第71节
llusion to merge seamlessly with
reality. Despite the fears she had expressed at the ronin camp, her
mind and body had yearned to be reunited with his - and now, at long
last, he was here.
Steve had towelled himself dry before entering the lake-house to avoid
leaving any tell-tale tracks, but his skin was still damp and cool to
the touch. Clearwater ran her fingers slowly along his arms and
shoulders, then cupped his face in her hands and drew his mouth down on
hers.
The chemistry was still as potent as ever. The touch of her lips and
the warmth of her embrace brought the memories of their one night
together flooding back. The desire to possess her, body and soul, and
the inexpressible feelings aroused by her nearness overwhelmed his
senses, sweeping aside all thoughts of his own safety.
Clearwater too seemed oblivious of the mortal danger he had placed her
in. Removing one hand from his neck, she lifted the edge of the silken
coverlet and silently invited him to join her beneath it.
Steve was sorely tempted, but managed to cling on to a vestige of
self-control. He hadn't swum across the lake just to fall into her
arms. Taking hold of her hand, he gently pulled the coverlet back into
place to form a safety barrier, separating his naked body from hers.
He knew as surely as the First Family were born to rule that once they
touched thighs, skin to skin, he'd forget everything, including his
name, rank and number. 'we have to talk."
'Later . . ."
'No, now!" Steve grabbed both her hands to stop them from spoiling his
concentration. 'Don't do that!" he hissed.
Clearwater lay back and contented herself with tracing the contours of
his face and occasionally stroking his hair.
The last hands to slide below his waist had belonged to Roz, back in
Santanna Deep, the previous year. They'd both crashed out through
smoking some bad grass, so he wasn't sure how far things had gone, but
he still felt bad about it. Roz had known about Clearwater before he'd
got around to telling her, and he had an uneasy feeling that part of
her mind was inside his own head right now. Forgive me, little
sister.
This is how it has to be... Steve gave Clearwater a quick rundown on
everything that had happened since their midnight meeting at the
post-house in front of the mysterious Man in Black, ending on the
sake-swilling session with Cadillac.
Except it was not quite everything. He made no mention of his chance
meetings with Side-Winder on the dockside at Ari-bani and Jodi Kazan in
the cropfield opposite the Heron Pool, and he also kept back his latest
head-down encounter with the Shogun's contact-man.
That would come later.
'Listen, what are we going to do about Cadillac? I ried to reason with
him, but he seems determined to stay here. He says he's got everything
he ever wanted.
Well... everything except you."
'Did he tell you that?"
'He didn't need to. Why else would he be hitting the knockout drops?
He's sinking the stuff like there's no tomorrow."
'Did he ask what had happened to me?"
Steve hesitated. 'He knows where you're being held and who by but, uhh
. . ."
'Did he say anything else?"
Steve chose his words carefully, 'Not very much. He, uhh . . . seems
to think you can take care of yourself.
But maybe that was just to get back at me." He shrugged.
'Let's face it. Like I said to him, if I hadn't come along ' 'But you
did. And it was meant to be. Cadillac knows that too. He read it in
the seeing-stones."
'Maybe he did. But he still needs something to help kill the pain."
'The pain was there from the moment you left us. And it is a pain that
I share, for I have no wish to make him suffer. But even if we had
been allowed to stay together I would have been of little comfort. Our
life-threads are no longer as closely entwined as they once were. One
day he will understand why all this has happened. And so will you."
'Yeah, well . . . I'm sure you're right. But I have to deal with
Cadillac as he is here and now. He may not be hostile, but as long as
he's within reach of a bottle he's going to be unpredictable."
'So what are you going to do?"