Heart Choice Read Online Free PDF Page A

another professional smile.
    â€œTomorrow at Midmorning bell, then,” he said.
    â€œYes.” She’d be up all night studying all the information she could on T’Blackthorn Residence. She was sure she recalled it being featured several times in various publications on architecture, furnishings, how the FirstFamilies lived. She needed plans and dimensions. Old holos of how the rooms looked. Perhaps she could even get some sort of idea of the previous owners’ tastes.
    Then realization struck.
    The Blackthorn curse.
    She stared at him.
    He, just like T’Ash, had lost his entire Family.
    But not to a rival nobleman—to some disease. Her stomach clenched. This man and she had another thing in common. Loss. He had lost all he loved in the past. She had lost the hope of children to love in the future.
    T’Blackthorn stilled as if understanding she’d finally remembered the history of his line. She wondered if he read her own heartache.
    They shared a moment of silence throbbing with untold griefs. Then, T’Blackthorn inclined his head. “Merry meet.”
    â€œAnd merry part,” Mitchella replied through dry lips.
    â€œAnd merry meet again,” he said. “Come, Drina.”
    Drina brushed against Mitchella, purring loudly, leaving little white hairs clinging to her onesuit, then jumped to T’Blackthorn’s shoulder.
    â€œRight,” Straif said to his Fam, then looked again at Mitchella. “Drina thanks you for the pink chamber. We’ll start with that.” Cat attached to his broad shoulder, he strode from the room.
    Mitchella let out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding. She’d hurry home to research T’Blackthorn Residence. At least doing the first room would be easy.
    It was, after all, her own bedroom.
    Â 
 
Since T’Blackthorn Residence had siphoned off much of his energy, Straif decided to walk back home. Even the thought of facing his decrepit home didn’t lower his spirits—much. He’d already taken steps to make it beautiful again, as lovely as it had been in his childhood. A place of warmth and comfort. Just one glance at Mitchella Clover and he knew she could fulfill his dreams for his home. And maybe for himself—for a while, too.
    Mitchella Clover is not too ugly for a human, Drina said.
    Straif laughed. He supposed that was a compliment. His spirits lifted. Mitchella Clover was fascinating and beautiful, and he enjoyed the sizzling punch of sexual attraction between them. He felt more himself and alive than he had for a long time.
    â€œWhat about me?” he teased the little cat sitting on his shoulder. He had plenty of years in the wilds of untamed Celta—since he’d just turned seventeen—and showed the wear of them on his body.
    You are beautiful, Drina said.
    Straif stopped in his tracks. He turned his head and came nose-to-nose with the cat. “I am?”
    I am stunningly beautiful, and you are my FamMan. That makes you beautiful, too.
    He blinked at the cat-logic. He’d never heard of beauty-by-association before.
    You are beautiful inside.
    That was stunning, all right. Since he didn’t know what to say, he kept walking, taking the turn onto Bountry Boulevard, moving from middle-class Druida to Noble Country. The tree-lined street was one of the oldest in Druida and ran along the edges of many of the FirstFamilies estates. Full dark had fallen, and arrhythmic patters of raindrops splashed from the trees. Drina hissed. Straif strengthened the weathershield around her until she was safe from any drips.
    He cleared his throat. “I disagree about Mitchella Clover; she is very beautiful.”
    Drina tensed, her claws biting into his shoulder.
    â€œAh, her coloring complements yours.” That was certainly true, and both females projected femininity. He couldn’t see sharing a rough campsite with either of them. A wisp of memory brought back the