by Beth Sadler
Chapter 3
Joe knew that eventually his power of speech would return to him, common sense said that he hadn’t suddenly become mute. He knew that eventually he would be able to move his body and blink his eyes, he wasn’t paralysed. But, for some incredible, unexplainable reason, it just wasn’t happening. The beauty standing before him had frozen him in place.
Her long, midnight black hair curled softly down her back, held back from her face by a wide, gold comb. Shy eyes, of a brilliant, turquoise blue gazed up at him. Her long, lithe body, surrendered to soft curves in all the right places, beautifully displayed by the casual jeans and t-shirt she wore. Her five foot eleven inches of height put her nearly on eye level with Joe’s own six foot four. For several timeless moments Joe and Darial just stared at each other in awe. Then the world and all its sounds and smells rushed back in at them in a tidal wave of sensation.
Joe moved to lean his shoulder against the door frame, quickly crossing his arms over his chest to stop them from grabbing the woman standing before him. A slow, wondrous smile spread across his ruggedly handsome face, his dark blue eyes twinkled down at her, scanning her from head to toe.
“Well, hello gorgeous,” he murmured softly. “What can I do for you? Would you like to run away to Bali with me for a week or two?” Even as he said it, Joe wasn’t altogether sure he was joking.
Darial was confused by Joe’s comment, Hail Hera, her English was pitiable. “I’m sorry but, I have no time to go to Bali, I must return to my job in two days time.”
Joe straightened up in the doorway, telling himself to get serious.”Sorry, you caught me off guard, just joking. What can I do for you?”
“I would like to speak to Joseph Grant please. My name is Darial Tarkon and I have a message from Halliday Grant-Radinor for her brother.” Joe was stunned. This was Darial; most definitely not a man’s name after all.
“I’m Joe, my dad’s Joseph. Come in and I’ll make you a coffee while you fill me in; I got Halli’s letter you pushed under my door. Thanks.”Joe stood back as he waved her inside and seated her at the kitchen table while he got busy with the coffee. “Are you a friend of Dan’s or did Halli make the arrangements for you to stay in his unit?” Darial was still trying to work out what “Fill me in” meant so she was slightly confused in her answer.
“I, uh, I’m not exactly a close friend of Daniel’s but, I have met him. He is a very nice man who loves Callianta Anderon very much,” she replied, relieved to find the correct English words.
Joe was thoroughly shocked, “Do you mean that old Dan has a serious girlfriend?”
“Well of course. They are life-mates and bonded forever.”
“I’m amazed. He hasn’t mentioned anything about a woman in any of his emails.” Darial quickly realised that she had revealed too much, and rushed to correct her mistake.
“I’m sorry, perhaps I’ve used the wrong words, my English is very poor and Callem has often said that I must learn more of the local idiom.” Joe was still amazed by what he had just heard so didn’t push Darial into answering his question. He figured he would get the low down from Halli later.
“I lose track of where Halli and Callem are in the world, are they still in Iceland, is that where you hail from?” Once again Darial was confused but, desperately tried to work out why he expected her to either snow or shout.
“I spoke to my executon I mean Callem, a few days ago in Iceland.” Darial was careful not to mention that he was no longer there. “We have been working on the effects of the recent volcanic eruption on the world’s upper atmosphere and the soil in Iceland. As you know it was a massive eruption causing worldwide problems and ruined much of Iceland’s farmland.” Darial crossed her fingers behind her back; she hoped that answered all of his questions.
Joe sighed in frustration, spun a kitchen chair around and sat down bracing his arms along its back. Obviously casual conversation wasn’t cutting it so he decided to go with flat out interrogation, in his experience that was the best way to go anyway. Joe held up his left hand and started pointing to each finger with his right index one as he fired his questions at her.
“Do you come from Iceland and speak Icelandic? What is an Executon? Where are Callem and Halli?” Taking a deep breath he continued in a rush. “Are you involved with anyone? How old are you and what’s your job?” That ought to cover the essentials for now he thought, satisfied that he would soon know who he had to kill, in order to claim this beauty.
Darial frowned, deep in thought as she put Joe’s questions into order, then, smiling she held up her hand and began ticking them off one by one on her fingers.
“I was not born in Iceland, my first language is Teeronal.” One finger curled down. “An Executon is the name for my boss in my language.” Two fingers were now turned down. “Callem was in Iceland when I last saw him.” A third finger curled down. “I am not yet involved with a life-mate.” Fourth finger turned down. “I am twenty eight years of age.” thumb closed. “I am a global warming researcher.” Darial held up her closed fist in triumph, she had managed to answer all of his questions without compromising her mission.
“Well done, now I know that I can ask you out to dinner tonight without treading on anyone’s toes.” Joe laughed with relief as she declared herself uninvolved. “How about we go to dinner at the Casino?” He suggested eagerly.
“Oh, I have already eaten dinner tonight, thank you. Also, I went to the Casino last night with Jason. He is a very nice young man that I met at the Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary yesterday. And, you did not tread on my toes.” Darial was very proud of how much English she had understood. She mentally patted herself on the back, she was doing well.
“I’ll just bet Jason was a nice young man,” growled Joe. He was amazed at the depths of black fury rising up to choke him, at the thought of Jason taking her to dinner, smiling with her, and, God help him if he had kissed her goodnight. Jason was toast if Joe got hold of him.
“He was very kind and tried to teach me some of the Australian slang. However, that was my own personal day and now I only have two days left to help my executon and his wife.” Darial smiled happily across the table at him as she took a small electronic notebook from her bag and studied the list on it, totally unaware of the effect that her words were having on Joe.
“You only have two more days here?” he asked in near desperation. How was he going to win her in only two days?
“Yes, but already I have completed the purchase of many of the items that Halli required so, I think I will complete all my tasks in time.”
Darial was pleased with how well her shopping trip had gone today. It had taken several hours of searching and consultation with sales people but, Halli now had a complete flat pack kitchen, plus many accessories, that Darial was confident she would like. Darial had already stored them in the transporter’s hanger.
Payment for the goods had been no trouble as, the research teams had access to credit cards that drew on an Australian bank. Interplanetary travel was getting easier now that Earth’s technology had advanced closer to Teeron’s.