Loving a Fairy Godmother (4 page)

He returned that look with a flirty smile. “I
used to serve royalty, Godmother Reina. Believe me when I say,
sometimes the large crown is to compensate for something.”

“Oh really? Well, I assume we can say the
same thing about your sword, eh, knight?”

Maybe not completely back to normal after
all. The second those words passed her lips her eyes went saucer
wide, and Tiernan couldn’t say who was more shocked, him or Reina
herself. There was no way he was letting this pass. His voice
coming out a low growl, he replied, “Why, Reina, I never knew you
were interested in the size of my sword. Anytime you want a private
viewing, I will be more than happy to oblige.”

What in heavens above had caused her to make
that comment?

Reina and Tiernan were amongst mortals as
themselves, no glamours to change their appearances. Everyone who
looked upon them saw a tall pretty woman with dark hair and dark
eyes, and an even taller gorgeous man with thick blond hair and
eyes the same color as the sky overhead.

They were walking through the local village
on the way to Cinderella’s home, having decided that the best way
to complete this assignment was to take positions of employment at
the house and monitor everything from there. Of course, it just
happened that the one maid and stable boy employed by Cinderella’s
family ran away with each other only the night before, so they were
sure they could get employment there. Funny how coincidences like
that happened.

From all around them, appreciative murmurs
found their way to Reina’s ears, and she knew from past experience
it was from the women taking in Tiernan’s form, wondering to each
other about his prowess and giggling like ninnies over their
suggestions, as if they were the only ones who had ever put voice
to such thoughts.

Really, no wonder he had such a fat head.

Something must have shown on her face because
Tiernan spoke then. “Excellent way to keep up our charade,
Godmother Reina. You truly look like a woman who is jealous of the
other ladies’ attentions towards her husband.”

“Please don’t let the stress of this
assignment cause you to lose what’s left of your sense,” she
replied in a false sweet tone, and wished that Tiernan’s laughter
didn’t cause her stomach to jump.

This was getting ridiculous.

Since their discussion yesterday, all manner
of ridiculous thoughts invaded her brain. Thoughts about how it
might not be so terrible to have a male as a FG. Thoughts about how
he just might be different from what she assumed he was, different
from the other males she had known.

The warmth of his hand coming to rest on the
small of her back startled her from her musings and stopped her in
her tracks. She looked at him, a question on her lips, but she
noticed his lip curled into a snarl and his attention was
elsewhere. Following his gaze, she noticed two men who were very
obvious in looking at anything but her. She had been so absorbed
within herself that she did not notice those men do anything, but
they must have said something that Tiernan did not like.

He looked down at her, his eyes holding those
last remaining vestiges of anger, and Reina wanted to jump back in
instinctive protection against a superior predator.

His fingers curled into her skin, branding
her where they lay, and all the while his eyes warned against her
trying to reject his possession.

She turned her gaze back to the road,
suddenly all too aware of his overwhelming maleness, the power in
those thick legs, the strength in those corded arms.

It had been like this since they arrived in
the mortal realm, as if returning to the place he had been born had
affected a change in the man before her. No longer was he her
subordinate. No, here he ruled, and demanded she follow him.

His hand traveled up her spine, the calloused
fingertips drawing light patterns over the sensitive skin at the
nape of her neck. Without thought, her eyes slightly closed, her
head giving a small tilt back. An appreciative rumble of sound came
from him, causing her eyes to close even more.

“Do you be needing help? Strangers aren’t
common in these parts.”

The voice caused Reina to jerk away, her eyes
flying open as an older man, burnt-skinned and shoulders hunched,
appeared before them.

Tiernan recovered fastest. “Yes sir, my wife
and I are looking for employment.”

“What be you looking for?”

“I can do anything outside a house, and my
wife can do anything inside it.”

The old man scratched his chin. “I heard the
Baroness be needing help, her two run off. Cash poor, that one, so
count your wages, but she’s excited over the Prince coming back.
Needs the help, so won’t be too choosy about how she gets it. Only
has her one little lass who she overworks. Such a good little girl,
deserves better than the Baroness. Lives over the hill there.”

“Much thanks,” said Tiernan, inclining his
head.

He waved the thanks off, and turned to Reina.
“Missus, be warned, she has two daughters, and word is, both are
fond of a handsome man.” He patted Tiernan’s broad back. “No one
could deny you landed yourself a handsome one. Make sure you keep
him happy.”

“Uh, yes,” said Reina, unsure how else to
reply, and the old man wandered off.

Continuing up the road, Tiernan gave a happy
sigh. “What?” Reina asked.

“Oh, I’m just imagining all the ways you can
keep me happy. After all, you were lucky enough to land me.”

“After I landed you, I should have gutted
you,” Reina murmured, which earned her nothing but delighted
laughter from Tiernan.

They reached Cinderella’s home and approached
the back door, as any servant looking for work would do. An older
woman came to the door, the smell of baked goods clinging to her
skin. “Yes?”

Tiernan spoke. “We were told work could be
found here?” He kept his voice light and his manner hopeful, going
for non-threatening, not seductive.

The woman took them both in with a long look,
then slowly nodded her head. “There may be work. It would be my
Mistress’s place to decide. Who are you?”

“We are a newly married couple who are trying
to make our life together,” said Tiernan, putting his arm around
Reina and hugging her to him. Surely the woman wouldn’t notice if
Reina kicked Tiernan in the shin, right?

In contrast to Reina’s thoughts, this news
was met by a smile from the old woman. “That’s grand, aye it is.
Nothing like young love. Come in, I will call my Mistress. You’ll
get your answer directly.”

They were seated in front of the hearth while
the old woman went out. As soon as she vanished from sight, Reina
started. “Could you be a little less demonstrative?”

“No.”

“No?” she repeated, flabbergasted. “What do
you mean no? There is no reason to go on like you are. Just try to
control yourself.”

His hand came up to bury itself in her hair,
turning her to face him. “Control myself?” he asked softly. “Be
aware, Reina, I am very definitely controlling myself. If we were
truly married, I would have ripped the tongues out of the mouths of
those two bastards who talked about you like you were a whore.”

He pulled his hand away, letting the dark
strands slide over his tanned skin, letting her see the way he
played with the heavy fall between his fingers, taking in the
texture.

Finally, he seemed to satisfy his fascination
enough that he tucked the strands behind her ears. His hold on her
hair was gone, but he didn’t release her gaze. “I am leader here,
Reina, completely in control. Don’t forget that.”

She wanted to refute him, but her voice
didn’t work. All she could do was gaze at him and wonder when
exactly that place between her thighs became so wet.

“Oh, now there is a handsome one, don’t you
think, Serena?”

Two young women were at the doorway. Both
short, one round, one thin, wearing identical airs of extreme
entitlement.

They were also staring at Tiernan like he was
the most decadent dessert they had ever seen in their lives and
they wanted to devour him.

Just when Reina decided that the best way to
help Cinderella would be to toss these two bitches down the nearest
well, the old woman returned, followed by a lady Reina recognized
as the Stepmother. Even if she hadn’t read the file, she would have
loathed this woman on sight. Her daughters had nothing on her in
the entitlement department, and her expression said that Reina and
Tiernan had as much meaning to her as a pile of dung.

However, she had a handsome face, even in her
advancing age, and her air could be misconstrued as regal for
someone unaccustomed to reading people. Reina wasn’t surprised
Cinderella’s father, an honest and simple man, had mistakenly
married her to provide companionship and family for himself and his
daughter.

“Serena, Melanie, what did I tell you about
talking to the help?” she said to the girls, who looked chastised
but not cowed. Turning to Reina and Tiernan, she said “I understand
you are looking for work.”

“Yes, Madam. My wife and I heard you recently
lost your help. We’re strong and work hard.” Tiernan’s voice held
subservience, but Reina had known him long enough that she alone
could pick up the slight undercurrent of contempt.

She looked at them long moments, obviously
debating some point within herself. “Cinderella!” she suddenly
yelled, causing Reina to give the slightest jump. Before Reina
could even calm herself, the young woman appeared in the
doorway.

She was even prettier than the picture
showed, though Reina had no idea how that was possible. Cinderella
gave her a warm smile, her welcome not dependent on the status of
the person receiving it. Cinderella’s attention then turned to
Tiernan.

Instead of the usual melting scene Reina
usually observed when it involved Tiernan and the opposite sex,
Cinderella gave him a warm but fleeting smile, her eyes quickly
sliding from his.

“I indeed have work for you,” said the
Stepmother, looking only at Tiernan as she spoke. “Cinderella will
tell you your assignments. Girls, come with me.” With a swish of
her skirts, and without any further acknowledgement, she was out of
the room, her daughters in tow.

“Please excuse my Stepmother.” Cinderella’s
quiet voice cut into Reina’s internal name calling of the older
woman. “There are rumors that the Prince is returning home, and she
is very stressed over all that must be done in preparation.”

Cinderella led them around the estate,
familiarizing them with the layout, answering any questions they
had. She was warm, quiet, efficient, everything the file told of
and more.

Nevertheless, she never tried to converse
with Tiernan. In fact, she went out of her way to avoid being
around him, always having Reina between them.

Reina and Tiernan were eating dinner at the
end of the first day. It was just the two of them. Reina could hear
the distant laughter from the front of the house, where the
Stepmother and her two daughters were. Cook had already gone to
bed, and Cinderella mentioned something about wanting to visit the
animals in the barn.

“She’s afraid of men,” Tiernan said,
interrupting Reina’s recount of how many ways the stepsisters
annoyed her today.

“What?”

“Cinderella. She’s afraid of men.” He took
another bite of the bread, his eyes staring blankly at nothing in
the distance. “Maybe afraid is the wrong word. Wary might be a
better way to describe it.”

“And what would give you that idea?”

“She doesn’t come near me.”

Reina made a rude sound at that. “Because we
have found the one woman in the world who isn’t aware of you, then
automatically, she doesn’t like men?”

His head swung in her direction, and warm,
lazy eyes swept over Reina’s body. Immediately her skin became
sensitized, bringing with it the knowledge that they were sitting
too close to one another, that their legs were almost touching.
Tiernan leaned closer, his gaze intent on hers. “The one woman,
Reina? And you?”

Flustered, she shook her head. “I don’t
know…”

“She’s very aware of me, Reina,” he
interrupted, his mouth now so close to hers that she felt his hot
breath. “But there are two kinds of awareness…”

She swallowed, her throat tight. “Two kinds?”
she asked, and was shocked at how husky her voice sounded.

“There is awareness where your body craves
someone, no matter what your mind says is safe,” and he pulled
back, leaving her space. For one moment, before she had the sense
to stop herself, her body had wanted to follow his. His voice
became brusque, “and then there is the type of awareness when you
absolutely want nothing to do with someone and you never want them
to be able to surprise you.”

Needing to be away from him, she reached for
a glass of water. She took a sip of water, using the moment to
compose herself. “Why would she feel that way?” she asked, once she
was sure her voice would be normal again.

“My guess? At best, she has almost no
exposure to men in her day-to-day life, and as gorgeous as she is,
the attention she does get the few times she is around men is the
kind I guarantee a proper young lady would not want. She doesn’t
know how to react to men. At worst, she has been the victim of some
sort of attack.”

Negating that line of thinking with an
emphatic shake of her head, Reina said, “No, thank heaven. If
something of that magnitude had happened, it would have been in the
report.”

Small lines of tension eased around his eyes.
“I’m glad. I’d hate to think of that happening to her. We need to
assume that she hasn’t been exposed to the best in male/female
relationships then.”

Reina nodded. “I agree. Beyond that, she
really doesn’t have a female to talk about things with.”