Sailkeeper's Bride Read online

  When they reached the back of the stables, they eased their Chimeras into clean, well-stocked stalls. Then, Krysta turned to Georgia and grinned. “Take off your clothes.”

  “What?” Georgia felt a thrill. Her already pink skin turned a deep shade of red.

  “Trust me,” Krysta murmured. She leaned forward and gave Georgia a gentle kiss on the cheek.

  And so, feeling a flush of excitement, Georgia Steel stripped naked in the far corner of the barn’s large entry room. It didn’t bother her that a few stable hands wandered nearby. Nakedness was nothing unusual on Arda. No one even glanced in her direction.

  Georgia’s auburn hair tumbled down her freckled chest, blending with the new silver tattoos all over her skin. Her pa wound like wild honeysuckle around her hips and breasts, and the strange substance increased her connection to herself, to Arda, and to everyone she cared about—like Elise. Like the striking woman who stood before her, dressed only in tight leather-like breeches.

  Krysta gave her a sultry, teasing smile.

  “Okay, I’m at your mercy.” Georgia felt her nipples harden. God, she was already wet and aching. “What are you up to?”

  “I have something to show you.” Krysta’s silvery hair shimmered in the filtered stable light, cascading over her golden shoulders and covering parts of her own pa pattern of soft cherry blossoms. Her full breasts tempted Georgia, but Krysta hadn’t let her do more than a few touches during their morning ride.

  Behind them, their Chimeras enjoyed a snack of sweetgrain. Their nickering sounded like soft music, reinforcing Georgia’s belief that the creatures were at least part unicorn. Part giraffe, part horse—something utterly different than anything she had seen on Earth.

  But then, so was the dark-haired, night-eyed Krysta, who was pushing a set of buttons on the stable wall.

  A panel slid open, and Krysta disappeared from view.

  Welcome to Arda. Part Camelot, part Star Trek.

  Smiling, Georgia followed.

  The room she stepped into was small but bright, lit by skylights and candles. A bed took up the far wall, and several contraptions made the floor an obstacle course. Two of the hurdles looked like waist-high saddles, almost touching at the pommels, with thick, tempting penises growing out of the centers.

  Georgia raised an eyebrow and glanced at Krysta. “Is this another lesson in how sexually deprived I’ve been on Earth?”

  “Mmm-hmm. Come here.” Krysta beckoned, and Georgia joined her in front of the saddles.

  In the stellar weeks that Georgia had been on Arda, Krysta’s embrace had become familiar—but no less exciting. Her kisses were sweet and deep, comforting and thrilling at the same time. Georgia loved the feel of Krysta’s breasts rubbing against her skin, and the softness of Krysta’s tongue tracing her lips. Still, Georgia missed the feel of a hot cock, and a man’s muscles flexing beneath her hands.

  A man like the Sailkeeper.

  For the briefest of moments, Georgia imagined Fari’s powerful embrace. What would his lips feel like, claiming hers? How would he taste?

  Enough! Damn. I’m losing it.

  She jerked her attention back to reality and purred as Krysta stroked the small of her back with nimble fingers. Krysta leaned down. Their taut nipples met, and their pa marks touched.

  Georgia gasped at the electric tingle, and took another deep breath of Krysta’s perfume of mint and fresh air. Before she could get her bearings, Krysta moved her hand between Georgia’s legs and whispered, “Sweet and wet. Your quim always feels so warm.”

  Georgia moaned as Krysta rubbed her clit, finding the hot spot instantly. “Good. Right there. You get it every time.”

  “I try.” Krysta nibbled at Georgia’s lip, increasing the speed and pressure of her strokes.

  Closing her eyes, Georgia rocked against Krysta’s hand. “Faster. Faster!”

  Krysta obliged, rubbing hard and pulling Georgia against her silken skin until Georgia shook and groaned with her climax.

  Instead of laying Georgia down for more, Krysta pushed her backwards, toward one of the penis-saddles. “Sit on the kala now.”

  Georgia hesitated, but Krysta smiled. “Trust me. Sit.”

  Knees shaking from her orgasm, Georgia lowered herself, expecting the shock of penetration. Instead, the penis-like protrusion slipped inside her as if it were no larger than a finger.

  For a moment, nothing happened.

  And then the protrusion expanded.

  And expanded.

  And kept expanding, until Georgia couldn’t stand another millimeter.

  “God, this feels so good. Like a custom-designed dildo.” Georgia let out a long moan and wiggled on the saddle. It was warm against her backside, and the form-fitting penis moved with her. Teasing. Almost thrusting.

  Krysta settled on the other saddle, close enough to kiss if Georgia leaned forward. She didn’t. The feel of the expanding penis was too intense. Krysta’s satisfied expression told Georgia that her pussy had been filled to capacity, too.

  “Use your thoughts,” Krysta said as she rocked slowly, back and forth. “Guide the kala. It will follow your psi-commands.”

  Georgia nodded, unable to speak as she willed her saddle to move in the way she wanted.

  The custom-penis thrust deep inside her slit—but not too deep. “Oh, damn.” She gripped the saddle’s edge, grinding herself on it as hard as she could.

  “Good, yes?” Krysta rocked more forcefully. She reached out and grasped the ends of Georgia’s nipples and rolled them between her fingers.

  Georgia cried out and arched against her saddle. Harder, she insisted, and the saddle bucked. Harder!

  Krysta must have been giving similar orders to her kala, because it rammed up and back, drawing deep moans of pleasure. Georgia turned loose her saddle and captured Krysta’s nipples, enjoying the fierce look of pleasure on Krysta’s face as she squeezed.

  A strange sensation pierced Georgia’s shoulder blades. She had the feeling someone other than Krysta was watching. Instead of horrifying her, the feeling doubled Georgia’s excitement. Tension built in her belly as she rode her saddle and kneaded Krysta’s breasts. Krysta pinched back with a vengeance, and Georgia groaned.

  “Hope you like what you’re seeing,” she managed to gasp for the benefit of their secret admirer.

  Krysta laughed and tweaked Georgia’s nipples harder.

  Like a hot wave, sensation rose and rose until Georgia exploded with a loud yell.

  Krysta came almost at the same moment. She let Georgia’s nipples go and grabbed her saddle, undulating as the kalas eased them down with slower and more gentle thrusts.

  That “someone’s watching” sensation stopped suddenly, and Georgia turned toward the door.

  It was closed. No one was there.

  “Oooh. A shy one.” She wiggled in spite of herself. The kala responded with a soft nudge inside her, and the aftershock was delicious. “I need to find him. Shy men are tons of fun.”

  “That man might surprise you,” Krysta said. She looked uncomfortable.

  Georgia felt too relaxed to let the comment bother her. After a few seconds of inactivity, she felt the protrusion shrink inside her, and she eased off of it without difficulty. “That was wild. Do you have—um, more unbelievably wonderful sex toys?”

  Krysta’s dark eyes twinkled. “I think you would be served better by an unbelievably wonderful warrior. My brother for example. ”

  Georgia climbed off the kala. “He’s spooky, Krysta.”

  “Fari is intense.” Krysta slid off her saddle. “But he is the Sailkeeper—like one of your Earth policemen. It is his job to be alert for treachery, to protect the Sailmaster and the fleet. Besides, you are his soul’s mate. When he nears you, his senses overwhelm him.”

  Georgia suddenly wished for her clothes, but they were in the outer room. “Soul’s mate. How can he know that?”

  “Has Akad failed to explain psi-connections in your lessons?” Krysta’s tone reflecte
d concern.

  Georgia sighed and did her best to shield her thoughts. Of course Akad had explained psi-connections, and the finding and knowing of one’s soul’s mate. In great detail. Daily. Georgia just hadn’t wanted to listen.

  She started for the door of the pleasure room.

  Fuck ‘em and leave ‘em. No muss, no fuss. After growing up an orphan, and after what happened in high school—soul’s mate? No thank you.

  Other than Elise, Georgia had never given her heart or trust to anyone, and she couldn’t imagine giving herself to Fari Tul’Mar in any sense of the word.

  Oh, yes I can. That’s why he scares me so much. God. I need to shut up, and I don’t need to think about Fari.

  Georgia shivered, and Krysta put an arm around her shoulders as they stepped back into the main area.

  “I did not mean to distress you, Sister,” Krysta said softly. “It seems some shadow covers your heart.”

  The warmth of Krysta’s embrace chased back Georgia’s cold thoughts. “No big deal. Really. But as for Fari, I don’t know what to do about him.”

  “Take your time, if time is what you need.” Krysta kissed Georgia gently. “Fari will wait forever, if necessary.”

  “I hope such torture will not be my fate.” Fari Tul’Mar’s resonant voice flooded Georgia’s senses. Her heart skipped and shuddered. She wheeled around to find the Sailkeeper of Arda leaning against the door frame.

  Fari was dressed in his tight black breeches and tunic. The laces were open, showing the wings of his pa mark, and his barbed blade hung in a scabbard at his side. His long hair was loose about his shoulders, and he had a hint of beard on his chin and cheeks. Just enough to look completely sexy—and insufferably haughty.

  Truth gripped Georgia like a vise. “It was you watching us.”

  Fari shrugged. “You did not mind at the time.”

  “I didn’t know who it was!” Anger heated Georgia’s insides. She turned on Krysta. “But you did.”

  Krysta held up her hands, pleading. “I was having an orgasm. It was impossible to stop.”

  Georgia wanted to believe her, but the damage had been done, at least for the moment. She covered herself as best she could before facing Fari again.

  He stepped in front of her, cutting off the route to her clothes.

  “Please get out of my way,” Georgia said, irritated at the squeaky pitch of her voice. “I need to get dressed.”

  For a moment, Fari didn’t move. A smile played at his full lips, and Georgia’s cheeks flushed. She wanted to lunge forward and smack him, but she would have to uncover herself to do that—and damned if she’d give him that kind of pleasure again.

  “Get the hell out of my way,” she repeated through clenched teeth.

  Again, Fari hesitated, but before Georgia completely lost her temper, he gave her a flourishing bow and stepped aside.

  She brushed past him, and his thoughts trickled into her mind.

  You are so beautiful. If you would give me but a chance, I could please you like no other…

  Georgia hesitated. She looked back, directly into Fari’s fathomless black eyes. Her pa mark crackled and snapped, and her body’s response was beyond denying. For a moment, she allowed him to stay in her brain. She let herself imagine his arms around her. His mouth covering hers. His hard cock pressed against her aching pussy.

  Her very essence ached for his touch. She felt like she was on a roller coaster, plunging down and down. There was something about this man. Something special.

  Damn him to fifty hells!

  Fari groaned and stepped toward her.

  Fear pierced Georgia’s reverie, followed by a wave of rage. The barn’s walls seemed to close in on her, and her breath left in a rush. Fari was too close. Even Krysta was too close. The whole place felt like a closet.

  A storage closet. Papers, stacked to the ceiling. Boxes everywhere.

  “No!” Georgia stumbled backward. Her heart raced. Elise. Where’s Elise? I need Elise.

  “What is wrong, Sister?” Krysta extended a hand.

  So did Fari. Concern erased the hard lines of his face, giving him a softer, tender look.

  Georgia couldn’t process any of it. She couldn’t breathe.

  “Stay away from me!” she shouted as she grabbed her clothes and ran. “Leave me alone!”

  Chapter 3

  Fari Tul’Mar’s head spun with the force of his rage. He didn’t chase Georgia because he understood her reticence after the broadcast of her dark memories.

  And someday, somehow, the bastard responsible for her terror would face justice at the Sailkeeper’s hands.

  Fari’s gut ached as he watched his shanna flee the barn because long ago, a man had injured her body and spirit. Now, males and sex—it was all a game to her. She trusted her heart to no one save Elise.

  Georgia’s sweet scent of wild berries lingered in the air as if to torment him.

  Krysta grabbed his elbow. “If you would cease acting like an arrogant fergilla, perhaps she would cease running from you.”

  “Leave me be.” Fari doubled his fists. Images of torturing the scum who hurt Georgia almost overtook him. “She has wounds of the heart. I did not know until this moment.”

  “Because you never looked.” Krysta slipped around him and picked up her shirt. “We all have secrets, Fari. Old hurts and old shames—as you well know. Still—I, I, I. That is all I hear from you. Even now, you think of maiming some attacker from Georgia’s past instead of soothing her fears today. If you keep this up, she will choose a mate at the Festival of Seasons just to be rid of you.”

  “Festival of Seasons. Hmph. Only fools would submit themselves to such humiliation.” And yet pain pierced Fari’s head like a Chimera had kicked him between the eyes. The thought of Georgia mating with another man—that would not happen. No. Murderous was too mild a word for Fari’s feelings on that subject.

  Steady. Do not let the mating fervor overtake you again.

  He chewed the inside of his cheek rather than fire an angry speech at his sister—though Krysta could hold her own in a war of words. In any war, for that matter.

  “Here.” He extracted the crushed falcon feather from his pocket and thrust it at her. “Contact Ki. Tell him the Outlanders burned the Browntown stables.”

  “What?” Krysta snatched the evidence and stared at it. “But—why?”

  Fari conveyed his findings from the morning’s investigation in terse phrases, fighting to keep his thoughts off Georgia. “I suspect some celestial portent of doom has set them off again.”

  “’The end of time is coming.’” Krysta nodded. “Do you think—“

  “Please. Just contact Ki.” Fari rubbed the sides of his aching head. “I cannot discuss this now.”

  Krysta offered no argument, and wordless in his disgrace, Fari stalked down the long corridor and left the barn.

  I am a fool. Impulsive, as always. Will I forever miss what is vital? Camford’s stone walls loomed before him. He hurried up the main steps to the massive wooden doors. >From this point forward, I will take more care with my shanna. I will apologize for my past insensitivity, and then I will join Krysta in the war room to deal with the Outlanders.

  His lip curled. “And when we claim victory, I will turn my attentions to the fergilla who hurt my beloved.”

  Even without a psi-touch, Fari knew where Georgia had gone. To Ki’s bedchamber. To Elise. She was seeking comfort from her sister-cousin—the comfort Fari fiercely wished she would allow him to offer.

  In typical Sailkeeper fashion, he strode straight toward his target. His mind churned on what he would say and the tone he should choose. He knew more nervousness than he had ever known, which angered him at both the circumstance and himself.

  Not until Fari stood outside the bedchamber door did he realize he was courting disaster. His emotions howled like a fall storm. His body tensed as though he stood on the razor-edge of a precipice.

  If he walked in that room in his current sta
te, he would make an overbearing fool of himself again.

  Growling like a crazed game cat, Fari forced himself to turn away. Akad’s potion tasted bitter indeed as he swallowed a good-sized gulp. It hit him in seconds, and he staggered against the wall to keep from falling.

  For long stellar minutes, he stood facing the wall, bracing himself with both hands on the cold stone. He let his head droop, waiting for the elixir’s effects to settle.

  Georgia is on the other side of this rock, his fevered brain informed him.

  And he could see her in his mind, stretched across the big curtained bed. She lay with her head in Elise’s lap, and Elise stroked her hair tenderly.

  Fari’s fantasies swirled, and he fancied his shanna rolling to her back. Her clothes melted away, and he saw her as he did in the barn. Naked and aroused. Her red locks swirled about her freckled shoulders, and between her legs—a matching blaze. Moisture glistened on the fiery hair.

  A groan echoed through the hallway, and Fari realized it came from his own throat. His cock pulsed and swelled, overriding Akad’s medicine. He had to find relief before his body exploded.

  Fari’s first thought was to bash his head against the rocks until he fell unconscious. Perhaps then he would know respite from this burning desire. Akad needed to brew something stronger before the unsatisfied mating fervor killed him outright. Had any warrior waited so long—or done so poorly in winning his destined mate?

  I am a bigger fool than I thought.

  A wave of dizziness drove Fari to his knees. He struggled not to vomit. Like drums, his blood thrummed in his ears. Camford’s air felt thick and heavy. He could barely force it into his lungs.

  What was happening?

  Had he been poisoned?

  He swayed, almost pitched onto the marble floor—and then strong hands gripped his shoulder, his arm. And softer hands, on his other arm. Camford spun around him in a swirl of colors. Someone was helping him up, urging him to walk.

  He staggered.

  A tall figure caught him. Krysta, by the feel of fergilla hide beneath his shaking hands. His sister and her bodysuits.

  Fari closed his eyes. In seconds, he was eased into a bed.