Guardian of the Fountain (13 page)

      
Brant
tucked her hand in his against his heart, and they swayed with the music and
enjoyed the cool evening air.

      
“This has
been the best date ever,” Chrissie mumbled into the fragrant breeze.

      
“I would
have to agree.” Brant inhaled the soft scent of her hair. “You smell lovely.”

      
“I don’t
know what cologne you have on, but it must have some pheromones or something in
it. I’m glad there aren’t any other girls around because everything about you
would send them into a frenzy.”

      
“Don’t
underestimate yourself. You are the very reason why we are here in the bottom
of a volcano instead of a nice restaurant in Caracas. I get jealous very
easily. I’ve already called dibs on you.”

      
Her chest
warmed with pleasure. He had dibs on her, and took delight in it. She wanted to
hear him say it over and over again.

      
“Ha! Take
that, you Spanish señoritas,” Chrissie exclaimed. She didn’t have to be
exotically beautiful.

 
“You know that chocolate is actually an
aphrodisiac.” Brant wiggled his eyebrows up and down.

An
aphrodisiac was the last thing she needed. She needed a cold shower. “You don’t
say.” Chrissie walked away nonchalantly. “Maybe I should’ve stayed away from
the chocolate.”

That’s probably what got me into this mess
in the first place
.

“It
isn’t the chocolate necessarily, although it helps.” Brant arched a brow.

“Then
what was it?” Chrissie pushed.

“My
awesome good looks.” Brant blew on his fingernails and polished them on his
coat sleeve.

“And
humble too.” Chrissie’s laugher rippled out of her. Inwardly, even though Brant
was teasing, she knew he was right—he was good looking.

Brant
walked up to Chrissie and helped her stand up straight just as the giggles
began to subside. “I think my feelings are hurt.”

“Oh,
no, they’re not. You know you’re a dream boat.” Chrissie linked her arm in his,
and they began to walk back to the garden door to go home. “If I forget to tell
you, thank you. I had a wonderful time.”

“You
can thank me later,” Brant teased.

“Okay,
now you’re really laying it on thick.” Chrissie punched Brant in the arm. “I
just barely got used to the idea that we dated. Now you have your full flirt on,
and I don’t know how I feel about that.”

“Ow!
Okay, sorry.” Brant stopped Chrissie at the garden door. “In all seriousness,
just because we dated, don’t think that I expect you to do certain things. I
understand that you’re still getting to know me again. This goes at your pace,
if at all.”

She
loved that he wasn’t pressuring her into anything. Trey was so pushy when it
came to sex. Brant was mostly a tease but hadn’t ever pressured her.
He wants to build a relationship first. What
a breath of fresh air.

“I
appreciate that.” Chrissie’s heart thumped harder for this man she was falling
in love with . . . again.

Would he love me if he knew? If only a big
hole could swallow me up and hide me.
Her hand went to her stomach as she
thought of her predicament.

Brant
escorted her all the way to her bedroom door. “Good night, Miss Chrysanthemum
Love Stevens.” His English accent, especially thick tonight, reminded Chrissie
of James Bond.

“I
had a lovely time, Brant.” She paused as she got a wicked idea. “Call me!” She
turned on her heel and shut the door in his face. She leaned against her
bedroom door, laughing. Then slowly, she opened the door and smiled her best
winning smile at Brant.

Brant
stood just outside the door with a fire burning in his eyes. He pulled Chrissie
out of the doorway and proceeded to tell her how he felt with his kiss. His
lips were firm and melted as they surrounded hers. He knew what he was doing—he’d
had a century to practice the art. His hands pulled her in tighter and moved up
to her hair. Her knees weakened and skin tingled with pleasure as his lips
worked their magic upon hers.

 
He stopped abruptly. “Call me,” he whispered
as his lips brushed her ear. His cool, casual smile unnerved her as he left her
disheveled at her bedroom door, alone in a blissful stupor.

 
Chrissie stumbled back into her small,
simple room. Of all the rooms in the mansion, she was glad Brant had picked
this one out for her it seemed less ostentatious. She readied herself for bed
and put her dress back in the garment bag María had hung in her closet. She
washed her face, brushed her teeth, and pulled on a pair of scrub bottoms and
an oversized T-shirt. Her sheets had been washed and hung out to dry today. She
could smell the sunshine in them as she slipped into bed. María took good care
of her. Tomorrow she would do something nice for María in return.

It had
been such a wonderful evening. She had a little time to think about how to
handle the pregnancy situation. If, when, and how she would tell Brant came to
mind. It was her place to tell him, but she lacked the gumption—and he
deserved to know.

The
mansion sat dark and still because everyone had gone to bed. Chrissie relived
moment by moment of her magical date with Brant, especially the kiss. It was
sort of like counting sheep, just much more interesting. Her thoughts faded
into dreams.

She
was working in the clinic, and all her old colleagues were there too. The
clinic soon disappeared, and she was standing in the apartment she shared with
Marla. Various outfits were strewn over the bed. She was getting ready to go
somewhere, but she didn’t know where or with whom. Luckily, tonight there were
no nightmares—just confusing fragments of old memories.
 

The
kiss had unlocked a few.

Chapter
17

Chrissie
awoke the next morning to María knocking on the door. “Can I come in?”

“Yes,”
Chrissie groaned. She rolled over and looked at the old brass alarm clock on
her bedside table. It read nine forty-five.

María
came in, carrying a tray of breakfast. “I was afraid you would sleep two days
again. We need to feed you and the baby.”

She
had almost forgotten she was pregnant. By that time, her body recognized that
it was waking up, and the nausea returned. “Ugh. I think I’m going to puke.”

“Not
a chance.” María took wet towels out of a basin and laid them across the back
of Chrissie’s neck and across her stomach. The nausea started to subside.

“Is
that the water?” Chrissie relaxed.

“Yes,
but it will only last a short time. So let’s feed you and get you to the pool.”

Chrissie,
freshly bathed and fed, felt like a new woman. It was noon before she went
downstairs. She was going to explore the garden by herself today. It felt like
an adventure she was about to embark on, exploring untouched territory.

The
library door was cracked open. She heard Brant’s voice and a woman’s voice in
the library. The voice sounded young—it didn’t belong to María. She
peeked in to see who it was. The woman was tall and curvy, with long, dark hair
with a fresh blow out and her tan skin was perfect.
 
A memory flooded into Chrissie’s brain
of the day she saw Brant escorting this woman out of the clinic.

“Come
on, Brant. Just give in,” the woman said in a flirty voice.

“Valencia,
you know I won’t.”

“All
the time we spent together—does it mean anything to you?” Valencia
pouted.

Brant
said nothing.

“I
just need a little sign that you still care for me. It’s not like I’m asking
for money.” Valencia walked over to Brant and rubbed her hands across his
chest. Chrissie’s heart plummeted to her stomach. It looked like Brant was
going to pull the same crap Trey did.

“Arturo
is waiting out front to take you back to your car in the village.”

“Why
can’t you take me back?”

“I
have lots of work to do this morning, and I don’t have enough time.”

“Do I
still have to wear that stupid mask?” Valencia whined.

“Yes.”
Brant escorted Valencia to the door. She walked out and came face-to-face with
Chrissie.

“Hello,”
Valencia smiled as she slinked up against Brant’s side. The muscles in his jaw
tightened. “Brant and I were just catching up and talking about future business
ventures.” She smiled coyly.

“Oh,
don’t let me bother you.” Chrissie began to retreat to the stairs.

Brant
escorted Valencia out to the car waiting for her.

“Call
me if you change your mind, Brant.” Valencia waved as she stepped into the car.

Chrissie
was at the top of the stairs when Brant closed the front door.

“Chrissie,
wait.” Brant yelled from the bottom step.

“Sorry
I interrupted you. You sound busy.” Chrissie continued toward her room.

Brant
bounded up the stairs two at a time. “It’s not what you think.”

Chrissie
whipped herself around. “Really? Do you think I’m stupid? I can still smell her
fragrance all over you.” She closed her eyes. “I remember her.” Her erratic
pregnancy hormones took over her body and she felt like she was losing control
of any rational thought.

“You
remember her?” Brant stood there, confused.

“The
two of you were fighting in front of the clinic, and she sped off.”

“That
was over eight months ago.”

“I
know. The memory came back when I saw her.”

“She’s
an ex. She calls occasionally for business matters. We broke up a year ago—nothing
to worry about.”

“I
think she has other plans.” Chrissie backed away from Brant. She retreated to
her room and closed the door. She had been cheated on before, and she never
wanted to relive any moment of that again. Trey’s infidelity had left her heart
in shambles. If Brant broke her heart, she’d never recover. Besides, he
wouldn’t want anything to do with her anyway once he found out she was
pregnant.

She could
hear him just outside her door. She’d only had one date with him—Valencia
had many more. She had already lost Brant to Valencia before she even had a
chance. The kiss was only a party favor.

Chrissie
knew she was being hormonal and irrational. She needed to cool off and gather
her wits. It was unlike her to fly off the handle. She’d come back and
apologize later, maybe even grovel because the whole conversation was terribly
embarrassing.

After
she heard Brant leave, she snuck out of her room and down to the library. She
opened the bookcase and followed the stairs down into the deep cave and out to
the garden. She walked out into the lush, verdant smell that she so loved and
decided to take a path she hadn’t seen before. It led her around the perimeter of
the garden up against the steep cliffs of the volcano. Her curious mind began
to wonder how far it was to the other side of the volcano, and how long it
would actually take to explore every square foot of this Utopia.
 
Some of the garden was shaded with a
thick canopy overhead, making the walk comfortable from the heat. After twenty minutes,
she made it to the far side of the pool. Previously unnoticed dark, wet rocks
jutted out of the vines in an oval shape. Chrissie pulled back the vines,
revealing a cave entrance. Following the path into the cave, she walked into portals
of light streaming down from above her, illuminating her way like natural skylights
that led her to a large, open room. Many holes in the cave above her lit up the
room. Upon its walls, hieroglyphs told a story from ceiling to floor in faded
colors that were once brilliant.

“I
see you found the temple,” Brant’s voice said from the shadows.

Chrissie
said nothing and continued to walk around the room, following the story.

“This
was Father Delgado’s favorite place. He told me that in the Bible, the tops of
some mountains were used as temples for the early people like Moses. He used to
come in here and try to figure out the story upon these walls.” Brant stepped
out of the shadows and into the light. “He thinks that the story starts over
there, where you first come in.” He pointed to the entrance into the room. “There
once was an ancient tribe who lived here in this land down in the valley. They
had been driven from their homes by a dark and loathsome group who wanted to
enslave and kill them. They sought refuge up in the mountains. They were tired
and sick from their ordeal. They prayed for help.” He pointed to the
hieroglyphs of people lying on the ground or kneeling, looking up to the heavens.
“A large earthquake came and split the land, swallowing up their pursuers. Glowing
white people came down from the heavens and helped the tribe. It came time for
the heavenly friends to leave. It made the people very sad. They begged their
friends not to leave them. The heavenly friends cried tears of love for the tribe
because they were pure-hearted. The glowing white people took their tears and
put them into a fountain and told the souls left to keep this place safe and
sacred, that they may use the water to heal their sick and injured as a
testament of their love for the tribe. The glowing white people had to leave,
and the ancient tribe left behind guarded this place ever since.”

Chrissie’s
fingertips softly touched the face of a glowing white face hieroglyph smiling
back at her. Silently, she walked past Brant out of the cave and into the open
garden. She hiked as far and deep down the path as she could go and found a
nice little patch of grass where she could sit and enjoy the garden. She began
to pull up a few weeds here and there, and watched the bugs crawl aimlessly
through the moist dirt. The garden seemed so busy around her. Everything had a
purpose. She, on the other hand, felt like she was frozen while everything
continued on around her.

“If you
get any closer to the ground, your nose will be in the dirt.”

Chrissie
peeked over her shoulder to see Brant standing in the path watching her. She
ignored him and resumed her careful inspection of the garden bed in front of
her.

“Still
giving me the silent treatment? I want to clarify that nothing is going on
between me and her.”

He
obviously wasn’t going to leave her alone until she spoke to him. “It’s fine,
Brant. I was a bit irrational and now I need to apologize.” Chrissie moved to a
nearby shady spot under a tree.

Brant
sat down next to her. “You don’t. Just because you forgot about me doesn’t
change the fact that I care for you, and we did have something. I’m working on
reminding you. Your reaction shows me how much you do care.”

“I
just don’t want to relive any Trey-esque moments. Other women are a touchy
subject.” Chrissie stared at a blade of grass she twirled in her
fingers—anything to avoid looking Brant in the eyes.

“All
it would take is meeting Trey on the street somewhere to make him regret ever
hurting you.” Brant rubbed his face. “He made a real dog’s dinner of you
trusting me. Every time I make some progress with you, it gets ruined.” He
sighed. “Valencia wants to bottle the water and sell it.”

“She
knows about it?” Chrissie threw the blade of grass down and looked at Brant,
waiting for an answer.

“I
never told her. She lives in Caracas, so she shouldn’t know the secret. I don’t
know how she found out. At any rate, I just told her I didn’t know what she was
talking about.”

“It
didn’t sound like she was convinced.”

“I
don’t think she was. She’ll be back . . . unfortunately.” He leaned back
against the tree and rested his arms behind his head.

“How
did you get mixed up with her, anyway? The village isn’t exactly a dating hot
spot.”

“I
delivered flowers to all five of her dad’s restaurants. He’s one of the
wealthiest men in Caracas, but his money doesn’t compare to mine. She fell in
love with my money, not me. I felt like I was always having to feed her greed.
In fact, I still don’t know how she found out that I have money. I don’t
exactly flaunt it. I think her dad has connections and did some digging. I like
to give nice gifts because I want to, not because it’s expected.”

“She
obviously expects it. How did she get here?”

 
“Arturo picks her up in the village and
blindfolds her on the way up too. She doesn’t like it, but she had to bring
some contract papers. She’s only been to my house a total of three times
anyway. She never wanted to leave the city. She’s very high-maintenance.”

“She
looked like it,” Chrissie agreed, remembering her salon-styled hair and
perfectly polished nails.

“That’s
what attracted me to you at first. You didn’t have to try to be beautiful—you
just were, and totally unaware of the fact. Not to mention, your constant smile
is genuine and you’re completely unselfish. As Americans would say, ‘that’s
hot.’” Brant winked.

“Oh.”
Chrissie could feel her cheeks warm. She pressed her hands to cool her cheeks.

“Your
blush is cute too.” He flashed a teasing smile at her.

Would
he still think her blush was cute when he found out she was pregnant? Was he
the father of her baby? She hoped he was, but she couldn’t be sure. Her
traditional values screamed at her.

How could you? You aren’t even married.

Adding
to the puzzle in her brain, she knew she would never have given in before
marriage. Trey left because of that very fact. Why would she have given in now?

“You’re
the one who’s handsome, wealthy, and mysterious. How did I ever snag someone
like you? It just doesn’t make sense to me. Just like everything else … nothing
makes sense.” She felt just like a weed in this beautiful garden of Brant’s
life.

“Don’t
sell yourself short. Your Texan accent is endearing, and you’re a spitfire. Not
to mention, you’re crackin’. I’m still waiting to see you in a bikini.” “Ha,”
Chrissie snorted. “You wish. It won’t be anytime soon. I wish that was my only
problem … which bikini to wear. Wouldn’t that be nice?”

“A
guy can dream, can’t he?”

“You
should have been at the Miss Texas Pageant about six years ago,” she said
glumly. “My mom convinced me it was the perfect way to win some scholarship
money.”

“I
didn’t know you did a pageant.” He sounded amazed. Actually, she was amazed too.
It wasn’t her style to strut across a stage, but it paid for a portion of college.

“Yep,
got first runner up and paid for a year’s worth of tuition and books. I’d
rather be out hunting with my dad, though. Mom wouldn’t let me wear a camo-print
bikini.” Chrissie had fought for over a week on that minor detail.

“I
knew you were hot in a bikini.”

“Does
Valencia look hot in a bikini?” Chrissie’s jealousy got the best of her.