“Would you have me fight you, my Lord?” she whispered the words and tried to remain still.
His lips parted, and he dropped his gaze to her mouth. “No woman has ever tried to stop me before.”
“And you think I would have some success at it?”
His chuckle forced his Adam’s apple up and down, and sent chills through her heated body. “I’m thinking you are like no other woman.”
The laughter in his eyes when he returned her gaze was almost her undoing. She wanted to pounce on him, to slap him for his pompous attitude, and to kiss him just to show him she could overpower his supposed omnipotence.
“But no, my Lady, you would not be successful at it.”
Tara jumped to her feet. She stood over him with her hands still balled in fists at her sides. Every bit of sense she had, along with winters of training to understand all types of attacks, prepared her to take the offensive. She towered over Darius, planting her feet firmly on the ground, and inhaling deeply to clear her thoughts.
“You think you could have me as you please, simply because you desire it?” Tara felt her desire shift to fury. The change of mood helped her to think clearly, so she worked to feed the anger.
“There is no doubt, my Lady.”
“And if I don’t wish it?”
“My lady,” Lord Darius whispered, almost growled. “You do wish it.”
Tara had never met a man more sexually sure of himself. He excited her while consuming her with outrage. She stared at him.
Darius appeared to relax under her study, and then crossed his arms across that broad chest. Her eyes watched the rope-like muscles twitch under his tanned forearm. He seemed at ease, as if allowing her time to accept the inevitable.
Tara narrowed her eyes. “You will not rape me,” she hissed.
Darius laughed, and she took a step backwards. “My lady, I’m thinking that won’t be necessary.”
Darius straightened his legs, stretching them so that long corded muscles rippled underneath the brown leather of his pants.
She found herself standing between those long, powerful legs and realized he had needed to rearrange his position to allow room for his growing arousal. Tara stared at the hardened length now visible under the material below his belt. Beyond a doubt, she had never met a more pompous, self-righteous, and incredibly sexy man as the one who now seemed to surround her with his aura.
Tara turned to create distance, and Darius bent one leg, blocking her path. She didn’t jump around him, or stumble over him, but merely stopped. “Is this how you take every lady who catches your eye, my Lord?”
“I’ve never waited this long before, no.” Darius sounded amused. “But then any other lass would have submitted by now.”
Tara almost said she wasn’t any other lass. Those would have been her exact words to any other man, but Lord Darius wasn’t any other man. No man had ever stimulated her emotions like this before, much less one who kept her guessing at the same time. Tara had a feeling she could enjoy this man, and that it would be a long time before she grew bored.
“Do they fall at your feet? Or do they simply strip in front of you?” Tara asked as she continued to stare at the leg blocking her path.
“Has it crossed your mind to do either?”
Tara sensed Darius’ movement and turned as he leaned forward. “No,” she stated, unable to do more as one large hand interlocked fingers with her smaller hand. Tara didn’t oppose the touch, but studied his hand, which now held hers. Blond hairs tickled the tips of her fingers, while the rough heat from his grasp sent warmth up her arm at an amazing speed.
“I’ll teach you to submit, I will.” Darius didn’t make the statement as a threat, but spoke the words gently, as a papa willing to show the child a new stunt.
When he pulled her to him, the only thing crossing Tara’s mind was that likewise, she would teach him manners. The intensity of his gaze, those gray eyes, so unique in color, watching her while he brought her face to his, gave her the impression teaching him anything would be quite the chore. Stubborn and powerful, determined and ruthless, she saw the good and the bad while he watched her.
She wanted to look away, anything to distract her so she could keep her thoughts straight. But damnit if she didn’t want to taste him and learn the source of the heat that flooded through her with just his touch.
His arms wrapped her into him, almost crushing her in their grip. And then he kissed her.
Tara couldn’t stop herself. Placing her arms on his shoulders, then grabbing hair on either side of his head, she returned the kiss with an aggression she didn’t know she possessed.
He slid her off the rock and onto the ground. His strength made her wild. All attempts to conceal her identity escaped her, a thick fog of lust consuming her senses. His body was strong, powerful, and dangerous. It excited her more than anything had before. Submission was forgotten. She found herself fighting to strip the pants away from the treasure that would be hers.
He was huge, hardened to stone. It was hard to move while she stared at his magnificence.
She climbed on and forced the penetration herself as he pulled her dress from her body. She felt him slide in deeply as he grasped to control the moment.
He pulled back as she rocked forward and then he lunged powerfully, almost choking her with the depth he reached.
She collapsed on him and before she could recover and clear the overwhelming desire to submit to him, his powerful arms wrapped around her body and he lunged again. Fighting to regain control, she dug her fingers into his chest and pushed, hard, forcing his body down. As his grip around her intensified, she took advantage of the preoccupation and thrust her hips down on him, consuming every inch of him inside of her, tightening around him, suffocating all life out of him. She had, at last, achieved control over him.
A muffled grunt, deep within him, rose to a howl as she forced his orgasm. Then, not willing to let him experience ecstasy without her, she thrust again and leaped to meet the intensity of his climax. Her muscles tightened, holding him inside her, while he stretched and filled her. Closing her eyes, she rode the waves of passion that rushed through her. Where she had tried to show the upper hand, she had instead received the privilege of being fucked good and hard, allowing her one orgasm and leaving her wanting more.
This was not lovemaking. There had been no foreplay. Pure and simply, it was a struggle of powers. A ruthless, dominating nation taking on another, equally powerful and equally dangerous. Through the act of sex, they’d tried to conquer each other—and failed. If they’d attempted to keep the act purely physical, playing the part of a skilled warrior, and not allowing emotions to interfere—again, they both failed.
* * * * *
Slowly, his grip around her eased. He sat up, still inside her, and stared deeply into that place he’d just experienced. There couldn’t possibly be another woman like Tara on Nuworld. Sex had always been an act of pleasure, sometimes necessary, sometimes simply to amuse himself. It had never occurred to him how the pleasure could intensify with a willing, enthused partner. Darius enjoyed sex as a predatory act. Sometimes the look of fear, or submissive anticipation, excited him enough to pursue a lady who caught his eye. Tara had offered him neither, yet she had brought him to a hardened boil like none before.
What was it about this woman?
Intelligence mixed with her beauty in a way Darius hadn’t thought possible. She wore the two qualities in a way that drew him. He wanted to know her. It dawned on Darius at that moment that he had never really cared to know any woman before Tara. Women served a purpose, but one of them wasn’t companionship. Tara made him want to learn more about what she thought, what ticked behind those sapphire eyes.
But there was something else. Darius wanted to make Tara his. This woman was no Gothman, but she was on his land, acting the part of a Gothman. There was mystery behind her, but that didn’t bother him. All knowledge of her would be his in time. What fascinated him was the desire to possess her.
“How do you feel about the fact that with one word I could have you rule this land at my side?” Darius whispered into her ear.
“You know nothing about me. I may make a lousy ruler.” She returned his gaze, snagging her fingers in his hair and then pulling them free. “I would think something like that should be a mutual decision, my Lord.” She pushed herself off of him and looked around until she spotted her dress.
“I’m not surprised you’d answer like that, my Lady.” He wasn’t daunted by her boldness. “You’re not like any lass I’ve met and I’ve known a few, that much is true. They’re always polite and submissive, of course, and they say only what they think I want to hear, they do. You think for yourself. I like that. Why are you like that, Tara?”
“I guess I don’t see why women have to be less than men.” She looked at him quickly, as if checking his face for a reaction.
He didn’t respond but instead, got up and picked up the pants Tara had managed to pull off him. Showing this woman how to submit would be more pleasure than he thought possible.
* * * * *
Tara couldn’t help noticing that he appeared as if he could go another round. She liked that quality in a man. But there was more than his sexuality that impressed her. Darius appeared interested in her, but Tara didn’t fool herself into believing his curiosity was drawn by affection.
She knew better.
Darius questioned her nature because he needed confirmation she was a Runner. His tactics were far more impressive than capture and torture. Tara also felt this approach showed that he might possibly consider the fact that she wasn’t the enemy.
Gothman and Runners might have a bad history, but that history didn’t affect her. In fact, Tara wasn’t sure if there was reason for the two nations of people to despise each other. Ignorance had made them enemies. Tara wondered if knowledge could make them friends.
Tara pulled her dress over her head then twisted around until it hung properly. She walked to his motorcycle, assuming he wasn’t pleased by her last comment and would probably take her back to the house. The man wanted her compliance.
Any Gothman woman would do well to be claimed by the Lord of Gothman.
But Tara wasn’t Gothman, and he couldn’t offer her anything that she wasn’t able to obtain on her own. She guessed that since she didn’t dance in appreciation to his suggestion, she had offended him, and possibly bruised that mighty ego.
“The Gothman culture has been the way it is for hundreds of winters, it has.” Darius buttoned his pants.
She turned and then walked back to him. “Cultures can change, don’t you think?”
Darius wasn’t looking at her face.
She wondered if he even heard her when he didn’t answer. He seemed more intent on studying her breasts. “And who better to start a change but the leader of the land? I’ve never known a man like you.” Tara ran her hands up his chest, feeling the pounding of his heart under muscles that rippled from her touch. “Gothman is powerful, and that power comes from you. You alone could alter the state of women, and no one would stop you.”
She watched her hands caress his chest, feeling the ironclad strength as well as his heat. The scent of their sex was intoxicating, her insides swelling, pulsating, aching for him to be inside her again.
Darius lifted her chin with one finger.
Those gray eyes captivated her. Did she see amusement?
“Now, how would I do a thing like that, girl?” Darius tapped her chin with his finger and then headed toward his bike, leaving her lightheaded standing alone. She forced her thoughts to clear, knowing a point should be made here.
“I’ve heard you’re a great leader, Lord Darius. I’m sure you can do anything if you set your mind to it.”
Darius got onto his bike and gave her a hard look, not offering to help her on board. She wasn’t affected by the look but simply smiled at him and easily slid onto the bike behind him.
Tara hoped her expression appeared calm. Her body tingled in pure satisfaction, and snuggling behind him increased her desire to have him again. But her brain was in pure turmoil. She feared that she’d allowed him to learn more about her than she’d wanted to share.
He’d openly admitted that she was different from any woman he had been with. Tara had to acknowledge that his ability to keep her from knowing whether or not he knew she was a Runner was excellent strategy. It kept her alert and guessing.
* * * * *
Darius took his time returning to the house. His emotions were absolutely contorted beyond recognition. Tara was no Gothman. He had his Runner, of that much, he was certain. The woman stirred something within him. Oh, she’d moved him physically; there was no doubt about that. He would have her again, and soon. It was more than physical lust though. She’d challenged him.
His best advisors didn’t question the laws and traditions of Gothman. No one did. Not while he’d been lord. Yet this female didn’t hesitate to do so. Darius didn’t feel a need to explain to her why women were kept the way they were. Conversation like that would have been a waste of his time. And really, it wasn’t the issue she brought up to him, itself, but the fact that this female had enough spunk to speak to him in such a way. No woman, no person, had done that before.
He thought about the past few winters and how he’d taken whatever he’d wanted, and how no one, absolutely no one, had stood in his way. If they’d tried, they’d been killed. He felt no remorse. He’d not been heir to Gothman, but had known since he was a child that he was the one meant to rule. His older brother hadn’t the backbone. His papa had known that, but was too traditional to allow the middle son to rule. So, Darius had taken matters into his own hands. He felt no regrets over his brother’s death.