Judith (Queen's Birds of Prey Book 3)

by Kathi S. Barton

  “If you have anything to say to Mr. or Mrs. Beswick, you’ll contact their attorney. As of this morning, all their money issues have been taken care of.” The man, he didn’t know his name, snickered. “Would you like to be laughing out the other side of your face, Mr. Tumble? I’ll gladly fix it so you never laugh again without thinking about what I have done to you. I’m not one to fuck with. You’ll come to realize that if you don’t go away.”

  “How did you take care of your money issues, Mr. Beswick? Last I heard, just yesterday, as a matter of fact, you didn’t have a pot to piss in.”

  Charlie didn’t get a chance to speak to Judith when she told him she was sorry. The movement was nearly too fast for him to have seen properly. The man and his briefcase were just simply gone. Charlie looked at Judith.

  “He was annoying. I hope you don’t mind, but I’ve taken care that no one will ever come here again.” Charlie nodded at her. “That is if you decide you don’t wish to come to the castle and live with Duncan. And myself, I guess. I’d like for you to be there. Both of you.”

  “Is that man dead?” Judith told him she’d taken care of him, but not killed him. “By taking care of him, I’m assuming I don’t want to know what that means.”

  “I don’t mind telling you that he’s currently in the middle of his street in front of his house, dancing. I also don’t mind telling you that he’s buck naked, and tossing dollar bills into the air as he does it.” She grinned at him. “I don’t think he’s going to be collecting on innocent people again either. He was never turning in the money you and Sara gave him.”

  “I figured he wasn’t. Not an honest man, then?” She shook her head. “Do you usually take care of nasty men by making them dance naked in front of their home?”

  “No, usually I just kill them. But I didn’t want you to think badly of me on our first meeting.” He grinned back at her. “You’re going to be a lot of fun, aren’t you? My sisters, the other birds, they will have a wonderful time teasing you too, I’m thinking.”

  “I’ve not had a great deal to be funning about, I think.” She told him she was so deeply sorry for that. “You know, I think you mean that. I mean, you’re not just mouthing the words because you think I need to hear them, are you?”

  “No. I’d never do that to you. Or your wife. But I do want to warn you, I will tell you the truth. So be prepared for it.” Charlie stared at the woman. She was someone he could trust. Someone, he thought, he could depend on no matter what was going on. “I will protect you, with my entire being, should you need it. I won’t allow anyone to harm or take advantage of you ever again.”

  “Thank you.” He finally closed the door. It was a good feeling, not having to worry about someone barging in on his and Sara’s life. Charlie looked around his home, the one he’d been living in for some time now. “I hate it here. It was all we could get into when the cottage fell down around our ears. We didn’t know what to do when we heard that our daughter was dead. Felt it like a dagger in our hearts.”

  “We didn’t know you were around, or we, all of us, would have found you sooner. There wasn’t anything in the books about you. I think now it was to keep you safe. So no one would come for you to take over the lands and such she’d left behind.” Charlie told her he’d thought that was it. “If you come back with us, both of you, you’ll be safe. I’d like, and I’m sure the other birds would like to hear of Dante when she was younger. The queen was such a wonderful person. She gave her life for the people in the keep that day. She knew the king of that era would have surely killed her for her lands and monies. Dante decided to go in her own way. But she made sure the people were well beyond the hands of anyone that came around.”

  Charlie knew his little girl would have done everything in her power to keep people safe. He also knew Dante didn’t contact them for the sole reason to keep them out of harm’s way. She was and would always be the best part of Sara and himself.

  As they joined Sara and Duncan in the little room that served as several rooms at once for them, he sat down on the couch alongside Duncan. He and Sara were talking about the castle. Oh, how he wanted to see it.

  “I was just telling Duncan about his mother when she was a child. Even then, she was set on making people’s lives better.” Charlie agreed and had to smile when his wife continued. “There was this man who lived across the way from us. He’d been down on his luck for some time, and Dante gave him her pin money. But she did it in a way I don’t think he realized she’d helped him.”

  “I have a man much like that one near where we live. He is forever calling me up and telling me that he’ll do this or that if someone comes onto his property. I have told him of the six thousand acres that divide us, but he just won’t stop. I think he’s a lonely man who needs to talk to someone. I give him that.” Judith told Duncan she’d take care of him. Charlie’s mind jumped to where Duncan’s went, and he asked her not to kill him. “I think, as I said, he’s lonely.”

  “I wasn’t going to murder him. I was just going to talk to him.” She looked at him, and Charlie felt his face heat up from her look. “I’m not a monster. Unless, of course, he needs his ass kicked. Then all bets are off. I’ve not had a tasty meal as my bird in a long time.”

  He wasn’t sure if she was joking or not. Charlie wasn’t even sure if she had a sense of humor. But when she winked at him with a devilish smile, he knew he was never going to play any kind of betting game with her. He’d not just lose his clothing, but she might well make him dance in the street naked himself.

  Chapter 3

  Jude was trying her best to remain calm. Since the first time she realized what he was to her, Duncan had been right there. It didn’t matter if she was just going into or coming out of the bathroom, he was standing just outside the door. If he didn’t leave her alone to give her time to think, she was going to be a widow before she ever claimed her mate.

  “Do you need anything?”

  No, she told him, then stopped walking to the kitchen. He ran into her from behind. Okay, she thought, I’ve had enough. She turned toward him and let go of her temper. “Go the fuck away. I mean it. You’re too close. Too much. Just leave me to think, or I swear to you, I’ll take flight and leave you here on the ground.”

  “I’d find you.” She growled at him and desperately wanted to hit him. But he didn’t seem to be bothered by her anger or her telling him to go away. “I’d like a kiss. If you think you can give me one without taking my lips off.”

  “I might well yet do that.” He simply grinned larger at her. “Look. You’re driving me insane. I’m not usually so closely followed when I’m working. I want to make things absolutely perfect for the party. I can’t get shit done if you’re right on my fucking heels all the time.”

  “You kiss me, and I’ll leave you alone for a little while.” She asked him how long was a little while. “Good question. Thirty minutes. I’ll leave you alone for thirty minutes, then come back for another payment. I think that’s a fair trade. Don’t you?”

  “No. A fair trade would be me having Piper blow her breath over you and ending everything that is bothering me.” Duncan told her Piper would not do it; she liked him. “Not as much as she does me. Now, one kiss, and you’re going to go and find yourself something to do that does not involve walking all over me when I stop.”

  As soon as he pulled her into his arms, she knew this was a mistake. He was going to take so much more from her than just a kiss. Which, she thought, was going to be nothing like a touching of the lips. Wrapping her arms around him as he bent her to his body, Jude felt the warning signals go off everywhere in her mind.

  “Judith, I’ve loved you all my life.”

  His mouth grazed over hers, the barest of touches. The heat was there, along with so much passion, she was almost giddy for him to taste her. As his lips hovered over hers for a scant second, just enough for her to want to beg him t
o kiss her, he took her lips with his, and Judith knew she was never going to get enough of this man.

  The kiss stole her breath. It made her heart skip several beats as he held her to him. Needing something to hold on to, she curled her fingers into his hair. Held onto any part of him she could hold. She felt his tongue, all but begging for entrance. Not only did she allow him in, but welcomed him with her own.

  Nothing in this world or any other could have prepared her for the devastation his mouth did to her body. Even when he lifted his head, just for the briefest of moments, Jude wanted more. Needed more of anything he was willing to give her. As he dipped his head, taking her mouth once again, she felt the air move around her, the ground beneath her feet shift. Jude thought for sure his kiss had ended all life as they knew it.

  The second kiss was everything. Jude felt her body tighten with a climax. The kiss taking her to peak was scary when she thought of what he’d do to her when they made love. Duncan lifted his head once again and held her to him while she got herself under control. Telling her heart it was all right for it to continue to beat while inhaling slowly, she felt Duncan set her up on her feet and hold her. Her nostrils filled with not only his scent but the smell of her own lust as well.

  “Are you all right?” She couldn’t answer him, so she simply shook her head. “Yes, I think I feel the same way. I didn’t expect—I suppose I should have guessed it would be wonderful to taste of you, but I never thought the world would move for us.”

  “I came.” As soon as the words left her mouth, she was mortified by them. But he didn’t tease her or even laugh at her. Instead, he leaned his forehead to hers and held her upright. “I’m not sure what I should be saying to you right now.”

  “I don’t either, to be honest. I never thought a kiss could do so much to one’s body. I know I’ve never felt this way with anyone before.” She told him she’d not either. “I don’t want to allow you to walk away from me. I have a feeling, and I have no idea why, but if you walk away from me right now, I’m going to think this was all a dream.”

  She pinched him, taking a chunk of the flesh on his arm and twisting it hard. When he asked her what she was doing, she smiled at him.

  “I was making sure we were neither one dreaming.” He looked at her with furrowed brows. Jude wondered if he hadn’t thought it was funny. Then, he did the most incredible thing—he threw back his head and laughed. It was just like hearing his mother laughing at some joke decades ago. “Your mother laughed like that. She never cared what people thought of her when she was in good humor. And she was a great deal—in good humor.”

  “When she’d come to visit me, Mom would always have a tale about you and the other birds. How Mercy would take her up too high in the sky. How easily you were able to take down a kingdom. She loved you six like her own children, I think.” Jude told him she had loved Dante just as much. “She knew that, as well. Mom, she told me once that without you birds there with her, she would never have survived life. Living to be as old as she did, it wasn’t something that common to women of that era.”

  Jude made her way to the gift room. It was actually the living room, but the furniture had all been put in storage, and gifts for the children had been brought in. The large bags, filled with several gifts, had a name on each of them. Jude was glad when Duncan joined her in the room. It didn’t even bother her when he was close to her any longer.

  “Before I forget to tell you, I’ve spoken to your neighbor, Mr. Bloom. And before you ask, yes, he’s still alive.” Duncan asked her what he wanted now. “I’m sending a car for him to be here in the morning when the children arrive. I told him we needed someone here to tell the children the Christmas story. I appealed to his sense of duty in making sure it was done correctly. I also know this will be his last holiday. He isn’t long for this world.”

  “Does he know?” Jude told him what she’d found out. “So you have the gift of seeing as well. I do, but it is sort of temperamental on what it shows me.”

  “Mine is much stronger since I came here.” She turned her back to him as she continued. “I know too that you and I are going to have a child by the next Christmas. It’s not of our body.”

  “I don’t have a problem with that if you don’t.” Jude told him she didn’t care so long as he knew she knew nothing of small children. “I know a little. For a while, I was a children’s doctor. I know seeing them as a doctor isn’t the best of circumstances, but I did learn a great deal. What do you think of my grandparents living here?”

  The change of subject didn’t bother her—it was the question. Turning to look at him, she wondered why he’d think she would have a problem with them living in his home. When she told him what she thought, he shook his head.

  “No, it’s our home. I did this for us. All the improvements were done with you in mind. The perches have been put back the way they were simply for us to use when we fly. This house, that’s all it is—just a house. I want to make it a home with you. It seems silly to say this, but I’ve never lived in my own home before. I’ve lived in other people’s homes, lived with people in a big house. But never have I lived in my own home before.”

  Jude thought about what he was saying. She hadn’t either. It had either been a small place where she could store things, a place so people wouldn’t be asking questions about where she lived when she was out. And if it hadn’t been just a place for others to see and know about, she’d lived with the other birds.

  “I don’t know much about having a home either. I’ve seen the houses that Mercy and Blaze have. I think their mates have a great deal to do with the touches I can see there now. But as for making myself a nest, a home, I’ve never had the inclination to have one before.” Jude sat down on the floor to finish up the last of the candy canes she’d been putting on each of the smaller packages for the adults coming in the morning. “This is our first Christmas too. I mean, we’ve celebrated them, but nothing like this. I can’t remember the last time I put up a tree or got a card from someone.” She thought of all the times she’d not even realized it was the holidays until it was almost too late.

  “I think we’re in the same mind frame on that. You’ve been around for so long, it became just another day to you. Another year you’ve been alive. My grandparents have been doing the day to day for a long time, Grandma told me. Just getting through one day at a time.” Jude asked him about their money situation. “I didn’t know about it. I’m glad you were able to take care of all those outstanding debts. I would have gotten in touch with them before had I thought they were still alive.”

  “I can understand why Dante didn’t tell anyone about them. They would have been murdered to bring her to heel. It was like her hiding you away. If they didn’t know about you, you couldn’t be harmed in any way and used against her. They would have too.” Duncan told her he knew that too. “I don’t know why she didn’t tell us about you, however. I’m sure she had her reasons. Maybe she was afraid if someone were to capture us, or worse yet, if she were to fall to another king, we’d have to tell them about you. I wouldn’t have. But back then, we were simply her birds and not anything that could have changed into a human form.”

  “In one of her books, she talks about changing you to humans when she was in a place she could live without the help. I don’t think she meant to make it so you could be birds too. But when she spoke of you six, she seemed to have hated what she’d done to you. Making you larger than life. Her own death squad, so to speak.” Duncan sat on the floor with her, tying the ribbon around some of the packages as she was doing with the candy canes. When he stood up suddenly and smacked his hand on his head, she thought for sure something had happened. “The fireplace. I completely forgot to show it to you guys. Can you round up the others for me? Mom showed me something in the fireplace that I had to give to you. I cannot believe I forgot about it. I’ll meet you in the living room with them.”

  When he to
ok off toward the back of the house, Jude did what he asked. He said his mother told him about a place in the fireplace we have to look at. Mercy asked if she could bring Miley too. I don’t know why not. I mean, she’s a part of us as much as Joel is. But I don’t know what he’s talking about, just so you know, so I can’t give you a heads up on what might be in the fireplace. I don’t even know if it’s going to be dangerous. Not that I think she’d want to hurt us after all this time.

  When the others showed up in the living room, Jude asked to have something brought in to tide them over until dinner. They were eating later tonight, so they could go to bed full and get up early. She had no idea why that made them all sleep better, to have a full belly. But it worked, and she wasn’t going to change it now.

  Grandma and Grandpa Beswick came into the room with them. Jude had asked them to be there as well. Tomorrow they were going to get their titles back, and Jude was excited about that. They’d be Lord and Lady Beswick of Honeysuckle Estates, the name of their estate long ago. They’d have their own home if they wanted to move, but she and Duncan hoped they’d live in the castle with them. The two of them were sweet, and she was getting to love everything about them being there.

  ~*~

  Duncan tried to remember which of the stones his mother had told him to push. If he was honest with the others in the room, he was nervous about doing this. Before he could settle on one stone, like it was going to make a difference if it was the wrong one, Joel stopped him.

  “Before you do that, I’d like to say something.” Duncan turned and nodded when he stood up. “I’ve only been a part of this family for a short time. I wanted to tell all of you how much I’ve come to love you. I know it’s sappy, but I had to say it. You know, just in case there is some kind of poison in there that’s going to kill us all off.” Mercy told him he was immortal, and he didn’t have to worry about that. “Oh yeah. Well, hell, go ahead and release the Kraken.”