He did as his woman told him to do. She was formidable in her own right, not because she was intimidating, but because she was relentless in her pursuit of the truth and her willingness to forgive what he was, if what he was needed forgiving. He shoved his chair right up against hers because he needed the physical contact with her.
It amazed him how she let him keep her in his lap while they enjoyed dinner. When they finished, he did the dishes while she dried them.
“Are you ready?” she asked as she hung the towel over the oven handle. “I still keep waiting for the macho-male routine to kick in.”
He winked at her as he flexed his biceps. “Macho-male crap only happens when he’s afraid the little missus can kick his ass.”
“Oh.” She laughed. “You don’t think I can take you?”
He dropped his shoulder and scooped her up over it. “I am sure you could, but we’re talking about two very different forms of combat.”
She let out a soft sigh. “I’d complain about how you’re carrying me like a sack of flour, but I have such a lovely view of your behind from here.”
“Comments designed to lower my defenses will be ignored.” He carried her out into the backyard. He paused to make sure the area was clear before setting her on her feet.
She snorted and then grinned before lifting up her shirt. “Ignore that, pal.”
He cleared his throat. “We’re, um, not going to get to those lessons you wanted if you keep exposing yourself like that.”
She pulled her shirt down and let out a little puff of air. “Fine. Okay, so let’s go with my best defense. Escape.”
“Blinking is a matter of knowing it will happen and having good visualization skills.” He walked to the other side of the patio. “Imagine yourself standing in front of me. Close your eyes and know it will happen.”
She wiggled her nose. Shook her arms. Drew in a breath. And then squeezed her eyes shut. She tipped forward and took a stutter-step to keep from falling on her face. She opened her eyes. “It didn’t work.”
“I’ve got a thousand bucks for you to spend at any yarn store you want if you can get to me without taking a step.” She’d made two pairs of sock and a baby layette in a week. He knew the right carrot to dangle in front of her.
Her eyes snapped shut. He put out his arm to catch her as she stumbled coming out of the blink.
“Holy cannoli, Batman, you owe me a thousand bucks of yarn.” She did a little happy dance. “I did it!”
“The next thousand are going to take a little work,” he said.
“You cannot buy me that much yarn,” she said.
“Independently wealthy,” he said.
“I did it once, so I can do it again. Now I just need to practice it.”
“And you will get practice, but you can do it just moving around the house. Now we’re going to get to the jewelry part of this lesson.”
She wrapped her hand around her pendant. “What am I going to be shooting at?”
He surveyed the area. Targets were the best to use for a beginner, but he hadn’t known they were starting a new sport, and Orden didn’t believe in target practice. “The wood pile,” he said. “Try to hit the chopping stump.”
“Arm myself,” Kenna said. The bow and quiver of arrows materialized in her hands. She grinned. “This time I caught everything.” She fumbled them, and everything clattered to the ground. She did a cute little girl-growl as she bent over to get them. “There has got to be a way the quiver just appears strapped to whatever and however it needs to be strapped. If it’s an emergency, I won’t have to make it all work.”
“I’ll fine-tune it after we get back inside and, um, er, customize the passwords.”
Her eyes rolled as she righted herself. “You have no idea how wrong it is, absolutely, perfectly wrong to call magic words passwords. Am I going to need a log-in next?”
He laughed. “Technically?”
“Of course there is a log-in name for something magical. All right, oh mighty one of the magical sword, what’s your login for Cóir?” She strapped the quiver belt to her waist.
“My voice,” he said more seriously. “Your weapons have a generic setting until we set it up.”
Her teeth gritted. “Why are we using computer terminology to talk about magic?”
“Because you get this darling little twitch in your cheek when I do it,” he said while making sure to move out of reach of the bow before she could take a swipe at him with it.
“I’ll give you twitchy.” She drew in a deep breath. Her eyes narrowed. “Right where the ax head meets the wood.” She nocked an arrow, drew, and then the string twanged, sending the arrow sailing forward to thwack dead into the target she’d called.
“Kenna, have you done this before?”
“No! Please, please do not tell me I am some Artemis wannabe. I didn’t do that.”
“No, but, um, doesn’t the Celtic pantheon need a patron goddess of archery?”
She scowled at him and nocked another arrow. She shot it, and it split the first one down the center and then a third and a fourth. “I am going to run out at this rate.”
“Call them back to you,” Law said.
“Of course.” She glared at the arrows. “Come back.”
Sure enough they appeared in her quiver as if nothing had happened to them and they’d never left.
“That’s convenient,” she said. “Bran, this is freaking me out.”
Then he was standing behind her, his arms looping around her waist. “My mother said I was born to wield a sword. I’ve always been good with the weapon, and I have no memory of learning how to use it.”
She twisted and peeked up at him. “Well, you are old as dirt. Maybe a little sen—”
“Don’t you dare say it,” he warned.
She backed away with a wide grin blooming over her face. “No way, pal. I am positive it’s senility setting in.”
“Wench!” he said with a play growl.
Kenna managed to mumble the disarm command before she took off running toward the lake with a squeal. “Giant!”
“Someone is getting wet,” he said and waited until she was just about to the lakeshore before blinking. He appeared behind her and wrapped his arms around her, lifting her up. “Apologize or you are going in.”
She struggled to get out of his hold. “Bran, don’t do it.”
“Apologize.” He carried her onto the dock and held her over the edge. “Last chance.”
“Jerk!”
“Well, at least I will get the wonderful view of you soaking wet.” He let go.
She shrieked as she splashed into the water. She came up sputtering. “You are so going to pay for this.”
“You’re gonna need to live a long time, centuries even, before you’re good enough for payback,” he said and reached down to help her out.
She splashed him and grinned wickedly just before she stripped off her shirt and tossed it up onto the dock. Then she was doing something under the water, and her shorts were up on the dock next then her panties and last her shoes. “You’re going to have to get into the water if you want to play with the naked girl.”
He laughed as he pulled off his shirt and then his shoes and jeans. He did a shallow water dive into the water off the end of the dock and came up right next her. “And you think this is some kind of retribution, you naked and wet?”
“Oh, I am sure I will come up with something in the next few hundred years.” She turned in his arms until she was facing him. She hooked her legs around his waist. “I just wanted to see if you’d follow me.”
“Anywhere,” he said without thinking. “I will always follow you.” He nipped at her throat. “And you don’t have to take off your clothes to lure me in.”
She kissed him, sucking in his bottom lip as she pulled back. “But that’s half the fun.”
“Kenna.” He breathed her name and had to stop himself from uttering the three deadly words. “I need you.”
“I’m right here.” She brushed the side of her face against his before nibbling on his earlobe.
He groaned. This woman was going to be a wonderful death for him.
“Well, well,” said a familiar and irritating voice. “Never pegged you as the bitch-in-heat type, Kenna.”
Law shifted her behind him as she turned to face the ex-boyfriend standing on the dock. “Do you want your other hand broken?”
James flexed his fingers. “All better, thanks to the faery who sacrificed herself to heal me.”
Law started to lunge, but Kenna looped her arms around his throat. “He’s not worth it.” Then she lifted her head to addressed James. “What do you want?”
James laughed. “You.” He raised his hand and snapped his fingers.
Kenna’s scream shook the water when the Dain appeared on the dock.