Heart Legacy

by Robin D. Owens

  A ripple of wood sounded, windowsills or the floor or the doorjambs or something, the Residence chuckling. “My thanks, Draeg. That is, of course, my point of view. It has been four hundred twenty-four years since the Earthan colonists stepped upon this planet, and my walls were built within the first decade with the settlers’ machines. I do not remember that, but I have seen people of the FirstFamilies come and grace my halls in gatherings, and felt the energies of each person as they contributed to rituals that helped me and this estate throughout the years. The FirstFamilies who are the strongest are those whose members have wed HeartMates, no matter what station their spouses were, or how much Flair the individual had. The next most important quality was marriages with diverse individuals, people not necessarily of the FirstFamilies, but from the lower Noble or Commoner classes. If we are to build a thriving civilization, we must continue to make our bloodlines strong.”

  “I understand, but what of the Blackthorn tracking Flair? It’s an important skill.”

  Corax sniffed. I like the smell of tracking Flair. Makes you smell RIGHT.

  “Uh-huh,” Draeg said, but waited for the Residence to respond.

  Another chuckle, not as deep or prolonged, which pleased Draeg because the creaks were just creepy. He worried about the house doing damage to itself.

  “You say the skill is important because it is one you also have,” the Residence said.

  Tracking IS important, Corax put in.

  “I don’t have tracking Flair as strongly as Straif.” A hint of the hero worship Draeg had for his adoptive father came out, surprising him.

  “Both you and your younger brother have a tracking ability, if not the same as Straif’s or as potent as his.” The Residence’s words grew softer. “We must trust in the Lady and Lord that the skills we sentient beings of Celta need will be developed.” Then the Residence turned brisk. “Genetic mutation of you humans and animals will adapt you better to the planet. And as you adapt and change, you will help us, the immobile intelligent people, change.”

  “Ah. Right. That’s one way of looking at it.” A very long view of the whole thing, and the Residence seemed to discount the great Flaired skills that every member of a FirstFamily prized.

  Birds are getting smarter all the time. Corax added a small, self-satisfied caw.

  “I’m sure,” Draeg said. He could only spare a few more moments before returning to the Yew estate, but additional questions pressed upon him. “Did you—do you have any observations about the Yews?”

  “Naturally I have not met the current D’Yew. Her mother, the previous D’Yew, yes, she came through my halls a couple of times as she matured. As did her father, the MotherSire of the current D’Yew, and his father and FatherSire. I have seen that particular Family become more conservative. We, the Residences, have speculated as to why, but we have no solid conclusions. There are some entities, human and non, who become more conservative, perhaps more selfish of what they have and more fearful of change that might take away what they have, as they age.”

  “Yeah, I’ve seen that.” All right, he’d experienced that himself, more particularly in the last month. He’d been fighting in the streets and that had satisfied his wild side, but being with the animals had made him aware of the pleasure in caring for others, and the love animals could give him. Not to mention having his Fam, Corax, just for a little over a day, had made him feel special, unique.

  And spending time with Loridana . . . that fulfilled him like nothing else. He thought his very heart and being had expanded.

  He wouldn’t give any of that up and he’d fight anyone who’d try to take the animals, Corax, or Loridana from him.

  Whoa. That had him opening his eyes wide.

  “We, the Residences, are also unsure why the Yew Residence withdrew from us, and what went wrong with that Family. The Hollys, most particularly, spoke to us of the trials the current wife of Tinne Holly, the former wife of old T’Yew, went through when living there. That the Residence is conservative is completely understandable. That it might be violent is disturbing.”

  A cool draft whirled through the room. “I strongly suggest that you have no more contact with D’Yew Residence, Draeg. I care for you.”

  That had a lump closing his throat. He coughed. “I care for you, too, Residence.”

  “I want none of my Family to perish in any untimely way again!”

  “Understood.” He’d agitated his home. Good job. Grimacing, he sat up, then stood, shaking out his limbs. “Feeling fine.”

  “Very good. But I will speak to my fellow Residences about how one of us harmed you.”

  “Do as you think best.”

  “And you should eat. Should I call the Family to come and keep you company?”

  Food is always good, thanks, Rez! Corax enthused.

  “I can’t spend the time to talk with the Family.” A septhour or two would drain away with all the questions they’d want answered, all the speculation from various members.

  Corax made a noise in his throat; disappointment emanated from him. “But, Corax, feel free to explore T’Blackthorn estate.” Draeg frowned. “I think I can make one of the windows thin in only one part so you can come and go into these rooms.”

  “I am in contact with the PublicLibrary, whose people have a hawkcel Fam. I will ask what is necessary to provide for a bird Fam, such as a perch and food and water dishes for Corax’s use here. He can supervise.”

  As long as Draeg could recall, Fams liked to supervise. “Sounds good. Think I’ll take a waterfall, dress in some more of the old clothes I got for this mission, and return. Take care, Corax, and be aware of the cats.”

  I will broadcast that I am the new Blackthorn Fam!

  “I’m sure most of the Fams already know,” the Residence murmured.

  “Yeah, gossip travels fast in this Family.” Which meant his parents and siblings might be showing up at any minute. He stripped fast and hustled his ass into the waterfall.

  When he came out, Corax had left and glass covered most of the window the raven had been using, but still allowed entry for his Fam, who had taken to the air, exploring the estate.

  Draeg would have liked for Corax to come with him back to the Yews, but he sensed the bird enjoyed the pleasant and loving atmosphere of the Blackthorns . . . and maybe teasing the cat and fox Fams with his flight.

  As for him, though his home comforted, Yew estate seemed more challenging, more his. And Loridana . . . he liked being in her company, and he wanted to see her.

  He welcomed that heat continuing to surge between them.

  Draeg had just finished dressing, and stretching to make sure the clothes fit all right, when a warmth flowed down the link between himself and Loridana D’Yew.

  Draeg? she sent mentally.

  He wondered if she knew that her Residence had hurt him. He knew that she wouldn’t be surprised.

  I will be there shortly, he sent back.

  She also seemed unsurprised that he might be teleporting back to the estate.

  I want you, Draeg.

  The sensuality behind that statement slammed into him, and his trous tightened as arousal flashed. His wits scattered as he wondered exactly what she meant, what she felt beyond those words. What his own reactions and actions should be.

  Because, by the Lord and Lady, he ached for her.

  I’ll meet you in the southeast corner of the stables. Where they’d kissed, where dim light filtered through high windows, where the air smelled of grain and hay and beasts. And love.

  Love. Not a word he’d applied to any female other than his relatives, certainly not to any of his casual bed partners.

  His body throbbed, ready for sex. Love he didn’t know about and shut out of his mind.

  But this time when he touched Loridana, he didn’t think he’d be able to stop.

  Twenty

  When he reached the southwest corner of the stables, she was already there. She looked fabulous, and whole, her broken leg Heale
d. Beautiful woman. The light shining through a clean window spun her hair to gold, deepened her eyes to emerald, outlined the subtle curves of her body.

  Her fragrance came to him, the light floral of spring flowers, a touch of summer grass. Female desire? Yeah, he thought he could smell that, too, and seeing her, scenting her made his shaft grow thick and as hard as iron. No way could he slide open the front tab of his trous, not without disgracing himself.

  “Loridana,” he said, and his voice sounded urgent and rough to his own ears, even as he reminded himself again and again that she was untouched, he had to go slow.

  He swallowed hard and when he could propel his voice past dry lips, he said, “Are you sure?” He cleared his throat, fisted hands that wanted to reach for her, forced himself to think with his head, not his groin. “You’ve gotta be sure, Loridana D’Yew. What . . . what we are about to do can’t be, you know, undone.”

  Her eyes lit and she laughed, freely. “I’m Lori. Call me Lori.” She laughed again. “I’ve had standard Healer examinations. I don’t have a maidenhead.”

  That was a really old-fashioned word for the hymen, but in line with all the antique rules and beliefs around here. He managed to nod, then felt himself flushing. “But a woman before she’s had a man and afterward . . . there’s always a difference.” He knew that from seeing his adopted sisters mature.

  Loridana’s, Lori’s—and he really liked thinking of her as that, the way she thought of herself—pupils dilated further. Her wide smile faded and her shoulders straightened. “Do you . . . do you want me?”

  The insecurity in her voice pulled him from his balanced stance to take a step toward her. Within reaching distance, taking distance, and her aroma wafted to him again, more pungent like she was nervous, sweating a little. He inhaled, needing her even more.

  “Perhaps I should leave—” she began, and he realized he’d taken too long to answer her.

  “No!” he nearly shouted, but toned it down. “No, please.” Meeting her gaze, he felt his blood heat and his erection enlarge. All of him so hot. So needy for her, just the trail of her fingers on his cheek, even. “You should know, should have felt the attraction between us, that’s real and true.” An inward flinch of mind and heart that other things about him in relation to her weren’t real or true. Push that away. Not time to think of that. Not when this incredible woman stood before him. And again he felt he lagged behind her, and with fraying control.

  He sank once more into his balance, so he wouldn’t move when he wanted to pounce. Then, still with his stare locked on hers, he shut his eyes. “We have a bond,” he said, now more aware of the atmosphere around him, and how his lips felt fuller, warmer, needing her kiss. Not only her scent, but that of a close bed of straw where they might lie—Stop that thought, too! Talk to her, the inexperienced lady. “We have a bond,” he repeated. “Thin but strong. One made of . . . friendship as well as that attraction.” Gruffly, he added, “It is open on my side. Feel—” He stopped before he begged her to put her hands on him, stroke him.

  So he closed his eyes. “I want you. But you must want me, too.” He must please her. If he didn’t it would be disastrous to his feelings, to their growing friendship, to . . . his whole life. Standing here in the gray shade that painted the inside of his eyelids, he realized he hadn’t wanted something as much as he wanted Lori Yew for a long, long time, certainly no woman.

  Had she touched him? That feathery slide across his chest, a brush on his shoulders? He swayed, had to bend his knees to keep his balance solid. And found that his whole body trembled.

  His aura felt as if she moved into it, close to him. He thought he could hear the faint susurration of her breathing. Inhaling, he tried to find her breath, take it into himself.

  Then she kissed him. Little nibbles on the angle of his jaw. He nearly jumped when her tongue slid along his skin.

  The sound of his heavy breathing seemed to echo in the stables. All the animals were outside in the corral together, mingling, getting to know each other.

  Lord and Lady, he did want to get to know Lori more, deeper, intimately. And soon. She moved so damn slowly. But he was determined to let her proceed as she wished, and in her own time frame, even if he did feel like he might explode into tiny bits and never be whole again.

  He already was sure he, like Lori, would never be the same again.

  There, her lips touched his! He strained forward as she withdrew, trying to keep that slight contact. Sweeping his tongue over his lips, he tried to taste her. A drop of sweetness only.

  His lashes fluttered.

  “Don’t,” she whispered. “I’m liking this very much.” He heard a lilt of amusement in her voice, other layers like an undertone of rich, breathy lust, sheer wonder. Subtleties that he would have missed, must often had missed, if he’d been looking at her instead of concentrating on her words and everything else about her, instead of drinking in the sight of her beauty, watching expressions cross her face.

  Her fingers trailed across his face from temple to chin, ear to jaw. For a moment she framed his face, kissed him lightly again, though when he opened his mouth, to his disappointment, she didn’t accept his invitation to deepen the kiss.

  “Pretty Draeg,” she said.

  That had him rearing back. He’d heard that tone before, those words before. She called each and every one of her animals “pretty.”

  “I’m not,” he growled, and had to squeeze his eyelids shut so he wouldn’t glare at her.

  “Draeg, you are the most gorgeous man I’ve ever seen.”

  “You haven’t seen that many. Especially men who aren’t related to you and don’t look like your Family.”

  “You have a fabulous body.”

  He gave that a small thought. “I train, uh, exercise. Stay fit.”

  A tiny, ladylike snort. “You’re a fighter, admit it. And”—challenge laced her tones—“let’s stop the pretense that you’re a lower-class Commoner—”

  His heart thudded hard. How much did she guess? Had that damned FamCat revealed his true identity to Lori?

  But she continued to speak and he nearly missed her next words. “I know you have good Flair and can teleport, which, again, makes you at least middle class.”

  “I wanted to work on a FirstFamily estate with horses,” he mumbled, not able to think much past his passion. “And I’ll agree to anything if you just stop talking and get on with making love to me . . . with me.”

  “Yes,” she whispered again. “Yes.”

  He felt her hands on his shoulders, her fingers separating the tabs.

  “Shirt off,” he ordered, and the thick cloth fell away. The air around him cooled his heated skin.

  “Oh, yes,” Lori said, her voice uneven with little pants, as unsteady as his own ragged breath. “So very beautiful you are, your body is . . .” She traced the muscles on his chest, touched a scar or two.

  “I am not the beautiful one of the two of us,” he muttered.

  He heard her small gasp. When she spoke her voice sounded high. “You truly think I’m beautiful?”

  “Yes. Absolutely.” She stepped close until her soft breasts under equally soft cloth pressed against him, her flat stomach against his shaft; her arms went around him in a hug. “Lori.” Her name grated out of a dry throat. “I am ready, past ready to . . . to seek pleasure with you. You test my control”—his voice cracked at that, something he’d usually be embarrassed about, but now he couldn’t care less—“and I want this first time of yours to be good. To be right. Please.” He sifted air in and out of his lungs. “Take me.”

  “Oh!”

  Pure desire thrilled through her, her blood, her nerves, like nothing she’d known. Not at all like love or tenderness. This emotion wrenched at her, unexpectedly fierce and fiery. Made her bolder than she’d ever been.

  Draeg made her freer than she’d ever been. All her emotions seemed to have expanded, enlarged, until cramming them back into Lori-the-Responsible-and-Unacknowledge
d seemed impossible.

  She’d worry about that later. Difficult to even think when she touched Draeg. Rational thought seemed to evaporate. She released him and stepped back. He rolled forward onto the balls of his feet, then subsided back with such grace, such control of his body, that she stared at him for a moment in pure admiration. Every muscle of his chest and of his abdomen was clearly defined. They looked hard.

  She swallowed, unable to take her stare from his chest to look at his face that had tightened, too. Since his lashes remained down she wouldn’t be distracted by his blue eyes. She had noticed that his pupils had darkened from blue to nearly black.

  “Lori?” Draeg leaned forward. “I didn’t frighten you, did I?”

  “No.” But he’d broken the moment, and her stare slid away from his chest hair and down toward his trous, and the obvious bulge in the front, evidence of his arousal. She’d never seen a human male’s penis, erect or otherwise.

  “Ah,” she gulped. “Aren’t your trous too tight?”

  “You have no idea,” he said. “Um, can I open my eyes now?”

  Insecurity zipped through her. “I’m enjoying myself.” And she still had her clothes on; he wouldn’t think her so beautiful with her clothes off, would he?

  He grunted. “Going slow is difficult.”

  “I thought human mating took more time, perhaps had a little more . . .”

  “Tenderness? Affection? Finesse?”

  “Ah, yes, I suppose.”

  “Trying very hard for that, Loridana.”

  “Lori.”

  “Lori, my lo—” He stopped; his chest rose as he drew in air, and she saw now that a slight sheen of sweat showed. That made him all the sexier. “I want this to be good for you,” he repeated. “Right for you; go ahead with whatever you want to do to me.”

  Lori thought her mouth dropped open at that offer; several conflicting ideas, along with images, clashed in her mind. As she watched, Draeg backed up to a stall and braced himself against it, his fingers curled into fists. That emphasized his physique, too. Her mouth literally watered; her nostrils widened instinctively to pull his scent of man—aroused man—and spice into her lungs, let it settle into her. But the aroma swirled in her head, causing all sorts of interesting reactions in her body.