Jude wanted to groan too. He was so close. This job, especially if he could set any price, could be enough to allow him some semblance of a normal life.
His gaze flicked back to Ellina’s lovely face. He flexed his fingers, which still tingled from when he’d touched her, a warm and arousing sensation.
He didn’t know if he could be around this woman. This demon, he told himself as if that reminder would somehow negate his instant reaction to her. And that reaction was dangerous. He just knew it.
But the money…
“Truthfully, you are our only option,” Maksim said.
Ellina snorted. The indignant sound should have sounded out of place and graceless coming from such a pretty woman, but somehow even her snort worked for her.
So dangerous, Jude told himself. So, so dangerous.
But it was the noise that then came from Maksim’s wife that jarred everyone out of their conversation. A shuddering breath that turned into a full-out cry.
All eyes turned to her. The woman hunched forward, her arms wrapped around her distended abdomen like she was hugging a beach ball to herself.
“Jo!” Maksim was at her side at once, his demon abilities making the movement unnaturally quick. But the way he braced his arms around his wife, trying to take her weight and her pain, was purely human. Jo curled into him, her pain seemingly made more manageable by his nearness.
Jude’s chest tightened, and he found the interaction hard to watch, but he did, waiting to see what he could do to help, if anything.
“The baby?” Maksim asked, his voice bordering on panic. Another jarringly human reaction.
For a moment another woman, swollen with child, and another man, thrilled and terrified at the prospect of his first child, flashed through Jude’s mind.
He shook his head, shoving the image aside.
Those thoughts were better left in the past. For a very short time, he’d believed he could atone for his past. He could have a full life again. Then he realized he’d never be anything other than a monster. And monsters didn’t deserve redemption. All he wanted now was peace.
“Should I call your doctor?” Ellina asked, joining Maksim at her sister-in-law’s side.
“I think—” Jo struggled to pull in a calming breath. “I think I’ll be all right.”
“Yes,” Maksim said, as if his wife hadn’t spoken. “Call this number.” He fished a cell phone from his jeans pocket, rifling through the numbers in his phone book with one hand, the other still around Jo’s back.
Jo shot her husband a look somewhere between irritation and amusement. “I’ve only had a few contractions, and they weren’t terribly close together.”
“You’ve been having contractions?” Maksim looked hurt that she’d withheld that information from him, but he shook the emotion off. “I don’t care how close together they are, call the doctor.”
Maksim waved the cell phone toward his sister. Ellina took it, and he returned his attention to his wife.
Jude watched as Ellina pressed the button to connect with the doctor, seeing the excitement in her eyes. There was something else there that caught his attention. A change in the color of them? In the shape? Even her features seemed somehow different.
She told someone on the other end of the line what was happening, referring to Jo for more information, which Maksim felt the need to repeat as if Ellina wasn’t right there to hear Jo.
“Dr. Kelley said that you probably have hours to go yet,” Ellina told them after she hung up the phone. “Just time the contractions. Walking will help. Or a bath. And call her when they are coming in regular five-minute intervals.”
Jo started to nod, then another contraction hit her. She groaned and hunched forward. Maksim held her again, talking to her in low, hushed tones. But Jo only groaned louder.
“We’re going to the hospital,” Maksim announced as soon as the contraction lessened and Jo could stand upright.
“But—” Jo started.
“No,” Maksim said, all frazzled expectant dad, “I’ll feel better if we are there. Please.”
Jo smiled at him, oddly calmer than her demon husband. “Okay. I guess I would too, actually.”
They started toward the door, when Maksim seemed to remember Jude was still there.
“I’ll pay you whatever you want. Whatever—you name it. But you can’t leave. I don’t know how long I’ll be gone. And I don’t want Ellina alone.”
Jude hesitated, then found himself nodding.
What the hell was he doing? He couldn’t do this. Being here was too much. It was a situation that was making him feel strange things. And remember things he didn’t want to think about again. Ever again.
He’d learned long, long ago the best way to be an effective bodyguard, killer, machine, was to feel nothing.
Maksim searched Jude’s face, and Jude knew the other man was looking for something to assure himself he could trust him. A virtual stranger.
Then Maksim nodded, apparently finding the answer he wanted. Although Jude didn’t know how or what he found. He didn’t know if Maksim could trust him, or if he could trust himself.
“I’ll call you from the hospital,” Maksim said to Ellina.
“Okay. Let me know if you need anything. Love you both.” Ellina followed them to the door.
“Call Maggie and Erika,” Jude heard Jo say from outside the door.
“I will.” Ellina waved, waiting in the doorway until Jude heard Maksim’s car start and speed away from the house.
After the whir of activity, the sudden silence in the small cottage was harsh and unnerving. Then Ellina turned to him. Her face wore that serene mask he’d seen when he first entered her house. Nothing odd about her eyes. Nothing amiss, and he now wondered if he’d just imagined some strange change in her.
“Thanks for agreeing to stay, but you can go.”
Jude didn’t respond for a moment, surprised by her abruptness, but considered taking her up on the invitation.
“No, I’m staying.”
He couldn’t go.
Ellina stared at him for a moment, then shrugged.
“You are one odd dude,” she said, then strode out of the lavender living room, disappearing down a hall the color of blue cotton candy.
“You have no idea,” Jude muttered to the empty room.
Chapter 3
Ellina
