Читать книгу Otherworld Renegade - Jane Godman - Страница 12

Chapter 6

Lorcan woke in the middle of the night with a feeling of well-being, which was soon explained when he realized his arms were full of Tanzi. It was a situation that did nothing for someone with an overactive imagination and a currently underactive cock. Ascertaining that they were both fully clothed and, from his memory of the previous night, being fairly certain that nothing had happened between them, he eased himself regretfully away from her. She gave a soft little murmur of protest in her sleep, and his erection responded to the sound by jackhammering uncomfortably against the restraining cloth of his jeans.

Why couldn’t he do the uncomplicated thing for once in his life and lust after a nice, straightforward girl? Someone he could actually have? The troublesome thing was, he was fairly certain he could have Tanzi. He sensed that the intense physical attraction he felt for her was mutual. But that wouldn’t make it right. It was wrong on so many levels. His internal mantra started to kick in... Moncoya’s daughter, sidhe princess, Valkyrie warrior. The words had become tired and meaningless so he silenced them. Yes, she was still all of those things. This rift with her father didn’t change what she was, it only made her vulnerable. A sweet, vulnerable killing machine. You don’t want to mess with one of them, Malone.

He thought of all the things he’d heard about Tanzi and her sister, Vashti, over the years. Setting aside their reputation as Moncoya’s ruthless weapons, it was said that the King of the Faeries viewed his daughters as his stepping-stone to even greater power. He boasted that through them he would forge alliances to make the faerie dynasty invincible. In order for that to happen, the sidhe princesses must remain pure until such time as their father would choose a mate for them. Woe betide the man who touched one of Moncoya’s daughters before she reached her marriage bed. I’m not afraid of yon faerie feller, but I’ll not put his daughter at risk from his wrath. Not for the sake of a one-night stand.

Because that was all it would ever be. A one-night stand. Or maybe a series of them. A brief fling. I haven’t got it in me to offer her more. The thought brought with it a pang of regret. Lorcan made jokes about being a wanderer, the implication being he never settled. Love ’em and leave ’em Malone. It was a myth he didn’t deny. On the contrary, he cultivated it. Only Lorcan himself knew the truth. Something in his heart had been damaged beyond repair way back in the dim and distant past. That capacity others had for sustained emotion—he supposed it was called commitment these days—wasn’t part of his makeup. It had burned at the stake, while he had sobbed and pleaded for help that never came.

Why was he thinking of commitment in relation to Tanzi, anyway? Just because she happened to be bloody gorgeous and, at this precise moment, deliciously inviting. His inner nice guy—and, yes, he did have one—was attempting to justify the crushing desire he felt to draw her back into his arms, wake her with a kiss and then let his fingertips glide up between the silken flesh of those slender thighs. Stop being such a bloody hypocrite. You’re not fooling anyone. You are trying to defend the fact that you want to fuck this gorgeous girl by making it into something more than mere lust. It didn’t help that Tanzi was wearing some sort of elongated T-shirt that had rucked up as she slept, revealing the very thighs that were fueling his imagination in an erotic and interesting way. Determinedly, Lorcan gritted his teeth. Sliding from the bed, he pulled a blanket over Tanzi’s prone form. Out of sight, out of mind. That was the theory.

Feeling very virtuous—but oddly bereft—he tiptoed out the door and made his way to his own room. Despite his tiredness, he was unable to sleep. The dawn light saw him pulling on his clothes and taking out his frustrations by jogging the length of the Ramblas before following the harbor toward the Barceloneta Beach. He ran until the ache in his muscles drove every other thought from his mind. This was better. He couldn’t afford any distractions.

The house was still quiet when he returned. He headed for the shower, then spent a long time letting the jets of cool water drive any lingering traces of heat and temptation from his body. He stayed there so long that the ancient pipes creaked and groaned and threatened to tear the old house apart. When he emerged, drying his hair on a towel, Tanzi was standing framed in the open door of her room, blinking sleepily in the early-morning sunlight. The elongated T-shirt skimmed her thighs and the bright mass of her hair tumbled wildly about her shoulders. She smiled when she saw him and then stretched her arms lazily above her head. The T-shirt rose precariously higher.

“I was disturbed by strange clanking noises,” she explained.

Shit. The run and the shower hadn’t worked one bit. Her presence hit him like an injection of carnal longing direct into his bloodstream. It fizzed into his nerve endings, making him feel alive in a way he couldn’t remember ever having felt before. Whatever Tanzi was, she wasn’t a mere distraction. She was something far more dangerous and disturbing, and it was going to take more than physical exertion and cold water to flush her out of his system.

* * *

“This is definitely the house where the girls are being held.” Aydan had been the one to survey the building identified by Pedro as the most likely place for the sidhes to keep their dryad prisoners. “But it is closely guarded.”

Of course it was. The sidhes would take no chances with their lucrative prisoners. “By what?” Lorcan asked with no expectation of liking the answer. Let it be something simple like a pack of rabid attack dogs.

“Zombies.” Aydan’s throat gave an audible click as he swallowed. He attempted a brave smile. “Just as well we have a necromancer with us, eh?”

“I hate to disillusion you. If I didn’t summon these zombies, I can’t command them.” That wasn’t strictly true. Zombies were undead, so Lorcan could exercise a measure of control over them. As long as their true master wasn’t around. If he or she was close by, then things could get very messy.

Aydan was moving forward now, beckoning for Lorcan to follow. With a resigned sigh, Lorcan accompanied him along the outer edge of the high, rugged wall that marked the border of the property. The others in the group were in the truck under the shade of a nearby copse of olive trees awaiting their instructions. Aydan led the way to a gap in the wall, through which they had a clear view of the house. The building was a rambling, seemingly uninhabited farmhouse. Built on two floors, it had a wide, paved porch running all the way around the outside. The walls were built from the rough terra-cotta stone that was common throughout the area, and the windows were tiny squares set in heavy dark wood frames. It was impossible to tell what was going on behind their blank stare. According to the resistance sources, and from what Aydan had gleaned on his reconnoiter, there were five dryads being held captive inside. Five innocent, frightened girls like Iphae. Lorcan felt his lips thin into a determined line. An encounter with zombies would be a small price to pay if they could get those girls home to their families.

Aydan pointed to the building. “The dryads are all together in one room at the back of the property. Yesterday I counted four sidhes coming and going at different times. Things are fairly low-key. They probably don’t imagine these girls are going to cause them many problems.”

“To be fair, if they have zombies as watch dogs they don’t need much additional manpower.” Lorcan looked around at the rolling countryside. There were no other buildings in view and they had driven their ancient open-backed truck over a dusty track for at least half an hour after they left the main road. “And this place is so isolated no one is going to stumble across it by chance.”

“Could it be a trap?”

“How will we know unless we walk into it?” Lorcan laughed at Aydan’s horrified expression. “Let’s get the others over here. Go over the plan of attack.”

Aydan left him and returned a few minutes later with Iago, Tanzi, Lisbet and two young Iberian sidhes, Sam and Iker, who were active resistance members. Lisbet’s face wore a sour expression. Tanzi gave Lorcan one of her dazzling smiles and the reason for Lisbet’s bad mood become clear. The two young faeries were clearly smitten with Tanzi, although the object of their interest appeared oblivious to their admiring gazes.

“Aydan and I will go in through the front door. Searc, you come with us. Iago and Lisbet will take the back entrance.” Lisbet opened her mouth as if she was about to protest, but Lorcan turned away to talk to Sam and Iker. He didn’t have time for a debate. “You guys stay outside and act as lookout. Warn us if anyone comes.”

Without any further discussion, he followed the wall, gesturing for the others to follow him. When they reached an arched gateway, Lorcan paused. The wooden gates hung loosely on their hinges and several of the scarred panels were missing or damaged. The gates swung inward with a protesting groan when Lorcan pushed against them. He was about to step through when Tanzi’s hand on his arm forestalled him.

“Let me go first.” She kept her voice low so that the others couldn’t hear.

“Like there’s a chance in hell of that happening.”

“Think about it,” she urged. “If there are any of my—” she broke off, biting her lip “—any of Moncoya’s sidhes in there, I am the last person they will be expecting to see. Whatever else they do, they certainly won’t attack me.”

Reluctantly, he was forced to acknowledge the truth of what she was saying. Sending Crown Princess Tanzi in through that gate was the best possible diversion they could throw at a group of Moncoya’s sidhes. So why was he hesitating? Why was he standing here trying to find reasons not to do as she asked instead of putting the safety of the whole group first? And why was he tempted to come up with an excuse to send Tanzi back to the truck to wait it out until the danger was over when she was probably the most experienced and deadly fighter of them all?