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Authors: Donna Kauffman
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As he looked in her eyes he had a sudden flash of that moment just before Baleweg’s intrusion. Despite his comments to the contrary, he hadn’t exactly been thinking mission strategy when he’d reached up to touch her. He hadn’t been overlooking her then. He blinked the memory away. “We just have to agree on what to do with you.”
She rolled her eyes. “I give up. You two can stand out here arguing all night for all I care. I have things to do early in the morning. I have a life, and my own obligations.” She turned once more to leave.
Archer planted himself in front of her so fast that she ran right into him. She was soft, as well as hard. And in the most appealing places. That registered even as she was jumping away from him as though she’d been singed.
“We’re here to stay, Talia.”
She eyed him levelly as she yanked her arm free. “Then I hope you enjoy sleeping out under the stars. Good night.”
Talia stalked off toward the house, trying hard not to give in to the fact that she was terrified. She was shaking. In fear, in anger, in frustration. And in awareness. Of Archer. Dammit. The man was completely insufferable. And he was too damn … real.
She tossed her walking stick toward the shed, only then remembering she’d left the fishing bonnet on the ground by the pond. Not wanting to think about that moment when Archer had been so close, looking as if he were about to—
Oh, no, she wasn’t going there. She was going to bed. Where she would sleep the sleep of the innocent, wake up in the morning fully rested, and go back to the good work she was performing here. Work that had always been satisfying. Satisfying and … and enough.
Her steps faltered as she reached the porch. She sank to the top step, unable to balance her own weight on suddenly watery knees. It
was
enough, dammit. It had to be. She’d found her place. She hugged her knees, her gaze moving of its own volition back toward the path to the pond. “It is enough,” she whispered. “I’m meant to do this.”
Even saying the words made her shiver, made some part of her rebel, the part that now remembered her mother’s fantastical tales … and wanted to believe the stories of castles and kings, of people who’d respect her, a place where she’d discover what she was meant to do.
She clutched her knees more tightly, thinking about this place she’d called home since the day Beatrice had found her sitting at a café in town, her heart and spirit irrevocably broken. It was the day she’d been forced to accept that her dream of becoming a veterinarian, a dream she’d slaved to pay for, sweat, blood and tears to achieve, was not going to come true. She’d known that in order to practice medicine, heal animals, she’d have to take on their pain. Her “gift” wasn’t something she could switch off, but she’d naïvely thought she could somehow control it, make it work to her advantage. Until her first day in an operating room.
The dog had been mortally injured, hit by a car. He’d been rushed into emergency surgery at the clinic where she’d just signed on as a student assistant. The vet had yanked her in to help … then called for emergency assistance when she’d collapsed under the incredible onslaught of pain that had shoved its way through her entire body. They thought she’d had some kind of seizure. Only she knew what had really happened. Just as she knew she could never let it happen again. She wouldn’t survive it … and certainly no animal in her care should have to risk her collapsing again like that.
She had been devastated, her only dream as crushed and beyond saving as that poor dog. She’d been so lost, having to give up the one place in the world she thought she’d fit in, helping the animals that called to her.
Then Beatrice had walked into her life, smiled knowingly, and offered Talia the path to her true calling. “Perhaps you weren’t meant to heal them, my dear,” she’d said,
She rolled her eyes. “I give up. You two can stand out here arguing all night for all I care. I have things to do early in the morning. I have a life, and my own obligations.” She turned once more to leave.
Archer planted himself in front of her so fast that she ran right into him. She was soft, as well as hard. And in the most appealing places. That registered even as she was jumping away from him as though she’d been singed.
“We’re here to stay, Talia.”
She eyed him levelly as she yanked her arm free. “Then I hope you enjoy sleeping out under the stars. Good night.”
Talia stalked off toward the house, trying hard not to give in to the fact that she was terrified. She was shaking. In fear, in anger, in frustration. And in awareness. Of Archer. Dammit. The man was completely insufferable. And he was too damn … real.
She tossed her walking stick toward the shed, only then remembering she’d left the fishing bonnet on the ground by the pond. Not wanting to think about that moment when Archer had been so close, looking as if he were about to—
Oh, no, she wasn’t going there. She was going to bed. Where she would sleep the sleep of the innocent, wake up in the morning fully rested, and go back to the good work she was performing here. Work that had always been satisfying. Satisfying and … and enough.
Her steps faltered as she reached the porch. She sank to the top step, unable to balance her own weight on suddenly watery knees. It
was
enough, dammit. It had to be. She’d found her place. She hugged her knees, her gaze moving of its own volition back toward the path to the pond. “It is enough,” she whispered. “I’m meant to do this.”
Even saying the words made her shiver, made some part of her rebel, the part that now remembered her mother’s fantastical tales … and wanted to believe the stories of castles and kings, of people who’d respect her, a place where she’d discover what she was meant to do.
She clutched her knees more tightly, thinking about this place she’d called home since the day Beatrice had found her sitting at a café in town, her heart and spirit irrevocably broken. It was the day she’d been forced to accept that her dream of becoming a veterinarian, a dream she’d slaved to pay for, sweat, blood and tears to achieve, was not going to come true. She’d known that in order to practice medicine, heal animals, she’d have to take on their pain. Her “gift” wasn’t something she could switch off, but she’d naïvely thought she could somehow control it, make it work to her advantage. Until her first day in an operating room.
The dog had been mortally injured, hit by a car. He’d been rushed into emergency surgery at the clinic where she’d just signed on as a student assistant. The vet had yanked her in to help … then called for emergency assistance when she’d collapsed under the incredible onslaught of pain that had shoved its way through her entire body. They thought she’d had some kind of seizure. Only she knew what had really happened. Just as she knew she could never let it happen again. She wouldn’t survive it … and certainly no animal in her care should have to risk her collapsing again like that.
She had been devastated, her only dream as crushed and beyond saving as that poor dog. She’d been so lost, having to give up the one place in the world she thought she’d fit in, helping the animals that called to her.
Then Beatrice had walked into her life, smiled knowingly, and offered Talia the path to her true calling. “Perhaps you weren’t meant to heal them, my dear,” she’d said,
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