A Little Night Muse
Page 9
“That’s it,” she crooned. “You want it. And I want you. It’s up to you, Josh, my love. Believe it.”
As his belt buckle clicked open, he grabbed her and swooped down for a tongue-tangling, breath-stealing, soul-searing kiss. She threw herself into his embrace, knocking him into the steel doors behind him.
Which swung apart at their touch.
He staggered backward, clutching Adelyn to his chest. “How—?”
“You know metal, and metal knows you. How else do you make such beautiful pieces? They love you. But not as much as I do.”
She yanked the doors closed behind them. Ahead of them, pines grew in a tight circle, needled boughs towering into darkness.
“This is one of the phaedrealii’s forever gates.” Adelyn took his hands in hers and stared up at him. “Your heart brought you to me, Josh. Now I want to go home. To your valley. To your bed. Take me there.”
She lifted herself to her toes, and the serpents flowed back from her face.
He plunged his hands into the tangle of scales and kissed her.
The sound of a dog barking interrupted.
Josh pulled back. “Wolly?” A bundle of bristling red fur and stub tail butted his knees, and he stared around in confusion. These trees were not in a circle, and between the trunks, the white glow of snow in evening light lit the scene. “I say again, how—?”
“This is our forever, Josh. This is where we are meant to be.”
He shook his head. “Is that how phae magic works?”
“No. That’s our magic.” Gently, she pulled away. “If you still want it.”
He scowled. “How can you ask?”
“Because the Queen never does. No one should be trapped, Josh.”
He looked down at his boots. “I can’t let you go, Adelyn. But I would if you asked.”
She lifted her arms to him, making Wolly bark. “You, you are what I want.”
Vaile and Imogene were waiting at Josh’s cabin, minus their humanizing glamour. His black leathery wings overlapped hers, like a white butterfly, protectively. Adelyn held her breath as the Hunter and sylfana looked her over with measuring gazes. They knew there was more to the tale, and she fully intended to tell them and to get their story in return. The phae realm was changing, and they were only among the first.
Obviously sensing the undercurrent, Josh stepped in front of her, Wolly at heel. “She’s my muse.”
Imogene smiled. “Then we’re glad you found her.”
Vaile slammed down a brand-new frying pan on the porch railing. “This complicates matters.”
Adelyn shook her head as she stepped up next to Josh. “It’s very simple, really. He saw past my veils, and I will never go back. I love him.”
Josh stroked his hand possessively down her back and pulled her to his side. He smiled at her, the reflected love in his eyes as clear and bright as the mountain spring sky behind him.
Later that night, as she took him into her arms and into her yearning core, tears prickled from the corners of her eyes and rolled across the flannel sheets.
“Stop that,” he murmured. “I have enough already for a set of crown jewels.”
“Starting with a huge belt buckle.”
“The biggest and shiniest. And still it won’t rival what I feel for you.”
She kissed him. “You make me believe any dream can come true.”
“And here I thought you were the muse.” He kissed away the tears before they could escape. He wrapped his hands in her hair, curling the black locks in silky ribbons around his knuckles, and gently drew her close. “Now, let me really inspire you.”
* * * * *
Return to Jessa Slade’s sensual world of the phae in Dark Hunter’s Touch, available now from Harlequin Nocturne Cravings.
Yearning to be free, Imogene has fled the idleness and cruelty of the phae court to hide in the sunlit realm of humans. When the Dark Hunters find her—and they will—she will face the Queen’s wrath. But she is tired of running, and after a chance encounter with a seductively handsome stranger named Vaile, Imogene embraces the earthly passions within her, if only for one night. But has she fallen for a man—or an illusion?
Don’t miss the other sensual, paranormal reads from Harlequin Nocturne Cravings, available at
www.ebooks.eharlequin.com and wherever ebooks are sold. Titles include:
The Witch’s Seduction by Elle James
Taming the Dragon by Kendra Leigh Castle
Demon’s Embrace by Elle James
Claiming the Wolf by Michele Hauf
The Darkling’s Desire by Lauren Hawkeye
Her Vampire Lover by Caridad Piñeiro
A Jaguar’s Kiss by Katie Reus
Reawakened Passions by Megan Hart
Incubus Wolf by Bonnie Vanak
Looking for more paranormal romance? The sizzling and spine-chilling books of Harlequin Nocturne are available at www.Harlequin.com or your local bookstore.
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ISBN: 9781460304143
A Little Night Muse
Copyright © 2013 by Jessa Slade
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