Kiss Across Swords (Kiss Across Time Series) (27 page)

Brody sat in the sand and drew her onto his lap. She let herself be comforted and cried her eyes out against his disgusting tunic, shutting out the light, safe in his arms.

* * * * *

Sometime after that, Brody cleaned her hand and bound it with the clean cloth than Alexander brought.

Alexander hovered but did not speak much.

“My taste for this place has soured, Alexander,” Brody said as he worked on her hand. “We have meat now and water. If we pack, we can leave in two hours. Is there somewhere we can camp a day’s travel from here?”

Alexander considered the matter. “We have the numbers, my lord, that we could camp where we found ourselves and be safe enough, and now we have the water, too.”

Brody nodded shortly. “Good. Let’s make it so.”

Alexander nodded and withdrew.

Brody kissed Taylor’s cheek. “I’m going to wash this blood off me, then see if there’s any possible way to discreetly feed.”

“I’d volunteer,” Taylor said softly, “but there could be all sorts of unexpected consequences.”

He shook his head. “I won’t risk using you, not here.” He glanced around, making it look casual. “I suspect Veris is off doing the same thing.” He smiled grimly. “It wasn’t a totally uneven fight last night.” His smile faded. “Then I’m going to talk to Veris.”

Taylor caught at Brody’s hand. “He thought I was like Davina. You can’t blame him for that. All along he has been looking at us and thinking you have been caught by a woman like Davina. Everything you told him about me only confirmed it in his mind and when he found out I was his wife from Norway, it was the icing on the cake. For Veris, the possibility of another type of women existing never occurred to him. Not in his world, or for him.”

Brody stared at her. “I’ll keep that in mind,” he said at last and disentangled his hand.

Taylor bit her lip. “Be gentle,” she told him.

“Like he was with you?” he asked.

“He could have killed me or beaten me half to death. There are a dozen far worse things than this paper cut he might have done,” she pointed out.

“He delivered far more than just a paper cut,” Brody shot back angrily.

She looked him in the eye. “So did I.”

Brody’s mouth lifted in a smile before he could stop himself. Then he gave a laugh. “Atta girl,” he said. “Was he at least limping?”

“Mentally, anyway.”

Brody pushed his knife into his belt and picked up his sword belt. “Then I’ll go deliver the
coup de grâce
.”

“Veris is drawn to strength,” Taylor pointed out.

Brody winked. “I know.”

* * * * *

Brody brought his head out from under the tiny waterfall to find Veris watching him from the edge of the creek, his arms crossed.

Brody’s pulse shot skyward. He sat up, glancing at his sword and knife sitting on the rock next to the stream.

“You’ve fed,” Veris said. “I didn’t think both of us would get away with it in this tiny camp. We’re more creative than I thought.”

“Have you come to argue, fight or something else?” Brody stood up and snagged his clothes from the rock next to him. Normally, nakedness didn’t bother him, but he wanted every advantage in this conversation and he was vulnerable without mail.

“You have no need of protection, if that is why you’re reaching for your garments,” Veris said.

“Prove it,” Brody said.

Veris unbuckled his sword belt and dropped the sword on the flat rock at Brody’s feet, right next to the edge of the running water. The knife that usually lived in his belt—the knife that had sliced open Taylor’s hand a scant hour before—landed next to it.

Brody lifted his gaze back to Veris and was startled when the man continued to shed more. His tunic and boots. A knife that tucked into the top of them. His leggings and mail and undershirt and braies. A knife on a string around his neck.

Finally, Veris stood naked at the edge of the stream, his feet planted in the hot sand, a pile of his clothes next to him, his weapons at Brody’s feet.

“I am yours,” he said simply.

Anger tried to roil through Brody and fizzled out. “She was defending you, even as I left to find you and beat you again for what you did to her. She was crying her heart out and
defending
you.”

Veris drew a breath. “I think…I may have been wrong about her. But she wants me to be happy, and I need you.”

Brody’s heart jolted. “Why?”

“You’re the one piece of sanity and happiness that has come my way in decades. And
strength
. You have it by the bushel.”

“You beat the hell out of me last night.”

“We both know that is not the kind of strength I’m talking about. You were going to walk away from me last night because of a principal. A priority. Even though you know it will bring disaster upon three lives. I admire that. I love it.”

Brody hated that he was responding to Veris’ admiration. To his love. He wanted to hate him for refusing Taylor. But that was not why they were here. And they had delivered enough hurt and confusion to this Veris’ life already. If they pushed him further, it would be simple cruelty.

He was an admirable man who had done what he could with his life under extreme circumstances. Taylor was right. Veris had tried hard to overcome adverse conditions. It was a wonder he had not warped more than they had found him.

“You’re a good man, Veris,” Brody said softly.

Veris looked surprised. “I don’t think anyone has ever told me that. Not the way you mean it.”

“Come here,” Brody said.

Veris stepped into the running stream, which brought him within a foot of Brody and face to face with him.

Brody picked up Veris’ hand and rested it around the back of his own neck. “You’ve had more than enough of being dominated and possessed. This time, you take me.”

“But…you were a slave, were you not?”

“Much, much longer ago than you were.” Brody grinned. “Besides, I always like being taken by you.”

Veris’ eyes narrowed. “There’s a small matter of—”

Brody leaned to the side, reached into the pouch on his belt and pulled out the small vial of oil that had been sitting in it since the first time they had made love. He placed it in Veris’ hand and raised his brow.

“Mine is bigger,” Veris scoffed.

Brody laughed. “No, it’s not.” He leaned forward the scant few inches between them, intending to kiss Veris. But before his mouth made contact, Veris pulled him the rest of the way forward with a hungry sound deep in the back of his throat. It startled Brody, but only for a second. His body tensed, then burned with sudden powerful need that raged through it. It was like he’d never tasted Veris’ lips before. Like
this
was the first time.

It may as well have been. Veris was coming to him openly, his defenses down. Brody knew he could do anything he liked with him and Veris would take it.

Trust.

It was the most powerful aphrodisiac Brody knew. He surged forward and their bodies met. His was wet, Veris’ was dry and dusty, but where they touched all demarcations ceased.

The heat in his groin rose.

Veris was kissing him like he could rip his secrets from him that way…or pour everything of himself into Brody in one intense, intimate gesture.

Brody felt himself sinking down. He realized Veris was lowering him, taking him down to his knees. He hadn’t even felt Veris’ hands on his body, such was the power of the moment.

His heart was beating of its own accord. He had no power over it right now. It was fully human, fully autonomic.

Veris’ fingers curled around his cock, which was painfully erect. Brody groaned. “Fuck me.”

“Yes.”

His hand was stroking. Brushing over Brody’s cock. Tripping over the head. Brody arched back, his hips jerking, thrusting upward.

He was being borne backward, his weight lowered down to the flat rock with its slim blanket of water slithering over the top. Veris’ mouth was on his belly, his hips, his cock, making him hiss in delight so exquisite it was almost painful.

The touch of oil and Veris’ fingers spreading it around his anus was almost too much for Brody’s hyped up senses to handle. He moaned, anticipating the possession to come.

“Patience,” Veris murmured.

Brody could barely contain his breathing. He laughed. It came out short and shaky.

Veris slid into him with slow, masterful precision, his blue eyes watching Brody’s face for every shred of reaction.

Brody didn’t try to hide anything. He writhed at the long anticipated moment and realized that even in his personal timeline, it had been weeks since Veris and he had made love this way.

“I’ve missed you,” he said hoarsely. Honestly.

Something in Veris’ face shifted. He smiled and it was warm. As real as anything that Brody has seen since they had jumped here. “I believe you,” he murmured.

Then he thrust and Brody became incapable of words. He sank, instead, into the long slow dance of thrust and counter stroke, Veris’ hand around his cock, the wonderful buildup of tension in his balls, the heavy sounds of them both working toward climax, the groans, the male sounds so unlike sex with a woman that made it such an essential counterpart in his life.

His climax left him dazed, his senses reeling. He felt Veris straining above him, his murmured “Oh, good Christ, Brody…”

The touch of wonder in Veris’ voice put paid to the last doubts Brody had. No man who could wonder at his good fortune to experience pain-free sex could be evil.

* * * * *

Brody and Veris were the last of the head of the column to be ready to leave at the appointed hour.

Alexander was waiting at the head of his horse along with Taylor, while the rest of the contingent scurried around attempting to pack the wagons and their personal gear in the scant two hours’ notice that Brody had given them.

Taylor had a good idea where Brody and Veris were, but couldn’t answer the captains’ questions when they asked. She had to plead ignorance. She only hoped the pair of them didn’t arrive back from wherever they were together. That would fuel far too many speculations.

She was relieved when Brody arrived first, carrying a great bundle of gear that he threw on the wagon, before tramping through the sand to scoop her up around the waist and kiss her soundly on the lips in front of everyone. He looked fresh, rested and well fed. He also looked very happy.

“Thank you,” he murmured against her cheek. “You were right.”

There was no time to say anything more, especially as Alexander was watching. The Fatimid with his observant gaze absorbed far more than the average man.

She heard Veris growling orders farther down the line where his men were congregated, but schooled her face into a neutral expression rather than react. Brody, too, show no reaction. Instead he settled his sword into a better position and turned to Alexander. “Time to move out,” he declared. “I appreciate you being ready at the appointed hour, Alexander.”

Alexander inclined his head. “Your mood seemed to indicate that delay would not have been tolerated.” He smiled to take the sting out of his words.

“Nor would it have been.” Brody grinned. “I’m still more than ready to leave. There’s no reason to linger here any longer.”

Alexander inclined his head again. “As you wish.”

Veris strode up to them. “I believe it is long past time we left this place,” he declared. “With your permission, my lord,” he added, looking at Brody.

“As I was just saying,” Brody replied.

“The longer we stand around in this hot sun…” Taylor pointed out.

Veris scowled at her. But with the impression of Brody’s lips still making hers tingle, she could do nothing but smile back. It seemed to make Veris even more dour. He turned to the horse a page was holding patiently for him, his sword slapping his thigh. “We should’ve left at bloody sun-up,” he muttered. “Now it’s near midday and no mileage to show for it.”

“But a fat pile of carcasses, all the same,” she said brightly. “That was part of your orders, wasn’t it, Will? Meat?”