The Heart of a Hero (19 page)

“How come you have six cats?” she asked when Sol stepped out of the ditch and began walking up the road ahead of them. Nicholas knew without glancing down that Julia was looking up at him, and he knew she was smiling because he could hear it in her voice when she said, “Don’t you know dogs are supposed to be man’s best friend, and little old spinster ladies have six cats?”

“Dogs are noisy and demanding and always tracking in mud,” he said, hearing the lightness in his own voice, “whereas cats are quiet and clean and take care of themselves. And I have six,” he drawled, “because I’m a sucker for a good sob story.”

“They’re all rescued cats?” she said in surprise.

Nicholas nodded. “Ajax was the first of them to find me.”

“Ajax?”

“The black and gray tabby that always has a blank look on his face,” he said with a chuckle, “named after a Greek hero who was big and dumb but always meant well—which perfectly described the ten-month-old kitten that unwittingly caught Lina’s tent on fire when we were traveling through Scotland . . . some years ago.”

“Lina?”

“Carolina Oceanus.” He grinned. “Soon to be Lina MacKeage, if she knows what’s good for her.”

Julia smiled up at him. “Olivia told me you were Carolina’s bodyguard from almost the minute she was born.” But then she frowned. “Only she also said you were just a kid yourself at the time.”

He went back to watching the road. “I was seven when Lina was born, but almost fifteen when Titus and Rana finally let her run loose on the island.”

“Which island would that be? I can’t even figure out what nationality you all are, because none of you have any sort of accent.”

“The Oceanuses are Mediterranean. Then came Bastet,” he continued. “I found her starved nearly to death wandering the Sahara and figured she’d gotten separated from a caravan. Then came Eos, the little gray with the orange eyes; I woke up to find her sleeping on my chest one morning in northern France.”

“Carolina did a lot of traveling, apparently.”

“Yes,” he agreed, wondering what Julia would think if he told her that all his cats came from different centuries, since his travels with Lina had traversed
time
more than distance. “Then came Solomon,” he continued, using his free hand to gesture ahead of them when Sol glanced back at the mention of his name. “But instead of finding me, I actually went looking for the unusually large cat I’d heard was in town. I suspect there’s some Asian leopard in him, as they’re about the size of your lynx. Sol’s owner had him displayed in a cage in the town market and was trying to entice the locals to place wagers by pitting their dogs against him in battle.”

Julia pulled him to a stop. “Their
dogs
?”

Since the moon was behind a cloud at the moment, Nicholas ran a finger down one of her cheeks, confirming his suspicion that she was flushed with anger. “I named him Solomon,” he said soothingly, “because the big guy wisely didn’t battle
me
when I took him out of his cage so I could stuff his owner in it.” He started them walking again. “Although it did take me the better part of a year to get Sol to step foot inside a house.” He sighed. “Only now I have to all but push him outside to do his business if it’s even threatening to snow.”

“You don’t have a litter box?”

Nicholas looked down, wondering at the relief in her voice. “Why would I want to deal with a litter box if everyone is healthy enough to go outside? Then came Gilgamesh,” he continued with a chuckle. “He’s the fat yellow tabby. And I should have expected he’d cause me nothing but trouble, considering what I went through sneaking him away from that small gang of street urchins.”

She pulled him to a halt again. “You stole him from
kids
?” she growled, trying to shake off his hand, then just glaring up at him when he refused to let go.

He gave her a small tug to get her moving again. “They were in the process of fattening him up to
eat
him.”

She suddenly skipped ahead as far as his hold would allow and began walking backward. “They were
starving
street urchins?”

He maneuvered Julia around to walk beside him again, deciding that if he wanted to have a conversation with the lovely lady, he merely needed to take her for a walk. Because even though she still became passionately engaged, there appeared to be a better than even chance they wouldn’t both end up naked in under ten seconds. “You needn’t worry,” he assured her, giving her hand a squeeze. “The next morning they found a small bag of money tied to the rope they had tied around Gilly.”

She in turn gave his hand a squeeze—he assumed to let him know she approved. “Um . . . I’m almost afraid to ask, but what about the white one that’s missing half its tail? Where did you get him—or her?”

Nicholas hesitated. “Snowball has been with me three years,” he finally said, “although he spent most of the first six months in a pouch on my father’s back as Dad tended his gardens.” He stopped and turned Julia to face him. “I can only speculate on what he’d been through, which is why I decided to name him Snowball.”

“W-why?”

“Because he’d obviously been through hell and survived.”

She went silent at that, staring at his chest, then leaned in as she slipped her hand free and wrapped her arms around him. “Oh, Nicholas,” she sighed against his jacket. “You’re nothing but a bighearted sap, aren’t you?” She tilted her head back to look up at him just as the moon emerged to reveal her smile. “You’ve spent your whole life protecting a princess, running around saving women from their drunken father and clueless girls from guests, and rescuing cats.” Her arms around him tightened. “You do know you can’t save the whole world, don’t you?”

He threaded his fingers through her hair to hold her looking at him. “I am aware of that. But I see nothing wrong with trying.”

“And while you’re trying, who’s watching out for you?”

Nicholas felt his own jaw slacken. “Why would I need anyone watching out for me?” He bent and gave her forehead a kiss, then took her hand from around his waist and started walking again. “If the day should come that my back needs guarding, it will be too late because I’ll already be dead.”

He looked down when she snorted. “You’re not one of those ancient gods you’ve named your cats after, you know. Even
they
weren’t invincible.”

He watched the road again. “Are you sure about that, Julia?”

“You see any of them walking around today? I took some world mythology classes when I lived in Orono, and near as I can tell, all the gods—of every mythology—were so busy fighting one another that they didn’t even notice when they became extinct.”

“Why?” he asked in surprise.

“Because they were all power-hungry idiots.”

“No, why did you study world mythology?”

He glanced down to see her shrug. “One of the brothers at the fraternity house I worked at was majoring in anthropology, and one day I picked up his book on European mythology and got sucked in. Once I got through the Celtic and Norse gods, I started sneak—I started taking classes on the various deities and legends.” She gave another soft snort. “All the ancient gods had more drama going on than soap operas do today. And the sex,” she said, smiling up at him. “Who needs romance novels when we can read about all those horny gods and goddesses?”

Nicholas brought them to a stop and stared down at her, undecided if he was amazed by her interest in mythology or really very disturbed. “You think the gods are—” He stilled, looking toward the hairpin turn to see Sol suddenly scurry into the woods. “Someone’s coming,” he said, leading Julia off the road. He swept her into his arms when they reached the ditch and carried her up the steep bank into the trees, then sat down with her on his lap. “I assumed you didn’t want anyone seeing us together,” he offered in explanation when she finished sputtering.

She settled into him with a sigh. “There you go being a hero again,” she said, patting his chest. “Which brings us back to your needing someone to watch out for you. I wasn’t talking about anyone actually trying to kill you when I said that; I was thinking about Wanda Beckman.”

Nicholas didn’t quite manage to stifle another shudder.

“She’s really not that bad, you know. I think Wanda’s just lonely. And probably tired,” she added as she snuggled into his embrace. “Garret Beckman wasn’t exactly up for any husband of the year awards before he ran off with his best friend’s wife, leaving Wanda to raise three children all by herself with
no
financial support.” She tilted her head back and smiled up at him. “And since there haven’t been any rainstorms of frogs for women to kiss hoping they’ll find Prince Charming, you’re the next best thing.”

Headlights arced through the darkness just as the sound of an engine laboring against the weight of a vehicle descending the steep incline broke the nighttime silence, and Julia sat a little straighter. “That’s Reggie’s truck,” she said when it came into view around the curve, giving a snicker when it drove past them. “And that would be Katy cuddled up next to him.” She in turn cuddled up against him again. “Sorry, I guess you can’t be
everyone’s
hero.”

“I’d settle for being yours,” he said quietly.

All that declaration got him was another pat on the chest. “Again, sorry,” she murmured with a yawn. “But I don’t need a big strong man to swoop in and save me.”

“Are you falling asleep on me?”

She nodded against him. “I tell you what; tomorrow I’ll take your men out for a little paintball hide-and-seek and
you
deal with my bride and mother and dear Berdy.”

“Why didn’t you drive your cart down?”

She tilted her head back again. “I was afraid the battery would die on my way back home and I’d have to call somebody to tow it back up the mountain, and I didn’t want to explain why I’d driven my cart down the resort road in the first place.”

“Then why not use your truck?”

She sat up. “And have the guard at the bottom gate decide I must have driven off a cliff when I didn’t eventually show up, and have him send out a search party?”

Nicholas lifted her to her feet to keep from growling in frustration, then stood up and took hold of her hand. “You just had to tell the guard at the
top
gate that you were only going as far as my house,” he said, leading her out of the trees and then helping her across the ditch.

She shrugged free and shoved her hands in her pockets as she headed up the road at a brisk pace, making Nicholas wonder when their conversation had driven off a cliff. “You don’t have to walk me all the way home,” she said when he fell into step beside her again.

“Yes, I do. I’ll just ride Phantom back. I have a stall for him in my garage.”

He sensed her relaxing, apparently glad to have the conversation back on safe ground—not that he was letting it stay there. By the gods, he was finding out
tonight
why she refused to get married again, even if he had to toss the lady over his saddle and kidnap her. He suddenly grinned, thinking he may have been spending too much time around the MacKeage men, as the highlanders’ fondness for stealing their women appeared to be contagious.

And according to Julia, he did have a bad habit of helping himself to things.

“That’s your horse’s name—Phantom?” she asked, slowly inching closer as her breathing increased with the steepness of the road. “Because he’s gray, like a ghost?”

“No, because he’s really a figment of the imagination.”

That got him a glance, and a sigh, and then her hand slipping into his.

Yes, the poor woman was definitely waging an internal battle.

And to Nicholas’s delight,
he
appeared to be winning.

They continued on in companionable silence again, and by the time they reached the upper guard house, Nicholas realized Julia’s energy truly was flagging when she didn’t bother to let go of his hand as they walked past the grinning guard. And not being one to pass up an opportunity, he justified taking advantage of her fatigue by deciding a little persistent questioning might be less upsetting than being kidnapped—although probably not as much fun.

He did, however, wait until they’d passed the common green in deference to the guests sitting out under the stars enjoying what he suspected was only one of a few more warm evenings for a while. But as soon as they entered the wooded path running past the barn, he asked, “Could you explain something to me, Julia?”

“Mmmm, what?”

“The two times we’ve made love, why did you insist I move on without you?”

She stopped walking and dropped her hand from his as she continued staring straight ahead and said nothing.

“I need to understand.”

“There is nothing to understand, because it’s no big deal.”

“Of course it is. A man’s greatest pleasure is sharing it with someone.”

She finally turned to face him and looked up, but there wasn’t enough light for him to read her expression—although he did hear her pull in a ragged breath. “Let me put it another way, then. Don’t
make
a big deal out of it. Please, Nicholas, don’t spoil the most beautiful, most mind-blowing sex I’ve ever had.”

“Mind-blowing?” he repeated, even more confused. “Julia,” he quietly growled, “make me understand.”

She dropped her gaze to stare at his chest. “You want to know the real education I got while I lived in Orono? It wasn’t from any textbook or class, but what I learned from the frat brothers. And that’s that men want to fix stuff.” She looked up. “Anything and everything, even if they know nothing about it; they just want to fix it. And that’s why we can’t . . . That’s why this won’t work between us.” She smiled sadly. “If you were one of those selfish men who only worried about what’s in it for him, then we might stand a chance. But you’re not, are you? You’re one of the nice guys who insist on giving a woman pleasure. And if it’s not happening, you only get more determined. And the more you try, the more pressure it’s going to put on me, and the less likely it becomes that it’s ever going to happen.”

“You didn’t even give me a chance, Julia.”

“Would you prefer I had faked it? Because I swear you never would have been the wiser.”