by Autumn Dawn
Before she could pull away, he added, “And Leo? I'll let you know when we're ready to come in.” He handed her the bowl.
Leo's eyes narrowed, but she left.
Andrea couldn't help her silent chuckles. It seemed this was one man who knew exactly how to handle Leo.
Scy gave her a conspiratorial grin. “How can I help it? The woman tempts me.” Some of his amusement faded as he once again hunkered down by her. “Now, you were going to tell me about this pregnancy."
She shook her head. “No, I wasn't.” At his frown she added, “No one hurt me. This wasn't forced on me, if that's what you're worried about. As a doctor—healer,” she hastily corrected when he frowned, “I can see why you're concerned, but—"
"As a man I'm concerned,” he told her softly. “Women do not deserve to become our prey."
Touched and a little flustered, she nodded. “Thank you. You're very sweet, but I wasn't forced. Nor do I want to talk about it. Right now what I want is a way to get through this thing without losing my baby.” Her throat clogged. “I want it very much. Can you help me?"
He winked at her. “No one better."
Scy's kitchen was every bit as orderly as the outer room, and as interesting. The counters were all topped with polished granite embedded with fossils. The large bay window in front of the table was framed by a flowering, vining plant and equipped with wrought iron shutters. The bowls and platters were made of pieced wood that alternated light and dark in a diamond pattern. Utensils consisted of a silver spork—a cross between a spoon and a fork—and knives.
Andrea sat on one of the leather-covered stools around the table—a breathtaking affair made of fitted octagons of polished purple, ivory and honey-colored wood. “This is so beautiful!” she exclaimed, awed. “Who makes it?"
Scy smiled. “Thank you. I do."
"You're very talented."
"So say all the girls,” Leo put in just as he opened his mouth.
He raised a brow. “All the girls?"
Leo colored and shrugged, quickly pretending disinterest in the conversation.
"I've yet to receive a compliment from you, Leo,” he purred.
"Yeah, well, I don't need your services.” She stabbed her meat with her spork and sawed with determination.
Scy cast Andrea a conspiratorial smile. “I could argue that no woman ever needed them more—"
Fire flashing in her eyes, Leo rounded on him with her knife still clenched tightly in her hand.
"But I won't. After all, it's well known that I'm looking for a wife ready to commit and raise children, not a rogue huntress with a lust for adventure.” His eyelids lowered. “I'm selfish. I want my woman to save her passions for me."
Andrea looked away from the chagrin on Leo's face. It was painful to sense her struggle, since she'd felt something similar with Mathin. Desire, yet painful caution. She didn't know what held Leo back, but she felt the need to ease the pressure for her. “So what will I have to do to stay well?” She speared a piece of tender white vegetable out of the creamy sauce on her plate and sampled it. Starchy and slightly sweet. Nice.
Scy considered her as he chewed and swallowed. “Well, I have these leeches...."
Leo moved as if she were furtively kicking him.
Making a show of peering under the table, he continued, “I'll have herbs and a special diet for you to follow. I'll use my symbiont to help support your own and encourage its regrowth. You should have enough energy to engage in mild exercise, also a must.” He cocked his head thoughtfully. “It would be best if you avoided anything that might cause undo stress, of course. Do you have a place to stay?"
"She's accepted my hospitality,” Leo informed him before Andrea could say anything. In truth, things had happened so fast she hadn't thought that far.
"How will that work?” He studied Leo as if puzzled. “You're rarely home. I doubt your house has finished airing after your last disappearance. She would be better off here if she has nowhere else."
"I think I can manage to remain home for a few months.” Leo gritted her teeth. “I'm not as irresponsible as you seem to think I am, healer."
"I could just rent a room,” Andrea broke into the brewing argument. Mathin had given her a pouch full of prismatic silver coins. The thought of being dependent on strangers chaffed. “You do have a hotel or an inn or something here, right?"
"You're not staying at an inn.” Scy's tone brooked no refusal.
"No, she's staying with me.” Leo touched him on the shoulder when he started to protest, causing him to instantly still. “She's a woman and will be more comfortable with me. Besides, you have people coming and going at all hours seeking your help. At least at my house she'll have some peace."
He was still for a long moment, seemingly intent on the pattern of the table, but his eyes weren't quite focused. “Andrea? Your choice. You will still have to see me daily."
Leo dropped her hand. Andrea could almost see the link between the pair snap. She considered. It would be interesting to see what became of these two. But first.... “What do you charge?"
Scy frowned. “Charge?"
"What is your going rate for services? I can pay you."
"Oh.” His brow cleared. “Truthfully, I won't be doing much until the birth. Can you cook?” He gave her a boyish grin. “I admit to having an incessant sweet tooth."
Andrea grinned. “Just give me your favorite recipes. I think I can fulfill your every dessert fantasy. Leo can introduce me to any ingredients I might not be familiar with."
"Leo!” Scy stared at her, incredulous. “You might want to find someone who can actually cook.” A low growl came from Leo's direction. “Sorry, gorgeous, but the world knows you can't do much more than char meat."
"I like it charred."
Andrea smiled. “If she wants to learn, I'll teach her what I know. I was trained as a chef. It's what I do."
Scy hesitated over the unfamiliar word ‘chef'. “As you wish. If you are finished here I'll be happy to examine you now and get your herbs."
The examination entailed nothing more than a brief merging of symbionts and some questioning. Scy disappeared into a back room and returned with a wooden canister of herbs. “Take these in tea morning and evening.” He handed her a folded list. “These are their names and properties, as well as your special diet."
Andrea kept her expression neutral as she unfolded the list. The script was completely alien. She'd have to ask Leo what was on it and make a new list. “Thank you."
"Ready to go?” Almost reluctantly, Leo unfolded herself and placed her hand in Scy's. “I thank you."
He did not let go right away. “Meals taste better with company. I enjoyed yours."
Eyes lowered, Leo tugged her hand away. “Um. We have to go.” She tripped on her own feet as she inched away. “Er, thanks for cooking."
Once outside, Andrea permitted herself a wide smile.
With a grumpy scowl, Leo swung her leg over her bike. “He's like that with all the women."
"Desperate for dinner companions, huh? One of those geeks who can't get a date?” She mounted up.
Leo tossed her an irritable look over her shoulder.
They rode the bike past a few more houses—maybe six—until they reached the outskirts of town. There, a little apart from its neighbors, stood a tree house. Leo parked amongst the tall weeds at its base and dismounted. “There's no paradise like a well-tended home,” she muttered as she removed both her gear and the small pack Andrea had brought.
Andrea followed her up the wide, flattened mushrooms that spiraled up the wide trunk. “This is amazing! I've never been in a tree house before."
Leo stopped so abruptly that Andrea plowed into her and would have tumbled down the steps had Leo not grabbed her. “Careful who you say such things to. You'll brand yourself a curiosity if you don't.” She started back up.
With a loud sigh, Andrea followed. “That's going to be rough. How do I know what will make me stand out?"
In the ac
t of unlocking the door, Leo shrugged one shoulder. “Don't speak to anybody.” With a groaned protest, the door swung open and burped up a draft of musty air.
Horrified at the thought of having no one but Leo to talk to for months, Andrea opened her mouth to argue, but shut it again at her first sight of Leo's house. She blinked. The lemon and white, bronze and crisp blue, ultra feminine interior was nothing like what she'd expected.
Every piece of furniture was edged with ruffles and decorated with bows. Beribboned baskets and urns full of dried flower arrangements filled every corner and surface to bursting. The combination living/dining area had been small enough to start with. With the addition of the “greenery", it was dangerously claustrophobic.
One brow raised at Andrea's slack jaw, Leo explained dryly, “My sister by marriage likes to please her husband. He thinks I should be more “womanly", thus she visits me often with gifts to ‘stir the woman in me.’ She dropped her dusty pack in the middle of a pretty woven rug with a loud thud. Dust flew from it, coating the floor.
Andrea winced in sympathy.
"Quite.” Leo entered the kitchen and poked around in the cupboards. “I have pots and kitchen implements I don't even know the use of. I vow if she brings me another dress she, ‘just couldn't resist but is too pregnant to wear,’ I will bury her in it."
Withdrawing a carved box similar to those Andrea had seen at Scy's, she lit an oil-filled globe under a tripod and placed a clear kettle on top. “It's a wonder I have a mind of my own left after their constant hammering. By now they should know that this metal doesn't forge easily."
As annoyed as Leo sounded, Andrea though it must be nice to have someone around who cared enough about her to interfere in her life. Now that she'd spent more time with her own grandmother, those feelings had grown.
She must have changed more than she'd realized. Heaven knew she never used to feel that way.
The gliding loveseat looked like as good a place as any to deposit her stuff, so Andrea set it down and took one of the two stools at the tiny kitchen bar. “So tell me about yourself. I gather you prefer solitude in the swamp over life in the, er, big city?"
The teapot began to squeal. Leo removed it, got Andrea's herbs from the loveseat where she'd set them, and prepared two kinds of tea. “The swamp doesn't try to change me. I hear no demands from the snakes for me to, ‘mature, settle myself and produce children'.” She flicked an angry look at Andrea. “As if the man for me were just under my nose, patiently waiting for me to come to him.” She slammed the kettle down. “They are so deluded."
Lower lip caught between her teeth, Andrea pondered that. Once she felt exactly the same way, but now.... Well, it had been said that happy couples made the worst matchmakers. “What about Scy?"
"Scy?” Leo spoke as if drawing a total blank.
Annoyed on his behalf, for she liked the healer, Andrea retorted, “Yes, him. He's cute."
Leo's lip curled. “He's a healer. If he weren't also a fine hunter and something skillful at woodwork.... “She shook her head. “I will not marry a nearly useless healer."
Baffled at her attitude, Andrea frowned. “Doctors are very respected where I come from, and well paid."
A queer look crossed Leo's face, then it cleared. “I forget you have no symbionts. Such men as Scy are all but unneeded here. Why he wastes himself on useless knowledge—” She gave her head a sudden, sharp shake. “Now I sound like my brother.” She handed Andrea her tea. “Ignore me. If Scy is bold enough to flaunt his profession under the noses of our elders it's no concern of mine. It's truth I've done it enough myself."
Andrea lifted her teacup to her mouth. It wasn't bad. Eucalyptus and a touch of ... cinnamon? “So what's the big rush for you to settle down? Is you family trying to say you're getting too old?” She could relate.
Leo snorted. “I'm barely twenty-six. Just because my brother wed the first girl he could find of breeding age, it's no reason for me to panic and snatch up a mate."
"I forget. Mathin said your people live as long as 300, right? I guess you wouldn't be worried about that. Where I come from lots of people marry and have children by eighteen or twenty.” When Leo stared at her, she added, somewhat defensively, “Our average lifespan is 75. Gotta mature and pass on the genes quick if we want to see grandkids."
Disconcerted, Leo sipped her drink. “I would not like your world."
"It's not so bad, but.... “She looked around, thought wistfully of Mathin. What was he doing now? “This one has its charms."
"Tell me that after you've met my family."
After that dire warning, Andrea was expecting to meet a clan of dragons. As it turned out, Jackson was far more personable than she had expected.
Medium tall, with a hint of gray in his dark cropped hair, he accepted Leo's introduction and promptly invited Andrea to join his family in their tree house for the evening meal. Leo's face he searched closely. “What part of the swamp did you say you found her in? I can send men to search for this missing husband of hers. Surely he is worried."
"I've already looked.” Leo shrugged. “The men will do no better than I. No doubt he's sought shelter until the rains blow over."
Jackson frowned. “And left his pregnant wife alone in the swamps? Think, Leo."
"Thank you for your offer,” Andrea interjected before an argument could start. “It's very kind."
"We do all we can to help our own.” Jackson's wife, Shelarah, gently detached a young lad from her pink striped skirts and handed him to his father. She patted Andrea on the shoulder. “You're holding up so well, dear. I would be frantic with worry."
It must have been the hormones of pregnancy, for Andrea felt her eyes tear up. She didn't usually get emotional in front of strangers. “Not really. I miss him."
"But where is Luna?” Leo helped Jackson's young daughter set the table. “Tell me you didn't set her off again and she's decided to skip the meal."
He glowered at as he strapped his son into a booster seat. “Our sister needs no help from me to fly into a rage these days."
"She's at that age.” Shelarah set the baked fish platter on the table. “I remember how difficult it was for me."
"She walks around with a black cloud on her face."
"Well, she does have to live with you.” Leo took a helping of salad. “The girl is what—seventeen? She knows she's welcome to stay with me when I'm here, and she's old enough to keep my house when I'm not.” She met Jackson's glower calmly. “You know you can't keep her wrapped up forever."
"It's who'll notice when she exits the cocoon that concerns him,” Shelarah murmured. She sent Andrea a small smile and shook her head a little, as if amused by an old argument. “Don't mind them, they can't agree on anything, especially their younger sister."
Leo grinned. “I admit that pack of young warriors she runs with would give a mother pause.” She shook her head at Jackson, and her tone gentled. “They're just friends, Jack. You worry too much. Armetris would never let anyone touch her."
All motion at the table ceased. “She doesn't run with them anymore.” Jackson's mouth tightened. “I don't know what happened, but there's plainly been a rift. She's angry with the lot of them."
"Those boys are her only friends. Have you looked into it?"
His look said she'd asked a stupid question. “No one is talking."
Leo blew out a breath, then caught Andrea staring at her with frank curiosity. “Luna is something like me. She's always bonded best with males—our father was our greatest friend—and this must be a blow.” She sent Jackson a concerned look. “I'll speak with her."
Although brother and sister were quick to spar with each other, Andrea noted that each held fierce family loyalty. She only hoped her children would one day feel the same. Saddened, she touched her belly protectively. Oh, Mathin....
* * * *
Jackson waited until Andrea was deep in conversation with his wife about pregnancy and child-rearing before he took Leo aside. “Wha
t,” he asked sternly, “do you have to tell me?"
She canted her head, wary. “About?"
His eyes narrowed. “Give over, sis. You no more found her wandering in the swamps than plan to marry and save me worry. Besides, I saw that small smile when Shelarah asked if she'd feared meeting up with a Haunt so near the border. I can tell she's human enough, but there's more here than you say. Do I have to contact the Haunt and ask questions, or will you talk?"
Certain he would follow through with his threat, she sighed. “You remember Mathin?"
His gaze sharpened. “The Haunt who chased you around Jayems’ citadel and halfway into the swamp? I remember."
She rolled her eyes and leaned against the deck rail. “It was a passing fancy for him."
"She's his?” He shook his head, irked. “What did you think—that I would force her to leave or see her harmed after I learned of her condition? You know how I feel about my own wife and children.” He looked out over the village, his eyes troubled. “Besides, she's not the only woman to come back carrying a questionable child."
Unwilling to get sidetracked, Leo shifted to face him squarely. “You never liked Mathin or the Haunt."
"At least he's occupied with a wife. For that matter, I don't hate the Haunt. They are different, and best left alone.” His tone held mild warning.
An old argument itched to burst forth. Leo resisted the urge. “Are you saying you will let him visit her?"
Jackson rapped the rail with his knuckles. “Not in the village, but.... “He eyed her shrewdly. “I can arrange something if you will agree to socialize regularly while you are here."
After a long, tense moment of silence, Leo granted him a curt nod. “Fine. But don't think I'll put up with any matchmaking. And Jackson—keep your wife from bringing me any more gifts."
* * * *
Mathin was very concerned—and surprised—to see a Symbiont Rider show up at his door not long after with a message from Jackson.
While the rider waited uneasily for a reply, eyeing the Haunt who eyed him, Raziel read over Mathin's shoulder. “Amiable of him,” he said warily.
Familiar with that tone, Mathin sent him a look. He knew Raziel was dying to comment. “A monthly visit might be feasible, even with the troubles here.” And very tempting.
