She frowned, dropping the leaf. No, not made love. That was too romantic for a one-time thing. They’d merely given into their basic desires. Ugh, how could she have been so stupid? She sighed and started down the sidewalk, needing to move, to do something, anything. She felt ready to jump out of her skin. She wanted to… run through that meadow she could spot in the distance between the homes. She wanted to snatch that motorcycle parked alongside the road and zoom down the highway. Something. Anything.
“Well?” Devon demanded attention like some toddler.
“It means we parked where we shouldn’t have. They took the car.”
He stomped after her. “Who? That’s… that’s illegal, isn’t it?”
“Nope, it’s quite legal.”
“We must get it back,” Devon stated, as if it was so very simple.
She laughed, gazing out over the small town. Only a couple people milled about, most others still abed. “First of all, it’s Sunday and even if they were open, I’m betting it will be a hundred, maybe two hundred pounds. You have that kind of money?”
He glared down at her, annoyed, no doubt, with her snide tone.
“Besides, maybe your sister-in-law had it stolen or something. Who knows?”
The scent of buttery sweet baking bread caught her attention. Her stomach clenched. She didn’t know if Devon had to eat, but she sure as heck needed to. Without explanation to the dour man beside her, she pulled open the glass door, knowing he’d follow. He didn’t really have a choice.
The woman rolling out dough on a table behind the counter glanced up. “Can I help ye?”
Ellie studied the display of beautiful pastries. Lord, how lovely and wonderful they all looked. “Two apple pasties, please.”
With a nod, she scurried to get their snacks. Devon frowned, leaning against the counter and surveying the small bakery as if expecting a demon to pop up behind the scones. “So, then, what do we do?”
The baker slid two paper-wrapped pasties their way. “Here you go.”
“Thanks.” Ellie handed her a few pounds and stepped back into the crisp, morning air, the scent of baked apples and cinnamon making her mouth water. “What do we do? We walk and eat.”
She smiled prettily as she handed him a wrapped pasty.
Devon merely frowned at the offering, studying it questioningly. “Are there not constables of some sort we can contact?”
“If we call the police, I’m assuming they’ll take us in for stealing a car. Miranda is my friend, but she might not be so forgiving considering I betrayed her trust.”
Speaking the truth hurt more than she’d expected. She sank her teeth into the warm pasty, the sweet taste of apple and bread almost like sawdust upon her tongue.
Miranda. What she must think of her.
So much for making friends. Moving as often as she had, it was difficult to have connections, but she’d instantly befriended Miranda. Another friend gone and forgotten. And as soon as this was all over, she’d be moving onto another country.
“So, we are screwed, as you say in your culture?” He bit into his pasty, those white teeth flashing. The same teeth that had been nipping at her earlobe only hours ago.
Flushing with the memory, Ellie looked away from him. “No, not necessarily. We could hitch a ride.”
They lapsed into silence, eating their meager breakfast. The attached homes gave way to small stone cottages with lovely gardens overflowing with colorful flowers. Everything seemed so vibrant, so alive, practically pulsing with energy.
But Devon didn’t seem to notice as he finished his pasty and shoved the wrapper toward her. Gads, as if she was his mum, or something. Disgusted with the man, she took the wrapper and tossed it into a trashcan.
“We need to talk about last night,” he said, surprising her.
Didn’t men usually want to avoid discussion after sex? What was he up to? She slid him a weary glance. “What about it?”
He actually blushed and she had to stop herself from laughing. Wasn’t she the one who was supposed to be embarrassed? “The…intimacy we shared.”
Oh God, he was seriously going to bring it up.
He paused there, on the outskirts of the town, where the sidewalk gave way to a dirt path. “There was something…between us.” He looked at the sky, the sun a fiery ball peeking over the horizon. He looked at the grass wavering on the cool, morning breeze. He even watched a car zoom by. He looked everywhere but at her.
“Perhaps it was the power between us combining.” He shrugged. “I don’t know.”
Or perhaps she liked him, and he liked her. But if he’d rather believe it was their powers producing their odd connection, so be it. She started walking. Besides, even she wasn’t sure she wanted to understand the electricity between them. At least not now, not here and not with him watching her like he could see into her very soul.
“I cannot offer you marriage at this time.”
Ellie froze.
He paused next to her, looking decidedly uncomfortable as he rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m sorry if our actions may have led you to believe…”
She held up her hand stopping him. “Devon, I never… we don’t have to…”
He looked so comically worried that when she should have been offended, her heart actually melted a little. Lord, he was like a lost puppy. A really hot, really muscular lost puppy. “Devon, maybe sex means marriage where you’re from.” It was still hard to believe he was over 100 years old. She shook the thought from her mind. “But here, in this time, we don’t have to marry just because we were intimate.”
“Oh.” He seemed relieved, which she supposed should have offended her. “You mean people are intimate with no repercussions?”
“Well, it’s not like some big orgy, if that’s what you think.”
He looked away as if embarrassed, making her laugh. She’d never met a warrior who blushed at the discussion of sex. Then again, she’d never met a warrior. Her amusement faded. But there was no doubt he was some sort of warrior. A man who noticed all. A man who would protect at any cost. The same sort of man who would get himself killed for the greater good. She swallowed hard and looked away. She could not let herself get attached. Care for everyone, help when needed, but never get attached. It had always been her mantra.
“I can’t…” He started, only to flush again.
Well, this is going to be interesting.
“We can control whether we have offspring.”
She paused, frowning. “What are you saying?”
“You won’t be,” He waved his hand at her midsection, his gaze on her stomach. “You won’t be with child.”
She blinked up at him, stunned. Lord, she hadn’t even thought about that. How could she have been so stupid?
“And we don’t carry diseases.”
“How… convenient.”
She turned and started down the footpath again. Pregnant. Just the thought terrified her. She couldn’t have a child, not while constantly on the run. Still, the thought of never having a family saddened her. Forever alone.
“This is ridiculous, you know,” he stated. “We can’t walk all the way there.”
“And where would we be going?”
He sighed. “I’m not sure. I’m following my instincts.”
Oh Lord. Ellie paused, watching a sparrow flit from a fencepost to a small shrub. She should have known. They were traveling in circles, so why wasn’t she eager to dump him and leave? “We’ll have to hitch a ride until I can find an ATM.”
“ATM?”
“A place where I can get money.” Money she really shouldn’t use to fund a trip to DeathWorld, the unhappiest place on earth.
No, if she had any sense she’d tell Devon it had been nice, offer him the few dollars she had in her pocket and be on her way to another country, another life. But as many a foster family had told her, she had no common sense.
If only her foster parents could have seen her the other night. She released a wry laugh, lookin
g up at the sky, complete with fluffy white clouds. A beautiful morning, no one would have guessed that they had killed numerous witches the other night. No one would ever know because the evidence was gone.
“What, pray tell, do you find so amusing?”
She paused there, alongside a field of yellow flowers. “You truly are from the past, aren’t you?”
“Was there doubt?”
“Of course.” She slid him a grin. In his shorts and t-shirt he looked more the surfer dude than Victorian gent. “Wouldn’t you doubt it?”
The left corner of his mouth lifted. “Fair enough.”
They lapsed into silence once more and continued down the road. It wasn’t an awkward silence, but comfortable. She’d always felt strange with others, acting overly happy in order to draw attention away from the fact that she was odd. But here, with Devon, she felt right for the first time in her life. Sure, she was running, running from Miranda and probably the police, but she wasn’t running from herself.
All thanks to the man beside her. She slid Devon a glance, studying him out of the corner of her eye. He wasn’t relaxed. He hadn’t been relaxed since the moment she’d met him. So intense, even in love making. But what about his life before? What about Ashley?
“Have you… are you…”
He slowed his pace and quirking a brow, waited for her question.
“Married?”
He sighed, looking out over the fields. It wasn’t exactly the reaction she’d been expecting. A sick feeling of dread sank into her belly. Why the pause? A person was either married or not. Confused and more than annoyed, she crossed her arms over her chest.
“Let’s sit for a moment, shall we?”
Nope, not good at all. The beauty of the sunrise, the merry chirp of birds… gone. She’d never slept with a married man. If he was married and hadn’t told her, she’d make sure he died a horrible death… again. They trudged through the yellow flowers and Ellie settled on a stone fence, waiting impatiently as he paced in front of her. He looked decidedly like a man who had been caught cheating. A heated rush of anger had her clenching at the stone wall. He looked so damn gorgeous with the rising sun shining upon him. A golden god, his blond hair tosseled by the warm spring breeze.
“I was married, but she died long ago.”
Compassion overrode her annoyance. Ellie relaxed, somewhat. Yet, there was no expression on his face. Shouldn’t he be feeling… something? “I’m sorry.”
“For years I blamed another man for her death. But I know enough now to realize that when death comes for you, there is no stopping him. If it’s your time to go, you’ll go.”
She shivered, although why she wasn’t sure. He painted a bleak past, that was for sure. A bleak past and future. She inched toward him, needing to touch him for some unknown reason. At the contact, he visibly stiffened, his gaze dropping to their clasped hands as if surprised by her presence.
Embarrassed, she blushed. Why must she always want a deeper connection with people than what they were willing to offer? Was it some pathetic need based on a lonely childhood? She started to pull her hands away when his fingers tightened around hers.
Slowly, he lifted his gaze. A spark of what could only be called electricity. An awareness of being. Devon was right, there was something between them. Something that had been there even before they’d been intimate. She’d been around supernatural beings before, but never felt this connection. But he had been married, she had to remind herself, and he obviously still loved his wife. Besides, when this was all done, he’d return to where ever he was from and she’d most likely be on the move once more.
“I’m sorry I brought it up.” She pulled her hand away and stood. She didn’t need him. Yes, he made her feel comfortable, alive, protected. But she had done fine on her own so far.
She took a step toward the road when firm fingers gripped her wrist and jerked her backward. Ellie spun around, colliding into a hard chest.
“Devon?” She lifted her gaze questioningly.
He didn’t say a word, merely lowered his lips to hers. Ellie sank into him, parting her lips so he could deepen the kiss. No more thinking. No more worry. She only wanted him. This moment.
His hands slid down her back, pulling her closer. She could feel his hard arousal pulsing against her lower belly and knew he wanted her as much as she wanted him. When his tongue thrust between her lips, she melted.
He stole her breath, made her body hum, begging for more. Eagerly, her hands slid around his broad shoulders. The heat of his body inflamed her. Made her do crazy things she wouldn’t normally do. Kissing on a public road… she knew it was ridiculous, but couldn’t stop. Didn’t want to stop. She only wanted this moment to last as long as it could.
A shiver of awareness tiptoed down her spine. A feeling she couldn’t ignore.
“Excuse me,” a deep voice called out.
Ellie froze as realization hit her. Oh dear God, they weren’t alone.
Devon sighed against her lips, then pulled back, his gaze shifting from her, to the area beyond her shoulder.
“Yes?” he queried in a way that made it seem as if he wasn’t in the least bit surprised to see whoever it was behind them.
She wanted to bury her face into his shoulder. Instead, Ellie tucked her chin to her chest and peeked behind her. A tall man with a long, gray beard, stood alongside the road. He wore faded blue jeans and a white t-shirt. His facial hair hid most of his features, but she could tell by the crinkle of his blue eyes that he was grinning like a Cheshire cat.
“You two need a ride?” He hitched his thumb over his shoulder, pointing to the rumbling truck parked alongside the road. She hadn’t seen a pickup truck since leaving the U.S. and she hadn’t heard this one approach. How weird.
Ellie leaned closer to Devon, pressing her lips to his ear. “I know you don’t understand the concept of the cinema, but this is a total horror movie in the making.”
Yet, even as she said the words, she didn’t actually feel them. Why weren’t her instincts warning her away? He had a kind, weathered face, but so did some serial killers. Still, she only felt this odd numbing peacefulness. When his gaze shifted to her, his eyes crinkling, she smiled back.
“We don’t really have any other choice,” Devon replied.
“Sure,” she said, wondering why she so readily agreed, when rationally she knew she should have her misgivings. There was just something so damn trustworthy in the man’s sparkling blue eyes.
“A ride would be very helpful, indeed,” Devon said, but she read the hesitancy in his voice. Reluctantly she looked away from their visitor, to Devon. He seemed more annoyed than relieved at the intrusion.
“Come along.” Devon latched onto her arm and escorted her toward the truck, following the driver.
Ellie got in first, sitting between the man and Devon. It might be old, but the vehicle was clean and smelled strangely of warmth and spring. She sank back against the cracked vinyl seat, her body practically melting into the truck, so relaxed.
“Devon, how have you been?” The man’s arm brushed hers as he put the vehicle in drive and took off. At the contact, an unfamiliar tingling awareness swept over her body, a buzzing hum that was ethereal. The sensation was so odd, she almost didn’t notice the way the driver called Devon by his given name.
Almost.
Blinking the foggy sensation away, she jerked her gaze toward Devon, awaiting his response.
“I’m quite well, obviously,” Devon ground out between clenched teeth, a pulse ticking in the side of his jaw. “Want to explain to me what the bloody hell is going on?”
Confused, Ellie glanced between the two men.
“The heavens,” the driver said with a grin. “Are very annoyed with you, my boy.”
****
Devon wasn’t sure which angered him more, the threat from Michael, or the fact that the angel had purposefully interrupted while he was doing a very thorough job of kissing Ellie. His fingers curled against his th
ighs. He didn’t have time for explanations, didn’t have time for interruptions.
“I’ve had nothing to do with this.”
Michael laughed, his blue eyes crinkling. “You should have been in heaven over one hundred years ago. You let your need for revenge get in the way. Don’t tell me you have nothing to do with this when we know you do.”
Was he forever to pay for what happened? “If I hadn’t sacrificed myself, that demon would be wreaking havoc on a world of unsuspecting humans.”
Michael turned left, onto a one lane road. “And yet… he is, isn’t he? So your bravado was for naught.”
Devon swallowed hard. He’d suspected the demon had escaped, but hearing it from Michael made it much too real. He hadn’t been able to bind the beast. He could only pray Ashley and Cristian had discovered something in the six months he’d been dead. “Shite.”
“You can say that again,” Michael said.
Ellie’s attention jumped back and forth between them. He knew he owed her an explanation, but was loathe to tell her the whole truth. An explanation for Michael’s sudden visit, an explanation as to why he’d made love to her. Hell, he could barely look at her without remembering the feel of her body pressed to his. He certainly didn’t want to have a conversation in front of Michael. The truck rumbled down the road and for a few minutes he managed to keep his mouth shut. He was a bloody angel, for God’s sake. He wasn’t supposed to feel this way toward another. This feeling of being connected in a way he couldn’t understand, couldn’t explain.
“What do you want with me?” Devon finally demanded. “Why are you here?”
“To take you home.”
He’d known, hadn’t he? Why else would an angel come to the earthen plane? Still, the words sank into his gut, and his denial was instantaneous. “I can’t leave yet.”
“Wait a minute,” Ellie finally interrupted, holding her hands up between them. “Where you belong? What does he mean? Who is he?”
Damn it all, he couldn’t think straight this close to the angel. Their powers combined, flaring so a loud buzz vibrated through his very mind. And he needed to think when he was near Ellie. “This is Michael. He’s a….” How the bloody hell did he explain?