Protecting His Windflower (A Spirit Hunters Series Novel Book 1) by Temperance Dawn (best ereader for epub TXT) 📗

held each other while they both caught their breaths. Emily opened her eyes to Liam staring down at her. “Hey.”

“Hey,” she echoed, lifting her chin to kiss his lips again.

“You okay?”

“Yeah. I’m more than okay. I’ve never felt more alive.”

“That was a lot harder than I meant to take you.” Liam smoothed her hair off of her perspire slicked forehead.

“It was perfect. Exactly what I wanted.” She smiled at him.

Liam kissed her once more. “I’ll be right back.” Liam eased himself off of Emily and walked to the bathroom. When he returned, he carried a warm washcloth. He knelt on the bed behind her and began to help Emily clean up.

“I can do that.”

“I know, but I want to. Is that okay?”

Emily nodded, and Liam lay behind her with her back to him. He hitched her leg up over his thigh and wiped her clean with the washcloth. Emily was slightly self-conscious about Liam cleaning her most intimate areas, but remembered that he had already spent a lot of time between her legs. The fact that he wanted to take care of her so…intimately, made her heart skip a beat.

“I told you, I’ll always make sure your taken care of,” Liam whispered in her ear as if he could hear her thought. He tossed the washcloth on the floor and pulled Emily close. He settled in behind her, pressing his body as close to her as possible, and circled one arm around her waist. His other arm rested under her head.

“Sleep, baby. I’m right here. I’ve got you. Get some rest because it’s still early, and I’m sure I’ll wake up in a few hours. And when I do, I’m going to want to make love to you all over again.”

Emily sighed and wiggled her butt against him. “Are you still hard?”

“A little bit, yeah.”

“Is that normal?” Emily asked in surprise.

“With you,” he told her, “I have a feeling it will be. Sleep, baby.”

Emily relaxed into him, letting her body melt into the mattress. Liam’s warmth and the electrical pulses through her body lulled her into a deep sleep.

***

Rage coursed through him as he watched her make love to another man. The sight before him took him back to the first time he’d caught them together. That time, he had made a mistake. He let his anger overtake his thinking, leading him to destroy his own plans. This time, he’d take her, and she’d have no way of escaping his grasp.

He had no use for the man. His only concern was for her. She was his. He had waited decades, and finally, she would join him. He needed to grow stronger first, to gather enough energy to complete his task, for the curse still worked against him. There was no doubt that she would finally become his, and they would live out their days together in eternity.

Patience was not his strong suit, but he had no choice. The time would come soon enough. He slipped through the walls and drifted down the stairs as an orb of blue, to the place where he could rest, where his power could grow.

Twenty-One

“Y

ou stole her!” Banks screamed as he re-entered the room. He’d followed the men who dragged Abigail from the study, and James caught a glimpse of him whispering to them through the crack in the door.

“She doesn’t love you,” James shouted. His heartbeat erratically, the fear was compounded by his throbbing head. His blurred vision, along with the taste of blood in his mouth, nauseated him. “Let her go! I’m in love with her, and I won’t apologize for it. She has the freedom to make her own choices. She doesn’t want you!”

Robert Banks’ infatuation with Abigail began before she was even old enough to marry.

“You only want—no. You need to keep up your image of the socialite you are, including having a wife to bear your children. When Abigail’s father refused your marriage proposal, you took matters into   your own hands. Didn’t you?”

James watched as Banks paced the room. His boots thumped against the wood floor that sent an eerie echo through the room. Rage filled Banks’ eyes. The color gone, replaced by darkness that sent shivers down James’ spine.

“You arranged the ‘accident’ that killed her parents, leaving Abigail alone?” Banks stopped pacing. James hoped his theory was wrong, but Banks’ change in demeanor proved otherwise. The bile rose in his stomach at the thought that his father’s business partner could commit such a crime. “You thought you could swoop in and take her for your own!”    James screamed at the man who he once considered to be an uncle to him.

“What happened, Banks? Some bad business deals finally catch up to you?”

At his statement, Banks’ fist landed across James’ already bloody and bruised jaw. Pain coursed through James’ head, blurring his vision more.

“You need to take control of her inheritance. You’ve lost everything, haven’t you?”

“Not everything. I’ll be taking control of this house soon enough,” Banks sneered like a bear prepared to kill its prey. He raised his walking stick in one hand and brought it down, hard, slamming it into the floor. “She is mine!” Banks’ voice sent vibrations bouncing off the walls in the room. He showed his teeth as he yelled.

“No! She is not! She doesn’t belong to you!” James tried to lunge at Banks. His anger growing exponentially with each passing moment. He had never been a violent person, but he was sure he’d strangle Banks with his bare hands if given a chance.

He was halted by the man standing behind him. He pressed on his shoulders, holding him in place. With his hands tied behind him, he had no leverage to use against his captor. James tried to make sense of Banks’ last statement. “You can’t take this house. This was my father’s house! It’s mine!”

“We’ll see about that,” Banks said as he pulled a document from the inside pocket of his coat. “This was a