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Ra’as
Ra’as Drayven stalked back to his office, a massive, sunny room in his wing on the second floor, with a wall of windows overlooking the rear property.
Time alone in this space, working hard, had brought him comfort when Myza died. It was his day-to-day refuge, and he expected it to center him again now.
The girl was obviously not here to seduce him.
He had given her a gigantic opening, standing next to that ridiculously fluffy bed in her room, smoldering down at her with the look that he was quite sure left most women weak-kneed.
And she had just gazed up at him, as if she were trying to figure out what the hell he wanted.
For some reason, this left him feeling more off-balance than before.
Focus on your work, Drayven, he told himself.
Thankfully, he had a conference call coming up in a few minutes. It was with two members of his firm and some petty local code enforcement officer, who had been trying to throw his weight around. It ought to be just annoying enough to distract him from the girl.
But no sooner did he reassure himself, than he saw her wander out into the rear garden.
He had purposefully not told her where the archery lesson was, knowing she would have to come back to him with her tail between her legs and ask. Well, metaphorically at least. Terrans didn’t have tails - a thought which he would have normally found mildly repellant, but somehow only managed to intrigue him more.
Instead of groveling, she’d shown herself to be stubbornly resourceful and decided to look for it herself.
She couldn’t have spent more than a few minutes in her rooms. She must have been determined not to be late to archery.
He felt a bit of grudging respect for her.
And she was definitely going to find the archery lesson. He should have known that to begin with. After all, she had approached the property from the front, and not seeing children shooting arrows. Naturally, exploring the back of the property was the right move.
She clearly didn’t know how much of the cloud forest he owned. If she did, she would have realized that she might still need to ask for help.
She stopped suddenly beside the flower garden.
He watched as she bent to examine something, her long, plaid skirt gathered around her on the ground as she poked and prodded in the soil.
What the hell?
She was really focused on something. Her chestnut mane fell in front of her face so he couldn’t see her expression.
He wondered again why she was dressed in clothing that looked like something an old schoolmarm would wear. He might have thought it was her agency’s policy, but that last nanny certainly hadn’t been dressed that way.
He shuddered thinking about that woman’s tight, ripped jeans and loud t-shirts.
Emilia straightened suddenly and the breeze blew her hair out behind her. She was smiling, looking carefree and happy as she surveyed the garden.
Ra’as smiled reflexively, echoing her happiness before he caught himself and wiped the dopey grin off his face.
Emilia turned and looked back at the house, as if the small distance would allow her to take it all in at once.
Belatedly, he realized he was standing in front of a floor-to-ceiling window, staring at her. Again.
Quick as a thought, he darted back to his drawing table and pretended to be studying his holo-feed.
When he glanced up, he saw that she had already turned back and was walking toward the boxwood labyrinth.
He sighed and ran a hand through his hair.
What are you doing, Drayven? he asked himself.
But he knew what he was doing. He was obsessing over the nanny - the most useless, cliched plot twist ever to come out of a Vyxian soap opera. It was madness, and it was beneath him.
He did a quick calculation in his head and realized he had probably been too many months without a consort. He made a note to himself to comm the service and see about scratching that itch. His physician had encouraged him to be sexually active for his health, even though he had no interest in a relationship. Kotenka needed the comfort of physical contact. But he had been working too hard to take care of his physical needs these last few months.
Yes, that had to be it.
Once those needs were met, he was certain his fascination with the frail, funny Terran girl would be at an end, and he could focus on more important things again.
