The Warlord Forever (7 page)

He glanced over at the two ogling women and smiled, then winked at them, practically sending them into a sexual frenzy. If he wasn’t careful, they were going to rip his nice, new clothes to shreds and have wild sex with him right here on the floor. And Kenna was going to pull their blonde hair out at the roots and throw them out on their perfect asses.

“Things like this take time,” Ian said, now smiling at her, as if he were suddenly an expert on modern clothing.

Yeah, she could rip his clothes off and let him have her on the floor. The leather sofa. Up against the wall. The new her would enjoy this handsome warlord in every position possible.

Later.

****

Ian liked this new world. Buildings made of steel and glass rose high in the sky, higher than any castle tower. Horsepower was no longer measured by how many horses in a team, but by how many cylinders under the hood of an automobile.
Cars
. He knew he was going to like driving those, but he had to take things slowly.

Kenna and Evan led him through the city streets, past shops that sold anything one could possibly desire, and restaurants that smelled of delicious herbs and spices. Musicians played their instruments in the streets while the poor and down-trodden begged for handouts. Sadly, some things hadn’t changed in the many years that had passed.

Crowds of people hurried past them with those fascinating electronic devices held to their ears.
Cell phones
. Kenna had let him call Evan on her own cell phone just to see how it worked. He could talk to anyone, no matter how far away. She told him that with computers, you could even see the person while you talked to them. Too bad he had no one left to talk to.

Ian made Kenna and Evan explain everything to him, show him how things worked or what they did, until it finally started getting dark. Kenna suggested they spend the evening in a restaurant having a nice meal. Ian hated to be stuck inside once again, but he quickly found the restaurant had its own amusements to keep him occupied.

They started in the bar area, where he got to watch more television, sports this time, basketball, which he very much enjoyed once Evan explained the rules of the game to him. He watched ice cold beer poured from the tap and tried one of each, deciding the Guinness to be his favorite. Yes, he very much liked this new world. Everything was so convenient.

He hated to leave the bar for a table, but Kenna insisted they eat their meal in the dining area.
Like civilized people
. Ian didn’t mind so much. He could see the television from his seat and the waiter brought him as much beer as he wanted.

Evan took over the meal and ordered some of everything for the table so Ian could try a number of different items. He was currently enjoying the duck a l’orange and garlic mashed potatoes.
Delicious
.

“Are you enjoying the food?” Kenna smiled knowingly at him as he finished the plate.

Was it that obvious?

He tried to refrain from making too many pleasurable noises as he finished off what remained of the food, but he couldn’t help himself. Each dish was like a work of art. The world had come a long way from the one he’d known.

As much as he missed his Highland castle, he preferred the modern conveniences he found himself surrounded with. Imagine the things he could accomplish in a world like this. There was nothing a man couldn’t do. No place he couldn’t go. No knowledge he couldn’t obtain.

“I can’t wait to see what happens when we get to the dessert,” Evan announced, sipping his whisky.

Ian glanced over at Kenna. She could take the place of any sweet confection the restaurant had to offer. Her simple black dress had a modest neckline and the hem came all the way to her knees, but she’d be beautiful in anything she wore. He was getting used to the new styles of this world, and found he rather liked the way women dressed. He’d learned that Kenna dressed rather conservatively compared to the other women her age, and as much as he wanted to see more, he liked that about her.

No woman of his would bare so much flesh in public.

“Do you intend to order one of everything from that menu as well?” Kenna responded to her cousin. “At this rate, you’ll have your father’s bank account emptied in no time.”

“You’ve got to learn to lighten up, little cousin.” Evan slurred his words, already feeling the effects of the bottle of whisky they’d had with dinner. “If you keep acting like an old maid, you’re going to become one.”

She glared icily at him across the table. “Being sensible with money makes me an old maid now?” She folded her arms over her chest. “I suppose you’d rather I spent my inheritance without a care and ran around the city,” she said, “
kicking my knickers up
,” mimicking Ian’s Scottish brogue.

“I should prefer you only do that with me, lass,” Ian informed her. “I doona like to share my women.” He held back a smile as he saw her face redden with embarrassment. Or maybe it was anger.

“I think you should quit worrying so much,” Evan replied. “Don’t be afraid of life, live it.”

“He’s right,” Ian agreed. “I don’t fear anything.”

Her lips thinned with irritation. “Is that why you sealed yourself inside the tomb?”

****

Seeing Ian tense at her harsh remark had Kenna stirring uneasily in the chair. She might have been more careful with her words, but having two men go on about what was wrong with her life, while they obviously had issues of their own, was not something she could take sitting down.

“Be glad you have not suffered as I have,” Ian said, his voice lowering. “It is because of what I’ve been through that I fear nothing. I only wish to keep the pain of that curse to myself.”

Kenna’s mouth went dry and she reached for her glass of wine. She had no idea how Ian had suffered. At first thought, being immortal seemed like something everyone would want, but thinking more about it, the loneliness of such an existence must be unbearable. Perhaps she’d been wrong to awaken the warlord at all. Would their lives be better off if she’d left him under the spell?

“On a lighter note,” Evan said, leaning back in his chair so the front legs came off the floor. “I got a call from channel five news, asking if we had anything to say in response to David’s interview this morning.”

“What?!” Fury almost choked her. Why hadn’t he told her sooner? David was becoming a problem, especially now that Ian was out in the real world. “Did you tell them we don’t owe that vulture a damn thing? That we have every right to the find, and he’s simply making a mockery of your good father’s name?”

Evan rocked back and forth in his chair, smiling. “Something like that, though not as colorfully as you just put it.”

Kenna had to figure out what it was going to take to get David to go away and leave them alone. Ian’s gleaming sword flashed through her mind. There had to be some other way.

Her special insight wasn’t in agreement with her.

She had a terrible feeling that things were about to get much worse.

“If we can manage to get the tomb sealed again, we could give it to him,” she proposed the most obvious idea. “He doesn’t know for a fact that anything is inside it, and no one would believe us about Ian if we told them. That should get rid of him,” she concluded.

Suddenly it all seemed so easy.

“I’m afraid he does know about what’s to be found in the tomb,” Ian said. “This man wants immortality, and he’s willing to kill for it.”

“But that’s just a legend, isn’t it?” Evan sat forward in his chair. “Immortality can’t be found in the tomb.”

“Not in the tomb,” Ian said, patting the jacket pocket of his suit. “But somewhere else.”

As much as Kenna wanted to know if it was possible to gain immortality, she was afraid to find out. It would make all of this too overwhelming. She was already having a hard time separating the dream from reality.

“If the tomb is harmless, I don’t see why we can’t give it to him,” she argued. “It’s what he wants.”

Ian studied her, his jaw clenched, his eyes slightly narrowed. “When he doesn’t find what he’s looking for, he’ll come back, thinking you’ve taken it from him.”

“We didn’t take anything!” Her anger bristled. “All I did was read some stupid words, and now here you are. I don’t know anything about finding immortality, and I’m not sure I want to.”

“What’s the deal with all that?” Evan sipped his scotch. “Doesn’t the legend say the person who opens the tomb will receive immortality?”

Ian pinned him with a harsh stare. “It says the secret to immortality was buried in the tomb.”

“What’s the secret?” Evan leaned his elbows on the table, his eyes filled with excitement.

Kenna could sense Ian didn’t want to discuss it any further, and her curiosity was not going to get the better of her tonight. “Would you leave him alone?” she scolded. “What would you do with immortality anyway? Drink yourself stupid? Have sex with every woman on the planet?”

“I’d start there,” Evan said. “But then maybe I’d invent something the world has never seen. Something that will change humanity for the better.”

“The young lad is a dreamer.” Ian’s green eyes flashed as he smiled. “Immortality might not be wasted on you.”

“Are we really discussing this?” She was appalled.

She didn’t want to think about what it would mean if Ian could gift a person with immortality. What if he didn’t want to give it to her? Why did it matter?

“Haven’t you thought about what you would do?” Evan wondered.

Kenna shook her head. “I wouldn’t want it. People aren’t supposed to live forever.” She thought of the sadness she’d seen in Ian’s eyes. The loneliness he must have felt to make him hide away in a tomb. “I think it would be a fate far worse than death.”

****

I think it would be a fate far worse than death
.

Ian couldn’t get those words out of his head. The one thing he wanted in his endless life was a woman to share it with, a woman he could love and who would love him. The first woman he’d offered immortality to had refused it, had refused him, and eventually Kenna would do the same.

He couldn’t blame her. It wasn’t any easy choice to make. He’d been given no choice, and didn’t know how he’d have chosen if he had.

Kenna had done more than awaken him from Illora’s spell. She’d awakened his soul. He wanted to live. He liked the world he’d ended up in and he wanted to stay in it. Kenna would be the perfect companion for him; a woman with the right blend of independence and femininity. Her beauty was something that should live on forever.

But how would he convince her to stay with him? If he made love to her in an attempt to change her mind, there was a possibility he would fail. He’d be left to wander the Earth alone while she died, never to be held in his arms again.

Gads, the Fates were a bitch.

But it was the only way. If he could make her love him, she might never want to let him go. She’d beg him to make her immortal, to keep her with him, and so he would.

Was it selfish to do this to her?

To keep her forever?

Only if she didn’t truly love him.

It was time to find out if she felt anything for him at all.

He made his way upstairs, passed the room he’d been given, and came to a stop outside Kenna’s closed door. She’d left he and Evan in the study a short time ago to retire for the evening. He knew she must be preparing herself for bed. What sheer scrap of silk would she be wearing tonight?

He was instantly hard at the thought of her womanly body, all those curves, soft skin and long hair. Every time he touched her, he got closer to having her. She’d been trying to keep him at a distance from the moment she found him in her kitchen, but he intended to keep closing that distance until there was nothing left to keep them apart.

Ian politely knocked on her door, rather than throwing it wide like he wanted to. He heard her mumbling something as she opened the door.

“Evan, I seriously think you should—” She stopped short as she saw him standing there, confusion and hesitation flickering in her eyes. “Ian” She breathed. “Do you need something?”

He let his gaze roam over the black silk nightdress hugging every curve of her body. The front dipped low, exposing the V between her breasts. His mouth watered, wanting to fully taste every part of this amazing woman.

“I need
you
, lass,” he stated. “Will you no’ let me in?”

What would he do if she refused him? He was in need of a woman’s comfort. Of
her
comfort.

“You need me for what?” A taunting smile curved her lips.

The woman dared to toy with him at a time like this? He stalked up to her, forcing her into the room, and slammed the door closed behind him.

She staggered back, until she ran into the bed and collapsed down on it. It was the first time he’d seen her room, and he only noticed what he could see from his peripheral vision. The large canopied bed, dark, heavy furniture, a sitting area and patio doors, but his focus was on Kenna.

He came to his knees at the foot of her bed and rested his hands on her hips. Nothing would stop him from claiming this woman at last. He took her mouth, sweeping his tongue inside and twirling it with hers. She put her arms around his neck, wrapped her legs around his waist, moaning into his mouth as he kissed her.

He gripped her hips tightly, grinding her against his hard shaft, showing her where he wanted to be. Her fingers fumbled with the buttons on his shirt before she yanked it open, and her gentle hands traced over his chest. He rose up and pushed her back on the bed, lowering himself on her, bringing their bodies flush with each other.

He’d waited centuries to be with a woman like this.

He slipped his hand under the black silk of her gown and slid it up her thigh, revealing more of her smooth flesh. The soft sigh she gave told him she had no intentions of stopping him this time.

****

Kenna was about to lose her head and make love to Ian. And she was all right with that. She wanted him. Had never wanted a man like she wanted this warlord. It didn’t matter that he was immortal. It didn’t matter that she wasn’t. All that mattered was the way he held her.