Yes, Abby. You are full of shit. If Seth had crooked his finger at her, she would have gladly mamboed whenever he wanted. Hell, if he asked the right way, she might even be willing to Macarena. She stepped into the shower and began shampooing her hair. Twenty minutes later, showered and dressed, she decided that, once again, her mother had been right. The shower seemed to clear the last of the cobwebs from her brain. She scrambled into blue jeans and a dark gold sweater, remaining barefoot. She combed her damp hair, leaving it curling around her face, and headed for the stairway. She could smell grilled cheese sandwiches, and her stomach rumbled.
She was starving.
She carried her empty orange-juice glass into the kitchen, and smiled ruefully at Marian. The older woman grinned back. “Good afternoon, dear. Glad to see you’re feeling better.” Marian turned her attention back to her sandwiches. She expertly began flipping them. “By the way, Seth mentioned something this morning about you preferring to drink sangria. Would you like a ride into town to pick some up to go with dinner tonight?”
Dear God, yes. Red wine never gave her a hangover. “Yes, thanks.” Abby noticed that Marian was only flipping two sandwiches. “Where are Seth and Joseph?”
“Oh, they had to run into town to pick something up. I think Seth wants to install some kind of new security system.” She shrugged nonchalantly. “Whatever it is, I’m sure it will take them the rest of the day to pick out. You know men, once they enter either a hardware or electronics store.”
Abby grinned. “Bill is like that. He has more computer gadgets and gizmos than most small countries. Drives Trish crazy.”
Marian grinned back, and Abby was surprised once again by the degree of comfort she felt in this woman’s presence. Maybe it was because Marian had the same blue-gray eyes that Seth did, or the same grin. Her hair was a lighter shade than Seth’s but her features were stamped on his face. Abby found herself drawn to the warmth in Marian’s eyes. It was easy to see which one of his parents Seth favored.
Marian set the sandwiches on the kitchen table and poured them each some iced tea. “How are Bill and Trish? I haven’t seen them in a while.”
Abby bit into her sandwich and moaned at the cheesy, gooey goodness. “They’re good. Bill was promoted to detective not long ago, and Trish is...Trish.”
Marian’s eyes lit up. “Is she still running that Internet jewelry store?”
“Yup, and she loves every minute of it. She adores making her own hours, says it lets her deal better with having Bill on such an odd schedule. She can work when he works and be available when he’s free.”
“I’ll have to look it up again. It’s been a while since I visited her site.” Marian blushed. “Um, would you mind doing me a favor? My hairdresser quit suddenly and moved to Arizona with her boyfriend, and... Well...” Marian fingered her hair and sighed. “I’m feeling a little frizzy in more ways than one.”
Abby almost laughed. “I’d love to do your hair.”
They settled into a nice lunch, discussing highlights and lowlights and cuts that framed the face. Abby was in her element.
They went to the liquor store after lunch, where Abby purchased her sangria. After paying, the two decided to do a little window-shopping. Abby was delighted by the shops in Hidden Springs. She hadn’t had a real chance to check out the town on her lunch date with Seth, but Marian took her time, showing her town off to Abby with all the pride of the mayor.
The main street was littered with brick storefronts, striped awnings and quaint coffee houses with Victorian chairs. The streets moved lazily from one to another, and the mountains in the background served as a majestic backdrop to the small town. She smiled at people as they went by, and was surprised to receive smiles in return. She’d gotten used to the idea that strangers didn’t smile at each other in the street, and found herself warming even further to the charming town.
She was just pressing her nose to the glass of an antiques store when she noticed the tall blond man in the trench coat across the street. There was something familiar about his slender build. The way he held himself sent a chill down her spine. She couldn’t see much of his face because of the distance and the distortion of the window, but when he smiled at her in the reflected glass, she shuddered.
Doug.
Suddenly the cheerful day seemed cold and dim. She turned in slow motion, watching as he moved purposefully down the street away from her. Glancing at Marian, she noticed the older woman engrossed in a conversation with a short, dark-haired woman.
Good. Abby couldn’t let Seth’s mother get hurt. She’d follow Doug, keep him in sight, make sure he didn’t try and do anything to Marian.
He wouldn’t hurt Seth’s mother the way he’d hurt hers.
Abby followed the familiar figure, barely able to keep the dark trench coat in sight. Her heart tripping a mile a minute, she stopped as Doug ducked down a nearby alleyway. Pulling her cell phone out of her pocket, she started to move after him, only to find her way blocked by a tall, muscular man in a scarred leather bomber jacket.
“Excuse me,” she muttered, trying to move past him, but was startled to find her arm held in a firm grasp.
“Where the hell do you think you’re going?” Seth’s voice was tightly controlled.
She saw the fury in his eyes and gulped. She was in so much trouble. “I...” She blew out a breath. There was no way she was getting out of this one. Better to just get it over with. “It was Doug.”
His eyes widened in disbelief, his hand tightening on her arm to the point of pain. “Where?”
She used her chin to point the way. “He just went down that alley.”
Seth left her standing there and peered around the corner. He returned and took her arm once again, marching her back the way she’d come. “No one’s there.”
“But I saw him. He’s wearing a trench coat. He must have gone right past you.” She was having a hard time keeping up with his long stride, and his grip on her arm was starting to hurt.
“No, but then I was too busy watching something impossible. I was watching someone I’d told never to be alone as she walked down the street by herself.” The clipped tones of his voice made her wish she’d taken the time to interrupt Marian.
“Your mom drove me into town. It’s not like I came here looking for him, you know.”
“I know. Even you aren’t that stupid.”
She glared at him in mingled outrage and dismay as he marched her past Marian and placed her into his car. He waved briefly at his mother, who nodded back, obviously confused, and got into the driver’s seat. He roared off, not bothering to check and see if his father joined Marian. Abby did, relieved to see Joseph, standing by his wife, scowling.
Ah, crap. She was in more trouble than she thought.
* * *
Seth was damn near strangling the steering wheel. What the hell had she been thinking? If it had been Doug in that trench coat, she could’ve been killed.
Hell, fucking Shem miasma had been down that alley—faint but there. She could have been worse than killed.
He shuddered. No. He couldn’t even consider what might have happened to her without wanting to go ballistic.
Just this morning he’d been wondering when they could hop back into the hot tub. Right now it was taking all of his strength not to tie her up in her room.
When they’d driven far enough out of town that none of the buildings could be seen, he pulled the car over onto the side of the road and turned off the ignition. His hands were shaking too badly to continue. He took off his seat belt and got out of the car, stalking around the hood until he reached her door. He opened it, leaned in, and released her seat belt. She flinched as he lifted her from the car, took her by the arms, and shook her slightly.
She winced, and he loosened his grasp. As angry as he was, he didn’t want to hurt her, even by accident. “Do you want to tell me just what the hell you thought you were going to do if you actually caught Doug?” She bit her lip, her expression gu
ilty as hell. “I thought not. Do you even have your pepper spray on you?” She hung her head, and he nearly howled. “God, Abby!” He flung himself away from her to pace, nearly blind with fear. “What the hell is wrong with you? This man put you in the hospital, nearly kills you, and you think you can chase him down with nothing but a bottle of wine?”
He stopped pacing to glare at her. His wings threatened to explode from his back. How could she put herself in danger like that?
“What did you think you were going to do? Reason with him? Maybe invite him to tea? Talk about new shades of lipstick? Give him a trim?” She was watching him with wide eyes as he began to pace again. “How were you planning on defending yourself? Your good looks? Your charm, maybe?” He stopped and snapped his fingers. “I know. You were going to hairspray him to death.” He took hold of her again, emphasizing his words with a slight shake. “You are never to be alone. What part of never do you not understand, Abby?”
“Um...” She blinked at him out of dazed amber eyes, but she wasn’t backing away. He’d have to think about that later.
Right now, his world was still hazed with red. “No, don’t answer that. Obviously, you don’t understand, do you? You were alone, weren’t you? Therefore you must not understand it.” He sighed roughly and released her arms. “From now on, consider yourself handcuffed to me. Where you go, I go.”
“Even the bathroom?”
He raised his eyebrows at her tone. She sounded far too serene, almost amused. He’d need to get through to her, remind her that this wasn’t a joke. “If necessary.”
“I guess we’d better not go out to eat. You’d get us thrown out.” She grinned up at him impishly, and some of the haze of fear dissipated. Shit. She was going to have him wrapped around her little finger in no time. His wings ached to spread, to encase her and keep her safe.
“I’m not joking, Abby.”
She shrugged. “I know. You yelled at me, and I won’t do it again. But I think it’s time to stop yelling at me, and start thinking about how Doug found us, don’t you?” She turned away and started back toward the car.
He grabbed her arm and whirled her around to face him again. “What makes you think I’m done with you?”
“The fact that your parents just pulled in behind us, I’d say.” She jerked her head toward the red sedan behind Seth’s blue Ford. She was still smiling.
There was something seriously wrong with her. There had to be. He was angrier than he could ever remember being, and she was patting his chest, grinning like she’d won the lottery. “Calm down, big guy.”
Just the fact that she wasn’t afraid of him anymore kept him from losing control of his powers. He glanced at his parents’ car and slowly released her arm. “Shit.” He shook his head. “Just do me a favor, will you? Don’t go pulling any more stunts like the one you pulled this afternoon. I don’t think my heart can take it.”
“If it’s any consolation, I was going to call you and tell you I’d seen him. I wasn’t actually going to go down that alley.”
“It’s not, but I’ll take what I can get.” He helped her into the car, waving at his parents and smiling grimly. He got behind the wheel, fastened his seat belt and started the car. They accomplished the rest of the drive in silence, but it was an easier silence than the one they’d started in.
As soon as they returned to the cabin, he left Abby with his parents while he made a call. As soon as Dante answered he told him what happened. “Doug was here.”
“Shit. Are you sure?”
“Abby fucking followed him, and the alley he ducked into had Shem stink all over it.”
“What? I thought the fucker was human.”
“Maybe he was meeting one of his employers, but when I checked, no one was there.” And Seth hadn’t sensed a Shem nearby, just the lingering stench they left on the psychic plane.
“This is getting complicated. He must have figured out where your parents live and started driving almost immediately. No way our boy was able to grab a flight.” He could hear papers being shuffled. “I’m calling the sheriff’s office over there to let them know what happened. Sit tight for now, but be prepared to run again.”
“I’ll take her to Piotr.”
Dante sighed. “I figured as much. Just... You know I don’t trust him.”
“I do. So trust me. You think I’d take Abby somewhere more dangerous?”
“Crap. I hate it when you do that.” Dante sighed. “Done. And yell at her for following Doug.”
“I already did.”
“Good. Stay safe, my brother.”
“Stay safe, my brother.” He hung up the phone and went searching for Abby. After that scare, he didn’t want her out of his sight.
He found her sitting on the deck in one of the Adirondack chairs that his father had sanded and stained last year. She was reading one of the science fiction novels he’d picked up in town for her that day, and her feet were propped up on a hammock. A glass of iced tea sat at her elbow, and the early evening sunlight burnished her hair. She looked peaceful for the first time in days, and the urge to protect her, to give her more afternoons reading in the sun, struck him so strongly that he nearly staggered under the force of it. There was no way her sick ex-boyfriend would ever lay a finger on her again. Not even if he had to take him apart with his bare hands.
* * *
Abby wasn’t surprised when Joe and Marian told them of their plans to go out for dinner and a movie with some of their friends. She’d seen the glances Marian and Joseph exchanged. It wasn’t difficult to figure out the older couple were up to something.
She didn’t mind. She was still floating on cloud nine. Seth had gotten angry at her, really angry, and she hadn’t been afraid of him at all. If anything, she’d been troubled over the fact that she’d upset him. She’d seen the fear in his gaze. He’d been terrified that she could have been hurt by her own stupidity. She could admit, privately at least, that she had acted a little horror-movie extra when she followed Doug to that alleyway, but she’d been afraid he’d hurt Marian.
The important thing was, he was in town, and they still didn’t know how he’d found them. Abby had overheard some of what Seth said while on the phone with Dante. From the little bit she’d heard, both men were concerned, enough so that Seth was talking about taking her to someone named Piotr. The only Piotr she was aware of was Piotr Romanov, Andi’s employer.
Abby knew any freedom she’d had was over. Seth wasn’t going to let her out of his sight anytime soon.
She was still debating where the bad in that was.
Just before leaving, Joseph had warned them, “Keep an eye out, there’s supposed to be a bad storm heading this way. If it gets too rough, your mother and I will spend the night in town.” Seth had nodded and gone to check the backup generator. Then the couple had been gone in a flurry of good-nights and good wishes.
Seth was soon hard at work at the stove, refusing to tell her what he was making. She kept popping into the room, and he kept shooing her back out. The fifth time she wandered in, he popped a foil-covered pan in the oven and moved away from the stove. He pinned her against the countertop, his hands resting on either side of her. A thrill went through her as he leaned over her. “Alone at last.” He began to nuzzle her neck, and she melted against him.
Time lost all meaning. Only his slow, drugging kisses against her skin existed.
Just as he was about to kiss her, the phone rang. The curse he uttered caused her ears to burn. She stared at him in shock as he moved to answer it, the spell he’d cast over her broken.
“Hello? No, I’m afraid they’ve gone out for the evening. Can I take a message? Ah. Okay. Goodbye.” He hung up the phone and pecked her cheek. “Go have a seat and read a book or something. I’ve got to finish cooking dinner.”
“Seth, I can help cook.” She tried desperately to peek over his shoulder at what he was working on, but all she saw was bubbling pot lids. She thought she detected the scent of tomato sauce, a
nd her mouth began to water.
He took her by the shoulders and firmly but gently marched her out the door. “Oh, no you don’t, angel. Tonight, I cook for you. You go relax. You’ve had an exciting day.” He kissed her on the top of her head, patted her rear end and turned his back to her, already muttering under his breath. When she tried to go back into the room, he glared at her, brandishing a spoon he’d picked up. “Out!”
Abby glared back before leaving the room with an indignant huff. She settled on the sofa and picked up a book, her legs curled under her. She had a hard time keeping the smile from her face as Seth puttered around in the kitchen. Did he seriously think he was hiding what he was making?
It had been a long time since anyone had gone to the trouble to make her lasagna. From the scent, it was going to be worth it.
* * *
She was using the last piece of garlic bread to wipe her plate clean. She grinned like a guilty child when she caught him staring at her. “Okay, I like Italian food, too. But don’t let Bill know. It’ll ruin my image.”
He refilled her glass of wine, glad that she’d liked it so much. “Don’t worry, your secret’s safe with me. I’m just glad you enjoyed it.” Seth couldn’t remember the last time he’d cooked for a woman. It had been well worth the effort to dig out Dante’s recipe. The moan of pleasure she’d given at the first bite had him squirming in his seat. She sat back with a blissful sigh, her plate scrubbed almost clean. She’d had that expression on her face the night before, when she finished coming in his arms.
It was definitely worth the effort just to see that look again. He had every intention of seeing it at least once more that night.
She peered up at him from under her eyelashes. “What’s for dessert?”
“It’s a surprise.” Seth stood and held out his hand.
All for You Page 13