He looked down for a moment, his eyes darkening with remembrance. “Jasmine was kidnapped once by someone who wished to exploit her charmer pheromone. We had to take extraordinary measures to get her back.”
Her eyes narrowed with suspicion. “I didn’t notice anyone drooling over her.”
“The production of pheromone decreases in proportion to the level of sexual activity a charmer engages in.” His look was bold and heated. “Keilor keeps her well satisfied, I promise you.”
A dimple popped into his cheek as she squirmed. “At the moment your production is so high it’s intoxicating.” Fire leapt in his eyes and his tone lowered to a r
“Mathin broke your arm?” Andrea gaped at her, turning horrified eyes on Mathin, who’d halted in his play to watch them, an unreadable expression on his face. She was unprepared for Jasmine’s fierce response.“If he hadn’t, I’d never have escaped,” she snapped, almost daring Andrea to contradict her. “Mathin received more criticism over that move than I liked. As far as I’m concerned, my opinion is the only one that matters. I owe him, big time.”Andrea would have apologized, but Jasmine wasn’t done. “You don’t want to know what the place I was kept in was like. Not only did he rescue me while Keilor healed, he gave me the means to have children with Keilor, to grow old with him.”
“Jealous, my love? There’s no need.” Slowly he brought her hand to his mouth and brushed a soft kiss on the back. “Do you see me with anyone else?”“I-I’m not jealous,” she whispered, knowing it wasn’t true. The thought of another woman chasing him bugged her. Not that she was chasing him, of course. It was just that she despised watching fickle men in action“Hmm.” He brushed his whiskered jaw against the inside of her wrist, making her shiver. “I’m glad.”No longer cognizant of what he said, she closed her eyes, hoping for, expecting, his kiss.
Andrea scowled. “It’s not like I’m going to stop him if he decides to go. It’s not as if we’re dating or something.” Even if the thought of him participating in some kind of bachelor contest did make her feel grumpy. “What’s the prize, anyway?” she asked, grudgingly giving in to her curiosity.“A date with any of the eligible women who chose to sign up as potential prizes, a red sash for any man who doesn’t have one, a small fortune in prismatic silver and a war stag. Not that Mathin needs the last.” Rihlia grimaced, tossing the end of her dark braid over her shoulder. “Bad tempered though he is, no one would argue that Mathin’s stag isn’t one of the best in the land.”
What he wanted to do was fall on her like a ravenous volti. Only the constant distracting of his mind kept him from it. Well, that and rigorous physical exercise, which her call had torn him from.Perhaps it was time he showed her it wasn’t wise to tease a Haunt.Taking her left hand, he raised it up until they could both see the stone of her ring glinting in the sunlight. “What is this?”“A ring,” she answered cautiously, uncertain where he was going with this.“The ring I gave you and you accepted,” he reminded her in a firm voice. When her eyes flew to his he nodded grimly. &ld
Shaken by his story, she stared at the stones. Were she and Mathin supposed to love so fast? Was Mathin even in love? He hadn’t said so. “He claims to want me because of these premonitions he has.”“Even better.” He shrugged. “If you can’t trust a vision, what can you trust?”Frustrated, she stared at him. “That’s not logical! I need more than that.”“Then you’ll always need more,” he said, standing up. He extended a hand and helped her to her feet. “If you love him at all, learn to have some faith in him. Watch him with his friends and the ones he cares for. Speak to them about him, watch how he responds i
Mathin turned his attention to his blade as he flicked it off, transforming it back to the dagger she was used to seeing at his side. When he looked up again, his eyes were once again black.“Enjoying yourself?” He asked dryly, sending a warning glance at her herd of admirers.To a man they stepped away, clearing a space between them.Instead of closing the distance, he folded his arms and waited to see why she’d sought him out. The difficult and sleepless night he’d just passed had not left him in the best of moods.When Andrea walked toward him, determination in her eyes, his brow rose in grudgin
He chuckled. “You’ll improve.” His voice dropped an octave. “I’m a patient teacher.”A quiver started in her belly and vibrated without ceasing as he levered out of the pool and lay beside her. She couldn’t look.“Today, I will not touch you.” He waited until she dared a look at his face. “Today is for overcoming your fear of looking.” When she looked back at her hands, he said nothing. Now was not the time to rush her.It wasn’t easy to face him. Nor could she quite look there, though she was dying of curiosity. For a long moment she simply stared at the muscled planes of his chest as he lay on his side, watching h
Shocked mute by such a bald-faced declaration of dominance, she narrowed her eyes and looked away, ignoring him.Until the thing on her arms shifted.Alarmed anew, she shuddered and tried to pull it off, frustrated to discover it wouldn’t budge. “Give me your knife.”Obligingly, he unsheathed it and flipped it over, extending it to her hilt-first.The symbiont flowed seamlessly around the sharp blade, not the least perturbed. The only thing she succeeded in doing was nicking herself.Instantly the symbiont flowed over the bright s