Keeper of the Heart

Chapter 17

Tedra had no sooner walked into her dressing room the next morning than Martha’s main housing terminal flashed on, and Martha’s voice complained, “It’s disgusting how much time you spend in that bed at your age. Don’t you ever get tired of sharing so much sex with the same man?”

“Uh-oh.” Tedra grinned as she stepped into her solaray bath for the required three-second cleaning, then out again. “Whenever you attack me, old girl, you aren’t happy about something, and it’s usually something you’ve done. What is it this time?”

“That was a legitimate complaint, now that I think about it, especially since I’ve been waiting half the night and then some for you to make an appearance. The extra hour you just spent with the big guy really grated on my nerves. I’m amazed I restrained myself from interrupting that little bout of fun.”

“You don’t have nerves, and the last time you interrupted Challen when he didn’t want to be interrupted, you found yourself moved in with Brock, and you hated that enough to mind your manners after that. Besides, can I help it if my barbarian loves me so much he can’t keep his hands off me?”

“You don’t have to like it so much.”

Tedra’s eyes rounded incredulously before she burst into laughter. “We really are having a circuit breakdown this morning, aren’t we? Why don’t you stop going round the block already and tell me what’s really bothering you?” And then she stopped in the middle of slipping into a fresh chauri. “Wait a minute. You spent the night with Shani. What have you done now, Martha?”

“What do you mean, what have I done?” the computer huffed indignantly. “I analyzed and acted in accordance with your wishes. But when there is more than one option to choose from, I have to wonder if one wouldn’t have been better than another- in the overall scheme of things, at any rate.”

“I don’t think I like the sound of this. Which option did you choose that you’re not absolutely thrilled about?”

“See for yourself.”

Tedra sat down warily before the computer’s video port to watch a reenactment of what happened in her daughter’s room last night, half recorded from Martha’s viewer, half simulated by the Rover’s monitoring system when Martha’s sight wasn’t directly on the subjects. Everything was there, from the moment the Ba-Har-ani entered the room until Shani was back in bed and pounding the hell out of her pillow before she fell back into a fitful sleep.

When the video port went blank, Tedra said with more than a little bemusement, “I’ve never seen her that angry with anyone before, nor that protective.”

“Sexual emotions aren’t easy to deal with when they’re new. You ought to know that, or has it been too long for you to remember?”

Tedra made a face. “Real cute. And I see you were right as usual, Martha. She does still want him. It was written all over her face, even if she did turn him down.”

“Yes, but she did say no. Right now she honestly believes she won’t be happy with a warrior, so for the time being, it’s a no-win situation. But I could have kept my mouth shut last night and given that warrior an opportunity to rid your daughter of one of her fears concerning him.”

Tedra didn’t have to ask which one. “Do you think he could have?”

“He was determined enough. Of course, how he would have acquitted himself if he had given free rein to that desire he was in the grips of is another story. He failed once, and probables says he hasn’t yet had enough time to learn how to fully control what Shani makes him feel. He’s making the effort. You saw for yourself how he restrained himself from even touching her when he was so highly charged. It was a wonder my circuits weren’t melted just being in the same vicinity.”

“That’s not what I need to hear, Martha,” Tedra grumbled.

“Sure it is, since it supports the fact that anyone who can get that charged with emotion is bound to have the one emotion Shani wants above all else. No one can tell me that particular Sha-Ka’ani male isn’t going to love your daughter to pieces if he gets the chance to. As far as I’m concerned, that isn’t an issue.”

Tedra was inclined to agree. She’d always maintained that all warriors had the capacity to love. You just had to figure out how to get them to admit it, since they considered it an unwarriorlike emotion. But the Ba-Har-ani weren’t like Kan-is-Tran warriors at all when it came to emotions and controlling them, so Martha was undoubtedly right on this point, too. Still…

“Those aren’t Shani’s only objections to a warrior, Martha. What about her unreasonable fear of a warrior’s punishment?”

“She feared Kan-is-Tran punishment.”

“And was outraged by the Ba-Har-ani equivalent, but that doesn’t mean she wouldn’t fear it. You know how silly she gets over pain.”

“Give me a break, doll. You’re talking about a child’s punishment. How painful can that be? It’s the humiliation an adult would feel in getting spanked that is the real punishment, not a temporary hot seat.”

Tedra grinned, remembering the time she’d got spanked herself, and she’d asked for it. But she also recalled that it hadn’t been at all painful.

“All right,” she conceded. “So maybe that isn’t a problem that even needs consideration, though I doubt Shani will see it that way.” Then she sighed. “Stars, I wish I could make up my mind about this man and stick to it.”

“You already have. So has Shani, for that matter. You’re just both disappointed that the poor guy isn’t as perfect as Challen.”

“Don’t make me laugh.” Tedra snorted. “Challen perfect? Since when?”

Martha chuckled. “Just because he still drives you up a wall occasionally with a few of his barbarian tendencies doesn’t mean you don’t think he’s the next best thing to ambrosia. You wanted him from the first moment you saw him. You just weren’t planning on keeping him then. Your daughter, on the other hand, wanted the Ba-Har-ani from the start and was planning on keeping him. He’s die one who blew it by not getting her hooked with their first joining. And that’s his only true fault here. Everything else can be worked out. You even said so yourself.”

“That was before I knew he was a farden slaveholder,” Tedra reminded her.

“Slaves can be sold, can’t they?”

“What if he won’t?”

“He will if Challen makes it a stipulation to acquiring his daughter.”

After a short silence Tedra suddenly grinned. “And to think I sometimes wonder why I keep you around.” Martha merely made a rude-sounding noise at that, but Tedra had a new question, one Shani probably didn’t know the answer to herself. “We’ve established she still wants him whether she’ll admit it or not, but does she love him yet?”

“What am I, a mind reader?”

“You’re an expert in deductions and probables, as you so frequently remind me and anyone else who’ll listen, which amounts to the same thing, so give-or am I going to hate the answer?”

“If you were hoping she’d be all starry-eyed already just because she’s hot for the guy, you can forget it. She might be fainthearted in certain areas, but she’s strong-willed in others, and the plain fact is she won’t let herself love the Ba-Har-ani as long as she thinks she’s going to avoid belonging to him. So it’s not going to happen until she does belong to him and has no reason to fight it anymore.”

“That’s just great,” Tedra replied testily. “So where does that leave me as far as decisions are concerned? What do I do when Shani still insists on leaving?”

“You let her go,” Martha said simply. “I get to play with meteors for a few weeks while Shani has time to conquer her fears and realize she was making a big deal out of nothing. Meanwhile, the Ba-Har-ani gets to learn patience.”

Tedra bit her lip. “A few weeks?”

“It shouldn’t take much longer than that with me subtly working on her.”

A few hours later, Tedra stood beside Challen and watched Falon Van’yer win yet another round in the competitions. She was getting disgusted with the ease with which he was winning, cutting each match down to less than half the time it should take in his impatience to have the competitions over. It would have been a pleasure to watch that kind of superior sword skill if she wasn’t so angry at that young man for all the trouble he was going to cause in her family. And it was all so unnecessary.

Shani wanted him. Challen already approved of him. Martha didn’t even object to him. That should have made for no obstacles. Instead, Shani was going to leave home, defying her father in the process and ending up sick at heart about it. Challen was going to be furious, and guess who was going to catch hell for it? Not the one who ought to be blamed, but yours truly. And for what? Because that young man allowed his emotions to run amok.

“He fights well, does he not?” Challen observed with a good deal of pleasure.

Tedra gritted her teeth, knowing farden well her lifemate had already made up his mind about Falon. “Why shouldn’t he?” she replied testily. “He’s got jealousy goading him, giving him an advantage over every warrior here.”

“Jealousy?” Challen said skeptically, looking down at her now.

“Absolutely. That warrior isn’t fighting to be champion. He could care less about that. He’s fighting just for our daughter. Hell, he already thinks of her as his. And that makes him see every other warrior here not as a mere opponent, but as a rival trying to steal what’s his. He’s jealous all right. He’s pea green with it.”

“And this displeases you, you who are wont to call a warrior a jerk because he lacks certain emotions?”

Tedra’s cheeks pinkened the tiniest bit. “There’s such a thing as too much emotion,” she grumbled.

Challen chuckled. “Woman, you will find fault with any man who threatens to take your daughter from you. Admit that is all you have against this young shodan.”

Stars, how she wanted to blurt out what the real problem was. She wasn’t used to keeping secrets from Challen, though right now he more than deserved it after he’d kept secret from her the real reason behind these competitions. But getting him incensed over his daughter’s now missing innocence wasn’t going to accomplish anything other than his disappointment in Shani, and add more problems to join the rest.

So all she answered was, “Sure. Whatever you say, babe,” and got him off the subject of Shani’s suitors by adding, “But he’s not so hot. You could take him easily.”

“You have too much pride in your lifemate,” he replied, trying to sound admonishing, but he couldn’t quite pull it off, too pleased by her remark.

“With reason.”

She grinned and bumped hips with him before sauntering off. His laughter followed her. She savored the sound, realizing that in a few days she probably wouldn’t hear it anymore for a very long while.