“I see,” she replied. “And because I’ve been seen in the company of an unmarried man, I should do my duty and marry him. Regardless of any sort of feelings for him, or the possibility of happiness in the future.”
The woman harrumphed. “Love will come later,” she announced. “Ladies?” she said, gathering the rest with her gaze. “We have done our duty. It is time for use to leave.”
A moment later, the women were gone, leaving her alone with Girad.
“You’re a fallen woman,” her brother teased.
Avi groaned. “They’re not serious, are they?’
He chuckled. “I think that they are.”
“I knew that there was a conservative faction still in our country, but those ladies are…nuts!” Avi groaned.
“Yeah, but they wield a great deal of influence. Don’t discount them.”
She turned her head. “Are you saying that you agree with them? That I should marry a man simply because I’ve been alone with him at night?”
He laughed, and sat next to her on the couch. “No. I think you should marry a man that you love,” he said softly.
Avi closed her eyes as pain washed over her. “I’ll get over him,” she argued.
“Right.” He took her hand. “Well, then you need to hurry. He’ll be here tomorrow.”
Avi sat upright in her chair. For a moment, she simply stared at her brother, not sure she’d heard him correctly. Avi felt her lips move, but sound didn’t come forth. Bowing her head, she cleared her throat and tried again. “I’m sorry, but what did you say?”
“Sheik Lugar is coming here. Tomorrow.”
“But…why?” she asked, trying to ignore her racing pulse at the thought of seeing Lugar again.
Girad’s only response was a sardonic lift of his eyebrow.
“Right,” she replied, jumping up and pacing along the same path that he’d taken several days earlier. “But…this doesn’t make sense, Girad.”
“It actually makes a hell of a lot of sense, Avi,” he told her, sitting up and resting his forearms on his knees. “I’m not asking you to do anything at all. I’ll work out a trade agreement with Shadir without you sacrificing your life on the altar of marriage. But just think about your comment the other day when you arrived back from the conference in New York.”
She knew that what he was saying was the truth, but…she loved Lugar! How could she marry a man for political reasons when she was so emotionally involved already?
“Just think about it,” Girad said, then stood and kissed her on the top of her head. “I’m not the best person to council anyone on emotional issues,” he laughed. “But it just seems like a good situation for everyone. Although, this has to be your choice.”
With that, he headed to his next meeting, leaving Avi even more confused than before.
Chapter 12
Lugar stepped into the Cordaire palace filled with emotions that he didn’t fully understand. He was eager to see Aviera again, and there was a sense of rightness in being here that startled him.
And yet, the idea of continuing his relationship with Aviera just…wasn’t possible.
He didn’t allow any of these thoughts to show on his face as he greeted Sheik Girad. In fact, he couldn’t seem to wipe the scowl from his features, but that was mostly because Aviera wasn’t here to greet him. For the past several days, ever since he’d received the invitation from Sheik Girad to discuss a lessening of the tensions between their two countries, he’d been anticipating seeing her, holding her in his arms. And yeah, he wanted to kiss her and feel her melt against him once more.
Not that he’d do that here in her home. It would be disrespectful to the peace process to insult his host by making a move on the man’s sister. Still…the thought had occurred to him. On several occasions, he admitted, if only to himself.
“Sheik Lugar,” Girad boomed. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
Lugar shook the other man’s hand, nodding in agreement. “Thank you for making the offer. I wish that I’d initiated communications between our two countries, but either way, it’s good to finally meet with you.”
The two men nodded formally. There were no reporters this time. The meetings were being done in secret until some of the main issues could be discussed. After that, their meetings would be more open to the press and, hopefully, their conversations could coax out a peace agreement between the two countries.
So for the next four hours, he and his aides sat around a table with Girad, discussing the various issues. By the afternoon, everyone needed a break from the intense, but productive negotiations.
They moved into the dining room where the palace staff had laid out an impressive meal, obviously trying to both impress and soothe any stinging tempers from the morning meetings.
“How about a ride?” Girad offered.
Lugar started to nod, but there was an odd light in the man’s eyes. Was this a trick of some sort? A way to lure him away from his guards for some nefarious purpose?
Lugar hesitated for only a moment. If Girad was going to attack, then Lugar was ready! He sized up the other man. They were about the same height and brawn, so Lugar was confident that he could take the man in a hand to hand battle. So, what was it about the man’s look that gave him pause?
Nothing to do but find out, Lugar decided.
“I would enjoy a horseback ride,” he agreed, nodding his head. After changing into riding clothes, Lugar followed a servant out to the path that led to the stables where Girad was waiting for him.
“I thought we’d ride out to the mountains.”
“Excellent,” Lugar replied. He loved riding and had his own stallion back in Shadir that was too difficult for most people to handle. But Lugar and his stallion had an agreement. The stallion obeyed Lugar’s commands until they were out in the open, then Lugar released control and the horse was allowed to run fast and hard. Lugar hoped that Girad’s stables had a similarly opinionated horse.
But even as they moved down the stone pathway, Lugar sensed something strange. That odd look was still in the other man’s eyes and…damn it, where was Aviera? She had to know that he was here in Cordaire! Why the hell hadn’t she come to see him?
With a sigh, he stared ahead, frustrated that he didn’t have all of the information. Usually, he was pretty good at resolving mysteries and puzzles. But he admitted that he was stumped now.
His mind worked overtime, trying to figure out what he wasn’t grasping…until he rounded the corner in the pathway towards the stables and came to a stop. Full stop. Stunned stop!
“What the hell?!” he muttered, not sure he believed what his eyes were telling him. Because…surely that wasn’t…it couldn’t be…! “Is that a giraffe?” he asked, absently acknowledging that his host had stopped as well.
Turning, Lugar looked at Girad and, suddenly, the other man’s strange look made sense. “You have a giraffe. In your stables.”
Girad threw his head back, laughing.
Lugar crossed his arms over his chest, waiting for the other man to stop laughing. Why the hell did the man have a giraffe living among his horses? He’d heard of cats and kittens that controlled the rodent population around stables. Mice and rats were always around stables because of the hay, which formed excellent protection from the heat during the daylight hours and the cold temperatures at night, while the oats for the horses were attractive food sources for scavengers. No matter how clean the stables, horses weren’t tidy when they ate and the oats fell to the ground, allowing the mice to grab their own meal from those fallen bits.
So yeah, cats were not only around, but were a welcome addition to stables. Horses formed friendships with the cats, and even the dogs loved being around stables because of the relative freedom they enjoyed in the open air hallways.
But a giraffe? Never in his life had he seen a giraffe outside of a zoo or in the wild. Never, ever, had he seen one in a stable.
“That’s George,” Girad finally said when he’d regain
ed control. “And I’m sorry, but it’s such a strange sight that I rarely warn anyone when they are first time visitors to the palace.”
Lugar could appreciate that. “But…why do you have a giraffe?”
Girad chuckled again. “You’ve met my sister,” he replied, watching Lugar closely. But Lugar didn’t move a muscle, not sure what the man knew of his relationship with Aviera. “She is…special,” he finally continued. “She loves animals and seems to have a strange connection with them. It’s almost as if she can talk to them in their own language, although I know that’s not possible. Aviera has a sort of Dr. Doolittle aura to her.” He shook his head as they turned and continued towards the stables. “Just wait until you see this donkey she’s adopted. It has got to be the ugliest thing God ever created, and yet, Avi adores the beast. Seriously loves him! And when she calls out for Otis, the damn thing comes running and they snuggle. George snuggles with her as well, but Avi has to climb that stupid contraption over there,” he explained, waving his hand in the direction of a large, wooden platform with a staircase.
Lugar peered at it and understood that Avi would have to climb higher in order to greet the giraffe, but…a freaking giraffe? He watched as the long-necked animal chewed happily on some leaves set up in a strange, basket-like contraption that was high up in the air. He realized that the structure mimicked the trees where the giraffe would find his food. Ingenious, really, but…it was still a giraffe!
Avi strolled down the pathway, humming a song she’d heard earlier this morning. She knew Girad had taken Lugar out for a ride after lunch, but surely they’d have returned by now and would be long gone from the stables.
Yes, she knew that she’d have to see Lugar again. Avi wasn’t sure if she was looking forward to seeing him, or dreading their first meeting. Everything had been so intense in New York. Had she only imagined her attraction to him? Her feelings when she’d come back seemed unrealistic, and yet, she still dreamed about him every night. And every morning, she woke up with a pain in her chest because any sort of relationship between them was impossible.
Hence, the reason why she’d waited so long to come down to visit Otis and George. Granted, they weren’t the only animals that she’d adopted over the years. There was also a pretty kitty with half an ear gone and his tail broken so that the cat now had an L shaped tail, a dog that had no distinguishable parentage and the longest pink tongue she’d ever seen, as well as a few stray kittens that her brother still didn’t know about since Avi had hidden them in the back stalls where he rarely ventured. Usually, Avi was able to find homes for her homeless friends before her brother ever knew about them.
But sometimes, like in the case of Otis, a donkey with welts along his back from being beaten by his previous owner, and George, who had become too old and the zoo that had kept him was going to euthanize him, were a bit harder to hide from her brother. In George’s case, the sweet, wonderful giraffe was pretty hard to hide. The guy was over twenty feet tall, after all! And in the case of Otis, he was too ugly for anyone to want him. Plus, because of the abuse he’d endured most of his life, he refused to get near anyone other than Avi and some of her more trusted stable hands.
Her brother had thrown a fit when she’d brought George to the palace in a special transport so that he wouldn’t get hurt while traveling to his new home. For that addition to the stables, Avi hadn’t asked her brother’s permission. She was fairly sure that Girad would vehemently say no to adding an elderly giraffe to the herd. So, Avi had gone with forgiveness versus permission.
Now Avi knew that Girad secretly liked both George and Otis. She’d spotted Girad bringing lettuce leaves to George and apples to the donkey, although if Avi ever asked about it, her brother would grumble and huff a bit, not bothering to answer the question.
Avi stood at the side of the fence line and whistled. Moments later, she heard the thundering hooves and smiled, bracing herself as Otis sprinted around the corner of the stables. “Hi there, handsome!” she greeted the sweet donkey.
Otis barely broke his stride as he sidled up to her, rubbing his rough fur against her legs and nuzzling her hands with his wet nose.
“Oh, you’re my sweet boy, aren’t you?” she hummed. “And I know that it isn’t me that you really want, but the treats I have. Am I right?”
Otis brayed and sniffed her pockets until Avi pulled the apples out. With careful dexterity, Otis picked up each apple slice, never touching her fingers with his big teeth.
While Otis chomped on the apple, Avi scratched his ears and rubbed his fur. “You’re looking extra nice today. Did you get a bath? You certainly look very clean!”
“Are you seriously having a conversation with that donkey?” a rough, deep voice teased.
Avi swung around, feeling Otis press against her. A fraction of a second later, Otis bared his teeth at Lugar who was leaning against the fence. His startled expression would be amusing if she weren’t so surprised to find him down here.
Avi put a hand on Otis’ head, soothing the nervous donkey and silently telling him that he was safe. Otis leaned more firmly against her, acting like a protector, but he went silent as Avi continued to scratch his ears.
“What are you doing down here?”
“Your brother and I just came back from a ride,” he explained, watching her carefully.
“Oh,” she replied, looking around for her brother. “I thought…I thought you’d gone out earlier.”
He smiled slightly, his eyes capturing her gaze. “Which means that you were trying to avoid me, is that it?”
“No!” she gasped, not wanting him to think that she’d do something so cowardly, even though that’s exactly what she’d done. “I just…well, you have government business with my brother and we…you and I…?”
“Our business is personal,” he stated firmly with a slight nod. “I agree.”
His eyes moved down to look at Otis once again, his lips curling slightly with…amusement? Admiration? “You and the donkey seem to be good friends.”
Avi looked down at Otis, continuing to soothe him with her touch. “Otis has had a hard enough life.”
Lugar’s dark, penetrating eyes swung back to hers. “He’s scarred and ugly, Avi.”
She straightened up to her full height, furious with him for the comment. “If someone is scarred or wounded, that only means that they have depth. They will love harder and more completely when someone accepts them for who they are,” she spoke forcefully.
Lugar looked down, lifting an eyebrow. Avi followed his gaze, realizing that she’d actually covered Otis’ ears, as if the donkey could understand someone denigrating his image. Otis simply stood there, accepting whatever touches she’d offer. “He’s a wonderful companion to George and I just...” she stopped, hoping that Lugar didn’t know about her pet giraffe. “Well, Otis is a good donkey who just needs a bit of love.”
Lugar didn’t say anything for a long moment. He stood there, watching her protect Otis, a strange light in his eyes.
“Do you always adopt and fall in love with the ugly beasts in this world?”
“No!” she replied, shrugging slightly. “I just…well, Otis has been abused and he needs someone to understand him. He’s not mean,” she explained. “He’s just afraid of being hurt again.”
“And you know how to soothe scarred beasts,” he replied, nodding his head knowingly. “You’ll be at dinner tonight, correct?”
Avi’s heart pounded in her chest and she rubbed Otis’ ears a bit more firmly. “Yes. I’ll be there.”
He nodded. “Good. You and I will talk after dinner.”
With that, he walked away and Avi could only stare at him, stunned by the conversation even if she didn’t completely understand it. Was he making fun of her? She didn’t think so. But…what did it mean?
Chapter 13
Lugar dressed in formal attire, looking forward to dinner. The more he and Girad had talked over the course of the day, the more Lugar respected the man. He was a
good ruler, ready to defend the rights of his people, but willing to be fair about concessions that would help both of their countries. Plus, the man’s reaction to his sister’s obsession with saving all of the wounded, abandoned beasts in the world…it gave him hope. As he buttoned the cuffs of his shirt, he tugged the fabric over the scars on his wrists.
And yes, he was going to reveal all, and ask if she might be willing to consider him one of her beasts.
At first, he’d been hesitant to touch her during their time in New York. She was so damn beautiful! But the more he’d gotten to know her through their late night phone conversations, and feeling her melt against him during their brief, pre-breakfast kisses, he wanted to try. No, he didn’t want her to love him simply because he was scarred, both inside and out. He wanted her love because…hell, he didn’t know. But he wanted her. The way she’d defended that damned ugly donkey had given him hope.
Nor was he going to marry her simply for a political union. Just the idea of such a thing left a sour taste in his mouth. He wanted Avi because…because he suspected that they would work well together. And he wanted her in his bed. Hell, he was just like the dammed donkey, wanting her gentle touch and soothing affection.
With disgust, he turned away from the mirror, heading to the dining room. His guards surrounded him as he made his way through the long, ornate hallways of the palace. His guards were worried about this foray into their enemy’s domain. He understood that. This was unprecedented territory. His lead guard had argued furiously that Lugar should stay in a hotel instead of the palace. Lugar had been just as adamant that he should stay in the palace. He and Girad had discussed the issue and neither wanted the press getting a tip about their negotiations until they had something solid to present to their people.
And if he could bring back a wife, or at least a fiancée…!
Ten minutes later, he was talking with Girad in the dining room, laughing about something, when Avi stepped into the room.
Forbidden Seduction (The Diamond Club Book 12) Page 6
