Hearts of Ishira (Hearts of Ishira Saga) (55 page)

But dammit, he wanted his little one, and he wanted her now.

Arianna was drifting, weightless and limp, when she felt a warm, wet washcloth between her legs. Unable to rouse herself to do more than shift restlessly, she allowed Jace to bathe her, then stretched and enjoyed it as he brought a fresh cloth and bathed the rest of her body of their shared sweat. When she was reasonably clean, he left again, only to come back with a fluffy towel to rub her body dry.

She smiled and blinked sleepily up at him. He grinned back in response, his eyes warm with intimacy. She beckoned him closer, drew him down for a sweet kiss when he obliged and settled beside her on the bed. He leaned his head on one hand, the other gently rubbing over her tummy, as though he did not wish to stop touching her, even for a moment.

“That was…” she sighed happily. “Amazing.”

“It was,” he agreed, catching her hand and bringing it up to his lips for a soft kiss, holding her gaze. “It was worth the wait.”

“Yes,” she whispered, touching his lips with her fingertips. He closed his eyes and kissed them, then took her hand and started kissing her palm, her wrist, tracing the blue veins there with his tongue, pausing to feel the life force beating through her body.

“
You
are amazing,” he breathed, tucking her closer to him, her head resting on his arm now, as he lay back down and snugged her firmly to him. She drew the blankets over them both, prepared to take a short nap, when she heard the door to their quarters open and shut. Looking up at Jace, she felt her face burn with color.

“Now what?” she asked shyly. He smiled at her, tenderness shining from his blue eyes.

“Now, we enjoy each other, fully, all the time, anywhere, just because we can. That’s what.”

“I like how my brother’s mind works,” Hunter said, lounging in the doorway, looking down at them. Jace, completely unabashed, slid up in the bed, rearranging the pillows behind him and tucking one arm behind his head in a nonchalant pose. He grinned up at his brother.

“Good! Wouldn’t want there to be any problems.”

“There will be none. A few of the other men have given me much to think about, brother.” His hot gaze lingered on Arianna’s kiss-swollen lips and rosy cheeks, and he slowly grinned at her. It was a rather wicked grin that kicked her heartbeat up three extra notches.

“For now… let us eat. I do not know about either of you, but I have worked up quite an appetite today.”

Jace got out of bed, naked and unashamed, while Hunter was still standing there. Arianna shot him a shy glance, but Hunter took away her embarrassment by lunging forward and yanking the covers from her body. With a startled yelp of protest, Ri leaped to her feet, glaring up at him. Both men chuckled at the adorable little noise she made, then watched in admiration as she swept her clothes up from the floor, threw her head in the air, and pointedly ignored them as she stalked out of the room stark naked. Her long dark hair was mussed from loving, but it hung low enough to swish tantalizingly above her full, rosy bottom. Jace came to stand beside his brother in the doorway as they watched their little woman pull her clothing into place.

“She is the most fascinating creature,” Jace murmured, “Is she not?”

“That she is. And we will share her with no one!” Hunter growled. Jace threw him a startled glance.

“Has anyone else expressed interest?” he said, then shrugged. “Not that I would blame them. There is nothing not to want about her. But has someone asked to join us?”

“No,” Hunter snapped. “But they will. And when they do, the answer is no.”

“When they do, brother,” Jace reminded him gently, “The choice is hers.”

Hunter whirled on his brother, the look in his eyes fiercely possessive.

“Then we must see to it that she has neither the time nor the desire for another.”

“I am doing my part,” Jace grinned, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. “Finally.” Hunter rolled his eyes, then smiled ruefully.

“As am I. We simply must continue to do so.”

“As our little one says, I’m game,” Jace said with a laugh.

Moving forward, the men joined her in the kitchen, taking things from her hands and urging her to sit on the stool and watch them as they cooked the meal.

“How am I supposed to learn, if you won’t let me do anything?” she huffed, but did as they asked. She watched them, taking mental notes as they cooked.

“You will learn when it is necessary,” Hunter told her, flicking a piece of vegetable at her. She caught it nimbly and chewed on it as they worked.

“But I want to learn,” she insisted. He straightened from lighting the fire beneath the grill and looked at her curiously.

“Why?” he asked simply. “We are happy to provide for you and please you.”

“Hunter, if we’re going to be a family one day-“

“We are a family already,” Jace reminded her gently. She colored prettily, then nodded to acknowledge his point.

“If we’re going to have a household together… I need to know how to take care of myself, in case something happens and the two of you aren’t around for some reason.”

“There will not be a time when that is so,” Hunter assured her.

She felt like screaming in frustration. She loved that they were so willing to take care of her. She really did. It was such a welcome change from the men she’d dated back home, and she was sure she’d never get used to being doted upon as these two were doing. But really, enough was enough!

“I
like
cooking!” she finally told them. The men stopped and looked at her in surprise. “I’m serious. I enjoy it. Some of the women on my world love cooking more than anything else, and live for providing their families with tasty meals. I like doing that sometimes, too. And I hate being helpless. I was helpless for the first few weeks, but I’ve got my energy and my stamina back, and I want to be useful to you. I want to take care of you guys, like you have taken care of me. I’m not used to being the one that’s pampered. I’m used to doing the pampering.”

The men looked at each other and shrugged. Finally, Jace took something out of one of the drawers and, handing her a knife and a marble-looking cutting block, gave her a pile of vegetables to prepare. She wasn’t as good at slicing them properly as the men were, but by the time she reached the bottom of the pile, she was able to present them with a decent offering. Hunter nodded in approval then dumped the legumes into the pot of stew he was creating.

They talked and joked as the pot came to a boil. Hunter put the lid on it and turned down the heat.

“The stew will take a bit to cook,” he said as he washed his hands. “Perhaps a walk through the compound while it simmers?”

Arianna nodded and hopped down from the stool to fetch the pretty little leather slippers Jace had made her.

Other family groups were out and about as well, enjoying the lengthening evening light. Spring was leaving and summer would soon be upon them. But there was a bit of a chill to the air that had not been there since the women had arrived. Hunter and Jace both looked up at the sky, frowning.

“It is unseasonably cool tonight. Usually, it is much warmer this time of year.” Jace noted. Hunter nodded thoughtfully, his brow furrowing.

“Perhaps I should check the weather systems, make certain that there is not a late snow storm brewing,” he said, then, kissing Arianna on the forehead, promised to return shortly and hurried off to the command center.

“How are you guys powering your computers and scanners?” she asked, curious. Jace tucked her hand through his bent elbow and covered it with his other hand.

“When we were hit by the Solvari, the shields were able to confine most of the damage to the non-vital areas… landing gear, and such. There are separate power systems for the engines and warp drives than for the life support and living areas, as well as the computer stations. So we were able to salvage enough from those to cobble together a working computer system, though it is far more limited than the systems back on our planet, or the system that ran the ship. We do not, for example, have enough power to generate a strong enough signal to drive even a homing beacon so that any of our people can find us, though the engineers have been working on that and promise that they’re close to a solution. We have been able to collect enough solar energy to keep the computers running for systems such as weather tracking and perimeter monitoring. And we’re able to run one long-range scan every so often, to sweep for possible intruders… or our own ships, if we get that lucky. We’ve got wind turbines going in the passes of the mountains, feeding energy this way, and we have water-power for our mills and wood-shop. Some of it is primitive, but it works and it has little impact on the ecosystem here, so it is preferable to older, more damaging forms of energy.”

Arianna stopped and blinked up at him in surprise. Everything she had seen had been sort of medieval in feel. They used wood for warming and cooking fires, and candles and oil lamps for light inside. Torches were used in the larger areas that needed lighting, and along the corridors. She had seen a water wheel that she assumed was used for grinding the sort of grains they’d found that could provide bread, though the bread was unleavened and hard. But she also knew that they had computer systems, the med scanners, and the ability to replicate and use nano-technology.

She was a bit charmed that, though they obviously had the technology and the knowledge to live more high-tech, they had chosen to take the low-tech, environmentally friendly route instead.

“I’m impressed,” she told him, grinning, then teased, “Here I thought you were all barbarian warriors with good looks and charm, but you’re actually high-tech soldiers.”

“We are both of those, little Arianna,” he assured her, sweeping her up against his chest for a playful twirl and a quick kiss on her lips. “And more. We are much more. Warriors on our world have to be a little bit of everything, and we pride ourselves on that. Only those who are qualified in many different areas are allowed to venture into space, and for the very reason you see now.”

His arm swept the compound. With a happy leap of her heart, Arianna saw that Hunter was returning to them.

“Space ship crews are carefully chosen, not just for the warriors’ prowess in battle, but also for the group’s good.” Jace went on. “We can have all the best warriors, but if they are dumb as posts and none are able to build a decent shelter, we’re all, as you once put it so eloquently, screwed.”

“So the crews are not chosen just by a warrior’s fighting skills,” Hunter took up the conversation as though he’d been there the entire time, “But with a mind toward settlement, if the need arises. We have men who are as proficient with architecture and engineering as they are with our most advanced weapons systems and fighting techniques. We have medical staff that is trained to work with or without scanners,” he nodded toward his brother, ““Though the lazy ones prefer the scanners.”

Jace chuckled, too satisfied with life at the moment to respond to his brother’s teasing as he normally would.

“I am not lazy, brother, but prefer the precision of the scanners to my own limited memory or observational abilities. If I had to function without the med-scans, I could. I just prefer not to until I must. It’s better for my patients.”

“And we have men of varying skill levels and abilities for woodworking, leather-working, animal husbandry, biology, horticulture, geology, crypto-zoology and biology… everything we could think to need should we find ourselves in the very situation we are presently in.”

“So what are you, fearless leader?” Arianna asked Hunter playfully, taking his hand in hers and intertwining their fingers. She did the same with Jace, on her other side. “Of all on that impressive list, what can you do?”

“All of it,” he told her. The serious look in his eyes told her that he was not kidding. She sobered and sat down on the bench where she and the ladies generally gathered. He sat beside her with Jace on her other side. Their big, warm bodies protected her from the evening breeze and kept the chill at bay for a bit longer.

“All of it?” she asked softly, looking at him with new appreciation. He nodded.

“The Commander, my brother,” Jace said quietly, proudly, “Is one of the very few warriors trained to single-handedly take charge of a group of people and instruct them in how to create a stronghold and equitable living situation such as this. He has been trained in advanced politics as well as all the other things we’ve mentioned, and many more beyond. Who do you think taught the men to spin and weave when we needed cloth for warmth?”

Arianna looked up at Hunter with a bit of awe. He looked a little uncomfortable with his brother’s praise, his face coloring in a way that melted her heart.

“And
my
brother,” Hunter said in his deep, sure voice, “Is second in command because he has been trained in all of those things as well, is our chief medical officer, and is fully prepared, at a moment’s notice, to step into my role, should something happen to me. Had he been a Reader, as I am, he could easily have earned the command of his own ship.”

For a long time, as the sun lowered over the trees, the men told her about their military training, which was not so very different from on earth, though they seemed to have had much more of it, in many more areas. But then, they were older than she and the Earth ladies were, by quite a bit. They had had many more years to collect their knowledge, and from what Hunter told her, educational courses were still available on the computers, though the men tried to only research them when the sun was fully out, so that they did not use precious stores of energy for learning. When possible, someone actually held a class or workshop on how to do things the entire group should know, such as when they found new plants or animals and needed to know about them for food, medicine, or protection. Some of the plants were incredibly poisonous, and some of the animals were fierce and deadly. Instructing all the men at once on those matters was vital. Those classes would now include the women, as Hunter wanted to be sure that the girls were as adept at gathering food stores and avoiding catastrophe as his men were.