Linda Welch - A conspiracy of Demons by A Conspiracy of Demons Page B

pulled my shirt over my head and dropped it, then sat on the edge of the mat tress to peel off my jeans. They landed on top of my shirt, followed by my socks.
    Royal lifted the sheet and duvet for me to slip beneath. I lay with my head on his shoulder, his arm beneath my back, holding me to his chest. With a deep sigh, I luxuriated in the warmth and comfort his body so readily gave me.
    This felt so nice, but my thoughts would let not me relax. I couldn’t keep still. I wriggled. Then I rolled on my back. Royal’s arm shifted to accommodate me.
    I gazed at a ceiling I could barely see, a grayness above our heads.
    Royal was good about giving me space when he saw I needed it. He lay beside me silently, but I could tell from the way in which his muscles hardened beneath my neck that I tr ansmitted my discomfort to him.
    I sat up, drew my knees up to my chin an d twined my arms around them, pulled in a huge breath and let it out with a puff. “It kills me. Thinking of Lynn all alone, stuck in the same place, watchi ng the world go by without her .” I turned my cheek to rest it on my knees. “But there’s this horrible, horrible part of me which doesn’t want to find her because then I’ll be all she has, like Jack and Mel. She’ll want to cling to me. And I’ll have to keep going to her. I won’t want to, but I’ll feel small and selfish if I don’t.”
    I closed my eyes. H is fingers smoothed up my spine .
    Snippets of the past two days circled in my head. M y mind drifted to other dead people, so many of them. And I could no longer contain the long-held fear I kept locked inside for years .
    I’ve looked in Death’s eyes . In the bowels of Morté Tescién at the hands of Royal’s brother Kien. In my backyard when I fought Phaid. In an old , abandoned plant below the High House when I went one on one with the ancient Dark Cousin Dagka Shan. The bombs in Royal’s apartment and my house. In the tiny English village of Little Barrow, and when an assassin tried to run Royal’s truck into the lake. Not to forget the black pickup which tried to push my car in the river.
    “I don’t want to end up like Lynn , like the rest of them.” I tried to swallow , but my throat had closed.
    A heavy silence settled over us. Royal sat up beside me . His voice rumbled in my ear. “I want to say that won’t happen to you, I’ll protect you, no one can harm you. But I can’t promise you that.”
    “I know,” I whispered.
    He hugged me fiercely with one arm. “I can promise this. If someone takes you from me, you will not linger long, because they will not see another sunrise.”
    Now I’d made him feel bad. “I’m sorry. Didn’t mean to lay that on you.”
    “I’m here for you, Sweetheart.” He cupped my chin to lift my head so we looked in each other’s eyes. “I want you to tell me what bothers you. Don’t shut me out to spare my feelings.”
    He lay back, taking me d own so I rested on his chest . His hands began to stroke rhythmically up and down my spine. Drowsiness made my eyelids droop. His fingers moved to my neck and pushed into my hair to massage the base of my skull. I dropped my face to his sculpted chest.
    His hands stilled, his breathing changed to the slow, deep inhalation preceding sleep.
    I hoped I would not dream.

Chapter Eight
    Nothing like starting yo ur day with a long , refreshing shower when your shower-buddy is tall, built and lusciously hot . Cold water finally drove us from the cubicle and we h ad fun rubbing each other down - nothing like a thick terry towel to create friction.
    By the time I left my very satisfied guy drowsing in bed, the water had warm ed up enough for me to take another shower, but alone this time. I insisted; we would be here all day if I didn’t.
    I went in the bedroom wearing my robe. “I’m sending you my next water bill.”
    Royal chuckled as he sprawled naked on my bed in a tangle of sheets and duvet.
    Tempting. Yeah, very tempting .
    But I resisted, and