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Hearts and Swords: Four Original Stories of Celta

Page 15

by Robin D. Owens


  Mel moaned and flopped on Blush’s feet.

  Arbusca settled enough to feel the links between them all—one had snapped between her and the dog, too. Dri was distressed, with an underlying loneliness he’d covered with the anger she’d triggered. Depths of emotions she hadn’t sensed or touched.

  Both of them were hurting.

  “Blush is the one who fixes, who keeps a Family going, aren’t you?” Again there was the lilt of the southern continent in his voice. Tenderness, understanding swept from him to her. Somehow he knew she’d kept her Family whole when her mother had done her worst by them, descended into obsession. Arbusca had protected her Family and her son until he could claim the title.

  The connection between herself and Dri had been there all along. He was a strong man. Had she drawn on his strength through the bond? She didn’t know, and the realization that she might have left her shaken.

  Dri studied Blush, his Blush, finally within reach. Of his calloused and coarse hands. She’d gone pale and swayed a little, and he didn’t like that but didn’t dare touch her or he’d carry her away.

  So many years had passed since he’d buckled under the pressure her mother had dumped on him and he’d gotten out of Druida City, leaving only a ring behind that he was sure her mother had thrown out the next moment.

  Had too many years passed for them? No. He wouldn’t let that happen. He needed Blush too much, and not just her damn housekeeping skills.

  She was a woman who made a Family, whether it was one man and his G’Uncle and FamDog, or all those who comprised a FirstFamilies GreatHouse.

  Her son couldn’t need her as much as Dri did. He’d done his research; T’Willow had found his HeartMate and wed her. The man was a matchmaker; surely he wouldn’t deny his mother her own HeartMate—who was Dri.

  Dri was going to keep Blush.

  Mel was on Blush’s feet, trying to prevent her from walking away. The dog obviously wasn’t used to a person teleporting. It would take little psi power, Flair, for her to teleport away from them.

  Dri had to prevent that. Since Blush hadn’t flinched when the dog collapsed on her polished shoes, and his hair clung to her elegant clothes, Dri figured he had another chance after the first he’d botched. Even though she didn’t carry the rose he’d brought her. That hurt. He’d screwed up good.

  Keeping his eyes on hers, he tried a smile, thought it turned lopsided. “I had great hopes when I left to meet you.” He shrugged. “Guy hopes . . . that I could sweep you off your feet, that you’d come home with me. That you’d live with me forever.”

  Her eyes went wide in a stare, her mouth opened a little. Lovely. She shook her head, and he hoped it was simple disbelief.

  “I’d give you both moons if I could,” he said.

  She blinked rapidly. “Where did this come from?”

  He touched his chest, feeling really stupid. Mel thumped his tail in encouragement. “From my heart.” Dri swallowed. “From my dreams and wishes.”

  Blush’s mouth closed and lips firmed and she narrowed her eyes. “You said nothing like that when we met.”

  His turn to wince. “I messed up. I told you I was good with demolition, didn’t I?” Another lopsided smile. It didn’t seem to affect her the way he wanted, soften her. She was wary. Who could have guessed that he was the optimist of the two of them? But then he hadn’t spent years living with her mother.

  He offered his hands, palms up, for Blush to clasp. “We had hard words between us. Maybe we needed to get them out, and get them out first.”

  She looked at his hands. He thought a flash of yearning showed in her eyes. “You can’t think that a few simple words after we revealed all this old ire between us has cleared everything up, can you?” Her beautiful breasts rose and fell with deep breaths.

  “I know that we need to learn each other more. Spend the day with me tomorrow.”

  Her brows raised. “Doing the housekeeping spells?”

  “Doing whatever you want, walking through the city, going to an art gallery or the theater or a concert. Plenty of things to do in Druida. Or we can head down to Maroon Beach. Anything.”

  Mel whined and she glanced at him. “You seem to have problems with your G’Uncle?”

  He ran his fingers through his hair. “I’d like to say no, that I could handle this all on my own. But I’m out of my depth here.”

  “What’s the issue?”

  He didn’t like that she was all business, so he took her hand and curved it inside his arm, linking elbows. Then he began walking toward the nearest park. There were sparkly lights in the trees. That would be romantic.

  Or would be if Mel didn’t pant with his tongue hanging out of his mouth. Dri gestured to the dog to move to his side.

  “The problem is that my great uncle, G’Uncle—on my mother’s side—is not living . . . well.” Dri whooshed out a breath. “I didn’t realize how he, and his home, had deteriorated, and there’s no one else on that side of the family to take care of him. He’s my responsibility.”

  “Caretaker,” Blush said in an odd little voice. But he knew what she meant and squeezed her arm. “Yes, you’ve been one all your life and valued by your Family. Not me; I’m coming late to this job and I don’t think it’s one I’ve an aptitude for. I like to clear problems out of the way and get on with life.”

  “Um-hmm.”

  Now her mind and emotions, even her body, had gone opaque to him, just as if she’d been any other woman and not his HeartMate, a fated lover and partner.

  “Our planet, Celta, has not been easy on us. Low birthrates, sterility. Families die out all the time,” she said.

  “Yeah, and he’s the last of the cadet branch of the Conyzas.”

  “Your Family, the Parises, won’t take him in?”

  “Nope. He and my grandfather argued before my brother and I were born. Dad says he stole a Family heirloom, though he doesn’t know what it was, only that the offense was great and he won’t have the old thief in the house.”

  “And your G’Uncle says?”

  “That my grandmother, his sister, loaned him something of the Parises’ for as long as he wanted and he still wants it.”

  “I hear doubt in your voice,” Blush said.

  “I think he still has it but won’t admit he . . . uh . . . misplaced it.”

  Mel snorted beside Dri.

  “And you’d like me to try and find it with housekeeping spells?”

  Dri couldn’t suppress his flinch. “Yes.” He sucked in the spring air and the scent of her, and he didn’t want to burden her with his problems. He hesitated, then decided to reveal all. Get everything out, so they could deal with it. “He’s my responsibility. My grandmother left G’Uncle Bonar an inheritance that my grandfather and father have blocked until they get the item back.”

  Blush turned to him; they were in the park now, near a low tree dripping with blossoms of sweet scent that tickled his nose.

  “What else?” Blush asked.

  He couldn’t help it. She was there, and his HeartMate, and her manner had softened just enough. He reached out and pulled her close and kissed her.

  They fit. She was soft and womanly against him, and he was aware that he’d led a hard life that had toughened his skin and muscles. Her lips were sweeter than any other woman’s, any imagining, any recollection of their dream loving so long ago.

  Through their link, he felt a quiet yearning. Long-suppressed need in both of them flashed.

  She broke the kiss before passion fogged his brain. Then she stepped back, her cheeks flushed pinker than ever. He ached for her, and his arms ached with emptiness. But if he followed up now, he could make another mistake. She was already turning away.

  A flash of inspiration sparked, and he sank into his psi power and visualized the rose he’d given her, the vase she’d placed it in. He calculated all spatial dimensions, held out his hand palm up, and pulled . . . and the rose appeared. Closing his fingers gently around it, he bowed, and offered
it. “Please spend tomorrow with me, Blush.”

  “How did you do that?” Her eyes were wide. “You weren’t in the club more than a few minutes.”

  The time had seemed a lot longer to him. “I’m a demolition expert. I know building space, can figure coordinates well enough to summon a rose.”

  Her glance had turned admiring and his chest puffed with pride. She stroked a petal around the rose and said, “I know where everything is in T’Willow Residence and can translocate items there but nowhere else.”

  “That’s part of my Flair,” he said.

  “Yes.”

  “And I want you to have the rose. Please,” he persisted, “be with me tomorrow.”

  She glanced down at Mel, who was sitting beside Dri. The dog gazed up at her and said mentally, We need you.

  That softened her more. Leave it to a dog. Mel even whined a little and pawed her shoe. Dri thought he was overdoing it until Blush said, “All right.”

  “Maroon Beach?” he asked.

  She shook her head, her cheeks less pink than the rose now. “I’ll help you—and Mel—with your G’Uncle.”

  “I’m disappointed.”

  That made her chuckle richly, and he smiled in relief, added, “It’s true. Something more romantic would be better.”

  Mel coughed.

  “Perhaps.” She glanced around and her color deepened again. “But a first kiss in a spring evening is romantic enough.”

  “For now,” he said. Before he could take her hand again, she’d teleported away from him.

  Wanting to savor the moment, he went to the nearest bench and let night fall around him. He breathed in relief. He’d managed to save the situation.

  At home, Arbusca’s son was discreetly hovering in the entry hall, along with a few other kinswomen who worked with her to keep the Residence and Family running. Since others of the Family had found their HeartMates or loves in the last year, Arbusca had a template to follow. She smiled at her son. “I’m tired and ready for bed.”

  He frowned. “It didn’t go well, then.”

  The FamCat Fairyfoot, sitting beside the other FamCat, a male, sniffed. I smell dog. If a dog was involved, of course there were problems.

  The other cat chimed in, Dogs always cause problems.

  Arbusca couldn’t deny it this time.

  “Dri Paris has a Fam Companion?” Her son sounded relieved.

  Dogs are not discriminating, his own FamCat warned.

  “He’s loved by a Fam,” she said, twirling her rose.

  Her son cocked an eyebrow at the cats, but said, “That’s a good sign, as is the rose.”

  Again she felt blood heat her face.

  Arbusca smiled, knowing she looked a little flustered. “A blush rose. When I was young, my nickname was Blush.”

  Some of her cousins murmured approval.

  “It suits you,” her son said, but she felt his scrutiny, so she continued through the entryway. She stopped at the end of the room and the door to the corridor that led to the stairs. She gazed at her son, tall and strong and powerful in psi magic and wealth and his own self-confidence.

  She recalled the anger that had been between them when he’d returned to this Residence. He’d been banished to a lesser family estate his whole life as a threat to her mother. Their anger had taken months to work out.

  Would Dri stay in the city for months? Or would he give up on her again? She was surprised to feel the stab of disappointment at the thought.

  How easy it was to fall in love.

  While she was considering this, her son walked up and kissed her on the cheek. “Sleep well, Mother. If he’s a match for you, he’s extraordinary indeed.”

  “He is angry at me, as you were angry.”

  “Don’t worry about that. Does he resent your marriage and your having me?”

  She stilled to study the bond between herself and Dri—again surprising, she felt more than tender thoughts of her, more than attraction, enough to make her blush, but she sensed nothing her son had hinted at. “No, mostly the past is the past for him. The reasons we did not come together is sore for him.”

  “A demolition expert would live more in the present, focus on the future.” One last kiss from her son. “Sweet dreams, Mother. Even a disastrous first meeting is nothing to worry about in the scheme of HeartMate love.”

  “Thus speaks the matchmaker.”

  “That’s right,” he agreed.

  She hesitated, then said, “I’ll be spending tomorrow with Dri.”

  “Good.”

  She nodded and returned to her floral-patterned rooms. Usually she found them soothing, but now they seemed fussy.

  Dri walked to the public teleportation pad, whistling, with Mel grumping doggy noises. Dri didn’t look forward to going back to his small, spartan room in his G’Uncle’s house, especially since he had a suite in his father’s home. But G’Uncle Bonar couldn’t be left alone when Dri had the option of caring for him.

  The best way Dri knew to overcome anger was through physical activity, sweating through a tricky fire demolition, practicing his fighting skills . . . or . . . sex. He and Blush could release their anger, move from anger to loving and maybe even the lifetime HeartBond with some good sex— making love.

  But Dri sure couldn’t make the kind of slow, sweet love with Blush that he wanted in the tiny room that contained a one-person bedsponge. Not tonight.

  Not physically, anyway. But there were dreams . . . they’d connected in dreams first; that should work again.

  When he got to his G’Uncle’s house, he tended the old and querulous man, made sure he was fed and clean and tucked in equally clean linens on his bedsponge. Mel lay on the floor and thumped a tail in gratitude as Dri extinguished the spell-lights.

  Darkness and quiet settled over the Residence and Arbusca lay awake, considering each tiny detail of the evening. She wasn’t foolish enough to believe that their anger at each other was gone, but was hopeful that eventually they could forgive each other and become true HeartMates.

  She felt the feathery brushes of fingertips on her cheeks. A soft kiss. When she checked, the link between her and Dri was wide open—both mental and emotional. No! she sent him telepathically.

  Trust me. Anger is fire, but so is passion, and I bet we have more passion between us than anger. Enough to burn away all old hurts.

  She wanted to believe him, and her body was readying as if for a lover, recalling those sexual dreams from long ago. Perhaps, she answered.

  But I would prefer any passion to be truly physical.

  She’d surprised him. And challenged him, she thought, and, of course, aroused him. His thoughts lost clarity in their link, and the connection became more emotional. He wanted her. Not just sexual passion was revealed in that wanting, but affection, the seedlings of love. Whether she admitted it or not, they had had a bond between them for many years.

  When will you let me make love to you? His mental voice was tumultuous.

  When we are ready.

  She heard his groan clearly.

  Sweet dreams, she sent.

  That isn’t gonna happen.

  The idea he was suffering as much as she pleased her and she knew he sensed that.

  Something we have in common—our yen for each other. That never faded, he said.

  No. Good night.

  That won’t happen, either, but I’m gonna love seeing you in the morning.

  She narrowed the link between them until she was sure he felt little from her, then she went to the waterfall room and stood under a cold shower.

  Arbusca heard from Dri the next morning after breakfast and before she had time to get antsy. She exited the Residence just as he drove up in a glider, and as far as she could tell, none of her Family was watching except the FamCats. They were enough.

  She’d dressed in sturdy gray work trous that were only slightly bloused and cuffed at the ankle, and a matching tunic that fell just below her knees and had side slits for easy move
ment. Her sleeves were still large enough for pockets, but shouldn’t get in the way for any spellwork and actually boosted the spells when doing sweeping gestures.

  Dri hopped from the glider and held the door up for her. His eyes crinkled with his whole-face smile. She received an extra thrill straight to her center when their gazes met.

  Once again their link was open and their past ire with each other was overwhelmed by their hopes for the future. With their individual confidence in themselves and that they could build a future together, just because they were willing to work hard to do so.

  He didn’t talk, and neither did she, but let emotions flow through their bond along with fleeting thoughts and impressions. He found her beautiful and sexy. No man had ever been so attractive to her.

  They drew up in front of a stone cottage, and Dri opened his door and vaulted out, hurrying around to hand Blush from the glider. He was relieved that things were going well today. She’d mindspoken with him last night, been willing to overlook how he’d messed things up. She’d only hummed with pleasure at the spring breeze and the fragrance of flowers as they drove from Noble Country, where the estates of the greatest nobles were, including her home, to this modest area mostly inhabited by Commoners.

  He’d been the one to judge yesterday, she hadn’t. She waited as he lifted the door, gave him both her hands—sweet touch!—and let him “help” her from the glider that stood a meter off the ground on its stands.

  She eyed the one-story house set on a lot that was big enough that G’Uncle Bonar’s neighbors hadn’t been aware of what was going on.

  “Nice,” she said.

  Dri knew that she’d change her opinion the moment she saw inside. He braced himself as he walked her up the path to the front door.

  Mel, the FamDog, teleported from inside to the front stoop and shot toward them, tongue lolling. She came, she came, she came! He tripped over his own feet and rolled-skidded to a halt near Blush, licked her hand as she bent to rub his head. She is WONDERFUL. YOU ARE WONDERFUL! he panted.

  Blush was grinning, too, forgetting her manners. Good. Dri took her apron from her loose grasp, flicked it out, and caught the scent of fresh herbs and Blush. His throat dried. He waited until she straightened, then whipped the long bib apron around her. He slipped his fingers along the tabs that connected behind her nape, and satisfaction welled inside him as she stilled, then trembled at his touch. She fumbled with the waist strings until he said the Word to tie them and brought her back to lean a few seconds against his body. Oh, yeah, so sweet. He nuzzled her neck and gloried in her against him until Mel yipped sharply.

 

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