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“Yes, they wanted to know about North Island, and of course I’ve had little info. But I just updated them with what you told me.”
“I’m liking all the back and forth.”
“Me, too. I mean, it makes total sense.” Why did he have to smell so good?
“You are ignoring me.”
At that, Hannah clicked ‘send’, then swiveled in her chair to face him. He was so close though, that she had to push her chair sideways or they would have collided. “No, I haven’t. Really. Why would you say that?”
Those eyes.
His gray eyes, surrounded as they were with thick lashes, always hit her stomach like a hard punch these days. He had thick, straight brows that made him look ferocious when he frowned. His nose had a slight hawkish appearance and his cheekbones looked sculpted. But it was his thick, curly, black hair that made him look wild, dangerous and unbelievably handsome. How many times had she thought about removing his Guardsman clasp so that she could spend a half hour or so getting her fingers all tangled up.
He was a man’s man at a muscular six-five. Built on massive lines, he was eye-candy of the most savory. Several of her girlfriends had ordered her to call them the moment he showed up at the Gold Rush. They’d arrive ten minutes later, a flock of seagulls descending on a seashore feast.
Did he want two kids? Three? Maybe a dozen?
He flashed a set of brilliant white teeth and her stomach squeezed up. One smile and he could bring down an entire room full of women.
His voice once more filled the room. “Why do I think you were ignoring me? Because you kept typing when you knew I was standing in the doorway. Or do I just annoy you like a cranky forest gremlin these days? Or maybe I bore you.”
She couldn’t help but chuckle. She’d never seen a forest gremlin, but she’d heard plenty of stories so she could imagine what he meant. “You could never bore me. Your life is too interesting and way too dangerous to be boring. So what would you like to know? Although, I’m sure your Kellcasse center has kept you informed?”
He smiled. “Yes, and you were right to recommend Longeness for the job. He’s detail-oriented and keeps everything moving. So, thank you for that.”
“Well, you’re welcome. I just had a feeling he’d work out for you.” Jude had built a communication center in Kellcasse about the same time he’d set up this center in her bar. She’d known Longeness and his wife, both fae, for years since they’d made her bar a second home on their date-nights.
Jude glanced around. The room didn’t have windows, one of the requirements for the access point centers, that way a vampire or a fae would never have to worry about light-and-sun issues. “I wanted to give you a heads up as well. We had a rough encounter about an hour ago. Really strange, though, because we chased a wraith-pair out over the Sound, if you can believe that.”
“You’re kidding.” Hannah was surprised. The deadly wraith-pairs rarely if ever crossed the access point lines. “What were they doing out here?”
Jude shrugged. “Hell if I know.” But something in his expression concerned Hannah.
He eased back against the long, steel-reinforced counter, crossing his arms over his chest. At least he’d left his way-too-sexy Guardsman coat in the bar area of the building, but still looked amazing in his loose woven, maroon shirt, snug battle leathers, and hip boots that had several small intricate silver medallions running up and down the side seams. Lately she’d felt an impulse to touch the medallions, one more sign she was out-of-control when it came to the man.
Jude shifted his gaze away from her and frowned. He dragged air through his nostrils and his jaw ground a couple of times. She knew something was troubling him; he’d been uneasy since he’d helped Mastyr Set
h battle the ancient fae a few months ago.
She admired the hell out of Jude. He cared about his men and took his duties as mastyr of his realm seriously. No one loved the beautiful, forested island realm of Kellcasse more than Jude. And he saved lives every night of his life by battling wraith-pairs.
She reached out and clasped him on the shoulder. “What’s going on?”
He met her gaze and grimaced, but nodded.
His smile reappeared as he turned to look at her. “You want me to spill my guts?”
She tilted her head. She wouldn’t stand for bullshit, not from him or anyone. “Yes, I want to know why, for a moment there, you looked like the world was about to crash down on your head.”
~ ~ ~
Jude stared into eyes the color of a beautiful sunset, the kind when the sky goes all violet just before it drifts to gray. No one had eyes like Hannah Osborne, not even some of the more exotic fae in his Realm. She ran the Port Townsend Realm Communication Center that connected every earth access point city with all the other cities. Hannah basically managed this center and kept it working like a well-oiled machine with several employees rotating shifts during the day and night. Some were Realm, others were humans who enjoyed the company of realm-folk, the latter quality one of Hannah’s prerequisites for the job when she did the interviewing.
So, yeah, the center hummed.
She was tall, almost six feet, and he liked that about her. Though she was very fair and almost delicate in her features, she had a strength about her that pleased him and which was the main reason he’d agreed to let her be in charge of the center.
She wore her light brown hair loose about her shoulders. It had a slight curl and golden highlights. With arched brows, thick lashes and full lips, she was a damn beautiful woman.
