StarMyst: Forgiven
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Pink Petal Books
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Additional Titles by the Author
Good Medicine
Juli’s Choice
The Purrfect Man
Ghost Touch
Ghost Redeemed
StarMyst: Prodigal Son
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, places, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
STARMYST: FORGIVEN
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Copyright © MARY WINTER, 2009
Cover Art ® 2009 by RottNRoll Productions
ISBN# 978-0-9824885-1-5
Edited by MARY ANN HAVERLACK
Electronic Publication Date: February 2009
This book may not be reproduced or used in whole or in part by any means existing without written permission from the publisher, Jupiter Gardens Press, Jupiter Gardens, LLC., PO Box 191
, Grimes, IA 50111
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StarMyst: Forgiven
by Mary Winter
Reid Montano promised Edwin's doctor he'd keep her secret and not reveal her sorcerer heritage...until he found her in bed with his brother.
After fleeing her over protective father, Dr. Laura Ingress found a haven with Edwin and the StarMyst Conclave. Though still officially a member of her father's Conclave, the two men had an uneasy truce. But now the one man who could protect her from her father was dead, and her father's henchmen are back in town, ready to claim her back into one of the most powerful Sorcerer Conclaves still in existence.
Laura is going to have to trust the one man she loves to keep her safe and Reid will have to convince her that all is forgiven.
Reid forced himself to stop several paces from her. “Your father’s men said if I didn’t claim you, they would. My control is hanging by a thread, baby. This isn’t the right time or the right place. And to be honest, I probably should clear it with Te first, though I know he’ll approve. What do you want me to do, Laura?” Asking that question had to be the hardest thing he’d ever done. He knew what he wanted to do, had known ever since he’d seen her. Not even the remembrance of finding her in bed with his brother dimmed his ardor. Not tonight. Not after feeling her fingers, her lips against his flesh and knowing just how fucking sweet they could be together.
He waited for her answer. Seconds ticked by like falling stars from the sky. Laura licked her lips. He watched the pink bud of her tongue swipe across a mouth he’d just kissed. Her taste blossomed with a reminder of shared passion.
In some ways, he suspected she should probably thank her father when they went to Brazos. Reid had no doubt he’d see the man face-to-face. After all, Laura had to confront him, especially if she wanted to stay at StarMyst. Without his overt manipulation, he and Laura might have continued dancing around their attraction and their past.
She stepped forward. Holding out her hand, she let the lussor flare. It washed over him like rain. “I’m yours, Reid. I’ve always been yours,” she whispered.
He rushed into her arms. Maybe he’d been wrong. Maybe there wouldn’t be any regrets.
Cool night air wrapped around him as he pulled her tight against him. The blanket slid to a floor in a swish of fabric. Cupping the back of her head, Reid simply held her. He breathed in her scent, that honeysuckle fragrance he always associated with her. The silken strands of her hair tangled around his fingers, her curves pressed against the hard planes of his chest and legs.
His cock throbbed. Reid ignored it. Though it happened far too soon for his liking, he knew what they’d do tonight was inevitable. It had been from the moment Laura had arrived in their small corner of Illinois with her Texas twang and her easy smile. If Edwin were alive, he would have said it should have happened long ago, and perhaps, Reid thought with a pang of regret, if he’d acted on his desires then maybe Laura wouldn’t have had sex with his brother. Maybe her father’s men wouldn’t be here the day of Edwin’s funeral to bring her back to Brazos. Edwin would have been strong enough to keep her here. The need to make up for lost time had him cupping her cheek and tilting her face up to meet his.
“I should have done this a long time ago,” he whispered, his lips just millimeters from hers.
“Yeah, you should have. Kiss me, Reid.” She parted her lips in an invitation he couldn’t refuse.
Lights from inside the house shone through the curtains giving him just enough light to see the need in her eyes. She pressed against him, pushing him to the edge of the porch were the moonlight slanted over their bodies. If her father’s men were still out there, she wanted them to see this. Reid agreed with her. Let them watch. Let them want.
He kissed her, trying to hold back, wanting to make this last. The sweet taste of her mouth filled him with a longing to find out if she tasted as sweet in other places as well. Entwining his fingers in her hair, he slanted his lips across hers and deepened the kiss. His tongue traced her full, lower lip before drawing it into his mouth and suckling gently.
Her lips parted, releasing a needy moan that wrapped around him and squeezed. With his free hand, he skimmed her side until his fingers eventually rested on her buttocks, where he hauled her against the hard length of his erection. She shivered in his arms.
Reluctantly, he ended the kiss. “Let’s get you inside,” he whispered. Not even looking over his shoulder, though he felt her father’s men staring daggers into his back, he guided her over the wadded mess of her blanket and inside the front door.
StarMyst: Forgiven
Mary Winter
PPB
Chapter One
“Everything happens for a reason. We may not know what those reasons are, but they’re there. The universe cycles. Life. Death. Rebirth. The old must make way for the new, no matter how painful the process. The important thing is to forgive ourselves for our failings and move forward into the future.”
The man who had spoken those words lay in the chrome and silver casket about to be lowered into the Illinois soil. Laura Ingress stood a discreet distance away from Edwin’s foster children. Jacy clung to her lover, Te, as tears ran unchecked down her cheeks. Beside her, Reid Montano held her other arm. His brother Kade was conspicuously absent. Cord stood awkwardly on the other side of Reid, hands shoved in his pockets.
No one else attended the funeral.
Laura bit her lip, not wanting the tears stinging her eyes to fall. As a respected sorcerer and leader of the StarMyst Conclave, other Conclave leaders should have been here. Her father should have been here.
Laura shivered at the thought. She glanced beyond the wrought-iron fence that marked the border of the private cemetery to where a tan sedan was parked, her heart hammering in her chest. The one man, who could have protected her, lay dead in the casket.
She looked at Te, the new leader of StarMyst. If
she told him her problems, the reason why she had come to Illinois to work as a doctor and Edwin’s personal physician, perhaps he could intercede. Though she had no doubts he’d be strong enough, she didn’t want to burden to the new leader of StarMyst. He’d have enough issues to deal with as it were.
She glanced at Reid through lowered lashes. Awareness, quickly banked, flared through her. Of all the members of the StarMyst Conclave, she’d miss him most of all. So many regrets and none that she could fix right now. Curling her fingers around a handkerchief, she pulled it from her pocket and dabbed her eyes. The priest finished his decidedly generic religious ceremony and bowed his head. The funeral had ended, leaving her with the rest of the afternoon free on a too-sunny day. She didn’t want a free day to herself, not when the clear sky invited yard work or going to her favorite park just outside of town and walking. On a day like today, the day of Edwin’s funeral, she wanted clouds and rain to match her gloomy mood.
She expected a final gong or bells, something to mark the passing of the man who had once been her protector. She heard nothing but Jacy’s hiccupping sobs and the crunching of dried grasses beneath the expensive Italian shoes of the men coming to get her—the men her father had hired.
Jacy and Te stepped to the casket which was adorned with a spray of flowers—five red roses for Edwin’s five foster children. Jacy fingered the ribbon that said father. Her sobs broke.
Te pulled her against his chest, tucking her head beneath his chin as if his arms alone could protect her from the merciless world. Reid looked at them and then at her.
Regret. Sadness. Pain. It all showed there in his eyes, mirrored in her own gaze. Her one stupid act, fueled by too much beer and too much lussor had lost her the chance with the man she had loved—still loved. Her arms ached to wrap around him. She longed to hold him, to let him use her shoulder to ease his sorrow. She stepped forward to do just that then stopped.
Reid had made it very clear he wanted little more to do with her. Just treat my foster father and get the hell out of my life, he’d once snarled. And she’d done just that. Edwin was gone. She had nothing left to do but get out of his life, out of all their lives. If the men waiting by the sedan had their way, she’d be gone tonight.
It wasn’t supposed to end this way. But then again she wasn’t supposed to have been found in bed with his brother either. Laura started to rub her hand over her eyes then stopped, wanting to preserve what little makeup she had left. Hell, she’d jumped from the frying pan into the fire, and the flames had been on slow simmer ever since she’d seen Reid Montano.
She fought the urge to walk over and comfort him. With the exception of her actions when she’d first arrived, she had nothing about which to be ashamed. As a medical doctor, she’d worked her ass off to save Edwin’s life. In the end, the cancer had proven stronger than the most cutting-edge medical treatments. “I’m sorry,” she mouthed.
Reid nodded and turned away.
Waiting until the attending members of StarMyst stepped back, Laura walked toward the casket. Her legs shook, her low heels finding every rut in the grass leading to the burial plot. Other headstones, all of them bearing the names of sorcerers long gone, mocked her. Return to Texas, they said. Do your duty to Brazos Conclave.
Laura rested her hand on the closed casket lid. She bent her head, not caring now if tears ran unchecked down her cheeks. Only Edwin had kept her father from hunting her. Edwin believed she’d had another choice. For Edwin she wouldn’t give into the men waiting by the gate. “I’m sorry.” Seemed like she was saying that a lot now that Edwin had died.
Laura swallowed hard. She’d worked hard to keep her past buried deep inside, to make sure Edwin had been the only one who knew. And she believed he’d taken her secrets to the grave. Her stomach fell. The closeness of Jacy and Te reminding her what she wanted for herself. Laura had heard enough of the arguments to know Kade had wanted to parcel Jacy off like a broodmare, like her father had wanted to do to her. Except Kade had left, and her father had simply called her a miserable little failure. At his words, she’d walked away. Only to fall prey to another just like him. That Laura had allowed Kade even a single night sickened her. Now wasn’t the time to rehash the past.
Squaring her shoulders, she stepped away from the casket.
“Are you all right?” Reid spoke the words stiffly.
Laura jumped at his sudden appearance beside her. Unable to resist and knowing it would be her last time, she reached for him and rested her hand on the sleeve of his suit jacket. “I’ll be fine. Thank you.”
Reid flinched.
“Are you okay? This has to be difficult for you.” She didn’t know whether she spoke about their meeting or the funeral or both.
“We’ll get through this,” Reid replied.
Laura wanted to believe his “we” included her. It didn’t. He made that fact clear when he shrugged out from her touch and stepped away. “If there’s anything you need, please don’t hesitate to call me. I can find a home for the medical equipment, if you’d like. I’m sure it would be well received by a low-income family.” One thing her father had given her was connections. She had no doubt she’d be able to put the hospital bed, oxygen machine, and other assorted medical paraphernalia to good use with a needy family. They’d welcome the generosity, and she knew Edwin would appreciate the gesture, no matter where his soul was now.
“Probably in a few days. Jacy’s taking this hard.”
“It’s understandable. Edwin was like a father to all of us. If you need to talk…or something, give me a call. All right?” She searched his face for some emotion, some reason other than the fact that she was a friend to the Conclave that he would make the offer. When she saw none, she stepped back.
Reid stepped forward. He wrapped her in his arms, pulling her against his hard chest. For a moment, she stiffened. Reid was actually hugging her. Then, when he didn’t release her, she gave in, relishing the feel of his strong muscles beneath his suit coat and dress shirt, the crisp smell of his cologne. Reid’s arms squeezed her, and for a moment, a long, luxurious moment, she leaned against him, content to be in his arms.
He released her as quickly as he’d embraced her. “Good luck,” he whispered before turning away. Long strides carried him back to where Jacy and Te stood.
Laura watched for several moments. She breathed deep, even breaths in an attempt to regain her equilibrium. A brief moment of heaven, and then nothing. Back to being alone and facing her father’s goons. Had she looked so horrible that Reid thought she needed a hug? She dabbed at her eyes and turned her attention back to the men hovering by the wrought iron gate. Time to get this over with. At least if she were going to be forcibly hauled back to Texas, she’d go with the memory of Reid’s arms around her one more time.
Unless he’d hugged her because he wanted to. The thought stopped her in her tracks. She pressed a hand to her chest as if she could stop her suddenly-racing heart. No, the images of the Reid who just hugged her and the Reid who told her to treat his foster father and stay the hell away from him, clashed in her mind.
She put her thoughts aside as she walked down to the gate where her father’s men waited. They looked at her as if she were something distasteful, a runaway child in need of punishment. To her father, she supposed she was exactly that. He never considered she was thirty years old and more than capable of taking care of herself.
Two of her father’s hired goons stood at the end of the driveway. Though their names escaped her, she recognized them. The one on her left, a handsome Latino man, wore his hair short. His white dress shirt contrasted sharply with his tanned skin. His charcoal grey suit and polished shoes were undeniably expensive. Only the best for Father’s men. The blond man next to him looked pale next to his partner’s dark complexion. His sun-streaked hair and blue eyes made him look like a surfer boy. His almost casual slouch against the side of the car completed the look.
“Laura,” he said. “It’s been a long time.”
“Now, Laura. Is that any way to greet old friends?” the Latino stepped forward. “Surely you remember us?” He held out his arms as if he wanted a welcoming embrace.
She kept her arms deliberately at her sides. “You work for my father. That’s all I need to know.”
“And we’re here to take you home. You’ve been gone far too long,” he held out his hand. “Why don’t you come with us? We’ll take you back where you belong.”
“I belong here. I’m sorry you drove all this way for nothing. Now if you’ll excuse me.”
He closed his hand around Laura’s arm. His grip tightened, hard enough that through the long sleeve of her blouse she feared he’d leave bruises.
“Let go of me,” she said, glancing behind her to see if anyone noticed. Reid appeared deep in conversation with Jacy and Te. Cord stood beside them. No one seemed to be paying any attention to her. Laura shook her arm. “You don’t want to cause a scene here.”
He laughed. His blond partner lounged against the car, content to simply watch the exchange.
“What does it matter? StarMyst’s leader is dead. They’re not strong enough to keep us from taking you back where you belong. Quit playing your games, Laura. You know your father wants you back.”
Laura yanked her arm away from his grip. The lace cuff of her shirt tore. She fingered it, not liking that these men, her father’s men, still held the ability to harm her, even superficially.
“Who bid for my hand this time? How much is he going to sell my breeding rights for now?” she spat. She hitched her purse higher on her shoulder, making a mental note of its contents. Nothing she could use, though the bag might pack a wallop if she swung it upside his head. No. She wouldn’t do anything to cause a ruckus at the funeral.