The Thief Of Mardu Part 5

"I'm sorry, Statesman. This should have been seen to--"

He yanked her under the gazebo's roof. "It should have," he rumbled and she heard the rustle of fabric. Then his hand closed over hers in a tight grip. "This festivity is far from satisfying," he whispered harshly. His grip tightened until she cried out in both pain and excitement.

"What can I do to make things right?" she asked, nearly on her knees due to the sheer pressure he placed on her wrist.

"You know what to do," he rasped and brought her hand to his groin. She could feel his heat and the shock of his naked flesh meeting her hand caused her to gasp.

Kneeling before him, she could hear his heavy breath above her, could feel his gaze directed at the top of her head.

He released her wrist and she rubbed it absently, aware that Arnath's flesh strained and bobbed just a breath from her lips.

"Do it," he ordered, his voice thick.

She slowly neared his erection, her hesitancy exciting him for she heard his breathing quicken.

"In your mouth, wh.o.r.e," he panted, and groaned when her lips slid over his c.o.c.k, her mouth swallowing him all the way to his velvety sack.

Daarna worked him hard, her mouth sucking and releasing, building a pressure that agonized with promise. She found a rhythm that brought m.u.f.fled moans to his mouth and she fingered her c.l.i.t, excited beyond measure when Arnath's fist gripped her hair to press her closer.

"More, Daarna," he gasped and began pumping into her, no longer still.

"How much more?" she teased, withdrawing her mouth enough to speak around his c.o.c.k. Her lips grazed his shaft and she nipped lightly with her teeth, making him surge deeper.

She brought a hand up to toy with his skin-soft sack straining for release, while her mouth lightly sucked him, taking him in only so far.

"f.u.c.k," he cursed and rammed his c.o.c.k deep into her mouth, almost to her throat. His hand maintained a vice-like grip on her hair, shoving her face into his groin so that she could barely breathe.

She controlled the urge to gag, only barely, and in just enough time to swallow the c.u.m that filled her mouth.

"f.u.c.k, yes," he whispered as he continued to pump, his seed shooting down her throat like thick, milky ambrosia. He released the tangle-hold on her hair and his fingers rubbed small circles against her scalp.

Daarna swallowed all of him, licking the remains from his pulsing shaft. The stinging pain in her scalp felt oh, so good.

"That's right, baby," he breathed and stroked her hair.

"You taste delicious," she flirted, wishing she could see him. "Not that I'm complaining, but why f.u.c.k now, with so much to lose if we're caught?"

"Because I needed it," he said roughly. "Besides, we won't get caught, that's why Harron was here." His voice suddenly sounded close to her ear and she realized he knelt next to her. He forced her to her feet, keeping his face very close to her belly.

"What?" she gasped when his hands traced her legs beneath the gown she wore.

"Hold this and listen," he ordered in a gritty voice, shoving the fall of her dress into her hands, effectively baring her mound to the fresh air. "Harron was here to finish the job."

He licked at her folds, unerringly finding her nub that plumped as he suckled.

She wanted to shriek but did her best to keep quiet. The low rumble of guests grew louder, signifying definite danger of exposure. The risk only made her wetter and she squirmed against his probing tongue and fingers.

"I'm so close," she moaned.

"Shh, careful sweet." Arnath backed off, letting his fingers slide in and out of her dripping p.u.s.s.y. "Harron is going to set up the Ari for your housebreaker. She's one risk I'm not willing to take. Now let's see how quiet you can be while I finish what I started."

Imagining the death of Isa Araye, brutal and b.l.o.o.d.y, in addition to Arnath's questing tongue made her shatter into a thousand pieces, and only her hand over her mouth prevented her from alerting all to their presence.

"Now, Daarna," Arnath whispered in a smug voice, "sneak away to fix yourself. Despite the fact that I can't see you, I'm sure you look like you've just been f.u.c.ked. And we can't have people saying that Klin's surviving mate isn't as pure as they like to think."

Daarna chuckled and escaped the gazebo through the rear, darkened section of the garden. If only Arnath knew ... she had f.u.c.ked many of the more influential members of the crowd here tonight. How else would her husband have gotten elected?

She shook her head and entered a hidden pa.s.sage leading to her dressing room. With Klin dead and Arnath under her control, she was right where she wanted to be.

She shivered again, thinking of the Ari. If only she could be present when that b.i.t.c.h-thief met her demise. Daarna sighed. The sacrifices she made in the name of politics.

Chapter Six.

Isa grimaced and stared with disdain at the legion of politicians and their lackeys mulling through the Klin estate.

"I thought this was a bad idea before, but now I think you're trying to get me killed."

Catam's bright smile flashed against the black backdrop of sky. "Such a naysayer. Really, Isa, this is just your style. Wealth and stupidity together in one place? Aren't your little hands sweating to steal something from one of those idiots?" He gestured to Daarna Klin's partygoers.

Isa blinked and stared thoughtfully at what she could see of Catam. "You really aren't a peacemaker, are you? I think your opinion of the western provincials is worse than mine."

"It is. Just be thankful we didn't have to go west to gather information. I'd be worse than a raptor with all my shrieking and complaining."

Isa shook her head, a grin twisting her lips.

It was hard to be in a bad mood around Catam. He saw the humor in everything. The past four-day journey north had been both invigorating and enlightening.

Catam's s.e.xual appet.i.te notwithstanding, he seemed laidback about the entire legal issue with Isa. He didn't try to tie her up, nor did he seem to worry she might run. He paced them both, his stamina a thing of beauty. And he had an agility that rivaled hers.

He continued to make love with her at every available opportunity, and though she knew she was getting in too deep, she didn't have it in her to refuse. s.e.x with Catam felt too d.a.m.ned good.

Sweat broke out on her forehead as she remembered Catam taking her upright, against a tree with no preparation on her part. Surprisingly, her body had accepted him without reservation. They'd come in a conflagration of need and desire, a heady mix that brought emotion too close to the fray for comfort.

Isa sighed and stared at the crowd that continued to grow at the Klin estate.

"A thousand beks for your thoughts," Catam teased, a familiar rumble in his voice that hinted at s.e.xual play.

"They're worth more than that," she countered, and tried to focus on anything but Catam's nearness.

His dark clothing blended with the night sky, so he should have been invisible. But h.e.l.l, Isa couldn't stop remembering what he looked like without his clothes.

"I can smell your need, sweet," Catam murmured and pressed against her.

Sure enough, his erection burned into the small of her back.

"Catam, not now," she protested halfheartedly. "We have to be alert in case Klin's security approaches."

"Shh, I'll hear them." He yanked her trousers down to her knees and fumbled with his pants. Within moments she felt his c.o.c.k burning along her b.u.t.tocks, sliding between her cheeks like pure silk.

"Catam," she groaned softly and reached up behind her to grasp his head.

He moved into her hands and pressed wet, carnal kisses to her throat while his fingers spread her wet need along her folds.

"Your smell, it's like a drug," he whispered and circled his thumb around her c.l.i.t, sensitizing the hard nub until she wanted to cry out with frustration.

She pressed back against him, aware he wanted her as much as she wanted him. His c.o.c.k strained and he groaned with every sway of her backside.

"If you keep that up I'll come right now," he threatened in a growl. "I've been thinking about this all afternoon."

"You're insatiable," she said on a breath and bent forward, bracing her hands against a nearby tree. She sighed with relief when he finally entered her.

From this position, he seemed to fill her tighter than he had before. His shaft slid deep into her womb, and he stayed like that for a moment, as if savoring the connection.

Isa marveled again at how perfectly he fit, at how right it felt to be with him. He knew exactly where to touch her, had from the first moment they'd made love.

Catam shifted, pulling out before sinking back inside.

She bit her lip and closed her eyes, reveling in his touch. He began thrusting and she met his pounding rhythm, her patience worn thin, her need too great to stave.

"I have to come inside you," he uttered in a harsh whisper. "I have to feel you surrounding me, milking me dry."

He groaned and his fingers quickened over her flesh as he pistoned his hips. "Wainu," he groaned and stilled inside her, coming hard in shudders that refused to let her go.

Knowing she had brought him satisfaction increased her own pleasure, and with one more glide of his thumb over her c.l.i.toris, she came, exacerbating his o.r.g.a.s.m. His fingers shifted and bit at her hip to hold her still, all the while her inner walls clamped down on his pulsing c.o.c.k.

Breathing hard, Isa felt as weightless as a feather. She wanted no more than to bury herself in Catam's arms, content in the warm safety of his hold.

She hadn't forgotten his reason for finding her, but his actions contradicted his orders. His every thought and deed since finding her had been protective, not punishing. And he seemed to want to get to the bottom of Klin's mysterious murder as much as she did, despite the fact that his orders were to bring her to Jintak and nothing more.

A soft kiss pressed into her neck and she shivered. She could feel his seed dripping down her leg, could feel the cool night wind blowing across her naked groin. And she didn't care.

"How do you do this to me, time and time again?" she wanted to know, as much teasing as she was genuinely curious. "Before I met you, I'd had s.e.x. But nothing on your scale. Nothing even came close."

She felt his lips curl into a smile against her neck. "But I'm from Mardu, Isa."

"I am too. From one of Mardu's moons that is."

"Aran, yes. I find it interesting a woman with your looks and sensuality didn't find herself immersed in the s.e.x trade." He gently disentangled himself and she redressed. "Why is that?"

She didn't want to admit her failures to Catam, a man with whom she could be the sensual woman she'd always wanted to be. If he knew how others--h.e.l.l, how she'd always perceived herself, would he think less of her? Curiosity over his reaction swelled.

"Isa?"

"I was frigid," she blurted, waiting to see how quickly he would distance himself from her. Frigidity was a condition unheard of and unaccepted among her people.

Catam knew she couldn't see him through the darkness, so he felt no need to hide his shock as he fastened his trousers. Frigid? She had to be kidding. And just how had she come to such an asinine conclusion?

The Xema believed in s.e.xual pleasure, for both men and women. Yet the thought of Isa with other men made Catam uncomfortably possessive. He blinked, surprised to feel jealousy. He'd never felt that before, not in regards to a woman.

The closest he'd come to feeling jealousy had been the envy he experienced when he saw the intimacy between his captain and her husband. He'd thought about it a lot and had come to the conclusion that Mara's joy coincided with his recent dissatisfaction with his life.

He sure as h.e.l.l wasn't in love with Mara, so what did his dissatisfaction mean?

"Catam?"

Isa sounded stiff, probably worried, and he hastened to alleviate her concern.

"Sorry, sweet. I'm just stunned you could think yourself frigid. You're the most sensual woman I've ever met, and I know what I'm talking about."

She paused. "I'm sure you do."

He wanted to laugh despite his confusing affection for the beautiful thief. She sounded as jealous as he'd been feeling.

A man's voice interrupted his thoughts, and he and Isa grew silent. "These d.a.m.ned politicians." Feeling his hunter's instinct surge, a powerful energy that sizzled through the contentment his climax had brought, Catam released the hold on his Xema abilities.

He used his heightened senses, ignoring Isa's gasp of surprise.

With his acute vision and hearing intact, he could plainly see their intruder. A lone security guard visited the tree line near their position, relieving himself.

Catam waited with Isa until the guard returned to his post.

She poked him in the chest. "Your eyes, they're glowing! How--"

"Later." He shushed her with a firm response. "Right now we need to get closer to that party before the clouds shift from the moons. As soon as the guests depart, in another few hours I hope, we'll enter the estate."

She nodded. "I was about to suggest that myself, until you distracted me." Her eyes gleamed with pleasure and Catam felt masculine pride swell.

Pleasing Isa pleased him. Unlike time spent with other women, Catam didn't have the ability to maintain control with Isa. With her he was helpless to do more than react.

His body stirred at thoughts of Isa melting around him, and he cursed his unruly c.o.c.k to behave. He couldn't understand how he could remain in a state of s.e.xual readiness, considering he'd just come deep inside of her.

That thought brought a primal satisfaction that sharply reminded him to watch his step.

Already he felt far more than was healthy for his little thief. Despite the shady circ.u.mstances surrounding her case, he and she lived in two different worlds.

He hunted the System's wanted inhabitants, and she regularly broke the law.

His jaw tightened at thoughts of the inevitable separation between them, and he squelched the reminder of reality.

"See that copse of furen trees near the rear of the garden?" he asked to refocus his thoughts.

Her eyes narrowed and she nodded.