VINO VERDE

By Eliza
elizawpg@shaw.ca

CATEGORY/RATING: Helm/Marta ADULT
SUMMARY: Marta's imagination heads in an interesting direction during lunch with Robert. 10th in the Liquor Series.
NOTE: This is a missing scene from the second instalment in the Empress series, "The Ambuscade". It was written because when the QOSFanfic list challenge put forward the three items: rope, knife, and bedpost; no one put them to their most obvious use. That just wasn't right.
Thanks to Rach, for making sure all the I's were dotted and the t's were crossed.
LEGAL STUFF: The Doc and Marta don't belong to me. Fireworks Entertainment has the paperwork. No copyright infringement intended. No money made.

~~~~~

"You're spoiling me," Robert commented to Marta, as he sat back in his chair. The remains of an impressive meal were spread on his desk and Marta was sitting in a chair beside him.

"Since Tessa and Katerina are dining with their friends, I don't see why I shouldn't do the same. What did you think of the wine?" Marta asked, as she poured the rest of the contents of the round bottle into their glasses.

"It was interesting."

Marta paused and frowned at him. "That bad? But you drank two glasses."

"No, I said it was interesting. I don't usually like white wine but this was... interesting," Robert insisted.

"Stop saying that, I get the point. Interesting is usually a polite way of saying horrible. By the way, it wasn't white it was green. Vino verde -- from Portugal."

"I don't want to know how you managed to acquire that."

"Good. I wasn't going to tell you." She grinned at him, took their plates, but left the glasses. As she moved to the small side table where she had placed her basket, she saw Robert take another sip from his glass. The slightly puzzled look on his face confirmed the truth of his statement - interesting. I should know by now to take him at his word.

As Marta rummaged through the basket, Robert picked up the thread of their earlier comments. "It's a shame that you have to actually make the meal for your lunch date, though."

"It's a fair trade, I have much better company." Marta smiled at him over her shoulder.

"And very appreciative company it is. Are you bringing dessert? It's become my favourite course." Marta could hear the smile returned in Robert's voice.

She returned to him with full hands. "I only brought apples today."

"Fine. Good." He pulled her onto his lap and removed the apples and a small knife from her hands. Then he slipped his fingers under her hair and guided her face down to his.

Dessert. Marta had become fond of it herself.

They usually met in the evening, when it was unlikely that anyone would disturb them. Or she would find an excuse to see him, briefly, during one of Tessa's visits to town. Since Katerina's arrival, those trips had become frequent, and since Tessa had company, Marta had started spending most of the visit with Robert. Bringing him lunch had been the initial excuse and it had become a ritual -- as had dessert.

Both knew that they could not go beyond kisses given the circumstances, which just seemed to make it all the more exciting. That and the fact that it was expected that the doctor's office was open for business.

"Someone could walk in on us," Marta reminded, as the embrace had started to become a little more heated than was prudent. Tessa had caught them in a kiss a couple of times in the past, and Marta didn't want Katerina to have any more ammunition for her sly wit than was already at her disposal.

"Everybody knocks," said Robert. "Everybody except Tessa... and the Queen." He frowned and Marta started to see the hint of a connection being made. She hated to keep secrets from Robert but this was not her secret to tell. She distracted him.

Placing her hands on either side of his face, to make sure she had his attention, Marta gently brushed Robert's lips with her own. The next pass was still soft but lingering. Robert was letting her set the pace and did nothing to deepen the kiss. With the next soft kiss, she brushed her tongue along his lower lip. His tongue briefly touched hers but he pulled back quickly, as if he had only momentarily forgotten that she was to guide this exploration.

That fleeting touch was enough to convince her to forget her plan to torment him. She slid her hands into his hair and pulled him close into a deep kiss. Dios mio, she loved this! She could kiss him for days. It wasn't just the caress of his lips and tongue that captivated her, although it was a most effective lure. It was the taste of him, the smell of him. It was the softness of the hair under her fingers, the pressure of his hands on her waist and back, the increasing hardness against her hip. Marta only ended the kiss when she started to get a little light headed.

She moved back, took a deep breath, and said, in her most reproving tone, "It's not wise to be thinking another woman - two other women - while a third is sitting on you lap." She punctuated the statement by tapping her finger along his nose, from the bridge to the tip.

"You're quite right. That was very bad. Is there some way I can atone?" Robert had put on an adorable, innocent expression - wide eyes, small smile.

"I think punishment is more what I had in mind." Marta picked up the fruit knife the had been left on the desk. She ran the tip, very gently, along his jaw, down his neck, and over the notch in his collar bone. The small smile never left his face and his eyes never left hers. He stayed completely calm - until she placed the knife under the first button of his shirt.

"You're not?!"

"Afraid that your handsome chest may end up on display to one of the local ladies." Marta smirked.

"No, I just don't want you to have to go to all the trouble of sewing them back on."

"How many years in the army and you don't know how to sew on a button?"

"I'm not the one cutting them all off." Robert's warning was clear.

"Dios mio!" Marta struggled to rise.

Suddenly, she was trapped in firmly restraining arms and pulled against that chest. Robert nuzzled his face in her hair while softly saying, "Don't go. I'm an idiot. Please. Please. Please, continue." His voice had kept dropping in tone and volume until the last word was just a soft growl in her ear. His nuzzling moved to her neck, so Marta just dropped her head back with a sigh, closed her eyes, and enjoyed the apology. He was forgiven.

The knife had not caused much of a reaction, he obviously trusted her not to hurt him, but Marta wondered what it would take to get Robert's pulse racing faster than usual. She slowly opened her eyes and providence let them fall on a very interesting sight. "Rope," she said with a smile.

"Rope?" With that one word, Robert took a deep breath and froze.

Now, that was interesting. Marta pulled back so that she could look at him. There was trepidation on his face, but no fear, and possibly... "Yes, rope," she repeated.

"But I don't have any bedposts."

Bedposts! Marta had been thinking of only a little restraint -- hands tied, unable to touch and hold when he wanted to. But now she couldn't shake the image of that beautiful body spread out on a big bed.

Nude. Creamy skin glowing in the candle light... no, sunlight. Afternoon sunlight, with the heat of the day bringing a light sheen of sweat to his skin. The slight dampness causing his hair to curl at the ends. Moisture collecting in beads that would travel along the valleys between curves of lean muscle. She would follow those salty trails with her mouth and fingers. Kissing, licking, caressing over the geography of his body until a different, stickier liquid made a new trail down the one part of him not held immobile.

Immobile? That's not true, she would make him writhe. His legs pulling at the binding at his ankles as he tries to flex his hips. Long fingers wrapping around the ropes tying his wrists. His chest rising into the gentle suction as her lips briefly surround his nipple. As she nibbles along the bottom of his rib cage, his abdomen would tense then his back would arch. He would throw his head back when she uses her tongue to carefully spread his own slick fluid around the head of his cock, not that its aid would be needed by that point.

Hers. Every delicious piece of him would be under her control, at her command.

All of this came to Marta in an instant. As she stared at him, trying to keep her breathing steady, she saw the hint of a grin pulling at his mouth. So you think you've thrown me, do you? Smart-ass. She put on her most seductive manner. "We don't need bedposts. You should know by now that I am more creative than that." She was leaning in to kiss the smiling lips again when she heard a knock on the door.

Surprisingly, Robert was still smiling as he commented. "Your senorita has an impeccable sense of timing."

Marta slid off of his lap and moved to open the door. "Put on your doctor... umm... face, Robert. There was a knock, so we know it can't be Tessa." Marta opened the door and actually jumped back in shock.

"Why can't it be me?" Tessa asked as she crossed the threshold.

Robert just collapsed into laughter.

END