up with present-time reality. Don’t worry about it. We were both safe.”

“I’m not so sure about that.”

“Trust me,” he said. “I’ve had a lot more experience in that corridor than you’ve had. It can be dangerous. In the past I’ve worried about being swamped by the lingering emotions of someone who lived in the past, but tonight I felt totally in control. Damn, it felt good.” A joyous relief that could no longer be suppressed made him laugh out loud. “It was a fantastic sensation, Verity. Incredible. For the first time I was in command in that corridor. I knew I didn’t have to worry about fighting off any garbage from the past. I was stronger than anything the residue off that pistol could throw at me. Dammit to hell, what a feeling of freedom. After all these years, I finally feel free, and I owe it all to you, lady.”

“If you want to pay your debt, take me to bed,” she said fiercely.

Jonas was so startled that for an instant he could only stare down at her in amazement. “What?” he finally got out.

Her eyes were deep, mysterious pools in the shadows as she looked up at him. “Take me to bed. Now. Right this minute.”

“Wouldn’t you rather talk some more? You had a hell of an experience tonight. Maybe you’d rather we discussed it. I can answer some of your questions. Not all of them, but a few. You must have thousands, considering what you’ve been through.”

“You’re not listening to me. The questions can wait. I want to
make love first. Right away.”

“Uh, sure. You bet. My pleasure. I’ve been thinking along those lines myself. I mean, I’ve been wondering if you would be willing, but I thought I ought to give you a little time to…” He broke off, certain he had turned into a gibbering idiot. “Lady, sometimes you really take me by surprise.”

She put her arms around his neck and pressed close. He could feel the firm roundness of her small breasts against him as she rose onto her toes and forcefully pulled his head down to hers. He could feel her nipples hardening beneath the pullover she wore.

“When did you stop wearing a bra?” he demanded.

“Never mind that. Kiss me,” she urged passionately.

Jonas caught his breath, aware of the hot rush of blood in his veins. “Your wish is my command,” he tried to say with a small, mockingly gallant smile, but he never finished the sentence.

Verity was assaulting his mouth while she pressed her body against him. Her lips were hot and demanding on his. When she thrust her small tongue between his teeth, Jonas’s already aroused body kicked into high gear. He was suddenly throbbing with desire, as frantic for Verity as she was for him. The knowledge that she wanted him with such demanding urgency had much the same effect as pouring gasoline on open flames. Jonas nearly exploded.

But Verity seemed to be a couple of steps ahead of him. She was already in flames. Jonas was dazed by the hunger in her. She was all over him, peeling open his jacket and yanking at the buttons of his shirt, entwining her leg around his and arching her lower body into his thighs. Jonas groaned as the blaze of his passion mingled with hers. When her small, eager hand slipped down to his waist and stopped to unfasten his jeans, he came back to his senses long enough to free his mouth.

“It’s cold out here. Let’s get to your cabin,” he ordered tersely.

She blinked as if trying to clear her head for an instant and then she gave up the effort. “No,” she said, her fingers back at work on his jeans. “Here. Right now. Right here. I can’t wait. I want you, Jonas. I want you so much. I’ve got to have you. You must make love to me.”

“Believe me, I will. As soon as we get inside where it’s warm.” He groaned, fighting for enough self-control to get both of them off the path and into the privacy of the cabin. When she refused to cooperate, he lost what was left of his patience. He captured her wrists and held them behind her back.

She twisted, trying to free herself so that she could get at him again. “Let me touch you,” she begged. “Please let me touch you. I want to feel you. I want to hold you in my hands and watch you get big and hard and heavy and then I want to take you inside me. Deep inside me. I want to feel every inch of you. I want to drain you. Please, Jonas.”

“Woman, you’re going to make me come right here in the middle of the path if you keep on talking like that.
Let
’
s go.
”
He scooped her up into his arms and almost ran to the cabin. He was on fire and so was she. The heat in her was beating at him. The night was clear and cold but Jonas felt as if he were holding a small furnace in his arms.

Verity gave up struggling and concentrated on clinging to him as he carried her. Her fingertips were tiny daggers sliding under the collar of his jacket and sinking into his shoulders. Her mouth was glued to his.

“The door,” Jonas rasped when they reached it. “Open it, Verity.”

With a soft, impatient moan, she did as he ordered and reached down to open the door. A second later they were inside. Jonas kicked the door shut behind him and started down the short hallway to Verity’s small bedroom. He could hardly wait now.

He barely made it. For a moment he was sure that he was going to collapse under Verity’s compelling touch and wind up making love to her on the hardwood floor. He managed to fall heavily onto the bed, instead. Her fingers went straight to his jeans to resume the task they had begun outside.

“Oh, yes, baby,” he muttered, fumbling desperately with her sweater. “Anything you want, honey. Take anything you damn well want. It’s all yours. And I’m going to have all of you in return. I’m going to get so deep inside you, you’ll think I’m apart of you.”

He freed her beasts just as she succeeded in opening his jeans. His throbbing manhood leaped into her hands, pushing against her palm and thrusting between her fingers with blind hunger. Verity’s nails scored him lightly, then glided over the sensitive, velvety soft head. Jonas sucked in his breath, fighting to keep himself from climaxing then and there.

“Hell, Verity.”

“Is it?” she asked breathlessly.

“No, no, no.” He groaned and leaned down to close his teeth lightly around one of her tight little nipples. “More like heaven. You’re so damn hot tonight.”

She slid her fingers down his shaft and continued further below. She cupped him, squeezing a little too hard.

“Jesus Christ, take it easy, honey,” he gasped, torn between excruciating pain and excruciating desire. He grabbed her hand and pulled it slightly away from its target. “Easy does it.”

She frowned. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

“It’s okay, it’s okay,” he said quickly. “You just need a little practice, that’s all.” He pushed her hand back into position, already missing her touch. “Try it again.”

She did, this time with such exquisite sensitivity that Jonas was sure he would never get enough of her.

“Better?” she whispered.

“Perfect.” He moved his hand down her body to the waistband of her jeans and quickly unzipped them. “Lift that sweet little tail far enough off the bed so I can get these damn jeans off you.”

She did as instructed. Jonas made certain her silky panties came off along with the jeans. She didn’t wait for his coaxing touch on her thighs. Her denims had barely hit the floor before she was raising one knee and parting her legs. The scent of her arousal made Jonas’s head swim.

The feminine invitation was irresistible. Jonas’s fingers clamped around her silken thighs, pushing them wider apart so that he could have free access to the treasure awaiting him. He parted the soft folds with his thumb and forefinger.

Verity moaned softly and Jonas’s fingers were instantly bathed in spicy dew. He slowly probed the tight, secret corridor, groaning with anticipation as he felt her clench around him.

“You’re so tight and hot,” he breathed in awe. He was dazed with her excitement. She was wild for him. Her moisture coated his whole hand. He used a second finger to open her wider, and his lower body tightened unmercifully as he felt her small muscles close fiercely around his two fingers. Deliberately he stroked deeply into the velvet sheath. Then he slowly withdrew to the entrance. Verity twisted beneath his touch, clutching at him. Her soft cries were an erotic cross between a siren’s compelling demand and a woman’s sweet surrender. They vibrated through Jonas, making him tremble with his own demanding need.

He stroked his fingers into her again, this time using his thumb to tease the small, rigid little bud at the juncture of her legs. She arched frantically, trying to pull him to her.

“
Jonas.
Love me. Take me now. I want you inside me now. Hurry. I’m going crazy.”

He lowered his head to where her tiny passion bud, swollen and throbbing, snuggled into dark red curls. He curled his tongue around it and was rewarded with Verity’s desperate cry of need. She grabbed his head and tried to hold him to her, offering herself to him with uninhibited passion.

Jonas reveled in the response he had provoked. A heady sense of masculine power made him tantalize her again instead of moving to satisfy her. He loved having Verity like this, full of sweet, demanding surrender. He had never had a woman respond so completely to him. It was enough to give a man delusions of grandeur.

“In a minute,” he promised, sliding one finger down beneath her hips to trace the dark velvet furrow between her clenched buttocks. “I’ll take you completely, honey. I won’t leave any part of you untouched, I promise. I’m going to go deep inside you. So deep you won’t ever be able to forget me.”