Deep Waters

as Ellas bent his head to kiss her. She decided it was just leftover nerves from the night's scary events. When Elias's mouth moved on hers, the spark of claustrophobia faded back into nothingness.
    But it left its fingerprints in the form of a tiny chill that did not quite vanish. Not even when Elias scooped her up in his arms and carried her back into the bedroom.
    "Do you know what it did to me to see that creep's arm around your throat?" Elias said very softly.
    "It's okay, Elias. You saved me."
    "Tomorrow I'm going to show you a couple of things."
    "Things? You mean Tal Kek Chara things?"
    "Not the whole of it. Just a couple of simple moves that you can use to get out of a situation like that."
    She started to tell him that she had no intention of getting into any more such situations, but she held her tongue. She sensed that he needed to teach her the martial arts moves in order to gain some peace of mind for himself.
    "Okay. But nothing complicated, all right? I've never been the athletic type."
    "Nothing complicated," he agreed. He lowered her gently to the futon and pulled her into his arms.
    She allowed herself to relax into the warm safety of Elias's embrace.
    She found Newlin hard at work when she walked through the door of Whispers.
    "Morning, Newlin."
    Newlin looked up from the display of the latest Suzanne Simmons title that he was arranging on a wall rack. "Hey, Charity. I heard that there was some trouble out at Elias Winters's place last night and that you were there."
    "You heard about it already?"
    "Something about two guys breaking in and trying to beat up Elias."
    Charity wrinkled her nose as she went into the back room. "News travels fast around here."
    "Saw Jeff Collings on the way to work. He told me what happened. He said Chief Tybern thinks Rick Swinton hired some out-of-town toughs to kick Elias's ass. Jeff said that it was the bad guys who got their asses kicked."
    "A colorful but accurate summary of events." Charity stuffed her purse into a drawer.
    "Jeff says Elias knows some kind of weird martial arts stuff that Hayden Stone taught him."
    "Uh-huh. He's teaching me a couple of simple moves."
    Newlin came to stand in the office doorway. "Think Elias would teach me whatever it was that he used on those guys last night?"
    Charity looked up, startled. The tentative hope on Newlin's narrow face surprised her. "You want to learn that Tal Kek Chara stuff?"
    "Is that what it's called?"
    "I think so. Has something to do with a philosophy that uses water to make its points. Pretty murky, if you ask me. You'd have to ask Ellas for the details."
    "Well, that's just it, see." Newlin glanced down at the floor and then raised his eyes to meet hers. "He's kind of different. You get the feeling you shouldn't just barge in and ask him anything he doesn't want to tell you."
    Charity smiled wryly. "Aloof is the word you're searching for, I believe."
    "Huh?"
    "Aloof, remote, self-contained." Charity frowned in thought. "Intimidating, perhaps. But just between you and me, Newlin, Elias isn't nearly as unsociable as he appears on the surface. If you want to study the Way of Water, ask him to teach you."
    "You don't think he'd mind?"
    "You won't know until you ask. But be warned, you're going to learn more about water than you probably ever wanted to know."
    "Water, huh? Okay. Hey, Charity?"
    "Hmm?"
    "You and Winters." Newlin shifted awkwardly in the doorway. "Mind if I ask if you two, are like, well, you know, a couple? I mean, it's all over town that you were with him last night."
    "Ah." So Elias had been right, Charity thought ruefully. Rumors of a torrid affair were no doubt being swapped at the post office at that very minute.
    At least she was maintaining an unblemished record in the scandal department. For a town the size of Whispering Waters Cove, confirmation of a passionate liaison between herself and the new mystery man had to be right up there with walking out on her own engagement party last summer. It was certainly a lot more exciting so far as she was concerned.
    "Jeff says you called Chief Tybern from Winters's place at two o'clock in the morning." Newlin turned a deep shade of red. "And it looked like, well, you know."
    "I know," Charity said dryly.
    Newlin started to back out of the doorway. "Sorry, I know it's none of my business."
    Charity took pity on him. "Don't worry about it. To answer your question, Elias and I are seeing each other socially."
    Newlin nodded sagely.