LINDSEY Johanna - Heart of Warrior

by Heart of Warrior (lit)

  Something that needs a reply? In other words, where they were going was none of her business?

  “I don’t know if I like the sound of that,” she said with distinct unease.

  “Your opinion was not requested, kerima.”

  She began to bristle indignantly. She couldn’t help it. He was suddenly acting way too … too barbaric for her taste. It must be the clothes he was now wearing. Look primitive, become primitive?

  “Martha was right. You‑”

  “Martha has been a hindrance,” he cut in. “You may forget everything she has told you.

  “Are we finally getting to the truth?”

  “What truth would that be?”

  “About where I am.”

  “Where you are is with me,” he said simply

  “O‑kay, then where are you?”

  “With you.” His chin came to rest on her shoulder. “I will always be with you.”

  That had a nice, secure ring to it, enough to mollify her somewhat for the moment. She supposed that if she tried, she could read between the lines of what little he’d just said. Martha had only been interested in convincing her to believe the whole fantasy Dalden apparently had a different agenda. He was the fantasy, or at least, a very big part of it. And for him, it wasn’t important that she accept where she was, only that she accept who she was with.

  Martha had said she’d convinced him to be patient, which pretty much meant that he’d held back up until now from showing her what he was really like. Was that what this was about, then? They were going off to be alone somewhere so she could meet the real Daiden‑the barbarian she’d only seen little glimpses of so far?

  She suddenly felt a very real fear. What if she didn’t like the barbarian side of him? What if, as the word barbarian implied, he was so insufferable that she simply couldn’t tolerate living with him?

  They continued to ride through the wooded region, seemingly without direction. If there was a path, she no longer saw it. Miles

  passed with nothing to see because of the intense dark. As they got close to a clearing, it actually appeared brightly lit by the starlight.

  “We will make camp here,” Dalden said, dismounting and then lifting her down to the ground next to him.

  Brittany had been falling asleep, and hadn’t noticed the small clearing they finally entered and stopped in. A stream was nearby. She could hear it, just didn’t see it yet. And a moon had risen when she wasn’t looking, a great yellow ball seen through the trees.

  “Is this our final destination, or do we move on in the morning?” she asked.

  “We will stay here.”

  “And the purpose?”

  “We are here to learn.”

  “Let me guess. I’ll be doing all the learning, you all the teaching.”

  He had moved to unload the other animal. He glanced her way now with a raised brow.

  “Your tone suggests you have brought some of that mentioned disgruntlement along with you. Have you not stressed, more than once, that you would be happy as long as you are with me? Was that not the truth? Does the place then make a difference to you?”

  She sighed. “You’re right. I don’t know why I´m on edgeactually, I do know, but I’ll get over it now that we’re communicating again. We are communicating again, right? No more of that ridiculous silent treatment?”

  “There is always a reason for what I do,” he told her. “Wild animals make their home in these woods. Hunters come here to hunt them. Travelers pass through them between towns, as do raiding parties. My full concentration was needed to keep our journey safe. It was also my intention to be assured that Martha could not follow us with her short‑range scanning, which she could have done from our speech. You do not need her protection any longer. You are mine to protect. Lastly, you have learned that there Will be decisions that I will make that are not open to discussion.”

  “Wow, that was a great explanation‑up to the end,” she said drily.

  He went back to the unpacking, but remarked in a tone without inflection, “You are determined to find fault with me. Why is that?

  “Martha warned‑”

  “Martha again?” he cut in. “Did I not say you should forget what she has told you?”

  “You know that isn’t possible.”

  “When most of what she has told you, you do not believe anyway?”

  She blushed clear to the roots of her hair. Fortunately, Dalden wasn’t looking and probably wouldn’t have noticed those hot cheeks in the dark if he was. She had been expecting the worst after Martha’s warning, had been expecting all kinds of unacceptable traits from him now. He said they were there to learn, and that did go both ways. What was wrong with that? She wanted to know him better, to know every single thing there was to know about him, didn’t she?

  “I’m sorry,” she offered. “I did bring along some preconceived notions, but I’m putting them to rest now. Would you like some help with that? I was a Girl Scout as a kid, so I know how to erect tents, get fires started, gather food, and otherwise survive in the wild. “

  That gained his complete attention for a moment, “Truly? Such things are taught the females in your world?”

  “Well, not the whole world,” she was forced to admit. “It’s a program offered in my particular country, with similar programs in a few others. It’s not mandatory, and actually, very few girls Join it these days with so many other activities to interest them instead. That’s a shame, since it teaches some really good qualities, as well as useful things to learn. Enjoying camping with my brothers, I personally found it very beneficial.”

  He nodded, even grinned at her. “I am pleased you enjoy camping. Most of our women would complain mightily at being taken away from the comfort of their homes. They fear the ‘wild’ as you call this.”

  She hoped their fear was without good reason, and at least he didn’t say Your wilds are diffierent from our wilds. As to her suggestion, he seemed to be ignoring it, probably because the tent turned out to be too big and heavy for her to handle, no thin nylon or army canvas, but a seriously thick material designed to keep out whatever might come snooping around. There were a lot of things to carry inside, though, after it was erected, and he let her help with that.

  When they were done, a large fur rug had been unrolled in the middle of the tent as their bed. Numerous sacks were brought in, as well as a gaali stone box that provided tons of light, making a campfire obsolete except for cooking. That wasn’t needed tonight, since he’d brought along their dinner, already cooked.

  They shared the meal. Dalden insisted on feeding it to her, which she didn’t mind. Actually, he made it an erotic experience, whether intentional or not, that she thoroughly enjoyed. So she couldn’t be faulted in thinking they were going to be making love soon after the meal.

  “Come here.”

  Replete and mellow now, and having decided this camping trip just might turn out to be a lot of fun, Brittany didn’t hesitate. She settled down on his lap, felt his strong arms come around her, and expected him to kiss her. He didn’t.

  He tilted her head in the right position for kissing, but there were other things on his mind. “Was that difficult, to obey me?”

  It was the word obey that set off alarm signals really loudly this time. Brittany stiffened and tried to move off him to a distance more appropriate for a discussion she didn’t think she was going to like. But she was held firmly in place. A subtle reminder that if someone refused to obey, she could be forced to?

  Chapter Forty‑seven

  BRITTANY TRIED TO GIVE DALDEN THE BENEFIT OF THE doubt, she really did. She allowed that she was overreacting to one simple word. Granted, it was a word that went against the grain for an independent woman who’d been making all her own decisions since she left home. But all she had to do, really, was give the word a less offensive meaning. After all, she hadn’t been “obeying,” and said so to answer his question.

  “I didn’t see it as an order, but a suggestion.�
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  “Had it been an order?”

  “Then it would have required thought on my part,” she replied. “Why?”

  “Because I don’t like orders. They are demeaning, suggesting I lack intelligence. That’s why I didn’t join the military. I wouldn’t have been able to handle hearing nothing but orders. And don’t

  look so surprised; women can be soldiers where I come from. Wasn’t it the same where your mother comes from?”

  “I will allow that the technology of these other worlds make such possible, if you will allow that in a society where the weapons are only swords and strength, a woman cannot hope to compete.”

  That caused an image in her mind of her trying to wield a fourfoot sword that she could barely lift against one of these barbarian giants. It was an absurd image that caused her to grin, then chuckle.

  “Good point,” she said.

  Again he looked surprised, probably because he’d expected an argument. “You agree?”

  “Sure, but that still doesn’t mean I’m going to jump when you say jump.

  “Even if an order is given for your own good?” Dalden persisted.

  She gave that some thought, then allowed, “Some orders are acceptable, certainly, but you aren’t my boss with power over my job, or my government, or the law. You’re the man I live with in a mutual relationship. Why would you even want to order me around?”

  ‘It is not a matter of want, but of necessity,” he told her. “It is my right to protect you. No one else has this right more than I -even you. This is not something that normally needs explaining. Our women are taught from birth what they can and cannot do, and who they must obey in all things‑and why. A warrior needs the assurance that if he finds his woman in danger, and must instruct her to remove her from that danger, she will not stop to argue about it. If he cannot have this assurance, then he would restrict her more than is needful, and neither would be pleased.”

  “Okay, I see where you’re coming from. If your women have been trained from birth to literally jump when you say jump, then you men probably take it for granted that they’ll do just that. But you have to take into account that I wasn’t trained that way, so instead of getting an old horse to follow new tricks, how about

  just keeping in mind that I’m not one of your women and so need to be treated differently?”

  “Do you tell me you did not follow the rules of your father?” he said.

  She frowned. “Not just my father, my parents. Both. Rules mutually decided on. Yes, when I lived with them I obeyed their rules, but it was with full knowledge that when I left home I’d be living by my own rules. Do you see the difference? Those were temporary rules, the rules for a child. Our children grow up knowing that eventually they’ll be on their own, with no one but government and laws telling them what they can and can’t do. You, on the other hand, are telling me that your people continue to treat your women like children even after they’re adults. I’m twenty‑eight years old, Dalden, in case that hasn’t been mentioned yet. I am not a child.”

  His hands suddenly cupped her breasts fully, heat searing through the thin material of the chauri. “I do not see you as a child.”

  She blushed. He couldn’t miss it this time with the gaali stone lighting the inside of the tent with daylight brightness. He smiled She scowled.

  “Don’t sidestep the issue,” she said. “I wasn’t talking about sex, but general overall treatment. I’ve heard the ridiculous rules you place on your women, that they have to dress a certain way, that they can’t walk out their front door without having their hand held by some man. Has it even occurred to you how demeaning I would find such rules?”

  Now he frowned. “You were told the rules but not why there are such rules?”

  “Martha didn’t want to discuss them at all, probably because she finds them as offensive as I do.”

  “They are not meant to offend, but to protect.”

  “If your town was a civilized town, then I could walk its streets without fear of being bothered. Are you going to tell me it’s not civilized?”

  “How many times were you told that Sha‑Ka’an is viewed by modern worlds as a barbaric world? Did you truly think you would find equality between men and women here?”

  The blush was back. She had been forgetting that. Not that it meant much when this was all make‑believe anyway, but if she was going to go along with the program‑or at least accept the possibility that Dalden really did believe all this‑then she needed to keep in mind that nothing here was going to be what she would call normal. Why was she even fighting it? What she needed to figure out was if she could live with it‑at least until the “program” was over.

  “All right, so you’re barbarians‑I’m sorry, I know you don’t like that word, but you brought it up. And you say these rules that I object to are for my own protection. Why? What happens if I don’t follow them?”

  You will be punished.”

  “You have jails for this?”

  “No.”

  “Whipping posts?”

  “Do not be silly, woman,” he said sternly. “Your punishment would be mine to give, and you know I would not cause you physical pain.”

  She did know that. He was always mindful of his greater strength, always so careful in touching her. She sighed, leaned forward to lay her head on his chest.

  “I’m beginning not to like this discussion,” she said in a tired voice.

  He immediately began to soothe her with his hands. “We need not finish it now, yet it is my wish that you have no more questions when we leave here.”

  She was all for that. She’d avoided those answers, or had had them avoided for her, too long now.

  “That must have been quite a talk you had with your father,” she remarked.

  “How did you‑?”

  “Martha.”

  “Ah, Martha. Indeed, she was thorough in her report. My parents were together to hear it.”

  “I take it you’re ignoring her advice to continue patience with me?”

  “My patience has not assisted you to full acceptance,” he said.

  “Dalden, I’m never going to accept this fantasy. If you can’t accept that‑”

  “Answer me this, kerima,” he cut in. “If you did believe everything that has been told you, would it change your feelings for me?”

  “No,” she said without hesitation.

  “This is what my father pointed out to me. Martha’s predictions of doomed failure did not take into account a woman’s heart, which Martha can never fully understand.”

  “Then why bring me out here?”

  “To assist you to a full acceptance of me.”

  “But I‑”

  He put a finger to her lips. “I will endeavor to explain what I mean. The culture differences that so worried Martha are indeed real. Already you have shown an unwillingness to embrace my culture. What you have yet to realize is there is no choice in the matter, for you or for me. If this were a different country in your world that you were visiting, would you refuse to obey its laws while you were there? Would you expect immunity from those laws simply because you were not born there?”

  “No, but‑”

  Once again he didn’t let her finish. “Then why do you resist doing so here? Because here is not real to you? Is your denial, then, the true problem after all?”

  “But what’s that got to do with a full acceptance of you?” she demanded.

  “Everything, kerima,” he said gently. “You will have to obey our rules. You will be punished if you do not. Can you accept this, and understand that it is not something I will enjoy doing? A warrior

  often suffers as much, if not more, in the punishment of his woman.

  She didn’t snort, though the urge was there. They treated their women like children‑the punishments were no doubt of the same nature. His worry, and what was beginning to worry her as well, was, could she accept him enforcing one of those childish punishments on her? Probably not. But
she could compromise. She could follow their silly rules so that the matter would never be put to the test.

  She said as much. “How ‘bout I just obey the rules, so you can stop worrying about punishments you’re never going to have to dish out? Will that ease your mind?”

  “It pleases me greatly that you will make this effort,” he said gravely.

  Her brow knitted in a frown. “Then why don’t you look pleased? That wasn’t what you wanted to hear, was it? Do you really want my permission‑and forgiveness‑before the fact?”

  “These things are not needful,” he replied. “It is your understanding that I wish to assure. I have explained what can happen. I need to know that you understand why such things are necessary here. “

  She counted to ten before she lost it over what wasn’t needed. She finally sighed.

  “I think I’ll take you up on that offer to drop the subject for now. You’ve given me a lot to think about. I need some time to digest it.”

  Having said that, she tried once again to move off his lap and out of his reach. Again, she couldn’t. She narrowed her eyes on him.

  “That’s major advantage taking, using your strength against me like this.”

  “A benefit of a warrior,” he said, grinning at her to show that he might be teasing, but she’d place her wager on not. “For what reason do you wish to move?”

  “So I can sulk, of course,” she retorted.

  He shook his head at her, still grinning. “If we are done with discussing matters of importance, then it is time for‑other things.” “Such as?” “A benefit of being a woman.” It turned out to be quite a benefit that night.

  Chapter Forty‑eight

  IT NEVER SEEMED TO CHANGE, THE COMPLETE AND utter distraction of Dalden’s kisses. From the moment his mouth claimed hers, everything else was forgotten. Where they were, what they’d been discussing, her annoyance‑all gone with the touch of his lips.

  That was quite a power he had over her. If she didn’t trust him, it might worry her, that power.

  He stripped her in his lap, a task made too easy by the chauri. He merely placed his hands by her neck, moved them over her shoulders and down her arms in a slow caress, and the chauri went with them, baring her to the waist. She barely noticed because he was still kissing her, a deep “you’re mine” kind of kiss that instantly ignited her passions‑which was a good thing. His hands might be slowly caressing her, but the rest of him was on a much faster time schedule. A slight change in her position and she was impaled and exploding with pleasure. All within a matter of minutes. And still sitting on his lap!