Tara The Great [Nuworld 2] (29 page)

purple marks that had appeared along her jawbone. She closed her eyes as his kisses

began moving down her neck.

“Do you want to hear what else Gowsky said?”

“In a minute.”

Chapter Fifteen

Patha and Darius stood talking in the pasture behind the Bryton house the

following morning.

Tara slowed and lowered her bike to the ground and parked not too far from them.

She owned the only Runner bike converted the night before, and it ran like a charm.

Torgo and one of the mechanics had made sure the bike had passed its test drive just

that morning.

The sun barely shone above the horizon, but the activity of the household and

surrounding yard would make one think everyone had been up for hours. In actuality,

that wasn’t too far from the truth.

A few hours before, Tara had noticed that Torgo, who had been making last minute

adjustments on her bike, looked like he hadn’t slept much at all.

“It’s almost done,” he said as she approached. He walked around the bike away

from her and squatted to tighten a screw. To Tara, he appeared to be avoiding her

interrogating look.

“I’m really proud of the way you acted last night,” she said quietly.

Torgo stood and wiped a dirty hand across a dirty forehead. He was handsome and

would be as captivating as his brother when he grew older. There was a different air

about him. Something softer, smoother around the edges. He was the intellectual. His

brother was the warrior.

“Tara, he was going to really hurt you, he was.” He pulled a rag out of his back

pocket and wiped some greasy fingerprints off the paint on her bike. “You really

shouldn’t have taken him on so seriously in front of his guards, no.”

“I did kind of get carried away,” she agreed. “I don’t think that was the only reason

he got upset, though. He wants to own me.” She didn’t finish. She almost said that

would never happen, but didn’t want to burden his young shoulders with so much

worry.

His gray eyes studied her face before he returned his attention to her bike. “He

might at that.” He shrugged. “I daresay he was off to a pretty good start when I showed

up. I couldn’t, no, I wouldn’t stand out here and listen to that.”

“Thanks,” she said, and he nodded.

She wanted to ask him why he’d been monitoring her transmission. Was he simply

listening to other people’s conversations because he could? Or had someone, like

Darius, asked him to monitor her? Since several Gothman mechanics entered the

garage, she kept her questions to herself.

“Any problems, my lady?” the Gothman mechanic standing next to Torgo asked

her as he eyed the greenish bruise traveling along her jawbone. She remembered that

Gothman men would approve if they saw a bruise or two on her. The mechanic gave no

indication that it impressed him one way or the other.

“Seems to run just fine.” She smiled at him. “Thank you.”

Patha and Darius approached at that moment. She hadn’t spoken to Patha yet this

morning. The look on his face when he saw her bruised jawbone didn’t resemble the

look the mechanic had given her at all.

Patha balled his hands into fists as he stared at Tara. Suddenly, her gut swarmed

with apprehension as she anticipated how he would react to her appearance. “Tell your

team they did a good job.” He nodded to Torgo. “Give them a break for a couple of

hours, then have them reconvene in the garage. We’ll need enough of these bikes

converted for several armies.”

“Yes, sir.” Torgo took the cue that he was being dismissed. He stared at his brother,

as if waiting to see if there were further instructions, but Darius’ stare remained

unreadable.

“I’ll be in my room if you need anything, sir.”

Patha focused on Tara after Torgo left. He didn’t touch her, but his eyes studied the

bruises.

Tara didn’t move under the scrutiny as her gaze shifted from Patha to Darius and

back again.

* * * * *

Patha had arrived at the house before the sun was up, requesting a servant girl in

the kitchen to rouse Darius for him.

Darius opened his eyes to see the girl standing next to the bed, tapping him very

gently with one finger on the shoulder. As she had leaned over him, the shoulder of her

shirt had slipped down her arm, revealing a fair portion of overripe, young breasts that

swelled with her breathing. She had made no effort to slide the shirt back to her

shoulder and cover herself.

The girl whispered that Patha was downstairs to see him, hesitated for a moment,

then backed up and left the room. He hadn’t responded to her whispered request to

come downstairs. His eyes simply settled on her and watched her until she’d left the

room.

That was no way for a servant to wake her lord. Especially a servant who looked

like she did, with her large breasts and full lips. She wore her sandy red hair pulled

back in a ponytail, but several strands always seemed to fall around her face. And it to

top it all off, she was very young, still possessing that untouched look, which made her

contemptibly appealing.

Darius wasn’t comfortable having a servant with her looks in his house. He saw the

way she eyed him, too. With expressions of curiosity and a little fear. Not quite

flirtatious, but definitely not unwilling. He knew he had a reputation. Most lords did.

And young women had been giving him that look since he was younger than Torgo.

He had Tara, though. She wouldn’t put up with him having sex with other women;

that much she’d made clear. But if that girl kept coming around him like that…

Darius made a decision at that moment. It wasn’t the most monumental decision

he’d ever made in his life, no, not by a long shot. But he gave himself credit for being

more of a man than most by coming to the conclusion. He would not lose Tara, no. And

if altering his ways would keep his claim by his side, then he would do it.

This wasn’t a decision he planned to announce publicly. That would not do.

Gothman were proud, and he knew his Gothman blood ran thick. But Darius decided

he would show Tara his loyalty. And he knew just how to do it.

When he’d left their bed, Tara had been curled up in a ball with her back to him. It

had been easy to slip out of bed without bothering her. Now, he showered and dressed,

then went straight to his mama’s section of the house.

“Woman, I will speak with you.” Darius found his mama in her room.

“Yes, Darius.” Hilda smiled at her son as she straightened a few pieces of clothing

in her hands she had just pulled from an overnight bag. “I daresay, I don’t know how

those Runners find peace sleeping in those trailers, no.”

“They are accustomed to it, they are.” Darius leaned against the doorway, filling the

space with his massive frame. “I have made a decision which I need you to implement

immediately.”

“Of course, m’lord.” Hilda placed the clothes in a wicker basket, then faced her son.

“What should you like me to do?”

“You shall replace the young servant girls in the house with older women

immediately.” Darius added no explanation.

His mama seemed content with the instructions. “As you wish, Darius.” She closed

her now-empty bag and watched her son turn and disappear down the hallway. She

didn’t bother to mention that Tara had requested the same thing the day before.

* * * * *

“Have you heard that I talked to Gowsky last night?” Tara asked her papa. She let

her gaze lazily fall onto Darius’ unreadable face, then turned her attention back to

Patha.

“I’ve heard a lot of things about last night,” the old man said, frowning. “But I’d

like you to tell me exactly what the two of you talked about.”

“Of course.” Tara nodded.

Patha held onto the two of them as they worked their way through the backyard

and into the house.

“Patha, I have an idea,” she said when they’d settled around the dining room table.

Hilda came in with a pot of tea and a large tray piled high with rolls and assorted

jams. The dishes rattled slightly when Hilda set the tray heavily on the table. “I daresay

I didn’t realize it would be that heavy, no,” Hilda mumbled, rubbing one wrist with her

plump hand.

“Let me help you with that.” Tara slid from her chair and reached for the plate of

rolls, setting it on the table within reach of the two men. “We’ll have new servants for

you soon enough,” Tara added quietly, knowing the woman had released the young

girls from their service, and now had no help. Tara couldn’t help but smile when Darius

grinned at her as she handed him tea. Her jaw hurt but she had to admit, the rest of her

felt pretty satisfied.

She proceeded to brief the men about the extent of her conversation with Gowsky

the night before, brief as it was. Tara wondered what Gowsky thought when she’d

simply stopped transmitting in the middle of their conversation.

“So what I had in mind,” she said, as she chewed on a roll. “I think we should offer

to work with the Neurians.”

“What?” Darius slammed down his coffee mug and some of the liquid splashed

onto the tablecloth.

“Why should we work with them?” Patha raised his hand to silence Darius.

Tara silently fumed at how well Darius obeyed her papa. She went on, “We agree to

stop the Lunians and return any captured Neurians to their homeland. In return, they

furnish us with the necessary oil to do the job. Runners and Gothman need the oil, and

Neurians don’t have the warrior skills to stop the Lunians. It’s a fair trade.” She sat back

and smiled at the two men as they both stared at her, then added to support her

argument, “They’re not warriors and you know with these gliders, the Lunians will be

no match for us.”

“Another point of discussion,” Patha spoke slowly and looked at no one in

particular. “At what point do we assume we’ve stopped the Lunians?”

He now looked at both of them, first one, then the other. “You two have quite an

ordeal on your hands with this one, I’m afraid. You may go in to their camp easily

enough and get our people back, but I fear they’re desperate enough to find ways to get

what they want. How far are you willing to go to stop them?”