Shelter from the Storm Chapter 11

All standard disclaimers apply. This story is mine, as are the characters of Leyza Berard, Ray Garcia, Phillippe and Marie Vachon, Francine, Solange Laperrier and Jeremy Cole. Please do not borrow them without asking.

The Highlander concepts and the characters of Duncan MacLeod, Joe Dawson and May Ling Shen are not. They belong to Gregory Widen, Davis/Panzer, Rysher, Gaumont and probably a few others I've forgotten. I've dared to use them without permission, and hope they'll forgive the transgression, because this story is merely a labor of love. I'm not making a cent from it.


Three marble steps led down to a landing and another set of glass-paned doors. Duncan pulled one of the doors open, then stepped out into the strong sunlight with caution. Though he was reasonably sure Leyza was the Immortal he felt, and reasonably certain she wasn't after his head, it never hurt to be cautious.

He waited a moment for his eyes to adjust to the light, then he swept a glance around the garden. It was larger than he'd expected, and walled on three sides. Much of the foliage and many of the flower beds already showed signs of rebirth after a long winter's death.

Bright yellow daffodils and tulips in several colors bobbed in the slight breeze. Three sizable cherry trees wore long veils of pink petals, and stalwart evergreens added a lush backdrop of green. But the star of the garden was a large fountain that held court in the center.

Five fat-limbed cherubs stood at the top, spilling water from ewers into a series of scalloped bowls below them. It was a little too flamboyant for Duncan's taste, but like the mustached suit of armor, he suspected it was the kind of piece Leyza would find amusing.

As she again entered his thoughts, he realized that Leyza was nowhere in sight. Still she had to be here somewhere. He strode along a brick path from the door down to where the path split around the fountain, then he followed the left tine of the fork.

That's when he saw her. Comfortably clad in dark blue loose-fitting trousers, a matching top and a black quilted vest, she sat on a wide stone bench at the far end of the garden. Her legs were folded into a lotus, and as far as he could tell her eyes were closed. She looked so peaceful, he was tempted to turn and leave rather than disturb her. But then he remembered - if he could sense her, she would have sensed him, as well, so he'd already disturbed her.

As he got closer Duncan could see that she was not alone as he had initially thought. Two more cats, obviously soaking up the sun, lay sprawled on a bench nearby. One twitched a tail and watched him through slanted eyes as he approached. The other seemed to ignore him, but he doubted that was the case.

A dog, who had chosen to lounge in the shade of the bench rather than in the sun like the cats, lifted a shaggy head when Duncan closed to within two feet of Leyza's bench. The dog - a mixed breed who could claim a husky or a shepherd as one of its ancestors - made a low rumbling sound deep in its throat. Not quite a growl, but a warning nonetheless.

Duncan stopped. Leyza still sat with her eyes closed - not a muscle twitched. Taking care not to startle the dog, he crouched down. "Hey boy," he said, holding his hand out so the dog could smell him. "Its okay - I'm not going to hurt anyone."

"Girl," Leyza corrected him. "Sadie's a female."

"Sorry," Duncan said, smiling. Satisfied that her mistress was in no danger, Sadie let him scratch her head. "Hard to tell from this angle."

Leyza laughed softly, and Duncan cherished the sound. He hadn't realized how much he'd missed it.

She lifted her arms above her head, clasped her wrist, then leaned into a stretch like one of her cats. "I found her on Sadie Hawkins Day," she said. "She'd been badly mistreated, then abandoned. Or perhaps she'd run away. How did you find me?"

Wondering if he'd ever get used to Leyza's conversational zigs and zags, Duncan shook his head as he stood. "I have some connections," he said.

"Well, they must be good ones." Leyza patted the bench next to her - an invitation for him to sit. "I like my privacy, and I work very hard at not being found."

"So I noticed" he said with a small sigh as he sat down, then turned to her with a grin. "And yes, my connections are good ones."

He hoped he wouldn't have to explain about Joe and the Watchers - he wasn't even sure if she knew about the Watchers. But she didn't ask. She simply returned his grin, and his concerns vanished in the warm glow that washed over him.

They sat for a few moments in serene silence, broken only by the faint chirping of some birds building a nest in one of the trees. Then Leyza inhaled deeply and stretched again. "It's a glorious day, isn't it?" she asked.

Duncan leaned forward to rest his forearms on his knees, then he clasped his hands before him. He nodded in response to her question, but he didn't want to talk about the weather. He sensed she didn't either - but perhaps that was all they could talk about.

Staring down at his hands, he took a deep breath, then let it out on the wings of a sigh. "I missed you," he said. Barely above a whisper, his voice cracked under the sudden weight of the sentiment. He hadn't meant to say that, but the unexpected swell of emotion had ambushed him.

Silence spun out between them like shock waves after an explosion. It lasted just a few seconds, but it felt like an eternity. Then Leyza slid her hand up his back.

She squeezed his shoulder with a gentle kneading touch. "Oh Duncan," she said, her mouth close enough so he could feel her breath on his neck.

Resting her chin on his shoulder, she drew soothing circles on his back with her hand. "I'm sorry ... but I was so upset when Raymond called about the fire ... I thought about the students and about how heartbroken they would be with all their hard work destroyed ... I just rushed down there ... I forgot you were waiting for me."

Conflicting emotions kept breaking over him one after the other like waves in a storm tossed sea. He didn't want her pity. And he wasn't even sure that's what she was offering. He had no idea what she wanted from him - nor was he sure what he wanted from her. Nothing stayed put anymore. Needs and desires - everything he used to be so sure of - kept shifting under his feet. He felt like he was walking the deck of a ship on that same storm tossed sea.

He eased away from her, then he stood before her, shuffling his feet. "It's okay," he said. "It's not like we had an appointment or anything."

"Duuncan," Leyza said in a light teasing voice as she caught his hand.

He blinked, shook his head, then looked down at her. For a moment, for a very brief moment, she sounded almost like Tessa. Her voice was different, deeper than Tessa's, but she drew his name out with the same slightly exasperated tone Tessa always used whenever she thought he was taking things too seriously.

Leyza tugged his hand, and he smiled as he sank down next to her again. When she threaded her fingers through his, he sighed and tried to quell his confused thoughts.

"I really am sorry," she said, plucking at the sleeve of his light coat with the fingers of her other hand. "With the fire and all the confusion ... I forgot ... and afterward - when I remembered, I didn't know how to get in touch with you."

"I was worried about you," he said, softly ... not looking at her. He didn't trust himself to look at her. Not yet anyway. "And so were Phillippe and Marie - you could have called them." Try as he might, he couldn't keep the slight hint of accusation out of his voice.

"That's it," Leyza said, standing abruptly. "Pour on the guilt, why don't you? I said, I was sorry." She paced before him, then she raked her bangs back from her forehead with her fingers. But when she turned to him, she was smiling.

She sifted her fingers through his hair, then she traced the line of his jaw. "If you want me to keep in touch, you'll have to give me your phone number."

He laughed softly when she tweaked his nose. "Yeah, I guess I will," he said, then he pulled her down next to him. "Now back up and tell me about this fire. And who's Raymond?" He wasn't sure he wanted to know the answer to that question, but he had to ask.

"A friend," she answered. "I met him in New York City in 1969. I was in the midst of being mugged and he came to my rescue." Leyza smiled as she turned to face him. "He had some artwork with him, and it was really good, so I brought him over here to France so he could go to my school ... well, actually, I ended up sending him to the Sorbonne - but that's another story."

"Whoa, whoa," Duncan said, chuckling as she boarded another of her conversational express trains. "You're going way too fast - what school?"

"Oh ... didn't I tell you about the school?"

"No," he said, taking her hand as if that would slow her down. "You didn't tell me about any school."

"I run a school - and a refuge of sorts - for artisans in the Loire valley near Chateauneuf," she said, smiling.

"I think the property may have belonged to the Chateau at one point, but that doesn't matter. I founded it 146 years ago when I realized that the Industrial Age was catching on. Everyone was entranced by machine-made goods, and so many of the hand crafts were in danger of being lost."

Leyza slipped her hand out of his grasp, then began illustrating her monologue with both hands. Duncan gave up trying to slow her down. It was like walking on a treadmill - he couldn't get anywhere.

Shifting to tuck one foot under her, she sat facing him. "I've spent so many lifetimes working at different crafts myself, I just couldn't let them die out."

In a flash of motion, she rose from the bench, then began pacing. Her eyes sparked with emerald light as she waved her hands with growing enthusiasm. Her lively spirit was so contagious, he could do nothing but sit back and let it consume him.

"I lived with glass blowers in Murano, made lace in Vienna and candles in Strasbourg. I learned to work silver from a little old man in Amsterdam and leather from a master in Florence ... oh, and I was a milliner here in Paris during the Revolution ... that's how I got this house."

Duncan shook his head and grinned. She'd done it to him again. Just when he thought he'd finally climbed aboard her train of thought, Leyza uncoupled his car. He snagged her hand, then pulled her toward him.

"I didn't know making ladies' hats was such a lucrative trade," he said, guiding her so she stood between his knees.

"Huh?" A look of bewilderment clouded her face for a moment, then a smile chased the clouds. "Silly," she said, tugging on his earlobe. "I was successful, but not that successful."

She stepped back, and he thought about pulling her into his lap, but before he could, she sat down beside him again. He slipped his arm around her waist, and she nestled her head on his shoulder. Once more he was content. He could have sat here for the rest of the day and simply listened to her tell her tales.

"One of my best customers, Emmeline - her husband was the Baron D'Amboise," she continued, speaking slightly slower than she had before.

"She came to me one night in tears. They'd learned from a friend that her husband was going to be arrested, so they had to leave Paris. She was heartbroken about having to leave her things behind, and they desperately needed cash for their escape ... so I offered to buy the house and smuggle what I could of her things on to her."

"That must have been hard to explain," he said, smiling as he pictured the scene.

"Oh, I didn't tell anyone about the smuggling ... well, only Pierre, but he was helping me," she said, regarding him with a wide-eyed stare.

"No," he said chuckling. "I meant about where you got the money to buy this house on a milliner's pay."

"Oh," she said with a slight frown. "You know ... Emmeline never asked me where I got the money. I guess she was too upset, then too happy to be able to recover her things ... she never thought to ask."

Leyza stared off in the direction of the fountain for a moment, then she turned back to him and smiled. "Or perhaps I wasn't as clever at hiding my wealth, as I thought I was. Do you think she suspected?"

"I don't know," he replied, wondering how she could question such a possibility more than two centuries after it happened. "But I think you should back up and tell me about the fire."

"The fire," she said, slowly, then she stood and turned away. He could no longer see her eyes.

"It wasn't as bad as it could have been. Only the kiln area was damaged. The fire marshal thinks it was faulty wiring."

Duncan stood, stepped to her side, then turned her around to face him. "But you don't?" he asked softly.

She nibbled at the cuticle on her thumb, then she sighed - a barely audible whisper of a sigh. "What I think is just my wild imagination working overtime," she said.

There was more to this story - he could feel it right down to the marrow of his bones, but he also knew she wasn't going to tell him. Not unless he pressured her into it. Since it was really none of his business, he should leave it alone - right? But that was easier said than done. Something was obviously bothering her. And what if she was in danger?

While he debated with himself over whether he should or shouldn't question her further, he missed the opportunity. Loud snarls and a sharp series of guttural hisses erupted from the bench where the cats had been napping. The two faced off for a moment with teeth bared, whiskers back and tails as fat as feather boas.

In an show of pure bravado, the smaller of the two - a grey tabby - swatted the larger one - an orange long-hair mix - then took off like a Formula 1 race car. The orange one spun its wheels, then sped after the tabby.

They circled Duncan and Leyza, then jumped onto the bench where Sadie rested in the shade. They raced across it, then leaped over to the bench where they'd started. Not wanting to be left out, the dog flicked her tail and barked loudly to let the cats know she wanted to play in their game, then she joined the chase.

"Misty, Scarlet, Sadie - stop that this instant," Leyza shouted in vain, laughing all the while.

The animals made one more circuit around them, knocking Leyza into Duncan's arms, then they headed for the fountain. Having missed one opportunity, Duncan was not going to miss another. He wrapped his arms around Leyza to keep her close.

Though she frequently wore her long hair in a braid, today she'd simply tied it back with a ruffled elastic. As he moved his hands up her back, the silken strands spilled over his fingers. Lifting a handful, he let it pool in his palm. Her hair was warm from the sun, yet cool as it slithered though his fingers. For a moment, he lost himself in the simple pleasure, while Leyza shouted at her animals.

They rounded the fountain, then came racing back toward the starting line for another lap.

"Sadie, get over here, this instant!" Leyza laughed as she snapped her fingers to get the dog's attention, but apparently Sadie was having too much fun. She didn't even pause as she sprinted by in pursuit of the cats.

Leyza held onto Duncan's shoulder with one hand as she leaned back against his arm to watch them over her shoulder. He thought she might break free of his embrace to run after them, but she didn't. Then the sounds of battle faded out to a few muffled snarls as the cats tired of their game. Apparently the dog was ready for another round because she continued to bark.

"That's quite a menagerie you've got," Duncan said, laughing.

"Yeah." Leyza shook her head. "There's two more cats, another dog, a blind parrot and a homeless iguana inside."

She circled her hands in restless patterns over his chest, then she moved one to the top button on his shirt. With her head tucked down, she toyed with the button. Duncan wondered if she had any idea what effect that simple action was having on him. Spirals of need coiled and uncoiled within him. He was tempted to cover her hand with his - to still those teasing fingers - but he couldn't bring himself to do it.

"I seem to be a magnet for strays," she mumbled. 'I think some dog is standing on the Champs Elysee and passing out maps to my house."

Duncan thought about Raymond and the young woman he'd met in the house - and he wondered if that pertained to stray people as well. He tucked one finger under her chin, then tipped her head up so he could look into her eyes.

"Is that how you see me?" he asked, though he wasn't sure he wanted to know the answer.

"No, of course not," she said, but she wriggled out of his embrace.

Spinning away, she took two steps. "Why would I think--" she began, then she turned back to face him. Her eyes twinkled with effervescent mischief. "But on second thought--"

She sashayed back to his side, then studied him with her hand parked on her hip. "The first time I saw you standing there on the bridge, you did have kind of a lost puppy dog look about you."

"Oh great," Duncan said, flapping his arms in exasperation, but he knew she was teasing him. "Thanks a lot."

Grasping his arms, she slid her hands up to his shoulders, then down with a light caressing touch. "No, that's not how I see you at all," she said quietly, searching his eyes.

"I see a man filled with more than his share of sorrow. A man carrying a heavy burden of pain. Still, a man I want to know, because I can tell that he is kind and intelligent. And because he is strong and courageous."

She traced his mouth with her finger, then paused at the edge. "And because I know there's a wonderful smile hiding in here."

Duncan lifted one eyebrow as he gazed into her eyes. "Amazing," he said smiling. How could he resist? "You can tell all that from one look?"

Leyza nodded. "I've got good instincts," she said, watching her finger as she traced his mouth again. "And Madame Martuska's gift, remember?"

She leaned in to place her mouth a feather's width from his. "I missed you too," she said, then she kissed him. Just a tender kiss, a brief inviting kiss that whispered he could have more if he wanted.

And he wanted. He tightened his embrace, then deepened the kiss sinking slowly under the spell she always spun around him. Then something bumped into his leg. With great reluctance, he broke off the kiss and groaned as he glanced down.

"Rooolf," Sadie barked, then she sat down with her tongue hanging out of her mouth, and waited for the results of her bid for attention.

"I think she likes you," Leyza said, laughing.

"I think she has a lousy sense of timing," Duncan said, laughing with her.

"It's not one of her strong points," she replied.

He tried not to let his disappointment show when Leyza straightened his coat collar, instead of resuming the kiss. "So shall we meet at the bridge tonight?" she asked, tugging on one of the collar points.

Duncan thought for a moment. It was now or never - they could continue on as they had, or he could take charge. He knew he might be able to control situation, but whether he could control Leyza was another matter entirely. Still he had to try - he'd let far too many things control him lately.

"We could," he said, watching her reactions. She was playing with his shirt buttons again. This time he did still her hand with his. "Or we could try something a little more normal for a change."

"Normal? I'm not sure what normal is," Leyza said, lifting one eyebrow. A smile teased the edges of her mouth into a curve. "What did you have in mind?"

Duncan took her hands in his, then held them out to the side. "Oh, I don't know ... dinner ... maybe a show--" He pulled her in close again. "Or a little dancing." Then he waltzed her around in a short demonstration.

"You mean like a date?" she asked, laughing softly.

"Yeah," he said, still holding her in a dancing pose. "I guess I do mean a date." Leyza rested one hand on his shoulder. The fingers of her other hand trembled slightly under his.

"I haven't been on a date in--" She leaned back against his arm, then scrunched up one side of her face as she thought. "Well, a very long while. Sounds wonderful. When?"

"I suppose tonight would be too soon?" he asked, hoping against hope.

She cocked her head as she thought for a second that was way too long in his estimation.

"No, tonight would be good," she said, smiling. She eased her hand out of his, but she left his arm in place around her waist as she moved to his side. "So what shall we do?"

He took but a moment to think, so she couldn't change her mind. "Suppose we start with dinner and see where it leads."

Turning toward him, she lifted one eyebrow and smiled. "Dinner is good," she said.

"How about I pick you up ... say around seven?"

Leyza nodded. "Seven it is."

She looped her arm around his waist, then she began strolling back toward the house. "Can you stay for a cup of tea?"

Though the offer was tempting, he shook his head. "I can't - I've got some errands to run."

"Later then," she said.

"Yes," he answered, then he took her hand and kissed it. "Later."