Lost Heart: A Celta Novella (Celta HeartMate Series) Read Online Free Page B

potion do?" they all asked in unison.
    T'Willow stood right before Enata, triumph radiating from him. When he looked at her, his eyes gentled. "This will make you emotionally more open and lets your natural inhibitions subside under . . . we'll say natural attraction, passion, love."
    "Oh."
    "The gentleman coming here will also receive a potion."
    "All right." Enata released Glyssa's and Jace's hands and took the tube. She slowly brought it to her lips. Sparkling bubbles tickled her nose. She tipped a little of the liquid onto her tongue -- sweet. One good breath, then she swallowed the drink. Effervescence slid down her throat, and her tongue swept froth from her lips. Already feeling a little dizzy and slightly hysterical with good cheer, she put the empty tube on the desk.
    She felt great ! Everything inside her loosened, all anxiety vanished, and she became aware of the intimate and pulsing bonds that linked her with her Family. She did love her Family. Every single one of them, even Glyssa's new HeartMate in a brotherly sort of way. She frowned but an errant sad thought escaped.
    "GentleSir Bayrum, as a man not native to Druida City," T'Willow said. "Will you help me in this?"
    Glyssa's HeartMate stared at Enata, then Glyssa, then T'Willow, his expression alive with curiosity. A good thing to have in a brother-in-law. "Yes."
    "We'd recognize him?" Enata asked. Dozens of men's faces swam through her mind, from patrons she'd helped at the PublicLibrary, to those she'd stood next to during ritual circles at GreatCircle Temple, even all the way back to boys of her grovestudy days.
    "You would probably recognize him." T'Willow gave her an impishly charming smile.
    At that moment the housekeeper opened the door and Enata's parents came in, holding hands and radiating excitement.
    "You have found the perfect match for my Enata!" Rhiza D'Licorice's tone lilted.
    "That's right," T'Willow said.
    "I'm not sure about this," Enata's father said.
    "A father's prerogative. However, I think you will be pleased. If you would take one of the twoseats in the corner?" T'Willow indicated the seat on the opposite wall than the one Glyssa and Jace had returned to, far from the focal point of the desk and the two chairs before it.
    "He'll – my– not my HeartMate." Enata bit her lip. "I don't have a HeartMate."
    "No," T'Willow agreed. "But you have a man who complements you. Who will be a wonderful lover, partner and your love throughout your life."
    "Truly?" Tears welled inside her like hope. "And discovered so quickly?"
    "I promise you," T'Willow said. "But like all relationships, even HeartMate ones, this marriage will need tending and love and understanding. But I promise you that he is a good man and you can have a wonderful marriage."
    "Oh." She swallowed. Love, real love. Someone who might put her at the center of his life . . . where she would place him.
    The matchmaker continued, "I know him and his vibrations. I didn't know you, but when I took your hands I understood that you will be an exceptional match."
    "Exceptional," said Enata's father.
    "That's right."
    "We want our daughter happy," said Enata's mother.
    "And so she should be, as happy as any other extremely loving couple," T'Willow said.
    He cocked his head and everyone fell silent. From the open window, Enata could hear a man stomping around, and using curse words that she'd only said in her head. Complementary to her?
    "That man will make my daughter happy? Really?" T'Licorice asked.
    "Get to your places." T'Willow put enough command in his voice to have Enata's Family taking their seats.
    T'Willow opened the no-time potion storage unit and handed a large tube full of a frothy pink liquid to Jace Bayrum. "Give it to him and wait ten minutes."
----
    B arton couldn't believe it ! With a telepathic command, Walker had hauled him out of a training session for the bodyguards and sent him to T'Willow's. Made Barton take a waterfall and change into formal clothes of a