Demon Hunting In the Deep South (13 page)

“I am here.” He spoke from the end of the bed. “Would you like me to hold you?”

Like it? Her brain screamed
yes, yes, yes,
though the best she could manage was a nod of agreement. She scooted to the edge of the bed, turning on her side to give him more room. The mattress dipped as he eased his big body onto the little cot. A pair of strong, invisible arms wrapped around her, pulling her to safety, just as they had this morning. He tugged her against him until they rested spoon fashion. His body heat enveloped her, melting the ball of stress inside her.

“I will not leave you,” he breathed against her ear. “Go to sleep.”

She snuggled closer and closed her eyes. She was tired, so very tired, but the events of the day kept playing over and over inside her head. The scene in her office, the malignant thing in the room with her that morning, Meredith’s tortured body . . .

Her eyes flew open. “I can’t. I’m too wound up.”

“Then we must unwind you.”

To her surprise, Ansgar began to sing to her softly in a language she did not recognize. He had a beautiful tenor, smoky and rich, full of sensual promise. His voice wrapped around her and filled the little room with swirls of color; purples, pinks, blues, and greens. He was a sorcerer, with a sorcerer’s voice, full of magic and power.

His hands were magic, too. They moved lightly over her as he sang, grazing her stomach and breasts and caressing her thighs. She drifted in a dream state, untethered from her worries. He slid his hand past the worn waistband of her sweatpants and inside her panties, and touched her
there.
All her senses became centered on that one, delicious little spot, until she soared over the edge and did a freefall into bliss.

He was a man of his word, she thought, smiling as she drifted into slumber.

Unwind her, indeed.

Evie slept. For the first time in months, she
really
slept, safe in Ansgar’s arms, her slumber undisturbed by hot dreams or nightmares of running through a pea soup fog in search of something she’d lost, something she
needed,
something she couldn’t live without, though she didn’t know what.

Ironic that it took going to jail for her to get a good night’s sleep.

The next morning, she woke to the rattle of the cell door.

“Up and at ’em,” a man said.

“Huh?” Evie stirred. She was warm and comfortable, and didn’t want to move. “What’s happening?”

“Your bond has been posted, Ms. Douglass. You’re free to go.”

It was a moment before her sleep-fogged brain comprehended. Jail, she was in jail, and good old Addy must have bailed her out.

Her eyes flew open. She was lying on her right side with her left leg thrown across Ansgar’s powerful thighs. Her head rested on his broad chest—his broad,
invisible
chest. To the uninformed observer, it must look as though she was levitating. She sat up. The deputy, a middle-aged man in a neatly pressed uniform, stared at her from the doorway of the cell in openmouthed astonishment.

“Yoga,” she said by way of explanation, jumping to her feet. Behind her, the bed creaked and groaned, and the mattress dented in the middle as her invisible guardian rose from the bed. Evie gave the deputy a bright smile. “The county really ought to do something about these cheap mattresses, don’t you think?”

Still in her sock feet, she grabbed the bag with her things off the floor and hurried out of the cell past the stunned officer. She paused at the end of the hall to slip on her shoes. The clock over the door said 6:30. Her BFF must have pulled some strings to get her released this early in the morning. Evie wanted home, a bath, and something to eat, in that order. Hard to believe she was hungry again after everything she’d eaten the day before, but there it was. What the heck. She was sick of dieting.

She reclaimed her purse from the evidence tech and stepped into the lobby. Addy and Brand waited for her there. To her surprise and dismay, Trey Peterson was there, too. He stood near the door, his gaze fastened on her with unnerving intensity. He hated her, she realized with a little stab of dismay. Well, of course he hated her. He thought she had killed his wife.

What was he doing at the sheriff’s office at the butt crack of dawn? He was probably going to fire her, though why he found it necessary to drive all the way to Paulsberg to do it was beyond her. A simple letter of dismissal would have sufficed.
Dear Ms. Douglass, We regret to inform you your services are no longer required at Peterson Lumber Mill. We have a strict No Murderess policy, and you are in flagrant violation.

Oh, well. She was going to quit her job at Peterson’s anyway. She couldn’t go back there, not after what happened.

“Evie.”
Evie forgot about Trey as Addy flung her arms around her and gave her a bone-crushing hug. “Are you all right? I’ve been so worried. I didn’t sleep a wink last night imagining you in this awful place.” She stepped back and gave Evie a worried perusal. “No one . . . uh . . .
bothered
you, did they?”

“Virtue intact, Addy.” Well, sort of, Evie thought, recalling with a blush her night in Ansgar’s arms. And the day before, when he nearly had his way with her against the front door . . . and later at the kitchen table. Okay, it was official. Her virtue was hanging on by a thread. “They put me in a single cell.”

“Thank goodness! Did Blondy stay with you? He better have, if he wants to keep his balls.”

“Addy.”
Evie ventured a nervous glance at Trey. His burning gaze was fixed on her, his expression rigid. Oh, man, he was fixing to give her what-for. This was going to get ugly. She
hated
ugly. “Mr. Dalvahni hardly knows me. He doesn’t owe me anything, and you shouldn’t talk about his
parts
.”

“You’re right. Gross. What was I thinking?”

Brand tugged Addy to his side. “Adara, Evie will think you dislike my brother.”

“Oh, no, I’m crazy about the big hemorrhoid.” Addy made a face. “Really. So, where is he?”

“I don’t know. He was with me a minute ago.” Evie’s blush deepened; she couldn’t help it. “Be nice to him, Addy. He’s been an enormous comfort to me.”

In more ways than one, she thought with a secret thrill of delight.

“Huh.” Addy’s gaze narrowed. “Doesn’t sound a thing like him. We talking about the same guy?”

“Of course.” Evie took another uneasy peek at Trey. If he was here to fire her or cuss her out or rain down promises of retribution on her head on behalf of the Petersons, she almost wished he’d get it over with. Her nerves couldn’t take it. “Thanks for bailing me out,” she told Addy. “You’re a good friend. I’ll pay you back, I promise.”

“I didn’t bail you out. I wanted to. I was
going
to.” Addy’s lips tightened. “Somebody beat me to it.”

“I don’t understand,” Evie said. “If you didn’t put the money up, who did?”

“I did,” Trey said, coming over to them. “The magistrate wasn’t happy being rooted out of bed so early, but he’ll get over it. He was a fraternity brother of mine.” He looked down at Evie. “I know you didn’t kill Meredith,” he said. His voice throbbed with conviction. “You could never do something like that.”

“When did you get back into town, Trey?”

“Yesterday. Did you miss me?”

“Uh, sure,” Evie said, feeling awkward. “Wait a minute. You posted my bond?” The husband of the woman she was accused of murdering had put up her bail money? This was the last thing she’d expected or wanted to hear. “Have you lost your mind? People will talk. They’ll say—” She stopped, unable to say it out loud.

“They’ll say you’ve been boinking your boss, and that you killed Meredith to get her out of the way.” Addy gave Trey a glare of dislike. “Which is
exactly
what I told him.”

“I don’t care.” Trey gazed at her with that strange fixed warmth in his eyes. “Let them talk. We know it’s not true, much as I’d like it to be.”

“Much as you’d like it to be?” Evie shook her head in confusion. “What do you mean by that?”

Trey took Evie’s hands in his. “You know what it means. Surely you know how I feel about you?”

A deep, rumbling growl shook the room, as if Cerberus himself crouched outside in the hall. The main door to the Sheriff’s Department burst open, and Ansgar strode into the lobby. He must have dipped into his magic closet, because this morning he was dressed in a black henley sweater and jeans.

Criminently, he’s gorgeous, Evie thought, watching him walk toward her like a warrior out of a Viking myth, his perfect masculine features frozen in a mask of glacial fury.

“Uh-oh,” Addy said. “Blondy’s not happy. Trey, let go of Evie and back away. Slowly.”

“Adara is correct,” Brand said. “It would be in your best interest to retreat. My brother guards his woman most jealously.”

“His woman?” Trey dropped Evie’s hands as if they were red hot. “You mean to say you’re
dating
this guy, Evie? I thought he was long gone.”

Of course she wasn’t dating Ansgar, but he didn’t have to look so dang surprised, Evie thought with a twinge of annoyance. Jeez, she might not be a Pattie Petite, but she wasn’t a total troll, either.

“No, we’re not dating,” Evie said. “Wait a minute. What do you mean
long gone
?”

Ansgar stalked up. “It is one thing to be circumspect about our relationship, sweetling,” he said, putting his arm around her waist, “but quite another to tell an untruth.”

Sweetling.
Evie suppressed a sigh of pleasure. If only it were true. Trey was a nice-looking guy, tall and athletically built, with light brown hair and deep blue eyes, handsome in a clean, frat-boy kind of way. But he was an anemic ninety-pound weakling next to Ansgar.

“Dating is a form of courtship wherein two persons spend time together in order to ascertain their suitability as partners, is it not?” Ansgar asked.

Addy’s eyes twinkled. “That about covers it, Blondy.”

“Then Evangeline and I are dating.” Ansgar fastened his cold gaze on Trey. “Thank you for going to the bailiff on her behalf, Mr. Peterson. My brother and I are new to this area and unfamiliar with the workings of the sovereign entities of this domain. Trouble yourself no more on Evie’s account. She is in my care. Further assistance from you is unnecessary. In fact, it will not be tolerated.”

“Hoo boy, Evie. In case you don’t know it, you just got marked,” Addy said. “Blondy did everything but hike his leg at you.”

“Addy.”

Addy shrugged. “Just saying.”

Trey clenched his fists. His jaw was set in a belligerent line. “You don’t tell me what to do, buddy. My family owns half this county.”

Addy rolled her eyes. “Oh, please. Spare us the Royal Petersons bit.”

“ ‘Buddy’ is a term humans use to indicate friendship or camaraderie,” Ansgar said to Trey in a tone as glacial as his gaze. “I am not your buddy.” He removed a flat leather pouch from his back pocket and tossed it to Brand. “Brother, recompense Mr. Peterson for his trouble. Evangeline and I are leaving. She is weary and in need of sustenance.”

“I don’t want your money.” Trey’s fervent gaze shifted back to Evie. “I know you’ve had a terrible shock. We all have. Take a few days off. I’ll see you back at the mill next week, after the funeral.”

Evie shook her head. “I’m sorry, Trey, but I can’t work for you anymore. Too much has happened. Besides, it wouldn’t be right.”

“Surely you’re not going to let a bunch of small-town gossips run your life?” Ignoring Ansgar’s snarl of warning, Trey stepped closer to Evie, his expression fierce. “The talk will die down once you’re acquitted.”

“And what if I’m not?”

“You will be.”

Evie regarded Trey curiously. “How can you be so sure? Your wife is dead, and they found a bloody knife in my car. That’s enough to convince most people.”

“I’m not most people. I know you. I know you didn’t do it.”

Ignoring the waves of hostility pouring off Ansgar, Evie patted Trey on the arm. “I appreciate your faith in me, Trey. It means more than I can say. But I think it’s better if we put some distance between us. Think of your family. Think of the scandal. You can’t have the woman suspected of murdering your wife working for you. That would be tacky, to say the least. And the gossip won’t help my case, either.”

Trey looked desperate. “Evie, please. I—”

“Enough,” Ansgar said. “She has spoken. Evangeline is no longer in your employ.” He looked at Brand. “Pay the man, brother. I do not wish to be in his debt.”

“I understand perfectly, brother.” Brand gave Ansgar a knowing smile. “I would feel the same, were I in your place.”

Ansgar put his hand on Evie’s arm. “Come. Let us depart.”

“Let me give you a ride home, Evie,” Trey pleaded. “We need to talk about this some more. You can’t quit. Jobs are hard to come by in Hannah.”

“I know,” Evie said. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll manage. I’m used to being on my own.” She turned to leave. “I’ll put my resignation letter in the mail today.”

Trey lunged after her. “Evie, wait. Don’t do this.”

With a growl of annoyance, Ansgar jerked her into his arms. Evie felt a strange pulling sensation in the pit of her stomach. The room blurred and she fell into nothingness.

Chapter Thirteen

S
he landed on her feet in the middle of her kitchen. The room was neat and tidy. No dirty dishes or leftover food sitting around. Some wonderful person had cleaned up the remains of the gorgefest from the day before. The room was bright with early-morning sunshine. Looking out the window, she fancied she spotted movement among the larkspur and marigolds in the garden. It made her heart ache, that brief shining flutter. She missed the fairies.

She straightened her twisted sweatshirt and turned to face Ansgar. “Aren’t there rules about this sort of thing?”

Ansgar raised his brows. “What sort of thing?”

“Doing woo woo in front of humans. First the sheriff and now Trey. Or did you think Trey wouldn’t notice when I vanished into thin air? People don’t get beamed up around here, you know.”