Ice Baron (Ice Chronicles, Book One (science fiction romance)) (13 page)

Joshua had lived so long tamping
down his hopes and his desires that it had become almost a reflex action, the
word “no.” Was it easier to say “no” than to experience the capricious
uncertainties of a risky, joyful “yes”?

In battle, he had never accepted
less than complete conquest. It was easy, because it was the right thing to do.
He could follow through on his basic, primitive instinct to conquer. But with
Anya, he could not do the same. Always, he had to put the brakes on his
feelings and deny the deep desire to make her his.

It was damn hard. But one more
time, he would do what was right.

Joshua knocked.

*  *  *  *  *

Anya drew a breath and schooled
her features into petulant lines. She had to make this look real. Joshua couldn’t
suspect her true plan until it was too late. Her boots and parka lay in the
closet, ready for hasty donning. She already wore snow wear under her black
clothes.

At Joshua’s second knock, she
opened the door.

Those velvet brown eyes looked
serious, and a faint frown drew his straight brows together. He wore his cream
parka and boots, and he looked bigger than normal. He was ready to go.

She shut the door after him.

“I’m leaving,” he said, his mouth
a straight line.

“I could help you,” she told him,
keeping in character. If she had truly been about to be left behind, she’d
argue with him, even at this late hour.

Tersely, he said, “Stop it.”
Afterward, he stood before her in silence, as if not sure what else to say. His
fists tightened and relaxed.

Anya drew a shaky breath. “I may
never see you again.”

“Probably not.”

Anya clenched her teeth. The
stubborn man. If he let her come, his chances of survival would improve. A
welling, sick feeling in her gut told her he’d die if she didn’t. It was one of
the reasons she was dead set on going with him. She couldn’t lose him. It was
absolutely unthinkable. And so she would deceive him now, and it had to be a
good performance. He could suspect nothing, or else he might lock her in the
room until all chances to follow him had vanished.

“I want to go with you.” The
emotion in her whisper was real.

“Goodbye, Anya.” He gazed at her
for an eternal second, and then unexpectedly, roughly, pulled her into his arms
and hard against his chest.

With a small, contented sigh, she
slid her arms around him.

Joshua stood stiff and still. She
pulled back a little, so she could look up at him. To her surprise, he watched
her. His face was very near her own.

His breath touched her lips, and
she closed her eyes.

She stood motionless. The heat of
his body, his scent, and his nearness drugged her senses. She longed for his
kiss. Of course, he never would kiss her. And she didn’t want to be the one to
kiss him.  His quiet rebuke—gently put, of course—would crush her heart. And so
she stood very still, enjoying the sweet torture of his breath caressing her
skin.

Soft moments passed.

His lips brushed hers.

Her breath caught, and her hands
fisted into his parka in complete shock. She was afraid to move, for fear he
would stop.

He did not. His mouth lingered on
hers for long, sweet moments. Unable to stop herself, her hands slid up to his
shoulders.

His muscles tensed, and he pulled
back slowly, but his breaths still caressed her lips in quiet, silky whispers.

“Anya.” The murmur sounded
tortured.

She slid her fingers into the
thick hair at his nape. “Joshua.”

“Red One. Copy?” The voice from
his parka came as a shock. A new rectangular, silver transmitter was clipped to
his lapel.

Joshua touched the “send” button. “On
my way.” He released her and stepped back. “Goodbye,” His voice sounded rough.
With a duck to his head, he headed for the door. He did not look back.

Anya’s fingers went to her lips.
She didn’t know whether to feel elated or to cry. Joshua believed he would
never see her again. For him, that had been a goodbye kiss. Would he want to
kiss her again when he saw her in thirty minutes? Probably not. More likely, he’d
want to kill her.

Unease slid through her. Anya didn’t
want to think about it.

CHAPTER TWELVE

Anya boarded
Richert’s small, private airbird
five minutes after a military aircraft flew Joshua out of the gigantic hangar.
Her pilot, a burly man, merely grunted, “Put on your seat belt.”

Within minutes, they shot after
Joshua’s transport. According to Richert’s cunning plot, after the military
transport dropped off Joshua, her pilot was to land a good distance from the
Altai airbird they had stolen. The pilot would stop just long enough for her to
jump out, and then he’d speed away.

From there, Anya would be on her
own.

She laced and unlaced her fingers.
Nerves knotted her stomach, but she tried not to think about Joshua’s reaction
to being marooned alone with her and the enemy airbird.

Her stomach swirled up in a
sickening leap as they dropped to the earth. And then, blessedly and all too
soon, they were still. “Get out.”

“Thanks,” she said, and stepped
into bitterly artic air. It was a bright day, and the sky a cold, polarized
blue.

Cold snow swirled up, stinging her
cheeks, as the pilot rose, then shot south.

Onred’s black airbird rested
across the clearing, but she didn’t see Joshua. Was he inside? She’d better
hurry before he took off. Anya ran as best she could. Her boots crunched deep
into the snow with every step.

The airbird’s door was shut, the
engine silent. She pounded on the door and waited.

Nothing. The silence of the
landscape seeped into her bones. The aircraft appeared empty. Where was Joshua?
She triggered the door’s release button. No one was inside. Her black bag and
tarp still lay on the floor, where she had left them.

Worry crept in. Where was he? She
grabbed up the bag, stuffed the bulky tarp inside, and then spent a minute rooting
in the snow for the laser and four knives Richert’s men had stripped from her
belt. She found the laser and two knives. Someone else had dug through the
snow, too. It had to be Joshua. Footprints headed west.

Anya gave up on her two missing
knives. She had wasted enough time. Where was Joshua headed? Anya ran in his
tracks.  By her calculations, he must be fifteen minutes ahead. She couldn’t
lose him. Not now.

*  *  *  *  *

Joshua strode fast for the secret
command base. Richert’s satellites might be tracking him, but that didn’t
matter. The baron would think Joshua planned to meet the few troops permanently
stationed inside the caves of these isolated, southern mountains; Joshua’s
home. Maybe Richert knew that. Maybe not. Either way, it meant nothing.

The old man didn’t know the real
truth. No one but his most elite pilots knew the location of Zebra Charlie
Alpha, for it was written nowhere. Once inducted into the elite force, his most
trusted men memorized its latitude and longitude. It was never mentioned again.

Joshua trusted no one except for
his select force.

Somehow, Onred had discovered Donetsk’s transponder codes. Onred’s men had been able to track down Joshua’s pilots and
destroy their craft. Worse, Onred had been able to disarm Astana and Irgiz’s
missile defense systems. Joshua meant to speak to his brother about it.

He strode down the last, steep
hill.

The huge cavern leading to the
heart of the mountain loomed ahead. The two men guarding it raised their lasers
when they spotted him. Joshua cut his hand through the air in a short, three
motion signal. Immediately, the men lowered their weapons. A moment later,
however, they raised them again. They aimed at a spot behind Joshua.

Joshua spun, whipping out his
weapon.

A slight figure, all in black, ran
down through the snow. Dark hair floated in the breeze and a black bag slapped
against his—no,
her
—thigh.

Anya.

Disbelief…frustration…and finally
fury consumed him. What was she doing out here? She was supposed to be safe!

But she wasn’t safe anymore. Despair
hit him.

Joshua chewed out a string of
curses bluer than the cobalt sky.

*  *  *  *  *

Anya halted in her tracks. Joshua’s
curses didn’t frighten her, but his expression did. His reaction was worse than
she had imagined.

The two soldiers guarding the cave
entrance leveled lasers on her, stances wide and threatening, their weapons no
doubt set to kill.

“Baron?”

“Stand down.” Joshua’s eyes did
not leave Anya. With purposeful steps, he advanced toward her.

She swallowed. Hadn’t she known
this would happen?
Time for courage, Anya.
Slowly, her feet moved toward
him. Unfortunately, her heart beat faster as his expression grew sharper, in
full, livid detail. Had she ever seen him this angry before?

Nope. Didn’t think so.

“I’m here.” She stopped a meter
shy and lifted her chin. “You can’t make me leave.”

He didn’t answer, but his topaz
gaze burned like unholy fire.

She dared add, “What assignment
will you give me?”

“To start, how about you bend over
my knee?” he suggested in a very soft voice.

Anya flushed. “You don’t frighten
me. I’m a grown woman…”

“Who behaves like a child!”

She didn’t like the look in his
eyes. The guards, watching now with interest, increased her feeling of
discomfort. “You’re not a barbarian…” She gasped when he grabbed her arm and
dragged her close to him.

“I
am
a barbarian,” he said
through clenched teeth. “And I’ll prove it, right now.”

“No!” Suddenly panicked, she tried
to free herself, but his wide grip was too strong. It burned her skin as she
struggled. Tears blurred her eyes. “You’re hurting me,” she whispered.

At once, he let go. He stared at
her, his chest heaving. Frosty white blasts expelled from his lips. “Go back to
the bird that brought you here. Go back to Richert.”

“I can’t.” She licked her lips. “It’s
gone.”

“Damn it!”

Anya rubbed her smarting wrist.
Her own anger rose to match his. “
Back at
you,” she told him. “I have
every right to be here. My people are in danger. Have you forgotten it’s my
fault this war started in the first place?”

“What do you plan to do? You can’t
fly. You’re not trained for combat.”

“I can do
something!
” she
cried out. “I won’t be shut up like a child in a nursery. I’m an adult. Don’t
deny me the right to help my family. To help
you.
”

“Damn it.”

“Let me help you. Onred wants both
of us. We’ll go together to free my family.”

“No!” That violent bellow startled
her. “I will not let that bastard touch you. Not again.”

“Joshua. Onred has to think he’s
getting both of us. I have some ideas. Together, we can beat him. I know we
can.”

He briefly closed his eyes. “For
now, you’ll stay with me. But when it’s time to meet Onred, you’ll stay here.
Or I’ll chain you down myself.”

Not a full victory, but a start. “Thank
you.”

He frowned, and then took her arm
and bared her skin at the wrist. Three finger marks reddened her skin. “I’m
sorry.” He stared at it, as if unable to accept what he had done. “I’m sorry,”
he said again, his tone even quieter.

“It’s all right.”

“No, it’s not.” His lips whitened.

“Kiss it and make it better,” she
dared to say, and added a small smile.

He stared at her in clear
disbelief.

“That’s how my mother made hurts
go away.” Anya could barely believe that she’d just asked him to kiss her. She
continued to smile, letting him know that she had already forgiven him. After
all, she wasn’t without fault. She had disobeyed a direct order from her baron.
She had gone into this situation knowing full well that he would be livid. And
rightfully so.

To her full surprise, Joshua
lifted her wrist. When his lips touched her skin, his lids lowered. “I’m sorry,”
he murmured. His kisses felt as soft as butterfly wings on each of the marks.
Shocked joy streamed into her heart.

“See?” she said, voice shaky, when
he let her go. “All better.”

Bemused, he looked down at her.

“Now,” Anya glanced at the huge
cavern, “what are you doing here?”