Tristan's Loins (27 page)

"Darcy, I can do this," she replied and used
a whisk to stir up the eggs. "I won't put him on a guilt trip."

"I think you need to really think about
this."

Selene paused in stirring the egg yolks. "I
have. My mind is made up, Darcy."

Darcy looked miserable to hear it. "Alright,
but once he leaves the country, you might feel different."

Selene wanted to laugh at that. If only
Tristan were just leaving the country and not their world. She had
enough time to think about this. What good would there be to tell
him about a child he would never be able to help raise? It would
only further complicate matters when he went back to her novel.

"Darcy, I know you think I'm making a rash
decision, but I have given it great thought."

"What do you plan on telling your Dad?"

"My Dad is the least of my problems! Ask me
what I'm going to tell Pritchard when I come back to work," Selene
grumbled and looked at her friend with a sour expression. "We both
know he won't be thrilled to know I'm unmarried and having a child
alone. He worries about how the students and parents will react, of
course."

"He has no right to say anything, Selene,"
Darcy reminded her. "You have tenure, and this isn't the 1960's ok?
Women have babies out of wedlock every day. How does he know the
baby isn't Jim's?"

"He doesn't. Your right. Nobody has to
know."

"There, now you have a solid lie to base your
child's whole life upon," Darcy informed her dryly and chuckled at
Selene's dark look. "Well? You seem determined to keep the baby's
real father from knowing."

Selene ignored Darcy as she poured the eggs
into the hot pan. She left her alone to go wake up her kids.
Tristan appeared, looking delighted to find her there alone. He
came and stole a kiss that left her breathless.

"You left our bed too soon, woman," he
growled low and nibbled at her neck.

Selene shivered and felt a stirring of desire
at his words. Leaving their bed was the last thing she wanted to
do, but she had to get breakfast going.

"Breakfast will be ready in a few minutes,"
she replied and sighed as he kissed her neck. "We can get out on
the lake right after. It's going to be a beautiful day."

"Every day is beautiful with you, my love."
He drew away to fix a cup of coffee.

Selene smiled and looked down at the eggs she
pushed around with the spatula. Her charming lover knew exactly
what to say to make her regret getting out of bed at all.

Selene knew Tristan and Axel had hardly made
friends the night before, even if both nursed hangovers this
morning. The children fished off the back of the pontoon and Axel
helped them bait their hooks. He really was quite good with kids,
she noted.

"What have you told your friends about my
leaving? I would know so I don't say something to alert the
weakling's suspicions."

"Will you quit calling him that?" Selene
snapped under her breath, her golden eyes filled with
annoyance.

"When he stops acting like one; I’ll quit
calling him that."

"What do you base this name you label him
with?" she challenged. "He doesn't wave a sword, or ride a horse,
or use his fists to make a point. Those are hardly the measure of a
man, Tristan."

"He does not go after what he wants," Tristan
replied smoothly and raised an eyebrow. "He allowed you to get
away."

"I believe I had something to say about
that!"

"He did not put up much of a fight for you,
Selene," Tristan pointed out. "In fact, according to this Maggie
wench, he started seeing another woman right away."

"Stop calling Maggie a wench! The woman he
was seeing was a part of Axel's life long before he met me too, so
stay out of it."

"He did not want the woman. He only went to
her because he lost you. That is why I call him a weakling. Instead
of fighting for you, he let you go."

Selene was frustrated with Tristan's logic,
but she could not avoid the truth of his words. Axel had acted like
a fourteen year old by hooking back up with Jenny. He even moved in
on her friends to seek information about her and Tristan. Now he
showed up at her cottage with Maggie and challenged Tristan to
drinking contests. Yet, he had not offered one intention of his own
to support his actions.

"I love you, Tristan." She sipped a bottled
water and glared at him. "What is your point?"

Tristan shrugged. "I only point out the
obvious. He is not for you. I can do nothing about it when I’m
gone. I would hope you will find a better man than him."

"What makes you think I even want another
man, Tristan?"

"One day you will. I hope you choose wisely.
These weaklings are beneath you, Selene."

She felt tears begin out of nowhere. He was
ruining her day with his reminding her in one month's time he would
be gone from her life. Thinking about him leaving was not something
she wanted to face right now.

"Can we go one day without talking about what
I’ll do when you’re gone?"

Tristan said nothing, watching the children
fish. "Selene, I have no wish to make you sad. I feel the pain of
leaving every minute that passes."

She looked at him and saw the raw pain in his
expression and knew he suffered as she did. He might have Rhiannon
waiting for him at Raven's Keep, but his heart was very much hers.
Did she think this was easy for him? His being a warrior had made
her think his feelings were somehow less vulnerable. It was obvious
his pain was as profound as hers.

"We won't speak of it until the others
leave," she said and watched Axel help Timmy reel in a sunfish. "It
is all I can do to keep a smile on my face right now."

Tristan reached out and his large hand
grasped hers, his long fingers linking with hers. She could see he
wished for her friends to leave and them to be alone. What had been
planned to take their minds off his leaving only reminded them of
it more.

"I do not want to share you with them now,
Selene," he said and looked away. "I know it is selfish of me, but
it is how I feel."

"Two more days, and they will leave," she
reminded him and smiled. "This was supposed to be fun. Now you make
me want to kick them all out."

"Sal is teaching me how to drive the steel
horse."

Selene looked alarmed. "No way are you riding
that, Tristan!"

He looked belligerent. "Sal says it is very
safe. I wish to learn."

Selene looked exasperated. "Why? Last I heard
they have no motorcycles in the twelfth century. Why do you persist
in worrying me?"

"Why do you persist in treating me like a
child?"

"Fine, learn to ride! When you fall on your
ass and hurt yourself, don't say I did not warn you!" she said
huffily and got up to see Timmy's fish.

Tristan glowered at her as she marveled over
the boy's catch. Selene felt his eyes upon her heavily and avoided
him until the children were ready to go in for lunch. Axel seemed
to enjoy the current of discord between them, taking the
opportunity to talk with her of all that happened at school in her
absence.

Tristan was driving the pontoon and she sat
in the back of the boat on the vinyl seat, listening to him regale
her with his first semester impressions. Try as she might, whatever
interest she had in Axel once was gone the minute Tristan entered
her world. Even now, her eyes lingered on his wide back as he
guided the boat across the lake, hardly listening to Axel.

The children were excited they caught enough
decent perch to cook. They ran off the boat with the pail to show
Maggie. Tristan tied off the boat and Axel gathered up their gear.
Selene went up to the house ahead of them.

Axel glared at his rival, disgusted to know
he did not stand a chance in gaining Selene's interest with Tristan
around. He was encouraged to know Tristan was leaving for England
in a month, but he more than sensed he would always play second to
this man, whether here or not. A part of him was angry that Selene
had fallen in love with someone else. The other expected things to
go wrong and accepted it as his lot.

True, he hardly knew Selene well enough to
have latched onto her so quickly, but he had felt an immediate
connection to her. Considering his track record with women and his
initial suspicions of them, that was unheard of.

Axel sighed as he grabbed the tackle boxes
and poles. He came here to discredit the man. He could find nothing
wrong with him. The fact he adored Selene was pretty obvious. Her
feelings were crystal clear too.

His lips tightened as he watched Tristan walk
up on the deck and Selene came out to hand him a beer. Their hands
always seemed to linger when they touched. Axel fought the bitter
feeling to know he had lost to the better man. Even when Tristan
was gone, she would never forget him.

Axel eyed the dark-haired beauty sleeping in
a lawn chair on the beach. He smiled as he sauntered off the boat.
Maggie was far too young for him, but he could wait for her to grow
up. They were thrown together by circumstances. She had paid hardly
any attention to him at all since they got here. Maybe he should
remind her she was his date.

Selene sat with Tristan and the other two
couples when the fireworks started. Mr. Alderman next door agreed
to light off Sal's cache of illegal fireworks for the kids. Selene
could not help but notice how attentive Axel was to Maggie, or how
her friend seemed to be responding. She felt no jealousy to see
that they were obviously taking an interest in one another. Maggie
was turning thirty-nine in September. She needed a guy more her
age. Axel was taking it in stride that her feelings for Tristan
were genuine. He did not seek to interfere again.

When the fireworks started, Tristan held her
hand. She leaned upon his shoulder as the sky lit up in oranges,
greens, and blues. The mesmerizing display went on for forty-five
minutes. When the city's display was over, they had an intermission
until Alderman lit off theirs. Darcy and Sal took the opportunity
to take the bike up to the store to get more beer.

Tristan excused himself and went to their
room. When he did not come back right away, she went to look for
him. She found him holding his hand on the bed, and anguished
expression on his face.

"What is it?" she whispered as she rushed to
his side.

He held out his hand and she gasped as she
saw the redness of his hand. The ring was burning him where it
touched his skin.

"I cannot stand the pain any longer," he
fumed and gasped as the agony of the burning.

"I'll go get you some ice. That seemed to
help the last time."

"Selene, it's just getting worse," he said
through gritted teeth. "You know what this means. The ring is
calling me back."

Selene covered her mouth with her hand to
stop her cry of denial. This was not the first time he reacted
poorly to the ring, but the burning grew worse. She knew from the
last time that ice was the only thing that made it bearable. She
ran to the kitchen and got a plastic bowl filled to the top with
ice.

Tristan plunged his hand into the bowl with a
sigh. He glanced at her appreciatively. Selene sat next to him on
the bed.

"What does it mean?"

"It means it will get worse the longer I
linger here, Selene. The pain travels up my arm now."

"Oh God, I can't take seeing you in pain,"
she whispered.

"I have grown used to it, but this is new,"
he reported and took out his hand and flexed his arm, wincing." It
only tells me the ring is angered I have not listened."

Selene was aghast to see his arm as he rolled
up his sleeve. The flesh was blistered up to his elbow now. She
sobbed and trembled at the sight. His pain must have been
unbearable, but he was a warrior. He learned to adapt to the pain
for her sake.

"We will leave when the others get on the
road Monday morning, "she said and went into the bathroom and
flipped on the light. She wet a towel with cold water and brought
it to him to wrap his arm in. He looked like he felt better after a
few minutes.

"I'm sorry I have no control over this,
Selene," he said tightly.

"Tristan, you could die. That is obvious
enough to me," she said with a trembling breath. "We dare not wait
any longer. This is the ring's punishment."

"Selene, I don't want to leave you yet," he
argued and looked angry. "I can endure it a bit longer."

"No! I’ll not let you suffer to put off the
inevitable," she said harshly.

Tristan looked pale as he wrapped the towel
around his arm. She could see he was in agony. Her heart hurt to
know he had endured it as long as he could for her benefit. Anger
filled her to know they ran out of time.

"Selene, we have a month-"

"No, you will be covered in burns by then and
you know it," she cried and paced in agitation. "I can't stand to
see you suffer. You need to go back."

Tristan looked aggrieved. He looked away from
her pained expression. "I would bear such pain for you,
Selene."

"Oh hell no, you won't, Tristan," Selene
snapped and flung him a dark look. "I love you too much to allow
that."

Tristan's lips tightened but he said nothing.
She went to his side and opened the towel to inspect his arm. The
burns were quite severe. The skin was hanging off in some places.
She could see they were third degree. The burn cream she bought
would numb it for a time, but it had to be miserable.

He reached out and lifted her chin, his eyes
dark with pain. "Do you see what I would do to show you how much I
care for you, Selene? My pain is real. I’m real."

She kissed his blistered hand and tears
filled her gaze. "You’re real, Tristan. I have no doubt of it. I
don't know how or why this has happened. I’m thankful for every
moment."