Part 6 (2/2)
Chapter Eight.
Raging, Ranulph stalked about the glade until Kamana appeared before him in a blaze of light. Magnificent and terrible, she wore an Indian garment of scarlet silk that brilliantly emphasized her dark, sultry skin and the raven hair that swirled around her.
”You summoned me, Lord Ranulph?” she said with cool composure.
He scowled at her. ”Time and again you interfered with my pursuit of Leah. Today she rejected me, despite your a.s.surances that she would be mine.” His voice turned to ice. ”You influenced her, didn't you? Perhaps even bespelled her so that she could resist my magic. Why, d.a.m.n you? What have I done that you take such pleasure in thwarting me?”
”I never said that Leah would accept you, Ranulph. Only that your destined consort would soon be yours, and that is the truth.” Kamana glided toward him, her figure swaying provocatively and her bare feet scarcely bending the autumn gra.s.s. ”Why do you think I came halfway around the world? Destiny, my lord.”
She was taunting him again. Furiously he wrapped his hands around the warm flesh of her throat, wanting to see her fear, wanting her to plead for mercy.
Kamana laughed at him, her slanting eyes glowing like new-minted coins. ”Is the thought of me as your consort that dreadful, Ranulph? I thought our encounter in the park was rather pleasing.”
”You mocked me then, and you mock me now,” he growled. His fingers tightened until he could feel the hammer beat of her pulse beneath his thumbs. ”If we were really destined mates, why not simply say so?”
”You're a stubborn creature,” she replied calmly. ”All your thoughts and dreams were centered on that mortal child. How would you have reacted if I'd announced that you and I were fated to be together?”
She was right again, d.a.m.n her. His hands dropped and he stepped back. ”I'd have said I'd sooner mate with a hedgehog than share my life with you,” he growled.
”You shall find me a much better companion than a hedgehog.” She tossed her head, her silken hair s.h.i.+mmering like an ebony veil. ”You cannot fight fate, Ranulph. Come, I have something to show you.”
Kamana crossed the clearing to where a rivulet of water formed a small pool before trickling away. She waved her hand, and an image of Leah and her young man appeared in the water. They were sitting side by side on a sofa. Townley said something and Leah laughed, turning to rest her forehead against his shoulder as she laid her hand lightly on his chest. His arm came around her, and he kissed her soft temple.
Ranulph saw the tenderness, and ached inside. ”Are you saying that mortals, with their short lives and eternal souls, are more fortunate than the long-lived, soulless Folk?”
Kamana gave him a glance of mild exasperation. ”All things that live are formed of spirit, Ranulph. The trees around us, the gra.s.s beneath us, all creatures great and small. That includes the Fair Folk, so I'll hear no more talk of our lacking souls.”
His gaze went back to the image of the two young mortals. They were kissing now, and Leah was beautiful. Beautiful in a quiet, far more profound way than the dazzling faery glamour that Ranulph had granted her.
”Those two are soul twins, which is why their love could not be affected by faery spells,” Kamana said softly. ”When Duncan's uncle asked me to protect the boy, I traced the thread of his destiny, and found that without magical aid, he would die at Waterloo.”
She shook her head with regret. ”Despite my efforts, he was injured in body, and even more in spirit, on that terrible day. The physical wounds were not hard to heal, but an injured spirit is much harder. When I looked again at his destiny line, I realized that the best remedy would be to bring him to Leah. Ordinarily it would have taken them longer to come together, longer still to realize that they were true mates. But because you and I had touched them with faery magic, they both sensed their fate almost instantly.”
”It sounds to me as if you interfered with their so-called destiny,” Ranulph said with heavy sarcasm.
”I was merely an instrument of fate, a way of bringing them together. The same is true of these two.” She gestured and a new image showed in the pool. Lord Townley and Lady Wheaton were also on a sofa, but the activity they were involved in was nowhere near as innocent as mere kissing. Ranulph's gaze sharpened with interest at the sight of the tumbled skirts and pa.s.sionate movements, but before he could get a clear look, Kamana waved away the image.
”Lord Townley asked nothing for himself, but I thought I would speed him toward the secret wish of his heart,” Kamana explained. ”My aid was not essential. I merely helped him recognize his destiny sooner.”
Exotic and beautiful, Kamana gazed at Ranulph with slanting eyes that had seen mysteries half a world away. She was so alluring that he almost reached out to draw her to him. Instead, he retreated, scowling. ”So you went to London as a spy.”
She grinned. ”Indeed I did.” There was a s.h.i.+mmer of light, and the faery was replaced by a large black cat with long silky hair and golden eyes the same shade as Kamana's. Purring, the beast rubbed against his ankles in sensual invitation.
He had to smile. Scooping the cat up in his arms, he said, ”You're an excellent shapes.h.i.+fter.” Still purring, the creature settled into the crook of his arm. Ranulph stroked the soft-furred belly, thinking that a cat might be a good companion in the lonely nights of winter.
Suddenly Kamana returned to her own form and he was holding a glorious, half-naked female in his arms. She was warmly alive and scented with the rare perfumes of Araby, and his hand was on her full, silk-clad breast.
Throatily she said, ”Shapes.h.i.+fting isn't all that I'm good at.” Her hand slid down his body, arousing him with indecent ease.
Furious at how cleverly she manipulated him, he dropped her like an armful of burning timber. As she gave an acrobatic twist that landed her on her feet, he snapped, ”You said that I was carnally unskilled compared to the Folk of your land. Why would you want to mate such a clumsy creature as I?”
”There is more to mating than mere technique.” Her eyes gleamed wickedly. ”You're quite arrogant enough already. I didn't want to feed your vanity by saying that never had I known such pa.s.sion, or such satisfaction.”
”But why?” He caught her shoulders, trapping her so that she must look at him. ”Why me? Why risk a journey halfway around the world to become the consort of a stranger?”
She became utterly still, her gaze locking with his. ”Because of who and what you are, Ranulph,” she said quietly. ”Our people mate often, but seldom love. Few of the Folk desire the kind of bond you wanted to have with Leah.”
She raised her hand to his face, her fingers light. ”You were mistaken in your choice of mate, but not in the truth of your heart. You have a rare capacity to love, Ranulph, though it is a word the Folk never use.”
Kamana closed her eyes for a moment. When she opened them again, she let him see into her soul, to the vulnerability and desperate yearning that she hid behind her teasing. ”I wanted love, but could not find it in my own land. Like you, I was a solitary who yearned for my true mate. Finally I went through the door of dream-time to find if such a being even existed. The Great Mother gave me a vision of a wild and golden faery lord who lived in a far distant place. I knew then that my true mate existed, though to find you I would have to risk my very existence. But if I succeeded, the silver threads of our destinies would knot and become one forever.”
Her eyes searched his, uncertainty and hope in the golden depths. ”I thought I recognized you the moment we first met. Was I wrong? Did . . . did I allow my yearning to distort my vision?”
In the drowning pools of her eyes, he saw an end to loneliness, a craving for union that matched his own. He'd never found such longing among the Folk of his land, had not believed that it existed anywhere except among humankind. That was why he had become obsessed with Leah-because he'd known that the mortal girl had an immense capacity to love.
With wonder and deep humility, he recognized the rare and precious gifts Kamana was offering. Companions.h.i.+p. Pa.s.sion. A love for all eternity. This was what he had longed for, this s.h.i.+ning creature from a far place who knew the shape of his spirit, and would complete it with her own.
Huskily he said, ”No, Kamana. You were not wrong.” Then, with a blossoming of joy, Ranulph drew her into his arms, and surrendered to his destiny.
And they all lived happily ever after.
Have you tried Mary Jo's Lost Lords series? It starts with
LOVING A LOST LORD . . .
In the first of a dazzling series, Mary Jo Putney introduces the Lost Lords-maverick childhood friends with a flair for defying convention. Each is about to discover the woman who is his perfect match-but perfection doesn't come easily, even for the n.o.ble Duke of Ashton . . .
Battered by the sea, Adam remembers nothing of his past, his ducal rank, nor of the s.h.i.+pwreck that almost claimed his life. However, he's delighted to hear that the golden-haired vision tending his wounds is his wife. Mariah's name and face may not be familiar, but her touch, her warmth, feel deliciously right . . .
When Mariah Clarke prayed for a way to deter a bullying suitor, she didn't imagine she'd find the answer washed ash.o.r.e on a desolate beach. Convincing Adam that he is her husband is surprisingly easy. Resisting the temptation to act his wife, in every way, will prove anything but. And now a pa.s.sion begun in fantasy has become dangerously real-and completely irresistible . . .
NEVER LESS THAN A LADY.
New York Times bestselling author Mary Jo Putney continues her stunning Lost Lords series with this stirring, sensual story of a rebellious n.o.bleman drawn to a lovely widow with a shocking past.
As the sole remaining heir to the Earl of Daventry, Alexander Randall knows his duty: find a wife and sire a son of his own. The perfect bride for a man in his position would be a biddable young girl of good breeding. But the woman who haunts his imagination is Julia Bancroft-a village midwife with a dark secret that thrusts her into Randall's protection.
Within the s.p.a.ce of a day, Julia has been abducted by her first husband's cronies, rescued, and proposed to by a man she scarcely knows. Stranger still is her urge to say yes. A union with Alexander Randall could benefit them both, but Julia doubts she can ever trust her heart again, or the fervent desire Randall ignites. Yet perhaps only a Lost Lord can show a woman like Julia everything a true marriage can be . . .
NOWHERE NEAR RESPECTABLE.
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