Читать книгу What A Demon Wants - Kathy Love - Страница 9

Well, he wasn’t a lunkhead.

That was Ellina’s first thought when Maksim escorted the man who was to be her bodyguard into the room. Nope, not a lunkhead at all. No bulked-up shoulders and chest that hid any hint of a neck. No military crew cut or arms the size of small battering rams.

Really, the only way to describe him was—perfect. Very tall—6'5" maybe. Lean, powerful muscles like those of a swimmer, hair that bordered on shaggy. Sexy, but not because he intended it to be that way.

His touch had been very nice too, his palm slightly callused and warm, his fingers tapered and strong. And she’d felt a wave of something, so she’d released his hand.

He did appear—well, perfect.

That was until he spoke.

“I’m sorry. I’m not the right man for the job.”

What? Ellina frowned, all of her pleasant surprise and interest disappearing in a rush of irritation.

What? How had he come to that conclusion in just a few seconds? Ellina knew it was silly, but damn it, she was insulted. She was supposed to be the one deciding whether she wanted to hire him. Not the other way around.

Maksim started to say something, but Ellina cut him off.

“What do you mean you’re not right for the job?” she asked sharply, which was probably what Maksim was going to ask too—although maybe a tad more tactfully.

The man, who was rapidly becoming the lunkhead she’d expected, didn’t react right away, didn’t even act as if he’d heard her speak. Another bad response on his part. But after a moment, he shifted to face her.

“I just don’t think this job would be a good fit for me.”

She raised an eyebrow and placed her hands on her hips, feeling further insulted.

“And you came to that conclusion how?”

He again didn’t respond immediately. As if he was searching for the right words.

Lunkhead.

She frowned at him, fighting the urge to tap her foot as she waited.

Why was she reacting this way? Because she was supposed to be the one who was reluctant about this. But instead he hadn’t just been reluctant, he’d refused to work with her. And it was…it was insulting. Why wouldn’t he want to work with her?

“I—” He snapped his mouth shut.

She’d been right, he was trying to find the appropriate words, and he was struggling. That wasn’t particularly comforting, frankly.

What was it about her that made him decide he couldn’t work with her? And that quickly too? She was easy to get along with. She was downright enjoyable to be around. Ask anyone. Well, ask her brother. Or her sister-in-law. Maybe her editor.

Whatever! Plenty of people thought she was just lovely.

Her right foot started to tap, and she stopped it.

“I just don’t think I’m right for this job.”

All that careful thinking, and that’s all he could come up with?

Her foot tapped again, and again she caught herself, keeping her bare foot pressed to the worn floorboards.

“I’ve already discussed the details of this job with you. You said it wouldn’t be any problem,” Maksim said, impatience coming out in his voice rather than his foot.

Jude shifted back to her brother, the action so swift, she got the impression that he was relieved not to have to interact with her any further.

She gritted her teeth. This was ridiculous—and in a different way than she’d expected.

“That is true,” Jude said. “But—”

“But what?” Even Maksim seemed insulted on her behalf.

“I can usually tell right away if I’ll be the right for the job or not. And in this case—I just think it wouldn’t be a good fit.”

“So you’ve said,” Ellina couldn’t help saying to his profile. “But you seem unable to explain why.”

Jo made a noise from beside her, but Ellina didn’t stop glaring at the once-perfect-now-lunkhead in front of her to see if her sister-in-law was laughing or just making a sound of agreement.

“Sometimes these things can’t be explained,” he said, turning to meet her gaze, although she couldn’t read his eyes. Just blank. “In my work, I’ve become pretty good at following my gut.”

Ellina made a face, letting him know exactly what she thought about his gut, then asked, “Well what could your gut possibly tell you about me? In less than two minutes?”

From the corner of her eye, she noted that Maksim’s reaction changed from irritation to bemused amusement. She had no doubt that he found her reaction quite humorous, given that she’d adamantly said she didn’t want a bodyguard and now she was fighting with the man to have him.

Well, not have him. But not be disregarded by him.

She paused. What was she doing? She had become far too careful to become agitated. She knew what could happen when she felt anxious. She’d spent years perfecting her ability to remain calm. But she could feel herself slipping. And how long before this lunkhead saw it too?

Who the hell cared if he did? She didn’t want him here anyway. She should be pushing the man right out the door. He was giving her a perfect out.

The only thing still perfect about the guy.

She started to open her mouth to say that he should probably go, then snapped her lips shut.

She couldn’t help it. She wanted an explanation as to why he didn’t want the job. Breathing in deeply, she calmed herself down. A method she’d mostly perfected over the years.

“Why can’t you work with me?” she asked again, this time keeping her voice steady.

“Well, I’m pretty certain you are difficult,” he said, his voice wry.

“She can be,” Maksim agreed.

Ellina glared at her brother. Breathe.

“But difficult clients can’t be that unusual to you,” Maksim added, oblivious to Ellina’s glower. “You know as well as I do that this isn’t the typical security position. Ellina needs some pretty special abilities to keep her safe. And you have those abilities. This is exactly the type of job you said you take.”

Jude didn’t say anything, but a muscle in his jaw jumped slightly as if he was clenching his teeth.

“Special abilities? What special abilities does he have?” Ellina asked Maksim, already aware that she wouldn’t get a direct answer out of the lunkhead.

Maksim frowned. “If you’d read his résumé, you’d know that he’s more than capable of handling any situation, whether it be from human causes or otherwise. And he knows what you are too.”

“Oh. Right.”

Of course he’d have to be paranormal. All bases had to be covered, didn’t they?

And, of course, Maksim would have disclosed that she was a freak. Half human/half demon. Not a part of either world. She could deal with that most of the time, but there were moments when she struggled with being okay in her own skin. This was beginning to feel like one of those times—even now that she’d gotten her agitation under control.

Still, did the half-breed thing bother him? She knew it was off-putting for some preternaturals. Maybe he was one of them. But Maksim told him all about that before he even agreed to come here. So…what was it?

She studied Jude. And if he could protect her, then clearly he wasn’t a normal guy either. So what kind of creature was he? What made him such a great candidate to protect her?

She couldn’t sense anything about him, because she didn’t have that ability. Her brothers could sense preternatural beings at fifty paces. Ellina couldn’t tell a demon from a human from a wererabbit—if there were such a thing.

To her, Jude was nothing more than an unusually good-looking—and irritating—guy. But he must be something pretty powerful. A demon too? A very old vampire? Except he was out in the daylight, so probably not.

Was he put off because he was such a strong preternatural and she wasn’t?

“Is it the half demon thing?” she heard herself asking, wondering why it mattered.

Jude clenched his teeth again. Did she have to look so wounded when she asked that? He didn’t like the way her frown and searching eyes made him feel. Like a real jerk. And he was pretty good at doing that to himself without any outside help.

Maybe because she’d hit on something that was true. He didn’t like preternaturals. Hypocritical, he knew. But that wouldn’t stop him from taking a job. Obviously. Money was the only thing that factored into why he took a job.

But his likes and dislikes aside, why did it matter why he didn’t want to work with her?

She still watched him, hints of hurt darkening her pale eyes to a steely gray. Clearly, it did matter. She was taking his refusal personally.

For a moment, he considered telling her it was the demon thing, but knew he couldn’t. He’d already assured Maksim that he was quite comfortable facing off with other preternaturals. Any kind. And the same went for protecting them. A job was a job.

Of course, he hadn’t expected his first face-off to come with the person he was supposed to be protecting.

He pulled in a deep breath, trying to decide how to get out of this without causing even more wounded looks from the stunningly beautiful woman in front of him.

Stunningly beautiful. And that thought right there was why he needed out of this job.

Then Jude managed to gather his scrambled, distracted thoughts. “I should have mentioned this on the phone,” he said quickly, “but I’m also considering another job.”

Which was a lie. This was the only job he had lined up. The only paying gig to get him closer to where he wanted to be. Done with violence, done with preternaturals. Free. And in charge of his own life for the first time in centuries.

“Listen,” Maksim said, “I’ve already told you I’m willing to pay you anything you ask.”

Maksim’s wife moaned softly, and Jude supposed that offering their money so freely might not sit as well with her.

“Name your price,” Maksim said.

Jude wanted to groan too. He was so close. This job, especially if he could set any price, could be enough to allow him some semblance of a normal life.

His gaze flicked back to Ellina’s lovely face. He flexed his fingers, which still tingled from when he’d touched her, a warm and arousing sensation.

He didn’t know if he could be around this woman. This demon, he told himself as if that reminder would somehow negate his instant reaction to her. And that reaction was dangerous. He just knew it.

But the money…

“Truthfully, you are our only option,” Maksim said.

Ellina snorted. The indignant sound should have sounded out of place and graceless coming from such a pretty woman, but somehow even her snort worked for her.

So dangerous, Jude told himself. So, so dangerous.

But it was the noise that then came from Maksim’s wife that jarred everyone out of their conversation. A shuddering breath that turned into a full-out cry.

All eyes turned to her. The woman hunched forward, her arms wrapped around her distended abdomen like she was hugging a beach ball to herself.

“Jo!” Maksim was at her side at once, his demon abilities making the movement unnaturally quick. But the way he braced his arms around his wife, trying to take her weight and her pain, was purely human. Jo curled into him, her pain seemingly made more manageable by his nearness.

Jude’s chest tightened, and he found the interaction hard to watch, but he did, waiting to see what he could do to help, if anything.

“The baby?” Maksim asked, his voice bordering on panic. Another jarringly human reaction.

For a moment another woman, swollen with child, and another man, thrilled and terrified at the prospect of his first child, flashed through Jude’s mind.

He shook his head, shoving the image aside.

Those thoughts were better left in the past. For a very short time, he’d believed he could atone for his past. He could have a full life again. Then he realized he’d never be anything other than a monster. And monsters didn’t deserve redemption. All he wanted now was peace.

“Should I call your doctor?” Ellina asked, joining Maksim at her sister-in-law’s side.

“I think—” Jo struggled to pull in a calming breath. “I think I’ll be all right.”

“Yes,” Maksim said, as if his wife hadn’t spoken. “Call this number.” He fished a cell phone from his jeans pocket, rifling through the numbers in his phone book with one hand, the other still around Jo’s back.

Jo shot her husband a look somewhere between irritation and amusement. “I’ve only had a few contractions, and they weren’t terribly close together.”

“You’ve been having contractions?” Maksim looked hurt that she’d withheld that information from him, but he shook the emotion off. “I don’t care how close together they are, call the doctor.”

Maksim waved the cell phone toward his sister. Ellina took it, and he returned his attention to his wife.

Jude watched as Ellina pressed the button to connect with the doctor, seeing the excitement in her eyes. There was something else there that caught his attention. A change in the color of them? In the shape? Even her features seemed somehow different.

She told someone on the other end of the line what was happening, referring to Jo for more information, which Maksim felt the need to repeat as if Ellina wasn’t right there to hear Jo.

“Dr. Kelley said that you probably have hours to go yet,” Ellina told them after she hung up the phone. “Just time the contractions. Walking will help. Or a bath. And call her when they are coming in regular five-minute intervals.”

Jo started to nod, then another contraction hit her. She groaned and hunched forward. Maksim held her again, talking to her in low, hushed tones. But Jo only groaned louder.

“We’re going to the hospital,” Maksim announced as soon as the contraction lessened and Jo could stand upright.

“But—” Jo started.

“No,” Maksim said, all frazzled expectant dad, “I’ll feel better if we are there. Please.”

Jo smiled at him, oddly calmer than her demon husband. “Okay. I guess I would too, actually.”

They started toward the door, when Maksim seemed to remember Jude was still there.

“I’ll pay you whatever you want. Whatever—you name it. But you can’t leave. I don’t know how long I’ll be gone. And I don’t want Ellina alone.”

Jude hesitated, then found himself nodding.

What the hell was he doing? He couldn’t do this. Being here was too much. It was a situation that was making him feel strange things. And remember things he didn’t want to think about again. Ever again.

He’d learned long, long ago the best way to be an effective bodyguard, killer, machine, was to feel nothing.

Maksim searched Jude’s face, and Jude knew the other man was looking for something to assure himself he could trust him. A virtual stranger.

Then Maksim nodded, apparently finding the answer he wanted. Although Jude didn’t know how or what he found. He didn’t know if Maksim could trust him, or if he could trust himself.

“I’ll call you from the hospital,” Maksim said to Ellina.

“Okay. Let me know if you need anything. Love you both.” Ellina followed them to the door.

“Call Maggie and Erika,” Jude heard Jo say from outside the door.

“I will.” Ellina waved, waiting in the doorway until Jude heard Maksim’s car start and speed away from the house.

After the whir of activity, the sudden silence in the small cottage was harsh and unnerving. Then Ellina turned to him. Her face wore that serene mask he’d seen when he first entered her house. Nothing odd about her eyes. Nothing amiss, and he now wondered if he’d just imagined some strange change in her.

“Thanks for agreeing to stay, but you can go.”

Jude didn’t respond for a moment, surprised by her abruptness, but considered taking her up on the invitation.

“No, I’m staying.”

He couldn’t go.

Ellina stared at him for a moment, then shrugged.

“You are one odd dude,” she said, then strode out of the lavender living room, disappearing down a hall the color of blue cotton candy.

“You have no idea,” Jude muttered to the empty room.