“Beloved!” he said, hopping up and down on one leg for a moment, before turning to face the automobile that was continuing to honk at him. “Stop that noise! I am trying to reason with my Beloved, and I can’t do that if you are making that ruckus. Now, Minerva—”
She tried to kick him. When he moved aside in time to avoid the blow, she responded with a growl behind her gag.
“I’m trying,” he told her, holding up his hands. “But as you can see, I have nothing with which to remove your bindings.”
She bent double and would have slammed her head in his belly in what was obviously an attack, but he caught her by the shoulders, and spun her around, moving her over to the motorcycle. He noted absently that the strongman in the field was sitting up and rubbing his head. “Yes, yes, my love, but now is not the time to play. Let us go to Christian’s castle, where he is sure to have a knife we can use. Can you mount the machine behind me?”
She appeared to scream, and jumped up and down a few more times before it struck him what her objection was.
“Ah. I see your point. You wish for this to be removed. It appears to be adhered to your skin. Very well, I will remove it quickly. You might wish to brace yourself,” he said, picking at a corner of the silver adhesive. “Ready?”
“Mmr—aaaaaaaaaaieeeeeeeeee!”
He pulled the adhesive quickly. Minerva stood frozen for a second, her eyes wide; then she screamed at the top of her lungs.
“You bloody boob! You great big bloodsucking boob of a man! Holy hellballs, that hurts!”
The flesh around her lips appeared red and angry. Not knowing what else to do, he pressed kisses to it, feathering them lightly in case the skin was tender.
“You could have eased it off, you know. You could have gotten some baby oil or something to work it up. You didn’t have to just rip it right ... off ... like ... oh, Ivo.” She swooned against him, her mouth parting in invitation. He didn’t refuse it, giving her a kiss to let her know just how worried he’d been.
“Hey!”
“If you think a few kisses is going to get you off the hook for yanking duct tape off my face, you’re so very wrong,” she told him, but the corners of her mouth curled, her eyes smoky with desire.
“Hey, you!”
“I love you,” he told her, surprised by the words at the same time that he knew them to be absolutely, completely, irrevocably true.
She blinked twice. “You do?”
“Hey, you can’t do that. Ow. I think my arm is broken. Hey!” The first strongman staggered toward them.
“I do. I don’t suppose you’ve fallen in love with me yet?”
To his annoyance, she pursed her lips and looked thoughtful. “I’m not sure. It’s hard to pinpoint my emotions when the lower half of my face is on fire, and my wrists hurt because they are zip-tied behind me.”
“Would it help if I licked your face?” he asked.
“Ew. No. I mean, I don’t mind a little licking. That can be sexy. But my face? My whole face?”
“I meant the wounded areas. Dark Ones have an enzyme in their saliva that acts as a coagulant. It might help ease the redness.”
“It is broken! Look, I can’t even make a fist.” The strongman waved his arm in the air.
“That bullyboy is coming,” Minerva said, her lips quirked in another slight smile. “We should probably go.”
“Yes. Get on the machine behind me. We’ll go find something to cut your bindings.”
“I’m not getting on behind you. I can’t hold on to you. I’ll fall off. Not to mention the fact that I’m not letting you drive me around on that thing. Not when you can’t even go a couple of miles without getting road rash all over you and losing fingernails hither and yon.”
“It’s growing back, and the injuries were mostly confined to just my left side. Also, I made it here without so much as a scratch,” he pointed out with dignity.
“Uh-huh.” She tipped her head up. “You have a smashed bug on your forehead. Will you shut it?”
Ivo was momentarily taken aback until he realized she was yelling the last sentence at the person driving the auto. There were several more behind them now.
“How am I going to do my job when I can’t even make a fist?” the strongman strode through waist-high grass, approaching the road.
