Ruby Rhapsody: Perverted Passions

"Why should I? Ted can't get verbal with me. I'm his only financial source, and he will never do anything to jeopardize the dig."

Katt that what Hunter said was true. Ted would never jeopardize the dig. It was not wounded pride, or even the embarrassment of facing up to what she had done that made her beg. She loved Ted, and she did not want him hurt by learning of her cheating. Not from Hunter. Not this way. If he had to know, she wanted to be the one to tell him. Terrible regrets assailed her.

"Please, Hunter… Don't bring Ted into this. Let it remain between you and me."

Lazily this time, sure of himself, he pushed himself away from the doorway and with two strides was standing before her. He jerked the sheet away from her body.

Sandor was through the doorway in a flash. Katt gasped, tried to cover herself with her hands and wave Sandor off at the same time.

Hunter, although he ignored the servant, took a couple of steps back from Katt. He eyed her dispassionately. "I've already seen all you've got." He tilted his head. "So has he. Ted would be interested to know that we have fucked you," he added nastily.

Shaking her head vigorously, her face pale, Katt felt a lump in her throat choke her. Her pleading eyes filled with tears.

Immune to her humiliation, Hunter's eyes held an expression of satisfaction,. His voice was stern, with no vestige of sympathy in its demand.

"Ted is onto a major find. You will turn over to me all artifacts you uncover-immediately."

"I can't do that!"

"You will!"

"The Indian government…"

"Does not need to know exactly what you find. Lie to them! Give them just enough to keep them convinced that they are getting it all. If you don't, I will have nothing to lose by telling Ted how his loving wife spends her lunch hour."

Katt began to shake uncontrollably. Hunter was blackmailing her!

"You deliberately set me up for this, so I couldn't refuse to help you steal from my husband!" she charged bitterly.

Sandor? Was he involved? She looked at the Indian. No. She could never believe that. Everything about him said that he wanted to grab Hunter and throw him out.

Hunter grinned. "That's right. Now get dressed. I'm going to drive you to the site and you are going to tag the three items that were found this morning. Then, you are going to place them in my hands for safe transport to-Delhi."

The way he stressed Delhi told Katt that they were not destined for the capital at all. What was he going to do with them? Smuggle them out of India? Sell them to museums and pocket the money?

Ted-all his work, all recognition for his two long years of struggle, of untold hours of searching-gone! He'd be wiped out by this man standing before her. Why had she not listened to her instincts before jumping into bed with Hunter?

"Is this why you popped out of nowhere to pick up the financing of the dig when the grant was up? So you could smuggle the artifacts out and make a fortune selling them? Hunter, please don't do this. Ted has worked so hard. He at least deserves credit for his discoveries. Some of these things are priceless. You can share the credit. Just don't deny him, not when he is so close…"

"Charming, the caring wife pleading for her husband," he taunted sarcastically. "Why should you give a damn?"

His tone was nasty, and perhaps she deserved it, but in her eyes, his remarks made the man into a mouse. Curiously, Katt eyed Hunter. This was what she had sensed about him deep inside herself. There was nothing about Hunter now that appealed to her in the least. She did not think he was handsome. She didn't admire him. She didn't respect him.

And she did not fear him. However, there was a cold, terrible anger building in her.

She began to pull on her clothes. "If you want everything dated, tagged and treated, it will take me well into the night. No reputable museum will deal with you unless you can tell them how old the artifact is."

"I have some important calls to make. I'll be out first thing in the morning, and I'll expect everything to be ready."

Katt gave him a curt nod and strode past Hunter, caught Sandor by the hand and walked to the jeep with him.

Thinking, Katt was silent on the drive to the dig. Sandor kept muttering to himself and patting her leg. When the jeep stopped before the tent, she gave Sandor a pat on the shoulder to let him know she was all right. Then she got out.

Katt sprinted across the sand and jumped down into the trench.

"Ted!" She ran toward her husband, and saw him glance up with a surprised look on his face.

Ted knew she was not the kind of woman to show alarm. His wife's face was flushed, and there was a wild look about her eyes.

Heart hammering in her chest like war drums, she said, "Come with me!"

Without one word of argument, Ted rose and followed her. She led him back to the tent.

"Tell Sandor to stand guard and let no one in," she said.

Ted, never having seen his wife so distressed, so worked up, did as she asked, wondering what the hell was up.

There, in the heat of the desert, beneath the shade of the tent, Katt quietly told her husband about her sexual escapades, leaving nothing out. Her voice breaking now and then, was the only sign of her emotional despair.

Ted took her in his arms and held her. Was he dreaming? God, how he wanted to make love to her now-right now!

Katt clenched her jaw to kill the sob in her throat. Through her tangled black misery, she realized that her husband's cock was rock hard and pressing against her belly. Then, Ted was speaking.

"Darling, there has been such a dreadful misunderstanding between us. I believed you wouldn't understand my driving need for sex. And all the time, you were wanting it as badly as I. How unhappy, how miserable you must have been all this time! I'll make it up to you, I promise." He rocked her in his arms.

Katt began to cry softly.

Suddenly, it struck the professor that something else was dreadfully wrong. He held her slightly away from him, gazing down at her. "What drove you to confess this now, darling?"

Katt swallowed hard and wiped away the tears with the back of her hand.

Her surprise and admiration for Ted veered sharply to burning anger for Hunter.

She spat out the word, "Hunter is blackmailing me! He is not going to get away with it!"

She regretted her words, because Ted lost his erection. But she was determined to leave nothing out.

"That bastard!" Ted flew into a rage. He paced back and forth in the tent with a vicious look of anger contorting his face.

Seeing this side of him scared her. It was a few seconds before she ventured to speak. "It was Hunter's own suggestion. He said that if we make a major find, I should lie to the authorities, tell them it was some minor thing. I plan to do the same thing to Hunter. If he comes around, don't tell him the truth about what you might have discovered.

In that way, we'll be able to hold him off until we decide what to do."

"He won't know that I know about any of this, so he won't suspect me of holding out," Ted said thoughtfully. "However, he could question the workers."

"They are loyal to you. Speak to them! Tell them what we suspect, if you have to, to gain their cooperation."

Still angry, Ted nodded, his fists balled at his sides.

"This is all my fault. I'm sorry Ted-so sorry," Katt said with deep regret in her tone.

"It's my fault too," Ted declared. "I should have understood your needs better." Ted came to her then and took her in his arms again. "I'm not angry with you for doing it with Sandor-or even Hunter. While you were in the states, I fucked Bhadra."

"You did?" Katt's eyes were wide with astonishment.

He nodded. "This is erotic India, Katt. Surely you know of the Kama Sutra, even if you haven't read it."