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“Well, I promise you don’t want me to cook. We both know how badly that turns out.”
I pet Tamsin’s hair. “None of us is perfect, but you come pretty damn close apart from that.”
We’re silent for a while. I lean back, looking down the slope at the fountain where Bellus’s statue is gently caressed by the lapping water and bathed in sunlight. It’s my sentimental imagination, of course, but I think he looks happier out here in the sunshine. Back where he belongs. I feel slightly ashamed for the many years I hid him away, too scared to face him.
As if reading my darkening thoughts, Tamsin sits and snuggles into my chest, lifting my arm to drape it around her. I give her a little squeeze. “How could I have been so stupid as to think I could hide from you?”
She hums into my chest. “You never had a chance.”
She’s looking even more beautiful these days. Perhaps, once again, it’s my imagination, but she might even look fuller and more rounded than when we met.
Later, when we move into the house, the setting sun at our backs, I let Tamsin go ahead. As I pass the fountain, I pause and lift my hand to place it over Bellus’s. I smile at the sun-warmed feel of the stone. A stark contrast to the horrid cool of the cellar. Just as I’m about to move my hand again, something occurs to me.
How long has it been since Tamsin had her courses? I can’t remember a single occasion since—
I let out a low whistle. “Do you think I should tell her about the egg?”
Bellus of course says nothing.
Tamsin, however, turns just as she’s about to enter the door. “You know I can hear you, don’t you? Don’t think I don’t know you’re telling secrets.”
I hurry down the slope. “Of course not. It’s just—”
She laughs. “Oh, and there’s something I’ve been meaning to talk to you about. Only I wasn’t sure how you’d take it.”
I gape at her.
She grins. “Is this a bad time to talk about the egg?”
“You mean...?”
She nods. “Yup. I think so. I haven’t taken the test yet. But I’m pretty sure.”
I shake my head, then snatch her up into my arms. “Tamsin, you’re amazing. You know that?”
She wraps her arms around my neck and smiles down into my eyes. “And you’re about to be a father.”
Heaven help us and the world!
But with Tamsin as his mother, surely he’ll be chided into good behavior and taught to be kind. And I know a very, very good optician who can make custom glasses.
THE END
I hope you enjoyed Bound by the Basilisk. Keep reading for a sneak peek at Used by the Unicorn, Monstrous Deals Book 6
SNEAK PREVIEW: USED BY THE UNICORN
Jade
“Hey, I’m just out back, but I can’t find the staff door. Am I at the wrong place?”
I sigh, shaking my head and flipping the sign on the front door to ‘back in a minute’. Of course the dumb-ass delivery guy picked the twenty minutes when my boss, Kalli actually stepped out for lunch to get lost in the wrong back alley and now I have to hustle out and find him so we can get our delivery of new fabric in time for her to make the gown for [celebrity]’s appearance at the gala ball next week.
I’m so excited for her. This is a big break for Oniero, the small plus-size designer boutique she opened a few months back. I’m her one and only staff member and we’ve both been busting our asses getting the place off the ground, despite the backing of her billionaire demon boyfriend.
I’m more grateful to her than I can say that I no longer have to work nine to five at Barkers department store where we met, but I gotta say that I’ve been working more like eight to seven with no breaks and I’m tired.
It’s worth it, though. It will be worth it after the ball when her gorgeous dress is photographed by every paperazzo worth their salt and front page of every gossip mag in the city.
