The Mammoth Book of Paranormal Romance

dreams.”
    Natalia tried to make herself wake up, but nothing happened. If she were asleep, she remained stubbornly so.
    The Dream Catcher moved his hand across her abdomen, gliding on the silk of her dress. “Don’t send me away, Natalia, not yet.”
    She liked the heat of his hand. “Let me understand. A Dream Catcher is supposed to read my fantasies and let me live them. Make them seem real.”
    “Yes.” His silver eyes warmed.
    “Then why are you here? I am supposed to see my fantasy, not you in person.”
    “You know why.”
    Natalia swallowed, embarrassed by her own thoughts. “Because my fantasies are about you?”
    He lowered himself to the bed, never taking his hand from her waist. “When you looked at me, I saw, deep inside you, what you wanted. I was so pleased, Natalia, that you wanted me.”
    “How mortifying.”
    “It is wonderful. Because when I saw you, I wanted you too.” He stroked his hand through her red hair, loosening it.
    “Is this a dream?” she breathed.
    “In a sense.”
    She felt a bite of disappointment. “So whatever happens, it won’t be real?”
    “It will be real to you. You can do anything you want, and have anything you need, without fear. You can live out your wildest fantasies without coming to any harm, or anyone ever knowing.”
    “Except you.”
    “Except me.” He grinned, a mischievous spark entering his eyes. “And I won’t tell.”
    Natalia drew a breath. She knew what she wanted, but she suddenly realized that if she let herself have it, she’d never be able to go back to her tedious existence, the narrow confines of a woman of the Bor Nargan upper classes. She’d be too aware of what she was missing.
    “I’d rather wake up,” she said.
    He stroked her hair, the warmth of his body covering the length of her own. “Please, stay with me.”
    His voice wavered slightly, as though he feared something and tried to hide it.
    “Why?”
    “Because I am in pain. They beat me until I fell into unconsciousness.”
    Natalia sat up again. “What?”
    “Here, in your dream, I feel no pain. Let me stay.”
    Anger and worry swirled together. “How dare she? I knew Delia was ill-natured, but this—”
    He laid his cheek on her hair, his strong fingers finding the lacings of her gown. “I am proud that you have no fear of her.”
    “I will certainly say a few things to Delia when I wake up.”
    He nuzzled her. “That’s my girl. So brave.”
    Natalia closed her eyes at the feeling of his warm breath, of his fingers slowly unlacing the front of her gown. “No one has ever called me that before.”
    “Brave and beautiful.” He kissed her hair. “You are all that.” He spread his hand, parting the placket and finding her bare skin.
    “What are my fantasies?” she murmured.
    “You know,” he said, his breath hot. “You tell me.”
    “Do you have a name?”
    “You may call me Ochen, if you wish.”
    “Ochen.” She closed her eyes, loving his fingers on her hair. “I like that. It sounds exotic.”
    “Where I come from it sounds ordinary. Not like you, Natalia Sorvenska. Tell me your fantasies.”
    “But you already know them.”
    “I want to hear you speak them. Out loud. No one can hear but me.”
    Natalia remained silent, not sure she could voice what she wanted, even to him. But if I can’t talk to a fantasy man inside my own dreams, who can I talk to?
    “I want to be loved.”
    She clamped her lips shut, amazed she’d said that out loud. Bor Nargan women were above such emotions as love, need, passion. They filled their mind with higher things. And the moons spin backwards, and the sand seas are full of water.
    “That is not a bad thing to want. You are a loving woman.”
    “That’s not the kind of fantasy you meant.”
    “Yes it is.” He kissed her forehead. “I need to know everything you need, and everything you want. Do you love, Natalia?”
    She thought of her mother, her grandmother, women who had accepted her love. A warmth began to fill her body, chasing away her irritation at Delia and the negative energy that filled Delia’s house.
    “Think on that,” Ochen said. “Think of love.”
    Natalia smiled, warmth filling her, relaxing her limbs.
    Ochen ran his fingers up the inside of her arm. “Now. What do you want?”
    “Pleasure.”
    “Of course.”
    She blushed hard. Ochen was grinning. The man was as handsome as sin, but when he smiled she didn’t want to look at anything but him. Ivan was a pale shadow