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  Xarit cocked his head. “Do you think you can do that for the Almoss family?”

  She shrugged. “The big problem was that because of your lack of a nose or a perfume master, you had not created any new products for fourteen years. If you can rectify that, the finances should recover in the next eighteen months or so.”

  Yeena settled back and crossed her arms. “What do you mean? Jurbrus Acking has been our perfume master for over a decade.”

  Lilia winced. “He has no training. He couldn’t smell his way out of a straight tunnel. He was one of Lemko’s friends, and he was kicking a portion of his salary back to your son in exchange for his position. You have been coasting on the work of Yeena’s father. The scents and combinations have been pulled from his old files. They were substandard recipes that he kept aside as having possibilities, but they were being bottled and sold as Almoss perfumes.”

  Yeena appeared furious, but Xarit put his hand on her shoulder. “Lilia has spoken some wise words. You can’t change the past, so let us see if we can fix the future.”

  Madame Almoss turned toward her husband and kissed him. “Right. We have the forest for the next decade. We have time to fix this.”

  “Xeric, will you remain here and take on the position of perfumer?” Xarit asked his son.

  It was a tense moment.

  “Of course. The rangers accept family duties as a perfectly reasonable occasion to leave active forest duties. Of course, I will still be the guardian of a rather large swath of land, so it will be a transfer of location while remaining in the same occupation.”

  Lilia made it three-quarters of the way through the dessert before she had to admit defeat. Berries, syrup and cake all mixed into one pink pile on the plate.

  The servant took it away and patted her on the shoulder. “Well done, Miss Zel.”

  “So, Lilia, if the Zels will not let you remain in your position—which I very seriously doubt as there was no way you could have won against a forester—what will you do?”

  Lilia sat back with her hands in her lap. “I suppose that I will request for reassignment and go wherever the Alliance sends me. When I get to the next position, I will work as hard as I can to maintain the post I am given. If that doesn’t work out, I will try again.” She smiled slowly. “I have a plan.”

  Yeena inclined her head. “If the Zels wish you to leave, would you consider coming here? The Almoss family could benefit from someone with a plan.”

  “You have me for another day and a half. Let’s see what I can do with the time I have.”

  Xeric cleared his throat. “Mother, Father, I would like to take Miss Zel on a tour of the night gardens.”

  He got to his feet, and she quickly excused herself, walking around the table and taking his hand at the door. They walked out, and a quick glance back showed Yeena and Xarit watching them with smiles on their faces.

  They were walking outside and heading toward an area with a boundary of wide, tall hedges. An eerie but enticing glow was coming out of the enclosure and painting the sky.

  “From what I have discovered in my own research, while the night garden has been tended, no one has been harvesting any of the flowers. This should be interesting.”

  She wasn’t sure what he meant by that until they went around a corner and through a doorway cut in the hedge. The glow went from eerie to amazing as he led her into a garden in a riot of colours filled with glowing flowers and the butterflies that suckled from them.

  The scents that assailed her strengthened and waned as they walked past the flowers, and he explained their scents and the nature of the chemical composition. It should have been dry and boring, but her senses were humming with sight and scent. She drank in every bit of information.

  When Xeric picked a flower that looked like a purple daisy, he smiled and handed it to her. “Here, take in the scent.”

  She lifted the flower to her nose and inhaled. Every erogenous zone she had throbbed in reaction. Lilia blinked and stepped back, thrusting the flower at him.

  “Oh, dear.”

  He scowled and took the stem from her. “Didn’t you like it? The scent is said to be uplifting.”

  Her voice was husky. “Oh, it is that. I am guessing that my physiology is slightly different than yours.”

  His nostrils flared, but with all the flowers around them, it took him a moment to catch on to her arousal. “That is an interesting development.”

  She made a face. “Where do those things grow on Wralik?”

  He chuckled. “They are common in low-lying areas. I am surprised you haven’t run into them before now.”

  “If the only open at night, I wouldn’t have been out in the woods and frolicking in the darkness.”

  He looked at the innocent flower in his hand. “You are bringing to mind all kinds of possibilities.”

  She wandered away. “As long as those possibilities are kept in your mind, we will get along fine.”

  Xeric held the flower next to his cheek. “Don’t you think it brings out my eyes?”

  She glanced back at his deliberately innocent look and snorted. She turned and kept wandering through the gardens, looking at the lush beds and the vigorous butterfly population. “Those are Molkin butterflies.”

  Xeric came up next to her. “They are.”

  “They are what the Zel specialty fabrics are made from. Well, their webbings.”

  “True. When they have eaten their fill, they mate and the female and male spin their web for the eggs. Once the young ones hatch, the webs are left behind and easy to use for weaving.” He stood behind her, so close that she could feel his body heat. The light scent of that flower was still with him, and she clenched her thighs as her senses went into overdrive.

  She had three very different urges. The first urge was to return to the house, the second was to tackle Xeric and see if he was willing to improve on that morning, and the third was to walk further into the garden.

  When he put his hand on her waist, she decided for plan B. She turned against him and reached up, pulling his mouth down to hers, brushing her lips against his until he responded. It didn’t take long.

  Her sash was released, and his hands made quick work of the wrapping. He gathered her tunic in his hands and pulled it up and over her head, dropping it to the ground.

  She tugged at his clothing and loosened it, but she didn’t have the height to pull it over his head. Finally, she gave up and stepped back.

  He grinned and shucked out of his clothing faster than she could follow.

  The moment he was naked, she stepped back into his arms and stroked the length of his erection. It was different from a human cock—wider from tip to base—but it would manage, she was quite sure.

  He kissed her, and her head spun. He lifted her against him and took a few steps, lowering her to the bed of flowers below.

  The heady scent rose around her as he crushed her back into the petals. He leaned back and ran his hands over her with the lightest of touches. She shivered and arched into the caress.

  Her breasts lifted, nipples tightened and her thighs quivered as he stroked her over and over, seemingly without any urge to hurry.

  Her body heated the flowers beneath her, and while the scent didn’t target her hormones, the sensations and aura of floral wildness wrapped around her. She felt like she needed to be in the garden for this moment, though the woods may have been more appropriate.

  Her arousal climbed higher; Lilia felt the liquid heat emerging from her, and even she could smell her own musk. It was odd, she had never been so aware of scent.

  Xeric moved over her and swamped her senses. Whatever she was worried about regarding the embarrassments of sex went out the window as he pressed against her for entry.

  Her body blocked his, but he reached down and rubbed his cock in her slick moisture, pressing inward again. This time, he slid in, making his way in minute increments until he was fully within her.

/>   Xeric lowered himself until she could place her hands on his shoulders, and she did so, without hesitation. He rocked into her and withdrew, sending her mind spinning as the delicious friction drove her to the edge of sanity.

  She moved with him, sweat slicking the contact of her hands against him, and she fought for a grip, finally using her nails to hold onto him.

  She lifted her hips to his thrusts, slid her hands around his back and pulled him against her.

  The crushed flowers and the musk of sex were heavy in the air.

  When she finally looked up and met Xeric’s feral gaze, she shivered, and the side-to-side motion started the cascade of reaction that took her from holding onto him to clawing at him as she screamed.

  Blood roared in her ears, and she heard him speak, but he continued to thrust into her until his own release swept through him.

  He collapsed on her, crushing her back into the flowers, and she lay with him while their heartbeats slowed and the evening air cooled the sweat on their skin.

  A glowing butterfly fluttered past and landed on her hand where it rested on his shoulder. The salt from her skin must have attracted it, as it sipped at her, and a moment later, it fluttered away. She was fairly sure that the smile on her lips was permanent; the satisfaction inside her definitely wanted to make itself at home.

  Chapter Seven

  Lilia sat on a high stool in the perfume lab with a data pad.

  Xeric was fussing with a variety of scents and stopping to glare at her every few minutes.

  She grinned. “If you keep looking at me like that, I am going to leave the room.”

  He sighed. “You are a very hard woman to find a scent for.”

  Lilia grinned and put the finishing touches on the business plan for the Almoss company. “You know that I am easy in several other ways.”

  The time had flown quickly, and she was now ticking off the hours until she returned to the Zel home. One time together in the night garden had been all the time that they had had. She spent the previous day moving inventory and was been too tired to do more than fall into bed. Xeric had to undress her and tuck her in.

  He looked at her and narrowed his eyes. “Do not speak of yourself like that. You have value. You just refuse to see it.”

  She put the small pad down and looked at him. “I know my value. I am just realistic about it.”

  He set the vials down and walked over to her, leaning in close and inhaling, just behind her ear. She shivered, and her body went on alert, wanting more.

  His lips trailed against her ear as he straightened, and he turned back to the vials and moved with purpose. It was a recipe that only he could make out.

  His mouth was moving, speaking silently as he added a series of oils and extractions to a small bottle, and then, he inverted it carefully several times before he swabbed a small piece of absorbent material and he held it out to her. “Tell me what you think.”

  She inhaled and closed her eyes. It smelled like a beach, flowers, lavender and a hint of cinnamon. She opened her eyes slowly and smiled. “It is lovely.”

  He smiled. “Now for the true test. Let’s see what it does on your skin.”

  He prepared a tiny sample and brought it to her, placing it on her neck and the insides of her elbows. His thumb rubbed her inner elbow in slow circles, and he watched her closely.

  Her pulse sped up, and the scent of the mixed oils got stronger, curling through the air in a subtle intrusion of aroma.

  His smile was intense. “Perfect. It suits you very well.”

  She swallowed. “I am glad that you are settling into your new career path.”

  “Oh, I know that I will enjoy it.”

  She wanted to ask him a thousand things with the same theme. Will you miss me when I am gone? But she didn’t. She kissed him back when he lowered his lips to hers and enjoyed the last moment alone that they had.

  When the sun set, she would return to the Zels and find out what was going to happen next.

  She put on the shredded clothing that she had worn from the standing stones, slipped the hart medallion back over her neck and she left the Almoss house. It was traditional for her to do it without a goodbye, but the Almoss family broke that tradition.

  Yeena and Xarit hugged her, Xeric kissed her and it took three tries for her to whistle for her Liako. It took twenty minutes, but she finally heard the thuds of his feet.

  Xeric smiled. “One day you will have to tell me how you managed to learn that.”

  She shrugged. “I got a tutor. He taught me how to manage it.”

  He kissed her again as the Liako entered the courtyard. “I would rather have you teach me.”

  Tears pricked her eyes, and she left him and climbed onto the beast. She glanced back, and the servants of the house were waving at her from the doorway while the Almoss family waved her off from a few feet away. She took a mental snapshot and made a soft clicking sound with her tongue to get her beast to go. He moved slowly at first, but was soon bounding through the forest between the homes, and an hour later, she was entering the Zel compound from the rear as she always did. Briel and Madame Zel were waiting for her.

  She slid off the Liako and scratched him behind the ear for a moment before walking up to the Zel family and standing in front of them. With slow deliberation, she removed the hart medallion. “I return the medallion and apologize for losing the guardianship of the forest.”

  Madame Zel took the medal, nodded and dropped it before hugging Lilia. “Thank you for doing it. Briel would never have managed to hold out as long as you did.”

  Lilia was surprised and then shocked as Briel’s arms went around them both. “Thank you, Lilia. My baby and I are grateful for your efforts on behalf of the Zel family.”

  It seemed that she still had a job.

  Lilia managed to get the household back into control in less than a day, and she spent half of her time trying not to think about Xeric and the other half trying to forget his touch.

  When Madame Zel came in with a serious expression, Lilia was on alert. “Yes, Madame?”

  “The Almoss family is coming this afternoon to negotiate the contract for access to the forest. As my heir, you need to be there.”

  It was already after lunch, so Lilia asked, “When are they coming?”

  “They are in the drive. You might need to change your clothing into something more socially appropriate.” Madame suddenly got an impish expression on her features. “Show a little of that pale skin. I will take any advantage I can get.”

  Muttering to herself, Lilia left the office and headed for her quarters. Four minutes later, she was staring at her wardrobe, and she quickly grabbed an afternoon gown that was cut low in front and in back. Xeric had already seen her scars. She didn’t have to hide them from him.

  She rushed to the dressing table and pulled her hair back with jewelled combs. The result of the peacock-coloured gown with the gold and blue crystals was rather pretty. She was showing plenty of cleavage and more than enough of her back.

  The only thing that diminished the effect of the dress was her wrist terminal, but she needed that for the negotiations.

  She stiffened her shoulders, left her quarters and headed to the guest hall. The Almosses were there, and they all smiled at her as she entered the space.

  Yeena greeted her first. “Lilia, you look wonderful. The Zel fashions certainly suit you.”

  Xarit inclined his head. “I must agree with my wife. You look so much more alive now than you did in our home.”

  Xeric was holding a small box. He walked over to her and presented it to her. “Our home is empty without you. I hope this will remind you of us.”

  She took the box in two hands and smiled at him. “I don’t need any reminders, but thank you.”

  Briel came in and looked over her shoulder, “Open it.”

  Lilia smiled and opened the glossy wooden box. Everyone in the room was watching her. A sma
ll crystal vial on a long gold chain was nestled inside the soft fabric interior. Lilia walked to the table, set the box down and she looped the chain over her head so that the vial was precisely between her breasts.

  Briel was so excited, she was nearly apoplectic. “Open it.”

  “Oh. Right.” She pulled the tiny stopper out of the pendant, and she dabbed it behind her ears and her elbows.

  The scent she had first experienced in the lab at Xeric’s home spread outward from her body as she replaced the tiny stopper.

  Briel inhaled and paused. “Wow. The rumours are true. The Almosses finally have a master perfumer after all these years. It suits you perfectly, Lilia.”

  Yeena looked pleased, and Xarit’s chest puffed with pride.

  Madame Zel cleared her throat. “Right, well, I believe we have access to negotiate?”

  Yeena looked a little perturbed at having her moment of gloating curtailed, but she nodded. “Of course. That is why we are here.”

  They sat around the table with the Zels on one side and the Almoss family on the other.

  Madame Zel slid the draft of the contract over to Madame Almoss. “I believe this is fair-use fees for what we need from the forest.”

  Lilia smiled at Xeric, but he kept his face businesslike.

  Madame Almoss shook her head and pushed the contract back. “It is insufficient for what we are giving to you.”

  Madame Zel flinched at the bald refusal. “The terms were fair.”

  “They were fair when I had two sons and a chance of an heir marrying into the family. Now, I have one son and he has fixated on a particular woman. If you can send her to me as my daughter and heir, you can have what you like from the forest.”

  Madame Zel looked from Xeric to Lilia and back. “She is my heir.”

  “If she becomes my daughter-by-mating, she can still be your heir, but also my heir. We can finally join the families and share the forest under one bloodline.”

  Madame Zel cut to the chase. “She may not be able to breed a Wralik child.”