by Judi Fennell
"Okay," Michael mumbled.
"Good night." She pulled the covers over his shoulder.
"G'night."
At the bedroom door, Angel watched him slip his hat back on his head then settle down. One arm wrapped around Rocky, Michael curled the rest of his body around the toy and pulled the covers tight as if shielding them both from the outside world.
Angel's heart squeezed. How was she going to handle it when she had to go home?
She didn't want to think about it and turned off the light—only to have the blue glow of his night light remind her of her home. Even more than the waters of Atlantis, that soft light reminded her of her birthplace.
The Blue Grotto of Capri was one of her favorite places on earth. Most Mers were born there, in the turbu lent waters during a storm when Humans had no access to the cavern. Oh, Humans thought it an inconvenience at the hands of the weather, but Poseidon monitored that area closely, knowing exactly when it was needed, and ensured his people would not be discovered.
She'd gone back many times during college to study Human visitors to the cave. They were always in awe, speaking in reverent tones about the grotto's beauty, some even jokingly claiming that the legends were true, that it was the home of Sirens, never knowing how right they were.
Those Humans who'd appreciated the gods' beauti ful creation would want to save the planet. She truly believed that, and it gave her hope to teach them the error of their ways.
That's why she was here, first and foremost. That had been her dream ever since she'd seen that first Human all those selinos ago. It was the reason she'd studied and worked as hard as she had. To make a difference.
But it was going to hurt to leave Michael. And his father.
She clicked the door closed, then rested her head against it. She couldn't think about Logan. Not about how hard it'd be to leave. The Coalition was in its in fancy. She was going to have her work cut out for her when she took office. There was an Advisory Board to assemble and all the committees. Mers to put in place within Human societies to work beneath the radar from that side, children to educate… Logan could only be a pleasant pastime. A temporary distraction.
If only there was some way he could be more.
She shook her head. There wasn't any way. Unless she was willing to break the cardinal rule of their society by telling him the truth, she couldn't have Logan and her world, too.
Regretting the reality that made it so, Angel turned around and—
Hit a wall.
And not the plastered kind.
The tall, dark, and handsome kind.
She didn't need to look up to know who it was.
But, somehow, just like last night, she couldn't seem to help herself.
She also couldn't help noticing that Logan didn't step back.
"I, um, was just coming to get you," she said. There. That sounded normal. Pleasant. Conversational.
Then Logan did step back and her tummy twinged. That wasn't normal. But it was pleasant.
Better than pleasant, actually.
"Oh?" Logan ran a hand through his hair.
"Um… yes. Michael. He's just about to fall asleep. I didn't want you to miss saying good night to him."
"Thanks, Angel. For putting him to bed and playing with him earlier."
"Oh, it's no problem. That's what I'm here for, right?"
"About that. Can we talk?"
Her heart sank. Can we talk was never good. She'd been wondering if there could be something between her and Logan, yet he wanted to "talk."
Color her embarrassed. She just hoped he didn't ask her to leave—especially now because she'd seen the tips of hammerhead tails offshore earlier. Knowing Harry, he wasn't giving up.
"Um. Sure. I'll wait for you on the lanai."
He moved past her and opened Michael's bedroom door. "I'll be down in a few minutes."
***
"You're in for it, you know." Ginger wriggled her serpentine neck through the yellow hibiscus hedge next to the lanai. "You've got a shiver of sharks just off the beach, slobbering all over the place, not to mention scaring every living thing into hiding. How am I supposed to get anything to eat? I still say you ought to raid the fridge for those prawns."
"Ginger, I'm not raiding anything for you. I've got enough troubles as it is."
What if Logan asked her to leave? Aside from the obvious worry about Harry, she would return home with nothing. A few dozen pages of notes weren't going to absolve her in The Council's eyes from coming ashore, and those observations certainly wouldn't give her the cachet she needed for the job.
Never mind what leaving Logan and Michael would do to her.
Angel kicked off her shoes and dropped into a lounge chair. The scent of hibiscus filled the air as the flowers neared the end of their one-day lives. She fiddled with one of the dying blossoms in the hedge next to her, feeling the correlation with her own life a little too closely.
"Troubles. Right." Ginger flipped her head upside down. "You don't know what trouble is. Living all high and fancy as a princess while some of us are left to survive on our wits. I'd trade places with you in a wingbeat."
"The difference between us, Ginger, is that all you think about is yourself."
"And maybe that's where your problem comes from. Do you really think you can save the planet? Honestly? And creatures say I'm vain."
Angel flicked the end of Ginger's beak to get her to leave her alone, and the flamingo undulated her neck as she backed out of the hedge.
Was that it? Was she vain to think she could do this? Was it an impossible task? Was Rod right? Was she des tined to be Just Angel the rest of her Immortal life?
That she was questioning herself bothered her. Maybe she was going about this the wrong way; she didn't know anymore. It'd seemed like a good idea, but now…?
Now Michael's emotions were involved and so were hers and, Hades, she couldn't even manage to stick to her convictions about not falling for a Human.
Falling for—?
No. She was not falling for him.
She wasn't.
Really.
Angel sat up and smoothed her pants over her knees. There was a difference between wanting someone and falling for him. Huge difference. Life-altering differ ence. She hadn't fallen.
Had she?
Chapter 19
"ANGEL? WHERE ARE YOU?"
Logan. Angel's chuckle was half-groan. Talk about karma, the universe, whatever.
She swung her legs off the edge of the lounge and toed around for her shoes. "Right here, Logan."
He rounded the corner before she could get her sec ond shoe on and stand, which left her gaze at thigh level. His thigh.
So not where she needed it to be.
She sprang to her feet—and teetered on the new ap pendages that were now at uneven heights, thanks to the one-shoe thing. Gods, when would she learn?
Then Logan reached out to steady her and didn't let go, and she figured she'd learned fairly well.
No no no. The job. She had to remember the job.
"Are you okay?"
If she could find her voice, she'd answer him. As it was, she could only nod.
"Oh. Good." He let go of her arms.
Thank the gods she managed to stay upright. Some learned scientist she was—cool, professional, able to maintain distance when dealing with her subjects—
Yeah, she was fooling no one. Least of all her self. Wanting, falling… Was there really that much of a difference?
"How about a walk on the beach?" He held up a white plastic box. "I've got the monitor on in Michael's room so we can hear if he needs us."
"Oh. O…okay." Well, good. She was getting her voice back. That was a plus. Now if she could just get the tummy flutters to settle down, she'd be in good shape. Then Logan held her elbow while she kicked off the other shoe, and continued holding it the entire way down the flagstone path to the steps leading to the beach, all the while, her stomach was dancing the mambo.
A walk was harmless. It would give them a chance to get to know each other better. She could learn more about his world. Hear his thoughts. Practice walking on a new surface, and chalk it up to experience in prepara tion for her argument to Rod. It'd be a good argument.
So good that she almost convinced herself that was why she was going on the walk—until the cool grains of sand slid beneath her feet and squelched between her toes, and she had to grab Logan again to catch her balance.
When his warm skin met hers, and his muscles flexed beneath her fingers, her balance became seriously com promised as shivers ran up her arm, and toe-tingling became toe-curling.
Angel wasn't sure which rocked her world more off kilter, the sand or Logan.
Or the wave that was headed right at her.
She hopped to the side to avoid it, glad she still had hold of him so she didn't go down—more than an em barrassment, that would have been a disaster. Her tail nondisclosure loomed large between them.
"So, um, what did you want to talk about?"
"You." Logan's voice swirled her tummy like high tide in an inlet.
"Me?" Her voice, on the other fin, sounded like a sick seal pup. She'd never squeaked before. It wasn't attractive.
Logan took her hand and headed down the beach away from the inlet on the other side of his house. "Me, too, of course."
"You?" Eloquent, wasn't she?
"And last night."
Her stomach did that squirmy thing again. "What, um, about it?"
Another wave flowed up the beach, a little too close to them for her liking, and Angel took another step to the side.
"You don't want to walk in the surf?" Logan didn't let go of her hand.
So she didn't let go either. "Not really. I saw some sharks offshore and would rather not tempt them."
"Sharks don't come onto shore, Angel."
"Well, you never know." Okay, it was lame, but what was she going to say? I don't want to have my legs liter ally swept out from under me?
Besides, the hand-holding was already doing a fine job with that, and she could only imagine what talking about last night would do.
"So, about last night." Logan kept his eyes straight ahead.
She knew because she kept stealing little glances out the corner of her eyes. "Yes?"
His grip on her hand tightened. "I promised you I wouldn't come on to you, yet today I did it again."
And how was she supposed to respond to that?
"But you didn't back away."
Oh. That's where he was going with this. "Um, yes… I mean, no."
Hades, she didn't know what she meant.
Logan stopped then. He turned to face her, his eyes searching hers. "Why didn't you, Angel?"
Angel's heart thudded. "I…"
A breeze swept around them, tossing her hair all around. Over her shoulders and wrapping it around her neck. Wrapping it around his. She reached for the bunch of hair that rested on him, but Logan beat her to it. He gathered the strands and swept them across his lips.
"Your hair is…" Logan's whisper melted into the sound of the waves. "It's beautiful."
And she melted into the sound of his voice.
Another wave slid onto the beach while the moment became supercharged.
Angel looked away first. There was something so honest in his gaze and, well, the guilt of not telling him the truth got to her.
But he'd never be able to fathom the idea of a Mer. No Human could. Mers had been relegated to myth status in their world, and that's where both races were comfortable with them being right now. She wasn't here to upset that balance. Just nudge it a little.
Still, she didn't like not being able to be herself with him. Her true self.
She gathered her hair, twisting it at the nape of her neck and knotting it over on itself, finding any place to look but at him. "Um, thanks."
Then he held out his hand and cleared his throat. "So… should we continue?"
Continue what?
She took his hand, knowing it wasn't the safest move on her part. Knowing she was going to have to answer his question—especially to herself.
But she knew the answer. She was attracted to him. She knew what it was like to kiss him. What he felt like pressed against her. The way his hair felt. The catch in his breath when she flexed her fingers against the back of his neck…
Oh yeah, they should continue. Because she wasn't going on a walk to learn anything scientific about Logan.
She was going on this walk to learn all about Logan for purely personal reasons.
The differences between them be damned.
***
"Son of a Moray!" Harry thrashed his tail. She was walking on the beach with the Human. Walking! And the sun was down! How in Hades was she doing this? By rights, the Mer ought to be running for the ocean, diving beneath the waves in a desperate attempt to get her tail back, but no. This Tritone was waltzing noncha lantly along the beach as if she didn't have a care in the world.
And A.C., damn him, was reminding Harry, port and starboard, that this was supposed to be a quick job. As if Harry needed the reminder.
He didn't know what she thought she was doing, but he knew he wasn't going to let her get away with it. She was the first royal he'd been able to get close to in recent months, and he wasn't going to let this opportunity slip through his gills.
He turned to Lou. "Keep an eye on them, but don't touch her. I want to check out a few things. I'll be back in the morning."
Somehow, some way, she'd slip up. And then he, and the guys, would pounce.
Chapter 20
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN SHE'S ON LAND? STILL?" ROD SWAM from one side of the High Councilman's office to the other in what was sure to be record-breaking time, scat tering the shoal of synchronized damselfish he'd hired for his wife's surprise party who were rehearsing in the corner.
Mariana backed out of her brother's way, bumping up against the sideboard that held busts of all the previ ous High Councilmen and almost knocking the newest addition off. She hadn't wanted to be the bearer of bad tidings for just this reason. She'd known Rod wouldn't react well.
Angel was so going to pay for this.
Mariana righted their father's likeness. "Yes, Rod. But she was in the water last night, so it's no big deal. She'll be back in before her time runs out."
Rod turned around, creating a strong enough whirl pool that the blennies snoozing in an alcove were sent twirling onto the coral beds on the ledge below. That had to hurt. "How do you know this, Mariana, when none of my informants knew where she was?"
She swished her hands to create a current to help the dazed fish back into their home. "It wasn't that hard to figure out, Rod. She'd taken her sea-pak and her notes."
"That was two days ago."
Mariana gulped. Oh, Hades. The crappie was going to hit the net now, for sure. Angel owed her. Big time.
"I spoke to her."
Rod spun around, this time disturbing the school of young sea horses who were trying to learn English. Probably not the best day for them to be here.
"You spoke to her? And you didn't think to bring her home?"
Mariana planted her hands on her hips, careful not to grip too hard. Scattering scales were a dead giveaway of tension, and she didn't want her brother to know how worried she was about this entire situation. For Angel's sake, Rod's, and her own. There was still the matter of her current project that she didn't want to come out.
"You know as well as I do, Rod, that you can't make Angel do anything she doesn't want to do. Especially when it comes to Humans. What is it about those beings that's so entrancing?"
Rod stopped swimming, and a strange look crossed his face. "You wouldn't understand."
Damn straight she wouldn't. And she never wanted to find out. But whatever the draw was, it got Rod to slow his whirlpool-inducing tail whips down to a soft flutter
. The group of starfish holding onto the wall for dear life took a collective inhalation of relief.
"We need to get her back here."
"Good luck with that."
"I'm serious, Mariana. I don't have time for this. I should have left yesterday. We have to find some way to get her back. Soon."
