“Sorry,” she murmured.
He smiled. “No worries. I have you now.”
Her eyes clouded. “What’s going to happen to me, Devin?”
He swore his heart stopped for several complete beats. If he’d thought hearing his given name on Baleweg’s lips had been disconcerting, hearing it from hers was close to life-altering. “You’ll be okay. But we have to get you out of here. You’ve created a bit of a looking on.”
Stella stepped in. “Are you okay, Talia?”
Talia shifted to get out of his embrace, but Archer was suddenly unwilling to let her go. He tightened his hold almost instinctively, but when she cut her eyes sideways at Stella, he was forced to release her. He kept his hand on the small of her back. To steady her, in case her legs were still watery, he told himself.
Another crock of bull. The more he got his hands on her, the more he couldn’t keep his hands off her.
“I’m fine, Stella,” Talia said, her voice slightly wobbly. “Just a bit too much fair and not enough food, I think. I should be more careful.” She looked at Archer then and deliberately moved away from his touch. “Why don’t we load up the dogs and go back to the house?” She moved away, Stella at her side.
It stung him more than it should have, to be dismissed so easily. Her constant need to assert her independence from him was beginning to irritate him. No matter what she thought she’d decided, her entire world was about to go through some rapid changes and she’d need him to survive. And dammit, he wanted her to need him.
Christ, when had that happened?
Probably the moment he’d looked beyond Talia’s blue-stained lips and found Anteri emerging from the woods. He’d thought his heart had stopped beating in that instant before he leaped into action. How could she capture all his attention, and to such a degree that his instincts—which he’d forged over a lifetime, enabling him to continue having a lifetime—simply shut down?
He looked over at Talia and Stella as they loaded the animals up. Ringer trotted over to him and butted his head against his leg. He knelt and scratched the beast behind the ears. “Thanks for staying with her, mate. I know she thought she was protecting you, but we know otherwise, right?” Ringer relished the attention, his soulful eyes as fathomless and unreadable as ever.
Archer stood and looked at Talia again. He had to stay sharp if he was going to keep them from going down the gurgler. He couldn’t do that if he was mooning over her every other moment. Not that he mooned. He never mooned. Lust, that’s what it was. And normally he was a man who lusted, slaked his lust, and moved on.
He watched as the wind caught her hair and danced it about her head. He wasted another moment wondering what it would be like to slake the lust he had building for her. He also wondered what it would be like to move on, to never see or touch her again. But he knew that would happen as soon as he delivered her to Catriona. So he’d better get used to it. And get over it.
He turned abruptly away and scanned the crowd and the fringes of the woods that ringed the area. He was fairly certain Anteri had acted alone. But someone—Emrys?—was keeping tabs on him, because no sooner had Archer been almost on top of him than he’d made it through one of those damn triangles and disappeared. Back to Llanfair and Chamberlain most likely, filing his report right now.
This latest threat to Talia would, he hoped, be enough to convince Baleweg that it was time for them all to go back. Back to the queen, who was waiting with his fortune.
And right then he was finally forced to admit that at some point he’d stopped thinking of this as a job. The mountain of money waiting for him when he delivered her was no longer his motivating factor. He hadn’t even thought about it when he was chasing down Anteri. Which made no sense. It had been the only thing on his mind when he’d gone after Dideon. How had things changed so rapidly?
He shook his head clear. He had his goals and he’d be damned if he’d let her sidetrack him from accomplishing them. Alone and in control. That’s how he got by. Responsible to no one’s happiness but his own. Trusting no one to make him happy but himself. And dammit, that was how it would stay.
He stalked back over to Talia. It was obvious from her lighthearted banter with Stella that she’d managed to dismiss the entire situation. Well, he’d correct that as soon as Stella was no longer about. Then he’d have a talk with Baleweg. And then they’d go.
She turned and looked at him just then, and he saw that she hadn’t dismissed anything. It was an act for Stella’s sake. He had to know where to look, to see the fear, the dread. At times he wondered why no one but him saw past her strength to the vulnerability that lay beneath. Perhaps it was because no one could understand her in this time. He certainly wasn’t special. Anyone from his time would see what he saw when looking into those fairy eyes of hers.
The thought was vaguely depressing.
But he could no longer let her suffering bother him. They all had jobs to do. She simply had to come to terms with hers. He told himself it wasn’t his fault, that he hadn’t done this to her. Chamberlain had. Catriona had. Her own mother had. Not him. Why it was imperative that he wasn’t the one making her suffer, he didn’t know. Just that, while he didn’t want to be responsible for her happiness, he wouldn’t stand for being responsible for her pain.
He swore beneath his breath and closed the remaining distance between them. “Almost ready?” His tone was more abrupt than he intended.
Her gaze shuttered, closing him out. She turned to her work. “We just have to secure the crates and fold the table and chairs up and we’re all set.”
And just like that, his resolve of only moments ago shattered. He couldn’t stand it when she shut him out. He took hold of her arm. “Don’t turn away from me.”
“Excuse me?” She tried to pull her arm free, glancing over to where Stella was gathering the last few pieces of equipment.
Archer was past caring if Stella heard him. “I won’t let anything happen to you, Talia. Not if I can help it.”
Her mouth dropped open, but she said nothing. It had surprised the hell out of him, so it was no wonder it had shocked her, as well. But he didn’t take his eyes from hers.
“We have to get the animals home,” was all she said, and broke contact with him.
He felt her slipping away from him and it wasn’t merely physical. He found himself wishing he had her gift, wishing he could connect with her, in any way. Anything that would help him find a way to help her through this ordeal.
He, Devin Archer, the man who hated being responsible.
Well, one way or the other, they were heading back to the future. Together. And they’d stay together, at least until he was certain she’d be okay. After all, Devin Archer was also the man who never left a job half-done. It was good business.
He stalked around the truck, wishing like hell he could believe the emotions currently churning inside him had anything remotely to do with business.
Chapter 11
Talia was never so glad of anything in her life as she was to escape the close confines of her truck and distance herself from Archer. The drive home had been awful. Even Stella had eventually fallen quiet when the occupants of the front seat remained wrapped in their own thoughts.
“I’ll start unloading,” Stella said, apparently also relieved to make her escape.
“Just unstrap them,” she said. “I’ll help you unload.”
Stella nodded, but before Talia could follow her, Archer stepped between them. Talia swallowed a sigh. And a healthy dose of trepidation. She was still shaky and her head was pounding. She did not feel up to dealing with one more thing today. Not even if it was a matter of life or death. Anyone’s, even hers. “Please, I have a great deal to do tonight.” She kept her gaze on some point past his shoulder. Of course he wouldn’t accept that. She jerked her chin away from his touch, but kept her gaze on his, hoping it would be over faster this way. “What?”
“We have to talk. There is a lot to prepare you for.”
“Isn’t that what I’ve been doing every minute since you got here?”
“Not that. There are other things. I have to brief you on what to expect in my time and who the players are. It will be a crash course on Dalwyn’s court, but it must be done if you are to help yourself stay afloat. I probably should have done this sooner.”
She felt the tremors run through her. It was finally happening. It’s all a fairy tale like the ones Mummy told you. Blink hard once or twice and you’ll find yourself waking up in your hammock, all this a nasty dream. If she were anywhere else, she might have convinced herself that was true. But when she looked at Archer … she knew. She knew she’d always known. Somewhere. Somehow. And she still wasn’t ready.
“The dogs won’t wait. So you’re going to have to.” She went to push past him, but he stopped her with his hand on her arm. There was such solid strength, such conviction in his touch, she didn’t know whether to shrink from it … or lean into it. Things were going to change, she’d known it, felt it. Archer was the one constant. The one thing she knew she could count on. The one person she could trust.
That thought alone should have sent her screaming into the house, behind any number of locked doors.
Instead she looked into his eyes. Eyes that held hers with reliably steady strength. Eyes that looked at her and saw her for who she really was … and didn’t turn away. Eyes that often looked at her with frustration and irritation, as well as desire. How had she come to trust him? Maybe it was because there was so much at stake for him, too, she knew he’d never risk failure. But that wasn’t it. What she really thought was foolish. And dangerous. What she really thought was that he’d keep her safe because somewhere in that mercenary heart of his, he cared for her. She’d seen it in that moment he’d come out of the woods.
She blinked at a sudden moisture in her eyes, wishing she could laugh instead. Because it really was a ridiculous notion. “I know we have to deal with this. Please just let me handle the dogs and get Stella done and out of here. Surely we can wait that long.”
He finally bent somewhat and nodded curtly. “By full dark, no later. And you don’t leave my sight.”
She wanted to argue, if for no other reason than it would give her a vent for all the screaming tension and fear building inside her. But time was moving on and she wasn’t. So she nodded and went to work.
True to his word, for the next two and a half hours Archer never let her out of his sight, to the point where she swore his gaze alone felt like physical contact. But then it had always been that way around him. She’d thought the presence of the animals and Stella would act like a shield of sorts, but of course they hadn’t.
In all honesty, as much as she dreaded what was to come later tonight, right now she was thankful for all his hovering. She might have been able to ignore the threat Jimmy had been to her … but there was no denying or forgetting the look in Anteri’s eyes as he’d lunged for her. The idea that Anteri had been stalking her at the fair while she’d been blithely finding homes for her animals … She didn’t want to think about what could have happened if Archer hadn’t acted so quickly.
“They’re all tucked in for the night,” Stella announced, coming around the corner. “I checked the water and put the horses in.”
Talia nodded. She finished administering medication to one of the strays she was still working with, then handed a tube of ointment to Stella. “Put this on the little spot where we had to pull the hair off that pom mix, okay?”
Stella’s eyes lit up. “Sure.” Then a furrow creased her brow and Talia knew she was working up her courage.
Not up to dealing with this tonight, she cut her off before she could speak. “I know how you feel about the little guy, Stella. But we’ll talk about it later. Okay?”
Stella’s face threatened to split from the force of her grin. An instant later Talia was enveloped in a hug. “You won’t be sorry, Talia, I promise.”
“Awful sure of yourself, aren’t you?” she said, but there was no censure in it.
Stella beamed. “I’m meant for him, Tal. And he for me. You know how sometimes you just know it?”
Talia’s smile faltered as Archer came into view at the far end of the kennel. Ringer came to sit beside his feet. A man and his dog. If only it were that simple.
“Yeah, I know,” she said quietly. “Go on home and get some good rest. Tomorrow’s going to be busy.” This last she said with her eye on Archer. Somehow she had to convince him to let her stay another couple days. She had to see these guys safely away from here. Stella and her two part-time employees could deal with the horses and hold down the fort for the rest. She refused to think about the strays that could be turned away in her absence.
God, she thought. Was she really going to go? It wasn’t as if she were going on a brief weekend jaunt to the shore, either. She couldn’t truly wrap her mind around it. She smiled at Stella who nuzzled the sleepy little pom before shutting him back in his run for the night. “Good night, Stella.”
She smiled, her eyes dreamy. “Night, Talia. And thank you so much. You won’t be sorry.”
“Tomorrow,” Talia said. “We’ll talk tomorrow.”
And then she was alone with Archer and wondering why she’d been in such a hurry to see her young employee go. She walked to the kennel door that Stella had just floated through and scratched Ringer’s scruffy head while Archer made sure it was locked and secure for the night.
“Now what?” she asked, knowing she sounded a bit snakey, as he would say.
“We talk. Care for a walk?”
“Do you really think that’s wise?”
Archer stared at her for a long moment, as if debating an entirely different meaning than she’d intended. A shiver stole over her skin that had nothing to do with the sun setting. She was thinking about the last time they’d been down by the pond … and knew he was, too.
But then his expression changed, turned harder, and she knew he was in bodyguard mode again. Not that she wanted to reprise their little scene on that flat rock. Well, she wanted to, but she knew it would be better if they stayed in bodyguard mode from here on out. Dammit.
“Baleweg told me that moving through time isn’t a precise thing. He can get the time right, but location is approximate. It’s obvious Emrys is more skilled in that area. He moved Anteri in and out today and had the location pretty damn precise.”
“Did you tell him? What did he say?”
“I haven’t talked to him yet. I’ve been watching you.”
“So, what do we do next? Where is Baleweg?” She’d been surprised that he hadn’t appeared since they’d returned. “Don’t you think we should all be together when you give your briefing, or whatever you call it?”
“Baleweg knows nothing about the court.”
“On the contrary.”
Both Talia and Archer turned to find Baleweg standing just on the other side of the fence. Talia smiled. Something about Baleweg had always made her feel safe. Not in the way that Archer did. More in the way that, well, she supposed the way a child felt around a parent. That because they were older and acted wiser, somehow everything would always be okay if they were around. Another foolish notion. She, better than anyone, knew that having a parent guaranteed nothing.
“Why do you wish to discuss the House of Dalwyn, young Archer?”
“She must be told how it works, if she’s to find her way through.”
“You’ll be there with me, won’t you?” Talia asked Baleweg.
“I’ve taught you how to focus your mind in order to expand your connective feelings. There is not much more I can do.” He paused, looking slightly troubled.
“What is it?”
“I had hoped your other inherited abilities would have surfaced by now.”
Not for the first time, Talia wondered if Baleweg shared her doubts about her ability to be a healer. “I don’t feel I know anything yet. And what I do know I’m not controlling very well.”
“It
will take practice,” Baleweg said. “But I think you control things better than you assume. You’ve had years of experience in controlling your gifts so others don’t surmise your hidden talents. In fact, I’d say you will fare far better when you learn to loosen your formidable control. Perhaps that will provide a path to awakening those other talents you were born to possess.”
Talia glanced surreptitiously at Archer. The one time she’d loosened her control was the time she had connected with him. She hadn’t attempted that again. “I’m still not sure I can help the queen.” She looked to Baleweg and gave voice to the one thing they hadn’t discussed. “What happens if I can’t help her?”
Baleweg stepped closer and put his hand on her arm. She realized then that he rarely actually touched her. She wondered just what powers this man truly held.
“I’m afraid there is not much of a choice for you now, Talia. At least in terms of your safety.”
“You knew about Anteri, didn’t you?” The accusation came from Archer.
Baleweg held Archer’s gaze steadily. “I sensed our time was dwindling. I believe you knew that, as well.”
Archer stared. “Why didn’t you warn me?”
Baleweg held up his hand. “Talia needed to place her animals. You were there with her and you felt the disturbance, as well, did you not?” He waited until Archer grudgingly nodded. “Your instincts are good ones, Devin.”
Talia stepped forward. “There isn’t anyone else to teach me? To pick up where we’ve left off?”
“Your mother was the only one,” Baleweg said, turning back to her. “I only wish she’d had the time to work with you. But she made me promise to sever all contact with her. It was the only way she felt she could keep you safe.”
The Royal Hunter Page 13