Until there had been no choice.
She’d known it the moment he stepped onto the ground of her own country. And her heart had leaped. Had it been so wrong, and so foolish, to prepare for him? To fill the house with flowers, the kitchen with baking? To bathe herself in oils of her own making, anointing her skin as a bride would on her wedding night?
No. She took a deep breath at the doorway. She had needed to prepare herself for him. Now she must find the right way to prepare him for her—and what they must soon face together.
He was so beautiful, she thought as she watched him stroke the cat into ecstasy. How many nights had she tossed restlessly in sleep, longing for those long, narrow hands on her?
Oh, just once to feel him touch her.
How many nights had she burned to see his eyes, gray as storm clouds, focused on her as he buried himself deep inside her and gave her his seed?
Oh, just once to join with him, to make those soft, secret sounds in the night.
They were meant to be lovers. This much she believed he would accept. For a man had needs, she knew, and this one was already linked with her physically—no matter that he refused to remember.
But without the love in the act of mating, there would be no joy. And no hope.
She braced herself and stepped into the room. “You’ve made friends with Hecate, I see.” His gaze whipped up to hers, and her hands trembled lightly. Whatever power she still held was nothing compared with one long look from him. “She’s shameless around attractive men.” She set the tray down. “Won’t you sit, Calin, and have some tea?”
“How do you know who I am?”
“I’ll explain what I can.” Her eyes went dark and turbulent with emotions as they scanned his face. “Do you have no memory of me then? None at all?”
A tumble of red hair that shined like wet fire, a body that moved in perfect harmony with his, a laugh like fog. “I don’t know you.” He said it sharply, defensively. “I don’t know your name.”
Her eyes remained dark, but her chin lifted. Here was pride, and power still. “I am Bryna Torrence, descendant of Bryna the Wise and guardian of this place. You’re welcome in my home, Calin Farrell, as long as you choose to stay.”
She bent to the tray, her movements graceful. She wore a long dress, the color of the mists curling outside the window. It draped her body, flirted with her ankles. Columns of carved silver danced from her ears.
“Why?” He laid a hand on her arm as she lifted the first cup. “Why am I welcome in your home?”
“Perhaps I’m lonely.” Her lips curved again, wistfully. “I am lonely, and it’s glad I am for your company.” She sat, gestured for him to do the same. “You need a bit of food, Calin, a bit of rest. I can offer you that.”
“What I want is an explanation.” But he did sit, and because the hot liquid in his cup smelled glorious, he drank. “You said you knew I would come, you knew my name. I want to know how either of those things is possible.”
It wasn’t permitted to lie to him. Honesty was part of the pledge. But she could evade. “I might have recognized your face. You’re a successful and famous man, Calin. Your art has found its way even into my corner of the world. You have such talent,” she murmured. “Such vision.” She arranged scones on a small plate, offered it. “Such power inside you.”
He lifted a brow. There were women who were willing, eager to rock onto their backs for a man who had a hold on fame. He shook his head. “You’re no groupie, Bryna. You didn’t open the door to me so that you could have a quick bout of sex with a name.”
“But others have.”
There was a sting of jealousy in her voice. He couldn’t have said why, but under the circumstances it amused him. “Which is how I know that’s not what this is, not what you are. In any case, you didn’t have the time to recognize my face from some magazine or talk show. The light was bad, the rain pouring down.”
His brows drew together. He couldn’t be dreaming again, hallucinating. The teacup was warm in his hand, the taste of the sweet, whiskey-laced brew in his mouth. “Damn it, you were waiting for me, and I don’t understand how.”
“I’ve waited for you all my life.” She said it quietly, setting her cup down untouched. “And a millennium before it began.” Raising her hands, she laid them on his face. “Your face is the first I remember, before even my own mother’s. The ghost of your touch has haunted me every night of my life.”
“That’s nonsense.” He brought a hand up, curled his fingers around her wrist.