by Mary Winter
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Reid fisted his hands in his pockets, restraining himself from following Laura. He frowned. What possessed him to hug Laura like that? She looked so lost, so in need of comforting, that he’d done what any gentleman should have done. He’d hugged her. Except his thoughts had been far from gentlemanly.
In the instant her breasts crushed against his chest—her long legs brushing his—he wondered what she’d do if he undid one-by-one the pins holding up that golden blonde hair, caressed the smattering of freckles across her nose and kissed her the way he’d been wanting to ever since he’d first seen her. Of course that’d been before he’d found her in bed with his brother.
Damn Kade! Everywhere he went he was trouble. First with Laura, then with Jacy. And now, he was gone. He didn’t know whether the hole in his chest hurt more from Edwin’s death or his brother’s disappearance. After Kade had attacked Jacy and he, Te had magically beaten the crap out of him. Which was good, because if Reid had been in any condition to do so, he would have taken care of his older brother himself. Te had forced Kade off StarMyst property, and Reid had no idea where his brother had gone. All because Kade didn’t agree that Sorcerer women should make up their own minds about who to love.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Laura talking to two men. One had his hand on her arm and she didn’t look happy about it. His stomach churned. He didn’t know her past. She kept very secretive, except for the tiniest hint of a Texas twang that still colored her voice occasionally. Whoever these men were, she clearly didn’t want to go with them. And he’d be damned if they caused a scene as his foster father’s funeral.
“I’ll be right back,” he said to Te. The new leader of StarMyst nodded, Jacy still held firmly in his arms.
Reid strode purposefully across the cemetery. “Is everything all right?” he said, resting his hand on her arm in a proprietary gesture.
Laura looked at him, the worry in her eyes telling him everything wasn’t all right.
“It’s fine. Laura was just coming back with us.” Reid watched the man eye the way he was touching Laura, a speculative gleam in his eye. He looked scarily enough like Kade when Sonora Rising Conclave had visited and wanted to barter a marriage between Jacy and…fuck! “Laura, is there something your father should know?”
“N-no,” she said softly, almost regretfully.
“Good. Then you can return to Texas with us. If you’ll excuse us, sir, we’ll be leaving now.”
Reid didn’t like the men’s attitudes. The blond sat back, as if he expected the other Latino gentleman to do all the work. Subordinate and boss, maybe. They looked like hired heavies. Men like the Sonora Rising Conclave had brought with them. The faintest hint of power surrounded the two men. Sorcerers.
“I don’t believe we’ve been introduced. Reid Montano of the StarMyst clan. If you’d like, I can take you to meet Te Mulligan, our new leader.” He gestured behind him. “I’m sure he would like to convey his thanks for attending our father’s funeral.”
“Reid, it’s all right,” Laura said. It was the first time he’d seen her gorgeous brown eyes clouded with fear. His hand slipped from her arm to her waist to pull her possessively against him. Confronted with these men, the need to claim her drummed through his veins. The lussor reared to life. A floral scent surrounded him, one he knew he’d forever associate with the sexy doctor.
“It doesn’t look all right, Laura. I won’t have these men causing a scene. We’re at a funeral for Christ’s sake. Now, if there’s something they’d like to discuss with Te, they’re more than welcome to at a later time. But not right now.” He spoke calmly, deliberately, a man in control of his world.
“When could we discuss this with your leader?” the Latino man said, clearly not happy about the situation.
If he thought he could whisk Laura away from under their noses, he had another thing coming. “Give us a few days to mourn our loss. Let me know where you’re staying and I’ll have Te contact you when we’re ready.”
Laura opened her mouth and quickly closed it again.
“She’s not one of you.”
“Yes, she is. As Edwin’s physician, I consider her as much a member of StarMyst as I am. Since she’s here, and not with her home Conclave, perhaps even more. I believe the lady has made her choice.” Reid inched closer to the men.
“I’d like to hear her say that.”
The blond still hadn’t spoken. Whether he didn’t think he needed to, or he preferred to let his partner do all the talking, Reid didn’t know.
“I’ve made my choice. I thought my father understood that,” Laura said. She spoke in a soft, firm voice.
“Your father doesn’t see it that way,” the blond said as he straightened from the car. He brushed his fingers across her cheek. “Things would be so much easier if you’d just come with us. We miss you.”
Laura started to inch away and Reid pulled her even closer. She was StarMyst, because she helped Edwin if for no other reason. These men couldn’t have her. “If you want to take Laura back to her Conclave against her wishes, you’ll need to talk to StarMyst’s leader. That’s how it’s done. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’d like to make sure Ms. Ingress gets home safely.” Without waiting for an answer, Reid cupped her shoulder and turned her away from the men.
They’d walked nearly halfway across the cemetery before she spoke. “You didn’t have to do that. I’m perfectly able of taking care of myself.”
“I know you are, but those men weren’t going to take no for an answer. At least not from you. I know their type. I’ll let everyone know I’m taking you back to your place and then we need to talk, Laura.”
“About what? Those men are from Brazos Conclave. You can’t fight them.”
The knowledge of the Conclave’s name rocked Reid back on his heels. He stopped, whirling to face her. “You’re a member of Brazos Conclave? Why didn’t you say something, especially when Sonora Rising visited? Between the two of them, they control most of the south and southwest.”
“I have my reasons,” Laura retorted.
“I see. Well let’s get you home, and then I want to know everything.” Damn, he knew Laura had been running from something, but Brazos Conclave? And Edwin hadn’t said a word. Which, if he thought about it, was perfect Edward. Secretive when he needed to be, like in bringing Jacy back home when he was sick. Crossing that powerful Conclave would put StarMyst in a precarious position. With Te handling the transition as well as Jacy, Reid knew he’d have to be the one to get the information.
“Everything?” she asked.
“Everything,” he confirmed. Stopping, he turned her to face him. Drawn to her like a magnet, he brushed his thumb across her lower lip. They’d danced around each other ever since she’d arrived, and then…Reid tore his thoughts away from that night. “Everything including why I found you in bed with Kade.”
Laura gave an involuntary squeak. “You want to talk about that now?” Her eyes grew wide. She looked around, from the sedan where the two men still waited to where Jacy, Te, and Cord stood at the top of the hill. They caught her gaze and she gave them a nervous wave.
“If StarMyst is going to protect you from your home Conclave, a Conclave we never knew your connections to, then it’s high time we knew everything. Don’t you think?” Reid continued caressing her lower lip. Sparks from the simple touch jolted through his body. The lussor, the sexual power that fed their magic, flared to life. He tamped it down, knowing it was inappropriate at a funeral, even one filled with sorcerers. “Do you know what you do to me, Laura? What you’ve done to me ever since I first saw you? I don’t know what happened between you and my brother. Hell, I’m not sure I want to know, but right now I can’t look at you without seeing those sheets tangled around your long, smooth legs and knowing that you fucked my brother instead of me.” His voice grew hard, his anger pointed. The lussor flared, responding to the emotions bursting forth within him. It tightened around his cock, bringing it to full awaren
ess. His skin hummed at her nearness. Power leapt from her, dancing along her skin.
As quick as it had come, the lussor died.
“You make me lose control,” Reid admitted. “So let’s go to your place and this time, no more secrets.” A part of him wondered if he’d be able to deal with the truth. Turning toward his family, he knew he’d have to, because regardless of what he learned, he knew he’d recommend StarMyst protect the doctor with everything it had. She’d cared for Edwin. No betrayal, no matter how big, would be enough to wipe out that favor to the Conclave.
After ignoring Jacy’s questioning look and telling Te he’d ensure the doctor got home safely, Reid drove Laura back to her small one-bedroom house. He’d always wondered why she’d never gotten anything larger. Surely as a doctor she could have afforded a large house and now that he knew she’d come from Brazos, he figured they’d insist on it. Maybe it was her way of rebelling against her family. As she led him into her home decorated in shades of blue, he found it comforting.
“Why don’t you sit down?” he suggested, steering her toward a rocking chair in the living room. A computer table and chair sat along the other wall with a small television set nestled beside it. “Can I get you something?”
“A bottle of water please. Help yourself to whatever you want,” she said as she moved a quilt and sat in the chair. She dropped her purse to the floor beside it.
“I’ll be right back.” The open floor plan meant that he watched her out of the corner of his eye as he opened the fridge and grabbed a bottle of water. Several bottles of beer sat on the bottom shelf. He snagged one, not taking Laura for a beer drinker. At least it wasn’t his brother’s brand. His brother always preferred pale ales to the hearty stout Reid held in his hand. It seemed the doctor might share his taste in beer. He handed her the water. “Do you mind?”
“Not at all,” she replied.
Reid pulled out the desk chair. He sat, planting his elbows on his knees. Twisting the lid from the beer bottle, he took a long swallow. “So, let’s start at the beginning. You’re from Brazos Conclave, and I take it those men want you to come back with them. Right?”
Laura nodded.
“Did Edwin know?”
She nodded again.
This was going to be an interesting conversation if she wasn’t going to answer him. Her lower lip trembled, her eyes glassy. He hoped she didn’t cry. If she did, he’d have to tuck her into his arms and comfort her. That would lead to the lussor and things they shouldn’t do the afternoon of a funeral, even if the best way to deal with death might be to celebrate life. No. He decided to try a different tactic. “Edwin never said anything to us. Whatever secrets you shared with him, he took to his grave. I want to help you, Laura. I want to know the truth.”
“Even about your brother?” She spoke softly.
“Yes, even about Kade.” After the way his brother had treated Jacy and this betrayal he should hate him. Instead, just saying his brother’s name added to the loss Reid felt from Edwin’s death.
“And you’ll help me? Because if you do, Reid, I need you to forgive me. You have to understand that what happened that night was a mistake, a horrible mistake that I regret every day. I don’t just need your help, Reid. I need your forgiveness.”
Like the woman herself, her words took his breath away. Help he could give. Forgiveness was something completely different. As much as he wanted to give it to her, he honestly didn’t know if he could.
Chapter Two
Laura stared at the man sitting across from her, knowing she asked an awful lot of him. Taking a long drink of water, she stalled for time. How could she possibly tell him about a stupid, foolish mistake she’d made when she was drunk and hurt so badly from Reid’s rejection? Looking at him now, she suspected it was a rejection he really didn’t mean. He hurt. She did, too. Edwin had meant a lot to both of them. Even so, the lussor hovered in the room with them, a reminder of what they were and how they fed their power. If all the magic in the world could have brought Edwin back or fixed her situation, she would have given into this thing months ago. And that’s all that night with Kade had been, the result of uncontrolled lussor.
She turned the chilly bottle of water in her hands, trying to meet Reid’s gaze. Swallowing hard, she knew she needed to tell him the truth. Just remembering the men from Brazos waiting for her sent shivers down her spine. Her father had sent them to fetch her, yet hadn’t seen fit to send a representative to the funeral. The bastard.
“Brazos Conclave may be one of the strongest Conclaves in the country and my father works hard to keep it that way. He rules with an iron fist. What he says go, and if he wants you married off to breed more little sorcerers, well you do that too. He is obeyed. No questions asked. He opposed my going to medical school. I finally convinced him by telling him that the sorcerer community needed its own health care system. I’m currently working with other doctors to try and form a network of sorcerer-friendly doctors. Edwin asked, as a personal favor, to allow me to come up here and treat him. That was the only way my father let me leave Brazos.”
“But you arrived before Edwin got cancer,” Reid interjected.
Laura closed her eyes. This was the hardest part of the story. “I think Edwin knew what was going to happen. Our magic works in ways that not even I understand. I’ve tried to stay away from it. It’s only brought me trouble as far as I’m concerned. I put my faith in science, not sorcery.” When she opened her eyes again, Reid looked hurt.
“You’re saying he knew about this and didn’t tell us?” His voice caught, and he swallowed hard. “Why?”
“Maybe he wanted to spare you,” Laura set her bottle down on floor. She moved across the room, kneeling beside Reid. Taking his hand between hers, she brought it to her chest. The doctor in her noted his cold skin, the tense set of his jaw. Reid was not a man in control of his emotions.
Reid stared at where her hands held his. “How does my brother fit into all of this?”
The moment of truth. Laura took both of Reid’s hands in hers, partially to feel the lussor that marked them both as sorcerers, and partially for support. “It was a mistake. He was drunk. I was stinging from your rejection, and the lussor overcame us both. What can I say? I was fresh from my father’s influence, hundreds of miles away from Brazos and for the first time, able to do something on my own. The man I wanted had just tossed me aside. I believe you used the phrase “rich bitch.” When your brother came to me offering a shoulder, I took it. And when the lussor became too much…well, I fed it. It was a moment of stupidity, and I suppose you wouldn’t believe me if I told you that I don’t think Kade was entirely honorable in his actions.”
“Neither were you.” Reid pulled his hands from her grip. “My brother, Laura. If you knew…”
“Then why did you reject me? I came to you once, shortly after I arrived. Don’t you remember?” Tears stung her eyes. Rejected then, and now rejected again as she bared her soul to him. Dammit, why did Reid have this ability to get under her skin like this. “Edwin was having a picnic, a get together to welcome me. It was just StarMyst and me. We flirted, if you remember. I thought you wanted me, and when I suggested we go out for dinner, you said you didn’t want someone rich and spoiled. You wanted someone like Jacy, someone down to earth. And all I knew how to be back then was the daughter of Brazos. You compared me to your foster sister and I fell woefully short. Kade came and apologized for your behavior. We all make mistakes.”
Laura wished she possessed telepathy in addition to her other skills. She longed to know what was happening inside Reid’s skull, what thoughts he was thinking. “I didn’t bring you here to reject me twice. You know the score. Edwin’s dead. My father wants me back. There’s only one way to keep me from returning to Brazos, and that’s to have someone from StarMyst claim me.”
She pulled away, not wanting to be close to him when he rejected her for a second time. A tear slid over her cheek. First one, then another, until she couldn’t stop t
he torrent. Burying her face in her hands, she realized the futility of her situation. She just asked the one man who would never in a million years take her in to save her from her home Conclave. She hiccupped, and suddenly, Reid was there.
Wrapping his arms around her, he pulled her into his chest. She nestled there, aware of the scratchy wool of his suit jacket, the crisp cotton of his shirt. If it had taken this to finally get Reid to notice her, she didn’t know whether to be thankful or just very, very sad. And yet, a part of her relished that she was exactly where she wanted to be—in Reid’s arms. She melted against him, savoring the feel of his hard, muscled body against hers. She’d fantasized about this moment a thousand times; her dreams didn’t compare to the reality. “I’m sorry,” she whispered against his shirt, “I shouldn’t ask this of you, of any of you.”
Reid’s silence weighed on her. His hand moved in lazy strokes along her back, from the nape of her neck down her spine and back up again. The silky material of her dress glided beneath his touch. His fingers skimmed across the clasp on her bra. Her breath hitched in her throat.
The lussor brought a flush to her cheeks and cream to her pussy. Drawing a deep breath, she pulled back far enough to put some space between them. Not a lot, but enough daylight so she couldn’t feel the hard planes of his muscles against her chest and imagine how his body would feel tangled with hers.
“Why didn’t you tell us sooner?” Reid finally asked.
Laura searched his gaze. The relief in his blue eyes made her knees weak with relief. Sinking to the floor, she swallowed hard. “Because you made your position clear, and I would have returned to Brazos before I took anyone else.” She knew her past actions made her sound like a hypocrite and hoped Reid didn’t see her that way.
“You took my brother,” Reid countered.
Laura flinched. “Yes, but not permanently. You didn’t know about the times he dropped by expecting a repeat performance. I told him no. If I wanted to use your brother to get out of my obligations to Brazos I would have a long time ago and none of this would be an issue right now.” She shook with tension and the need to make him understand.