Everlasting (8 page)

His tongue moved very delicately at first, slowly exploring the smoothness of her teeth and the dark cavity of her inner cheek, toying teasingly with her tongue. Then, with a sound that was a half-growl deep in his throat, the delicacy was gone. His tongue was spear-hard and his hands were hot and restless, running up and down her spine as if he couldn't touch enough of her.

A low, keening cry trembled in her throat as
she arched into his body, her mouth opening wider to take more of him. His tongue was moving rhythmically, hotly, and his hands slid down to cup her buttocks and lift her into the hollow of his hips. Arousal. Stark, hungry, shocking. She gasped and pressed herself closer with a little incoherent murmur.

Then, suddenly, Zack was stepping back, his chest moving heavily with the harshness of his breathing. He looked down at her flushed cheeks and bruised lips. “That's better,” he said thickly. “But not quite good enough.”

“No?” she asked dazedly.

His hands were quickly unbuttoning the pearl buttons of her silk blouse and drawing the material away from her breasts. He unfastened the front opening of her bra. “Stand still, love. It will only be a moment.”

Then his mouth was enveloping her nipple and suckling gently. His hand framed the swollen mound, pumping rhythmically as his teeth pulled and his tongue soothed.

Stand still, he had told her. She couldn't have moved if she had tried. She couldn't do anything
but look down at his dark head bent over her breast and watch as his lips and tongue moved on her flesh and drove her to the edge of insanity. Her breasts were lifting and falling as if she were running and she had to open her mouth wide to get air to her oxygen-starved lungs. Every pulling tug, every teasing brush of his tongue seemed to be connected to a burning wire which led to the apex of her thighs.

Then his head was lifting, his eyes, dark and wild and brilliant, staring into her own. “I think that should do it.” His voice was hoarse and strained. “If I look like you do, there won't be any doubt about what we've been doing.” His hands were trembling slightly as he fastened her bra and then buttoned her blouse. “Come on. Let's get out of here or we'll never get to see Marna today.” His hand was beneath her elbow, propelling her toward the door.

Her knees felt like warm butter and she wasn't sure they'd support her. “Your methods are a little drastic. Was all that really necessary?”

He opened the door. “No, the kiss alone probably would have been sufficient to create the effect
we needed for our audience.” His eyes dropped compulsively to her full breasts pushing against the silk blouse. They were still swollen and taut and became even more so under his burning appraisal. “The rest was for me. I wanted to see you. I was hungry again. I think I'll always be hungry now. When we were in the throne room, all I could think of was how much I needed to have you on my lap as you were this morning, half-naked and wanting me, making those soft little sounds that—” He broke off, took a deep breath, and then let it out very slowly. “Later.” Then he closed the door behind them and nudged her gently forward into the highly polished oak hallway. “I think it would be a good idea if you led the way, Kira. I appear to have lost my sense of direction at the moment.”

The two armed guards standing before the double doors of Marna's suite were garbed in the elaborate dark blue dress uniforms of the Tamrovian army and reminded Zack vaguely of stage extras he'd seen in an operetta he'd attended
in Paris. They failed to challenge Kira as she opened the door and gave Zack no more than a passing glance.

“Not exactly razor-sharp security,” Zack murmured to Kira as he followed her into the elegant suite and closed the door. “This may be easier than I thought.”

“Stefan lets me come and go as I please,” Kira said. “And everyone in the palace will have been told about you by now.” The door opposite the sitting room opened and she was suddenly running toward the tall woman dressed in black who stood quietly in the doorway. “Marna!”

Kira was immediately folded in the woman's strong arms, her diminutive frame appearing even slighter in contrast with Marna Debuk's massive build. Zack hadn't remembered her as being that tall. The Gypsy towered over six feet and vaguely resembled a lady wrestler. The features of her face were harsh and blunt and her dark, shining hair was clubbed just below her ears. That impassive face didn't look any different from the way he remembered it over fifteen years ago. Her black eyes were just as snapping bright, her face as inscrutable
and ageless as the day he'd first seen her when he was a boy of nineteen.

Her arms were hugging Kira with the fierce maternal affection of a grizzly, but her eyes met Zack's over Kira's head. “You came.”

He smiled faintly. “You knew I would.”

“Yes. I knew.” She gave Kira one final embrace and slowly released her. “It is done?”

“No.”

Marna's expression sharpened. “Why not?”

“Because I am not a
chitka,”
he said softly.

Her face clouded with anger. “I wanted it d—” She broke off and then gave a deep, booming laugh. “No, you are not a
chitka,”
she said, shaking her head. “You never were, Zack. Though in this case I wish you had been. It would have been easier for me.”

“And for me too. But the easy way is not always the best way.”

Kira was looking from one to the other with exasperation. “I'm still in the room, you know,” she said pointedly. “I have the distinct feeling that I've just become invisible.”

“Go sit down, Kira,” Marna said, not looking
at her. “I must talk to Zack for a minute. We have things to discuss.”

Kira turned obediently away and then suddenly whirled back to face them. “The hell I will. I'm not an infant to be sent out to play while adults talk.”

Marna's eyes widened in surprise and then darkened with a touch of sadness. “It has already begun then.”

“Oh, Marna, I'm sorry,” Kira said, instantly contrite. “I didn't mean to snap. It's just that I don't understand any of this, and both you and Zack are treating me like a child.”

“All right, stay,” Marna said with a shrug. “It will make no difference.” She faced Zack, her jaw set a trifle belligerently. “You accept the
mondava?”

“I accept it,” Zack said quietly. “With all my heart.”

The belligerence suddenly faded, replaced by weariness. “That goes without saying. It has to be with all your heart or there is no
mondava.”
She turned away. “It must be done as quickly as possible. I'm finding this very difficult.”

“Tonight,” Zack said.

Her face took on a sudden fierceness. “No! You've had your chance. You can wait now until we can do it properly and with all due ceremony.”

Zack frowned. “The hell I will. We don't even know when that will be and I'm already going crazy.”

There was the slightest hint of malicious pleasure in Marna's smile. “How unfortunate. Then you'll just have to arrange matters so the ceremony can take place quite soon, won't you?”

Zack muttered a low oath under his breath. “Has it slipped your memory that right now we have to concentrate on your escape from Tamrovia?”

“I thought you'd both forgotten,” Kira said caustically. “You won't mind if I interrupt this cryptic conversation to remind you that we came here to inform Marna we're planning on getting her out of here tomorrow?”

Marna's gaze moved to Zack's face. “How?”

“Tomorrow night there will be a reception at the palace and people will be coming and going constantly. Your guards will be bribed to allow
you to be smuggled out of here and through Belajo to the woods south of the city. A helicopter will be waiting there. Kira and I will join you as soon as we can get away from the reception. Then we'll take off. By dawn we should have crossed the border into Switzerland.” He turned to Kira. “Are the grounds to the rear of the palace as well guarded as the main gate?”

“Yes,” she said thoughtfully. “But you won't have to take her out either the back or the front.” Her eyes met Marna's and she smiled. “There's another way.”

Zack's brows lifted. “A flying carpet.”

She grinned. “Better. A secret passage in my apartment that leads underneath the grounds and the main gate and into a cave in the woods. All you have to do is arrange to have a car standing by out of sight of the palace.”

“A secret passage,” Zack repeated, a little smile tugging at his lips. “I should have known. What else could I expect in a situation like this? Gypsies, palaces, and Balkan intrigue. It fits right in. I wonder why I even bothered to formulate an efficient plan.”

“It
is
efficient,” Marna said slowly. “Just what I would have expected of you, Zack. I will make only one alteration.”

Zack frowned. “Alteration?”

“The helicopter pilot will put us down in a clearing that I will designate, about eighty miles from here. He will be ordered to return in twenty-four hours.” She smiled calmly. “And
then
he will fly us to Switzerland.”

“No!” Zack said. “It's too risky. The entire countryside may be crawling with—”

Marna held up her hand to stop him. “It is the only way I will go.”

“Marna, please,” Kira pleaded. “I don't know what this is all about, but if Zack thinks it's too dangerous, then I believe you should do as he asks.”

A curious smile tugged at Marna's lips. “You trust him?”

Kira met her eyes steadily. “I trust him.”

“Good,” Marna said. “I trust him, too, but we'll still follow my plan and not his.” She patted Kira's cheek gently. “Give in to me in this, little one. It is for the best, I promise you. For this last
time, let me be the one to make things as they should be for you.”

This last time. The words were weighted with a strange sadness that made Kira vaguely uneasy. “Marna…” She stared at her helplessly. Then she turned to Zack, unconsciously squaring her shoulders. “Zack, I think we should do as she wishes. Can't you find some way to make it safe for her? It's only for one night and—”

“All right.” The quiet assent surprised her so much that she broke off in mid-sentence. Where she had expected to find resistance, she now found only gentleness and understanding. “Don't look so astounded, love. I know how you feel about Marna.” He turned away. “I'll get to work right away rearranging my plans.” His gaze met Marna's across the room. “I guess this means you're keeping Kira with you tonight?”

Marna nodded. “Yes. We will have dinner together and talk of the old days and remember. I will send her back to you tomorrow afternoon.”

A crooked smile slanted his lips. “I suppose it wouldn't do any good to remind you that Karpathan will consider it a little strange for me
to let her leave tonight, when we've put out the story we're a very hot item?”

“Has Karpathan seen you together?”

Zack nodded. “Yes.”

Marna smiled faintly. “Then there is no problem. Karpathan is not a
chitka
either. He has eyes to see what is there and many things not so plain.” She paused. “He came to visit me a few times while you were gone.”

“He did?” Kira asked, startled. “Why?”

Marna shrugged. “Who knows? He asked no questions. He merely sat and chatted and smiled. He knows I do not trust him. Perhaps he thought to work his magic on me as he does on Stefan.”

“Work his magic,” Zack repeated thoughtfully. “A curious phrase. Are you crediting him with Rasputin-like powers?”

“I do not know. There are men who are not easy to read,” Marna said. “Some men are meant to control the winds and others are meant to be buffeted by them.” She looked directly at Zack. “Which do
you
think is Karpathan's destiny?”

“That's a good question,” Zack said dryly. “Perhaps I'll invite him to have dinner with me.
At least it would be stimulating and I'm evidently to be deprived of what I really want.”

“Only temporarily.” Marna's sudden smile lit her usually impassive face with warmth. “I thank you for giving me this,” she said haltingly. “I can already feel your power. You could have won if you'd cared to do battle.”

He shook his head. “Then I truly would have lost. We're not in competition, Marna. I'd be an ungrateful bastard if I didn't realize all I owe you.” His eyes lingered for a moment on Kira's bemused face. “Stay with her,” he said softly. “Love her, Kira, there's no one who deserves it more.”

Kira laughed a little shakily. “I know. I'm just wondering how the devil you do. A few months out of a lifetime fifteen years ago and you're suddenly blood relatives or something.”

Zack grinned. “Perhaps you're not far off the mark. The American Indian is supposed to have arrived in North America by crossing the Bering Strait in the dawn of history. Maybe my ancestors and Marna's wandered across Europe and Asia together at one point in time.”

Marna looked at him in surprise. “But why are you laughing? That's exactly what happened.”

Zack blinked and then shook his head resignedly. “You didn't tell me.”

“I do not tell anyone everything,” she said. “Life would not be nearly as interesting.”

“Just a good deal simpler,” Zack murmured. He opened the door. “Enjoy your evening, ladies. I'll see you tomorrow, Kira.”

Kira watched the door close behind him with an odd feeling of loneliness.

“Kira.”

Marna's voice was soft and so was her expression when Kira turned to face her. “It's only one night, not forever.”

Kira smiled mistily. “I don't know what's going on. I don't know what's happening to me.”

“You know.”

Kira looked into her eyes. “I love him? How could I? I don't even know him.”

Marna shrugged. “You know him. He is the other half of you. When the two pieces come together there is no uncertainty. Accept it.”

“Marna…” Kira suddenly came back into her arms. “I've never felt like this before. Help me.”

Marna's hand was gently stroking her hair. “I have helped you. Now you must help me.”

Kira's head lifted swiftly. “How?”

“Forget him. Forget him for this one night and be my child again.”

Kira gazed at her for a long moment and then slowly nodded. “If that is what you want.”

“That is what I want.” Marna gave her a quick, affectionate hug and then let her go. She took Kira's hand and drew her over to the couch, pushed her down on the cushioned softness, and sat down beside her. Then she took her hand again with a companionableness that bridged all the years. “Do you know what I first remember about you? You were only a few months old when I came to the palace, and I was frightened, and lonely for my people. You were sleeping when they brought you to me. Then you opened your eyes and I knew I'd never be lonely again. I knew that as long as I had you to love and care for, there would never be loneliness or sadness or any battle I could not win.”