Across the River of Yesterday by Iris Johansen Read Free Book Online Page A

quietly. “Don’t fight so hard. There’s no use your tearing yourself apart like this. I knew you would shy away from me. I thought about it a long time before I decided this was the best way for us. If I’d found you right away, we wouldn’t be having this problem. You wouldn’t have had time to convince yourself that we didn’t mean anything to each other.”
    “We don’t mean anything to each other. We don’t even
know
each other.”
    “That’s why you’re here, to finish what we started ten years ago. Do you remember what I said about the way we belong together? Well, that will be the core and we’ll see if we can start a chain reaction.Friendship, sex, learning all about each other—we’ve got it all ahead of us.”
    She drew a deep breath. “Listen, I’m going into town, and you’re going to call that colonel and tell him to release Dane. Then Dane and I are going to leave Mariba.”
    He slowly shook his head. “Not until you give me my chance. I’ll make a bargain with you. Give me a week. Not so much to ask, is it? Spend a week with me and I’ll promise to let you and Dane leave Castellano.”
    She eyed him warily. “And that will be the end of it?”
    He grinned. “No, then I’ll follow you back to your foxhole and dig in beside you, but at least you’ll be in your own backyard.”
    She threw up her hands. “What kind of bargain is that?”
    “The only one I’m about to offer you.” His smile faded. “Take it or leave it. Otherwise, Dane will continue to whoop it up at the Hotel Cartagena until he has a long gray beard, and you’ll stay here as my guest until you change your mind.” His expression was suddenly hard as flint. “I don’t bluff, Serena. I don’t like using muscle, but I know how to.” He turned away. “Make yourself comfortable. Dinner is at eight. I’ll see you then.”
    “I want dinner in my room,” she said jerkily. “Prisoners aren’t required to observe the social amenities.”
    He turned at the door. “Then
we’ll
have dinner in your room,” he said quietly. “The two of us. I thought you’d prefer to use Ross as a buffer, but I’d like nothing better than to be with you one-on-one.”He suddenly chuckled and tapped his chest. “In fact, I can’t imagine anyone this one would rather be on. Do you have any idea how much I wanted you that night?”
    Her eyes widened. “No. You acted—”
    “Like a damn eunuch?” His mouth tilted in a lopsided grin. “I didn’t think you were capable of coping with my libido as well as whatever was tearing you apart. Besides, you were just a kid.” His voice lowered. “But you’re not a child now, so you’d better start thinking about coping.”
    “And you’re threatening to rape me?”
    “Not on your life. You’re going to want it as much as I do. Sex is going to be a hell of a lot of fun, once we get over our first anger and resentment.”
    “We?
I’m
the one who should be resentful. You have no right to be angry.”
    “Maybe I don’t have the right, but I do.” His lips tightened and something wild and primitive flared in his eyes. “I resent your marriage, I resent your belonging to another man, and I resent the fact that you did your damnedest to forget me. I’ve tried to reason it away, but it’s still there. I’ve waited for a long time, and for most of that time I was as angry and frustrated with you as you are with me right now. I’ve been close to exploding so many times, it’s become practically second nature with me. I
deserve
my chance, dammit.” He opened the door with barely controlled violence. “And I’ll do anything on earth to get it. I can’t—” He broke off and drew a deep breath. “Cripes, I didn’t mean to say any of that. I was just going to play it nice and easy. It’s been too long.”
    “That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you.” Serena’s voice was shaking slightly. Gideon’s intensity had been electrifying, blazing out at her, enveloping her.