Part 21 (2/2)
A Partners.h.i.+p in Effort
When she reached the barn, Brenna staggered up to the target-shooting bales and threw herself against them, thumping the stack against the barn. Druid sat on her feet, clinging to her like a Velcro dog while she caught her breath and took stock of herselfa”and first and foremost was the fact that she'd made it at all, sprinting like a woman possessed all the way from the spring.
Which maybe wasn't far from the mark.
But her tremulous legs berated her for such effort, and her arms and thighs throbbed from the claw sc.r.a.pes they'd endured while a painful fat lower lip swelled at the corner of her mouth. Her hair hung against her bottom in a solid snarla”hair that had been outside the spring's protected area. Just from the heavy feel of it, she doubted she'd ever manage to comb it out.
You're a mess, Brenna Lynn Fallon.
Which is what she got for not paying attention. For falling asleep by the spring with so much conflict focused on that very spot. The anchor point. The place of power.
Brenna snorted softly to herself. ”You are so, so in over your head,” she said softly, suddenly wondering if returning here was the right thing at all. Maybe she should have stayed at the spring, where she at least knew she had an area of safety.
A small one.
No kitchen at the spring. No bathroom. Not even any water to speak of, at least not for drinking purposes. And boy, did she want a tall gla.s.s of ice water right this very moment.
Druid still leaned against her, stress-pantinga”but he managed to pause long enough growl, his ears canted back at a wary angle, his attention toward the house.
”Oh, no,” Brenna groaned, tipping her head back so the barn overhang loomed dark in her vision. No more. Not tonight. Please.
Russell, maybe. It was just about the right timing, if their mother had reached him after work. She groaned again.
On the other hand, after what had just happened, facing Russell didn't feel like such a big deal. Why hadn't she ever told him he could call ahead if he wanted to talk to her? And another new concept bloomed, suddenly obviousa”this is a bad time, you'll have to come back when it's convenient for mea”as she abruptly realized all the times it had been true and she'd never even considered sending him off. Never even thought of inconveniencing him.
But Druid only growled once, and then dismissed whatever he'd detected, returning his worried attention to Brenna.
Someone he knew, then. She didn't think that would include Russell. She found herself almost disappointed she wouldn't get to act out her new concepta”and then dreading the effort of dealing with whoever it really was.
Brenna pushed away from the hay bales and went through the barn on wobbly knees, not bothering to admire her newly hung gate this time. And when she rounded the corner and saw the pale, becoming-familiar lines of Masera's SUV, she could have sobbed with relief.
When she saw him sitting against the front hood, one heel propped against the b.u.mper, his dark form relaxed and waiting, she did. ”Iban!”
His head whipped around; he'd been looking across the yard, as though she might have been off at Emily's. She didn't think about it; she dropped Druid's leash and ran for him, so full of relief she was no longer alone in this suddenly terrifying journey that she didn't even hesitate. Not caring that he was startled, not caring that there was anger left unresolved between them. Not caring that he'd never held her beforea”and knowing that his arms would close around her just as they did, firm but careful. Warm. As if for that instant, she could let herself believe she was safe here. No matter what. Darkness be d.a.m.ned.
But the instant was bound to end.
He stood, moving to the side, maintaining contact. And when he said, ”Brenna?” it was as much a statement, an affirmation, as a question. He said it again, lower this time.
She didn't respond; she suddenly didn't know what to say, how to explain what had happened. How to admit how much she needed his help when she'd never even resolved for herself whether she trusted him at all. How to ask him to hold her for just a few moments longer before she had to face the world again. And while she was thinking about it, he changeda”stiffening a little, growing somehow more focused. She felt it in his hands, the way they rested against her back, how they followed the curve of her spine. And she felt it in the set of his shoulders, how he took himself back just far enough to look at her in the darknessa”though he could see no more than she, not with the moon easing from quarter down to new.
Some part of her had seen this coming, even knew the look on his face through the darkness. Intent, as usual. She shouldn't have been surprised, but somehowa”since her brain had evidently ceased to functiona”when he buried his hands in the hair at the nape of her neck and kissed her mouth, it did surprise her.
So much for common sense. So much for do I trust you or don't I. So much for we've got things to talk about.
At the moment, she couldn't think of a single thing she wanted to say.
At least, not until he tipped his head to kiss her more deeply and she tipped her head the other way to say yes, let's and her fat lip came between them.
”Mmm!” she said, the best she could manage at the moment.
”Hmm?” He drew back enough so she could say, ”Ouch!” but not so far that she didn't brush his mouth when she did it, and replied, ”I don't think ouch is the appropriate response.” But he must have seen something, because he took her face and tipped it to catch what little of the moonlight there was, and then he pulled her unresisting to the porch and flipped on the light.
One glance at her face and he swore heartily, causing Druid to give a prim bark. At Masera's tone, no doubt, but Brenna couldn't help but laugh, in spite of all that had happened to her within the past few hours. From supernatural attack to a dark a.s.signation in the driveway.
Or maybe because of all that happened. A nice little hysteria.
He swore again, not amused. ”You should have said something, Brenna. What the h.e.l.l happened?”
”I didn't have the chance to say anything,” she told him. ”I'm not complaining, so you'd better not.”
He gave that a double thought, even had the grace to look a little sheepish. ”No,” he said. ”But let's get a cold washcloth on some of those bruises.” He opened the door for her, let her precede him inside, and held it open long enough so Druid could come through trailing his leash. She flicked the light switches on her way in, blazing a trail to the bathroom.
Where she looked in the mirror and swore.
”I told you,” Masera said, sounding satisfied. ”Now you tell mea”what happened?”
Brenna stared at the blood streaking her upper lip and dried down the side of her face; the slight normal b.u.mp in her nose now swollen and reddened off to the side; she gingerly touched it and made a face whena”surprisea”pain shot through it. Similar swellings marked her brow and cheek, and she had another cut on her chin. Welts dotted with blood raked her arms in neat claw lines, and a glance down at her thighs revealed the same.
”Parker,” he said, unable to refrain from guessing and now lurking by the closed bathroom door. ”You came from the pasture. I heard the noise out therea”thought it was a town truck somewhere with the jake brake on. But it was Parker, wasn't it?” His voice darkened. ”Parker did this to you.”
”In a way.” Brenna fished a washcloth from the linen closet and ran cold water over it, raising her voice. ”It was Druid. I pulled him on top of the spring, and what with the wind anda”” Well, that wouldn't make any sense. Not told inside out like that. ”Wait a minute. I'll be right out.”
She looked much better with her face clean and her arms and legs washed down. She came out of the bathroom with purposea”almost knocking him down, he stood so closea”and marched to her bedroom, where she pulled off her s.h.i.+rt and replaced it with a soft old cotton sweater, one with little horseshoes marching around the cuffs, bottom, and neckline. Warm and soft. She'd left the windows open and the heat off, and the house was no longer pulling in suns.h.i.+ne . . . and besides, she wanted it around her, snug and comforting, like an old blanket. Pulling her hair out from the neck of it, she found again the horrifying snarls near the end and wandered back into the kitchen where Masera now waited, examining them with resignation. ”I'll have to cut it, I think.”
”You will not,” Masera said, rising from the chair in which he'd finally settled, coming to face her and do what he'd probably wanted to do all alonga”put a hand over either shoulder and lift her hair, running his fingers through it as far as they could go before encountering tangles. ”Do you know how hard it's been to keep my hands out of this hair? Get a comb.”
She laughed. ”You think it's that easy, do you, you with your hair that can be measured in inches?”
He raised an eyebrow, acceptance of a challenge. ”My mother has long hair.”
She really didn't want to cut it. Not that much of it. She went to the bathroom and returned with two combs and a bottle of horse finis.h.i.+ng spray.
”This is for horses,” he said, taking it from her. ”Just how hard did that dog hit you?”
She gave him a warning look, one brow quirked up. ”It'll make the hair slick. I use it all the time.” She took the bottle back and went to the den, where she plunked herself in the couch, draping the snarls around to lie across her thighs. Druid put himself at her feet. ”Come on, then.”
He came in with a gla.s.s of water for each of them, antic.i.p.ating what she'd forgotten to ask. Sitting on the floor beside her, he picked up a section of hair, mulling the extent of the tangles, running his fingers over it as though it were a strange Braille that only he could read.
”Here,” she said, handing him the finis.h.i.+ng spray. ”What happened was, I was at the spring, giving Mars Nodens a candy bar. And then I fell asleep, and Parker came, and we had an argument.”
”Giving Mars Nodens a candy bar,” Masera repeated, looking up at her with disbelief.
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