A Haunting Affair
Page 19
“I’m suggesting we forget those worlds and give making our own world a shot.” Doubt crept into his eyes. “Give me time.”
“How long?” Three months? Six months? A year?
“However long it takes.”
Time. She could do that, right? “I’m taking a bigger risk on you, Sam.”
“I’ll make it worth your while.” He flashed his patented sexy grin. He’d missed his calling. He should have abandoned computers and police work for the grift, he’d have been king of the mountain with all his charms. Except there was truth behind the charm. Emma saw this, and knew: it was time. Time to let go. Time to move on. Time to love.
Sam took her hesitation for unspoken denial.
“I know I’m rushing things, but when I’m sure, I’m the kind of guy that doesn’t waste time. Forever’s really made up of minutes and moments and days. I don’t want to have any more of those without you by my side.”
So much shifted in those minutes Emma thought she might slide off the edge of the world if Sam wasn’t there to hold her steady. “You don’t live in Manhattan anymore.”
“I still have the condo. I’ve decided to locate Lost and Found on a different property in Meyerville. The Lodge has too much blood and bad memory. Permits and things all need to be filed again, it will give me the down time I’ve needed.” He released her and smoothed a strand of hair back behind her ear. The familiar warmth she’d missed flooded through her helping sell his case.
“Anyway, I have another proposition.”
“Risking your heart isn’t enough?”
“Jake told me what you said, and you’re right. What I broke is trust, and words won’t fix that. Action will. I want to have a branch of the department that looks at cases from fresh angles. Psychic, artistic, anything but conventional. I want you to develop and lead that department.”
Emma’s head began to spin. That solid ex-cop skeptic Sam, who prized normal evidence above all else, would want a psychic investigation branch tied to his pride and joy company, blew her mind. “This is real, isn’t it? You’re real.”
“I’m no expert in the love department. Or people for that matter. I work way better with computers, they’re easier to understand. But yeah, it’s real. I don’t want to lose it. Do you?”
“No.” The short time together, the risks, the uncertainties, they all faded away for her. They might not always agree, but Sam accepted her, as is, and she realized, she was ready to accept him too, the whole package—hot computer nerd, cop skeptic—whatever. She was ready.
“You should consider sales, Sam Tyler, because I’m buying, right now. Tell me where I sign.”
“Right here,” he said, leaning in for the kiss of a life time.
THE END
Books by Ursula Bauer
Immortal Protector (Samhain Publishing)—Excerpts below
Immortal Illusions (Samhain Publishing)—Excerpts below
A Haunting Affair
Available where ever fine books and e-books are sold.
For free sample chapters, and to learn more about the author, visit www.UrsulaBauer.com
Acknowledgments
As always, first thanks to my husband, and the thugs (BFS), my favorite ‘usual suspects’. For all the many read-throughs, well placed commentary, and flat out ass kicking. You’ll notice, this one cost me way less in ‘failure-to-produce’ fines, even with two endings.
Special thanks to A.F.K. for the help with building, land, and real estate related research. You can field a crazy email barrage with the best of them, and the ideas you passed on helped plant seeds for the follow up, A Murderous Affair.
Big props to The Surgeon, my favorite beta reader (and a very missed crit partner). You are brutal, but the story came out ahead, and that’s what counts. Now hang up the beta reader hat and get back to writing.
Huge shout out to my brilliant cover artist and content formatter, Glendon Haddix of Streetlight Graphics (www.streetlightgraphics.com). Without his skill, patience, excellent service and sheer endurance, this story would have never seen the light of digitally produced day.
Last, thanks to freelance editor Ann LaFarge (formerly of Kensington), who’s fifteen years experience with the romance industry and professionalism came in handy.
EXCERPT FROM IMMORTAL PROTECTOR
An excerpt from Immortal Protector (Eternity Covenant Book 1) by Ursula Bauer:
Available now from Samhain Publishing in e-book and print wherever you buy great books.
~ * * * ~
“So, Doc, do you believe?”
Meg licked her dry lips. “You can’t expect me to believe in immortality.”
“Take a moment, think of everything you’ve seen tonight. Does it add up to any reality you’re aware of?” He sat down on the edge of the big bed and the mattress groaned beneath his bulk. “Have you ever seen the like? Of me, or them?”
The horrific scenes played through her mind, the macabre creatures, Gideon’s stabbing and survival.
“I’m a doctor. A scientist.” Her brain turned over the scenes again and again, and reason attempted and failed to supply answers. “There is no such thing as immortality.”
“There is.” He reached back onto the bed, grabbed his black T-shirt and shrugged into it, taking away the spectacular view. “There’s magic. There’s Old Gods. There’s feuds, wars, demons, creatures that go bump in the night. Boogey men exist. Nightmares are real. So am I, and I’m one of the guys who makes the dark a safer place. I’m one of the guys who works to keep the shadows to themselves, so the average mortal can go on with life and never worry too much about what’s really lurking just one step behind and slightly out of focus.”
“I can’t accept that, Mr. Sinclair.” If she did, it meant everything she thought she knew was suspect. It meant the anchor of science that kept her life from casting adrift was gone and that she was floating now in a storm she couldn’t control or even begin to understand. There was nothing Meg hated more than being out of control. “Please, let me go. Let me go home, I’ll forget all of this. I won’t tell the authorities.”
He cracked that half grin again, giving his harsh visage a suddenly boyish look. Then, before her very eyes, he faded into mist. The mist rose and swirled around her, carrying that scent she first experienced when she opened her balcony door to the sultry night. Every nerve in her body flared to life. Her skin electrified as the mist danced across her like a light, silken rain. Heat pooled low in her belly and for a moment she forgot her situation and surrendered to the delicious, alien sensation.
When the air around her thinned, she opened her eyes. He stood before her, looking down at her with hooded, sleepy eyes. “Still don’t believe?”
“You’re impossible,” she breathed, her throat tight and dry, her body hot and wet. “This is crazy.”
“I couldn’t agree more. But it’s the truth.” He reached out and brushed her cheek with his knuckle. “I’m immortal and I’m the only chance you have at staying alive in a very nasty, very deadly game.”
EXCERPT FROM IMMORTAL ILLUSIONS
An excerpt from Immortal Illusions (Eternity Covenant Book 2) by Ursula Bauer:
Available now from Samhain Publishing in e-book and print wherever you buy great books.
~ * * * ~
As if she heard him speaking his indecent thoughts, she stirred, and turned to gaze at him. “Jack’s not the only one with a price.”
Kerr drew in a deep breath. Hugh looked suddenly alarmed. Jack grew more curious. What secret agenda did his little surrogate with the mysterious grey eyes hide that had everyone so on edge? He hoped it was suitably scandalous.
“That’s right, gentleman,” he said smoothly. “The lady has a price and it will be met. We are, after all, partners.”
Ramon appeared truly interested in this new turn of events. “You didn’t tell me this when I first approached you, Raine.”
She licked her pretty lips, a motion that made Jack’s blood run thick.
“I needed time to consider what it was I most wanted.” Raine’s voice was clear and strong. As she spoke, power and passion welled inside of her. He wanted to break the physical contact, but he couldn’t resist the lure of her. She called to him in a way he’d not heard in a very long time, and suddenly he wondered if he’d not gotten himself in too deep.
“I want the chance at knighthood.” She continued with her demands, her voice echoing into the quiet room, sounding distinctly like a glove being slapped across an enemy’s face in challenge. “If I’m to do this for the Covenant, they must make an exception to the rules. They must accept me to squire and give me the chance to prove my worth, earn my spurs and don the chains of fealty.”
Jack’s soul warmed over. Raine was playing brilliantly. He was hard-pressed not to jump up and clap. Her demand was far more outrageous than his own, one if met that would throw the Council of Wardens deep into the darkest, foulest scandal yet. Imagine that, a half-breed knight. He wanted to laugh out loud, to dance around the table, to kiss her for her audacity. He wanted to kiss her to satisfy his own longings, to know if she tasted as unpredictably wonderful as her spirit hinted.
Kerr began to shake violently, so much so, Hugh had to steady him. “No one will sponsor this vermin as squire,” Kerr bellowed. “We are the Wardens. We must protect the Eternity Covenant. We must be pure. Clean. Beyond reproach. The half-breed soul is stained with the taint. She’s nothing but a savage.”
Jack, never known in the first place for his self control, lost what little of it he’d managed to muster for today’s performance. “You’re calling us savage? You were born on the dirt floor of some mud-walled hovel and spent the first part of your mortal life killing villagers to ensure fertility in the fields. Now that is some seriously backwards, savage stuff. If anyone has a stained soul, I think it’s you, Druid.”
Kerr actually lunged for Jack, but Hugh held him fast by the shoulder. “I’ll see you damned for that,” raged the Elder Warden. “When this is all over, I’ll make you pay.”
Ramon seemed unmoved by it all. He smoothed out an imaginary wrinkle on his expensive suit, then cleared his throat again, silencing his counterpart. “I’d be happy to sponsor you, Raine. My paladin, Uller, will take you as squire.”
An uneasy silence fell over the room. Raine removed her hand from Jack’s. She nodded stiffly. “I accept your offer, Ramon Salazar. I assure you that you’ll not regret this.”
Kerr continued to sputter and rant. Jack sensed a dangerous change in the climate of the room. The demand was crazy enough, but Ramon’s rapid agreement was sheer insanity. A line in the sand had just been drawn, marking a war amongst the ranks of the High Wardens. Naturally, Ramon had been the one to etch it, but to do so easily spoke of other issues at work. Raine appeared untouched by it all, but her uncle held in check a barely suppressed rage, and Jack noted he could not meet his niece’s eyes.
“So we’re in agreement. Should we get down to the fine points, then?”
Salazar looked to Jack, then to Kerr, and a strange light came into his cold black eyes. “Jack, Raine, we’ll meet up later at my brownstone this afternoon to work out our particulars. If you’ll give us some privacy, Kerr and I have other matters to discuss.”
This confirmed Jack’s suspicion. Something was going on, something wild and juicy. Ramon looked up to no good right now. Jack itched to be back in the thick of it, something he’d never imagined possible. “Time’s wasting, Ramon. Let’s ink the deal.”
“Later, Jack. Plenty of time this afternoon.” There was a finality in the dismissal that didn’t allow for argument.
Jack shrugged. One door shut for now, but he’d find another. “Fine. So glad we could have this little reunion.”
Raine appeared equally as startled by the turn of events, but did manage to say a civil goodbye to her uncle and his crazy boss. She followed Jack into the antechamber.
With the last of his energy, he used the residual magic from the first spell to blow open the doors to the hall, and they walked by a stunned Wiggans and his security team. There was a good deal of ranting from Wiggans, resulting in an armed escort as they waited for, and then boarded the elevator. Raine stayed silent and stoic. Jack made some cracks to the security force, but they didn’t respond to his half-hearted attempts.
“I’m sorry you had to deal with that prize ass,” he said to Raine when they stepped outside the Warden’s building. The words came out stilted and sounded idiotic, but he felt he had to say something. He was trying to figure all the angles, including hers. “You were right to ask for the moon. You’re risking your life for them. They owe you.”
“I’m not doing it for them. I’m doing it for me.” She broke free of his hold and stepped clear of him as if he carried the plague. “Just like you, Jack. I’m in it for me.”