Captivated (25 page)

“Really?” How thrilling to see nature do something like that.

“Would you like to see it? After the storm breaks and it’s all clear, of course.”

She squeezed his hand. “Yes. Yes, please. I’d love to see that.”

He pulled her toward the largest building. “Then that’s what we’ll do. Living quarters up here. Vin has taken our bags in already. Come on inside so they can lock down the rest of the house.”

She followed him, breathing in the strangeness in the air.

“Stirred up.”

He paused after he’d closed the door and latched it, setting a seal. “Me? Oh, yes, beautiful Hannah, you always stir me up.”

She smiled, flattered. “Oh. That’s nice. I meant the atmosphere here. It’s twisty and turny. Nothing knows what it wants. So it does it
all. Churning. The air, the elements all churn against one another. Beautiful chaos.”

He leaned down and kissed her with so much gentleness it made her heart ache. “Your mind is so beautiful. That’s exactly what it is here. That’s why the storms are the way they are. The magnetic fields in the planet are unbalanced. Not in a catastrophic way. But not everyone could survive here.”

She shook her head. “No.” But she could. Maybe.

I
nside the place was a happy sort of chaos. She knew Julian kept close, partly because he wanted to and partly because he was worried for her. But this sort of jostling, hugging, laughing reunion didn’t stir up bad feelings or make her uncomfortable.

It was beautiful to watch the people in the room light up at the sight of Piper. She’d built something out there in the middle of nowhere. A family of sorts complete with children running around underfoot.

“You’re Hannah.” An elderly man took her hand in his own, gnarled with age and wasting disease.

Disarmed, she smiled. “I am. And who are you then?”

“My name’s Arch Candless. Piper told me she was bringing you. Speaks highly of you.”

That warmed her insides. “That’s a lovely compliment. May I help?” She wrapped both her hands around his.

Surprised, he nodded. “With what, dear?”

She kneaded, gently, lightly, where she knew the muscles would be tightest, making his tendons brittle. “I can ease your pain. A little anyway.”

He blinked and held his other hand out. Julian moved to the side.

“Why don’t you sit?” She indicated the couch where she’d been about to plop down. He did and she joined him, Julian moved to her other side. “My landlady had Pendelton’s Disease. Do you take medicine for it?”

“Hard to come by out here.”

Not if she had anything to do with it. And she doubted Piper knew of this need, or he’d have his pills.

“The compound in the pills will help keep your tendons from becoming so brittle and painful.” She took his hand in hers again and began to knead, massage, press warmth into the fingers she was sure had spent a lifetime of toil. “Do you use heat with them? To ease the discomfort?”

“Are you a med-tech too?”

“I’m a medical doctor.”

He grinned at her and she responded, unable to do anything but return that sweet joy he’d just gifted to her. “Your Mai and Dai must be proud.”

She blinked back tears and he understood. “I’m sorry. Did you lose them recently?”

“They were killed because of me.”

Julian gripped her shoulder. “No, they weren’t. They were killed because Ciro Fardelle is a heartless villain who figured it was easier to kill them than let out news that you were missing. And maybe to keep anyone from figuring out what he was up to. To hurt you. I don’t know the whole of it, but I sure as seven hells know it wasn’t because of you.”

“Sounds to me like your man here has the right of it.”

“Tell me, Mr. Candless, do you have a garden here?” She couldn’t deal with what Julian had told her. Not just then.

“Ach, that’s very nice.” He moved his fingers a little as she worked on the heel of his hand. “We do. Kenner, that’s Piper’s older brother,
he set up the greenhouses some years back. We can feed everyone through the rough times. ’Course, Andrei, he set up the cisterns so now we have enough water too.”

“Until we can get some medicine to you, I can make a paste if you have the right botanicals. Put on a thick layer every night. Do you have gloves? Not heavy work gloves but something a little lighter. Wear them over the paste and let your body absorb. It’ll give you some relief. If you wrap them in hot cloths that would be even better.”

Piper approached. “There’s a whole lot of food to be eaten.” She bent to kiss Arch’s forehead. “Hello there. I see you’ve met Hannah. Already holding hands? Julian, you and Vincenz had better watch out. In his day there wasn’t a single man in Asphodel who could dance better than Arch.”

“Me and my lovely Bettina. That’s my wife. She passed three years ago.” He sighed heavily and Hannah felt for him. “Hannah here is massaging my aching hands. Says if we have the right green bits in the greenhouses she can make some goo that’ll help with the pain.”

“If we don’t, we’ll get them.” Piper’s gaze met Hannah’s. She’d talk with Piper about the medicine later. A man like Arch was likely not to want to have a fuss made, or to feel as if he was being given charity. So they’d make it happen quietly.

“I’ll do your other hand and then get some food. You can tell me about your Bettina while Julian goes and gets himself a plate.” She sent him a look and he narrowed his gaze. “I’m fine. I’ll just be right here. Go on.”

“It can wait. I’m fine here with you.”

She looked at him. Loving each feature of his face. “You’ve been working all day. You haven’t eaten in hours. Go on. I’ll be in shortly. It’s totally safe here, you know that.”

His gaze darted to the dining room and then back to her. “I’ll just be right there. Don’t wait too long; you haven’t eaten in hours either.”

Arch watched him walk into the large dining/living space only to be greeted by hails of hellos and welcomes. He was a lively man, Julian. His smile was quick, but not always to the bone. But this place seemed to relax him a little and she was glad for it. She wasn’t one for crowds really, but he was.

“He worries for you.”

She continued to massage his hand and wrist. “He’s a good man.”

“More’n that. Most men in this house are good men. But that one has eyes for no one but you.”

“He’s afraid I’ll lose my mind, I wager.”

Arch leaned in close. “Looks all right to me. I doubt that’s his worry. You got some pretty eyes, Hannah.”

“You’re a flirt, aren’t you?”

“I know a pretty woman when I see one.” He winked and she laughed. She laughed and it didn’t feel like someone else was doing it. It didn’t feel as if she had to laugh because if she didn’t everyone would look at her funny.

“Tell me about her. Your Bettina.”

“Vivacious. Oh, she could sing and dance. So pretty. She was no more than a kid when we met. I was a kid too, ’course. We courted awhile. Her Mai wasn’t going to be having the likes of me sniffing around, getting her daughter pregnant and taking off. We married when she was seventeen standard. I was nineteen. Had our first babe two years later. The land here is hard on a woman’s beauty. On her body and mind. But my Bettina was gorgeous until the day she left this world. Lovely. Had long pale hair she used to let me braid until my hands got too bad. We had six kids together. All of ’em here working this land with me. Some of ’em have kids of their own. Wives, husbands. Feels like I planted a crop with her and we still keep reaping the harvest.”

She blinked back tears. “She sounds wonderful. I bet she loved you just as much as you loved her.”

“We got on. She had a big job, you know. Me and six kids.” He grinned again and her heart wanted to burst. “My grandsire used to say every lid had a pot. You know every person had their match. She was my lid.”

Julian poked his head around the corner to catch sight of her kissing Arch’s cheek.

“Do I need to keep an eye on you, Arch?”

“If you can’t keep her, you don’t deserve her.”

Piper came in again. “Vin just finished up. He’s asking after you. Come and eat.”

Arch stood, holding his elbow out for her to take, which she did. “My hands sure do feel better. Thank you, very much.”

“I can do the same tomorrow. Teach a few of the others, your grandchildren perhaps? To do the same. Then we’ll work on that paste. Do you have a doctor here? A med-tech?”

He led her into the chaos of the dining room. Vincenz had come in from wherever he’d made his super-secret connection back to Ravena and only had eyes for her. Her heart tripped, slamming into her chest as he turned every single bit of his attention her way.

“We have a traveling med-tech. There’s a clinic in town, but it’s hard to make the trip very often.”

She’d get the info about his medication and go from there. If she had to visit Asphodel twice a year to see to him, she would.

The doctor she was before they’d taken her stirred in her belly for the first time in longer than she cared to remember. The sharp relief of it brought her to halt a moment and take a deep breath before she could move again.

V
incenz wanted her all to himself. They’d been surrounded by people every moment for the last few days except for the hours when they’d fallen, exhausted, into bed after hours of planning and preparation.

Julian had taken him aside when he’d completed his comm with Daniel and explained Hannah was with Arch, tending to his hands.

She was a medical doctor; it was her path. He knew this. But she’d been hesitant when he’d brought it up before, asked if she wanted to practice medicine again or work in a lab. It had been the first time he’d seen her tend to someone as a doctor. Not as triage, not because she had to, but because it was what she was.

It warmed him. Helped him believe they could get through all this, that she was getting better and that when all this was over and things slowed down, they had a future where all three of them did what made them happiest and came back together at the end of each day.

They’d shared a raucous meal with Piper’s crew. She’d sat between
him and Julian, content and relaxed. She’d clearly charmed Arch and because of that, pretty much everyone else.

But things finally got quiet. She and Piper headed out to the greenhouses, Andrei shadowing them along with Vincenz. Then she’d spent another hour making the paste for Arch, showing several of his grandchildren how as well.

This had been the first time he’d seen her in a social situation—apart from work, which was different. He liked watching her smile. Was gladdened that no one seemed to be the slightest bit bothered by the way she sometimes spoke or phrased things. He knew they were overprotective, but she was special, and theirs.

She came into their bedchamber smelling of sage and lavender. Pausing, she bent to kiss Julian’s temple. “Thank you. The soap was perfect. Just what I needed.”

Julian paused, his fingers on the keyboard halting before sliding up and into that river of dark hair. “Smells good.”

Julian, the jokester. The man who pretended to never take anything seriously brought her gifts. Vincenz was sure Julian told himself it was for her, to make her happy. And it did, no doubt. But it did something for Julian too. Softened him, gave him that connection with her. Took him outside his normal reaction—pain, anger, defensiveness—and into something else. It wasn’t reaction. It wasn’t defense. It was just that he was happy pleasing her.

All that artifice slid away. With Hannah, even more than with Vincenz, Julian could be vulnerable.

She looked up to lock her gaze with his. “I feel like I haven’t seen you in hours.”

He was on his feet, pulling her into his arms before he’d even made the conscious choice to be there.

“I’ve been greedy for you. But instead of burning the place down to get you all to myself I had to be content enough to wait until the
still of night when you were ours again.” He brushed his lips against her mouth and she opened to him with a sigh.

Everything clicked into place.

Julian snorted from his place on the comm and Vincenz peered around her body. “Yes?” He helped himself to two handfuls of Hannah’s ass as he did, snugging her to him tighter.

Julian growled but kept his fingers on the keys. “Not fair while I have to finish this.”

Vincenz moved, his front to her back, spinning her to face Julian.

He unbuttoned her sweater, sliding his palms against her breasts through the material. She made a soft sound and rested her head against his shoulder.

“So many layers of clothing. Thwarting me,” he murmured into her ear before he bit the lobe and her knees buckled just a little.

Julian continued to type but his gaze was locked onto Hannah, onto Vincenz’s hands all over her.

He stood back enough to slide the sweater off and then came back to her, dealing with one of Julian’s shirts she liked to wear. It was warm from her skin, scented of Julian and her both. Vincenz bent his head and kissed her shoulder as he bared it, sliding the shirt back.

All she had on beneath was a tank. He could see her nipples, pressing, begging for attention against the thin material.

“Mmmmm.” He pulled the tank off and she was totally naked to the waist.

“Julian,” Vincenz said as he thumbed her nipples, back and forth, back and forth. “You need to come over here and eat her pussy. I want you to bury your face between her thighs. Surround yourself with that sweet cunt. Make her come.”

She shivered, writhing back against him, her ass sliding over his cock.

“You know she’s wet. And she tastes so fucking good. If you don’t, I will.”

Julian stood and the chair clattered behind him. His pupils were so large they swallowed the color of his eyes. He moved to her like a starving man and fell to his knees with an anguished groan.

Vincenz slid one of his hands up, collaring her throat and she jumped a little as she moaned.

Julian pulled off the sleep pants she’d put on after her bath, leaving her in her pretty blue panties and nothing else. He slid his palms from her ankles up her legs. Pausing to bend and kiss the inside of her knee, the middle of her thigh, to breathe over her pussy but not touching.