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partner."
"You're absolutely right," I said with a judicious nod, stirring
against the arms holding me. "If we were still partners, you'd
certainly have a firm basis for complaint. And I think you can let go
of me now. In future I'll remember to keep my teddy bear close by so
this doesn't happen again."
"Never mind the smart-aleck comments," he said in annoyance, making
no effort to do as I'd asked. "It so happens we are still partners,
and if you don't believe me you can ask Ringer. He's the one who
makes that sort of decision, remember?"
"Not this time he doesn't," I countered, pushing harder to get myself
loose. "He lost that privilege when he made his recommendations to
the Council, then got so much fun out of delivering their decision.
The next time you see him, you can tell him for me that this hasn't
changed anything. I'm not going meekly to 2 to play cadet no matter
what anyone does to me."
"No one can say Ringer doesn't know you," Val came back with a wry
sound, then turned suddenly to pin me to the bed with his body -
which effectively ended my escape attempt. "That's the reason he now
has my room, and I'm your new roommate. From now on one or the other
of us will have an eye on you every minute of the day or night, to
make sure you end up where the Council wants you. It's what you get
for playing the lone wolf when you had a partner handy, and nearly
getting yourself killed because of it. And it's also something the
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Tanderon by Sharon Green - Chapter 2
aforementioned partner happens to think you deserve as much as what
he gave you."
"You're really pleased with yourself, aren't you?" I snapped, trying
to struggle against the arms wrapped around me - not to mention the
weight of a ridiculously oversized carcass. "I wonder how pleased
you'll be when I get even, partner. Now get your hands off me."
"Oh yes, I nearly forgot how you feel about getting even," he
drawled, totally unimpressed as he watched my useless struggle. "But
at least it's making you call me 'partner' again, which is definitely
a step in the right direction. Now if I can just get you to skip the
threats, I'll feel as if I've accomplished something."
"Damn you, Val, let me go!" I raged, losing sight of the amusement in
his eyes when his head bent and he began to kiss my neck. "I wasn't
threatening I was promising, and there are times when I do keep my
promises! You'll be sorry you did that to me, and you'll be even
sorrier if you don't let me go!"
"And sorriest yet if I do let you go," he murmured, most of his
attention on what he was in the midst of. "You asked me earlier if I
was glad to see you back, and at the time I didn't answer. Let me
answer you now, Diana."
"Val, don't," I moaned, hating myself for the way I immediately
reacted to a few stupid kisses. He had gotten me used to being held
like that, tight in his arms with his lips caressing my flesh, his
giant strength and vitality held back by nothing more than his
decision to wait for my agreement.
I was furious with him for the way he'd spanked me, but it had been
more than two weeks since the last time he'd held me like that. No
matter what I wanted, my body refused to listen to my demands that it
wait even longer. From one instant to the next I found it was myself
that I struggled against rather than him, and then his lips came to
mine and ended the struggle. My arms went around his neck to keep him
from pulling away, but I needn't have bothered. He didn't go anywhere
for quite some time, not until he had thoroughly answered my question.
I stretched as I awoke, and only then realized I'd fallen asleep as
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Tanderon by Sharon Green - Chapter 2
soon as Val had let me go. I'd been exhausted from everything that
had been done to me, and if I were forced at knife-point to tell the
truth, I might even have admitted thinking about trying that hospital
bed again. I was stretched out face down on the bed cover and I
rubbed my face against it slowly, trying to see how much strength I'd
managed to replace with sleep. It wasn't a whole hell of a lot and I
moved around in annoyance, silently cursing Val and "his way of doing
things." He'd punished me and then he'd made love to me, and now he
probably thought that everything was fine. Well, it wasn't fine, not
by a long shot, but he still had learning that ahead of him. He'd
laughed at my warning and he'd laughed at me, and laughing was
something he wasn't entitled to do.
"That was some nap," Val's voice came from my right, and I twisted my
head around to see him where he'd been before, stretched out on the
other side of my bed, hands tucked behind his head. He was dressed
again even though I wasn't, but I couldn't have cared less.
Considering the fact that I'd been raised on a nudist planet, clothes
aren't the same all-consuming passion with me that they are with
everyone else. I looked at Val with a lot of resentment rolling
around inside me, and he crossed his ankles and chuckled.
"I can't imagine why you're looking at me like that," he said,
pretending it wasn't his fault I felt like such a fool. "You did ask
for it, you know, all of it, and when you ask for something all you
can expect is to get it."
"That sounds fair enough," I replied with a nod, giving him a sober
look as I rubbed at my left shoulder. "Getting what you ask for is
nothing more than justice."
"I'm glad you see it that way," he answered, satisfied only because
he didn't know what I meant. He sat up on the bed, stretched till his
muscles cracked, then turned his head to look at me again. "I'm also
glad you woke up when you did. Ringer is ready to order dinner in,
and I can use it. You'd better get dressed." [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]