To Wrangle A Witch (Southern Sanctuary Book 3) (24 page)

Locke
glanced around.  “It could have been worse I suppose and now of course
you’re dead.”

“Excuse
me?”  Serena coughed on a small sip of wine.

“Sorry.” 
Smooth Valhalla.  “I meant the world at large come morning will be
thinking you’re dead according to the Chippendales.”

“Oh
yes.”  She nodded.  “The grand plan of theirs.  There was quite
the argument as to how they were going to kill me off, several very gory
options were on the table but I believe the general consensus finally came down
to a light plane crash.”

“So
you won’t be going back to Atlanta then?  You okay about that?”

Serena
shrugged, taking another big sip of wine.

“Serena?”

“It’s
fine. I’d already begun to come to terms with that chapter of my life being
over.  Four years running around in that little costume?  I think my
used by date was already written on the wall, it just took a kidnapping, a stay
in a mental hospital and my fictional death to get the message through.”

Locke
could hear the truth in her words.  “I’m glad you’re okay with it… so
what, where next?  I mean if you don’t have any plans you’re more than
welcome to keep staying here.”

Around
them she could hear the garden clamour for her attention, glancing down as a
vine of wisteria wrapped itself around her ankle.  This garden was proving
very tenacious, but didn’t it realise she couldn’t stay?  Not because she
didn’t love it here, she looked around, she’d put her heart and soul into this
garden but it wasn’t enough was it?  She looked Locke’s way, she loved
him, and he… well he’d be courting boring Dutch Barbie soon enough, it would be
too hard to stay.

“Oh…
um thanks.”  Serena toyed with the stem of her wine glass unable to meet
his eyes.  Shaking her foot discreetly trying to dislodge the vine that
was even now moving upwards to encircle her lower leg and knee.

“No
I’m serious.”  Locke leaned across the table grabbing her hand gently,
encasing it with his own.  “
Stay.  Stay as long as want
.”

Serena
shivered, staring at Locke, there was something in his words, sincerity, the
way he’d said them.  She shook off that feeling, no she was just being
ridiculous, reading way more into his kind offer than he’d intended. 
Earth and Stars Serena, stop wussing about and trying to read something more
into Locke’s polite offer, just tell him for pity sake, tell him you can’t
stay. 

She
frowned as she felt something begin to climb up and around her left leg, she
glared down at a clematis, both her legs were imprisoned now, Earth, this
garden was really serious about wanting her to stay.  Okay, okay, she
reached down and petted the wisteria, I get the message, seriously… back
off.
 
She’d claimed the garden and it was
only exerting its right to claim her right back.
 
Who was she kidding?
 
A rolling stone?
 
All her adult life she’d drifted because
she’d been looking for a place to belong.
 
It hadn’t been the Earth calling to her to move on; it had been her own
soul deep need to find where she belonged.
 
And now she’d found it… and Locke, damn how could she stay with Locke so
close and yet so far away at the same time?
 
But the idea of leaving her garden, it was abhorrent to her now.

“Well,
the thing is Locke, I’m not sure I can leave.”  Phew she exhaled with
relief at finally getting the words out.  Now for the explosion, she eyed
Locke who was naturally looking slightly surprised.  Though he hadn’t gone
nuclear just yet so maybe he hadn’t heard her correctly or properly understood
the full impact of her words.

Locke
squeezed her hand a little tighter for a moment then released it, sitting back
in his chair, looking relaxed, a slight smile tugging at the corners of his
mouth.  “Okay.”

“Okay?” 
She stared at him hard.  He had heard her right?  Maybe he just
didn’t understand the full implications.  “I mean it Locke.  I’m not
sure I’m going to be able to leave.”

“Yeah
I got that.”  He held out the bottle her way.  “More wine?”

“Earth
yes.  Maybe I’m not explaining this right.  It was totally Maat’s
fault but I kind of… sort of accidentally… bound myself to your garden.” 

“Bound?” 

Locke’s
eyebrow quirked for a moment and there was a heat in his eyes that suddenly had
Serena thinking of silken bonds, handcuffs and restraints... gulp.  What
had they been talking about?  “Yes bound.  When I first arrived here
I formed a temporary bond with your garden, a give and take, rest and
rejuvenation symbiosis if you like.  The thing is… when I was talking to
Maat earlier she kind of backed me into a corner with all her talk about you
and the garden and I kind of, well I kind of claimed it.  The bond… well
it’s … I think it’s permanent.”

“You
can never leave?”  Locke asked with more curiosity on his face than
concern. 

Was
something wrong with the man, why was he not more upset?  “Oh sure I can
leave… temporarily, a couple of days, a week but if I stay away too long the
garden might go into crisis.”

“And
what would happen to you?” 

Finally
some concern in his eyes but he seemed more interested in her health than the
situation they were in.  “I don’t know, probably nothing.  Once a
witch is bonded, well they don’t tend to wander far, like my Grandmother and
Mother.  There is a story though of a witch who was displaced during the
last war… the story goes that she weakened gradually over a few weeks,
eventually falling into a coma that she never emerged from.”

“Okay,
crossing off long holiday jaunts for you then.”  Clear amusement was
written on Locke’s face.

“Umm,
okay.  I suppose the other alternative would be for you to move.” 
She wondered how long it would take her to pay off this house?  Though the
idea of him moving away… ouch that kind of hurt, but then so did the idea of
spending a century near Locke but never being able to touch him again.

“Why
would I do that?  This is my home.”

“Yes…
yes of course, it’s just that it’s my garden now.”

“That
was pretty much made clear when your grass ate my expensive sandstone tiles and
a 30 foot palm tree appeared overnight.”  Locke raised his glass in a
silent toast to the palm tree that had saved his and Serena’s lives earlier in
the evening.  “Remind me I’ll give my uncle a call tomorrow to come and
fix the shower alcove.”

“Oh
you don’t need to do that.”  Serena assured him, she was commandeering his
garden for life and the man was being way too cool, calm and collected about
it.

“Not
a problem, besides you’ll at least need a shelf to put your beauty products
on.”

Serena
blushed at the memory of what else she and Locke had done thanks to that
shelf.  “Thanks.”  She managed to mumble, burying her nose in her
glass to hide her embarrassment.

“By
the way, which one of the Chippendales do I have to thank for smashing it?”

“Um…
Dash.  Why?”  Her eyes widened suddenly.  “Please tell me you
are not collating an itemised bill?”

Locke
shrugged off her question with a laugh.  “Just how much do reality TV show
stars make anyway?”

“Locke.” 
She chided him with a shake of her head.  “We’re getting off topic. I
really don’t think you’ve fully comprehended what I’m trying to tell you about
me and this garden.”

“I
think I’ve got a pretty clear picture.  You’ll be spending a lot of time
out here?”

“Yes.”

“There
will be dancing?”

“Yes,
occasionally.”

“Skyclad
dancing?”

“Umm,
well yes, but I can limit it to just special celebrations, the equinoxes, the
full moons, the red moon… I can make a list if you want.”

Locke
nodded, his blue eyes twinkling, a sexy half smile gracing his lips.  “Oh
I want.”

Umm,
Serena swallowed the last of her wine in one gulp.  Earth was it hot out
here?  Where was a cooling night breeze when you needed one?  “I was
actually thinking of starting my own business… a nursery.  After talking
with Nell about her problems sourcing plants and trying to grow rare and exotic
species I’m pretty sure that’s something I’d be good at.”

Locke
nodded.  “I think you’d be great at it.”

“Thanks,
I just need to find some land, close by here preferably and speak to the local
bank about a loan.”

“Why
don’t you just use the rest of the garden here?”

Serena
glanced around the courtyard more than a little dubiously.  “Well it’s
kind of small for what I had in mind for one thing.”

“Not
the courtyard.”  Locke waved a hand around in the air.  “I’m talking
about the twenty acres surrounding the house.”

“You
have twenty acres of garden?”

“Well
garden is a very posh term, if you were to downgrade your expectations to
scrubby bush land and a disused dam then you might be a little bit closer to
reality.”

“Oh
my Earth.”  Serena clasped her hand to her chest.  Oh her lucky
Stars, she’d bound herself to a whopping great tract of land.  Then just
like that all her excitement left her in a flash.  “That’s so kind… but I
couldn’t.  I’d be putting my stamp all over this place, what would your
family think?  Earth for that matter what will Kirsten think?”

“Kirsten?” 
He frowned, trying to place the name.

“Twelve
hours ago she turned her obviously cosmetically enhanced nose up at my garden
and threatened to bulldoze it down.”  Serena winced, wishing she could
recall those words, Earth she sounded downright catty and jealous.

Still
Locke shook his head.

“Seriously? 
Your Aunt, the ‘famed match maker’ introduced you to her, the perfect woman,
the love of your long life.”  Serena narrowed her eyes at him.

“The
love of my life you say?  You’d think I’d remember that.  As I recall
it was my mother who introduced Kirsten to me.  My Aunt, ‘the famed match
maker’ as you call her, was only interested in one person at that table and
that was you.”

“Me?”

“Yes
you.  In fact thinking back on it now I believe my Aunt found Kirsten to
be rather tiresome and kind of boring… I know I did.”

“You
thought she was boring?”  Serena’s mouth dropped open in shock.

“Olympic
class.”

“But
you’re a lawyer!”

Locke
chuffed a laugh, navy eyes sparkling with amusement.  “Are you telling me
you think I’m boring?”

“Earth
no.  But you and Kirsten just have so much in common and well, she is
really beautiful, plus there’s the designer clothes, and did you see her
briefcase?  It kind of reminded me of yours.  She’d be a stunning
addition to your home.”

“You
make her sound like a piece of art I might acquire, one of those really glossy,
all façade but ultimately hollow pieces that my brother Erik always decries as
being manufactured rather than created.”

Serena
reached out with blind fingers for her wine glass; this conversation had taken
a rather unexpected swerve in a direction she hadn’t been planning on. She
looked up abruptly, instead of her questing hand finding her glass Locke had
reached over and captured her hand once more, this time he gave a tug, the
vines around her legs disappearing in a flash, traitors. “What are you
doing?”  She tried to resist.

But
he had more upper body strength and was sending her a sexy smouldering grin that
caused her synapses to misfire and her hormones to leap.  Before she knew
what was going on Locke had pulled her out of her chair, around the small table
to sit on his lap.  How had that happened? 

Oh
Earth, she kept her back straight, refusing to lean into the heat of his
body.  “Locke, this isn’t a good idea.”  She tried to stand up but he
wrapped an arm around her waist holding her in place.  This close, he
smelt divine, felt even better, it made her want to cry.  How was she going
to spend the rest of her very long life living and working so close to Locke
and not beg and plead with him to love her?

“So
Earth Witches and bonding, would you like to elaborate on the topic a bit more
for me?”

Oh
Earth, she felt her cheeks flame, of all topics for him to choose.  “Not
really.”

“You
sure?  Does it happen a lot?”

“N..no.” 
She kept her eyes averted, inhaling sharply as one of his long dexterous
fingers slid slowly up her bare arm.

“Have
often would you say it happens?”

That
finger of his was so distracting, slowly tracing a path along her collar
bone.  “Once. A true bond happens just once in an Earth Witch’s lifetime.”

“What
are the circumstances?”

“Umm.” 
She flinched as his fingers ran up along her throat, heat spiking down her
spinal column.  “Err like I said, an Earth Witch and a garden form
a…”  What had she been saying?  His hand had come to rest on her bare
knee.  “A bond.”  She brushed his hand away but it came right back to
settle on her other knee.  “Stop that!”  She hissed.