Do Or Die [Nuworld 4] (38 page)

thrown at him at any moment…or to be shot.

The living room was empty. He stepped into the room quietly and eased the door

closed. The sound of running water came from the back of the trailer and he realized

she was taking a shower. His thoughts immediately entertained the picture of the tiny

droplets of water flowing down her firm, slim body. He imagined long black hair

clinging to round breasts and fanning across her smooth back.

Quit it. Like you stand a chance in hell at getting near that body any time soon unless you

take her like you did before. The thought repulsed him. He was probably going to put

himself in even worse favor with her by entering her trailer while she showered. But he

couldn’t help himself. He’d only had four winters when the dog-woman came to him

for the first time. Ever since then, to the best of his knowledge, no one else had seen her.

He just had to talk to Meah about it.

Andru looked around her trailer while he waited. Meah had obviously received

some of her things from home since he’d last been here. There was a picture of her and

her brothers, bordered by a thin wooden frame and resting on a set of shelves. She

didn’t look anything like her tall, lanky brothers. Mog had his arm around her and he

remembered hearing how she had taken care of him. Mog had been elated when Andru

contacted him to tell him he’d claimed his sister. The man had laughed and told Andru

that Meah always seemed to get what she wanted. So at least he knew that at one time

she had wanted him. There was no doubt as to when the moment had transpired when

she quit wanting him. Again, he cringed.

He glanced at her landlink and realized she’d opened it to one of the stories told

about his family. He’d read most of them. They all seemed to be a twisted mixture of

fact and fiction, some of them told better than others. He wrinkled his brow and took a

closer look at the print on the screen. It described what the dog-woman looked like. The

description was somewhat accurate with just one or two discrepancies.

Water quit running and he felt inclined to dart out of the trailer and turn around to

knock on her door. Absolutely not. The heir to Gothman didn’t run like a coward.

Besides, there wasn’t enough time. The bathroom door opened and floorboards creaked

in the hallway.

“Oh shit.” Meah jumped and her hairbrush flew out of her hand. “How dare you!”

“I didn’t mean to startle you.” Andru spoke quietly then reached down to pick up

her hairbrush and hand it to her. Her long black hair fell loosely all around her ending

at her waist. She had on a white bathrobe, and he was pretty sure she wasn’t wearing

anything else.

Meah accepted the brush, and then before he could react, she threw it at his face so

hard there was a cracking sound as it bounced off his cheekbone.

“Yeoww!” he hollered and glared at her. “Why, you…”

“Get out of my trailer. You have no jurisdiction here. Now get out before I call Tara

and tell her you broke in here.”

“It won’t do you any good.” The calmness in his voice had nothing to do with how

he felt as he backed into one of her chairs and held his hand over his face.

“Why? Is this trailer actually yours and I just don’t know about it?” Her tone was a

mixture of sarcasm and fury.

“No, the trailer isn’t mine, you are.” That was the wrong way to tell her. He knew

the second the words were out of his mouth that it was a mistake.

Meah looked at him and her jaw fell. She simply stared without blinking for one

eternal second. All the color drained from her face and for a moment he thought she

would faint. Then color slowly crept across her cheeks and turned fiery red. Complete

outrage boiled to a head within seconds in those blue-green eyes. She looked around

her quickly, then picking up one item after another, she began hurling anything that

wasn’t tied down at him…hard.

“You don’t own me!” she screamed and threw her portable landlink at him.

Andru ducked quickly. Then came the picture of her and her brothers. The frame

scraped across his arm. “Cut it out, damn it. Stop before you break something you care

about.”

He stood up quickly and moved toward her with his arm serving as a shield.

“I don’t see anything here that I care about,” she hissed at him then sent her fist

straight toward his chest. He moved quickly enough to divert the punch to his forearm

instead of his heart. It still stung.

As quickly as he could he grabbed her and literally lifted her off the ground. “I said,

that’s enough,” he bellowed at her, and she froze.

Her bathrobe loosened without her hands available to hold it shut. The v-shape

opening ended between her breasts drawing his eyes to her chest. Although it was only

a brief diversion it was a deadly one. She brought up both of her legs and when he bent

over to protect himself she kicked him squarely in the upper thigh.

He dropped her and backed away, breathing heavily and glaring at her with

smoldering gray eyes. “I’ve sworn to myself that I would never hurt you again.”

“Good, I’ll enjoy beating the crap out of you.” She spat out the words then sighed

loudly when he didn’t move. “Why bother, you’re not worth it.”

She turned sharply as she tightened her robe around her waist but then spun

around again. “I’m going into my room to get dressed. When I come back out here you

better be gone.”

Somehow she managed to walk with some form of dignity down the hall and shut

her bedroom door behind her before she started hyperventilating. Had he just told her

that he’d claimed her? Is that what he meant? A little voice in the back of her head

reminded her that she’d wanted him to claim her since she was a little girl. A much

louder voice screamed at her that he’d beaten and raped her and he was a creep in real

life. How dare he lounge around her living room while she was in the shower.

Andru said he owned you. You’ve dreamed about him every night since your tenth winter.

Forgive him. Forgive him. Forgive him. He wants you. Oh Crator, I’m losing my mind.

Meah paced her bedroom, knowing she was going to lose it. Her emotions

swarmed in turmoil until they reached their boiling point. He would still be out there

when she went back out. She knew that much was rational thinking. The heir to

Gothman would not be told what to do. But at the moment, there was no way she could

talk to him. He turned her into a raving idiot. She would lose it all over again if she

went out there again right now. And when he told her he’d vowed never to hurt her

again she knew she could pay heed to those words. Gothman warriors took their word

on something very seriously. It simply fed her fire, though. She wanted Andru to hurt

as badly as she did.

Meah dressed with shaking hands and managed to pull on her boots. The brush

was out on her living room floor somewhere and so she ran her fingers through her hair

trying to straighten it and get out the knots. She paced her bedroom floor several times

before plopping down on the side of her bed.

What was going on in her head? All these winters she’d built this passionate

smoldering gray-eyed lover in her head and she’d forgotten the basic fact that Andru

was Gothman. And Gothman didn’t treat women very well. Tara had married a

Gothman, but she’d been guided by Crator and had been able to control him. Meah had

read all the stories. Could she control Andru?

She took a deep breath and opened her bedroom door. The hairbrush was visible on

the living room floor at the end of her hallway. Careful not to appear uncertain, she

boldly walked down the hallway to get the brush.

“I used to braid my sister’s hair all the time. I’m pretty good at it.” Andru sat with

one long leg draped over the other on her couch. He looked absolutely adorable and his

sultry gray eyes just about devoured her. She caught her breath somewhere in the

middle of her chest and hoped her initial reaction wasn’t too obvious.

“I’m very proud of you.” Her words slapped him across the face. “I thought I told

you to leave.”

“I don’t want to leave. I want to talk to you.”

“And I suppose you always get what you want? Look, I asked you to leave. I told

you to leave.” She could feel the emotions start to boil again. “I didn’t get what I want.

Why the hell should you get what you want? Now get out.”

Andru stood up slowly and walked with his head lowered toward the door. She

knew the slightest altercation would send her entire body into a fit of trembles. She

fought to remain composed and appear unaffected, if not bored, with his mournful

look. But then he turned to face her and raised his head, his eyes were anything but

mournful. She almost gasped at the intensity that leaped out at her.

“I did an awful thing to you and I am humbly sorry.” The baritone coolness in

which he spoke sent chills down her body. “I made the assumption through your

actions that you were older than you are and much more experienced in certain areas

than you were. You are an incredible warrior and lead your troops almost as well as

Gilroy, and he’s my best man. Usually men…or women…with those abilities aren’t

virgins. It seems to go hand in hand. I now see you as you are.”

And how is that? She didn’t ask him, though. She didn’t say a word. Andru locked

her gaze in his and for some reason that rendered her speechless. It was all she could do

to keep her expression looking stern.

“Meah, I know you saw the dog-woman today. I saw you talking to her. I’ve never

known anyone else who can even see her, other than Mama. When we get to the point

where we can be in the same room without you throwing things at me, I’d like to talk to

you about that.”

He let go of her gaze then and let his eyes lazily take in the rest of her. Then he

walked over to her door, opened it, stepped out and was gone. She fell into her chair

and dropped her head into her hands. Finally, she could release her pent-up emotions.

They sprang forth like a geyser and her tears fell accordingly.

“Meah?”

She gasped and let out a small squeal as she realized he hadn’t shut the door. She

didn’t hear him turn around and come back. One long stride had him next to her and he

kneeled in front of her. There was no way she could stop crying that quickly and merely

stared at him through blurred vision.

“I will say this much to you right now. I announced our claim today when I saw

you talking to the dog-woman. You have a right to know. By morning word will be

running rampant through the troops. When you’ve calmed down, I will hear everything