Dare to Believe
He shook his head. “That’s the other thing I need to explain to you.” He sat up and began pulling up his pants. “You’ve heard the stories of a man riding off with a Sidhe lass to Underhill, only to return three hundred years later and age all of those years in one day?”
“Um, yeah. I think a lot of people have heard that story.”
He zipped up his pants, and then looked at her. “It’s true.” He shrugged at her complete shock. “Okay, the part about Underhill isn’t true. The not aging part was.”
“And the aging-three-hundred-years-in-a-day part?”
He took a deep breath. “Also true.”
“Leo…”
He couldn’t help but respond to the sudden fear in her voice. He held up one hand. “Please, let me explain.” With infinite care, he pulled her jeans back over her hips, batting her hands away when she went to do up her zipper. It was his right, his privilege to care for his mate. “When a Sidhe finds his mate, he binds her to him. There are three steps to the bonding, the first being the Claiming.”
“What’s the Claiming?”
He looked up at her, then back down at the ground. “Do you remember the golden light that surrounded us just as we came?”
He heard her suck in her breath. “That was the Claiming?”
He looked into her eyes and nodded, holding his breath all the while. This was the part that scared the crap out of him. She could reject him utterly at this point, deny the mating and pull away from him. He wouldn’t be too surprised if she did. In the grand scheme of things, they’d only really known each other for three days. Although she wouldn’t really be able to go very far, now that the ritual was halfway done.
He watched her absorb the implications. “Do you choose your mate, or is it a fate kind of thing?”
He was surprised. He thought she’d have more questions about the Claiming. “The gods choose our mate for us before we’re even born. If we’re extremely lucky, we find her or him during the current life; if not, we hope, no, pray we may find them in the next.”
“So, there’s no choice?”
He didn’t like the slow, considering way she said that. “The moment I saw you, no other woman would do. Before the other night, do you know how long it had been since I’d had sex?”
“No.”
“A year.”
She blinked, stunned. “A year?”
“You went seven.” His grin was lopsided, he knew, but this was too important an issue to screw up with a lame joke.
“But…your reputation…the blondes you escorted all over the place…”
“I dated, occasionally, but I didn’t really…click…with anyone. Couldn’t figure out why, at first.”
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61
Dana Marie Bell
“You joined the company five years ago.”
He nodded, watching the wheels turn in his woman’s head.
“But we didn’t meet until three days ago.”
His expression turned tender. “Vanilla and peaches.”
“Huh?”
“Your scent. Vanilla and peaches. I could smell it wherever I went in the company. Took me a while to track it down to accounting, and when I finally did I had the CEO slot, and you kept disappearing.” She bit her lip, looking guilty. “Yeah, I figured it was deliberate.” He sighed. “I could see you occasionally from the back, and, while I must say it is a mighty fine view, I prefer the one from the front.” He brushed a hand down her cheek, delighted when she blushed. “I love watching your eyes.”
Those beautiful eyes of hers darkened, as did the blush that still stained her cheeks. “When…” she cleared her throat, “…when did you realize I was yours?”
Leo resisted the urge to grin in triumph. She’d accepted him, whether it was consciously done or not.
“When I tasted you.”
“What?”
“Remember the kiss on the dance floor at the Halloween party?”
“The one where you tried to lick my toes through my mouth?”
He laughed. “Has anyone told you that you have an interesting way with words?”
“Mm-hmm. Was that when?”
“Yes. I knew you were the one for me.” He couldn’t help himself. He stroked her hair back from her cheek, enjoying the feel of it slipping through his fingers. Everything about her fascinated him.
“This whole bonding thing. What’s the next step?”
He returned his gaze to her face. “The next step is the actual ceremony. In it I pledge my being to you, and I share of my power with you. In doing so, I grant you some of my life force, which lengthens your life. You’ll live as long as I do, actually. It’s one of the true pieces of magic the Sidhe actually possess, other than our human glamour. All Fae have a human seeming. It’s a gift from the gods to protect us in the human world.”
“And the whole Arabian Nights slash Easy Rider thing wasn’t magic?”
He shook his head. “Not like other Fae can do, like my Dad.”