Page 99 of Enslaved
“Answer me!”
“Yes,” she whispered.
“Who am I?”
“M … Mark.”
“Then you know you are safe. I won’t let anything or anyone hurt you!”
She reached out her hands to feel the slabs of muscle in his chest, then she spread her hands apart as if measuring the width of his broad shoulders, then she brought her palms down and gripped his powerful biceps as if she were testing his strength.
She looked into his black eyes. “You’re just the same, just as big, just as hard. You’re such a powerful force against evil. I need you to hold me.”
Forever,he thought. “For as long as it takes,” he promised.
She held on to him just as firmly as he held her. She drew on his strength, giving herself over to him completely. As the warmth of the fire and the heat of his body seeped into her, she began to feel safer. Slowly, her panic began to recede. Gradually, her trembling ceased and she lay quietly and trustfully in his arms.
As he held her in his lap, he marveled that the seductive woman of a few hours ago was now a very young girl. He had never nurtured and protected a female before. It was a heady sensation to feel so all-powerful. Strange as it seemed, when she drew upon his strength, it doubled, making him feel omnipotent.
She had given him her confidence and her trust. He knew there would never be a better time to get the rest of her story from her. “Talk to me—tell me what happened.”
“In the nightmare?”
“No, Diana. What happened in Aquae Sulis?”
She nestled against him. “Marcus and I fell in love. How can I describe how deeply, how completely? So many things stood between us—our beliefs, our attitudes, our religion, even time itself, but our love overcame everything. We became bonded. We were soulmates.”
Her murmured words touched his heart with loneliness. He had never known what she described. His arms tightened and she rubbed her cheek against his rock-hard chest.
“He didn’t want to go to Rome without me, but Marcus considered it his duty. He wanted us to be married, but needed permission from Rome because he was a career soldier who had signed on for twenty-six years.” She moved her cheek so that she could feel his heartbeat.
“I was terrified to go to Rome. I had read about Nero’s atrocities, so I made up my mind to use my seductive powers to keep Marcus from going. I reckoned without love. He had to go, so I set my fears aside and went with him.
“His father welcomed me as his daughter. Titus Magnus and I grew to love each other in the short time we had together. Marcus left me at his father’s villa while he and the procurator used their influence with the senators to get Paullinus replaced as governor of Britannia…” Diana’s voice trailed off.
“No matter how dreadful, you must face it. Trust me to keep you safe.” His lips touched her temple.
She drew back and looked up into his eyes. “I trusted Marcus completely. I believed he was all the protection I would ever need. He was the strongest, most physically powerful man that any age of history could ever produce, but it wasn’t enough.”
“Let go of it, Diana!” It was a command.
“Titus was poisoned and I was blamed.” She began to sob, and everything came out in a rush. “I was taken to the slave pens—it was a living nightmare. Marcus kept hope alive within me. I was certain he would come. I was taken to Circus Maximus to be executed while Nero watched from his imperial box. Marcus was with him. He must have learned of his father’s murder at the same time he saw me staked in the arena.”
She drew a shuddering breath that convulsed her whole body and held on to Mark Hardwick as if he were her salvation. “The lions, the flames, and Marcus all reached me at the same time. Marcus loved me enough to plunge his sword into my heart to end my agony!”
Mark closed his eyes, feeling her pain, reliving Marcus’ tortured anguish. It was as if he experienced his own death. “I saved you,” he murmured joyfully.
Diana stopped sobbing and looked at him.
“Marcus saved you. When he plunged in his sword, you came back to your own time.” “Yes.”
She touched his face, so heartbreakingly familiar, so beloved. “Thank you.” The shared moment was private, intimate, for them alone. She moved back against his heart and he enfolded her in his arms. She felt boneless, melting against his strength, which she knew would endure forever.
He didn’t move until he knew she was asleep. Then he carried her to his bed and laid her gently on top of the covers. He stared down at her, his brows drawn together in perplexity. She had told her story so convincingly, he had experienced it along with her. There were so many questions and so few answers, but of one thing he felt certain— their lives were entwined.
He stretched out beside her on top of the bed, watching over her like a dark avenging angel.
She sensed his presence and turned from her back so that she lay half on him in her favorite position, one of her legs between his, one of his between hers.
