“I love you, Daddy.”
Judah swallowed hard. I love you, too.
She hugged him tighter. “Mother’s coming.”
“It figures.”
“Huh?”
“Nothing.” Judah gradually eased out of Eve’s embrace as he rose to his feet. “Let me handle things, okay? When your mother finds us, she’s not going to be happy, so we’ll tell her that I’m the one who shot the energy bolt. That way she won’t be angry with you.”
“But that’s lying, Daddy, and lying is wrong.”
Judah groaned. Raintree logic. “Actually, it’ll just be a little white lie, so you won’t get in trouble.”
“Mother will know that I did it. She knows everything.”
Judah couldn’t repress his smile. “Why don’t we put her to the test and find out?”
When Eve looked up at him, he winked at her.
She winked back. “Okay.”
Exactly five minutes and sixteen seconds later, Judah sensed Mercy coming up from behind as he and Eve sat on the side of the creek, their shoes off, their feet in the cool water. He glanced over his shoulder and spied her a good thirty feet away.
When he turned back around, Eve said, “Mother is very upset.”
“Remember, let me do all the talking.”
“I think my mother is the one who’s going to do all the talking.”
When Mercy approached them, Judah and Eve simultaneously turned to face her.
“Hi, Mommy. Daddy and I are just cooling off. It sure is hot today.”
Mercy glared at Judah. “What did you let her do?”
Judah shrugged. “Eve didn’t do anything. I did. I was showing off a little for my daughter.”
“Is that right?” Mercy zeroed in on Eve.
Eve’s cheeks blushed bright pink. “Uh-huh.”
Mercy scanned the area in every direction. When her gaze fell on the empty spot in the woods created by the absence of six large pine trees, she gasped.
Focusing on Eve, she said, “I want the truth, young lady. Did you-” she nodded toward the woods “-do that?”
“Do what?” Eve asked.
Mercy glared at Judah. “Not only did you allow her to do something extremely dangerous, you taught her to lie.”
“No, Mother, please. Don’t be angry with Daddy.” Eve yanked her feet from the creek and hopped up off the ground. “I did it. I zapped a whole bunch of trees. I was aiming at just one, but-” she flopped her hands open on either side of her “-my energy ball kind of went crazy, and all those trees went poof.”
“Oh, God, oh, God,” Mercy mumbled under her breath, then turned to Judah. “Did you help her create an energy bolt?”
Judah stood up to his full six-two height and settled his gaze on Mercy. “Our daughter didn’t need any help. She was perfectly capable of creating an energy bolt all by herself. And in case you haven’t realized it, she took out six trees with one bolt.”
“She took out-of course she did.” Mercy marched over to Judah, nostrils flared, eyes blazing. “And you’re proud of her, aren’t you?”
“Damn right I am. And you should be, too.”
“I am proud of Eve, but…she could have been hurt, or hurt someone else.”
“I wouldn’t have let that happen.”
They stood there, glaring at each, a hairsbreadth apart, the tension between them palpable. She was furious with him. He loved that about her, the passion, the fierce, protective mama tiger in her. He wanted nothing more than to take her here and now, and except for Eve’s presence, he would have been sorely tempted.
She knew what he was thinking. He could see it in her eyes. And he also sensed her desire. Like animals powerless to resist the mating call, they couldn’t break the visual contact or the psychic bond that held them spellbound.
Spellbound his ass! He wasn’t some lovesick young fool. And he certainly wasn’t in love with Mercy. Once he’d screwed her again, this fever in his blood would cool.
“Mercy!” Sidonia cried as she came across the open field, three people following her. “Is Eve all right? Did that devil…?”
“She’s fine,” Mercy called.
“I’m getting damn sick and tired of her calling me the devil,” Judah said.
“Oh, great. Just great.” Mercy heaved a deep, exasperated sigh. “She’s got Brenna and Geol and Hugh with her.”
“A Raintree lynch party, no doubt.” Judah turned to face the approaching hangmen.
“You keep quiet.” She gave Judah and Eve stern looks. “Both of you. Let me do all the talking.”
Huffing and puffing, Sidonia stopped a couple of feet from Mercy. “I turned my back for two seconds, and he ran off with her.”
“It’s all right,” Mercy said. “It won’t happen again. Will it?” She looked from father to daughter.
Eve shook her head, then bowed it in a contrite manner. Totally false regret, of course.
Judah didn’t respond.
“What happened over there?” Hugh, a robust, gray-haired Raintree, pointed to the wide bare spot in the nearby woods. “You aren’t cutting down timber are you, Mercy?”
“Just a little psychic accident,” Mercy said. “I’m completely to blame.”
Hugh stepped forward, looked Judah over from head to toe, and held out his hand. “I’m Hugh Sullivan and you’re…?”
“This is Judah Blackstone,” Mercy said. “Judah and I went to college together. He’s visiting for a few days.”
Judah hesitated, then took the man’s hand and exchanged a cordial shake.
Hugh studied Judah with his green Raintree eyes. “Well, you are a handsome devil, all right.” Hugh chuckled. “I couldn’t figure out why Sidonia kept referring to you as the devil.”
“I’m afraid Sidonia and I got off on the wrong foot when I first arrived,” Judah said, then looked right at the nanny. “I’m sorry if our little game of hide-and-seek worried you. Eve and I were having so much fun playing that it never entered my head you’d be concerned about her.”
“Humph.” Sidonia gave him a condemning glare.
Judah glanced at the other man and woman, who seemed as intrigued by his presence as Hugh had been. He nodded to them.
“Hello,” the woman said. “I’m Brenna Drummond, a distant cousin of Mercy’s.”
The other man held up his hand in greeting. “I’m Geol Raintree, a not so distant cousin.”
“Forgive us, Mr. Blackstone, for being so curious, but Mercy having an old boyfriend visiting is quite an event.” Brenna smiled knowingly at Mercy, apparently giving her approval.
“Judah wasn’t my-” Before Mercy could finish her sentence, Judah slipped his arm around her waist. She went stiff as a board.
As if on cue, Eve cuddled up to Judah’s other side.
“Well, it looks as if our little Eve likes you, Mr. Blackstone,” Hugh said. “It’s always a good sign when a woman’s child likes you.”
“Hugh is grilling trout tonight, and I’m making homemade ice cream,” Brenna said. “Why don’t all of you come to my cabin for dinner?”
“Thank you, but I’m afraid-”
Once again, Judah cut Mercy off mid-sentence. “We’d love to, wouldn’t we?”
“Yippee!” Eve shouted. “Brenna makes the best ice cream in the world.”
Mercy forced a smile. After the search party went their separate ways and Mercy sent Eve back to the house with Sidonia, she confronted Judah.
“What did you think you were doing, agreeing to have dinner with my guests?”
“I was making an effort to be polite so they wouldn’t suspect there was a wolf among the sheep. Wasn’t that what you wanted me to do?”
“What I want you to do is disappear from my life and never return.”
“If I left, you’d miss me.”
“Like I’d miss the plague.”
“I’ll be leaving soon enough.” Going home to Terrebonne to fight and kill my brother, he added silently.
“Once you’ve taken care of Cael, please don’t come back here. Leave us alone. You’re bad for Eve. You must know that.”