Perilous Pleasures (14 page)

"How can you be sure it's supposed to go to me?" Joanna asked.

Stefan held her gaze, as he replied, "The old woman said the stone would match the color of my true love's eyes." He smiled. "The stone is a sapphire."

Joanna arched a brow. "But I'm not the one who needs protection. You are."

He looked at her intently. "Some day you may need it up on the bars."

Gene's threat to drop the nets emerged. Another gypsy prophecy? She looked at Stefan, but said nothing. But after he kissed her and left, the thought remained.

***

A damp sultry wind tugged at the pavilion, straining lines while seeming to make the great canvas covering breathe a giant sigh. Sawdust from the vast stock pile in the midway swirled against the side walls and swept through openings in the canvas flaps, stinging Joanna's legs as she tumbled over the edge of the net and stood beside Gene, her face flushed with satisfaction. Practice had gone well, and she felt confident that, in spite of the distraction of her night of lovemaking with Stefan, she was still in top form.

Gene pulled a pair of trousers over his tights. His eyes shifted from Joanna to the activity centered around assembling the cat cage, and back to Joanna. "Good practice," he said. "Your timing's on." He dipped his towel into a bucket of cool water and mopped his face.

"Why shouldn't my timing be on?" Joanna asked, reaching into her satchel for a cloth. She dipped it in the water and passed it over her face.

Gene pulled off his gym slippers and tugged on a sock, then said pointedly, "Janacek is sleeping with you, isn't he?"

Joanna looked up, eyes smoldering. "That's none of your business." She whirled her cloak around her shoulders. "Nor should it make any difference to you one way or another. You just said practice was good, that my timing is on."

"And will your timing be on when his animals act up again?"

Joanna fastened the clasp of her cloak with agitated fingers. "I guess we'll just have to wait and see, won't we."

Gene tugged on his other shoe. "I can tell you right now, if Janacek's sharing your bed, your mind won't be on our act. It will be on what's going on inside the big cage."

"Don't worry," Joanna clipped. "I'll make sure I keep my professional life, and my personal one, separate." She tossed her gymnastic slippers into her satchel and snapped it shut. "And what I do away from the act is my business."

"Wrong! If you end up carrying Janacek's child it's my business because we won't have an act." Gene stuffed his towel into his bag. "Everything was fine before that two-bit gypsy bastard came on the scene. I don't know what in hell you see in him."

"No, I don't suppose you would." Joanna wanted to say more, but she refused to give Gene ammunition to fire back at her.

Gene looked at the men assembling the big cage. "Just keep in mind that eventually you'll have to choose between Stefan Janacek and the act. You can't have both." He grabbed his satchel and marched toward the exit in long strides. His pace slowed when Stefan entered the pavilion. As they passed, Gene reached out and grabbed Stefan's arm. "I'm warning you, Janacek," he said, "stay away from Joanna."

Stefan yanked his arm from Gene's hold. "You're warning me?" He folded his arms. "I think you should know, Marquis, I'm not easily intimidated."

Gene glared at him. "Nor am I." A knotted fist came up in warning.

Stefan unfolded his arms and braced his feet. "Get that fist out of my face, Marquis, or I'll hurl you across this arena."

Gene stared him down for a few moments, then lowered his arm. "Do that, Janacek, and you had better start watching your back. I don't intend to let you or anything else stand between the Flying Marquis and the top."

Stefan edged forward until his face was inches from Gene's, and said, "And I don't intend to let you, or anything else stand between Joanna and me."

Gene held his position. "If you don't get out of her life so she can pull her act back together, the hard ground may come between you and Joanna when the nets come down. Think about that the next time you're in bed with her!"

Stefan stabbed a stiff finger toward Gene's face. "If the nets come down, you bloody bastard, I'll personally feed you to my lions. Keep that in mind."

"And you keep in mind that your lions could get to you first!"

Stefan ignored Gene and continued toward Joanna. She walked over to meet him. "What was that all about?"

He shrugged. "Nothing
 
I can't handle."

"He told you to stay away from me, didn't he?"

"Something like that."

"What did you tell him?"

"Don't worry your pretty head about it, Mrs. Janacek." Stefan put his arm around Joanna's waist and pulled her to him. Bending down, he kissed her on the lips, long and hard, and in plain view of Gene. "Do you mind if I call you Mrs. Janacek?"

"No, Mr. Janacek," she replied, "I consider it an honor. I like being your wife. And since Gene accused me of sharing my bed with you, I would like to reaffirm that tonight, if you are willing to accommodate me. A wife is entitled to have her husband in her bed."

"Absolutely." He kissed her again, a short, sweet kiss. "You looked good this morning," he said in a low, quiet voice while peering down at her.

Joanna's eyes moved beyond Stefan to Gene, who stood where Stefan had left him, eyes fastened on them. She held his gaze until he turned and stormed out of the pavilion. Returning to Stefan, she said, "I didn't know you were watching us practice."

Stefan smiled and drew her closer. "I wasn't," he said. "I meant, you looked good earlier this morning, when you were laying naked in bed."

Joanna felt her heart quicken and her cheeks grow warm with the thought of them lying amid disheveled bed linens. "It was a nice way to start the day," she mused. "I'd like to start and end every day of my life that way. You will come tonight, won't you?"

"Absolutely." Soft light danced in Stefan's eyes. Then his face grew serious. "I meant everything I said last night, that I'm in love with you, and I think of you as my wife. Today those feelings are stronger."

Joanna struggled to catch her breath. She had no idea how long she'd lain awake pondering her options if the love Stefan expressed continued to grow. She felt her own bittersweet pangs of love for him spiraling upward. And although it was merely a gypsy tradition, she truly felt married to Stefan. But it was an imaginary marriage. A temporary bond. An excuse for them to express their love in a physical way that her moral upbringing would not otherwise allow.

But she was also conscious of the peril that accompanied that physical love. If she carried Stefan's child, she would be finished as a flyer and have to leave the show. And Stefan would have to either give up his cats and everything he'd worked years to accomplish, or give her up. She couldn't stay on and watch him, day after day. And their child, if they had a son, would not grow up tending lions and tigers and watching his father perform while waiting for the day he'd step up from cage boy to assistant trainer, and ultimately top trainer, when Stefan's time finally came. Odd how things had changed. The first time she'd seen Stefan in the big cage with his cats, when he meant nothing to her, she'd watched with dispassionate concern as any uninvolved spectator would, fearing for the man because of what the cats might do. Now, she couldn't let her mind dwell on what might happen. The thought was too hideous...

"Sweetheart?" Stefan's voice seemed to come from far away. "Trust me. Nothing will happen. My cats are behaving better than they have in months."

Joanna looked up at him, wondering again how he seemed to have the ability to read her thoughts. She gave him a bland smile. "I'll try not to worry, if you promise to keep your back to your cats," she said, adding a touch of humor to her voice, hoping it would dispel her somber mood of moments before.

Stefan looked at her, puzzled. "Why would I do that?"

"Because that part of you that your cats seem to covet is mine now, and I will be expecting you to bring it with you when you come to my bed tonight."

Stefan's eyes smoldered with an intensity that sent chills of anticipation rushing through Joanna. "I can assure you, Mrs. Janacek, that it will be with me, and it will be on full alert when I arrive." He leaned toward her and said in a low, deep voice, "If you look down now, my love, you will see that it's already on full alert in preparation for tonight."

Joanna glanced down and chuckled, then raised on tiptoe, gave him a quick kiss, and said, "It is going to be a very long day. Meanwhile, I have to change clothes and get ready for my acrobatics class." She turned to leave.

"Wait," Stefan reached for her arm. "I have a few minutes before the cage is up, so I'll walk you to your wagon."

Joanna gave him a seductive smile. "Yes," she said, "I think that would be a very good idea." She tucked her arm in the crook of his elbow and they strolled out of the pavilion.

Across the grounds, Gene stood talking to Karl Porter. Gene looked towards them, and Karl followed the direction of Gene's gaze.

Stefan eyed the men. "Perhaps we should part company now. It would not do for them to see me going into your wagon. I don't want to compromise you."

Joanna smiled. "I'm your wife, remember. And I want you to compromise me. I want you to compromise me in my wagon, right now, before I have my acrobatics students. But this time I want to prove to you that Karl is right, that I am as agile in bed as I am on the trapeze." Looking toward where Gene and Karl were still watching them, she tightened her hand on Stefan's arm and continued toward her wagon.

Inside, she turned to Stefan and said in a hurried voice, "We only have thirty minutes so we need to get started right away." She began unbuttoning his khaki shirt, but he quickly shrugged it over his head, removed his breeches, stripped her of her clothes, and they fell together on the bed at the far end of the wagon...

 
Twenty minutes later, as they lay naked in each others arms, still damp and exhilarated from their lovemaking, Stefan kissed her on the temple and said in a low, evocative voice, "Mrs. Janacek, you are indeed as agile in bed as you are on the trapeze."

"I'll try and remember that, Mr. Janacek, when I'm up on the trapeze. In fact, I hope I'll continue to be as agile up there as I was down here. It's odd though. I always thought nothing could compare to the freedom of flying, if only for those few moments in time when I'm between the trapeze and Otto. But your lovemaking eclipses anything, even flying through the air. I just wish the incredible feeling that comes when our passions peak would last longer." She sighed. "It's much like flying. It happens so fast, and then it's all over, and all I want is to do it again."

"That is precisely why you will never tire of it." Stefan kissed her lightly and stood.

Joanna gazed up at him, tall and muscular and splendid in his nakedness— a virile man in his prime. His male member hung limp now, so the scar was not stretched as it was when he was aroused, but seeing it, still damp from their lovemaking, was a reminder of how vulnerable he was, and she could not disguise the worry.

Catching the focus of her attention, Stefan said, while slipping on his drawers, "Come watch while I work Rafat on a harness and collar this afternoon. It will be a good chance for you to see how responsive he can be when he knows he won't be getting his way." He turned from her and reached for his breeches.

Joanna's heart began thumping at the thought of Stefan being in the cage with the big lion. She moved off the bed and started dressing. "Will Tony be there?" she asked, trying to hold her voice steady. But when the image of the big lion stalking Stefan the first day she'd seen him working with his cats emerged, followed by the scene Helen Janacek had described, she felt lightheaded. Closing her eyes, she waited until the feeling passed.

Stefan pulled her into his arms. "Tony is always there when I'm working with the cats." He bent down and kissed her. "There will also be a bucket of ammonia water, and pedestals, and wooden blocks, and I'll have my whip. And of course, my guardian angel will be there."

"Could Walter also wear a gun, in case Tony didn't fire in time?" she asked.

It was a few moments before Stefan said, "Walter is a meat cutter."

Joanna got the feeling that Stefan was hiding something. "I know Walter is your meat cutter," she said, "but he could still have a gun, just in case. What if Tony's gun didn't fire? What if he was looking the other way when Rafat went to spring on you? What if dust got in his eyes or he was distracted or—"

"Sweetheart, stop doing this." Stefan held her at arms length so he could look at her. "Rafat will be in a collar and harness. Nothing will happen. And by the time I release him, he will know who's boss. Come watch this afternoon and you'll see that Tony is all I need. Besides, Walter is always there to make sure Tony is not distracted."

Joanna's lips moved into a short nervous smile. "All right. I'll try to come," she said, sensing that she probably would not.

Stefan looked at her dubiously, then kissed her long and hard. As he held her, Joanna realized how fragile a thread there was between the security, and the insecurity of the arms around her. He nuzzled her head. "You don't plan to come," he stated. "I can feel the desperation in the way you're clinging to me. But if you watch me work with my most vicious animal on harness and under controlled conditions, your fears will begin to ease."

Joanna looked up at him. "It really is important to you, isn't it?"

"Yes."

"All right," she said, with resolve, "I'll watch. Just this one time."

***

Dressed in a plain white shirtwaister blouse and a brown cotton skirt, Joanna stood beside Walter, watching as a cage housing Rafat was being rolled into the pavilion. As the cage rumbled passed Tony, Rafat viciously lunged at the bars, trying to get to him. Once in place, Stefan and a handler stood beside the cage, coaxing the big cat into a narrow chute.

Walter leaned toward Joanna, and said, "Once Stefan and the handlers get Rafat into the chute they'll get him collared and harnessed. The harness has been effective in the past, so Stefan will have Rafat behaving like a well-mannered lion before he's done with him today."