Night Games (23 page)

Now Cap had gotten to her again with his juice. Maybe today's concoction wouldn't work, but just in case, she'd keep away from Brian as much as possible. She'd be on guard against any lust attacks.

“I don't think you're awake yet.” Katy peered at her. “That's what you get for staying up most of the night with that writing.”

Her writing. Everything had flowed last night. She couldn't go to bed while the ideas were coming. She'd never remembered writing with so much emotion before. She picked up her legal pad and glanced back at what she'd written. So much of it was Brian. Ally frowned. What she'd written was good, but it didn't sound like a typical one nighter. And this
was
about one night. She had to remember that.

“You have that look.” Katy grinned at her.

“What look?” How would she stay away from Brian when she didn't want to stay away?

“Never mind.” Katy's expression was blandly
innocent.
A warning sign.
“I think I want to start taking a few day trips. See some of the sights. Thought maybe tomorrow we could go to the Cliffs of Moher. Bet they're spectacular. They drop seven hundred feet straight down to the ocean. I bet we'll hear all kinds of ghostly shrieks.” She frowned. “I'm hoping for an overcast day. It adds to the atmosphere.”

“Sea birds, Katy.”

“What?”

“Your ghostly shrieks are the cries of seabirds. The travel guide said we'd see puffins, kittiwakes, choughs, and lots of other birds there.”

Katy's expression turned mutinous. “I'm going there to hear ghostly shrieks, and I'd better darn well hear some.”

Ally knew when to back down. “I don't know about ghosts, but you might see a merrow. She's supposed to be a beautiful woman who lives in the sea. She wears a long sealskin cloak, and some people say she'll marry a mortal man.” She stopped to think. There was something else. “Oh, in some parts of Ireland she's regarded as a messenger of doom and death.”

Katy looked appeased. “Well, I wouldn't mind seeing a merrow as long as she wasn't bringing her message to me.” She smiled. “Now that tomorrow's settled, let me tell you what I heard about this castle. Yesterday, I—”

A loud knock interrupted Katy. Irritated, she flung open the door. “This better be important.”
She looked up. “Oh, didn't expect it to be you, Nebula.”

Ally walked over to stand beside Katy.

“I have decided to help Ally become worthy of Brian.” Her expression said that everything should now be clear.

“Worthy?” Ally didn't dare consider what Nebula would demand she do to become “worthy.”

Katy was not one to be closed out of any conversation. “You have it backwards, Nebula. Brian has to work a little to become worthy of Ally. First thing he has to do is get rid of his job. It's a great job, but I'd guess that Ally would think it was a conflict of interests.”

Nebula looked insulted. “I have trained Brian for many years. He is as close to being more than a man as any male can be.” Her glance grew conspiratorial. “Do not tell him I said so, but no male is capable of becoming more than a man. They are much too puny.”

“He's
not
puny. He's strong, intelligent, and . . .” Uh-oh. Impulsive speech leads to much sorrow. Wasn't that an old proverb? If it wasn't, it should be. And why this sudden fierce need to protect Brian? She wasn't ready to examine that question yet.

Katy and Nebula exchanged looks that indicated females who were gifted with being more than women knew what they knew.

Katy smiled. “Would you like to come in for a bit?”

Nebula cast the wagon a dismissive glance.
“This puny vehicle would not hold a woman of my stature.” She fixed Ally with a commanding stare. “You will be ready for your sensual exercises in two hours.”

Ally and Katy watched her leave. Katy closed the door. “Think I'll tag along when you go for those exercises. Might want to get more sensually fit myself. It can't hurt.”

Two hours later, Ally wasn't so sure of that.

She stepped out of the wagon with Katy right behind her. Nebula waited for them. Unfortunately, so did Brian.

Ally hadn't a clue why she was doing this. She looked up at Nebula. Actually, she did know. Ally wasn't stupid enough to make seven feet five inches of dedicated mass and muscle mad. The second reason? There was a chance that Nebula could really improve her sensual conditioning. Didn't every woman want to be sensually fit? Ally could open sensual fitness centers, make a fortune. And don't forget her book. This would be great stuff for her book.

The truth? She glanced at Brian, and he gave her an encouraging nod. She wanted to be the very best she could be for their next fantasy. Where had her original concept to use him merely as a research tool gone wrong?

Katy walked over to stand beside him. “I'll just stand over here out of the way.” She looked up at Brian. “I think Nebula looks real feminine with that pink sweat suit and green hair. Green and pink are ladylike colors.”

“It was not my wish to appear feminine.” Nebula looked as though she might rip the sweat suit off right there. “Ally should be honored that I attempt the difficult task of making her worthy of Brian. My services are in great demand by every team.”

Ally didn't like the feel of this, and she definitely didn't like the idea of Brian watching. “I don't know if this is a good idea, Nebula. I mean, where do you start? You're not going to have enough time to make me worthy. Making me worthy could take years. I'll understand if you change your mind.”

Nebula was ignoring her, doing some strange breathing exercises and arm swings that were rather scary.

“Why does Brian have to be here? If he's at the almost-more-than-man stage, why does he have to watch a rookie train?” Ally was getting desperate.

Nebula segued into rhythmic hip and leg motions Ally had never seen in her fitness center. Of course, Ally didn't visit a fitness center too often. Fine, so she never visited a fitness center.

“Since I am doing this for Brian, I think it is fitting he be here to watch your progress.” She continued with her routine.

Ally hoped Nebula didn't expect
her
to do those things.

Frantic, she turned to her last hope. “Brian, tell Nebula that you really don't care if I'm worthy.”

He shrugged and slanted her a wicked grin. “Hey, got to be worthy, babe.”

She leveled her deadliest glare at him. “No one would ever reverse the ‘i' and ‘a' in your name.”

He didn't look insulted. “Katy and I can sit on the wagon while you're exercising and discuss your personal life. Maybe she has a few embarrassing baby pictures.”

“Hmmph.” When in doubt, make an intelligent noise. With a sinking feeling, Ally noted that Nebula had finished her warm-ups.

“We will begin with tongue and lip exercises.”

Fascinated, Ally watched as Nebula stuck out her tongue and moved it in a circular motion, then made a puckering shape with her lips. When she'd finished, she glanced expectantly at Ally.

“These exercises will make your tongue flexible, able to reach . . .” She rolled her eyes up in her head, obviously searching for the right description. “As your commercials say, able to reach those hard-to-get-to spots.”

Ally blinked. She wouldn't go there. “What about the lips?”

Nebula nodded. “Yes, the lips. You must pucker them so that they are full and soft, yet firm. The fullness and softness gives a man the mistaken impression that his woman is yielding. A woman must remember to inflate a man's ego.”

Brian wasn't smiling anymore. Score one for Nebula.

“What about the firmness?” Ally didn't care
about the firmness, but the longer she kept Nebula talking, the less time there would be for puckering.

Nebula cast her an impatient glance. “Firmness is important. No man wants to kiss an overripe zeekee berry.”

“Zeekee berry?” Ally cast a quick glance at Brian. He caught her glance, stroked it, held it.

“Lips and tongues are important, sweetheart. I love a woman with great lips. Soft, warm, welcoming. Practice hard so you can play hard.” He leaned back against the wagon and offered her a slow smile that promised he could teach her things about lips and tongues she'd never imagined.

“What a man.” Katy cast him a worshipful glance.

Ally sighed. “Okay, let's get started.”

Nebula launched into drill-sergeant mode. “Tongue out. Circle to the right. Circle, circle, circle. Now to the left. Keep it up. Circle, circle, circle. Hold that extension. Lips next. Pucker, pucker, pucker. Tongue again. Curl, curl, curl. Work on that flexibility. Circle, curl, circle, curl. Now put it all together. Lips, tongue, lips, tongue. Rest.”

Somewhere in the middle of that excruciating event, Katy left the wagon to join Ally. “The puckering part makes you look like a guppy. I think I'll try these exercises. Never hurts to be a kissing fool.”

Nebula was just hitting her stride. “We will
now strengthen our pelvis muscles for those long nights, and in deviant individuals even days, of mindless pleasure. First we rotate our hips, then do our pelvis thrusts.” She demonstrated.

At least Ally wouldn't feel stupid doing these. It looked like what the women did on some of the MTV videos, only they did it with a lot fewer clothes.

“Ready. Stomach in. Now rotate, rotate, rotate. The opposite direction. Rotate, rotate, rotate. Hold that stomach in. Now the pelvis. Thrust, thrust, thrust. Work it, work it.”

Twenty minutes later, Ally had puckered her last pucker and thrust her last thrust. No way would she live long enough to be worthy of Brian. He might have to settle for someone unworthy but highly motivated.

Nebula frowned. “You will be my greatest challenge. We must firm your thighs next. When I finish with your thighs, you will be able to strangle a lennot with them. I will work with you again tomorrow at the same time.”

Not if I can help it.
Ally didn't know what a lennot was, but she had no intention of strangling one. And she fully intended to be on her way to the Cliffs of Moher at this time tomorrow. She walked over to the wagon, controlling the urge to wince with every step. Katy was still exercising away.

Finally gathering her courage, she glanced at Brian. If he laughed at her, she'd . . .

He wasn't laughing. His gaze was heat and desire. “I like the way you move, babe.”

She was pitiful. All it took was a few words of praise from him to renew her energy, make her want to do more exercises. Okay, maybe that was stretching it, but Brian's approval sure made her feel great. This from a woman who'd sworn that men's opinions would never again matter to her.

“You owe me a fantasy, and I want you to move that way when you dance naked for me.” His lips tipped up with a wordless promise that she would do exactly what he wanted.

She smiled at him, accepting his challenge. “Sounds sensual, if you're into dancing goose bumps. Because that's all you'd see if I danced naked here.”

Goose bumps?
Brian thought hard. No goose bumps. Another lapse in the Language Assimilation Program. But he could figure out what Ally meant.

“If the goose bumps are attached to you, then they're sexy. Dance with enough passion, sweetheart, and you'll keep both of us hot.” He was having fun talking to her. Brian didn't joke with women, certainly not the ones he met during competition. There, he weighed every word for its arousal power. And off the field? Nope. For a moment he thought of Nebula, and smiled at the thought.

“Are you laughing at me?” Ally tilted her head, daring him to admit it.

“Laughing
with
you sweetheart. I'm thinking
we have a lot in common. Nebula has both of us under her thumb.”

She laughed, a clear honest sound on the cool air. He couldn't remember the last time he'd heard a woman laugh like that.

“Nebula will never have you under her thumb, hotshot.” She reached up, curled a strand of his hair around her finger, then pulled. Obediently, he lowered his head. She whispered in his ear. “If she gives you a hard time, I can strangle her in a thigh press. By the way, what's a lennot?”

He put back his head and laughed. Really laughed.

The smile she offered him had a touch of wonder in it. “You should laugh more often, Byrne. You could get anything you wanted with that laugh.”

He drew his finger along her jaw, touched her lips with a fingertip. “I like being with you, Ally O'Neill. You make me happy.” How could something be so simple and yet so profound? “And a lennot is a very large rodent. Think of an elephant with beady eyes and whiskers.”

“Ugh. Someone else's thighs can strangle it.”

Brian didn't get a chance to answer because Katy joined them.

“That was fun. Got the old juices flowing.” Katy paused to consider her statement. “Problem is, at my age all those flowing juices don't have anywhere to go. Men my age are all a bunch of old farts.”

Brian decided to let that pass without comment.
“Nebula will either kill you or cure you.”

He noticed that Jupe had stuck his head from his shelter. Brian still had a few things to discuss with his agent. “I enjoyed watching—” he smiled at Ally—“but I have to talk with Jupe before he runs and hides.”

Katy put a hand on his arm. “Wait up. I need to tell Ally and you about the neat things I found out about the castle when I went into town yesterday.”

Ally looked suspicious. “Does this involve more bloodthirsty spirits?”

Katy nodded. “Yep. Brian, you had some evil ancestors.” She looked like the thought gave her a lot of pleasure. “All around here was O'Brien country. If you were a Byrne and wanted to build a castle, you'd better have had an in with an O'Brien. To prove his friendship with the O'Briens, your ancestor invited some of their enemies to a big feast. Lots of drinking and carousing. They didn't know your ancester was tight with the O'Briens. Now comes the bad part.” She paused for dramatic effect.