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“Forceful? That’s why you’re literally breathless?

I see.” I didn’t “see” at all, but that was neither here nor there.

There were some males who couldn’t be trusted with the description “forceful”.

But Kagan would never assert his power to get his way or be violent with anyone who didn’t have it coming.

So, I wasn’t worried by that portrayal. “Well, I’ll just…

” I turned to go thinking I’d come back later, but Kagan arrived before I could manage either my exit or the rest of my sentence.

Did he look “forceful”? Perhaps. He certainly looked determined. And he was almost hidden behind the biggest bouquet I’d ever seen. I controlled my features and refused to smile knowing how sensitive he was about such things.

“Kagan,” I said. “Hi. I was just on my way out.” He said nothing. After all, he hadn’t come to see me. “Okay. Bye then.”

I went straight to Keir’s den. “I saw Kagan at Esme’s.”

He glanced up from his betting spreadsheets. “Is there more?”

“Yes. She looked like walking afterglow, and he was carrying a truckload of flowers in his arms.”

“Huh.” He turned back to his monitors.

“I know what you’re thinking. Truckload is a little bit of exaggeration. But there were a lot.”

“Hmm.” He’d returned to the serious business of betting and didn’t look up.

“Do you know anything about this?”

“I might.”

“Spill.”

He smiled while remaining focused on the center monitor on his desk, one of three. “What’s in it for me?”

“Don’t be a wanker. As my lawful husband, you’re obliged to share gossip on demand.”

“I don’t remember making that vow.”

“You were drinking. I remember it. Clearly.”

“Can you prove that I promised that?”

“I don’t have to. You will tell me what I want to know.”

“I will?”

“Yes.”

“What makes you think so?”

“Because I know you have extra nerve endings where your hair meets your temples, and you really don’t like me pulling in that particular spot. Hard.”

He sat back and faced me then laughed. “You’re threatening me with violence?”

“Why is that funny?”

“Because I was made to intimidate. And I mean that literally. Not the mistaken way most people use the word now, but the real ‘literally’.”

“Uh-huh. And yet, I’m not the least intimidated.” I advanced, hands curled into hair-pulling claws.

In a flurry of motion almost too fast to track, he sprang away from his chair and made me chase him around his desk, all the while laughing while going slow enough to make it a game.

Then in a move so fast he wasn’t even a blur, he sped up, came behind and wrapped his arms around me tight. Caught by his strength, arms pinned to my sides, I went utterly still and silent.

His laughing quieted just before he breathed into my ear, “Alright. You win. I’ll make tea.”

The bastard chuckled when his breath in my ear made me shudder.

Egads. I am so easy!

Just like that he was gone. One second, he was my captor, the next I heard kitchen noises as he ran water and put the kettle on. I would never get used to living with someone who can move that fast.

“Well, even he has to generate fire from an external source,” I told the pups, who were watching like Keir and I were engrossing reality TV.

I added silently that I was glad Maeve hadn’t made him a fire breathing dragon.

Entertaining the fantasy of how that might change my life, I wondered why, given Maeve’s penchant for dragons, she’d chosen to fill the enforcer post with a sephalian.

Perhaps one day I’d ask her. If she ever stopped resenting that I, a mostly human, was the other grandmother. Sigh.

I sat by the little kitchen fire in my favorite corner chair and waited to be served. “Liv baked some popovers before she went to market.”

Keir continued assembling the necessaries for tea. “Shall I take that to mean you want one?”

“There’s also bacon in the cookie jar.” I almost laughed when I saw his head jerk in that direction.

“The cookie jar?”

“Uh-huh. We decided it makes more sense to keep your treats where they’re easy for you and don’t tempt the pups. Since nobody in the household is that big on cookies…”

“Biscuits.”

“Whatever. We’ve repurposed and now will officially refer to the Chinese porcelain jar as the bacon jar.”

He turned to face me with a look of adoration. “I love you.”

“Yeah? You’d go home with anyone claiming to have cooked bacon.”

Once both of us had tea and snack preferences, I said, “Waiting.”

“Well, you know I went fishing with Kagan at his place this morning.” I nodded to encourage him to continue. “He was quiet and kind of broody.”

“In other words, he was Kagan.”

“Smart ass American. Yes. But he was more Kagan than usual.”

“I see.”

“I inquired as to what might be the matter. He said Esme ended their relationship. Of course I asked why. He said, and this is paraphrasing, she thinks he’s too good for her.”

For the second time in one day, I spluttered hot tea. This time I wasn’t so lucky. It spewed on the table in front of me and on my blouse. At this rate I was going to have to wear all black all the time and never be far away from wipes.

As Keir used his napkin to dab spots from the table, he said, “I pride myself on knowing you well, Rita. But I must say I’m baffled by that reaction.

Are you spitting tea onto your shirt because you agree with Esme or because you think it’s preposterous to believe that she’s inferior to my oldest brother. ”

After dabbing at the spots I feared would become hopeless stains, I stopped and gave him a look.

“I’m, um, shall we say extra-surprised. Unlikely as it might’ve seemed, I’d come around to thinking they were a good couple.

Two lonely, surly people who’d spent centuries perfecting a perma-pout, but seem happier together. ”

Keir cocked his head. “Adequately described. Perma-pout. Yeah. You could say that.”

“Of course I can say that. Kagan is Heathcliff.”

“Ha! You only threw that out there because you think I haven’t read Wuthering Heights .”

My hubby was treated to my megawatt grin.

I was sincerely delighted because, in fact, I did not think he’d know what I meant.

“Wow. I’m a little impressed. In fact, I wouldn’t have guessed that if we were contestants on the ‘Newlywed Game’.

You spend a lot of time gambling, but I’ve never seen you with a gothic novel. ”

“For centuries, before we met, I had time to pass between court sessions. Now I spend that time here.” He gestured toward the wall displaying a dizzying grid of screens.

“Or fishing with your brother.”

“Or with you ! But at one time reading was a reliable recreation.”

I waggled my head. “Well, sure. I know that.”

“Did you have something you want me to read?”

“No.”

“Alright. Full disclosure.” He grinned. “I saw the movie.”

“Aha! Caught you in a semi-untruth!”

“You did not catch me in anything. I volunteered.”

“Hmmm. Which one?”

“Which one what?

“Which movie version?”

“Oh. The one with Ralph Fiennes. Great score. Worthy of John Williams.”

“Score?”

“The music? Couldn’t say enough about it. Wonderful. Blissful even.”

“Uh-huh. I liked that version. Points for knowing how to pronounce his first name.”

“John?”

“No. Ralph.”

Keir chuckled. “You give points too easily. I might know that because I’m English. Or it could mean I have too much time on my hands.”

“You have too much time on your hands? Wow. Wish I could say that.”

“Liar. It takes a lot of time to be the magistrate and the social chairwoman of Hallow Hill. Otherwise known as Gossip in Chief. But you fill your time with those things because you like being busy.”

“Wait a minute. I am not the chief gossip or whatever. While we’re at it, I’m not social chairwoman of Hallow Hill either.”

With a scoff, he said, “Who manipulated John David into throwing four blow-out galas a year?”

I sniffed, but couldn’t suppress a smile. “Me.”

“Who hosts Legendary Lunch?”

“Guilty.”

“Who organized the contest for best Yule decorations on the green?”

“I did. Oh, my gods, Keir! I have to get to the shop and give Maggie and Dolan my plans for decorating this year. I got distracted by my tea with John David.”

“It’s too bad you don’t have anything to do.”

“Ha. Ha. And bye-bye.”

As I turned to go, Keir said. “Did you ask that vampire to have those chocolate chutney mini pies again?”

I said nothing and walked on like I didn’t hear.

John David was brilliant with party menus.

I had no intention of suggesting what he would serve, even if the request was a form of compliment.

Half the fun was seeing what the vampire would offer up.

If Keir wanted chocolate chutney mini pies, he could get a recipe and make them himself.

As if.

Or he could ask Olivia to do it. Much more likely.

I stepped back into the kitchen. “Keir.”

“Hmmm?”

“Does Kagan have a lot of experience with, um, females?”

It was an innocent question. A logical question, given the topic, but it ignited a firestorm in my brain. Yes. I’d asked a question about Kagan, but all of a sudden I wasn’t thinking about Kagan. Or Esme. Or anything besides the idea of sephalia dating.

Egads. I’d been married to the most desirable male in the history of biped species for half a year and it had never occurred to me that I wasn’t his first. Regardless of his wicked skills in bed.

What was wrong with me that I’d never asked about…

others? Clearly, I was in survival denial.

That’s denial that protects you from knowing things you suspect but don’t want to know for sure.

The twisted thing was that, once I’d had the thought, I couldn’t let it go. I knew Keir answered my question about Kagan, but I didn’t hear it. I was busy picturing him with people who weren’t me.

“Rita.”

“Hmmm?”

“Are you listening?”

Nothing good could come from answering that. “Keir. What about your own experience? Do you have exes? Or past dalliances?”