She decided that he must have assumed he was dealing with a female who had no idea how to defend herself.
Boy! Was he in for a surprise!
Instinctively, she pulled the clippers back and punched him hard in the stomach with her other hand.
The man bent over for just a second and then stood again, the grin still on his face.
“Ah, nothing like a frisky one, I’ll say.” The man lunged forward, sending Tara to the ground.
He was heavy and the ground was hard beneath her.
Tara moved faster than the man anticipated, managing to avoid his full bulk on top of her. When he pushed to his knees, she brought her knee up hard in his groin and he howled loudly.
Tara was almost to a stand when he grabbed her foot and pulled hard enough for her to fall flat. The garden gloves protected her hands as they slapped the ground, but she groaned, knowing her rear end would be bruised later.
He crawled toward her and she turned around, nailing her fist against his jaw as hard as she could. The stunned man didn’t move as she jumped up.
“You leave me alone,” she growled through clenched teeth.
The man sat staring at her as she walked away. Tara felt satisfaction at his dumbfounded expression, although she knew she had acted out of character for a Gothman girl. Hopefully, the man had been so humiliated, he wouldn’t comment on her ability to defend herself.
Tara began marching to the house, then paused. As an afterthought, she turned and grabbed the cut flowers lying on the ground where she’d dropped them. The women would question why she returned without the roses. And if they hadn’t seen her escapade, she didn’t want to have to tell them about it.
As she walked back to the house, she noticed Lord Darius staring through an opened upstairs window on the second floor. Adrenaline already pumped through her, but sudden panic made her heart race painfully. Her mouth went dry. The lord wasn’t stupid. She didn’t regret putting the ass in his place, but if she didn’t watch herself around Lord Darius, her life could be lost.
He didn’t hide his presence, and Tara couldn’t pretend not to notice his appraisal of her. She stopped and studied the man who watched her for a moment, wondering what he thought. Tara believed she detected a slight grin on his face when she finally looked away to return to the women.
* * * * *
Lord Darius turned from his bedroom window. A sudden thought hit him like a punch to the gut, but he had to be wrong. His walkntalk chirped and he turned to grab it. “Your Runner bike is secure, my Lord,” one of his guards said. Darius growled his response and tossed the contraption on his bed. It chirped again. He ignored it.
Someone tapped on his door, and his boots pounded the floor through the carpet as he crossed the room.
“Darius, how many you be wanting to join you for lunch today?”
His mama stood in the doorway, and he forced a blank expression so as not to unnerve the woman. “Hire more help, woman.” He tried to sound calm. It wouldn’t do to upset his mama. The last thing he needed right now was one of her fits. “You don’t need to be climbing those stairs like common help, no.”
His mama beamed. “Funny you should mention that, my son. We were just talking about that, we were.”
Darius waited for the woman to continue.
“Reena has brought her niece to callin’, she has.”
“You want Reena’s niece to help you around the house?”
“We had talked about it, yes.”
“Have her start tomorrow, yes.” Darius thought about the scene he had just witnessed in the yard. “And it’ll be just the guards and me that will be eating, it will.”
His mama looked very pleased with herself as she left the doorway and shuffled toward the steps.
Darius turned back to the window. He felt pleased, himself. Yes. He would have that woman under his roof. In fact, he would have that woman. What better way to determine how she could have obtained the abilities he had just witnessed?
* * * * *
“Ah, those flowers are beautiful, they are. Here, love, put them in this vase, and set them on the table. The men will come in hungry to be sure,” Hilda said as she walked back in the room.
Tara followed her instructions.
Reena and Tara stayed through lunch, and Tara willingly helped to clean the dishes afterward. Hilda and Reena sat at the kitchen table and nibbled at the pie as Tara washed and dried each plate.
“Yes, I will say, enjoy her while you have her.”
Tara saw Hilda smile as she turned to study the two women. She felt good about cleaning the kitchen. It was the least she could do considering how delightful the meal was.
She placed stacks of sliced meat on a plate on the counter for when the men came in to eat as Hilda had instructed her to do. Tara would have loved to listen to the conversation among Darius and his men, but she knew better than to think such an activity would impress these two older women.
Reena and Tara prepared to leave, and Hilda walked with them to Reena’s car.
“Reena, I’ll see you again soon now.”
“You will. It’ll be a day when your son lets you come visit me. The place is small, but we had our times up on that hill when we were younger, yes we did.” Reena beamed and Hilda laughed in agreement.
Tara was quiet as the two drove through town and back up the hill to Reena’s cottage. She entered the small house and started a fire while Reena sat and wiggled her feet.
“Hand me that bag of potatoes along the kitchen wall, child, and I will get started on a salad for our meal later, I will.”
Tara brought the bag, then helped peel and slice the potatoes.
“Well, child, what do you think of Gothman now that you’ve had good exposure to us?”
Tara stared at the flames while the peeler dangled from her hand.
“I saw Lord Darius and two other men with my motorcycle. They put it in a shed behind the Bryton home.”
“No! That’s not good.”
“I’m stranded for the time being.” Tara turned and looked at Reena. Once again she felt the sensation of claustrophobia, and the feeling didn’t settle well at all. “Not that I was planning on leaving any time soon, but now I can’t. It’ll be rather difficult to get it back unnoticed.”
“Well, I don’t know now.” Reena was quiet for a moment. “Hilda and I had an interesting talk while you were out in the garden, we did. She’d like you to come live at the house, to help out with things, of course.”
Tara blushed at the thought of living under the same roof with Lord Darius. She imagined sparring with the virile lord, and wondered if she would be able to fight with his hands on her. She looked up at Reena and saw a mischievous smile on the older woman’s face.
“What were you two scheming? I’m not interested in marriage, Reena. Not to mention Lord Darius is not the most talkative man, and the men who work for him have no manners.”
“I’ve no doubt you’ll put them in their place, I’ll be guessing. Did one of the guards get a bit fresh with you, child?”
“I had to fight one off when I went to cut the flowers for Hilda,” Tara said.
Reena glared at Tara, but still had that mischievous look in her eye. “It’s not like a lady to fight off a man.”
“I’m not just going to lay there and play dumb so some brute can do what he will with me.” Tara raised her voice and then more quietly added, “I just don’t think I could do that.”
“You know you remind me a lot of myself when I was your age.” Reena smiled. “Granted, I was no trained warrior. But, I was loyal to one man. When he left, I’d have no other. So today, I am alone.”
Tara thought for a moment, wondering what Reena would have been like as a young lady. She imagined her to have been quite beautiful, and Tara wondered what man had captured the older woman’s heart.
For some reason, Tara couldn’t see Reena falling hard for a man unless he proved himself better than the lot. Reena had a quiet dignity about her. Not for the first time, Tara could see why Patha had included the older woman in his stories.
“And you, you will be loyal to one man too. It’s your nature, I believe.” She chuckled and reached for her knitting. “So, you’ll live in the Bryton home?” She paused and then added, “You’ll be close to your motorcycle.”
“I’ll give it some thought.”
* * * * *
Later that evening, Darius stood facing his bedroom window. Maps lay strewn on the bed next to him, and additional charts scattered across the long wooden table to the other side. It had been a long day,
hell
, it had been a long night.
His men weren’t pleased when he ordered that the Runner not be brought down, but they were loyal and knew to follow his word. His Gothman instinct warred within him at his own order since his heritage ran so deep within his veins. His papa had never made an issue over Runners. If seen, they were killed. No questions asked.
The Runner race offered only danger.
This fact remained simple and clean, and no one questioned it. Runners didn’t mingle with Gothman people. They weren’t allowed in Bryton at all. Not once in Darius’ lifetime had he ever known an exception to that rule.
Until now.
Darius left the window and paced to his open bedroom door, filling the doorway as he stared below into the open entryway. The young woman he’d watched take down one of his guards had acted like a Gothman woman the rest of her stay in his home. Her impression remained imprinted in his thoughts, distracting him. No. He would be honest. The lass more than distracted his thoughts. At the moment, she consumed them. Never had he seen a Gothman lass behave like that one did. Reacting like a warrior. She turned on his guard with the skill of a trained fighter. Too trained.
He turned and moved back to the open window, running his fingers absently through tangled curls. She offered too many signs that she could be a Runner. His men were in an outrage, and Darius was confused. Not that he would admit his confusion to a soul. The Lord of Gothman offered no weaknesses. But damnit to hell, he couldn’t figure this one out.
His papa, Lord Jovis, had never enlightened Darius on any of the thinking behind his decision making. The reasons for not doing that were obvious. Darius had not been the intended heir. In the past that had never bothered Darius. He didn’t need any education from his papa to rule Gothman. Darius knew he possessed a strength his papa never had, nor his older brother. Dwelling on either of them was wasted thought. The only thing Darius wanted to know right now was why were Runners such a deadly enemy?
And why was one Runner in particular considered such a threat?
Nowhere in their history could he find one documented fact as to why Gothman hated the Runners. Darius knew next to nothing about the race. And he didn’t like not having all the facts. Somehow he would have to learn about these people.
At this moment, he placed learning about Runners at the top of his priority list. He would learn how to operate that mysterious bike he had housed in his shed. He would learn what Runners had done to Gothman to earn such harsh laws implemented against them. And above all his other questions, he would learn why one incredibly beautiful Runner had entered Gothman without an escort…
…and what that Runner was doing in his house.
Chapter Four
Tara felt thoroughly exhausted when she left the house where the quilting session had been held.
Reena had arranged for her to care for at least fifteen children. Tara had never obtained an accurate count of the kids running around the backyard, for she had spent the entire morning changing diapers, nursing scratches and pulling children out of trees when they cried for help. Although fun at first, after several hours she had been ready for Reena to rescue her.
It was hard to conceal her relief when Reena finally came out the back door of the house with several other women, and announced they were through with yet another quilt.
“Help me load everything, now be a dear, my girl,” Reena said, as she dumped the contents from her arms into Tara’s.
“What is all of this?” Tara adjusted the folded piles of material, trying not to hide anything.
Reena laughed and glanced over her shoulder as several of the women gathered children in the yard.
“To be certain child, it’s the makings for the next quilt. I’m thinking anyone could see that.” Reena didn’t speak loud enough for anyone else to hear, and Tara got her point. A typical Gothman woman would grow up around this domestic life. Tara couldn’t imagine such a thing and fought not to feel sorry for the suppressed existence. Yet, these women didn’t look unhappy.
Tara managed to put all the materials in the back of the car in a somewhat orderly fashion. She watched Reena mingle with the other women, who now were chattering outside the house. From what Tara could hear, their conversation didn’t appear to be about anything important. They discussed what someone had worn the other day, and a pregnancy that didn’t appear to be normal. Tara knew she should listen and learn the ways of these women. After all, that is what a Runner did when entering a new community. But her thoughts continually strayed.
The image of a tall, powerful-looking lord kept consuming her thoughts. Although she knew the Gothman lord would view all women as docile and simple, it seemed to her that a woman like that would be boring. She could offer him more excitement than any of these women could.