RPOV

I managed to reach the stable with minimal stumbling. Each time of course Trent was the ultimate gentleman grabbing my arm and waist. Each time he sent tingles through my body and I had to remind myself to breath. I think he was getting a kick out of my reaction.

Why the hell doesn't he have lights out here. Not everyone he has on the grounds are Elves, he does have a few people around that could benefit from some lighting.

God what is wrong with me, I don't drink much and should have taken it easy with the wine. I think with the job offer and the stress with Jenks and his mood swings and then with Ivy always with Nina I am just stressed and lonely. Hence possibly why I am still at Trent's.

We have fun and I love riding the horses.

So we quietly got the horses ready and were on our way.

Riding for a short time at a full gallop did help clear my head a bit, it was dark enough Trent was just a shadow on his horse so I was not very distracted at all.

We slowed to a good pace as we met the wooded path that would eventually bring us to the lake. I loved riding at night, but was always leery to do so on unfamiliar ground. But Red seemed to know her way well and followed Tulpa.

Trent stopped near a large oak tree and jumped off Tulpa and walked her just off the path. So I followed his actions, apparently we were stopping and taking a break.

Trent took Red's reigns from me and brought her next to Tulpa. I turned and had to catch my breath once again. The view was beautiful.

A lake with the bright full moon shining above reflecting off the water. I leaned against a tree a couple of feet away from the lake. There was a small incline to the water and the water looked so inviting.

God it was a really hot sticky night. The temperature dipped to maybe mid seventies tonight and the humidity felt like 110%, well I know it was not that high, but it felt horrible. God I wish I put my hair up.

Trent came to stand beside me.

"The view is beautiful." I said quietly

Trent took a deep sigh "Yes it is."

"So you excited to see the girls tomorrow?" I asked as I turned slightly to see his side view.

"Of course, I miss them very much. It has been hard not seeing them for this time, but for now it is the best solution we can agree on."

He stayed looking out at the lake.

"It is a beautiful night, a perfect night for.."

"A wedding" I finished as he said "A Wedding"

"Yes this is the perfect spot with the full moon and lake." Trent said thoughtfully.

Trent took another deep breath then paused "Quen is going to be on me about re-negotiating my contract with Ellasbeth, so although I cannot wait to see the girls I have been trying to keep my calendar busy the next couple weeks."

"Contract what for visitation with the girls?"

"No, for our marriage."

"What, a contract for marriage?" I found it hard to keep the humor out of my voice, what is wrong with these people, ok I get maybe a prenuptial agreement since they probably both had more money then god.

"You mean like a prenuptial agreement?" I asked.

"No, well yes that too, but that piece is not a problem, we are both in agreement with all the financial terms."

Trent paused, then continued.

"No, when I was arrested that was not a violation of our contract because since my name was cleared it was of no fault of mine that the marriage did not take place. Which I can not thank you enough for by the way." he said as he gave me a quick glance.

"But after that she broke it off, seemingly for good."

He paused just looking out taking in the view.

"Then after I attained Lucy, her attorney contacted my attorney and she wanted to reinstate the contract, I had no intention of trying to give her any legal difficulty for violating our contract. For our arranged marriage."

"Quen and Jonathan both feel strongly that this marriage needs to happen. The East coast and West coast Elves need to be united and this is the best way to accomplish this."

Why is he telling me this, I knew some of this at some level, but a marriage contract what the hell.

So I ventured to ask "And you do not agree?"

Trent continued, "Well I do agree this is the best and easiest way to accomplish this task, but I am not convinced that we cannot find another alternative then...this." He said with irritation in his voice.

Trent turned to me then and continued "This gave me a chance to try and get the upper hand and ask that some of the terms of our contract be renegotiated."

"Right now I am condemned to a long lonely life, I have given up so much and as it stands today that will be what my life will always be. Maybe that is why my father seemed so bitter sometimes."

Trent took a couple of steps and leaned with his back against the large tree a couple of inches from me. So I turned to face him and he was a bit closer than I intended, but I was not going to back away. He was opening up to me and I felt bad, although I kept thinking why me, why do you have to have this conversation with me. Talk to Quen or Maggie, someone else, anyone else.

Trent continued again after the awkward silence "I am pretty certain both my parents had lovers, yes they grew to love each other and were intimate with each other at times, but they had lovers they really cared about and they were loved in return."

"I am not sure about Ellasbeth's parents, I think her father may have taken on a lover for a short time, but they were unique and they really did fall in love. Many of these arranged marriages are really business partnerships and nothing more. I do not think Ellasbeth and I will ever truly love each other."

He looked down and shuffled his feet a little. "I asked that we both be allowed a discreet lover if we should so choose, and she accused me of just looking for an opportunity to flaunt my whores in front of her. She is unreasonable, many others within her circle have these arrangements."

"I really believe she does not care about our race at all, but just sees marrying me as a status symbol, that she can marry and control me as she sees fit, and I will bow to her in order to help our race. There is no talking sense to this woman. I mean I know she does not love me..." Trent trailed off turning to meet my shocked eyes.

"Why would she not want the opportunity to find love herself. I am willing to marry her and give her that, as long as I can do the same. I don't know if she even really loves Lucy, not the way a mother should, Lucy is just another pawn in her game of life."

Trent took a long pause, looking back out to the lake, then brought his eyes back to mine.

"Rachel, I for the first time in my Life do not know if I can do what is expected of me."

I couldn't help but feel the sting in my eyes, oh my god, I never realized how horrible this all was for him.

I tried to hold back my shock and be the friend he needed, "So this happens a lot, you know not being faithful."

"It seems strange that there are so many will men and woman willing to be involved with a married man or woman.

Trent's expression changed looked almost angry, "Don't be so immature Rachel, even your mother used a lover for her own needs. It happens all the time in inderlander society."

"Hey don't bring my mother into this, it was a different situation. And I am sorry, but I guess I just always saw myself falling in love and getting married to one person, so it is hard for me to understand. I see Ivy, vampires are known to have multiple lovers, but marriage often is not involved."

Trent look down at the ground again. God I didn't even know what to say, what could I possibly add to help him feel better.

Trent looked up at me then, "Do you not think that is what I long for to, I may be a bastard, but I still would like to have a relationship without contracts and games." He then pushed himself away from the tree and walked over to Tulpa who snorted as Trent gave him a nice long stroke down the side of his neck.

I walked over near Trent, but still keeping a safe distance.

"Trent I am really sorry, I don't know what to say. This is way outside of my scope of understanding." I looked down and sighed, then looking back up meeting his eyes.

"Well I wanted you to know some of this, for one to help explain part of why the contract for the director position is so important to me. When I am forced into giving in to my marriage from Hell, it will make it harder for Ellasbeth to force you from Lucy and my lives. She sees you as a threat and no matter what she is told she thinks there is more to our relationship then there is. Lucy loves you and needs to have a strong capable woman in her life that has a heart, and Rachel you have a heart of gold, whatever you do you always do it with good intentions. And we need that in our life."

He keeps going from Lucy needs me to saying we, deep down I think he feels he needs me in his life as much or more than Lucy does.

This was way too much seriousness, and I was still hot and sweaty from the heat and humidity. "Trent I will seriously look at the contract, but I am not promising anything yet."

"Hey how clean is that lake?" I asked.

"Huh! Um, well some of the grounds crew fish here, and they do eat what they pull out of the lake, so I guess pretty clean, why?"

"Do they ever swim in it?"

"Well yeah, actually in another clearing about half a mile away there is a spot with a dock that you can swim at, in fact I was thinking about taking the girls there sometime to try to get them swimming. Why?"

"This is enough serious talk for one night I think we need a mood booster, and I am just way too hot and sticky out here. Let's go swimming."

"Uh, Rachel I guess we could, but I didn't come prepared..." Trent states with a confused look on his face.

As I began pulling my shoes off, I looked up. "God Trent I have a bra and panties on, they probably cover more than that bathing suit you saw me in, besides you've seen me naked before." Then I looked down concentrating on getting my socks off.

I looked up and Trent was just staring at me like I had two heads.

"Whats wrong do you go commando?"

"What, no, but this is not really appropriate."

"look just pretend we are at camp and snuck away, its something some of the older kids did, and I was just never feeling up to being able to go off with them and swim. I just was not strong enough and always missed out. So you can join me or just stand there w,staring at me like a pervert, but I am going in either way."

"I am not staring" Trent stammered as he began working on getting his boots off.

I undid the button on my jeans and the zipper and hesitated, crap on toast what was I thinking? Well too late now, I am not going to chicken out now. I quickly pulled my pants down, then went to turn my back on Trent and caught a glimpse of him quickly putting his head down so I wouldn't see him watching me, acting like he was concentrating on get his boots and socks off. Why was he being shy, god with a body like that he had nothing to be shy about.

I quickly pulled my tank top off and threw it on top of my pants and shoes. I turned around feeling extremely naked looked at Trent whose eyes I caught slowly working their way up my body, ok so maybe the bra and panties were a little more revealing then my bikini, but too late. Trent was just standing up from getting his boots and socks off and I ran an jumped into the lake.

I went under and came back up with such a refreshed feeling, the water was great. I tried to see where Trent was and caught a glimpse of him, I could only get a partial view now from the water, but I could see him from about knee up so that was plenty as he was working on getting his pants down. He then grab the bottom of his t-shirt and pulled it up. Oh yeah it was a great view, especially by moonlight. I could see the moonlight glinting off his bare chest.

Tent walked to the edge with a grin "So who is the starring pervert now?"

Just like Trent to try and embarrass me, well although I may be embarrassed he wouldn't be able to see my bright red face so I was going to play it off like what he said did not embarrass me. "Hey, I never tried to pretend I don't like the view of pretty man. Now get in the water Kalamack."

Wow he looked great, ok so mystery solved at least for today Trent had a dark pair of boxer briefs that were very very snug, and very delicious looking. A thought occurred to me, I wonder if he had tan lines, his skin always seemed to have a nice tan to it. hmmmm wouldn't I like to know...

Just then Trent jumped in with a splash, then came up out of the water only about a foot away from me.

"See isn't this water great? Its better than I imagined." I said as I began to swim away a little.

Trent gave me a serious look and said "You know there are fish in here and turtles and who knows what else."

I giggled a little and said "I'm not afraid of what might be in the water." Then I dove down into the water and grabbed his foot and yanked him down into the water a bit.

I let go and then came up for some air, only to not see him anywhere in sight. Great, what did I start now, where was he? Could he see good under water? Than something grabbed me by the waist and pulled me down into the water.

We then both came up at the same time for air with him still holding onto my waist with his chest pressed against my back.

Then in a low husky voice Trent whispers "You know you may be good at many things Rachel Morgan but I am still stronger than you physically." Then he quickly let go, leaving my back feeling cold where it was burning hot from his body heat. Yes I was playing with fire. The story of my life.

I turned around and couldn't see him again, Damn now where was he? He was going to attack again, hmmm what should I do, I got very still and thought I felt water movement behind me so on instinct I turned to avoid the assault, just as Trent went to grab me again, but this time because I turned he grabbed me putting himself in front of me so instead of his chest being pressed to my back it put us in a much more intimate position, which I am not sure if he realized as he pulled me down, when we came back up for air, oh yeah he was still clinging to me, but when we came up the playful smile was much more serious with us almost face to face with my chest pressed tightly to his chest, our legs entwined, Trent slowly let go of me. But this time he seemed much more reluctant to do so.

After that we just swan a splashed some and tried to think of glimpses of memories from camp. There was very little we could remember. But I finally asked him a little about Jasmine. "Do you remember much about Jasmine."

"Little bits and pieces. I remember some things, but I keep forgetting her name."

He looked thoughtful then "I know she liked me, and I always thought I liked her, but then sometimes I am not sure."

"Well you gave her flowers..."

"Yeah I guess I did, but" he trailed off, "I remember making her cry."

"Yeah, that was why I threw you into the tree, I remember that. I thought you were teasing her."

"Right, but I think it was something like because I liked someone else and she really liked me, but I didn't feel the same. I am pretty sure that was why she was crying."

"Well you were still being mean."

"Yeah well after our horse ride I thought we were friends. I cried in front of my father and felt hurt and betrayed, I hated you for a long time for throwing me into the tree. But then I just couldn't stay angry at you after a while. I wanted my father to let you come back to camp, I begged him, and he just wouldn't allow it. He said that it was better to keep you far away from me, you were no good for me and some day I would thank him for it."

"I always wondered what went on with the grown ups back then, he and my mother were close with your dad and trusted him with their lives, yet he wanted me to stay away from you. I am not sure if that was what always drew me to you. Over the years I kept tabs on you through your IS career, some of what you did was amazing, and some of what you did seemed clumsy, but come to find out your boss was trying to set you up to fail."

"Yeah, yeah, enough serious talk for tonight, you trying to depress me more?"

"Depress you more, why? What is depressing about your life?"

"Just Jenks is sad and moody with so many of his kids growing up and moving on, Ivy is always with Nina, which is great, because I am glad she has someone she loves besides me, but I am lonely and realizing I have friends, but they are all moving on and I am alone for the first time in years, I was alone before I left the IS and was fine with it then, but the last few years I guess I got used to people being around all the time."

"Well, join the club. Depressed and lonely is the story of my life."

So I splashed Trent then, "Stop it no more depressing talk. I think I am going to get out now." We swam over to the edge, looking up I said "Well it was easy getting in, but I never thought about how it would be getting out."