MemoriesofParadise (7 page)

Quietly, she turned the knob and opened the door. Riana moved silently into the room and smiled softly when she saw her daughter asleep on the bed, a new teddy bear wrapped in her arms. She looked so young, so innocent with that bear clasped to her chest.

The glow from the TV flickered as the scenes changed. A cartoon played on the screen as the characters danced across it. Riana smiled at the familiar bunny, dressed in a long frilly dress, hit someone over the head with a parasol and batted long eyelashes at his victim before he ran off with a laugh.

The strange, red haze disappeared. In its place was the pride of a mother as she stood watching her beautiful daughter sleep. How long had it been since she’d taken the time to just stand and watch Holly sleep this way?

At first, when she woke up in the hospital with no memories, she’d felt safe. She had Holly and she lived with the quiet confidence of someone who knew they were nothing but a small blip on the radar. However, as the years passed, she had begun to feel unsafe. No matter where they went, things would feel fine for a while, then, after a year or two, she got that hunted feeling again and she ran.

This time, though, she’d almost run straight toward her death. Riana gazed down at her daughter for the longest time, knowing that it must end. If it didn’t end here, it
must
end in the town where they would ultimately decide to settle. She couldn’t go on like this any longer.
They
couldn’t go on like this.

Riana looked up at the man by her side and decided that no matter what happened, her running ended right now and right here. She could only hope that this town would live up to its citizen’s claims and protect her from whatever it was that she’d been running from these last sixteen years. If they didn’t help her as she hoped, she would send Holly away and die here protecting her daughter.

Chapter Eleven

Clay watched Riana stare at her daughter as she slept. He wondered what she thought as she stood so still, looking at the young girl. Part of him wanted to leave and give her time alone to think, but he couldn’t bring himself to leave her. Besides, what would she do if something happened and she felt faint? He would be in the other room and unable to come to her aid before she fell and hurt herself.

No.

He would stay here and keep watch, just as Gunter told him to do. He watched as she stood so still, several emotions chasing across her expression. What was she thinking as she stood there, with the love, joy and fear he saw chasing over her face, in her eyes?

He wanted to say something, give her reassurance that she no longer need fear anything. He and Gunter would take care of her and her daughter. There was no reason for her to live with the fears she had in the past.

Whatever it was that haunted her, stayed prevalent as she watched her daughter sleep the sleep of the innocent.

“When were we ever that trusting, that innocent?” she asked, her voice little more than a whisper.

“I don’t know,” he answered truthfully. “I can barely remember a time when I wasn’t fighting, or training to fight.”

She shivered and rubbed her arms. “That’s another thing. I don’t know how people like you do it. How does a man give up his life to fight for others?”

Clay took a deep breath. He’d never thought about it before. “I can’t speak for others, but I did what I did because there are people in the world who need a champion.” He shrugged. “I mean, how many people are willing to go to another country and fight for another’s rights? Some of the countries I have been to don’t have laws to protect their people the way the United States does. The people in those countries don’t even have basic human rights, or if they do, their government isn’t in a position to make sure they get them when others would take them away. That’s why our government steps in.”

He thought about some of the countries he’d been to where the people were ousted from their beds in the middle of the night, their women and children beaten and raped while others slaughtered their men.

“Some people think we have no business going to other countries. They think our military dictates to their people.” He shook his head. “They couldn’t be more wrong. We’re there to protect the weak, because they
can’t
protect themselves.”

What decent man could ignore something like that? Clay knew he couldn’t—and he didn’t. He’d trained to fight for those people just as he would now fight for the people of Paradise. If anyone needed his help, it was the women and children who lived right here. Who could blame his group of ranger friends for settling here when the women and children had been terrorized here for years?

The way he understood it, they had lived for decades under the rule of the sick council who deemed a girl of ten old enough to have children of her own just because she was unlucky enough to have started her menstrual cycle early.

What kind of sick bastards thought that way? What Adam Greer had done just a few years before was the right thing to do. Yet, still, these people had lived under Camulus’s thumb for years before that. From what he understood, the current alpha, the man born into the role of alpha had been delivered under Camulus’s rule. The old council sentenced Adam’s parents to death because they feared the two would have another male child and another. They feared the wrath of male offspring.

“So you fight for the underdog?”

When she smiled up at him, stars in her eyes, it hit him like a punch in the gut.

“Would you fight for me?” She looked at her daughter. “More importantly, would you fight for Holly—protect her no matter what?”

“Yes.” His answer was swift. He didn’t even have to think about it. Her child was an extension of her. If he loved Riana unconditionally, that emotion would also extend to her daughter. How could it not? “I would protect both of you with my life.”

“What if I told you that it could really come to that? Would you change your mind?”

“Hell no, lady.” He grasped her arm and turned her to face him. “If you were really in danger, it would only cement my resolve to keep you safe.” He stared down into her eyes, his gaze shifting to her full lips.

He stood mesmerized by her mouth. He wanted nothing more than to lean down and capture it with his own. It nearly made him groan to watch her small, pink tongue dart out and swipe across her bottom lip. It was a nervous habit she had that nearly drove him mad with want.

His gut clenched and his heart sped up. Breathing seemed near impossible as he stared down at her upturned face. He stood looking at her for what seemed an eternity before he realized she was inviting him to kiss her.

Grasping her other arm, he pulled her against him, his head dipping closer and closer, moving slowly so that she could push him away if he’d overstepped his bounds.

Lightning struck when his lips slanted over hers. He pulled her closer, wrapped his arms around her, and deepened their kiss with a stroke of his tongue. Desire the likes of which he’d never felt before swept over him as he pressed her against his hard length.

Reaching up, Riana wrapped her arms around his neck, pressing her body closer. He could feel her mound pressing tight against his—

“Oh, gross! Get your own room, will ya?”

The sound of Holly’s voice was like a dash of ice water thrown over them. Guiltily, they both jumped apart. Clay looked everywhere but at Holly. Riana covered her face with her hands and whispered, most likely to herself.

“What are you doing? You’re acting like some sort of…of
hussy
or something. You
can’t
start kissing men you’ve just met. What will that teach your daughter?

Holly slid off the bed and rolled her eyes. “Geeze, Mom. I know you’ve been lonely, but I don’t think I’m supposed to catch you making out with one of the hot guys that rescued us.” She grinned. “If you’re going to do something like that, do it in
your
room, not mine.”

Riana groaned into her hands. It made Clay want to smile. He could see her blush through her fingers.

Not many women blushed anymore. In any case, the ones he knew didn’t. What had happened to society through the years that made it so most women lost that wonderful ability?

He grasped Riana’s elbow and tugged. “Come on. I think we’ve scarred your daughter enough for one night. Besides, you should get back in bed. The doc said you needed all the rest you could get over the next few days.”

Chapter Twelve

Riana nearly groaned again. What was wrong with her? She didn’t kiss men she didn’t know. Hell, she didn’t even realize she was going to kiss Clay until he had her pressed against him, his steel-hard erection digging into her stomach.

One thing was certain. She could obviously still turn a man on. Riana had often worried whether or not she still held the capability after the last sixteen years with no dates. What man wanted a ready-made family?

She looked up at Clay and wondered if he was interested in her as a woman or just as an easy piece of ass. After all, she
was
a single mom. Most men thought women who had children out of wedlock were nymphomaniacs, and they didn’t think much better of divorced women, either.

What had she been thinking, letting him kiss her like that—and in front of her daughter, to boot? Riana let him pull her from the room, closing the door behind her.

He leaned down and pressed a quick kiss on her lips.

Riana lifted trembling fingers to her tingling lips and looked up at Clay. “We can’t do that again.”

“Why not?” When he stepped forward, Riana stepped back.

“Because I don’t know you. We just met.”

“What if I told you that I feel as though I’ve known you forever?”

“I would tell you that is an old line.” She didn’t know why she was so sure it was old. She didn’t remember dating, but surely she had if she’d gotten pregnant, hadn’t she?

“It’s the truth.”

“Okay, whatever.” She shook her head with a grin. “I think it’s time for you to go now and there’s no reason to check on me later.” She headed for the adjoining door. She planned to lock it once he stepped through it. The last thing she wanted or needed was to have either of the two men walking in on her while she was in her underwear, and she planned to sleep in nothing more. She couldn’t wait to get her borrowed clothes off.

She frowned. The doctor’s wife had given her a coat to wear. Why in the world hadn’t Riana thought to ask the older woman if she could borrow some pajamas as well?

“I can’t do that. You have a slight concussion and you could slip into a coma.” He frowned, crossing his arms over his broad chest. One of us is staying with you at all times.”

“Why does it have to be you two? Why couldn’t a woman do this?” She crossed her arms just as Clay did. Riana tried to stare him down, but knew she would lose. She cursed her bottom lip that began to tremble. Why in the world did she have to pick now, this very moment, to finally become a girl and cry?

For as long as she could remember, Riana had never cried. Not really. She’d get a tear here and there, but she never felt the all-encompassing need to bow her head and give way to tears. Why now? Weaknesses weren’t something she could afford—ever.

“There’s no reason to kick me out because I kissed you.” Clay rested his hands on his hips and stared at her. “I’ve wanted to kiss you all day. You aren’t going to make me feel bad for finally finding the courage to do it.”

“I’m not trying to make you feel bad.” She swiped the back of her hand over her face. “I just don’t do things like this. I can’t possibly get into any type of relationship right now.”

Riana bit her lip and looked away. Who said anything about a relationship? The man could very well only want sex from her. That thought scared her. She didn’t remember the last time she’d had sex.
Literally
. Either the memory was buried deep inside her psyche or it was erased forever. Whichever it was didn’t bode well for how the act felt and she had no desire to renew an acquaintance with it.

“That’s one thing about destiny, Riana.” Clay stared down at her with an expression so intense, Riana couldn’t do anything but stand still and hold his gaze. “Destiny rarely listens to what we want, or what we think we need. The fates give us what they think we need and nothing,
nothing
can change their minds on it.”

“So what you’re saying is that kiss was our destiny?” She almost smiled at that, but she didn’t want to encourage the man with his outrageous claims. “Do you really think the
fates
brought us together and made you kiss me?” She shook her head. “Surely you don’t really believe that.”

She had. Years ago, when one of the people she’d befriended took the time to teach her of the old ways, to teach her how to make her potions and package spells for neophytes and mundanes, Riana had believed that, but not anymore.

Even though she continued with her business, it became increasingly difficult to believe in what she did for others. All that mattered was what
they
believed.

“Of course I believe that.” He tilted his head and looked at her. “I have to admit that this way of thinking is rather new to me, but over the last few years, I’ve seen the fates work their wonders with others and, frankly, I can’t wait for my turn.”