Chapter 6
“Close your mouth,” Shanelle told Caris with a grin. “You’re about to drool.”
“I can’t help it, Shani.” Caris sighed. “Will you just look at the muscles on that warrior? They look like they’re going to burst right through his skin.”
The muscles Caris found so fascinating were indeed bulging, but then the contest they were watching was one of strength, where two men would clasp hands and attempt to push each other off-balance.
Lines were marked in the grass about two feet behind each contestant, so each had a little leeway, but not too much.
The one to be pushed over his line lost the match.
From where Shanelle and Caris stood, they were seeing more of one warrior’s back than the other’s, and this was the warrior who had gained Caris’s avid attention.
But Shanelle wasn’t seeing anything out of the ordinary.
She wanted to go and watch the visitor events instead, but Caris had dragged her over here first.
This wasn’t a contest for visitors. Visitors simply wouldn’t stand a chance competing against a warrior’s strength, and weren’t expected to.
They could try competing with warriors if they were daring enough, but they had their own contests in marksmanship, dexterity, speed, and agility.
The main event, the one to claim the most arenas, was naturally sword fighting.
The champion sword-fighter had to beat all comers.
The champion of the visitor events could then elect to fight the warrior champion with swords—or not, and likely not.
So, in fact, there could end up being two champions of the competitions, and it was the general consensus that this was how it would end.
Presently, all events were still in the process of eliminations.
Only Caris remained with Shanelle, and, of course, Corth, who was being silently inconspicuous.
Cira had ridden up to Sha-Ka-Ra with one of Shanelle’s escorts and had already made arrangements to spend the day with him before their arrival in the city.
Jadd was sticking close to Dren, both Kystran males feeling quite out of their element amongst so many giants, but they had found a fascination in the sword-fighting competitions, and so had been left behind at those arenas with Yari.
Caris was interested only in warriors, which was why they were still in this section of the park, which had few arenas for visitors.
But Shanelle was clearly getting bored, so it was no wonder her eyes started to wander, first to the spectators on the opposite side of the large arena, then beyond to the line of tents that spread out to the edges of the park.
A white one in front drew her notice because it looked like a miniature version of her father’s pavilion, so she was looking at it when the four men stepped out of it.
They were a little too far away for Shanelle to make out their features, but her attention was definitely snagged, for these were obviously visitors by the dark color of their hair, yet all four were warrior-tall, warrior-big.
Stars, what planet did they come from, that they had such a look of the warrior about them?
Three had hair as dark as Shanelle’s mother, black as the zaalskin bracs they were wearing.
The fourth man had chestnut hair, almost as dark.
The men spoke together for a moment in front of the tent before they split up, two going off toward the front of the park, two coming toward the end where Shanelle stood.
These two were of an exact height, young, she saw as they got closer, maybe four or five years older than she, and handsome, she saw as they got closer still.
She held her breath, hoping they would stop at the arena in front of her, and when they did, she forgot about letting her breath out.
Oh, Heaven’s Stars, was he splendid, the one she couldn’t take her eyes off now that she could distinguish their features.
This one wasn’t merely handsome, he was sensually appealing to every one of Shanelle’s senses.
His black hair was long and thick, caressing warriorlike shoulders and a thick neck.
His skin was darker than golden; his chest and arms were immense, perhaps larger than those of some warriors she knew.
He had an arrogant cut to his square jaw, hard, chiseled lips, a well-shaped nose for his face, and thick black brows that drew together in a serious manner as he spoke again to his companion.
Shanelle was still watching him when his eyes touched on her in passing—and came right back. Azure they were, as light as a midday sky, and disconcerting in their intensity, making her feel things…
She looked away, back to the two warriors straining in the arena, and heard Martha’s voice. “If I’m reading you right, doll, you just got your socks knocked off.”
“Stars, so this is what it feels like.” A fist seemed to be squeezing her belly—no pain, just the strangest, most pleasant feeling.
Martha chuckled. “All right, where is he? I’ve got to see this incredible specimen for myself.”
Suddenly Shanelle felt fearful and nervous. She didn’t want Martha to know he was a visitor. This was so important! Calm down, for Stars’ sake. Where were these emotions coming from?
“Not yet, Martha. I want to be sure I haven’t just conjured him up with wishful thinking.”
“Your whole system’s gone haywire. You don’t get that from fantasies.”
“What’s your Martha saying, Shani?” Caris questioned at her side.
“Nothing. How’s your warrior doing?” Even as Shanelle asked this, the man won the match and Caris started squealing in delight. Shanelle grinned, beginning to feel some of her anxiety dissolving. “You won’t get to meet him as long as he keeps winning, unless no one else challenges him.”
The judge of this arena was already leading in the next warrior, a seven-footer. Caris frowned. “But I don’t want to hope he loses.”
“If it’s far enough along in the eliminations of this arena, then losing here may not put him out of the running. There are the other skills to consider.”
Caris was no longer paying attention to what Shanelle was saying, caught up as she was in the new match, which had just begun.
Shanelle took the opportunity to steal another glance at the black-haired visitor and once more met those light blue eyes head-on.
Stars, had he been watching her all this time?
She felt nervous again, and there was no reason for it.
She wanted him to be interested. She wouldn’t utter a single protest if he came over, grabbed her hand, and dragged her off.
Of course he wouldn’t do that. He was a visitor from another planet.
Visitors, most of them, tended to do things in a civilized fashion. What a waste of time!
Time she didn’t have. But she couldn’t be too easy. She didn’t want to scare him off. He had to want her enough to ask her father for her, but she didn’t know if he wanted her at all yet. Entice him, Shani. Make him come to you. If he loses interest, then you can be aggressive.
Slowly this time, as if reluctantly, she looked away, back to the two warriors straining in the arena. She watched Caris’s warrior being shoved over his line and heard her friend sigh.
“He loses and I win.” Caris was just short of chuckling now. “I think I’ll go over and introduce myself and offer a little sympathy.”
“Go ahead. I’ll wait for you here.”
“She has the right idea,” Martha said as soon as Caris hurried off. “What are you waiting for?”
Shanelle glanced again toward the black-haired visitor, then looked quickly away. He was still staring at her. But his expression was unchanged. He hadn’t even smiled at her yet.
“I’m waiting for him to come to me.”
“We’re not playing games here, kiddo,” Martha said, adding a big dose of exasperation to her tone. “You want him, go get him.”
“Damn it, Martha, it’s not that easy. And let me handle this, will you?”
Determinedly she watched the next match, all of it, without once glancing toward the visitor. The seven-footer won again, easily. He really was mammoth and would likely last a good long while, possibly the rest of the day.
Why hadn’t he come over yet? Visitors weren’t typically shy or hesitant.
Maybe he didn’t want her. Maybe he only found her curious, looking like a Sha-Ka’ani female but dressed like a visitor—except for the cloak she was wearing.
Was it the damn cloak? Did he think it made her unavailable? He could at least ask!
She gave him another quick glance. The moment she did, he entered the arena. Shanelle’s eyes flared wide. Her gasp brought Corth to her side.
“What is wrong?”
“Nothing, Corth.”
“I’d better get a better answer than that,” Martha’s voice warned.
“He’s entered the competition.”
“Well, that ought to be interesting. Now can I have a look?”
“Not yet.”
“I’d be getting suspicious, Shani, if I weren’t monitoring you.”
“Be quiet, Martha.”
Shanelle couldn’t believe he was doing this.
The warrior had at least four inches on him and a great deal more weight.
But the visitor clasped hands with him, took up the correct stance, and then looked again at Shanelle.
In that moment she knew why he was in there.
He did want her. She had been watching the contestants, but he wanted her eyes on him, so he became a contestant.
What a sweet, jealous thing to do—and so foolish.
He couldn’t possibly win. But she’d take a leaf from Caris’s book and give him a dose of sympathy when he lost.