There was a long pause. "This is regarding his appointment three weeks ago?"
"Yes."
"He'll be right over," the man said. "Can I, or my parents come–"
"No," T'Willow said.
"Damn."
"Give me a septhour, maybe two before you scry me about results," T'Willow said.
"Maybe," the person grumbled. "Later." The sounds of a busy office faded. Who had a busy office?
"Brother," Enata whispered. She wasn't talking about Jace, but the man with a busy office who had a brother who'd met with the matchmaker three weeks ago. “What about my interview and ah . . . my evaluation?”
T’Willow rose, circled his desk and leaned back on it, giving her a brilliant smile. “As soon as I took your hand, I believed I knew a man who’d match you well. When I scanned you, I confirmed that. Your prospective husband is on his way here.”
"Why all the secrecy?" Jace demanded, surprising Enata, but she liked that he asked the question she wanted to.
"It's best for the parties to be surprised, have no preconceptions that might come with a name," T'Willow said. He winked at her. "Such as those who believe the Licorices are archetypical librarians and scholars."
They were archetypical librarians and scholars.
"People don't realize we are passionate about our studies," Enata said.
T'Willow nodded. "Passion is a good thing to have in a relationship." He went to a no-time, pulled out a clear tube containing a dark blue fizzy drink. "Please drink this potion." He held it out to Enata.
"What does the potion do?" they all asked in unison.
T'Willow stood right before Enata, triumph radiating from him. When he looked at her, his eyes gentled. "This will make you emotionally more open and lets your natural inhibitions subside under . . . we'll say natural attraction, passion, love."
"Oh."
"The gentleman coming here will also receive a potion."
"All right." Enata released Glyssa's and Jace's hands and took the tube. She slowly brought it to her lips. Sparkling bubbles tickled her nose. She tipped a little of the liquid onto her tongue -- sweet. One good breath, then she swallowed the drink. Effervescence slid down her throat, and her tongue swept froth from her lips. Already feeling a little dizzy and slightly hysterical with good cheer, she put the empty tube on the desk.
She felt great! Everything inside her loosened, all anxiety vanished, and she became aware of the intimate and pulsing bonds that linked her with her Family. She did love her Family. Every single one of them, even Glyssa's new HeartMate in a brotherly sort of way. She frowned but an errant sad thought escaped.
"GentleSir Bayrum, as a man not native to Druida City," T'Willow said. "Will you help me in this?"
Glyssa's HeartMate stared at Enata, then Glyssa, then T'Willow, his expression alive with curiosity. A good thing to have in a brother-in-law. "Yes."
"We'd recognize him?" Enata asked. Dozens of men's faces swam through her mind, from patrons she'd helped at the PublicLibrary, to those she'd stood next to during ritual circles at GreatCircle Temple, even all the way back to boys of her grovestudy days.
"You would probably recognize him." T'Willow gave her an impishly charming smile.
At that moment the housekeeper opened the door and Enata's parents came in, holding hands and radiating excitement.
"You have found the perfect match for my Enata!" Rhiza D'Licorice's tone lilted.
"That's right," T'Willow said.
"I'm not sure about this," Enata's father said.
"A father's prerogative. However, I think you will be pleased. If you would take one of the twoseats in the corner?" T'Willow indicated the seat on the opposite wall than the one Glyssa and Jace had returned to, far from the focal point of the desk and the two chairs before it.
"He'll – my– not my HeartMate." Enata bit her lip. "I don't have a HeartMate."
"No," T'Willow agreed. "But you have a man who complements you. Who will be a wonderful lover, partner and your love throughout your life."
"Truly?" Tears welled inside her like hope. "And discovered so quickly?"
"I promise you," T'Willow said. "But like all relationships, even HeartMate ones, this marriage will need tending and love and understanding. But I promise you that he is a good man and you can have a wonderful marriage."
"Oh." She swallowed. Love, real love. Someone who might put her at the center of his life . . . where she would place him.
The matchmaker continued, "I know him and his vibrations. I didn't know you, but when I took your hands I understood that you will be an exceptional match."
"Exceptional," said Enata's father.
"That's right."
"We want our daughter happy," said Enata's mother.
"And so she should be, as happy as any other extremely loving couple," T'Willow said.
He cocked his head and everyone fell silent. From the open window, Enata could hear a man stomping around, and using curse words that she'd only said in her head. Complementary to her?
"That man will make my daughter happy? Really?" T'Licorice asked.
"Get to your places." T'Willow put enough command in his voice to have Enata's Family taking their seats.
T'Willow opened the no-time potion storage unit and handed a large tube full of a frothy pink liquid to Jace Bayrum. "Give it to him and wait ten minutes."
* * *
Barton couldn't believe it! With a telepathic command, Walker had hauled him out of a training session for the bodyguards and sent him to T'Willow's. Made Barton take a waterfall and change into formal clothes of a conservative cut. Not that he couldn't fight in the Clover green tunic and trous, but the whole damn thing alarmed— no, annoyed, him. Surely T'Willow hadn't found him a wife in three weeks. Couldn't happen.
And Barton had to sit in the back of a Family glider with a driver. Barton grumbled and swore all the way to the nobleman's. Glider doors didn't slam well, but he tried anyway. When he paused for breath, the housekeeper dressed in Willow red opened the door and waved him in, pointing toward a right hand corridor at the end of the entry hall. He nodded to her since his throat had dried as his guts twisted.
A man Barton had never seen stood before the office door. Tall, lean, looked even more common than Barton, which made Barton more inclined to like him. He stopped a pace from the guy. "Greetyou."
"Jace Bayrum." With a grin he offered a tube of sloshing, suspiciously pink liquid.
"Heard of you," Barton said, studying the guy. He'd come to Druida City from the excavation of Lugh's Spear, interesting situation. "What's that slop?"
"A potion GreatLord T'Willow wants you to drink to make you more receptive to love. Lust, too, I guess."
Barton scowled. "You can't make me drink that."
"Who wants to?" Jace waved toward the entryway. "You're free to go back to your . . . brother."
The guy knew Barton's sore spot, for sure. He showed his teeth, paced toward the nearest end of the hall that showed a door to a conservatory and back. "My brother's given me no peace. 'Get a wife. You want children, don't you?' he says. Nothing but nag, nag, nag." He ran his hands through his hair. "The whole Family, nothing but nags. Wears on a man."
Jace sloshed the potion. "You gonna drink this or not?"
Barton saw milky pink bubbles rise to the top, break. He couldn't think of anything he wanted to do less. "There's a woman in there." He jerked his head toward the door to T'Willow's office.
"Three," Jace said affably.
"Three?" Relief surged through Barton. "I'm getting a choice? That's better." He stared at the drink, muttered an inward prayer to the Lord and Lady, manned up. "Gimme that." Barton swooped the potion from Jace, squeezed the tube open with ease, and gulped the pink contents.
Warm, and as frothy on the tongue and going down as it had looked, but . . . there came a tart aftertaste on his tongue, then an instant later the sweet taste of honey. A multi-layered woman? Women? Three?
His head spun a bi
t and he solidified his stance.
Jace Bayrum reached out and took Barton's wrist, tapped his timer. "Wait ten minutes and come in."
"Three women." Barton's tongue felt thick. "A choice, and T'Willow's supposed to be a good matchmaker."
"Ninety-eight percent success," Jace said.
Barton grunted and sweet honey fumes sent tendrils of relaxation into his brain. His tongue folded inward on another tart tang. "Not so bad." With careful steps he trod to a chair of wood and red velvet and sat. It groaned under his weight. "Beats being nagged to death."
Jace gestured to the housekeeper who'd come up to watch Barton. Obviously a Willow, he straightened from his slump.
"Ten minutes," she said.
"I heard the first time," Barton said.
With a motherly hand, she patted his shoulder. He felt the warmth of strong Flair.
Smiling, she said, "I know the procedure even though this doesn't happen often. It's exciting!"
"Uh-huh." Jace opened the door and slipped through, Barton levered himself up and craned to see, but inside the chamber Saille just gave him a smug smile. Barton frowned and began to pace again — carefully.
Chapter 4
Enata had glimpsed a man, but he'd moved so fast! Or maybe her eyes had blurred. What she'd seen of him, she'd liked. Tall, muscular, he had a masculine grace about him. Actor? She could live with an actor. Dancer? She loved to dance. A man from the arts, how lovely!
"Jace, is Bar– is the man pacing?" T'Willow asked.
"Yes."
"Good, the potion will take effect sooner. How did you persuade him to drink the potion?"
"I told him that he could return to his brother, the nag."
Enata heard chuckles from everyone else in the room, but frowned. Her . . . man . . . had to be nagged to meet her? When she'd been overjoyed to have an appointment with GreatLord T'Willow to find her husband?
Only the continuing buoyancy from the potion kept her from shriveling inside that her match didn't truly want her.
T'Willow walked toward the door and tilted his head as if he could hear the man — yet swearing? — beyond the door, then strode back to the window. "I'm sure that his brother is already traveling here as a witness to confirm this match." He bowed to Enata's parents. "As you are. All of you, please remain still when the gentleman enters."
Enata slid her tongue over her dry lips, seemed to taste musk with the tiniest hint of sweet.
"Is Enata's prospective husband a gentleman?" snapped her father.
"I told you I knew him, and I firmly believe you will be pleased," T'Willow stated.
"What are the ingredients in the potion?" asked Enata's mother.
Enata had some nags on her side of the Family, too. She smiled. If she and Glyssa hadn't nagged, provided research that an unwed Licorice turned angry and bitter, Enata wouldn't be here. But Licorices persevered until they found answers to their questions.
"What's in my potion?" T'Willow lifted his brows. "My professional secret. Nothing that will influence Enata against her will. Would you like a taste, D'Licorice? Any or all of you?"
"No!" Jace Bayrum exclaimed.
Glyssa sniffed loudly.
Enata's mother coughed. "Perhaps we can take samples home? For what this is costing?"
"Certainly." T'Willow moved toward his desk and tapped his scryscreen. "Mama," he said, "Please prepare some of the Recognition Potions for me." He aimed a smile at where Enata's mother must be sitting. "Two full tubes, one female and one male."
"Of course, Saille," a woman answered.
"Thank you."
The scryscreen pinged. "Here," said T'Willow.
A voice came. "I'm pulling into the courtyard, has the meeting between my brother and his match taken place yet?"
"No."
"Excellent. I will be there momentarily. I want to see him take the fall."
A thrill zipped through Enata, her breath came quickly. She couldn't wait with her back to the door, so she swung her chair around.
The door slammed open and her gaze fastened on the large and muscular male. Gorgeous man. Her blood hummed through her arteries and veins, heating her.
"Saille T'Willow, I hope you know what you're doing or I will beat your butt. I don't like being called in like a new guard." The man slapped his broad chest. "We've already had one consultation. I don't want another."
She had to stand.
His blue gaze went to her, did a quick scan and Enata drew herself into her best posture.
Then his stare met hers and Enata could feel the attraction weaving between them, fast and tight, an intense, colorful bond. Their breathing fell into rhythm. She grabbed the chair to steady herself as her mind dissolved into heated sparkles of attraction and drifted . . . towards him. Her blood pounded until other sound faded.
The very sight of him enflamed her senses.
Narrowing her gaze to see him through the haze draping her vision, tilting her head to feel his essence, she understood that they'd met before. But she couldn't place the setting. Not the library.
Another man came to the threshold, but Enata couldn't pull her stare away from the attractive hunk of male encompassing her vision.
Time passed, she didn't know how much, before she forced words from her throat. "I've seen you."
He nodded. "I know you. The librarian."
"Nice build," said Enata's mother. "But does he read?"
Still staring at Enata, her man smiled, causing her knees to weaken and she used the chair to keep her upright.
Then he quoted: "'Who ever loved that loved not at first sight?'"
Enata's father snorted. "A famous one line quote from the ancient Earthan, Shakespeare, that any man would know."
Without glancing at her father, Enata's lover softly recited:
"'Oh, she doth teach the torches to burn bright!
It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night
Like a rich jewel in an Ethiope's ear,
Beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear.
So shows a snowy dove trooping with crows
As yonder lady o'er her fellows shows.
The measure done, I'll watch her place of stand,
And, touching hers, make blessèd my rude hand.
Did my heart love till now? Forswear it, sight!
For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night.’”
She, beautiful? But his eyes had fired with glinting interest. She certainly thought him more beautiful and virile than any other man she'd seen.
"Well, well," said Enata's father. "More Shakespeare, from Romeo and Juliet, not auspicious."
"I promise, love, that we will not end as they did," rumbled the man to Enata. He held out his arms and she could do nothing but run into them.
They closed around her and he swung her from her feet and whirled her. Pure joy swept through her at the romance of him.
Then he set her on her feet. "Oh," she said, clinging to him, loving the feel of his hard muscles against her. For the first time in her life, she felt more like a physical being than mental or spiritual.
"Oh, yeah!" he said and yanked her into his arms, lifted her off her feet, and kissed her.
His essence enveloped her as he held her easily. Big and tough was her man, wider and taller than she and that comforted her. She felt down to her marrow, down in her melting core, that he could and would protect her and any children they might have. Strong like bedrock, solid and honorable.
He teased the seam of her lips with his tongue and she opened her mouth to him, as she heatedly yearned to open her body to him. His tongue stroked hers and she returned the caress, sucking lightly to pull the taste of him into her, identify the components of him, each and every one that sang "lover" to her. But that particular cataloguing escaped her as her thoughts misted and blew away at the sensations he caused in her body.
The scent of him, man, musk, green growing plants deeply rooted in rich soil whirled in her head.
He aroused all he
r physical senses, and with that stirring, promised a fulfillment she'd never known.
She experienced much more of him — the aura of a physically powerful man, a healthy man who used his body as a tool — his Flair, not great, certainly not equal to hers, but with a resonance, a rightness to it. Yes, he complemented her in many ways, and she longed to explore fascinating differences between them.
Enata Losa Licorice! snapped her mother, shattering the moment.
He jerked, too, her man.
The man she thought she'd loved at first sight, as he had declared. Whose name she didn't know.
"Lord and Lady, Walker, stop the yelling in my head, already!" Enata's man said. He let her slide down his body and the feel of his thick, hard erection had her catching her breath and making her weak enough that she leaned against him. He took a pace away from her, and she stiffened her legs, but his arm didn't circle her waist. No, his hand curved over her bottom.
Facing her parents, and her sister and her HeartMate, and T'Willow, and another man as tall as her lover but with lighter hair and finer features, Enata struggled to control her breathing and an embarrassed flush. A full body flush, but thankfully only noticeable on her face.
The male newcomer, her lover's brother, began to laugh. “You’ve fallen hard and fast.”
"Not funny, Walker."
"Oh. Yes," gasped Walker. "Yes. It. Is." He shook his head. "Lady and Lord, when I think of the nagging, the blackmail, the deal I had to make so you'd consult with Saille—"
Her mind clearing, her emotions settling, Enata stepped away from that large palm cupping her backside. He hadn't wanted her? "Is that so?" she asked, focusing her attention on the man called Walker.
Then she stifled a gasp as she recognized him. Walker Clover. The first noble Clover. He'd risen to GrandLord a decade ago, a man of incredible potential. Great nobles spoke of him as being the Captain of All the Councils someday — the most powerful man on the planet.
"Walker Clover, and his brother Barton Clover," Enata's mother breathed, her face shining. "With a Clover there is the prospect of many children."
Lost Heart: A Celta Novella (Celta HeartMate Series) Page 3
