Fabric of Fate (12 page)

“Of course.” His eyes widened and he seemed truly shocked by her question. “I have Abrah and, before that, my family.”

“But no woman,” she pointed out. Most men had trouble making commitment.

He pulled her closer to his chest and rubbed the bottom of his chin against her scalp. “No, no woman. As I’m sure Abrah told you, women are scarce here and brothers must share one if they are blessed enough to find one who will join with their family.”

“He was serious about that?” She admitted to herself she’d thought that had been nothing more than a line designed to get her into bed.

Heroc tipped her back until she was resting against one broad arm and staring up into his face. His long, black hair was tied back, framing his incredible face, which was perfect except for the slight crook in his nose. Abrah’s face was a slightly rougher version of his younger brother’s. His usually smiling mouth was now a firm line of displeasure. She certainly had a knack of pissing off the Dannon brothers.

“Yes. It has been this way in Javara for hundreds of years.”

“How did it happen?” She freely admitted she was curious about this place. She’d probably be freaking out if she didn’t know she’d be leaving in three days, closer to two now. But both men had been adamant on that point and she believed them.

That in itself was shocking. But she tucked that thought away as Heroc began to explain.

“No one knows why it happened but more boys began to be born and far fewer girls. Within a few generations there were not many females left in our world. Men were killing one another, brother against brother and friend against friend. It was a bloody time in our history and threatened our entire existence.”

He rubbed his fingers over the curve of her cheek. “Men would have killed for the right to claim you.”

She shivered and he pulled the blankets more closely around her. “But not now?” Audrey couldn’t wrap her mind around the idea of someone killing in order to bed her.

“Not usually. Men share a woman now. Brothers can claim a woman between them. One for every three brothers. If there are four brothers they can claim two women if they can find them. Sometimes they even share among four if the woman is willing. Other families also have the right to challenge another if the woman is not claimed.”

“That sounds…” She didn’t quite know how to explain her thoughts. It was so different from the monogamous culture in which she lived. But even in her world people cheated and slept with others.

“I know there are many other cultures that do not live the way we do. That much has become obvious over the centuries, as tapestry brides have been brought here from many other worlds. It may seem strange to you but it is normal in Javara, a matter of survival.” He picked up her cup and brought it to her lips. “Drink before it grows cold.”

She automatically opened her mouth and took a sip of the tea. She couldn’t quite place the flavor but it was surprisingly good. Audrey pondered what he’d told her. She supposed any culture would do what it had to in order to survive. After all, humans had adapted over the centuries as well, the cultural norms changing as the state of the world did.

Heroc placed the cup back on the table. “Women are treated well here. Abuse, if it becomes known, is not tolerated. Women are too precious to us.” He ran a single finger down her neck and over her collarbone. The blanket slipped and was resting just above her breasts, a slight curve showing over the edge.

“Only one brother can claim the woman as wife. It is always her choice. The children are all his even though they may be sired by his brothers. Each brother gets one night a week in her bed.” His fingers dipped lower, pushing the blanket in their wake and exposing her nipples. He touched one with the tip of his finger. “Although some families are more fluid than that, sharing as they choose.”

She swallowed hard as her nipple puckered beneath his touch. “I’m not staying,” she reminded him.

His smile was gentle. “But I have more than two days to change your mind. And I have hope.” Before his words had sunk in, his hand closed gently around her breast and he kissed her, stealing the breath from her lungs.

Chapter Eight

Heroc savored the feel of Audrey beneath his lips and his hand. She was everything he’d ever wanted—intelligent, sensual, kind and giving. Her reaction to the loss of his family had been genuine. She knew what it was like to lose a loved one.

He still couldn’t believe she was alone in her world. What was wrong with the men there? They didn’t deserve such a treasure. Didn’t know what to do with it. But he did.

He deepened the kiss, sliding his tongue over her lips and through the slight opening. She tasted of tea and bread and cheese. Of desire, hot and potent.

He had wanted to kick Abrah’s ass when he’d stalked out of the room after making his cutting comments. He’d made Audrey cry and the memory angered him. But he understood his brother better than Abrah understood himself, knew Abrah wanted her to stay so badly he was afraid to reach out and take what was in their grasp. The tapestry had not yet returned and, until it did, Heroc planned to do everything in his power to convince Audrey to stay.

To that end, he fed her, comforted her and talked to her about his life here in Javara. He wanted to hear all about her world and what her life was like there, but that would have to wait. The quickest way to build a relationship with her was through touch and sexual desire. Heroc wasn’t about to miss the opportunity that had presented itself.

She needed a gentle touch after the shock she’d had. It was only last evening she’d almost lost her life to the storm. He shuddered at the thought of finding her near lifeless body lying in the dirt. Thank the gods for Carn and his canine senses.

Audrey made a slight whimpering sound and he tightened his grip around her, continuing to kiss her, to explore her sensual mouth. The fire crackled in the hearth warming the air around them. The wind continued to whip up outside, but in this room only the murmurs of lovers and the occasional gasp could be heard.

They were cocooned in a time out of time. Heroc gave thanks for the inclement weather. It would keep news of Audrey’s arrival from spreading to other families until it was too late. She’d either be returned to her home or claimed by one of them before any other castle knew of her arrival. That might be selfish of him, but he didn’t care. Audrey had come to them and it was with them she belonged.

He released her breast and tugged the blanket from her grasp. She clung to the fabric, her knuckles tightening until they turned white, and then she slowly released it. He broke the kiss, wanting to examine every inch of her.

Bruises still smudged her delicate skin, ranging up and down her arms. There were a few on her stomach, but what concerned him more was how slender she was. “Have you been ill?”

She shrugged and glanced away, peering into the fire.

He caught her chin between his fingers and tugged her gaze back to him. “Tell me.” It was a demand, one he couldn’t stop himself from making. The thought of her being ill was more than he could bear.

She absently rubbed her chest as if it hurt. “I had some minor health problems and ended up home in bed. Nothing serious.”

Heroc felt certain she was downplaying what was wrong. “How long ago?” She must have been sick a long time to be so skinny.

“A few days.”

His jaw dropped and he quickly shut it. “Should you be out of bed? Does anything hurt?” He wasn’t sure what to do and wondered if he should send Abrah for their healer.

She touched his jaw, her fingers sliding along the thick cords of his neck. “I’m fine. Just a little tired and undernourished. The doctor told me to rest and take better care of myself. I was actually taking a few days away from work when I landed here.”

He frowned, wondering if there was more she wasn’t telling him. “That does not explain why you are so slender.” He rubbed his hands up and down her ribcage.

She looked uncomfortable beneath his regard but she answered him. “I’d been working hard for a long time at my job. I hadn’t been taking good care of myself.” She offered him a smile that fell flat. “I got too caught up in getting ahead and making money.”

“This money is your means of barter?”

“Yes.”

“Having a lot of it is important in your world?” Heroc couldn’t imagine anything being more important that a female’s health. Where would the next generation come from if all the women were ill?

“Too much so.” She sighed and he could sense her struggling to find the right words. “I live in a world where I have to work to get money so I can buy shelter and food and whatever else I need. Our society is a fast-paced one, always pushing harder and faster. If you slack off work there is someone waiting to take your job from you. If that happens you can end up hungry or homeless.”

She laughed, but Heroc could hear the bitterness beneath it and it hurt him. He hugged her to him, cradling her head on his shoulder. “Our worlds are very different. Money does not matter so much here.”

She raised her head. “Then how do you live?”

He smiled at her, more than happy to tell her about his home. “Dannon Keep and the lands surrounding it give us everything we need to survive. The castle itself is small compared to some but it is well built. We are more isolated than most but that means there is not much threat from others. The lakes and rivers are filled with fish, the forest and mountain teeming with game. We raise some animals ourselves and till the field for the rest. We have orchards filled with fruit and keep bees for honey.”

“You and your brother do all that?”

He laughed at the amazement in her voice and reached out to tuck a lock of her curly hair behind her ear. “No. We are the lords of the keep. We have many families that live here and we all work to bring prosperity to the land.”

“Wow.” She frowned and he rubbed the lines between her eyes. Her eyelashes fluttered downward when she blinked and he admired her long lashes. “Your world seems much like mine about six hundred years ago, except for the lack of women, that is.”

He did not wish to talk about this barbaric world she hailed from any longer. Heroc could not imagine any man letting his woman work herself into ill health or allowing her to end up homeless or hungry. Unthinkable.

The time had come for action, not talking. Heroc shifted Audrey, turning her so she was facing him, her legs straddling his lap. She clutched his shoulders for balance as he untangled the blanket from her lower body and tossed it to the floor.

“Let me love you. Let me show you what it could be like if you stayed.”

Audrey didn’t know what was real anymore. Abrah was a thorough lover who seemed to know her body better than she knew it herself. He was a driven lover, but self-contained, intense. Heroc was more open, easier to talk to. She’d found it easy to answer his questions and found they’d prompted some of her own.

It had become more apparent with every passing second that this world was indeed real. There was no way she was in a dream this long and vivid. Perhaps she was in a coma but she honestly didn’t think so. However it had happened, she had to accept the fact that she truly was in this strange world of Javara with these two incredible men.

Heroc trailed his hands over her back, bringing her attention back to the here and now. The new position in which she sat exposed her totally to his gaze and his roving hands. She was naked. Again. That seemed to be the norm since she’d arrived here. She should feel awkward at best, outraged at least, but strangely enough, it was starting to feel normal.

The warmth of the fire penetrated her back and buttocks and the heat radiating from Heroc warmed her front. He ran his fingers through her hair, watching it twine around his thumb.

“Your hair is beautiful. Alive.”

It had always been the bane of her existence, especially when she was a teenager, but there was no doubt that Heroc thought it was special.

“Thank you.”

She felt suddenly shy with him and lowered her gaze. She wasn’t used to getting compliments and certainly not while she sat naked on a man’s lap. He was still totally dressed, garbed in what she was coming to think of as his usual garb of leather tunic, pants and boots. That seemed to be what men wore here, much like they’d wear jeans and a T-shirt back home.

“What is wrong?”

He was attuned to her change of mood and rubbed his hands up and down her arms in an attempt to comfort her. He really was quite an amazing man.

“I’m naked,” she blurted out and could feel her cheeks heating. She’d thought she could be mature and blasé about the situation, but obviously not.

“You are self-conscious?”

She nodded.

He smiled. “Then we will fix that.”

She assumed he would put her aside and find her something to wear, or at the very least snag the blanket from the floor and wrap it around her. Instead, he leaned back and grabbed the hem of his tunic and yanked it over his head.

His chest gleamed in the firelight. Like his brother, his stomach was flat and hard with ridged muscle running down each side. His biceps were enormous.

“Better?” He caught her hands in his and brought them to his lips, kissing one finger after the other until he’d covered them all.

Flutters began low in her belly and her skin tingled. “Much better,” she assured him. How could it not be better for her to see all that prime male flesh?

Audrey had made love to Abrah not long ago. Last night both men had touched her intimately. She knew she was going to make love with Heroc too and that didn’t seem as strange as it would have only a short while ago. This world was different from her own, the expectations totally skewed.

Why shouldn’t she enjoy it while she was here?

Because you are getting too attached to the Dannon brothers and allowing them to become attached to you
. Audrey ignored the voice of reason when it piped up. She’d been reasonable her entire life, not making waves at work, doing what was expected. And where had it gotten her—a panic attack and a midlife crisis.