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.Not that she was slavishly devoted to him in those dreams; far from it.That would not have interested him, once he was past the macho cockiness of every adolescent that demanded absolute devotion, or worse, ownership.Luckily, that unflattering phase of his development had been brief.No, she was very clearly herself in those dreams, perfectly capable, perfectly competent, and quite able to take him on in a game of wits, in a game of intellect, of purely physical challenge, and in any other games as well.That was what made her so perfect.And so damned impossible.He wondered why he'd dreamed of her now, though.And that kind of dream: erotic so far past what he thought were his ordinary fantasies.He'd been entangled to the point where he'd awakened in a state of sexual tension that was as demanding as the state of nervous tension he'd been in when he started this little nap.His undershorts felt two sizes too tight.And he was in his parents' house, for God's sake.Not in a position to do anything about it.Oh, she was something special, though.She was just the kind of otherworldly succubus that would make all the sacrifices to get her worth it.He wouldn't care if she was going to eat him alive, if there was a chance he could win her heart.But, instead of her, he had some crazy woman in a hot-rod Mustang forcibly planting leatherwear on him.The voices in the hall drew nearer, and Tannim hastily put his dreamy musings out of his mind.He grabbed simultaneously for the paperback on the nightstand and a throw-blanket to cover himself with, then assumed a posture of reading.When his mother tapped on the door and opened it, he was able to greet her with a reasonably calm demeanor."Ready for some lunch?" she asked."Sure," he told her, putting the book down and stalling a bit for his blood to cool."I hope you three had a good time out there.I already know it was work."That kept her busy, chatting about what she and her husband and Joe had accomplished; while she was talking, she wasn't asking him any questions.Joe had clearly enjoyed the morning's workout.A few minutes later, while they all ate, Trevor couldn't say enough about how well Joe had handled the horses."Well, if you haven't got anything planned for him this afternoon, I'd like to borrow him," Tannim interjected."There's quite a bit of outfitting we still need to do."Joe paused in mid-bite and raised a single eyebrow at Tannim in inquiry.Tannim nodded, ever so slightly."There's not much for him to do in the afternoon," Trevor replied, "not in this heat.Remember, we were counting on that.I know you two have a lot of business to take care of, and I figured you were going to take afternoons and evenings to do it.And maybe just spend some time driving around together; if you're going to be working together, you ought to get to know each other."Tannim smiled; if he hadn't had these current worries, that's precisely what he would be doing.Sometimes his folks showed some amazing insight.They always had seemed to get smarter the older he got."In that case, we'll take off," he said."As soon as you're ready, Joe."Joe made the last of his third sandwich and glass of milk vanish with a speed that meant he had to be either magical, ravenous or enlisted-Army, then pronounced himself ready to go.Tannim stayed only long enough to clear their own dishes away, leaving his parents lingering over coffee, before leading the way back out to the Mustang.Which had, unfortunately, been sitting in the hot sun all morning.He popped the doors open with the electronic gadget on his keyring and started the engine the same way, but waved Joe away from the car.He opened the driver's side long enough to start the a/c, then stood with the door closed beside it for a moment while the interior cooled a trifle.He tried not to think about that shiny pop-rivet in the door panel, but it seemed to be winking at him, mockingly.Heck, I ought to at least hit it with a dab of touch-up paint so it isn't so blatant.He finally couldn't stand it any longer and waved Joe inside, pulling open his own door and sliding gingerly over the hot black vinyl.The steering wheel was almost too hot to touch, and he made a vow to find some shade, somewhere, that would cover the car in the mornings.Joe winced away from the hot seat, sitting forward a bit to keep his back away from it.He didn't have the protection of the armor; all he had were jeans and a white t-shirt."Where to?" Joe asked expectantly."I figured you didn't have shopping on the brain.""Wish I did." He eased the Mustang around in the graveled half-circle in front of the house, pulled up to the end of the drive, and headed down the way he had first arrived.No more backing down the drive; not when that put him in a vulnerable position so far as a getaway was concerned."No, I told you I needed to get more information on this woman; I'm going to a place where it's safe to work some magic to see if I can't get hold ofwell, he's an old friend, and he's something of an expert on challenges."When his encounters with Chinthliss had gone beyond real dreams and into situations he had originally thought were "waking dreams" or entertaining hallucinations, the old barn he'd rented for his Mustang restoration business had been the place where he'd first encountered his mentor.That would be the safest place to try to contact him again, even though there wasn't much left of the building.No one would bother them there, and the shield-frames Chinthliss had put in place were still there.He hadn't intended to come back, but now he had no choice.The track leading up to the place was long overgrown, visible only as two places where the grass was a little shorter and a little paler than the rest.He turned off through the broken gate in the fence that no one had ever bothered to mend, and pulled the Mach I up through the waving tall grass.If he hadn't known exactly where the safe track was, he would never have dared this with a car that was not an off-road vehicle.But the earth was packed down here, and there shouldn't be anything lurking to slash tires or foul the undercarriage.Still, he kept the car at a walking pace, just in case, bringing it up to what was left of the east side of the barn, pulling it into his old parking place in the shade of a blackjack oak.He retrieved the glove from the glovebox and stuck it into his pocket.He climbed out of the car, and waded through the weeds and grass to where half of the barn door hung from one hinge, the other half lying in the grass.Joe followed, diffidently.He stepped across the threshold."You know," he said, conversationally, as he stared into the empty, weed-filled space that had once held his workshop and all his beloved Mustangs in their various states of repair, "I had a dream about this place, before I ever set foot in it.I dreamed that I came up to this door, opened it, and looked around.The place was mostly empty, full of shadows [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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.Not that she was slavishly devoted to him in those dreams; far from it.That would not have interested him, once he was past the macho cockiness of every adolescent that demanded absolute devotion, or worse, ownership.Luckily, that unflattering phase of his development had been brief.No, she was very clearly herself in those dreams, perfectly capable, perfectly competent, and quite able to take him on in a game of wits, in a game of intellect, of purely physical challenge, and in any other games as well.That was what made her so perfect.And so damned impossible.He wondered why he'd dreamed of her now, though.And that kind of dream: erotic so far past what he thought were his ordinary fantasies.He'd been entangled to the point where he'd awakened in a state of sexual tension that was as demanding as the state of nervous tension he'd been in when he started this little nap.His undershorts felt two sizes too tight.And he was in his parents' house, for God's sake.Not in a position to do anything about it.Oh, she was something special, though.She was just the kind of otherworldly succubus that would make all the sacrifices to get her worth it.He wouldn't care if she was going to eat him alive, if there was a chance he could win her heart.But, instead of her, he had some crazy woman in a hot-rod Mustang forcibly planting leatherwear on him.The voices in the hall drew nearer, and Tannim hastily put his dreamy musings out of his mind.He grabbed simultaneously for the paperback on the nightstand and a throw-blanket to cover himself with, then assumed a posture of reading.When his mother tapped on the door and opened it, he was able to greet her with a reasonably calm demeanor."Ready for some lunch?" she asked."Sure," he told her, putting the book down and stalling a bit for his blood to cool."I hope you three had a good time out there.I already know it was work."That kept her busy, chatting about what she and her husband and Joe had accomplished; while she was talking, she wasn't asking him any questions.Joe had clearly enjoyed the morning's workout.A few minutes later, while they all ate, Trevor couldn't say enough about how well Joe had handled the horses."Well, if you haven't got anything planned for him this afternoon, I'd like to borrow him," Tannim interjected."There's quite a bit of outfitting we still need to do."Joe paused in mid-bite and raised a single eyebrow at Tannim in inquiry.Tannim nodded, ever so slightly."There's not much for him to do in the afternoon," Trevor replied, "not in this heat.Remember, we were counting on that.I know you two have a lot of business to take care of, and I figured you were going to take afternoons and evenings to do it.And maybe just spend some time driving around together; if you're going to be working together, you ought to get to know each other."Tannim smiled; if he hadn't had these current worries, that's precisely what he would be doing.Sometimes his folks showed some amazing insight.They always had seemed to get smarter the older he got."In that case, we'll take off," he said."As soon as you're ready, Joe."Joe made the last of his third sandwich and glass of milk vanish with a speed that meant he had to be either magical, ravenous or enlisted-Army, then pronounced himself ready to go.Tannim stayed only long enough to clear their own dishes away, leaving his parents lingering over coffee, before leading the way back out to the Mustang.Which had, unfortunately, been sitting in the hot sun all morning.He popped the doors open with the electronic gadget on his keyring and started the engine the same way, but waved Joe away from the car.He opened the driver's side long enough to start the a/c, then stood with the door closed beside it for a moment while the interior cooled a trifle.He tried not to think about that shiny pop-rivet in the door panel, but it seemed to be winking at him, mockingly.Heck, I ought to at least hit it with a dab of touch-up paint so it isn't so blatant.He finally couldn't stand it any longer and waved Joe inside, pulling open his own door and sliding gingerly over the hot black vinyl.The steering wheel was almost too hot to touch, and he made a vow to find some shade, somewhere, that would cover the car in the mornings.Joe winced away from the hot seat, sitting forward a bit to keep his back away from it.He didn't have the protection of the armor; all he had were jeans and a white t-shirt."Where to?" Joe asked expectantly."I figured you didn't have shopping on the brain.""Wish I did." He eased the Mustang around in the graveled half-circle in front of the house, pulled up to the end of the drive, and headed down the way he had first arrived.No more backing down the drive; not when that put him in a vulnerable position so far as a getaway was concerned."No, I told you I needed to get more information on this woman; I'm going to a place where it's safe to work some magic to see if I can't get hold ofwell, he's an old friend, and he's something of an expert on challenges."When his encounters with Chinthliss had gone beyond real dreams and into situations he had originally thought were "waking dreams" or entertaining hallucinations, the old barn he'd rented for his Mustang restoration business had been the place where he'd first encountered his mentor.That would be the safest place to try to contact him again, even though there wasn't much left of the building.No one would bother them there, and the shield-frames Chinthliss had put in place were still there.He hadn't intended to come back, but now he had no choice.The track leading up to the place was long overgrown, visible only as two places where the grass was a little shorter and a little paler than the rest.He turned off through the broken gate in the fence that no one had ever bothered to mend, and pulled the Mach I up through the waving tall grass.If he hadn't known exactly where the safe track was, he would never have dared this with a car that was not an off-road vehicle.But the earth was packed down here, and there shouldn't be anything lurking to slash tires or foul the undercarriage.Still, he kept the car at a walking pace, just in case, bringing it up to what was left of the east side of the barn, pulling it into his old parking place in the shade of a blackjack oak.He retrieved the glove from the glovebox and stuck it into his pocket.He climbed out of the car, and waded through the weeds and grass to where half of the barn door hung from one hinge, the other half lying in the grass.Joe followed, diffidently.He stepped across the threshold."You know," he said, conversationally, as he stared into the empty, weed-filled space that had once held his workshop and all his beloved Mustangs in their various states of repair, "I had a dream about this place, before I ever set foot in it.I dreamed that I came up to this door, opened it, and looked around.The place was mostly empty, full of shadows [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]