“For anything … everything … whatever you want.”
“You must be specific, woman; thus will you remember what earned you punishment.”
She wasn’t likely to ever forget this, but aloud she said, “I can’t think. I can’t take any more either. Challen, please—”
She cut herself short with a gasp. She still wasn’t ready to beg him to take her, but right about now she could cheerfully kill him—almost. She’d give anything to be able to at least fight him, and there were a number of things she could still do, bound wrists or not. But her honor stayed her hand, forcing her to endure his will even if it killed her. It just might.
The sob came when he brought his thumbs into play, one flicking at the hard kernel her nipple had become, the other against the equally hard nub of oversensitized skin between her legs. But the moment she began crying, the torment stopped. The agony of wanting him persisted, however, her body still screaming with need. Her crying persisted, too, because she knew only time would relieve the state of desire the barbarian had brought her to.Hecertainly wouldn’t.
He did wrap his thick arms around her, however, as if he meant to offer comfort. Tedra was barely aware of it, enough to wonder what he was up to now. Surely he didn’t regret what he’d just done.
“What is this hanky-panky you spoke of?”
If he was trying to distract her from her tears, he succeeded. “It’s an old Kystran Ancient’s word. It means fooling around, as in hands-on practice, but mutual practice, and mutual satisfaction derived from it. What you did was not that.”
“Nor was it meant to be,” he said simply, then sighed. “You do not take punishment well,kerima.”
“You wanted me to beg, didn’t you?” she demanded bitterly.
“The sound of it would have been sweet.”
“I hate you,” she said, and then spoiled it by hiccuping.
He laughed. “Can a warrior not tease his woman?”
Was he serious? “I’m not your woman, just yours to order about for one month. And I give you warning, warrior. The very second that month is up, I’m probably going to kill you.”
“Now those are indeed the words of a woman sorely chastised. Truly, you are progressing, to reveal such womanly traits.”
She had to see the man who could spout such idiocy and turned to glance back at him. “I threaten to kill you and you call that womanly?”
He grinned at her, and took the opportunity while she was turned to very tenderly wipe the tears from her cheeks. “It is common for a woman to say such when she is feeling abused and has no other recourse. They are merely words,kerima,and not to be taken seriously.”
“Fine. You just continue thinking like that, babe. When you’re dead, don’t say Ididn’twarn you.”
He gave her a look that said he heard what she’d called him, but was going to ignore it this once. Her second threat he didn’t even acknowledge.
“Punishment has a purpose. Do you learn from it, then your mistakes will not be repeated. It is not meant to hurt you, but I think you feel this is not so; thus I must regret the manner chosen to correct you. Had I known how quickly you could be brought to arousal, I would have refrained from touching you in such a sensitive place.”
Hewas apologizing? But she didn’t see him offering to make amends by giving her the relief she still needed, so a fat lot of good it did her. He was merely saying it hadn’t been his intention to arouse her to the point of tears, just to the point of regret. Big deal. Arousal was arousal as far as she was concerned. And that he’d forced it on her, without feeling the slightest bit himself … He really was made of stone. How the farden hell did he do it?
And then she was hit with an incredulous thought that would explain much. “Are you real, Challen? Do you bleed?”
She managed to get a frown out of him. “Explain yourself, woman.”
“I have an android on my ship. He’s beautiful. He’s almost free-thinking, like Martha is. And he’s programmed to do anything I want him to do. But he’s not real. He’s a machine.Hecould do what you just did if he was so programmed, and not feel anything. You didn’t feel anything when you touched me. You can’t deny it. Your voice was too farden calm.Areyou real? Or is this planet more advanced than I first thought?”
“Your tales get more and more fanciful, woman.” He chuckled. “I must remember to tell Tamiron about your ‘unreal’ men.”
Tedra’s brows came together warningly. “Give me a straight answer, barbarian, or I’ll have to find another way to see if your blood runs red instead of black lubricant.”
“I am as real as you are,kerima.Think you a warrior has so little control he cannot see to the proper discipline of his woman? You have seen that it is otherwise.”
“I amnot-”
“You are what I say you are. Is that not so?”
This was asked in such a way that she knew it was a reminder that they were still “where he slept,” which translated to “his will was hers.”
