CHAPTER THREE
“That’s…”
Josh stifled his first instinct to say how totally fucked up that was. He’d been roaming alone for so long, his language had become a bit more than crass. His mama would definitely not approve. He had to remind himself to clean up his filthy mouth around the lady.
“That’s pretty amazing,” he said instead. “But doesn’t that put you at greater risk than most of your kind? I mean, it’s a rare being who can commune directly with the Mother of All, right? The bad guys must really hate you for that.”
She surprised him with a smile. “Why do you think I live way out here, all on my own?”
She gestured weakly with one hand to the cornfield behind her house and the view that didn’t have a single other home in sight. Her home was, indeed, isolated, even though she didn’t live too far from civilization. There were towns all around with shopping centers and all the conveniences of modern life if she cared to drive about twenty minutes in any direction.
And there was a key North-South highway only a few miles away. That was the road Duncan had driven them in on. From that major artery, she could go just about anywhere.
Judging by the lack of strength in her hand and arm when she tried to point out the view, Josh realized she wasn’t quite ready to be put back on her own feet. He began walking toward the house. There were chairs and a couch in the living room that he could set her down on without causing her any injury. She probably needed to rest after that divine visitation. It sure looked to him that channeling the Goddess took its toll on a body.
“You can put me down,” she protested as he walked up the steps on the back porch. He looked down at her face…so close, he wanted to go that extra few inches and match his lips to hers.
What?
Wait a minute. Josh had been attracted to the priestess from the moment he’d first seen her, but such a delicate creature was not for him. No. He needed a shifter mate. A female wolf he could howl with and really let loose his inner animal. Deena was far too genteel and fragile for a monster like him. Right?
Then why was he thinking so hard about kissing her into the next millennium? Why did his heart speed at the thought of learning her taste and touch? Why did his arms tremble, just the tiniest bit, at holding her so close?
This would never do.
“I don’t think so,” he said, moving toward the back door, which, thankfully, was just enough ajar that he could get his toe in the gap and open it. He carried her through the kitchen and into the living room, depositing her on the overstuffed couch as gently—and quickly—as he could.
Then he backed off, removing himself from temptation. He went to stand near the archway that led back toward the kitchen and escape.
“I’m sorry if I scared you.” She sat up, pushing her hair back from her forehead and taking a deep breath as if to refortify herself.
Now wait just a damn minute. He hadn’t been scared. How dare she think that about him?
He had to set her straight before he escaped her presence. He couldn’t leave her thinking he’d been a scaredy cat.
“I wasn’t frightened. Amazed, maybe. Surprised. But not scared. How could anyone be afraid of Her?” He heard the wonder in his own voice. He hadn’t meant to reveal so much, but now that he’d let his innermost thoughts out into the light, he didn’t regret it.
“Yeah. That’s what I always wonder, but more often than not, people get quite a shock when She chooses to reveal Herself. Glad it was a positive experience for you, though.” Deena sat more solidly on the couch. She was recovering before his eyes, her spirit more present with each breath, coming back from wherever it had been while the Goddess had used her body.
“Does this happen a lot?” He wanted to escape, but he felt compelled to know more about this strange woman and her incredible gifts.
“Whenever it’s important. When She feels the need to get Her message directly to those who need to hear it.” She sat up straighter. “Since I’ve been living out here, She’s had a way of directing specific people to my door that She wants to have a chat with. I figure that means the message has to be pretty urgent, for Her to go to such lengths. But it’s all good. She put this whole thing in motion. My presence here, in the middle of nowhere, is all according to Her plan. My ability to channel Her words is a dangerous gift. I’ve been targeted before. I’ve been chased, hunted, trapped and nearly killed more than once. Living way out here seems to be the best alternative of the choices available.”
Josh understood about being hunted. His problems had started more recently than hers, but he had a great deal of compassion for the life she must have lived until now. Being a target sucked. Big time.
Deena tried to get up but swayed a bit too much on her feet. She would have fallen except Josh moved as fast as his inner animal allowed, to catch her once again.
“Sorry,” she whispered, looking up at him. The moment seemed to stretch as their gazes met…and held.
This time, Josh ignored the little voice in his head that told him this wasn’t a good idea. He lowered his mouth to hers, meeting her soft lips in a gentle kiss.
Why in the world had he thought this wasn’t a good idea in the first place?
She tasted like heaven and fit perfectly in his arms. He’d noticed that before, the first time he’d had to catch her. She just felt right. As if in his arms was where she belonged. Always.
Whoa. Dangerous thought. But it didn’t seem to matter. Not as long as his lips were on hers and she was all yielding softness in his arms.
Deena lost all sense of the world around her for those moments when Josh’s lips touched hers. It wasn’t like the warm nothingness she felt when the Goddess borrowed her body. No, this time, Deena was fully present, fully involved in the moment, but her focus had narrowed down to just the two of them. Josh’s strong body close to hers, their lips touching, their mouths opening…consuming…combining.
It was heaven. Or, at least, as close as one could come while still on Earth.
She liked the stroke of his tongue and the taste of him. A little wild, a touch exotic. Shifter…and intense magic. She felt his power tingle along her skin, their energies feeling each other out on the magical level while their bodies got to know each other on the earthly plane.
Each connection drew them nearer. She could get drunk on his kisses, though his magical energy nearly singed her senses with its intense, incredible, absolutely stunning power. But it wasn’t a power that could hurt her. Quite the contrary. His power seemed to intensify hers, feeding it, helping it grow.
Now wasn’t that interesting?
This had never happened to her before. It felt like the fey in her own background was reaching out to caress—or be caressed by—the fey magic in him. There was a hum where their power joined…and meshed. Compatible on a level most beings wouldn’t even recognize, much less experience.
Wow. A sizzle of reactive magic made her pull away, as if a little jolt of benign lightning had just struck the spot between them. She could feel the residual electricity against her exposed skin and smell the faint odor of ozone between them.
“What the hell was that?” Josh murmured, his gaze still half-lidded with pleasure but rapidly growing aware of the hint of danger that had just sparked between them. She could see the predator in his eyes, and for the first time in her life, she was attracted to the wildness in a man’s soul.
She’d known her share of shapeshifters, but as much as she loved helping defenseless animals, the predators that shared the shifters’ spirits had never done anything for her. Oh, they were handsome enough. All shapeshifters seemed to be blessed with impeccable physiques and chiseled features. But she’d never been tempted to get this close to one of them before.
Maybe it was that Josh was only half-shifter. Then again, the wild wolf in his eyes right now seemed to speak to her on some unconscious level in a way no other shifter predator ever had. Maybe it was just Josh. Maybe he was the key. The reason for the attraction was the man himself…in all his complexity.
“Our magic is compatible on a basic level, but there are differences,” she explained, drawing farther away from him once she felt steady on her feet. “There are bound to be sparks when any two magic users get as close as we just were. Physical proximity intensifies the reaction of my magic brushing against yours. Believe me, it could’ve been a lot worse. In general, we’re a lot more compatible than most.”
“If that’s compatible, I’d hate to experience incompatibility,” he said, shaking his head as full awareness returned. She felt a dash of feminine pride that her kiss had been able to muddle his keen shifter senses for even that small space of time.
She had to chuckle at his words. “Explosions are not unheard of,” she told him.
“I’d say that was pretty explosive just now,” he mused, his mouth turning up at the corners in a bad boy grin that made her insides quiver. He was just too handsome. Josh was appealing in almost every way. And his magic meshed well with hers. What were the odds?
She tore her gaze away from his and moved around him, heading for the kitchen. She needed a glass of water. Or maybe she could just dunk her whole head under the open tap. Just for a minute or two. Maybe he wouldn’t notice the steam coming off her skin or the flush on her cheeks.
As she filled a glass at the kitchen sink, she glanced out the window, noticing the pony cart just visible along the edge of the cornfield. Little Grace had come to visit with her black and white pony, Mergatroid, clopping along at a jaunty pace. The pony was small. Not as small as a true miniature horse, but not the size of what most people thought of as a pony. His attitude, though, was as big as any of the much larger carriage horses that shared the family barn.
Deena smiled, watching them approach.
“Company?” Josh’s voice came from behind her.
Drat. How was she going to explain his presence to Grace? For it was a certainty that Grace would carry the news back to her mother, and within a day, it would be spread all over the surrounding farms. The Amish were masters of the grapevine, even without telephones.
“Yeah. The youngest daughter from a neighboring farm. She comes around sometimes to visit my animals and learn about healing them. She brings me patients sometimes too. Sweet kid. And her family is a kind one.”
“So I get to try out my Cousin Josh from North Dakota disguise?”
She met his gaze, finding amusement sparkling in his eyes.
“It’s worth a try,” she said, wondering if Grace would accept the story. Innocent as she was, she wasn’t ignorant. She’d probably see the attraction sparking between Deena and her supposed cousin.
“We can be kissin’ cousins,” Josh whispered near her ear.
When she turned to swat him, he was already halfway across the kitchen, heading toward the guest room she’d given him. Good. Maybe he was going to put on a clean shirt.
“Try not to say anything unless we have to,” she called after him. They might get away without too many questions from little Grace this time, but Deena was sure the next time she ran into one of her neighbors, there were going to be a lot of questions to answer. She only hoped she knew what to say when that time came.