Hearts of Ishira (Hearts of Ishira Saga) (39 page)

“Do you know how to sew clothing?” he asked after a long moment. She nodded, welcoming the change of subject.

“I do, sort of. I make garb for medieval re-enactments, but not regular day-to-day clothes. But I guess fashion really doesn’t matter now. Whatever we can make, we’ll make. I’m sure some of the others know how to sew, as well,” she told him. “But if not, it’s high time they learned.”

He agreed whole-heartedly, and when he would have settled in with her on the balcony for the afternoon, she insisted that he take her down to the main hall and gather the women for an impromptu sewing lesson. Hunter wasn’t sure that was wise, since Amy had been making additional threats when she thought none of his men were around to understand. But he knew that he could not keep Arianna to himself forever. She needed to get out and socialize with her ladies. He supposed that he should actually send her back to the dormitory, rather than keep her in his quarters, but he couldn’t help but feel that she was much safer here. His Reader senses nagged at him whenever he thought of her with the other girls, and he knew where to lay the blame for that. He would just have to watch Amy more closely when she was near Ri.

Besides, he just wanted to be near his little warrior, to learn more about her, to be there when she smiled to herself over whatever was running through her mind at the moment. For now, he had the afternoon free and though this wasn’t the plan he’d originally concocted, he was determined to accompany her if she insisted on creating this sewing day with her girls. She was eager for it, and his little Arianna was proving to be sweetly insistent when she wanted to be. She was so adorable when she was happy, how could he deny her?

Within an hour, he had her set up at a long table in the main hall, with the other girls summoned to attend the sewing bee, as Ri was calling it. And where the girls went, the men not on duty followed. At first Hunter sighed in amused exasperation, but he realized quickly that it might be helpful to have the men there, since all of them knew how to sew their own clothing and could help those of the girls who had never done so.

It turned out that several of the girls did know the basics of sewing, enough to at least join two pieces of cloth. That was all Arianna needed to get them started. For the first garment, she taught them how to make a simple gown with only three cuts and three seams to sew. She helped them measure and cut, but they would have to sew the garments themselves. She could not possibly do that much hand sewing and it would take forever if she tried.

Much to her surprise, though, the men took up the task of helping out. Breaking off into their teams, the men took aside the women they planned to woo and helped them with the task, which turned out to be much more fun for them all than if it had just been Arianna and the girls. The women, not used to men who were familiar with such domestic tasks, were teasing at first, but the men got even when it came time for measuring the ladies. The suddenly playful warriors made sure that
very
thorough
measurements were taken for the women, sometimes checking the bust and hip areas several times, just to be sure they got all of the numbers right. More than one got his hand slapped or his head smacked when he got a little too frisky for the girls’ comfort, but they all grinned and took the abuse. Why not? The slaps didn’t really hurt, and they’d still managed to cop feels. Win/win for the guys. And Arianna sensed that none of the girls truly objected, though many of them were shy about reacting to multiple men touching them at once, worried about what their peers would think. She certainly understood that!

That particular issue had her frowning. She should probably talk to them about it at some point. But should she bring it up, or should she let them bring it up?

Arianna and Hunter grinned at the antics of the love-struck men and the shy but equally interested women. Ri didn’t know when Hunter’s arm came to be around her shoulders, but she found herself sighing happily and relaxing against him as she finished the first side seam of her own dress. He was watching the hall, keeping an eye on Amy’s corner. Fortunately, Amy was keeping to her side of the room, laughing breezily with her small bevy of friends. It was also the only corner where no men attended the women, which was troubling. Shaking himself from his thoughts, Hunter looked down at his little commander.

“You do not need help measuring yourself?” he asked her softly after a moment. She chuckled and shook her head, picking up the image in his mind of how he would take the measurements. She gave him a sardonic look. Some of those couldn’t possibly matter for the garments she was making. And wouldn’t
that
one get the measuring string all wet?

He grinned down at her, his eyes dancing, as he shot back an image of the thick, knotted string becoming a bit soggy as he drew it slowly through her moist cleft. She shivered and decided that underwear was definitely going on the ‘to do’ list! She shot him the image of old-fashioned bloomers covering her fanny. He sent her back an image of a long slit in those bloomers, his face buried in the opening, and her head lolling back as her body arched with his loving. Ri couldn’t stop a little squeak of delight as her body clenched at the thought of him doing that. He grinned hugely, his eyes hot on her flushed face.

She ceased the mental foreplay, realizing that he had a retort for every one of hers. She was already wet and aching, and he hadn’t even touched her in an intimate way today. Well, that had certainly backfired on her. Shooting him a faintly irritated glance to which he responded with an irritatingly triumphant chuckle, she answered his question.

“I know how big to make these clothes for myself,” she informed him. “I’ve been doing it for years without help. I could probably do it in a dark room, just by feel.”

She chuckled ruefully, but Hunter picked up on the sadness that accompanied her statement. He was concerned that she seemed to have been so alone for so long, but he chose not to say anything about it. There was pain lurking beneath her loneliness, pain that she was not ready to talk about. He wanted to know, wanted to help her, and most of all, he wanted to banish her need for the mental walls she’d been erecting against him. He wanted nothing between them, but she seemed determined to erect them, anyway. He sensed that she hadn’t been nearly as reassured by their talk the night before as he and Jace had originally thought, but now was not the time to discuss it.

She finished with the side seams of the under-gown and set it aside. For a few minutes, she showed the girls how to cut out the pieces of something like the apron dress that Vikings of long ago on Earth had worn. It was one of the things she’d learned to sew well, since she had enjoyed visiting living history sites and festivals with Norse fiber activities. The group got to work on that.

Because she was so short, she was able to make her clothing from the width of the cloth Hunter had given her, instead of from the length, which saved fabric. She thought longingly of using the rest of the bolt to make matching tunics for Hunter and Jace. The mental image warmed her heart… and Hunter’s. His hand tightened on her shoulder and he nuzzled her neck as he whispered, “I would wear it with honor, little warrior.”

It took her a short time to pin the apron together so she could try them both on, but she was confident that it would be fine.

Hunter was highly amused when she put on the chemise and found it to be way too big. She stared down at herself, confused. How much weight had she lost, and when? She’d only been awake for a little less than a week. Their diet was incredibly healthy, but there was no way she could have lost
that
much weight that quickly. And she was still overweight according to American standards, but obviously, she’d lost inches at some point. She wondered what she looked like now.

“I don’t get it,” she muttered, trying to figure out how much she’d have to take off each piece to make the dress fit correctly. She wasn’t a math whiz, so the effort made her brain hurt a bit. Hunter distracted her with his gentle mocking.

“Perhaps you needed assistance with measuring, after all?” he asked innocently, dangling the measuring string off one finger and giving her such a sexy ‘
come here, this is gonna be fun
’ look that she nearly melted. Instead, she threw a scrap of the material at his head. He chuckled at her, his eyes heating and his grin growing decidedly naughty as he stood her up then moved in front of her.

She gazed up at him, her pulse rapidly increasing as he stepped closer to her, so close that she could see the flecks of blue in his green eyes. He wrapped those long arms of his around her, the measuring string snug at her back, and then very slowly brought both ends of the string around her bust, making sure to brush his hands along her ribs, the sides of her full breasts, and everywhere else he could manage. Her breath shivered in on a gasp when the backs of his knuckles grazed her nipples, bringing them to a hard, throbbing peak in an instant. That same breath shivered out again when he ‘accidentally’ dropped the string and had to start all over.

Twice.

She was flustered and even more sexually frustrated by the time he was confident that he had the right measurements for her, so much so that she couldn’t even begin to wrap her brain around the math for shrinking the pattern. She wasn’t that good at those kinds of math skills to being with. Being this loopy only made it worse. But Hunter was a very clever man, and he happily figured it out for her. She was a bit embarrassed that he’d had to take over that part, but he took it in stride, not thinking less of her, especially since he’d been
trying
to muddle her brain. She stuck her tongue out at him for that. He laughed.

As she arranged the fabric for cutting down, Hunter watched her. He loved her playfulness, her shy flirtation. He loved watching her work. He wondered if she knew how capable she appeared when she was doing something she enjoyed. The woman had a bit of a self-confidence problem, but he found that endearing, considering how smart and talented she actually was. The fact that she had no clue how amazing she was constantly tugged at his heart.

She looked up at him from under her bangs, grinning.

“Okay, I think we’re ready to make this happen,” she told him. His smile was slow but erotic and she realized with a blush that he could have taken that two ways. She laughed up at him, her smile wide and enchanting. “You know what I mean! Now come on… I’d like to get this done today.”

He then helped her trim the fabric on both garments so that they would fit better. After pinning and trying the chemise and over-gown on once more for fit, they both sat and sewed for a time in silence, enjoying the day, the sun and breeze coming in through the tall, arched windows, and the companionship of their people. The men and women chatted together, laughed as the warriors told stories about one another, and the two races shared information, jokes, and anything else that came up. At one point, shortly after the sewing started in earnest, one of the warriors brought out a stringed instrument and started playing soothing, gentle music in the background. It was, all in all, a lovely interlude.

After an hour or so, Rom stopped by to speak to Hunter. They went off to a corner, then Hunter returned long enough to kiss her good-bye and excuse himself.

“Duty calls,” he said with a great deal of regret. “I’m sorry.”

“I’ll be fine,” she assured him, smiling as she tipped her head back for a slightly less PG version of a kiss. He obliged happily. When he came up for air, she smiled sweetly at him. He grinned back like the rogue he was, then left to walk to command with Rom.

Fortunately, they had made a lot of progress on her chemise. All that was left was turning the edges of the sleeves and the neckline, and she could do those quickly. Apologizing for having to go, he hurried off to the command center, leaving her with a kiss that took her breath away and befuddled her for a good long while afterward. One by one, the men were called away to take their places on various work crews or left to prepare the evening meals, and most of the women gathered closer to Arianna, chatting and trying to at least finish their chemises before they dispersed for dinner.

Ri was thrilled at the friendships that were forming, and she was starting to think of Kim, Chelsea, and Bev as the little sisters she’d lost. They, in turn, were starting to look at her as a surrogate mother-figure. Maybe Hunter had been right, that they needed her in that capacity, at least for awhile. She smiled to herself, feeling a bit of the ache fading from losing her family, as she realized that here, she had a chance to build a new one. Not of blood, perhaps, but of friendship and love.

As the girls finished their under-gowns, torches were being lit in the courtyard. The sun began drifting quickly behind the trees. Deciding that they would meet in the morning to hopefully finish the over-gowns and possibly work on undergarments, Arianna watched as many of the girls gathered up their supplies and hurried to the dormitory. A few lingered, still packing up, but no one she was close to.

And one in particular that she actively needed to stay away from.

She sighed, wondering if she should call one of the warriors for help getting to the dorm. She had spent the last two nights with Hunter and Jace, but she didn’t imagine that such an arrangement was meant to be long-term, until or unless they decided to mate officially. They were both busy men and she was sure that they couldn’t afford to take as much time with her as they had been, that they were needed elsewhere. She stretched as best she could without standing, bending her neck this way and that, rolling her head along her shoulders to loosen muscles stiffened by hours of bending over her sewing.