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Perhaps Lottie can come up with an alternative way to relieve my tension, he thought, and encouraged the horse into a trot as he headed for home at last.
CHAPTER 16
Two weeks after she told Celenk she loved him, Lottie was busy planting flowers in the bed he’d dug for her during one of his free afternoons. He and Kalpar had agreed to each take a free afternoon every third day, and he usually spent it doing some type of project with her. In spite of their previous history, Celenk and Kalpar seemed to be working together quite well.
He’d struck up a friendship with Borgaz and they’d shared a meal with the other couple several times. They’d also accepted Ida’s invitation and eaten dinner at the farmhouse a few times - a noisy, occasionally raucous affair, but it felt like being part of a family - something she’d missed so much since her grandfather died.
The house was coming along as well. She didn’t mind that it was going to take time. She enjoyed putting the effort into building a home together - even if it wouldn’t last. But perhaps it would. He still hadn’t told her he loved her, although she was quite sure he did, but he had stopped trying to remind her that was a temporary arrangement with every other breath. On the whole, she considered that a win.
And at night when he’d reach for her… Or in the afternoon… Or the morning… He couldn’t seem to get enough of her and she felt the same way. Perhaps it was because of the threat of separation that hung over them - or perhaps it was because he could say with his body but he wouldn’t say with his mouth. And every time it just seems to get better, she thought with a shiver of remembered pleasure.
Her body started to respond to the memory, but she sighed and did her best to ignore it, focusing on her planting instead. When the last plant was safely in the ground, she sat back on her heels to admire the results of her hard work. It was a little late for planting flowers, but Naffon had assured her that as long as she watered them every day, they should withstand the late summer heat.
“Very pretty.”
A strange male voice came from behind her and she whirled around so quickly she almost fell over. Raja had been digging through the overturned soils searching for grubs, but now he hopped up on her knee and chittered at the stranger.
He seemed ordinary enough, a human dressed in standard work clothes but something in his eyes sent a chill down her spine. Although he wasn’t as physically intimidating, he reminded her of the spaceport guards and her pulse started to speed up. She put Raja on her shoulder and rose quickly.
“Who are you?”
“A friend of your… husband.” Her stomach sank at the way he said the last word, and it only got worse as he ran his eyes over her. “Maybe not what I’d have picked myself, but I reckon there weren’t too many women willing to move to the wilderness with an alien. Not unless they’re desperate.”
“What do you want?” she asked coldly, ignoring the deliberate provocative words.
“Got a message for Celenk, from Marshall. He wants to see some results. Soon. The job wasn’t supposed to take this long.”
“Job?” she whispered, her lips numb, and the man laughed.
“Didn’t he tell you? Oops. Guess I let that cat out of the bag.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Probably just as well. Women like to start gabbing instead of putting their mouths to better use. You just give him the message. Results. Soon. Or he won’t like the consequences.”
He tipped his hat in a mock courteous gesture and ambled away, leaving her shaking. Raja huddled closer to her neck and she lifted him down, taking comfort in his warm, soft little body. What should she do?
Celenk. I have to find Celenk.
He’d explain. He couldn’t really be in league with a man like that, could he? No. She refused to even consider it. She trusted him and that’s all there was to it.
She hurried around to the front of the house to find Celenk was already there, dismounting from his horse just as she reached the porch. He took one look at her face and strode to her side, pulling her into his arms and wrapping his tail comfortingly around her waist.
“Lottie? What is it? What’s wrong?”
For a moment she just leaned against him, taking comfort in his big warm body and familiar scent. There had to be an explanation, there just had to be.
“What’s wrong, my flower?”
His voice was so gentle, so concerned, that tears sprang to her eyes.
“There… there was a man.”
“A man?” His voice sharpened. “What man? Where?”
“I don’t know who he was, but he was here. He said he had a message. From Marshall.”
Any faint hope she might have had that the man had chosen the wrong house faded as his big body turned to stone.
