FEARLESS: The King Series, Book One (30 page)

“I won’t.” He kissed me then, packing into it all of the passion and emotion of our conversation. It was impossible to doubt him, impossible not to feel the depth and sincerity of all his words. His thoughts exploded into my head until I couldn’t separate mine from his, and I lost myself in the intimacy and intensity of the moment.

When he pulled himself away from me, it was with considerable regret. My arms were still entwined around his neck, trapped between the headrest and his body, and we were both trying to catch our breath.

I don’t want to stop. I could stay like this, right here with her, forever and never get tired of it…

My mouth was still close to his, and I smiled against his lips. “I think you might change your mind after your legs go numb.”

“Nope. I told you, there will be no mind changing here.”

“I think someone would miss us, eventually. And find us.”

Michael stroked my back. “Probably. We could lock the doors.”

I giggled. We didn’t often take time to be silly like this, just in love and talking nonsense. And after the intensity of our conversation, the levity was a welcome relief.

But even as I rested my head against his shoulder, smiling in the simple joy of being with him, a thought crossed my mind. It had been skirting my memory for a few days, refusing to stay down.

“Michael,” I murmured against his neck. “I was thinking about something.”

He brought my lips to his again and whispered, “Something like this?”

“No. But that was very nice, thanks. No, I was thinking about that first time in the woods, with Nell and Amber.”

He straightened a bit, shifting me slightly so that my head lay against his arm. “What about it?”

“What do you think happened to the knife?”

Michael didn’t ask me what I meant, and I knew that it had been troubling him, too.

“I don’t know. I told myself that she’d thrown it somewhere, but I don’t see how she could have done that without me seeing it. I was on top of her so fast.”

“Did you even see it in her hand that night?”

He hesitated, frowning again. “I think—I think I did. Just a flash of it. But then again, maybe I didn’t. It happened so quickly.”

We were both quiet, considering.

“You know, when she had me tied in the clearing, she made fire.” I spoke as evenly as I could. I hadn’t mentioned that to anyone before now.

“What do you mean? She lit a fire?”

“No, I mean there were rocks, then—I could feel this shot of power going out from her—you know, I was trying to stay really attuned to her mind then, trying to keep a step ahead of her. So when that power went out—it was like nothing I’d ever experienced. It knocked the breath out of me. And then there was fire.”

I could feel Michael’s thoughts, troubled and uncertain. “If she did somehow make that knife vanish… and manage to conjure fire from nothing, what does that mean?”

I shivered, even safe in the circle of Michael’s arms. This was the disturbing possibility that had been eating at me for days.

“I guess… I guess it means there really is a lot more to the world than meets the eye. And going back to what you said earlier… maybe it means that we were
supposed
to be here, in this time and place, to fight what Nell was doing.”

Michael’s arms tightened around me. “If that’s the price we pay for having each other—then it’s worth it. As long as it’s over. As long as you’re safe. As long as we’re together.”

We clung to each other, a tiny island of serenity amidst the storm that blew around u
s
.

Thanksgiving was late that year, at the very end of November. The news reports from Wisconsin showed several inches of snow and temperatures hovering around the freezing mark.

In Florida, the sun was shining, light breezes stirred the palm tree branches, and the grass was green.

We were celebrating the day with the Sawyer family out at the nursery. This was new territory for my family; since my grandmother had passed away when I was ten, our holidays had been quiet affairs involving just the three of us.  Occasionally one of my father’s co-workers who was far from home or single would join us, but I had always thought wistfully of the large family gatherings I’d seen on television shows or read about in books.

Michael’s paternal grandparents had driven down from the Panhandle for the holiday, and I had met them the day before. They reminded me of Luke with their easy-going ways and warm embraces. Both insisted that I call them Gram and Poppy, and  I loved feeling so much a part of the family.

On Thanksgiving Day, Michael arrived at our front door promptly at noon to collect me. My parents would follow later in the afternoon, and my mother was in the kitchen baking pies for dessert.

I had dressed carefully that morning, trying on and discarding several outfits before settling on a simple brown cotton skirt and a loose weave sweater in a coordinating tan. I blew my hair dry until it was straight and then pulled part of it back with a pretty clip.

My time and attention were rewarded by the light of admiration in Michael’s eyes when I met him at the front door. I grabbed my bag and shouted a good-bye to my parents.

“What’s the rush? Dinner isn’t until four. I was going to wish your parents a happy Thanksgiving,” Michael protested as I pulled him by the hand down the front walk.

“You can do it when they come out to the nursery. I didn’t want to get held up with all the small talk.”

His long-suffering sigh was mostly in jest, and I pointedly ignored the teasing thoughts I could hear coming from him as he helped me into the car.

“I put up the top, since I figured you wouldn’t want to be wind-blown today,” he informed me as he climbed into the driver’s seat.

I glanced up at the roof in regret. “Yes, you’re probably right.” I really loved riding the country roads with the top down and the wind rushing through my hair. I had given up on learning to drive stick shift—and I hoped that Michael had given up on teaching me--but I was always a willing passenger in the Mustang. I brightened. “Maybe we could put the top down on the way home tonight.”

“Count on it.” Michael slid his hand around my neck and pulled me closer to him. My heartbeat accelerated as it always did when he was this near. My eyes slid halfway closed, but I didn’t feel the touch on my lips that I expected. Instead, Michael was looking down at my neck. He moved the hand that wasn’t around me to brush over the scars there. His eyes were troubled.

I laid my fingers against his cheek, turning his face toward mine. “Hey. What is it?” I asked softly.

“Nothing. I just… I don’t think about it all the time. But then I see these…” he traced one scar from below my chin down to my collarbone. “And it all comes back to me. How close I came to losing you.”

I grabbed his hand and held it in my own. “Stop. It’s over, and we’re both here. Nobody lost anyone.” Even as I said it, I felt a twinge of guilty regret, knowing it was untrue.  Nell had lost all, again.

We sat there, both deep in thought. Michael pulled his hand from mine and framed my face with his hands.

“You’re right,” he whispered. “I’m being silly. This is a happy day. A day to be thankful, especially knowing all that might have been.” He kissed me then, first a light brush of lips, then deeper, longer and more involved.

He leaned back just when I had forgotten to breathe, and his lips curved into the smile I loved.

“Lots to be thankful for,” he observed before he put the car into gear and pulled away from the curb.

It took me several minutes to catch my breath and gather my scattered wits. But once I did, I remembered the primary reason for my nerves today.

“So, is she there yet? Did she get home?”

“Who?” Michael asked in all assumed innocence.

“Don’t play dumb with me. You forget I can get hear you thinking, and consequently I know that Lela did in fact arrive home late last night while you and I were at the movies with Jim and Anne.”

“I don’t know why you even bother to ask me,” he muttered.

“Because you don’t think it if I don’t ask it, and I can’t hear what you’re not thinking.”

“Okay. Well, now you know. Yes, Lela was home when I got there last night.”

I listened for a few more minutes, knowing that he really didn’t object. I was becoming so tuned to Michael’s mind that our conversations were frequently an amusing jumble of shorthand as I answered questions before he asked them.

“And she was waiting for you up in your room? It was pretty late when you dropped me off.”

“Yeah, well, she ambushed me. And then grilled me for over an hour.”

“Really?” I was only slightly apprehensive. “About…?” I heard the answer before he spoke it. “Oh. Me.”

“Yes, you had the starring role. We did touch on a few other topics.”

“And did you handle it the way we discussed?” After a long talk with my parents, Michael, Luke and Marly, we had decided it would be unfair to keep Lela in the dark about my mind-hearing gift. Michael was nominated to explain everything to his sister.

My parents hadn’t changed their minds on being more open about my talent, but they
had
gotten to know the Sawyers well over the few weeks; consequently, they trusted that neither Luke nor Marly was likely to be indiscreet. That trust extended to their daughter now as well.

“I told her all about you—that you’re beautiful, intelligent, funny and caring. Oh, and the most important thing—that you’re desperately, hopelessly in love with me.”

I rolled my eyes but couldn’t help smiling in spite of myself. He might have been smug, but he was also telling the truth.

“But did you tell her about—all of me?”

“I did, eventually.”

“And what did she—oh. She didn’t believe you.”

“Not at first. And even when she said she did, last night, I don’t think she really bought it. But then this morning, while my grandparents were out for a walk, my mother convinced her that we weren’t just pulling some enormous prank.”

“How did she react after she finally knew you were telling the truth?”

Michael didn’t answer immediately, and I frowned, my heart sinking. “She thinks I’m a freak.”

“No!” Michael was emphatic. “That’s not true.”

“You don’t know that. You can’t hear what she’s thinking. But she said something like it—your mother was angry with her?” I turned questioning eyes to Michael.

“Not angry, exactly. She just corrected some misconceptions my sister might have had. In a very firm way.”

I sighed heavily. I loved the Sawyers. Already they felt very much like my family. The last thing I wanted to do was cause hurt or division.

We were quiet until we turned onto the nursery property. I had been brooding, shutting out Michael’s thoughts, but suddenly I recalled something that had crossed his mind earlier.

“You were thinking that Lela— about her being hurt. And that made me think of something that never occurred to me. You’ve told me all about the men in your family and how once you meet the one woman you’re destined for, it lasts forever. What about the women in your family? You know, the ones related by blood. Does the same go for them?”

Michael smiled wryly. “Not really. Matter of fact, things don’t always go so well for them.”

I knew there had to be a downside to this whole soul-mate deal. “Tell me.”

We had entered the empty nursery parking lot, and after the bustle of the busy autumn season, it was almost eerie to see it deserted. Michael pulled over in front of the gift shop.

“If I drive back to the cabin, they’ll all descend on us,” he explained. “Here’s the deal with the women in my family. The first answer to your question is yes, they do tend to find the one person who’s meant for them. They fall in love just once. But it doesn’t always last.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t know, exactly. I guess maybe the men they love aren’t… up to the challenge? Hard to say. But it never ends well.”

“Examples?”

“Oh… well, my great-aunt Lyn. She met her husband right after college graduation. She
knew
, she said. He was the one. They got married a year later. Had three kids. Then one day he just… left. Disappeared. She was devastated. Eventually she met someone else and got remarried, someone who loved her and the kids. She seemed pretty happy. But when she passed away a few years ago—it was her first husband’s name she spoke as she died. Her daughter told me that she’d never stopped loving him.”

I stared at Michael. “That’s one of the saddest things I’ve ever heard.”

“We don’t have that many girls on my dad’s side of the family, so it’s hard to say if what happens is the flip side of what the men experience or if it’s just bad luck.”

“And Lela—it’s got to be on her mind, right?”

“Yeah. Here I tell her that I’ve found the one person I’m going to love for the rest of my life, and I know she’s worried about whether she’ll ever feel the same about anyone—and if she does, will he be worthy of that love? Or will he leave her?” Michael reached over to take my hand, linking our fingers tightly. “So that’s part of why she might seem a little distant at first.”

“I understand.” What Lela feared wasn’t that different from how I’d pictured my future before Michael.

He pulled the car into the driveway, and I took a deep breath as we headed toward the house.

The tempting aroma of a cooking turkey greeted us as we opened the door. Luke was sprawled on the sofa, a plate balanced on one leg. His father sat in a chair near him, and they were both absorbed in the football game on television. They barely looked up as we entered, but Luke called a cheery happy Thanksgiving to me.

“Where’s Mom?” Michael asked.

“All the women are in the kitchen, discussing the pros and cons of stuffing versus dressing. It got too intense, so we decided to come out here and enjoy the serenity of football.” Luke spoke without moving his eyes from the screen.

Michael smiled and pulled me toward the kitchen. “Come on, I want you to meet Lela.” I tried to quiet the trepidation that zinged through me at his words.

Over the last few months, I’d had opportunity to spend a great deal of time in the Sawyers’ kitchen. It was usually peaceful and well ordered. Today there were bowls and pans on every surface; steam rose from pots on the stovetop, and there was a steady buzz of conversation, which halted abruptly when Michael and I entered.

“Tasmyn! There you are. Happy Thanksgiving, sweetie!” Marly swooped across the room to embrace me warmly.

“Thanks—same to you.” I returned the hug with equal affection. “Everything smells good in here!” I gazed around the room, taking in the chaos.

Gram sat perched on a stool at the counter, a cutting board and a bowl of green beans in front of her. And standing at the sink peeling potatoes was a beautiful girl who was perhaps an inch or two taller than me. Her hair was much lighter than Michael’s chestnut tones; she was very nearly blonde, with the merest hint of auburn in her curls. As she turned to look at me, I saw that her eyes were the same deep brown as Luke’s, although hers were surrounded with the long eyelashes that I envied in her brother.

Those eyes were cautiously assessing me now, showing no emotion at all. And although I had promised myself that I wouldn’t listen to her mind—certainly not before I’d gotten to know her better—I heard Lela’s first thoughts about me anyway.

So this is her. Michael’s right, she’s pretty. No, wait, he said unbelievably gorgeous.
I felt her fleeting amusement here as she recalled her brother’s enthusiastic words.
Well, he’s not wrong. You don’t see it right away, but then—oh, crap. Can she hear what I’m thinking? I forgot. Blank mind, blank mind, blank mind…

I kept my face composed as Michael led me across the kitchen. “Lela, this is Tasmyn. Tas, my sister.”

I smiled as genuinely as I could. Shaking hands seemed to be way too formal for this situation, and she wasn’t opening her arms for a hug, so I settled for a small inclination of my head. “Hi, Lela, it’s good to finally meet you. I hear so much about you from your parents and Michael.”

She wasn’t sure how to respond at first. I could feel it. I could also hear her continued efforts to keep her mind blank.

Finally Lela smiled in return. If it was a hesitant, guarded smile, it was at least real. She wasn’t sure about me yet, but she had decided to give me a chance. That was the most I could hope for, under the circumstances.

“Hi. It’s nice to meet you, too. My parents have been raving about you. On the other hand…” She swung her gaze around to Michael and archly raised one eyebrow. “My brother never seems to have time to talk to me anymore.”

Michael was unfazed. “Sorry. Life’s been a little busy.” He winked at me, and I felt my face heat.