DESPERATE  MEASURES

PART NINETEEN:
 

She closed her eyes, water from the falls running down the back of her 
hair as "he"...who?...Sid?...tipped her chin and pressed his wet lips 

lingeringly on hers.  Her body wanted his again, could not seem to get 

enough of him and so she moved until her full length was against his, 

pleased by his instant response.

It had not been like this with Maximus, not this utter sense of freedom 
just to be. Always, with him, she had been entangled in large cobwebs 

of fear, fear that he would find out that she knew more than he thought, 

fear that in his finding she would lose him. She had been right to fear. 

She knew that now, knew the certainty of it. He was still aware of only 

a small part of the whole and just that bit had been enough for him to 

turn away from her. But with Sid...or whoever this was...there was none 

of that. This man loved her completely, made that freely evident to her, 

and there was no fear of hidden things being revealed.  He...oh, God, she 

had no name for him! How could she love a man whose identity she didn't 

know? But, then, he did not know it himself.  She thought, when her mind 

was briefly disengaged enough from what she and he were doing, that she 

might just call him "Love"...or perhaps, "Luv."  It was who he had become 

to her.

"Love me," she whispered into his ear, and he slid his hands around behind 

her thighs, lifting her legs in the water until they encircled him, then moved 

his fingertips up her spine, spreading his fingers out over her shoulder blades.  

He stepped sideways just enough so that the waterfall splashed over and around 

them as he made love to her.  She was entirely lost in the wonder of the stream 

pouring over her as he poured into her and when he let them float, still together, 

out into the calmer, deeper waters of the pool, she slid her arms around his neck 

and said, "I do love you."

The gods had cast down handful after handful of diamonds, letting them scatter 

as they willed across the slightly rippling surface of the dark waters of the pond.  

She had lain back when he'd glided her to the center of the pool, her blonde hair 

spreading out like rays of sunlight around her head, floating atop the cast-down 

diamond sparkle. Her arms slid smoothly, wetly up, encircling his neck and she 

said...softly yet very clearly..."I do love you."  

Something in him in that moment, something buried deep in his chest, seemed
to fill so full he felt an actual straining and pulling of his tissue and bone to make 

room for it. Then the joy of it flared up his neck, onward up his face, causing the 

corners of his lips to spread and curve in response. Everything...simply everything

...had been worth it for this single moment.

She saw his smile, the light dancing in his eyes as they filled with happiness, his 

whole face suffused with it, with the love he felt for her. No one had ever looked 

at her quite so glowingly, with such gladness in loving and being loved. Maximus 

had looked at her with great tenderness, but behind his expression had not lain 

the fire that was now lighting...his...face. 

Reaching up a hand, water running in rivulets down her arm, she traced the line
of his lips. She, she had made him smile like this. Her fingertips moved up, finding

...stubble. He was growing a beard. This brand new man was growing a beard.
It utterly delighted her, removing him even further from traces of Siddishness.

She leaned forward, causing him to tip over onto his back in the water, and with
her lying across his chest, they began to sink toward the bottom of the pool, lips
locked together as they went deeper and deeper, lying there for a moment, kissing
still, until their need for air brought them once again to the glitteringly-lit surface.

The lights on the water reflected on his face, moving, dancing over his features.
It was magical...this moment...this place. And he was looking at her in that way 
every woman throughout the long stretch of time has wanted to be looked at by 

a man. How could she not respond to it? Everything in her that had been wounded 

responded to it, finding in his face a balm to heal. Everything in her that was whole 

responded to it, her very womanhood rising and basking in the light of it, wanting 

to give the same back to him, wanting to make him feel the way he was making her. 

And he saw it on her face, in her smile, in her eyes. "Oh, God, Brianna," he almost
moaned, cupping her face with his palms. "Oh, my God." Never...ever, ever...had 

anyone loved him. Never. Tears began to track their way down his cheeks, their 

drops merging, mingling with the wetness from the pond. Gathering her in his arms, 

he sat atop a submerged rock, pressing her to his chest as his tears fell on her face.

She rested quietly in his embrace, moved beyond words. Finally he leaned forward,
burying his cheek in her hair and she slid an arm around his neck, whispering into
his ear. "I love you."

A tremor went entirely through him and he pressed her even closer. She was the 

most precious thing in the world...she had become for him not less than...everything.

Maximus walked, not really seeing or caring where he was going. The air, heavy 

with humidity, pressed down on him, making breathing an unpleasant labor. He felt 

as though he must take his hands and brush away not only the underbrush that 

hindered his movement, but the very air itself, become somehow...thick...and 

suffocating. Sweat dripped off his chin, stung his eyes, soaked his tunic. He paused 

in the shade of a palm, leaning his weight on his walking stick, his chest heaving. 

This was no good. The island had become more than a mere prison for him, it had 

become...intolerable. He could not remain where he would encounter over and over 

such sights as he'd seen by the waterfall. There had to be some way, some how, to 

get OFF this damnable place! 

He made his way to the high overlook where he'd gone that first day they'd arrived, 

puffing with the labor of the ascent through air that rippled with moisture and heat. 

A branch he pushed aside, swung back, smacking him across the face, forming a 

series of welts on his cheekbone. What he'd thought was sweat dripping down his 

right arm turned out to be a large beetle creeping on his flesh and he flicked it away, 

disgusted. At last he came out on the peak, came out into air that moved about him 

unlike the close-pressed air of the jungle. He gulped in great lungfuls, standing 

silently as the wind dried the sweat from his body and clothing. 

Tired, he sank to one knee, both hands encircling his staff, and stared toward the far, 

blue horizon. Where WAS he? He hated not knowing. Sid. Sid had sent him here. Sid 

would know. Sid would know about the large silver bird he'd seen when the wall of the 

palace had opened. He turned his head, looking back toward the area of the island 

where the pond lay. He needed to get Sid alone, to get information from him. His face 

formed into grim, determined lines. Yes. He needed to get Sid alone. Perhaps now that 

he and Brianna were mated, he would let Maximus know how to leave, how to get back 

to Rome...or Spain. Somewhere that he knew. Anywhere...but here. 

He settled down, cross-legged, laying the staff to one side, watching the distant surf 

pounding on the reef that seemed to entirely circle the island. He did not really 

understand about reefs, but it was evident even to him that it formed a barrier as 

surely as though it had been made of iron bars. If Sid would not show him how to get 

off the island, though, he would try to get beyond the reef himself. He could not...

would not...remain here. 

His stomach growled. He'd not eaten yet this day, but he ignored it and buried his face 

in one hand, letting his mind go back over all that had happened since the world had 

gone black as he ran down the tunnel under the gladiator compound. He understood 

nothing of it, not one thing, not really. There had been the palace that was not really a 

palace at all, merely some creation of Sid's. Who WAS Sid that he could do such things, 

had such powers of manipulation? It bothered him, too, how much Sid looked like him. 

There had been those others as well. Young Cort, the Arizonian, who had seemed 

friendly.  Him and that oddly-attired centurion who'd come into the gladiator quarters 

in Zucchabar. There was something just not right about all that. And that other man, 

the one who had been chained to Cort in the arena. How did he fit into all of it? 

And...Brianna. Brianna. She had jumped into the arena and been instantly felled by 

something, not a sword or an axe, something he had not seen had felled her. Then 

there she was again in Rome. Looking back over it, it all seemed far too...arranged. 

Especially finding her as he had, lying on the floor of her chamber in Sid'spalace. 

Sid had planted her there for him to find, for his pity and concern to be aroused. 

And it had worked. Fool that he was, he had fallen right into it. 

No one knew what it had taken for him to open his heart again, to risk again, to...care

...again. It had not come easily to him, but she had managed to unlock his fast-closed 

chambers and enter in. A little groaning sound escaped his lips as he remembered 

taking her into the bath house, making love to her there. She had been like some 

wounded animal as he entered the water with her in his arms, but had flowered under 

his touch. His touch. Yes, his fingertips recalled all too well the feel of her smooth, wet 

skin. 

"NO!" he said aloud, his head jerking up. This was ridiculous, this going over things 

that were done, were finished. She was Sid's, had been Sid's all along, obviously. She 

worked for him, was in his service, had only been pretending to care. How had he been 

such a blasted fool? The truth of her feelings had lain open before him this morning. If 

he'd still entertained any doubts, they had been eradicated by the sight of their nakedness 

and passion. He squeezed his eyes tightly closed, trying to make the memory of it 

disappear. But he also remembered her lying, dissolved with weeping, in his arms, the 

expression in her eyes as she'd looked up at him. How could anyone pretend to that 

degree? He simply did not understand. She had to have a heart of ice to be able to 

pretend such a thing.

Stretching out on his back, he lay there a long while, watching one small cloud change 

its shape as it moved across the expanse of blue above him. It was all alone, a single 

cloud in endless sky. Like him. He lifted one hand as though he could touch it, connect 

with it, then heaving a deep sigh, closed his eyes. 

ON TO PART 20

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