Love Without Boundaries (16 page)

“I know I’m being a pain in the ass but I’m just not as trusting as you, Pam.”
 
Which Leah knew to be the absolute
truth.
 
Her dating record was spotty at best, often finding herself discovering whatever guy she thought was a prince often turned out to be a lying, lazy player or a frog.
 
So she knew her instincts were not good.

Especially when it came to men.

“Oh my god,” Pam breathed, driving through an open set of gates and staring up at the mansion in front of them.
 
“Is this it?”

Leah checked the address Rykhan had texted and compared it with the numbers she’d seen on the stone pillar just to the right of the driveway.
 
“I think so.”

“Holy cow,” Pam muttered, unbuckling her seatbelt while barely even blinking as her eyes roamed over the very, very large home in front of them.
 
“I knew they were suave and dressed nice, but damn!
 
Are they rich too?”

Even Leah had to admit to being impressed.
 
A lot of the people she knew who were well-to-do usually made a point of making others aware of their affluence straight away.
 
But neither Rykhan nor Wyst had ever alluded to their financial status when they’d been out with them.

Climbing out of the car, Leah pulled up her jeans with a small hip wiggle and then checked to make sure that the sleeve of her lightweight t-shirt covered her new bicep bracelet.
 
She’d considered dressing up a bit more but finally decided that she needed to be comfortable for whatever the men wanted to talk about in the meeting she’d been almost forced to attend.

As Pam came to stand beside her, Leah asked her again for a hint about what the subject of the meeting was about.
 
“Like I said before, Leah, I don’t think I’d explain it right.
 
And it’s just too damn important to get it wrong straight out of the gate.
 
But it’s nothing to worry about and might help you get some answers.”

“Answers?”
 
Pam hadn’t added on the last portion in her earlier responses!

Her friend smiled up at her before taking the lead on the steps.
 
Just as she cleared the last one, the front door was opened by Wyst whose face was spread in a large smile.
 
“Welcome!”
 
Leah could see Rykhan was standing just behind and to the right of the other large man.

“Hi Wyst.
 
Ryk,” Pam greeted.

“Won’t you come in?”
 
Leah saw both men move back before Rykhan stepped forward again reaching to take her hand.
 

Rykhan led them into the house and down a long hall that was to the right of a massive staircase.
 
Each room they passed seemed, at least to Leah, to be beautiful decorated and unbelievably tidy.
 
But it felt more like a show-home than a place where people lived.
 
There were no photos or any personal items on display, nothing to give a clue as to the people who actually inhabited the space.

Eventually, Rykhan led them outside to one of the most amazing backyards Leah had ever seen.
 
Not only did it have a pool and a hot tub, but there were several patios on different levels, each with its own seating arrangement as well as a separate outdoor kitchen/bar-be-que area.
 
It also had several outlying buildings that Rykhan explained were the garage, a workshop and a separate one-bedroom house.
 
It was almost too much to take in all at once and Leah found she wasn’t paying much attention to where Rykhan was leading them until he stopped before a large table already set with glasses and what appeared to be a pitcher of iced tea and another of lemonade.

“Won’t you sit down?”
 
Leah saw he had pulled out a chair and was staring at her directly.

Recognizing a cue when she got one, Leah eased herself down into the thick cushion before Rykhan took the seat directly next to her.
 
“Thank you,” she murmured with a grin somehow knowing he was putting a lot of effort in trying to make her feel as welcome as possible.
 
“This is looks wonderful.”

After every one had a glass of something to drink and Rykhan had relaxed back into his chair, Leah decided to offer the opening salvo.
 
“You wanted to talk?”

“Yes, I did,” he said quietly, shifting in his chair as his thumb drew circles on the condensation of his glass.
 
“I want to see what you have on your arm.”

The sip of the iced tea Leah had been taking seemed to stick in her throat and she had to swallow hard to ensure she didn’t choke or sputter.
 
But her eyes immediately shot to Pam in accusation.
 
“You told them?”

“I had to, honey!
 
They were both so worried about you and were making such a ruckus, demanding the receptionist tell them what was going on.”
 
Pam’s eyes pleaded for Leah’s understanding.
 
“They were almost as wigged out as you were because no one would tell them anything!”

Leah felt Rykhan’s large hand cover hers and, as he did so, the metal on her bicep again began to throb and heat even as
a calmness
stole over her.
 
“Do not blame the sister of your heart,
mica tisha
.
 
She wasn’t betraying a confidence but was making every effort to…how
did
you put it, Pam?
 
Settle our asses down?”
 
Leah’s eyes sought his and realized the earnestness in both his voice and words.
 
“Will you not show me what was so upsetting that you had to seek medical attention for it?”

She extracted her hand from underneath his, noticing the change in both the temperature of the bronze links and the loss of tranquility within her at the move.
  
Without even thinking about it, she raised her then free hand to cover the place where the band laid embedded in her skin although she didn’t reply.

“Are you scared?
 
Did the sight of your
wahrom
cause you fear when you first noticed its appearance?”
 
His voice, so very deep and yet so warm was a balm that seemed to coat her insides.
 
But she still maintained a grip on her arm, covering the bronze links as she tried to hide it from him.

“I don’t know what that word means,” she said through numb lips.
 
“That wah-room thing.”
 
She tried to pronounce it as he
had,
which was along the lines of ‘war room’ in a New Jersey accent but didn’t think she was very successful.

“I’m unsure of the direct translation but, in essence, it means ‘the mark of the warrior’,” he responded softly, his beautiful eyes gentle and accepting as he gazed at her.

He took a deep, deep breath before continuing.
 
“I have one.”

Leah continued to stare him, not responding but knew her shock at his admission was somehow evident.

“Would you like to see it, my Leah?”

Her lips were still stiff but she was able to move them enough to murmur, “yes, please.”

And she watched as he began unbutton his shirt, a different shirt than he’d been wearing at the urgent care.
 
Then he’d had on a black t-shirt, but the one he was wearing out by the beautiful pool was a light blue button down.
 
And her eyes followed his fingers, skimming over the golden skin of his firmly muscled chest that was being exposed inch by stunning inch.
 
His chiseled abs, sharply defined, came into view as he opened his shirt further until there were no more buttons to release.
 
The same chest and abs that she’d been pressed against the night before.

At the view of the real thing, Leah decided she hadn’t given Rykhan enough credit since he looked better than the pictures of men on the websites that described themselves as ‘porn for women’.

Pushing the shirt off his shoulders, her eyes came back to his and saw determination in the steady gaze that was almost a physical touch.
 
And as the fabric slid down his arms she dropped her gaze to his right bicep.

And gasped.

There it was.
 
An almost exact duplicate of the metal she’d woken up with that morning was right there in front of her.
 
On
his
arm, in almost the exact same spot on his body, albeit on the other arm
..
 
Even the etchings within the links were identical to hers!

Her heart began racing and she found it hard to breathe but she couldn’t tear her eyes away from what she was seeing.

“Is yours like this,
tersa blay
?” he whispered as he searched her face.
 
“Is your
wahrom
like mine, my Leah?”

There was no movement from anyone at the table and Leah would’ve been willing to bet that even the very wind had stopped as she looked upon the band of bronze that encircled his huge bicep.
  
And it seemed as if she couldn’t help her action as she twisted in her chair, sliding herself until her left side aligned to his right.
 
Raising her eyes to his, Leah slowly drew the sleeve of her t-shirt up until it rested on her shoulder, exposing her band, her bronze
wahrom
that gleamed in the sunlight reflecting off the nearby pool.

“Oh,
Tsiran
,” Rykhan breathed in a way that was close to a groan of a sexual pleasure.
 
Leah saw his eyes flit to a spot over her shoulder before he gave a deep sigh and lowered his lids.

“Have you tried touching them together yet?”
 
The voice that floated from behind her was not one she recognized and she twisted even further to see
who
had interrupted such a private moment.
 
One that was so personal that she’d even forgotten the presence of Pam and Wyst.
 
But it was hard to tell who had spoken since there were so many men and her mind seemed jumbled in the aftermath of showing Rykhan her bracelet.
 
It was only when Rykhan placed a hand on her forearm that she felt herself begin to settle enough to pick out individuals in the group.

As well as to answer.

“No, we haven’t,” Leah replied calmly.
 
“Should we?”

A man who seemed older that the others chuckled and stepped to the forefront.
 
“The legends caution against doing so in front of witnesses.
 
As I understand it, the move could prove…embarrassing on a number of levels.”

Leah felt her lips lift in a small smile.
 
“Good to know.”
 
Her eyes shot to Rykhan before turning back to the older man.
 
Was he wearing a crown?
 
“And you are?”

“My name is Bronsyn Llent,”
came
the proud reply which was accompanied with a chin lift.

Pam leaned over Leah’s shoulder and she heard her friend’s excited voice as she whispered, “ask him if he’s royalty!”

Turning away from the man but towards Pam, she quietly told the woman to ask him herself.

“But he’s only talking to you, Leah!” Pam argued.

“Mr. Llent, meet Pamela Swain.”
 
Leah made sure her voice was as clear and strong as he had sounded when he’d broken into her moment with the man who shared her metal.
 
“She would like to ask you a question.”

“Bitch,”
came
the snappy whisper.

“Coward,” Leah whispered back just as quickly.

Pam sat back but swallowed loud enough that Leah could hear it even from over her shoulder.
 
“Uhm hey there, Mr. Llent.
 
I was just, ah, you know.
 
Like, wondering if that thing on your head meant you are, you
know,
a part of the royal family or something.”

Leah saw a look of confusion cross the other man’s features.
 
He looked to both Rykhan and Wyst first as if seeking info but when none was
forthcoming,
he turned and looked at the men who stood behind him.
 
As he moved, Leah took notice of his long dark hair.
 
Hair that went all the way down to his waist and with that she knew exactly who the man was and knew exactly how to answer Pam’s question.

On her first meeting with Rykhan for coffee, he’d confided that he was in the States with his ‘warrior brothers’, a phrase that she hadn’t understood.

“Does that mean you’re in the military?” she’d asked.
 
At his head nod, she’d pressed further somehow sensing the affirmative he’d given hadn’t been the whole truth.
 
“The U.S. military requires
their
troops to keep their hair short, but yours is long.”

“I am not in the U.S. military,” had been his only vague response.
 
“My commander’s hair is down to his belt.”

And at the sight of the long hair on the older man, Leah knew that Rykhan had not been lying in the least.