Tagan's Child (62 page)

I made my way
downstairs. It was such a light house and the wood flooring felt
warm beneath my feet. Surprisingly, the idea of this house becoming
my home one day didn’t send me into a spiral of worry. For some
reason now it just seemed right, like it was part of the natural
order of things to come.

I was met by
the most delicious smell as I walked into the kitchen. Ahran was
liberally applying maple syrup to two plump, banana filled pancakes
that were sat on two plates in front of him doing his best to
ensure that our breakfast contained an adult’s daily quota of
calories.

“Women back
home would pay good money to have a hot, half-naked man prepare
their breakfast,” I said as I took a seat at the breakfast bar.

He laughed. “My
bill’s on the counter next to your surprise,” he said as he brought
the plates over and inclined his head towards a steaming mug of tea
standing on the surface.

“You got me
tea?!” I squealed. I stared at him disbelievingly. “You got me
tea,” I said more softly. I was overcome by his thoughtfulness.

He had a huge
grin plastered across his face. “It’s English tea.” He was
obviously pleased with his work.

“Thank you.” I
hopped off the stool and kissed him. “I didn’t think you could get
proper tea in Ramia,” I said, picking up the mug and taking a sip
of my own personal ambrosia. I swallowed. Ah that was good!

“You can’t. I
picked some up the last time I was on Earth.”

“Was that the
morning after…you know?” I willed him to understand what I was
talking about without actually having to say it. That night had
triggered a dark and bleak period of my life. I feared that to even
say the words might somehow burst the blissful bubble I now found
myself in.

“Actually I’ve
been to Earth a number of times since then,” he replied. He had
begun to pay meticulous attention to cutting his pancake and I got
the distinct impression he was hiding something from me.

“You’ve been
back to Earth since then?” For some reason this surprised me, I’d
assumed he had been busy with the farm.

He rubbed the
back of his neck awkwardly, he was obviously uncomfortable and it
made me wary.

“Ahran?” I said
suspiciously.

He sighed.
“I’ve been taking it in turns to guard you with a couple of the
King’s bodyguards,” he said flatly and shrugged whilst continuing
to eye me warily.

I was
gobsmacked. I put my mug down and stared at him open-mouthed. He
frowned when he realised I wasn’t going to let it go. “Neither
Halsan, or I were happy for you to remain unprotected, not with
Bazeera still being a threat.” He continued to look at me
cautiously, although there was something about the angle of his
head that was unapologetic.

I had been
completely unaware of being watched over during the last few weeks
and to be honest the thought of it was a little unnerving but I
couldn’t be cross with him. It was actually rather comforting to
think that a) he cared for me that much and b) in spite of me not
giving it a thought, I had been at risk and he had protected
me.

I laughed. I
couldn’t believe that all the time I had been in the depths of
despair Ahran had been with me like my own personal guardian
angel.

“How
often?”

His relief was
perceptible when he realised I wasn’t going to give him a hard
time. “More often than not,” he said with a smile.

No wonder
Leylana had been so sure about Ahran’s feelings for me. “I love
you. You getting hurt wasn’t an option,” he said bluntly.

I stepped
towards him and hooked my arms around his neck.

“So you’re not
mad?” he asked just to make sure I wasn’t about to fly off the
handle.

“I’m not mad,
you crazy fool, although, I’m a little freaked out that I was being
watched the whole time. How come I never saw you?”

“You forget
that I used to earn my living moving about undetected, and you
weren’t expecting to see me. It’s amazing how much goes unnoticed
when you aren’t looking for it.”

He lifted me up
onto the counter and lowered his lips onto mine. He tasted of maple
syrup. I pulled away licking my lips.

“Hmmm, you
taste good enough to eat.”

“As much as I
would like to make love to you here on this counter, and believe me
I will at some point, you need to eat.”

“You Ramians
are obsessed with food,” I said, feeling slightly prickly that he
wasn’t about to follow through with his tempting threat.

“Not as
obsessed as this Ramian is with you. Now eat!” he commanded. He
speared a piece of pancake onto his fork and fed it to me.

I rolled my
eyes. “Oh wow! That’s good,” I said with my mouth full.

“It’s just the
beginning,” he promised as he loaded the fork.

“I hope so,” I
said reading another meaning into his words.

He leaned in
and licked some maple syrup from the corner of my mouth.

We polished off
our pancakes together. “Mmmm, that was delicious,” I said, pushing
my plate away. “Thank you.”

“Let me run a
bath for you,” he said.

“Only if you
join me.” I laced my fingers with his.

“I’m sure that
could be arranged.” His eyes began to smoulder.

“You go and run
the bath, I’ll clear up here,” I offered.

“Leave it, it
can wait.”

He gently
tugged me off the counter and I followed him up the stairs our
hands still linked.

“Wait in here.
I’ll call you when it’s ready.”

I could get
used to being waited on, I thought to myself as I laid on the bed.
I heard him turn the taps on in the bathroom. Ahran’s bath was
bigger than my bath at home but it was still going to be a
delicious squeeze lying in there with his big frame. I began to
wonder how we were going to take things from here. I would stay
here as much as I could and Toby could come and stay here with me.
Perhaps from time to time, Ahran and I could stay at the palace.
However, I did have a business to run and a kidnap story to play
along with back home. I stared up at the ceiling not relishing the
thought of being away from Ahran any longer than I had to. How long
would it be before the police gave up their search? After I had
fled Ramia all those weeks ago it had been easy to appear
distraught because I was, I’d been in the depths of despair. But
now, everything had changed. I had come to terms with Toby living
at the palace and Ahran and I were together. I was on cloud nine.
It was not what the police or anyone else would expect of somebody
whose precious nephew had supposedly still not been found. It
wasn’t going to be easy.

“Okay, you can
come in now,” Ahran called.

I jumped off
the bed and joined him in the bathroom. He was already in the bath
surrounded by bubbles and a woman’s voice crooned quietly in the
background from a hidden sound system.

“Mind if I join
you?” I peeled off the t-shirt I was wearing.

“I’d be
devastated if you didn’t.”

I climbed into
the bath and settled in between his legs. “Mmm, that’s nice.”

“When I have
the en-suite built in the bedroom, I’m going to have a huge bath
put in so that it won’t be such a squash for us to have a bath
together.” I loved that I featured in his future plans. He started
to gently massage my neck and shoulders. I closed my eyes and laid
my head back onto his chest. “That feels so good.”

“You feel
tense.”

“I’m not. I
guess it’s just a build up over the last few weeks.”

“It was so
difficult seeing you and not being able to talk to you or touch
you.” I could hear the torment in his voice. “It nearly broke my
heart.”

“Let’s not talk
about it.”

In spite of the
recent happy turn of events, the memory of that time still caused a
painful knot in my stomach. I tilted my head to the right so that
Ahran could knead a tender spot where my shoulder and neck
joined.

“I know that
you want to wait until things settle down at home but do you think
you could ever live here with me?” he asked cautiously.

I smiled at the
uncertainty in his voice. “When the time is right wild horses
couldn’t keep me away.”

He let out an
audible breath.

“When the
kidnap story dies down, I could sell the coffee shop and rent out
the cottage. I don’t think it would seem unreasonable that I would
want to move away and make a fresh start. That way it won’t seem so
odd that I disappear for stretches at a time and I will still be
able to return and visit my friends.” I knew that being with Ahran
in Ramia was what I wanted but I couldn’t help feel a pang of
sadness that Bennie or Audrey would never be able to visit me
here.

“Of course, you
wouldn’t have to work,” he pointed out, “but I’m worried that you
will get bored.”

I was touched
by his concern. I hadn’t actually given it much thought, there had
always been too many obstacles in the way for me to have the luxury
of considering how a future with Ahran might pan out. “Maybe I
could be of some use on the farm. I’m pretty good at accounting,” I
offered.

“Would you want
to do that?” The surprise that I was interested in the farm, let
alone want to be part of the running of it, was evident in his
voice.

The thought of
being here in this beautiful place, building a future with Ahran,
was the stuff of dreams. “Yes I would,” I said, speaking the
absolute truth.

Ahran kissed
the top of my head. “There is so much I want to share with you,
discuss with you, plan with you.”

Although, it
was a tight squeeze, I managed to turn over and kneel up. “I can’t
wait.”

I leant forward
and kissed him gently on his mouth. He pulled me towards him, his
mouth opening enthusiastically beneath mine and I sighed with
perfect happiness. There were still elements of my future that were
uncertain but I knew that with Ahran by my side I could face
anything.

I live in Kent with my
husband, three children and a variety of four legged and feathered
friends, which, together with a passion for writing, makes for a
pretty hectic schedule. Not that I would change a thing! Tagan’s
Child is my first novel and I am currently working on my second
book due to be released in 2015. If you wish to follow me on
facebook, you can do so at
http://www.facebook.com/AmeliaFordAuthor
and on
Twitter @AmmyFord1
.

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