Shield's Lady

of his own intrusion into her body even as she experienced it slammed into his head.
    Gryph fought to control the crossover effects of the link this time. Sariana would not have the vaguest idea of how to channel and focus the devastatingly intimate contact. He had only a rough notion of how to do it himself, based on his training as a Shield.
    It was freely acknowledged among Shields that however experienced a man was with prisma or with women, he was a novice when it came to establishing the permanent link with his Shieldmate. Each man struggled through the experience alone and unaided.
    The task was made even more difficult, Gryph realized, because the woman involved had no training at all. No woman ever received Shield training.
    In his case the whole event was further complicated by the fact that, in spite of having been through the initial linking, Sariana insisted on denying that anything out of the ordinary had taken place. He knew he would soon be getting the full impact of her reactions. She wouldn’t know how to conceal them. Already he was being inundated with her rising passion.
    The problem was that, for a man, there was no greater aphrodisiac in the universe than a woman’s genuine passion. Gryph’s desire was feeding hungrily on the rich feast it was being offered. The blare within him was rapidly turning into a roaring fire.
    With a stifled groan, he picked Sariana up and settled her in the middle of the wide bunk. He couldn’t take his eyes off of her sleek, slender body while he jerked off his boots and stepped out of his trousers. She lay there devouring him with her eyes, one leg slightly drawn up to partially shadow the secrets between her thighs.
    Gryph sat down on the edge of the bed and leaned over her, bracing himself with a hand on either side of her. When she touched his thigh inquisitively he groaned again and bent down to taste the tip of her breast with his tongue.
    “You don’t even know what you’re doing to me,” he whispered. “Here I am going through prisma fire trying to control myself and you’re showering me with everything you’ve got.”
    She smiled up at him as her soft palm found his extended shaft. “Aren’t you going to shower me with everything you’ve got?”
    “On top of everything else, you’re going to turn out to be a tease. I should have guessed.” He felt her uncertain touch on his sensitive flesh and he shuddered again. She was going to drive him wild. He reached down to cover her hand with his own. “That’s it, sweetheart. Pet me and stroke me and drive me out of my mind. I don’t have much of a grasp left on it, anyway.”
    She looked up at him with genuine delight as she felt his physical reaction. He certainly wasn’t going to bother trying to hide that part from her, Gryph decided. He couldn’t have camouflaged his body’s blunt, bold responses even if he had wanted to. It was hard enough trying to restrain his emotional reactions.
    He pulsed under her touch and felt the thrill that went through her as she learned the extent of her own power over him. He didn’t know whether to laugh or groan. He knew from past experience that Sariana was a woman who enjoyed exercising her strengths and abilities. When she discovered just how much talent she had for manipulating him, Gryph told himself, he was going to be in big trouble.
    But a man could die happy in this kind of trouble.
    “It’s worth the risk,” he told her, knowing she wouldn’t understand the cryptic statement. “Besides, two can play at this game.”
    He flattened his palm on her stomach and swept his fingers through the triangle of hair below. She flinched when he unerringly found the nub that was the core of her sensations. Her fingers flexed on his leg and he felt the tips of her silvery nails digging into him.
    Gryph stiffened in reaction and closed his eyes against the excitement that swept through him. For a few seconds he lost his grip on the control he was exerting. The power of his own emotions was too strong. They slipped from his grasp and poured into Sariana. She quivered beneath him, drawing back instinctively as his raging desire hit her mentally as well as physically. She let out a soft protest.
    Gryph swore violently as he felt her trying to retreat. “No,” he grated, anchoring her with one leg while he pushed her back into the pillows. “No, it’s all right. I’ve got it now. Relax, Sariana, I’m in control. It’s all right. Relax, my sweet. It’s