His Purrfect Mate (4 page)

Dane had no idea how long he’d been asleep
when something woke him. Immediately awake, he lay there and
ascertained if there was any danger. When that was a negative, he
opened his eyes and listened again for what had interrupted his
sleep. Aida. Her voice flowed to him from the front of her house.
The smile her timbre brought to him faded the second he picked up
on the tension her voice had.

With a powerful action, Dane left the
hammock and headed around the house. He could hear the low almost
nonexistent rumbles of Ruger and Kamau. Whomever it was the dogs
didn’t approve. Scenting the air, he identified a male and a low
rumble of disapproval left his throat. Composing his expression,
Dane walked around the house, unsure of what he’d find.

Aida stood toe to toe with a tall man, his
skin was pale despite the intensity of the sun which shone down. He
wore all white and gripped a cane in his left hand. A bead of sweat
rolled down his temple and crept toward the collar of his shirt.
Aida, on the other hand, wore no shoes, had a colorful skirt on,
knotted up mid-thigh on the right side and a white tank-top which
highlighting her dark complexion. The blood rushed to Dane’s cock,
and it jerked with a swell of desire.

Her arms were crossed, and she had one foot
tapping a cadence on the hard-packed dirt. Dane glanced down again
and fought a smile; he could see her big toenail had a painted
flower on it with a fake purple gem in the center. Dragging his
gaze back up, he skimmed over her lovely profile and the way her
hair was still gathered haphazardly on top of her head.

I want to lower it, sink my hands into it
and…go from there.

His sharp eyes picked up on her guardians
lying near, one to each side of the man they didn’t like. And that
made him focus on the intruder as opposed to what he’d love to do
to Aida.

“
You need a man around,
Aida,” the one in white said.

“
She has one around,” Dane
inserted arrogantly, pleased the other male jumped in
surprise.

“
Who…who are
you?”

“
This is Dane Sidorov,”
Aida said. “He’s here to help me load the rest of the things up to
take to the villages.”

She looked at Dane and scanned him with her
gaze before turning her dark eyes back to the one in white. Dane
didn’t like the way she dismissed him. He stepped from his position
at the side of the house and moved toward the man, stopping when he
got to Aida’s side.

“
And you are?” he asked
the man.

“
Just leaving,” Aida
interrupted.

The venom in her voice was barely disguised,
and Dane shoved down the immediate urge to punch the man in his
face. Just on principle. He looked down at the woman beside him.
Her arms were still crossed, and he could easily pick up on her
attempt to control her emotions.

“
Come now, Aida,” the man
said in a placating voice.

“
Don’t you ‘come now’ me.
Go. Now.”

Dane watched the blue eyes
swing up to him, and he arched his brow in return.
Get lost, man.
It wasn’t
hard to tell the man was trying to decide if it was worth it to
argue. Dane waited patiently, well aware of the outcome. That man
would be leaving, willingly or with help.

With a sharp breath, the man tightened his
hand around the top of his cane and nodded at them. “This will be
continued later, Aida. I’ll see you when you get back.”

“
There is nothing to
discuss,” she insisted as he walked off and got into the back of
his white older model Mercedes with tinted windows and drove away.
“Low down, rotten…”

“
Who was he?” Dane asked,
keeping an eye on the retreating vehicle as she
muttered.

“
That was the illustrious
Lord Devon Smythe.”

The name alone brought a bad taste to his
mouth. “Illustrious, huh?” Dane focused on her and watched her hair
move while she shook her head.

“
That’s
his
way of thinking. He
lives a bit away from here on one of the largest
properties.”

“
And he wants?”

“
Him? He wants this place
and a spot in my bed.”

Hell no!
He barely stopped the beast within him from
escaping. Running his tongue over his teeth, Dane asked as calmly
as he could manage. “And you think?” Her eyes cut up toward him,
and he could see the comment in them she didn’t voice. He nodded
with understanding. “So it’s like that, is it?”

“
It’s like that. I don’t
need a man; I’m surviving just fine by myself. I have the perfect
life.” Aida turned away and walked to the door, a miniscule hand
gesture bringing the dogs to her side instantly.

“
I’m of the mind that you
do, Aida,” Dane murmured, watching her stride away.
But need one or not, you have one now.

When the door closed
behind her, Dane looked around and took a deep breath. It took him
a moment to figure out what it was that was different. But then it
hit him. There was more than just contentment.
I’m at peace
. The inner turmoil that
had boiled within him for centuries had quieted. It wasn’t gone—he
could feel the darkness lurking—but it seemed more controllable.
Less of a strain to keep it at bay.

Good news is such a
double-edged sword.
Yet he smiled again.
Something he’d been doing a lot more of ever since meeting Aida
Roberts.

“
You coming in, Dane? Or
were you planning on staying out there?” Aida’s voice reached
him.

“
On my way,” he called out
and headed for the door. Stepping through, he saw her placing some
plates on a table.

“
Chow’s on,” she said
without looking up.

His smile caught when he noticed the way the
dogs watched him. “Great. And after, if you want, I can fix the
rest of the roof. I noticed you have everything needed.”

“
Hey,” she commented,
glancing up and smiling. “If you want to fix that, I’ll not argue
with you.”

“
I love working with my
hands,” he said, holding her gaze.

Aida shivered at the promise lacing his
words. Grateful to have something to do, she faced away from him,
grabbed the plate of fruit she’d cut up, and placed it on the
table. His eyes were still on her when she snuck a peek up at him,
and they still brimmed with unwavering promise.

Her body temperature
skyrocketed.
Even a damn ice bath wouldn’t
cool me down any.
She gestured to a chair.
“Grab a seat and dig in. I don’t stand much on formality
here.”

From beneath lowered
lashes, she watched him pull out a seat and sit. Heat welled up in
her belly as his muscled legs settled him gently in the
chair.
It’s like there’s no effort at all,
and sweet goddess, does he have to be so damn fine and
strong?

“
Tell me about yourself,
Aida,” he said, reaching for the salad prongs and dishing some up
for her then him.

Needing a moment, Aida glanced down at her
dogs who kept an eye on her guest as if unsure on whether or not he
was friend or foe. “Not much to tell, really. I’m an only child,
born and raised here, educated in the United States and came back
here as fast as I could.” She kept her shudder in check as she
recalled the last time she had been in the United States.

“
And your
parents?”

“
Alive and well in the
American Southwest. I miss them but don’t go to the States very
often. They’ll be coming here soon, so it will be wonderful to see
them.” She shrugged and ate some salad. “What about
you?”

Aida watched him. His eyes closed briefly
before he placed his gaze back on her.

“
I have two brothers,
Heller and Ryinier, and two sisters, Tairen and Sirantha. I’m the
eldest, then the order is: Sirantha, Heller, Tairen, and Ryinier.”
His voice was deeper and thick with unspoken emotion. “Haven’t seen
any of them in a while either.”

“
You’re a military man. It
comes with the territory.”

His black brows converged, and he tilted his
head before asking, “What makes you say that?”

Aida smiled slightly. “I’ve met a lot of
them in my time. You tend to carry yourselves in the same manner.
There is an assuredness about you. Couldn’t tell if you still
serve, but you have had some time in the service.”

His face softened totally when he smiled at
her, and Aida felt her insides melt. “You are a very observant
woman, Aida.”

Determined to ignore how he made her feel,
Aida asked, “What brought you here? To South Africa?”

Those amazing eyes of his filled with a
flash of pain, so quick she wasn’t sure it wasn’t just a figment of
her imagination. She didn’t mention it, just waited for him to
answer her.

“
I needed a change of
scenery.” Those eyes grew heated. “And I have to say, I like the
scenery around here.”

Her body grew near its
boiling point. Aida shifted against the seat and prayed she didn’t
make a fool of herself and throw herself at this mouthwatering
specimen of a man.
Thought you had
everything you wanted. Had no need for a man,
her brain taunted. Oh, but she wanted this one.

“
There isn’t another place
like it in the world. I feel so alive here.” She looked at him,
found his stare fixed upon her face. “Do you know what I mean? What
it’s like to feel so close to something, it’s as if it flows
through your veins instead of blood and pumps your heart.” With a
shrug, Aida shook her head. “I don’t know how to explain it. But I
understand the need for a change of scenery. Until you find
the
one
place,
you keep traveling and looking.”

If possible, more heat
flared in his gaze. “Yes. Everyone has that
one
thing that makes them feel whole
and complete.”

For a brief moment in time, Aida felt as if
his words were about her. With a strong mental shake, she shoved
down her fantasy and focused on the man across from her. So
powerful, such a presence about him, he made her think things,
things she had no business thinking about a man who after another
forty-eight hours she wouldn’t see again.

“
I suppose they do,” she
acquiesced. “Now, I can tell you’re a private man. So tell me
something about you which you wouldn’t mind sharing.”

A sexy smile curved up the left side of his
mouth and his tawny-green-gold eyes burned with feral heat. “I’m
single.”

Aida couldn’t help it, she laughed. Dane
arched a brow at her waiting with endless patience until she found
a way to control her mirth.

“
The fact that I’m single
is amusing to you,
solnyshko
moyo
?” he questioned.

Holding up her hand, Aida licked her lips.
“I don’t think I want to know what you called me. I figured you
were. You don’t have a woman with you, and there is no ring on your
finger, which I bet you would be wearing if you were attached. I
can’t imagine anyone letting you wander around without some sign of
claimage.”

“
Claimage?” He stared at
her over the rim of his glass, amusement lurking in his eyes behind
the heat.

“
Isn’t that a word?” She
shrugged easily. “Well, you get the idea. Unless, of course, you’re
telling me you’re here on some top-secret clandestine
operation.”

“
No,” he said, his tone
kind of sharp. “Not anything like that. My motives were pure when I
arrived here.”

She arched a brow. “Were?”

Dane’s eyes flared even hotter. “Yes,
were.”

Her belly flipped and
flopped as his gaze singed her.
Sweet
goddess, this man could seriously get it.
Aida wasn’t sure what to make of the small grin that turned
up the corner of his kissable lips.
I
would love to experience everything beneath those clothes that only
highlight his fineness.
Dane shifted on
his chair, and his gaze flared again.

“
Thank you for the meal,
but I should get to work on that roof.” He pushed back from the
table and slipped out the door before she could say another word to
him.

“
Men are strange
creatures,” she muttered. Ruger and Kamau stared at her and whined.
Getting up from the table, she shook her head at them. “I didn’t
mean you two. I love you guys.” Apparently, they were appeased by
that, for both dogs laid their broad heads down and sighed
contentedly. She worked quickly at cleaning up. There wasn’t much
to put away so it didn’t take her long.

Finished, Aida walked to a window and
watched Dane stride by carrying the ladder. He’d removed his shirt,
and the sun gleamed off his tanned skin. A tool belt rode low on
his lean hips, and she groaned, shifting her legs to try and stem
the flow of moisture. It didn’t work.

“
Damn, that man is all
kinds of fine.”

Allowing herself one more ogle of the
fineness that climbed a ladder, Aida forced herself to walk away
from the view and focus on the projects at hand she had to
complete. The pounding of a hammer brought a smile to her face as
she worked.

“
Well, Smythe was right
about one thing; it is kind of nice to have a man
around.”

About two hours later, Aida walked out into
the blazing sun and moved to the ladder. She licked her lips as she
stared at Dane. “How about a break?” she hollered up to him.