Nuworld: Claiming Tara (5 page)

“Thelga, it’s good to see you. And Garg, you’re looking
well.” Reena nodded her head to the couple. “I’d like you to
meet my niece, Tara. She’s come to stay with me just this
other day. I daresay she’s quite a bit of help to an old lady.”
“What a comfort for a woman with no children, yes”
Thelga said, clasping her hands over her large girth. “I
daresay you’ll have her claimed before the week is out.
She’s quite the looker.”
Garg grunted and got up. He walked toward the back of
the store without saying goodbye.
“I know she is.” Reena winked, apparently not daunted
by Garg’s departure. “Her Papa’s a mite bit picky though, if
you ask me. But who asks an old lady? Turned down a
claim already. She’s his only daughter, you see. So, now
she’s with me.” Reena clucked to herself and moved toward
the fresh produce. She took a basket from a stack by the
door and handed it to Tara.
Tara wandered past barrels of produce as she followed
Reena, and watched with curiosity as the older woman
poked
and sniffed,
pinched
and shook
each vegetable
before selecting what she wanted. Evidently, it was quite a
task for Reena to find food items that suited her needs, but
finally she seemed satisfied with her choices, paid for the
items, and nodded as she led them out the door.
“Well now, that’s done,” Reena said as she chuckled to
herself. “Thelga’ll be quite busy letting the town folk know
of your arrival. I swear to you now that half the town will
come down with some ailment or another just to come see
old Reena’s niece.” She laughed out loud and wrapped her
arm around Tara’s. “You did mighty fine in the store. Now I
need to pick up some more yarn. Sirlah Maken’s shop is
just up the street. I’ll be going in alone. It won’t do to have
them noticing your lack of seamstress skills. It’ll be there
that I tell them you’ll help with the young ones at the
quilting. I’ll point out we have enough quilters and too
many wee ones. It will make sense. You wander around, if
you like.”
Reena left Tara on the sidewalk and hurried down the
street.
Tara was amused by how much Reena was enjoying
herself.
Left
alone,
she
walked
the
opposite
direction
looking into each store window. She hoped she appeared
shy and submissive when she glanced tentatively at anyone
who looked her way.
These were the women she’d wondered so much about.
They lived a life of domesticity, completely oblivious to
anything outside
their
daily routine.
They grew up,
anxiously waiting to be claimed, then fell into a role of
servitude and inconsequential gossip. So far, she wasn’t
too impressed. How did these women go through life with
no say in matters that involved them? How were they
complete inside when they needed a man simply to exist?
Tara passed a gap between two of the stores. It was wide
enough for a groundmobile to move between them. The tall
buildings cast shadows, and she guessed this wasn’t a
place where the townsfolk walked. It was full of trash in
barrels and the smell reflected that fact, along with flying
insects hovering over the bins.
Several kids were at the other end of the alley, and she
stopped to watch them. Young
boys,
appearing to
be
hiding, clung to the shadows. Tara guessed they had
sneaked out of school. A smile played on her face when she
spotted several more children enter the dark road behind
the first group.
“There they are!” one of the boys yelled.
She slipped easily enough behind a large trashcan and
squatted unnoticed as she continued to watch the boys.
“You’ll be dealing with me now.” A large boy of thirteen
or fourteen winters walked with confidence toward the
group Tara had first noticed. “Let’s see if you can fight,
Torgo.” He was almost twice the size of the younger boy he
had singled out.
The younger boy didn’t seem to have any fighting skills.
He
backed awkwardly down the
alley.
The other kids
spread away from him, hope of escape obvious in their
faces.
“Don’t be telling me we have a coward here?” The large
boy laughed, lunging at the younger one as he feigned a
punch. “It couldn’t be.”
Torgo turned and made an attempt to run, but he was
easily overtaken and thrown to the ground. He tried yelling
but the older boy sat on him and put one hand over Torgo’s
mouth. Then he started hitting Torgo. “Not only can you
not fight, you would cry like a baby for help?” The large boy
laughed again while the other boys stood around watching.
Tara removed the small laser from her dress pocket and
shot at a trashcan next to the group of boys. The metal can
sliced
in two.
Pieces flew down
the
alley in opposite
directions. Its lid slammed against the wall. It made a
horrific sound, the noise echoing off the buildings, which
intensified the clatter.
The frightened boys jumped and scattered down the side
street. Torgo tried to get up and run, but fell back to the
ground. Tara stood from where she had hid and walked
over to the scared and bruised boy.
“You know, boy, often if you act like you’re willing to
take a challenge, a bully will back down,” Tara said, doing
her best to sound Gothman. “Let me see you now.” She
held up his face and looked at the scratches that were
starting to bleed. “It’ll be hard to explain how you got those
while studying in school.” She smiled at the child.
He smiled back cautiously. “How did you do that?” Torgo
sputtered.
“I’m not rightly sure. I threw a rock. I was trying to hit
the boy that was pounding you. That trash can had to be
rotted clear through.” Tara rolled her eyes and the young
boy laughed. She hoped no one inspected the destroyed
can too closely.
His laughter stopped suddenly as he looked past Tara
toward the sidewalk.
Tara turned and saw a man sitting on a motorcycle,
watching. Blond curls fell to his shirt. His expression was
impossible to read. Dark, penetrating gray eyes stared at
her, and he didn’t blink once. He looked
rugged,
distracting, but more than that. He was captivating. The
man shifted his attention to the boy, then looked at Tara
again with a bit more interest.
By the size of the motorcycle he was straddling, the man
was fairly tall. He wore a dark plaid shirt with a brown
leather jacket over it. The jacket was unbuttoned and
stretched across a broad, muscular chest. There was a
crest embroidered on the sleeve of his jacket and another
matching crest on his bike.
“They challenged me. What was I to do?” Torgo leapt
away from Tara and stood as tall as his young body would
allow. He didn’t have any problem getting to his feet this
time.
“Back to school with you. We’ll talk about this later.”
The words were barely out of the man’s mouth before the
boy took off running as fast as his legs would take him.
Tara stood silently, continuing to watch the man when
he studied her. The boy was his son, and she would never
allow herself to show interest in a married man, or claimed
man as the Gothman called it, but it was hard to look
away. After so long, she was finally standing face to face
with a Gothman warrior, and a gorgeous one at that.
“Who might you be, lass?” The man’s voice was softer
now. He studied her, as if memorizing her features, or
perhaps trying to remember if he had seen her before.
“I’m Reena’s niece. My name’s Tara.” A bit too late, she
remembered to lower her eyes. For some reason, she didn’t
want to act submissive toward this man.
“Come here.”
Tara’s gaze shot to his. She bit her lip to stop herself
from telling him no. Slowly,
she
walked
the
distance
between the two of them. If she’d researched the crests of
the different Gothman families she might have an idea of
whom she was dealing with. Instead, she stared into the
most unique shade of charcoal gray eyes she’d ever seen.
There was a hardness there. This man gave orders and
seldom took them. She saw it in the calm, sure way he sat,
straddled on his bike, and watched her approach him.
“Reena’s niece, Tara, what are you doing here?” He had
a beautiful Gothman accent. Which was odd because the
mixture of slur and guttural in the dialogue wasn’t
something she’d normally call beautiful.
“Waiting on my aunt.”
“In the merchants’ lane?”
Since she didn’t have an answer Tara decided it was a
good time to appear submissive. But the moment she
lowered her gaze, the man grabbed her chin. She flinched.
At least she prayed that was how this trained warrior read
her body language. In truth, it took tightening every muscle
in her body not to knock the pompous man off his bike.
“I haven’t seen you before.”
“I’ve just arrived and came into town with her today for
the first time.”
“I see. Well, Tara, Reena’s niece, I’ll be thanking you for
breaking up the fight for my younger brother’s sake.”
Tara looked him in the eye, forgetting about submission.
Younger brother, not claimed?
“You’re welcome,” she said and focused on how the loose
fitting offwhite shirt under his brown leather jacket didn’t
prevent her from seeing how well built he was.
His expression didn’t change nor did he bother to say
who he was. He also gave no indication if he thought it odd
that a Gothman woman prevented a fight.
Maybe the
women here stopped boys from fighting. They spent their
lives raising children, after all. Tara tried relaxing but the
overwhelming urge to back away from his grip prevented
her from doing so.
“You’re quite beautiful.” He turned her head, his grip
tightening along her chin and neck. “You’ve been brought
here to be claimed.”
The man didn’t make it a question. Tara quit looking at
his chest and shot her attention to his face. He wasn’t
looking at her but tilted her head to the side so that her
hair fell over his hand. His gaze was directed lower on her
body. The man took his time, moving her head as he gave
her a serious once over.
There
was only a moment but
Tara saw it
as an
opportunity to
learn
about
male
Gothman.
Her
initial
reaction wasn’t good. Never in her life had she been man-
handled as if she were a product that might be purchased
at will. It unnerved her. Her gut told her to fight back, force
his release, demand he treat her with respect.
“That should be a successful endeavour,” he murmured
and released her.
Tara stepped
back
involuntarily and caught
herself
adjusting her clothes. It seemed he still gripped her neck
and her fingers fluttered to where he’d held her before
looking at him.
“I’m not sure that—“ She broke off, hesitating on how to
respond without
giving herself
away.
How
was she
supposed to answer him? Although, it dawned on her, he
hadn’t asked a question so maybe silence was best.
He looked at her a minute longer, then left her standing
there and drove down the street.
Tara exhaled slowly, willing her heart to stop pounding
as she walked to the sidewalk and stared after him. Her
skin tingled where he’d held her chin and neck and she
didn’t like the sensation. It shouldn’t matter what he said
about a claiming. That wouldn’t happen. She was here to
observe and that was it. But had he said
thank you for
breaking up the fight?
Had he seen her shoot the trashcan?
Reena hurried toward Tara, the older woman’s attention
moving from the departing man to her niece. “Well child,
your first day in town, and you’ve the honor of meeting
Lord Darius himself.” Reena sounded absolutely delighted.
“That was Lord Darius?” Tara stole another glance at the
gorgeous man disappearing down the stone road.
“Yes, my dear. What did he say to you?” Reena handed
the
bags of yarn to Tara and started walking to the
groundmobile. “Come now, tell an old lady everything. He
hasn’t claimed anyone yet, although I daresay the rumors
are that he’s been with every girl in town. Now he’s seen
you. Maybe that will change. It’s plain to see you are
prettier than any other girl this town has to offer.”
“He said, ‘thank you’.” There was no way she was
sharing the entire conversation she’d had with the man—
with the Lord of Gothman.
Hell be doomed!
Did he figure
out she was a Runner?
Reena turned to Tara, a puzzled look on her face. “A bit
strange, but then he always has been odd from the gossip I
hear.”
Reena didn’t ask anymore questions, apparently content
simply that Tara had met Lord Darius. Which was fine with
her.
She
mulled
over
the
encounter,
replaying every
moment while rubbing where he’d held her and trying to
understand what he might have seen in her.
The two reached the groundmobile, and Tara put the
bags on the floor behind the two seats. Her mind raced.
What should she do if the ruler of this land had seen her
with a laser more sophisticated than any Gothman had
ever created? Lord Darius would have instigated the search
for a Runner the night before. He might put two and two
together and realize where the Runner was hiding, which
was in plain sight. Tara had better make sure her next
move in this community was carefully thought out if she
were to stay alive.

of them was hurt and I was helping the child when Lord
Darius showed up and told him to go back to school,” Tara
explained when Reena started questioning her while they
drove through the remainder of downtown. “I didn’t know it
was Lord Darius.”

“Well, now you know who he is and he
most certainly
knows who you are.” Reena seemed quite pleased. “Imagine
the lord taking a fancy to you. And I might add, I saw the
way you were looking at him.” She nudged Tara with her
elbow and let out a low chuckle.