Ultimate Warriors (38 page)

     
"I
can take care of myself," she growled, jerking her arm away. With a few
narrow turns, she opened the secret entrance into the laboratory.

     
The room
was dusty, almost exactly like her father had left it all those years
ago--aside from what she had moved out for the museum display. Stiffening, she
stopped and listened. She felt Nikandros take up her elbow, as if he would push
her behind his back to protect her. She would have laughed at the chivalry, if
the situation weren’t so serious.

     
Quinlan
knitted her brow in concentration, hearing a noise on the far side where her
father’s thinking couch still sat. William had spent many hours lying on the
old piece of worn furniture as he figured out scientific equations.

     
Suddenly,
a giggling rose and a woman’s voice said, "Oh, but you’re programmed to be
a quiet one, aren’t you?"

     
Quinlan
frowned, glancing over at Nikandros. He too studied the couch.

     
"Now,
where’s your control panel?" the woman murmured. "I know you’ve got
to have one here some...oh, here it is. Let’s see...yellow and red make
erection."

     
Quinlan
instantly stepped forward. She grimaced. On her father’s old couch was Mrs.
Nathaniel with the butler unit. She had his uniform lifted off his slightly
rounded stomach was trying to reprogram the unresponsive unit to....

     
"Excuse
me," Quinlan said. "This room is off limits. And I would appreciate
it if you didn’t reprogram the help."

     
Nikandros
hid his chuckle at the wryness of her tone. Mrs. Nathaniel blinked, nearly
screaming in surprise at being found out.

     
"Get
back to the party before I tell your husband you
have
a robot fetish," Quinlan ordered. The woman nodded her head and scurried
off, her face coloring in horror and mortification.

     
Quinlan
sighed in frustration. She had been so sure she was going to solve the mystery.
Disappointment was hard to swallow. She went to the unit and began rerouting
the wires to their original settings.

     
"How
did you know she had a robot fetish?" Nikandros asked, a suspicion forming
in the back of his mind.

     
"Lucky
guess," she murmured in distraction. She righted the uniform. "Only a
woman with a robot fetish would know which wires to cross."

     
The
butler unit blinked and sat up. "Welcome home, Miss."

     
"Restart
program," ordered Quinlan. The butler nodded and blinked. He stood before
her.
"Back to your post."

     
The
butler silently walked out the laboratory door.

     
"So,
this is your father’s lab?" Nikandros asked, looking around when they were
alone. He remembered the place well. He had spent many hours with William in
it. William had been a good man with a truly pure heart and had treated him
like a son.

     
"It
was," Quinlan
said,
a hard edge to her tone.

     
Nikandros
studied her. Her eyes were no longer soft or dreamy when she looked at him. She
moved, glancing around to see if anything was disturbed. His body still burned
for her, wanting to draw her back into his arms.

     
With
that in mind, he went to her and ran the backs of his fingers over her bare
back, from her neck to her side. He lightly let his fingers dip beneath the
silk to land on her waist in a most intimate caress. She trembled beneath his
hand. Nikandros leaned into her, letting her feel the hard length of his desire
against her hip.

     
Nikandros
wanted nothing more than to pull up her gown and passionately take her right
there in the laboratory. His mind came up with many splendid options--the desk,
the couch, the floor, backed up against a wall. He dipped his head near her
neck, intent on kissing her nape and exploring the soft skin of her body
further.

     
"Can
we pick up where we left off?" he hushed, sending a wave of tremors over
her spine at the thought.

     
Quinlan
pulled away and walked to the door. His hard body had burned her through the
silk of her gown and she became nervous. "I can’t. I have guests I must
attend to and a speech to give."

     
Nikandros
sighed. As he moved to follow her, his hand darted to a table and pulled a
sheet from a dusty file. Deftly, he tucked it into his pocket. When she turned
around to glance at him, he smiled angelically at her.

     
Quinlan
frowned in suspicion, nodding her head to indicate he should leave first.
Nikandros walked boldly past, stopping long enough to send her a heated look of
tempered desire. Quinlan shivered, watching him walk down the hall. Then,
looking back over the laboratory, she whispered, "Sorry, dad. Don’t worry.
I’ll get them next time."

* * * *

     
Quinlan’s
speech was short and sweet. She sung praises about her father’s earlier works
and alluded enigmatically to his later ones. Mrs. Nathaniel was next to her
husband, looking properly mortified as she refused to meet Quinlan’s eyes.
During her speech, she felt Nikandros’ dark gaze on her from the back of the
crowd, stabbing into her with his denied passion. No doubt he was upset by her
dismissal of him.

     
"Very
lovely," said Henry to her as she stepped back down from the podium to
rejoin the party. His hand lifted, as if to touch her back, but hesitated and
merely hovered as he tried to guide her into the crowd.

     
"Thank
you," acknowledged Quinlan. She saw Nikandros watching her from the
distance, his eye alighting possessively on her. His jaw stiffened and he
didn’t make a move to come to her.

     
Quinlan
shivered.

     
"Is
something wrong?" Henry asked.

     
Quinlan
blinked in surprise and turned to him.

     
"You
look pale," he continued.

     
"I’m
just tired. It’s been a long night," she answered.

     
Henry
nodded, seeming to understand.

* * * *

     
Nikandros
watched Quinlan’s face stiffen as she talked to Henry. He wondered what they
could have been discussing that would make her skin turn pale like that. Her
eyes darted to the man as she answered him, before moving around the crowd.
Nikandros dipped back into the shadows, slipping out of sight.

* * * *

     
Quinlan
heaved a sigh of relief as the guests left. She was glad the party was finally
over. Henry had been the last to leave, promising to send over movers first
thing in the morning to take the glass cases and oversized photograph to their
permanent new home in the museum. His eyes had looked her over as if he wanted
to ask her something, but she yawned heavily for show and bid him goodnight
before he could speak.

     
Leaving
the maid units to clean up the mess, she grimaced to discover someone had
thrown up in her broken water fountain. It only served as a reminder of why she
hated throwing these functions. If she never did it again, she’d be happy.

     
After
ordering the security droids to search and scan the entire premises, Quinlan
slowly made her way to her bedroom. The house was quiet again, just as she
liked it. The droids ignored everything but their task at hand.

     
Her
bedroom was dark and she called for fire, not bothering to ask for more light.
With a pull of two hairpins, her hair spilled down over her shoulders. She
dropped the clips on her vanity and kicked off her shoes. The maid unit
switched on, picking up after her.

     
"Shower,"
Quinlan
called,
crossing over next to the fireplace to
where her bathroom door was.

     
"Mind
if I join you?"

     
For a
moment, Quinlan thought it was her fantasy coming to life. Her hands dropped
from the back of her neck. She’d been almost ready to unclasp the straps to her
dress. Spinning on her heels, she saw Nikandros lounging on her bed, a wide
smile on his face as he watched her.

     
"Please,
don’t stop what you were doing on my account." His words were low and
sultry. His eyes glowed with meaning as he looked at her dress. His gaze turned
seductive in the orange glow of the firelight.

     
"Privacy,"
Quinlan demanded.

     
Nikandros
blinked in confusion at the order until she saw the maid unit leaving.

     
"What
are you doing in here?" she asked when they were alone, a little too
weakly for her liking.

     
"I
thought you might like to see me," he said, bringing his feet around the
edge of the bed. His tuxedo jacket was off, lying across one of her chairs.
"Since we were interrupted last time."

     
Quinlan
swallowed. It was more than her erotically charged brain could take in, seeing
him next to her bed--a place where the naughtiest thoughts of him had occurred.

     
"I
didn’t invite you in here," she said, taking an unwitting step back. Her
legs shook, as she debated what to do. Did she take him up on his offer and let
him shower with her? Or did she call for her droid guards and have him dragged
out of her home?

     
"I
think you should let me stay," he murmured, as if he read her thoughts
easily on her face.

     
"What
do you want?" she whispered, her eyes taking him into their wide green
depths.

     
At that,
he smiled, coming forward until he towered above her. His hand lightly touched
her throat, running down over her breast in a tender stroke. Quinlan gasped as
her nipple budded to instant attention against a circling thumb. He smiled a
devilishly wicked smile.

     
"That,
my darling," he whispered, his eyes daring her to run. "I would think
was most obvious."

     
Quinlan
gasped as he seized her hand firmly in his and pulled it onto his full arousal.
He was rigid and hard beneath her palm, thick and ready for impaling.

     
"I
want you," he said with a manly growl.

     
Quinlan
shivered at the admission. His mouth dipped forward to swallow anything she
might say. She trembled at the onslaught of his lips. This searing kiss wasn’t
tender like the one in the garden. It was hard and demanding--just like the
rest of him. His teeth devoured her, biting. His tongue soothed the wounds,
licking and teasing, stealing her breath.

     
Before
she knew what was happening, his tongue was dipping into her mouth and his
hands were on her thigh, lifting her silk covered leg up to his waist.
Quinlan’s hands were all over him, pulling at the white linen of his shirt to
bare his chest to her. Buttons snapped off at her eager exploration.

     
Their
panting moans rose up between them. His chest was smooth, molded in hot
perfection. Each muscle was toned and rippled when he pressed himself against
her. The doorframe dug into her tender back. She didn’t care. The silk of her
gown was no match for his branding heat.

     
With a
groan, Nikandros pulled away. His hot eyes tinged with red as he looked her
over. Her leg dropped to the ground.

     
"Remove
the dress," he ordered fervently.

     
Quinlan
could not disobey. He was every fantasy she had ever had rolled into one man of
flesh and bone. At the moment, she didn’t care who he was or that he might be
using her. She couldn’t care, not when her body burned with such passionate
ardor.

     
Taking
her hands to her neck, she pulled her dress free. The material whispered over
her skin, pooling on the floor at her feet. She was completely naked under the
gown, just as he had expected. His eyes narrowed as he took her in--her round
breasts, the pleasant shading of her nether region. His lips parted. He was
pleased, very pleased.

     
His
hands at his waist, he noticed the steam from the water shower was beginning to
fog the bathroom. He licked his lips.

     
"I
want to make love to you," he said boldly. His managed to unbutton his
pants and they slipped from his waist. Kicking out of his clothes, he stood
naked before her.