As he stood there contemplating the imitation rock wall in front of him Gryph tried to decide how best to approach Sariana this morning. It was not an easy decision. When all was said and done, he did not know a lot about women. No man did. The fact that this particular female was from the eastern provinces further complicated the matter.

She had lived in Serendipity for a year, but it was clear she did not yet know all the local customs and laws. If she had known them, she would have stayed in Gryph's bed last night. Any western woman would have recognized the full significance of what had happened.

Gryph was faced with the task of explaining everything to Sariana this morning. He turned off the waterfall and reached for a thick towel. He did not look forward to the coming encounter. Something told him his new bride was not going to enjoy learning of her status. He had really botched this business of wooing a Shieldmate. Gryph damned the medic's painkiller and damned his own impatience.

There was nothing to do but go forward and finish the business. He tossed aside the towel and went back into the main chamber to dress.

He did so carefully, pulling on a clean shirt, trousers that had recently been pressed by one of the household attendants and his best jacket. Then he spent several minutes cleaning mud off his boots.

When he was finished he critically examined his image in the gilded mirror. He looked reasonably neat and clean, but that was about all that could be said for him. Nothing he did was going to make himself look handsome by city standards. It was difficult to turn a warrior into a man of fashion.

Gryph turned away from the mirror, his mouth hardening into a determined line. Sariana had started all this, whether she realized it or not. She would have to take the consequences. Gryph just wished he had a little more time in which to ease her into a willing acceptance of the situation.

Gryph stood thinking for a moment, remembering what had happened the night before in that filthy alley. Because of those events he knew he could not grant Sariana any time at all. Everything had changed now. There were more dangerous matters to be handled than a wife who did not yet realize she was a wife.

Gryph walked out of the chamber and down the hall to Sariana's room. There was no point in postponing the inevitable. The sooner he got this part over the better, as far as he was concerned. He was a Shield, the only son of a proud family, raised on the frontier, a man trained to hunt other men, but he was, in the end, only a man. When it came to dealing with a woman he was as easily baffled and as thoroughly cautious as the next man.

He halted in front of Sariana's door and pulled the cord that rang the soft chimes inside her room. As he waited for a response he glanced down and saw that he'd missed a scuff mark on the toe of one boot. Irritated, he quickly nibbed it against his trouser leg. The door opened just as he was checking to be sure he'd removed the mark.

Gryph's head snapped up, his senses leaping in anticipation even though he knew a difficult time lay ahead.

For a few seconds he just stared at Sariana. She was smiling hesitantly at him. The morning light poured into the room behind her, highlighting the gold in her sleekly coiffed brown hair. Her eyes were

nearly gold, too, the expression in them feminine and mysterious and shy and questioning. The buff colored suit she wore fit her very snugly, emphasizing her small waist and the proud tilt of her gently curving br**sts. A flash of crimson drew Gryph's eye. The scarlet-toe was clinging possessively to its perch on Sariana's shoulder. It regarded Gryph with an unblinking gaze.

Gryph found himself smiling slightly as he looked at the lizard. Then he met Sariana's eyes again and it hit him full force. This was his Shieldmate, he thought dazedly. He had done it. He had found a woman with whom he could link. The always precarious future of his clan had been provided with one more chance at survival. He had taken the first major step toward fulfilling his primary duty to his clan and at the same time he had found himself a true mate.

Gryph wanted to shout his triumphant joy until the elegant corridors of the Avylyn household rang with the news of what had happened between him and Sariana. He wanted to take his Shieldmate back to his clan house and parade her in, front of his parents and his friends.

But most of all he wanted to sweep Sariana off her feet, cany her into the bed chamber and lay her down on the swinging bed. He wanted to make love to her properly this time. He wanted to watch her respond to him, hear her cries of pleasure and satisfaction, see the full knowledge of their relationship blaze in her gentle eyes.

Instead of ail that, Gryph inclined his head in a formal greeting and said, "I bid you the luck of the day, Sariana."

She returned the polite greeting, her tremulous smile growing more confident. "Luck to you, Gryph. I thought perhaps you would want to sleep in this morning. How is your shoulder?"

He smiled crookedly, memories of the night shimmering through his head. "You will be happy to hear that it feels a great deal better than it did last night."

Sariana's own smile slipped a little and Glyph saw the memories in her eyes. "I'm glad. It must have been quite… quite uncomfortable for you."

"You know exactly how uncomfortable it was for me, don't you, Sariana?" Gryph watched her closely, wondering how much she would admit to remembering. He drew in a deep breath and prepared to make his apologies. He certainly owed her a few. "And I know how unpleasant parts of last night were for you," he added quickly. "In addition to your own personal feelings, you were being bombarded with a lot of what I was reeling. I sincerely regret the pain you experienced last night."

"I'm not sure I want to talk about this, Gryph. I've been thinking, and I've decided that some things are better left undiscussed. I'd had several glasses of punch last night by the time you showed up and I'm afraid I may have been a little drunk when you - "

He interrupted her, intent on completing his formal apology. "I was not in full control, as I should have been. My only excuse is that, as I told you, such a linking as we shared was as unfamiliar to me as it was to you. I didn't realize how much you would pick up on what I was feeling. No one ever warned me the bonding would be that strong. I wasn't prepared for it myself so I couldn't prepare you. If you're worrying about it, I can promise you that next time neither of us will be so jolted by the experience. Our senses will quickly adjust and become attuned. We will learn to filter out the discomforts of a linking and focus instead on the, uh, more pleasant aspects…" Gryph felt himself redden slightly as he ran out of words. For the life of him he couldn't tell what Sariana was thinking.