"Kept making the artist do it till he got it right." Quinton pushed the covers to the floor and tapped the mattress again. "Went from memory, but I know it"s not exactly right."
Only an amateur astronomer himself, Collins could not tell her how to fix it. He walked to the bed, not certain what Quinton wanted from him.
Quinton stood, gently straightened Collins" collar, then pressed her lips against his. Her large b.r.e.a.s.t.s conformed to his chest, and he thought he could feel the nipples against him. Instantly excited, he returned the kiss, thrusting his tongue between her lips. She wants me. Oh, my G.o.d, this beautiful woman wants me.
Quinton arched her body against Collins" and whispered in his ear. "I want you." Her warm breath stirred something so primal, he groaned. His legs felt rubbery, unable to hold his weight.
Together, they sank onto her bed.
Chapter 20.
BENTON Collins lay flopped across Carrie Quinton"s bed, basking in the afterglow and the wonder of the whole situation. A smart, beautiful woman wanted me. He stared around the canopy at the painted stars ignited by the faint light the torches provided. Hours ago, he would never have believed such a thing could happen. Now, the whole world seemed to have changed.
Quinton made a sound of contentment, which sent a wave of joy thrilling through Collins. He could count the number of times he had made love, now no longer on just one hand; but he still considered himself inexperienced. He had done his best with Quinton, holding out as long as he could, but the whole session had still lasted less than fifteen minutes. It delighted him to think he had satisfied her, too.
A trickle of guilt disrupted his joy, its source uncertain. Marlys remained far from his thoughts. He had a.s.sumed their relationship was over before he had even come to Barakhai. The fact that they had not officially broken up had to do only with his inability to contact her. The true wonder was that the relationship had lasted as long as it did. Once he realized that Marlys had nothing to do with the sensation pressing against his conscience, he puzzled over it. Some frail corner of his mind told him he had found his soul mate, and it was not Carrie Quinton.
The thought seemed madness. He and Quinton had everything in common: background, interests, s.e.xual attraction. It seemed almost as if the world had conspired to bring them together.
Quinton sat up, reaching for her clothes. "Penny for your thoughts."
Collins studied her, the torchlight just right to capture proper details and hide the flaws. Her face held a natural radiance that required no cosmetics. The curls, disheveled from their lovemaking, looked even more attractive tousled. Pale as blue-tinted pearls, her eyes remained striking. Her large b.r.e.a.s.t.s, perky with youth, still excited him, even with his manhood freshly spent. Even the antiquated phrasing of her question did not seem strange or nerdish. "You"re beautiful," he said.
Quinton pulled on her dresslike undergarments, then the actual dress, smoothing the skirting around her hips and thighs. "I"m intelligent, too."
Collins swallowed, afraid he had just made a fatal mistake. "Well, of course. But that goes without saying." Uncertain whether he had rescued himself yet, he added, "Ol" D-Mark insists on the brightest."
"Including you?"
Choosing humor over modesty, Collins simply said. "Well, of course." Then, finding a way to use both, he added, "Though he couldn"t be quite as picky after you disappeared. Everyone thought he"d driven you to run."
"So that"s what happened." Quinton laughed. "At least no one"s worried about me." She pulled on the gold chain with the dragon stone.
Collins" gaze latched onto the crystal, and sudden shame slapped him. He had allowed a tryst to distract him from his mission. "I"d venture to guess your mother"s worried."
Quinton"s lips pursed tightly. "I don"t have a mother."
The words seemed nonsensical. "Everyone has a mother." Collins reached for his own clothing.Quinton grunted. "Squeezing a child out the birth ca.n.a.l doesn"t make a woman a mother."
Collins pulled on his loose-fitting trousers and tied them without bothering to look at his hands. "My biology training says you"re wrong."
"Well my sixteen years in seven foster homes trumps your biology training."
All humor disappeared. "Oh."
"Oh."
"I didn"t know." Properly chastised, Collins reached for his tunic. "I"m sorry."
"For the first two years of my life, the woman who claimed to be my mother left me crying in a crib for hours while she went out and parried." A shadow fell over Quinton"s face. "They gave her four years to straighten out her life enough to get me back. Four years. An eternity for a kid. By the time they realized she wouldn"t, I was too old for an adoptive family. In those days, they only wanted babies."
"I"m sorry," Collins repeated, wishing he had never raised the subject. It clearly hurt her. "You"ve done amazingly well on your own, given the circ.u.mstances you came from." Suddenly, his own problems did not seem significant at all.
"I realized she was rotten by the time I was three, but it took an army of social workers four years to figure out the same thing." Quinton finger-combed her tangled locks. "That convinced me I was smart. I always knew I"d make it through college, though without scholarships, jobs, loans, and lab a.s.sistanceships, I"d never have made it."
"You"re incredible," Collins said as he put on his gla.s.ses, meaning it. "Resourceful, determined, intelligent, and beautiful." He smiled. "And d.a.m.ned good in bed."
Quinton winced. "I don"t know why I told you that. Since I got off on my own at eighteen, I"ve never told anyone."
Her confession made Collins feel even closer than their lovemaking had. "I have a confession to make, too."
Quinton turned him a look of innocent questioning. "What?"
"I can get us home."
"You can?" Quinton"s tone sounded guarded, not the pure excitement Collins expected.
Nevertheless, he continued. "All I need is the crystal." He reached out a finger and stroked the smooth stone around her neck.
Quinton did not flinch. "I don"t understand."
"What"s to understand?" Collins" voice gained all the excitement Quinton"s lacked. "With the crystal, I can get us back to our own world."
Quinton shook her head slightly. "Ben, this is my world."
"This . . . ?" Collins" grin vanished. "This-don"t be ridiculous. I can get us home. To Earth." Doubting they had actually left the planet, he amended, "Back to civilization."
Quinton clenched her hands in her lap.
Collins studied her in silence for several moments.
Quinton stared at her intertwined hands. "I don"t want to leave"
"But, Carrie-"
"I feel more at home here than I ever did there."
Collins wanted to say something, anything, to rouse Quinton. The idea that she would like Barakhai better than home had never occurred to him. "What if you got appendicitis?"
Carrie pointed to her right hip. "Appendectomy. Age nine."
"All right. Needed your tonsils out."
Quinton"s hand went to her throat. "Tonsillectomy. Age six."
Frustrated, Collins tried something that could happen more than once. "What if you broke your leg?"
Finally, Quinton looked directly at Collins. "They do have healers here, you know. They handle broken bones all the time."
Collins huffed out a sigh. "Do they handle cancer?"
"No," Quinton admitted. "But I"d rather take my chances raising the dragons until they can heal me than getting poisoned with chemotherapy and radiation."The dragons. Collins had almost forgotten them. Once the king"s adviser/geneticist raised and trained them, King Terrin might as well be invincible.
"Carrie, please. I do want to go home. Can"t you just let me have the stone for me?"
The pallid eyes narrowed to slits, then she dropped her head wearily. "Ben, I have another confession."
Collins fell silent, not certain he wanted to hear it.
Quinton"s fingers twined like snakes in her lap. "When I first brought you up here, I just wanted to get some information out of you."
Collins closed his eyes, dreading the rest.
"But I found myself really attracted to you. Then, one thing led to another, and I never did ask any questions and ..." She broke off suddenly. "Please look at me."
Liking the turn her admission seemed to be taking, Collins obeyed.
"I want you to stay," Quinton said with raw sincerity. "King Terrin wants you to stay and advise him.
You"d have a life of luxury, the life of a prince."
Collins shook his head. "I-"
Quinton seized his hand. "I do want you to stay, too. I want to sleep with you every night. I want to bear your babies. I want to be ... a real mother."
My babies. This was too much for twenty-three-year-old Benton Collins. From one session of s.e.x to this? Terror ground through him, and the urge to put some physical distance between them became nearly unbearable. He suspected her swift bond with him had something to do with those she"d lacked as a child, yet the understanding did him little good. He found himself hyperventilating. He needed air. Too much too fast. Worried about upsetting her, he reached for the crystal again. "Please, Carrie. Just let me have the stone. I"ll only go to settle some things. To gather some comforts. Then I"ll come back."
Water glazed Quinton"s blue-white eyes.
"I will. I promise." The words came out without conscious thought. Collins could not even convince himself he would keep that vow. Spitting on his hand and sugar on top would not work for Carrie Quinton.
She spoke softly, her voice strained and hesitant. "Once we"ve established a life here. A baby. Things I know you won"t abandon. Then, then, you can go back."
"Carrie." Collins cupped the crystal in one hand. "I can"t wait that long."
Quinton jerked backward, then hissed in pain. Clearly the gold chain cut into the back of her neck.
Now that he had a hold on it, Collins closed his hand, unable to let go. "I don"t want to hurt you. Just let me have it."
"No," Carrie said, then shouted. "No! Help! Help! I need help!"
Collins knew he had to escape and fast, but he would not leave without the crystal. He wrapped both hands around it and pulled.
Carrie screamed.
The door that led to the other chambers burst open. Three men with swords charged into the room, directly at Collins.
"s.h.i.t!" Collins gave one last desperate heave that snapped the links. Momentum hurled him to the floor, the stone clamped in his hands, the broken ends of the chain whipping his fingers.
His b.u.t.tocks struck stone, and agony howled through his spine. Blood splashed his face, and Carrie shrieked again.
Two swords jabbed toward Collins. He recognized their wielders as men who"d been seated at the head table on his first visit to the dining hall. Now, he noticed only that they looked well-muscled and competent with their weapons.
Collins scuttled into retreat as the blades jabbed forward. His back jarred suddenly against cold stone, and he scrambled to a stand, smacking his head on something affixed to the wall. A wash of black-and-white spots swam down on him, stealing his vision. He bulled through it, only to find himself pinned to the wall by two swords at his chest.
"Be still," said a silk-clad blond who could have been, and probably was, the king"s brother. "Wedon"t want to kill you."
Menaced by swords, Collins was not sure he believed the man. The one beside him remained quiet.
He stood half a head taller, skin and hair a shade darker than his companion"s. He wore a beard while the other was clean-shaven, and his hairline was receding.
Collins tightened his hold on the crystal. He had come too far to give it up now, yet he saw no way out of this situation. His only advantage came if he believed Carrie Quinton"s claim that the king wanted him alive. He glanced at the geneticist, who returned his look with hate-filled eyes. Her hands clutched at the back of her neck. It surprised Collins to find himself thinking clearly in a life-or-death situation after his utter panic at the gallows. If nothing else had come out of his trip to Barakhai, he had gained composure. Fat lot of good that"ll do me dead.
Sweat dripped down Collins" forehead, out of proportion to the rest of his body. His scalp felt uncomfortably hot. "Carrie and I were just-" He flushed, finishing lamely. "-talking and . . . and . . .
stuff." Stuff. The new popular euphemism for s.e.x. Abruptly, Collins realized what he must have crashed against that now heated his head. Torch bracket. He needed a distraction. "Tell "em, Carrie."
"He stole my necklace," Quinton hissed. "A traitor."
The men"s heads swiveled toward her. Seizing the moment, Collins lunged for the torch with his free hand. The bracket tore a line of skin from his thumb, sending pain howling through his hand, but he managed to complete the movement. His fingers wrapped around the warmed wood, and he swung wildly for his captors.
The two men leaped backward, sparing themselves a burning but opening the way for Collins" escape.
The fire flickered dangerously low, then steadied. Collins raced for the door to the stairwell.
"Guards! Guards!" the shorter man shouted.
Collins jerked the panel open, only to find the way down blocked by a seething ma.s.s of warriors.
"s.h.i.t!" Clearly, the king had antic.i.p.ated that Collins" allegiances might have shifted. Quinton had known from the start that she had formidable backup. "s.h.i.t!" he repeated, louder. He needed a distraction, anything to delay the mob below him. "Storm!" he shrieked the code word to any rebel in earshot.
"Storm! Storm!"
When no one responded, Collins hurled his only weapon, the torch, at the horde, then thundered up the stairs. Up is wrong. Up is wrong! It made no sense to corner himself on a rooftop, yet he saw no other way. At least, it might delay the inevitable and place the choice of death or capture back into his own hands. The crystal bit into his palm, and another realization struck him. At least, he might get the object of contention into the right hands. Surely, he would find someone from the rebel forces in the courtyard. At least, my death might not be completely in vain. Though a scant comfort, it proved better than none at all.
Collins charged upward, pausing only to collect another torch from its bracket in the stairwell. A moment later, he reached the next landing, antic.i.p.ating a flurry of guardsmen from the parapets. None came through the door, and Collins dimly realized that the rebels must have managed to handle those men for him. He continued to run, breaths coming in wild pants, legs pounding upward as if under their own control. Suddenly, he found a square ceiling over his head, and the steps ended at a trapdoor. Praying it would not prove too heavy, he bashed against it with his head and right shoulder.
The panel jolted upward, but the seconds of delay proved his undoing. A hand closed around his ankle, jerking him abruptly backward. Balance and momentum lost, he felt himself falling into someone"s arms. Twisting, he thrust blindly with the torch. The taller royal retreated, beard aflame. He let go of Collins" leg. Collins threw the torch and launched himself through the trapdoor. He heard Quintan"s scream, high-pitched and fiercely terrified, caught a momentary glimpse of her, flames leaping from her hair, before the trapdoor crashed shut behind him. Guiltily, he hoped her distress would keep the guards busy long enough for him to find a way down. He darted to a crenel and glanced into the courtyard below. Seven stories down, the goats, sheep, pigs, and chickens looked very small. "s.h.i.t!" he yelled.
"s.h.i.t! s.h.i.t! s.h.i.t!"
The expletive caught the attention of some of the animals, who looked up at him. Something buzzed in his ear, and he whirled to face a tiny bird, its wings fluttering so fast they seemed invisible. Collins couldnever have imagined himself so glad to see Ialin. "Here." He thrust out the crystal. "Take it."