Everlasting (10 page)

His tongue brushed her lower lip. “I kept remembering the scent of you and how your breasts tasted. I lay there all night aching and thinking
what I'd do to you when we were together. When you walked into the suite I was within an inch of throwing you down and…” He drew a deep breath. “But I knew I wouldn't be able to stop until the ache was gone, and I wasn't sure if that would be in hours…” His lips hardened as he kissed her with almost bruising passion. “Or days… or weeks.” His left hand moved from her cheek, down her throat, and under the silk of her bodice. “And we had a prior engagement tonight.” His warm palm closed over her naked breast and she inhaled sharply. “I love to feel you swell under my hand,” he said softly, his gaze dark and intent on her face. “I can feel your nipple harden and tauten, pushing against my skin. Do you know how it makes me feel to know I can do that to you? I can't wait until I have you back at the lodge. I want to know that anytime I wish, I can just reach out and slip my hand beneath all these silky trappings and you'll be as ready for me as I am for you.” His palm rubbed slowly back and forth. She gasped. “I want to make you want me so much that you're as crazy for it as I am.”

Her hands dug into his shoulders. “Zack, please, not…”

He drew a deep, shuddering breath, but his hand continued to move on her breast as if unable to stop. “I know, but I don't want to—” He broke off. “All right.” His hand reluctantly slipped out of the bodice of the gown. “I'm sorry. I realize it's not the time or the place.” He turned away. “But it sure as hell better be soon, dammit. I can't take much more of this.”

“Neither can I,” Kira said shakily. Her breasts were still swollen and taut and she wanted his hand back on her to ease that aching.

“You go on ahead. I'll join you in the suite as soon as I'm in a little better shape to face Stefan's guests.”

Her cheeks were hot as she turned away. She was sure her arousal was almost as obvious as Zack's. “Perhaps using lust as an excuse wasn't such a good idea,” she said with a quavering little laugh. “I'll see you in a few minutes then.”

“Kira.”

She turned to look at him over her shoulder.

“It wasn't lust.”

“I know,” she said softly as she moved toward the French doors. “I know that, Zack.”

Kira had already changed from her formal wear to jeans, a thigh-length beige sweater, and soft suede boots when Zack opened the door to the suite. He had also changed and was wearing charcoal-gray cords and a black sweatshirt, and carrying his suede jacket. “Ready?”

She nodded as she slipped on a black leather flight jacket and stuffed her passport and wallet into the pocket. She cast a wistful glance at the photographs on the walls. It hadn't been difficult leaving them before, because she had always known she would be back. But after tonight she couldn't be sure she would ever be permitted to return.

“I'll try to arrange to have them smuggled out and brought to you later.” Zack's understanding gaze was on her face.

She smiled with an effort. “They aren't really valuable except to me.” She turned away. “Stefan
will probably be so angry he'll make a bonfire of them anyway. Karpathan will no doubt be delighted to supply the match.”

“We could try to take them with us.”

“Too bulky. I don't have the negatives. Stefan destroyed them when he took away my camera. It may come down to having to move fast and free.” She shrugged. “It's all right. I knew when I started this that there were things I'd have to give up. Freeing Marna is worth it.”

“Even if it means giving up your country?”

“I never actually had a country to give up.” She smiled sadly. “Stefan and my parents locked me up in a nice, insulated glass bubble and never let me out of it. Every time I thought I had found the key, they changed the lock.” Her gaze went to the picture of the union leader, Naldona. “When he spoke at that meeting he was talking about all the things I wanted for Tamrovia. How I wished I could help the way he did,” she whispered. “God, I wanted that.”

She didn't realize Zack was behind her until his hands closed gently on her upper arms. “We have to go.”

“I know.” She stepped away from him and straightened her shoulders. “I probably wouldn't have made a very good activist anyway. I managed to mess things up beautifully for Naldona the only time I tried to do something constructive for Tamrovia.” She crossed the room to the paneled wall of bookshelves. “The entrance to the secret passage is right here. This candelabra beside the fifth shelf.” She turned the sconce to the left and the entire bookcase swiveled slowly away from the wall, revealing a dark opening only a few feet wide. “There it is.”

“It's practically noiseless,” Zack said as he peered warily into the darkness. “You must keep the mechanism very well oiled.”

She grinned as she turned on the flashlight to reveal a curving flight of narrow stone steps. “Oh yes, sort of a sacred duty passed on to me by Lance.”

“Sacred duty?”

“Well, perhaps
sacred
isn't precisely the right word. This apartment used to belong to my brother Lance.” She entered the passage and waited until Zack joined her before turning a
sconce on the wall that was identical to the one in the suite. This time she turned it to the right. The bookcase swung slowly shut, imprisoning them in the narrow confines of the passageway. “You've probably heard that Lance was slightly wild before he married.”

“Slightly?” Zack asked dryly. “I believe the tabloids referred to him as Lusty Lance.”

She nodded as she began to lead the way carefully down the staircase. “Well, Lance discovered this passageway when he was a teenager and used it to slip in and out of the palace when he wanted to keep a rendezvous with one of his ladies. He told me about it when I visited him in Sedikhan. When I came back I pestered Stefan to let me change suites. It made things much easier for Marna and me, when we couldn't stand it here any longer and needed to get away from all this stifling protocol.”

“Is this the only secret passage in the palace?”

“As far as Marna and I could discover, and this one was apparently unused and forgotten for decades until Lance found it.” She had reached the bottom of the staircase and turned to him
with a finger to her lips. “We'll have to be quiet now. This passage runs alongside the ballroom, down some stairs to the dungeon, and under the grounds to the woods across from the main gate. I don't know how thick the walls are in this part of the passage, but we'd better not take a chance.”

He nodded and followed her noiselessly as she turned and made her way swiftly through the twisting passageway.

The lights of the Mercedes splayed out over the countryside, picking up the blue-and-silver gleam of the helicopter in the meadow to the right of the dirt road on which they were traveling. A small Porsche was parked beside it and its doors suddenly opened as the Mercedes came to a halt. Two men emerged.

Kira's heart gave a little jerk as Marna was helped from the car by the man who had gotten out of the backseat. She was safe! She didn't realize
how tense she'd been until she saw Marna's big frame silhouetted against the headlights.

Zack's gaze was on her face. “I told you she would be safe.”

“I know, but it seemed impossible that everything could go so smoothly,” she said, blinking back the sudden tears. “It wasn't that I didn't trust you.”

His hand tightened around her wrist. “Thank you for saying that. It means a great deal to me.” He opened the door. “Let's get this little odyssey under way, shall we? Even if we're destined to spend the next day or so in Tamrovia, I'll feel better once we get out of the city.” He helped Kira out of the car and turned to Marna. “Have you changed your mind about letting us go straight through to Switzerland tonight, Marna?”

“No,” Marna said serenely. “Switzerland has been there for a long, long time. I trust it will still be there tomorrow.”

He shook his head. “I was afraid of this. Get into the helicopter, ladies. I have a few instructions to give my men before we leave.”

He joined them a few minutes later, carefully storing a small metal suitcase in the back of the helicopter. The taillights of the cars were disappearing down the road and the meadow was very dark and eerily silent.

“You're going to fly it yourself? I thought you were going to have a pilot put us down and then come back for us.”

He shook his head. “I don't like the idea of being stranded with no transportation in case things don't proceed as smoothly as Marna thinks they will.”

“Perhaps I should fly it? I know Tamrovia terrain better than you do, and I'm quite a good pilot.”

“I'm sure you are, but I need something to do.” He sat down in the pilot's seat and passed Marna a navigation map. “I'd appreciate it if you'd try to designate our landing site on the map. It will be easier than hit-or-miss.”

“Certainly.” Marna opened the map and her index finger went unhesitatingly to a point on the map. “Does that help?”

Zack's lips were twitching as he turned on the
ignition. “It helps. Tell me, did you actually read the map or did you divine it?”

“What difference does it make?”

“No difference. I was just curious.” The rotors were whirring loudly and he had to raise his voice to be heard. “I'd set it down there regardless.”

“Of course you would. Why should you do anything else? We've already determined that you're not a
chitka.”

A low, amused laugh was Zack's only answer as the helicopter ponderously lifted off, turned in a ninety-degree circle, and headed north.

Z
ACK TURNED OFF
the ignition, reached for the utility lantern/flashlight on the floor beside him, then opened the door of the helicopter. “Your charming sylvan glade seems deserted.”

“It won't be for long,” Marna said serenely. “They know we're coming.”

“I won't ask how.” Zack had come around and opened the passenger door. He lifted first Marna and then Kira to the grass. “But I would like to inquire who you think will be comin—”

“Marna!” A giant of a man stepped out of the darkness into the circle of light from the flashlight. “We knew those
chitkas
couldn't hold you.” A scowl deepened the lines of the man's rough-hewn features. “But you took your time about breaking free of them. We were wondering when you would come back to us.”

“Paulo.” There was deep affection in Marna's murmur as she hugged the large man. She turned to Zack. “You remember my brother Paulo.”

“I remember,” Zack said. He smiled warmly at Paulo as he shook the man's gigantic paw. Paulo Debuk had changed very little over the years. His dark, full beard was peppered with gray now, but his big-boned body was still as lithe and powerful as Zack remembered it from years ago. He was dressed in scuffed boots, an old suede vest, a tattered full-sleeved tan shirt, and rough denim trousers, and he wore this shabby apparel with an air of careless majesty that even Stefan would have envied. “We used to hunt these hills together,” Zack said. “Is hunting still such a passion with you, Paulo?”

“Now more than ever,” Paulo said, smiling in
an odd way. “The hills are full of strange and interesting prey these days. It's quite a challenge to stalk it, but as yet I haven't bothered to bring any home.”

Zack's eyes narrowed on Paulo's bearded face. “Sounds intriguing. I wish I had time to join you.”

Paulo suddenly laughed. “No, you'll be too busy with the little one to hunt with me on this visit.” He turned to Kira and enveloped her in a bear hug, whirling her in a circle. “How are you, Kira? You bagged big game yourself, eh?”

“Has anyone ever told you about women's liberation?” Kira asked tartly. “I never could persuade you to take
me
hunting.”

“It was not because you were a female,” he protested as he set her on her feet. “To hunt, one must have the proper instincts. If I had taken you with me, all you would have done was snap pretty pictures.”

“And Zack has the right instincts, I suppose?”

Paulo looked at Zack over Kira's head. “Yes, he has the instincts. He knows when to kill, when to capture, and when to set free. It's in the blood.” He turned back to Marna. “I will take Zack to the
saldana
to spend the night. You and Kira go back to the encampment. We will speak of the
mondava
in the morning.”

“We need to camouflage the helicopter before daybreak,” Zack said. “And I have a shortwave radio to keep in contact with my people in Belajo. I want to bring that with me to the camp.”

Paulo nodded. “I'll send someone to pick it up tomorrow before dawn. I'll put a guard on the helicopter tonight.”

“A guard? They probably don't even know Marna's escaped yet.”

Paulo shrugged. “It doesn't hurt to be cautious.” He ruffled Kira's hair playfully. “Run along with Marna, little one. We'll take care of everything from now on. You don't have to be afraid.”

“I'm
not
afraid.” Kira's hands clenched into fists at her sides in frustration. “And I may be little, but I'm
not
a child.”

Paulo's laughter boomed out. “We are all children. Some only more so than others.” He tugged teasingly at a lock of her auburn hair. “Enjoy your childhood, Kira.”

“No,” Zack said quietly. “We're not being fair.”

He took a step closer to her and his eyes were deep and soft in the lantern light. “I know all this is confusing and annoying to you. I promise it won't continue to be that way for very much longer. I'll try to explain it all to you tomorrow. Okay?”

She felt the now familiar melting sensation attack her muscles and cause her breathing to quicken. “Okay.”

The tip of his index finger touched her cheek in the lightest of caresses. “You're being very patient with us.”

“I never even knew I possessed an iota of patience until the last few days. I'm learning new things all the time about my inner resources.” She turned to Marna. “Shall we go on to the camp? Evidently I've just been told to run along and play in the sandbox again.”

Marna smiled. “It is best. You will see. Come on, the camp is through that grove of poplars.”

Kira lifted her hand resignedly in farewell to Zack and Paulo, and muttered “Good night” before falling into step with Marna.