Page 70 of Hot Zone

He pressed his forehead to hers, wordlessly. Something warm, gentle almost, passed between them. It flowed peacefully over her like a warm bath, cocooning her in what felt a whole lot like love.

She didn’t know exactly what he’d just done. She got the distinct impression it was something native to his culture, and that it was potentially significant.

“If it makes you feel better, I haven’t thought about another female since I laid eyes on you, and I most certainly haven’t desired one.”

“What about Artemesia? That last feast—”

He cut her off quickly. “Did I look like I was enjoying myself? At all?”

“Well, no.”

“And did you not notice that I was not…otherwise engaged that night when you summoned me to help you?”

“Summoned? Is that what I did?”

“Indeed. And thank the heavens you did. I do not want to think what would have happened had I not come.” He crushed her against him until she had to squirm to get a little room to breathe.

“Honestly, I didn’t notice how quickly you came. I had my hands full dealing with those boys.”

He grunted in displeasure. “Randy swine.”

“Oh, come on. It’s not like you weren’t enjoying the bountiful and readily available sexual pleasures of Xerxes’s court.”

He shrugged. “I never forced any female into my bed. It was better than nothing, but mostly I found it boring and vaguely depraved. At least at home, I know my sexual endeavors result in strong children who will be a credit to my lineage.”

“How many children do you have?” she asked, curious.

He shrugged again. “I do not know. When I left, I had four hundred thirty-eight.”

Four hundred?He really was a breeding machine!

He continued, blithely unaware of her shock. “Shortly before I left on this mission, I mounted a dozen of my females to impregnate them. By now I should be up to four hundred fifty or so.”

She winced at his choice of words and the bald imagery it created. Rather than leaping to judgment about his culture, as she had before, she instead said lightly, “Four hundred? Good grief. You must live in a state of constant exhaustion if you have to have that much sex with that many females.”

He frowned. “It only takes once. Whenever I choose to impregnate a female, I merely prepare her womb properly and fill it with my seed, and it happens.”

Tessa’s jaw dropped. “You have control over that?”

He frowned. “Of course. There is sex for pleasure and then sex for impregnation. The first night you and I made love, and I claimed you as my consort, that was for impregnation. But last night and this mor—”

She lurched upright, tearing free of his grasp to stare down at him, appalled. “Whoa, whoa, whoa. Back up there, big guy. Are you saying you tried to get me pregnant?”

“I did more than try. I succeeded.”

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