The Warrior Elf (39 page)

Rhianna shrugged. “It was time.”

Torrey and Ashni exchanged looks and then Torrey said, “Ashni’s too polite to say anything, but I’m not. Only man trouble can cause a woman to look like you look this morning. What’s that boy done now?”

Rhianna shook her head. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Yes you do, and you can tell me it’s none of my business if you want to, but don’t pretend nothing happened. You look like you didn’t sleep a wink last night, and your eyes are all puffy and red. I’d bet my boots a man’s at the bottom of it.”

Rhianna sighed and told the two women about the lovely day she’d had, how relaxed she’d been after her walk, and about Kevin’s reaction when he didn’t know where she was. “I’ve never been so insulted in my life. He acts like I need his permission to leave the castle, like I don’t have enough sense to take care of myself.”

Torrey bit her lips in an effort to restrain the grin that was trying to break loose. “He only acts like that because he cares about you.”

“That’s what Chris said, but if he can’t respect me, I don’t want him to care. I’m not a baby. No one needs to look after me. If he wants to take care of someone, he can go find Katrin.”

Torrey frowned and looked at Ashni, who shrugged and shook her head.

“You caught him off guard, Rhianna,” Torrey said softly. “I bet the two of you spend some time together before heading off to bed, don’t you?”

Rhianna frowned. “Most nights we take Nikki for a walk, but what’s that got to do with it?”

“While you’re walking, you talk about how your days went.”

Again Rhianna nodded, but her frown deepened. “I don’t understand what you’re getting at.”

“You’ve led him to expect to see you in the evening. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if that’s how he found out you weren’t there. He wanted to see you, to talk to you, before heading off to bed, but you weren’t there.”

Rhianna’s mouth opened, closed, and opened again, but she didn’t say anything.

“Men are so predictable. They need anchors in their day. For Warren, it’s that first cup of coffee with me in the morning and that last cup of tea with me in the evening. He can handle anything in between as long as he has a few minutes of quiet with me in the morning and again at night. How about you, Ashni?”

Ashni laughed and nodded. “We have a small balcony outside our bedroom. We have our first cup of tea out on the balcony every morning. No matter how cold it is, we greet the day together. And, like you, we have our final cup of tea before bed out there. As long as we are together at those two times, he is happy.”

“Maybe it’s something about the beginning and end of the day with men, but they all have their anchors, and as long as those are safe, all’s well in their worlds.”

Rhianna shook her head. “It’s not like that with Myron. I’m sure he has routines, but not with me. Sometimes I see him at breakfast, and sometimes I don’t. The only thing we do on anything approaching a regular basis is walking Nikki in the evening, but I’ve only been there for two weeks. That’s hardly enough time for him to count on that. No, he was afraid he’d have trouble with the elves if I was stupid enough to get myself killed.”

Torrey looked hard at Rhianna. “You don’t believe that, not really, but it doesn’t matter. What matters is what you do when he apologizes.”

“As far as I’m concerned, he owes me several apologies for what he did and said last night, but I can’t see him apologizing. He was all high and mighty about it, so sure he was right.”

“He’ll apologize, as long as you’re willing to wait for it.” Torrey paused and sipped more of her tea. “All he has to do is realize he’d rather have you around than win the argument. It may not happen the first time you see him, but it will. He’ll come around. They always do.”

Rhianna frowned and looked at Ashni, who nodded in agreement.

“All right. Say he does. What am I supposed to do? Say that’s fine and let him tell me when I can come and go?” Rhianna shook her head. “That’s not going to happen.”

Torrey grinned. “Just like now, your first instinct will be to tell him why he was wrong and then drive the point home.”

Rhianna nodded.

“You don’t want to do that. I repeat. Do not do that.”

“Why not? He was wrong and I want to be sure he understands why.”

Torrey shook her head. “That’s not what you want.”

“It isn’t?” Rhianna asked, frowning again.

“No. What you want is to get your way, and that won’t happen if you start the argument up again. If you try to tell him why he was wrong, he’ll have to jump in there with all kinds of reasons for why he’s right, and since he’ll think he’s being perfectly reasonable, you two will go round and round in circles and end up fighting again.” Torrey paused. “What do you want to do that he doesn’t want you to do?”

Rhianna thought about the question for a minute. “I want to come and go as I please without anyone getting upset about it.”

“So how can you do it?”

“Since he thinks he can tell me what to do if I live under his roof, I guess I need to live somewhere else.”

“All right. You’re not living there now. You’re here. Problem solved. Are you happy with the solution?”

Rhianna sat up straight. “Absolutely. I’m where I belong, right here as Landis’s assistant. I’m sure she’ll do better if I’m here to support her.”

Torrey tilted her head to the side and looked at Rhianna. “Do you think your absence has slowed her down?”

Rhianna shook her head. “But I think it’ll be more fun for her if I’m here.”

Torrey nodded. “But let me ask you something. If you’re where you want to be, why are your eyes so red and swollen this morning?”

“Anger. When someone makes me angry, really angry, I either strike out or cry. He’s the Master Sorcerer. I couldn’t slap him like I wanted to, so I ended up crying instead. That’s all.”

“Same thing happens to me,” Torrey said. “So, if this is where you want to be, everything’s right in your world.”

Rhianna nodded.

“Then why do you look so sad?”

As Rhianna stared at her tea cup, one lone tear slipped out of the corner of her eye and started its way down her cheek. Torrey leaned across the table and gently wiped the tear away.

Rhianna took a deep breath and let it out in a long sigh. “I didn’t want to leave Milhaven. I like it there. I was having a good time helping Doreen build her house and I promised her I’d do her gardens. Myron’s aunt is getting some seedlings together for me to plant in them. And I want to make sure something gets done about Marshall’s mother, and spend some more time with Nikki.” After a slight pause, Rhianna added in a whisper, “And I want to find out if this thing between me and Myron is all fake or if some of it is real.” When she realized she’d said it out loud, her cheeks flushed and she stared down at the table. “Forget I said that.”

Torrey patted her hand. “We didn’t hear a thing, did we, Ashni?”

“Not one word.”

“But with everything he did, everything he said, there was no way I could stay, so I left.”

“So what you need to do is figure out how you can stay in Milhaven and still do the things you want to do when you want to do them.”

Rhianna nodded and swished the last bit of her tea around in her cup for a few minutes. A slow smile spread across her face and her eyes lit up for the first time that day. “And I might have an idea how to do it.” Rhianna looked off into the distance and thought for a moment. “But first I need to see what happens Thursday evening.”

Ashni frowned. “Thursday evening?”

“We’re supposed to go to his aunt’s for dinner. I think her name is Danyelle. I told Chris I’d go, that Myron can pick me up here. I want to see what happens then.”

Chapter 21

Making Things Right

Kevin stayed busy Tuesday and Wednesday, but he had to admit he wasn’t having any fun. He hadn’t had much fun until Rhianna had come to stay, and now that he’d had a taste of it, he missed it, almost as much as he missed her. At the same time, he’d meant what he’d said. She had to let him make sure she was safe or she had to stay out of Milhaven. He would not compromise where her safety was concerned. He’d spent most of the night after she’d left convincing himself he’d rather live without her than let her get hurt, or worse.

As Thursday afternoon dragged by, he alternated between looking forward to seeing her and dreading it. He wasn’t sure they should even go to Danyelle’s. What was he supposed to say when he picked her up? How was he supposed to act? What if she was still so angry she refused to talk to him? Or see him? Maybe he should have Chris go tell her something had come up and they’d have to postpone the dinner.

As soon as that thought crossed his mind, he threw it out. His aunt would kill him. So would Chris. Besides, he wanted to go. He wanted to see her and spend time with her, but he didn’t want it to end up in an argument again. Maybe they could call a truce for the evening. Should he suggest that? Or wait and see how she acted when he got there? He really wished he’d had more experience with women while he was back on Earth, before it mattered.

Before it mattered. Yeah, this one mattered. And that was the problem.

~ ~ ~ ~

It was after nine by the time Kevin made it back to the castle. Chris and Nikki were waiting for him in the office.

“Let’s take Nikki out for a bit,” Kevin said as he petted her.

“Okay.” Chris stood up and stretched. “But then I’m heading upstairs.”

After they went outside, Chris asked, “How did it go tonight?”

“Fine, as far as I know,” Kevin answered. “Rhianna was ready when I got there, and she’d remember that Norrie was excited about meeting a warrior elf. She wore a couple of daggers on her belt, some knives strapped to her arms, and had her bow and quiver over her shoulder.” Kevin laughed. “Norrie’s eyes just about popped out of her head when she saw her. I was yesterday’s news. She didn’t leave Rhianna’s side all evening. And Teron was nearly as bad, although he did manage to tell me hello. Norrie didn’t even do that.”

“Did you and Rhianna talk?”

Kevin shook his head. “Neither of us brought up what happened Monday night. I was hoping she’d come back here, but when we left Danyelle’s, she said she wanted to go back to Wildcat Mountain. I thought we might talk some there, but as soon as we got there, she said she’d had a nice time and went inside. Reminded me of a lot of the first dates I went on back in college where the girl couldn’t get rid of me fast enough, but back then I was praying they wouldn’t invite me in.”

“You’re still going to Kyle’s Saturday evening, right?”

Kevin nodded.

“I’ll set something up for the two of you here, in Milhaven,” Chris said slowly. “We need to get her back here.”

“I know,” Kevin agreed. “Rolan’s never going to believe we’re a couple based on the little bit she’s been around.”

“She knows that,” Chris said. “She said she’d come back for the day whenever she needed to.”

Kevin frowned. “You didn’t tell me that.”

Chris grunted. “She said it right before I took her to Wildcat Mountain. When I got back you weren’t interested in anything she or I had to say.”

Kevin shrugged. “If she comes back for the day, maybe we’ll have a chance to talk then.”

“I’ll see if I can’t set something up for Sunday. I’ll talk to Joan in the morning and see if she has any ideas.”

~ ~ ~ ~

Chris went to see Joan first thing Friday morning. When he got back, he said they hadn’t come up with anything yet, but they’d find something. Then he and Kevin continued searching for someone to switch positions with Darwyn.

After lunch, Karl knocked on Kevin’s open door and asked if he had a minute. When Kevin nodded, Karl went in and shut the door behind him. “If you want her back, you need to apologize.”

Kevin frowned. “What are you talking about?”

“The fight you had with Rhianna. You need to apologize.”

Kevin sat up straight, looked past Karl towards the door, and took a deep breath. Before he could yell for Chris, Karl shook his head. “Don’t blame Chris. He hasn’t said a word as far as I know, but the fact that you two are on the outs is the worst kept secret around, and if you want it to end, you need to apologize.”

Kevin deflated and looked at Karl. “But she was in the wrong.”

“Doesn’t matter.”

“But I didn’t do anything to apologize for.”

“You’re not hearing me. If you want things back on an even keel, apologize.”

“Even if she’s the one who messed up?”

“That doesn’t matter. Take my word for it. If you want this to end, apologize. Otherwise it’ll drag on and on and on.”

“But if I let her think she was right, she’ll do it again.”

“Maybe, maybe not. If you two argued, which you obviously did, she knows how you feel. She may decide whatever she wanted to do isn’t worth the hassle. Or she may find another way to do it, but either way, nothing’s going to be right again until you apologize.”

“But what if she tries to tell me I’m wrong when I know I’m right?”

“Apologize again. Or you could do what I do with Joan. Kiss her. Shuts her up every time.”

“We’re not at that point yet,” Kevin said.

“You never will be if you don’t apologize.”

“Are you serious? I have to apologize in order to get this thing settled?”

“It won’t settle the argument. Nothing’s going to do that, but it’ll get you past it, get the two of you talking and spending time together again.” Karl paused. “You seemed to be having fun while she was here. Don’t you want to go back to that? I thought the two of you were hitting it off pretty well before Monday night.”

Kevin sighed. “We were. In fact, I thought things were really good.”

“And if you want things to be good again, apologize, and once you do, never ever bring it up again.”

~ ~ ~ ~

Later that evening, after Chris had gone to his room, Kevin was sitting on the couch brushing Nikki when she put her head on his knee and whined.

“I know, girl,” he said softly. “I miss her, too.” As he brushed her, he explained that he was hoping to get her back. “I’m going to do what Karl said and hope it works. And Chris is going to schedule something she’ll need to be in town for. I don’t know what, but Joan’s helping him, so I’m sure they’ll figure out something.”