“Who’s that?”
Cassie looked down as if seeing it for the first time. She picked up the sketchpad and examined the angel and child more closely. “I have no idea. I don’t even remember sketching it.”
“You were intently working on it when I came out. You didn’t even notice me at first. May I?” Karla reached her hand out.
“Sure.”
Karla looked closely at the angel’s smiling face, but didn’t recognize her either. She wondered if it was Joni and their baby. Maybe Luke would know what Joni looked like. Karla knew there was a photo of her in Adam’s office, but she’d never brought herself to look. The woman’s ghost had such a strong hold over Adam. Right or wrong, Karla felt a little jealous of her chokehold on Adam’s heart. But perhaps seeing a sketch showing Joni and his baby boy were happy on the other side would ease some of Adam’s pain.
Maybe Luke could help. She carried the pad over to him.
“Any change, Karla?”
She shook her head and gave him the report she’d given the others. “Luke, do you know what Joni looks like?”
“I’ve seen a picture of her in Adam’s house, but it’s been a while.”
Karla extended the sketchpad to him. “Could this be her?”
* * *
Luke took the sketchpad and his blood ran cold.
Angel, seated next to him, placed her hand on his arm, apparently having noticed he’d gone tense. “What’s wrong, Luke? Who is it?”
“Mag…” He had to clear his throat to speak past the lump that had formed there. “It’s Maggie, my wife.”
With our baby?
Luke blinked several times so he could see the picture clearly again.
Karla’s hand covered her mouth. “Oh, my God. How can that be?”
Good question. How could Cassie, who’d never met either of them, draw such a perfect image of his dead wife? Luke looked over at Cassie, who became self-conscious under his scrutiny and moved her left hand up to brush the tendrils from her forehead in what clearly was a move to hide her face from him.
Luke turned back to the sketchpad, unable to stop looking at this smiling Maggie holding their baby. He’d forgotten what a beautiful smile she had. He had no doubt she’d wanted him to know both of them were okay.
“
It’s time. I’m sending you an angel. She needs you
.”
He closed his eyes and saw the image of the woman he’d seen in his dreams. Olive skin. Long brown hair. Sketching outside a mountain cabin. Cassie fit that physical description and was a recluse who lived in a cabin in the mountains.
She needs you
.
Was Cassie the one she’d sent? The message seemed even more clear this time, but he’d mistaken Angel Giardano as being the one, too. He wouldn’t jump to conclusions too fast this time. Hell, Cassie was so skittish, he didn’t know how he’d be able to get within ten feet of her anyway.
You always did have a warped sense of humor, Maggie
.
Karla didn’t take the sketchpad away from him when she went back over to Cassie. Karla apparently told her, because Cassie gasped and glanced furtively toward Luke, pain and confusion in her eyes. He held her gaze a few seconds, then she squirmed in her chair and looked down at her clenched hands.
Well, Maggie, you know I’ve always liked a challenge—and I don’t give up.
He smiled.
* * *
Karla had never felt so rattled before in her life. For Luke to have such a precious glimpse of heaven and his lost loved ones was such a godsend. But why Luke? Cassie had never met him before in her life. Why hadn’t she sketched a picture for Karla showing Ian happy on the other side? Smiling. Raising a little hell maybe.
And Adam. What would it have meant to him to have received a similar sketch of Joni and their baby boy?
She shook her head. “Why Luke?” She hadn’t realized she’d spoken aloud until Cassie responded.
“I told you, Karla. It just came to me out of the blue. What do you think it means?”
“I have no clue. You’re sure you’ve never met Luke?”
Cassie glanced surreptitiously across the waiting room at him and Karla thought she noticed a blush on her cheeks. “Never. I’d have remembered him. He looks like…” She turned her gaze to Karla. “Never mind.”
Before she could ask any other questions, Marc and Damián came out and her focus reverted immediately to Adam. They approached her and she wanted to get back to Adam now. When she stood, the blood rushed to her head and she swayed on her feet. Damián was by her side in a second and wrapped his arm around her, supporting her.
She’d grown very fond of him, since he’d intimidated her to death during her audition at the club. He teased her the way Ian had and usually managed to bring a smile to her face. Only he wasn’t smiling much these days either.
“When’s the last time you ate,
chica
?”
“I’m not hungry.”
“That’s not an answer. C’mon, look at all this food. You need to eat.”
Karla pulled away and glared at him. “I said, I’m not hungry.”
Damián grinned. “Me-ow. The
gatita
has claws.”
“Stop calling me kitten.”
He grew serious. “You can’t be strong for Adam if you don’t take care of yourself.”
The sadistic bastard knew just how to draw blood. How Damián could go from playful tease to sensual sadist in the club, Karla never could understand. But he knew what would inflict the most pain and the thought of not being strong enough for Adam led her to walk over to the table and dish out some lasagna and pull off a piece of crusty bread. She sat and ate, growling at Damián, who just grinned back at her.
I’m doing this for Adam, not you
.
Minutes later, she was beside Adam’s bed again. He slept fitfully, having kicked the blanket off again. Karla covered him and took up her sentry position in the chair at first. She stroked his arm, which felt sweaty. Maybe his fever was breaking.
“Just rest, Adam. Everything’s going to be okay. I’m here.”
Suddenly needing to feel closer to him, she laid her head on the bed, placing her hand across his blanketed chest. She drifted off to sleep and was awoken by another one of Adam’s bad dreams.
“I’ll be good. Don’t lock me in there, Mommy!”
He sounded so scared. His voice was high-pitched, like a little boy’s. Oh, God! What horror was he reliving now? What kind of mother would lock a little boy up? Anger welled up in Karla and she wanted to slay the dragons of his past, whoever they may be.
Adam cried out, a most pitiful, keening sound, and her heart broke for the little boy locked inside him. What horrors had he endured? Karla stood and reached up to stroke his whiskered cheek.
“Adam, listen to me. You were a good boy. And you’re a good man. No one will ever hurt you again.”
Not if I can prevent it
.
Needing to hold him, to keep the most insidious of the demons away, Karla crawled up onto the narrow bed and stretched out beside him. She laid her head on his chest and her arm and leg over his chest and thigh, sliding her hand under the blanket and splaying it over his heart.
She’d first fallen in love with Adam’s bare chest at the age of sixteen, there in her family’s kitchen as her mother had patched up the wounds he’d received rescuing her at the bus station when she’d been stupid enough to run away from home.
But if she hadn’t run away, she never would have found Adam. Fate. Just like the voice she’d heard later that day telling her to go after Adam when he’d left the house to walk.
Watch over him
. She’d followed him to the lake and watched as he stood braced against the elements, lost in his thoughts. When he’d turned toward her, she’d seen tears in his eyes and, much later, she’d learned Joni had died just a couple weeks before that.
When Karla had professed her love for him on her front porch shortly after, as only a sixteen-year-old with a crush could do, he’d let her down so gently, not wanting to hurt her feelings. She grinned. The look of terror on his face had been priceless—in retrospect. But she’d never forgotten his words.
I still love my wife
.
Now, nine years later, Karla could see his love for Joni was as strong as ever. How could she make him see her as a living, breathing woman who wanted to love him. Now. Who wasn’t that immature sixteen-year-old runaway? Who needed to…
“Karla?”
Her heart thudded against her chest. Adam! The rumble of his beautifully raspy voice against her cheek brought her head up and she met his gaze. He recognized her! She smiled for the first time in days.
She reached out and stroked his scruffy cheek. “You’ve come back to me, Adam.”
“What the fuck are you doing in my bed?”
Afterword
Expected Publication Dates
for Upcoming Books
in the RESCUE ME series:
Adam and Karla’s story
NOBODY’S HERO (book three)
December 2011
Damián and Savannah (Savi)’s story
NOBODY’S PERFECT (book four)
February 2012
Luke and Cassie’s story
NOBODY’S DREAM (book five)
May 2012
About the Author
Kallypso Masters writes emotional romance novels with dominant males and the women who can bring them to their knees. Sometimes it seems she lives with these
Masters at Arms
Doms twenty-four/seven—yes, they tend to dominate her life. Often, she’ll wake up with one or more characters waiting by her bedside to share some delicious secret about themselves. Yes, it’s a tough job, but she loves every minute of it.
Kally has been writing full-time since May 2011, having quit her “day job” the month before to pursue a full-time writing career.
Masters at Arms
was her debut novel (published in August 2011) and was followed quickly by
Nobody’s Angel
in September. Of course, there are many others in various stages of development and completion written over the past 35 years that never will see the light of day.
Kally’s RESCUE ME series of contemporary erotic romances began with
Masters at Arms
, the introduction to the series, and a must-read to understand the characters to the fullest. Second in the series is the first romance with a Happily Ever After ending,
Nobody’s Angel
. This is Master Marc’s romance with Angelina, complicated by his search-and-rescue partner and friend Luke's interest in her. In December,
Nobody’s Hero
will tell the long-anticipated romance of Karla and Master Adam. (Does he really stand a chance against Karla, who already has brought him to his knees twice?) In February,
Nobody’s Perfect
provides the much-needed Happily Ever After for two broken and tortured souls—Savannah (Savi) and Master Damián, Kally’s first sado-masochistic romance. Recently added to the lineup (after Master Marc let it be known to Kally in one of those early-morning visits he wasn’t interested in sharing Angelina) is
Nobody’s Dream
, tentatively scheduled for May 2012, which tells of Luke and Cassie’s romance.
Kally lives in rural Kentucky and has been married for 28 years to the man who provided her own Happily Ever After. They have two adult children, one rescued dog, and one rescued cat—and now four Doms (Adam, Marc, Damián, and Luke).
Readers can e-mail her at [email protected] OR send a friend request to Kallypso Masters on Facebook. She’s also on Twitter as @kallypsomasters.