Heart Choice (51 page)

Her face fell when the door refused to open, then she sighed, looked at the key in her hand, shrugged, and straightened her shoulders.

By the time Ilex pushed himself away from the large bole of the tree at the end of the portico, her usual cheerful smile had returned.

“What are you doing, Trif Clover?” he asked.

She jumped and flushed. Her dark green eyes went first to his guardsman's insignia instead of his face, causing a twinge of pain.

“Oh, uh.” She whipped her hand holding the key behind her back and increased the charm of her smile.

Ilex shook his head at her.

Her shoulders slumped a little. “You know.”

“It is worth our time for me to tell you it can be dangerous wandering the streets of Druida alone?”

She looked startled. “Druida's safe, especially Noble Country.”

It didn't help his ego that she hoped her HeartMate was noble. But that wasn't the real problem. The true difficulty was that there had been a string of three murders of young, extremely Flaired people whose psi powers were unstable. Murders that Ilex's superiors wanted kept quiet for the moment.

Indulging his masochistic tendencies, he took her arm and let the touch of her shoot through him, heat his blood. The scent of her came, too, the light fragrance of spring flowers. He'd moved into her apartment building, MidClass Lodge, a couple of months ago, after he'd heard she'd gone door-to-door in the lodge, beginning her search for her HeartMate. And after the first murder.

“Please don't continue to go door-to-door testing your charmkey,” he said neutrally, leading her down the drive to the walled entrance of the mansion and the wide-open gates. Ilex frowned. Most of the nobles he knew were paranoid about security, but then, his recent “cases” had included the crème de la crème of Celtan society, the FirstFamilies.

Trif stopped and looked over her shoulder wistfully. “GrandLord Ginger is a widower and he has
three
sons, not to mention all the other unattached male Gingers working in the household.”

“Ah, a good source of men.”

She shrugged. “I suppose you think my quest is stupid, like everyone else. But it's
my
business.”

“Not when you trespass on Noble land.”

“Has anyone reported me? Will you?”

“No. Not yet.”

“So, are you going to lecture me or not?”

Ilex winced inwardly. That's what she thought of him—an older, neighbor guardsman, ready to lecture.

They had reached the pillar of the entrance when the wind changed—and brought the odor of death.