thrust strongly into her. The length of his shaft was buried in her velvet wetness. âI will give you all of me.â
âYes, oh, yes. Please ...â
Slowly, Ki withdrew nearly to the tip, then pushed it in again. He repeated this movement several times before he increased the speed of his movements. The girl lifted her legs high into the air to give all of herself to him in return. He filled her to her depths, and she took it willingly.
Sweat beaded on his forehead as he struggled to control his rhythm. He wanted to bring her along again before he came; he wanted her to share her second climax with him. She tried to meet his thrusts, begging him with her hips to do it harder.
Their bodies burned together, Ki pumping strongly, the girl answering his strokes with deep-felt sighs. As she had told him, never before had she experienced a lover like this man. He brought her alive, every bit of her, and she let him work his will on her. She gave herself up with abandon.
âYes, I want you, please ... Ki, make me feel it.â
Her words drifted through a fog of heat to his brain. Clutching at him, in the core of his being, was a powerful fist of lust. It possessed him as he made love to her, but his iron discipline did not leave him even now. With every stroke, he knew she too felt the desire building, nearing eruption.
Then, gripping them both at the same time, the wrenching orgasm took hold. She felt him explode as a flashing wave crashed over her. They bucked against each other, flesh meeting searing flesh.
After a minute it was over. Again they lay in each otherâs arms on the bed, naked, exhausted, holding each other close. Ki, still inside her, still hard, did not want to pull out. Not just yet. Nor did she allow him to. Barbara grasped his firm buttocks and held him there.
âDonât leave me,â she whispered.
âNo,â he assured her, fingering her fine hair and kissing her on her forehead.
Finally, as they rocked slowly together, he grew softer. She reached down and fingered the base of his shaft. It stiffened and she smiled.
âYou are a man, Ki. Oh, you feel so good. I want to keep you here with me always.â She nuzzled against his neck.
âI can never stay in one place for long. I am a wanderer, I serve my master. That is my life.â
âYour master? You mean that pretty lady you were with today?â
Ki chuckled at the golden-haired girlâs innocence. âI serve her, yes. But my master is deadâher father. Together we serve his memory. To us, he lives.â
âWho was he?â
Ki explained to her who Alex Starbuck was, and how he had met his death. She listened with interest and sympathy. She knew Starbuck must have been a great man to win Kiâs loyalty, even in death.
âBut are you going to spend your whole life seeking revenge?â she wondered. Already she felt the pangs of loneliness his absence would bring.
âAs much of my life as I have to. It is the only way I have left to serve him.â
âI was so frightened today, Kiâwhen those men tried to kill you. Others will try if you go on like this. I donât want them to kill you.â
âWe all must die someday. I do not invite it, but I am prepared for death. And the cause I fight for is worth more than my life.â
âI donât understand you,â she confessed.
As the soft rays of the dying sun struggled into his room, Ki thought that sometimes he did not understand himself, either. Yet only one way seemed to him to be the proper wayâand that was the trail he was following, riding with Jessica Starbuck to avenge the death of her father. Now, with the rumor that there was another Starbuck, the boy in Skyler, that mission had taken on a different meaning. His karma was tied to Jessieâs, and whatever the next days and weeks held for her, he must be at her side. He looked at the girl who lay with him now. As beautiful and tender and