Discovery (Hybrid Book 1) (11 page)

He pulled his horse into a walk as the canter was causing him significant discomfort due to a growing erection. She slowed to stay with him.

Chesara was silent. Presumably, she was still dwelling on how people were far more interested in her gift then in her, as a person. After meeting her, he probably would have tried his luck with her anyway, but only if he thought she was fully human.

It was just lucky for him that she was attractive. Having to seduce a woman and put a child in her wouldn’t have been nearly as much fun if she’d been ugly or dull. The thought of the impending ‘uncle ordered’ seduction brought him back to his current purpose, to get Chesara to like him. Which was a tough ask considering they were both exhausted, cold and damp in the unpleasant drizzle. The odour of wet horse didn’t add anything to the ambiance.

“Chesara?”

“Yes?”

“May I ask you something personal?”

As expected, Chesara’s weary eyes turned towards him raising her eyebrows in a ‘what do you think?’ look, at least she was talking to him again.

“I’ll take that as a yes.” Keeping a completely straight face, he said, “I’ve been around, although I’m not as well travelled as you. However, I have spoken to many people, both shall we say ‘well bred’ and ah, ‘not so well bred’. And never, ever in all my years have I heard such a repertoire of profanity as vast and varied as yours. It is a truly glorious and awe inspiringly talent, and I bow before your magnificence.” He performed a deep bow in her direction.

When she giggled, he knew he had her.

“How ever did you gather such an impressive selection of expletives?” he managed, as he laughed with her.

“A girl doesn’t give up her secrets that easily you know,” she said and gave him a conspirator’s wink after conspicuously checking the empty forest surrounding them for possible spies. “But I’ll tell you as you’re already officially in ‘the club’, although I usually extract a blood oath before accepting a new member.”

At that moment, two men in his family’s green livery stepped out of the trees, and Chesara’s horse shied. His heart shot into his mouth as she squealed and tumbled over the horse’s shoulder. She landed on her butt in a puddle of muddy water with an oomph, having had all the air knocked out of her lungs.

T
he sharp stab of fear and adrenaline that shot threw her, changed to outright rage as the two men laughed.

One greeted Tenset with, “Good evening my Lord, I’m surprised to see you back this early, I was under the impression you were going to the Palace with your off world guest this evening.”

As Chesara sat gasping in the mud, trying to persuade her lungs to actually function again, the guard added, “They certainly have strange and sophisticated ways my Lord.”

By this time, he wasn’t even trying to hide his grin as he walked over to her to help her up.

“You all right, Sir?” the other guard asked, as he eyed Tenset’s bloody shirt.

“Fine, it’s not mine.”

Chesara didn’t give the man her hand; instead she called him a dickhead in several old Terran languages. It made her feel somewhat better, and the puzzled look on their faces when she growled out, “Eikel, zalupa and stronzo,” helped immensely.

“What’s she saying my Lord? Doesn’t she speak standard?” asked the second guard.

Tenset slid off his horse.

“I really don’t think you want to know what she’s saying, and I’m certain I don’t. Apparently a hobby of hers is collecting, how I shall put it, ‘colourful’ local language.”

“What are you grinning at?” she fumed. “It’s time you lived up to your promise of hospitality, I’m wet, cold, I look like a stoephoer, plus I’m starving and utterly knackered.”

Tenset handed the broken halter straps to the silent guard. Both of them seemed gobsmacked by the way she’d spoken to their ‘Lord’. This was a ‘traditional’ society, so they’d probably never heard someone speak to him like that, even the men at the pub had been respectful and polite, before they’d beaten the hell out of him.

Tenset slipped off his horse. “I’m afraid you’re going back to the Bull, Melton. There’s a body there. It’s Ox. I’d like you to make sure he isn’t found, and also have a word with the inn keeper. It’s imperative that our presence during the miracle that happened this evening isn’t spread.”

“Miracle?”

Tenset smiled broadly. “Rosanne can walk again.” Both guards developed equally silly grins.

By this time, Chesara had managed to pull herself out of the mud. She gaped as Tenset made a flowery formal bow and offered his arm to her in totally out of place gallant gesture, given the circumstances.

“My dear Madam Envoy, may I escort you to my humble abode? May I offer you a hot bath, clean clothes, a hearty meal, and a soft bed?”

Chesara blinked at the quick turn in the atmosphere, and decided that if Mr. Fancy Pants from a backwater planet could pull it together, then so the hell could she. Even though she felt quite tearful, after being scared out of her wits, on top of being exhausted, sore, dirty, and humiliated at the laughter of the guards, she could be as fucking ‘la de dah’ as this popinjay any day of the week.

She curtsied surprisingly gracefully, despite the fact she’d lost one of the fancy sandals.

“Oh my dear Lord Tenset, I couldn’t think of anything more divine,” she gushed, whilst fluttering her eyelashes.

Taking his arm, she walked imperiously towards the large, ornate metal gates she could now see on the side of the road, a little way ahead in the gloom.

Once they were out of earshot of the guards, she leaned over and whispered in his ear. “Do you think they bought it?”

His loud laugh echoed around the trees. When she continued to bob up and down with every step due to the lost shoe, he swept her up in his arms, quickening his pace.

“I can walk you big ape. Anyway you need to take it easy, I’m not tiny, and that wound might look healed, but it’ll still take some time to get back to normal.”

Privately she was mortified that he’d realize what a lump she was, not to mention that he’d actually hurt himself again proving how ‘macho’ he was.

“I know you can walk, but my stomach’s rumbling, as is yours, we both smell like wet horse and you’re freezing. And at your pace, we’ll still be out here when the sun comes up.”

He paused before moving his mouth close to her ear. “By the way, you’re light as a feather, my chest is fine, and I’m quite enjoying looking after you for a change,” and he placed a gentle kiss on her hair.

Not being able to think of a witty comeback, she decided to enjoy the ride. Laying her head on the broad, muscular chest she was being held against, she didn’t see the satisfied smile spreading across his face.

After several minutes walking up the winding driveway, through manicured gardens, Chesara opened an eye and saw they were approaching an imposing white stone building. Three stories high it spread out on both sides of a huge, ornate double door, covered by a stone canopy that supported by two white columns, it was large enough to drive a carriage underneath.

As he marched up the small flight of steps to the doors, he announced softly in her ear, “welcome to my humble abode, the seat of the Shamir Family.” He pushed the door open and went straight up the broad flight of stone steps that dominated the entrance hall. Like the exterior of the building, everything was white stone, but indoors rich, deep green carpets helped to soften the coldness of the stone. Chesara noted that he hesitated at the top of the stairs at the point the staircase split into two sweeping wings, before turning to the right.

“Can’t you remember which way to go in your own house?” she asked against his chest, grateful that no one had appeared to see her significantly dishevelled appearance.

She was acutely aware that the majority of her legs, from the tops of her thighs to her ankles were visible, and they were caked in mud. At least she hoped it was just mud. His warm breath tickled her ear.

“Just deciding whether to put you in my bed straight away, or be a gentleman and put you in a guest room.”

Chesara didn’t know whether she was relieved or disappointed when she looked around the obvious ‘guest room’ he stepped into. He carried her straight into the bathroom and put her down. “Sorry didn’t want to risk you sitting on the bed, my house keeper is a real dragon, and she’d rip me to shreds if we got mud on the bedspread.”

She looked around the predominantly white room, eyes focusing on the large tub, almost drooling at the thought of the warm soapy water covering her. She heard a chuckle and turned to Tenset, having completely forgotten him for a moment.

“The choice is bath then bed, or bath, food then bed.” Her stomach rumbled, and she pulled a face.

“That settles that. I’ll get some clothes laid out for you. I’ll be back so we can eat in about an hour,” he said and leaned in and kissed her softly.

“Don’t get carried away with your new lover,” his eyes indicated the tub, “I get jealous you know.” He winked and left, shutting the door gently.

Chesara wondered if he knew being winked at made her belly flutter as if she had butterflies in there. As she turned on the taps and poured some scent into the water that she’d found on the side of the bath, she decided that with his practiced manners, he damn well did know about girls and the ‘wink’ thing.

She quickly stripped and sank into the hot water with a groan, so good so very, very good. She let the water soak into her for a few minutes before she reluctantly started to wash. She certainly didn’t want to keep Tenset, or her stomach, waiting too long to eat, besides there was a real danger she’d fall asleep in the tub if she relaxed for too long. Thinking about Tenset, and his broad, muscular chest and sparkling blue eyes made her feel a little restless, and she wondered where things would lead with him.

This time she was on her own, without a chaperone and although she knew Connor would catch up soon enough, the old Terran saying of ‘while the cat’s away, the mice will play.’ came to mind. She had a brief mental imaged of two bodies entwined, the one on the bottom having markings just like hers. Her nipples rose to tight pebbles at the thought.

She climbed out of the tub after about fifteen minutes. After doing a pirouette to check out her aching backside in the mirror, she was happy to see there were no bruises from being thrown by the horse, it was just due to riding for the first time in years.

Tenset had said she was beautiful and sexy, and for perhaps the first time, she tried to see what others saw beyond her odd body markings. To be honest, she had to admit, it wasn’t too bad. She certainly went in and out in all the right places, perhaps more than most women did. Did Tenset like curves or was did he prefer a more ‘athletic’ build? She ran her hands over her curves, imagining they were someone else’s.

Touching herself had never had an attraction for her, but after being with the flirty Tenset all afternoon, she was still rather wound up. Perhaps if she was less desperate, she might be able to resist, or rather make some more sensible choices than she would do if she all she could think about were his hands on her.

The mirror had revealed not only a bruise free backside, but hair that was doing a good impression of a walking bird’s nest, complete with twigs, leaves and mud. She stepped inside shower the cubicle and sniffed at the potions on the shelf. Turning on the water, she set to work cleaning her hair as she wondered what Tenset would think of her lack of hair down below.

It had been quite a concern that she hadn’t developed ‘adult’ body hair or started periods like girls her age usually did, but as she’d got older, she been quite pleased she didn’t have to go through regular hair removal procedures or deal with cramps and bleeding. Yet more weirdness to add to the least that was Chesara, but Tenset seemed to like her anyway.

T
enset sat in his bedroom, with a glass of strong liquor as he watched the portable screen leaning up against his pillow. He’d already showered and changed into casual cream pants and a dark blue shirt while she soaked.

He’d hurried, hoping he’d get to see her step out of the bath as he’d only seen her from the back as she’d got in. But even that quick glimpse was enough to prove he hadn’t been wrong about how gorgeous she was. Those marking just emphasized her curves, and they weren’t slight to begin with. His little hybrid was padded in all the right places, whilst maintaining a slim waist and lithe limbs.

Taking a swallow of his drink, he nearly coughed as she got up out of the bath, facing the camera he was viewing. She didn’t have any body hair. None. He’d heard that it was the fashion to trim or even shave pubic hair off in other cultures, but he’d never been with a woman who did. It would certainly make tasting her a more pleasant experience. The thought made his dick start to sit up and take notice.

He was slightly surprised when she’d moved from the bath to the shower after examining herself in the mirror with a slight frown. How could she possibly think she wasn’t attractive? Then again, most women had some sort of hang-up about their bodies. Even though he never said it out loud, some of his partners had definitely had areas that could be better, but Chesara was ticking every box he’d ever imagined, twice.

As he saw her examine the bottles he understood, yes her hair had taken a bit of a battering tonight. Moments later, his pupils dilated as he watched her hands move from massaging water and shampoo into her hair, to roaming around her delicious body. At first he thought she was just washing again, but this wasn’t functional cleaning, this was sensual stroking. She wasn’t going to...

When she started to concentrate on massaging her breasts, far more than mere cleanliness would need, he nearly decided that god did exist. His cock pulsed when she left out a soft groan at the pleasure she was experiencing.

Her next move had him going from semi-erect to rock hard in the blink of an eye. Tenset nearly exploded in his pants like a teenage boy as Chesara took the shower head down from its clip, She spread her legs started to play the water against her sex.

The scene had him letting out a groan, never had a sight taken him with such force. It was so innocent and yet incredibly arousing, like being hit with pure bolt of lust. He watched slack jawed, as fingers of one hand tweaked her nipples in turn.