Page 26 of Guarded By the Gargoyle

“The fair sex? Your speech is so old-fashioned!”

“Forgive me,” I said with dignity. “As I said, I have been locked in stone for centuries.”

“No, no—it’s not a bad thing. Ilikeit,” she said quickly. “Look, why don’t you sleep down here tonight? As long as you don’t come upstairs, I don’t mind having you in the house.”

“I do not sleep,” I said gravely. “But I can rest. I will stay here and guard your slumber, Mistress.”

“You don’t have to call me…oh, never mind.” She waved a hand and sighed. “I’m going to pour another glass of wine and take a bath now. I’ll probably have to run some more hot water—I’m sure what’s in the tub is stone-cold by now.”

As she filled her wineglass, I thought about asking if I could help her bathe…and then thought better of it. Alandra had allowed me the privilege of seeing and bathing her naked body, but I sensed that Willow was more shy and retiring than my old Mistress had been. The fact that she had kissed me was surprising—I shouldn’t push for more.

“Good night, Willow,” I said instead. “I wish you deep slumber and sweet dreams.”

“Thank you.” She gave me a tentative smile. “Er, good night, Kael.”

Then she turned and hurried back up the stairs with her glass of wine as though she thought I might follow her.

But of course, I didn’t. She had asked me to stay downstairs and so that was where I would stay. I would break my vow and go up to her only if I heard sounds that led me to believe she was in danger of some kind. I didn’t anticipate anything like that, though—we were alone in the house and it had many magical wards around it.

I settled down on the couch before the fireplace where a low flame flickered. I had much to think about…much to consider about my new Mistress. I could still taste her sweet lips and feel her soft, curvy body pressed to mine.

I was already falling in love with her.

11

WILLOW

Oh my God, I can’t believe I kissed him! What is wrong with me? I never should have done that!

I was half-afraid the big gargoyle might chase me up the stairs, wanting more than just a goodnight kiss, but when I got to the top and looked around, Kael was nowhere to be seen. I peered back down the stairs and saw him sitting on the couch in front of the fireplace. His large, feathery wings were tucked over the back of the couch so I could see all of his long, silvery-white feathers. They were beautiful.

I thought of the leathery bat wings they became when he turned from an angel to a gargoyle and shivered. Seeing his demonic form set in stone was one thing. But when he had changed in front of my eyes and become the monstrous, sneering thing with a wide, red mouth and fangs dripping with some kind of green venom, it had scared me so badly I had actually fainted! He was as ugly in his demonic form as he was beautiful in his angelic form.

Kael must have felt me watching him because just at that moment he turned his head, as though he would look over his broad shoulder and up the stairs at me. I skittered quickly away,the Chablis sloshing in my long-stemmed wineglass as I hurried back to the bathroom.

I still felt flushed from the forbidden kiss and I spent a moment catching my breath with my back to the bathroom door. Goddess, what had possessed me to do that? Ihatedmen—I didn’t trust a single one of them. And yet, his kiss had been so gentle and when I looked in the bathroom mirror I saw he had been telling the truth—he really had healed me!

Feeling a bit dazed, I decided to take the bath I’d been longing for. I was expecting to have to drain the tub and draw a new bath. I had spent at least half an hour talking to Kael and healing his hand—though I hadn’t known I was healing him at the time—so I was sure the water would be cold. But I was amazed to see that the Flower Bower cottage had actually kept my bath warm. Steam was still rising from the tub and the bubbles hadn’t even gone flat—they were a white puffy mound floating on top of the water invitingly.

I made sure the door was locked and then made sure again out of habit—Carlo used to love to come in and shout at me when I was trying to relax in the tub. He would wait until I had just gotten in and then find some tiny detail to nitpick and scream at me about. Like why hadn’t I sewn the button he lost back on his second favorite uniform shirt or the fact that when I mopped the kitchen floor, I missed a spot. He would insist that I get out of the tub and fix whatever it was at once, so I never got to soak more than five minutes at a time.

Little things like that wore me down and eventually I stopped trying to take a bath at all. One of the things I liked best about getting divorced—aside from not getting beaten on an almost daily basis—was being able to soak in the tub for as long as I wanted with no one bothering me. But as I said, the bathtub in the little apartment at the back of the shop was short andshallow. Sinking into the claw foot monstrosity was like sinking into a warm, sweet-smelling cloud.

I sighed happily as the hot water closed over my body. As I had suspected, it came all the way up to my neck and everything from my shoulders down was submerged completely. The bubbles smelled sweet but not overpowering and the bubble bath pearls had given the water a silky quality that seemed to nourish my skin. It was absoluteHeaven.

Speaking of Heaven, I couldn’t help thinking of the fallen angel/gargoyle who was currently sitting on the couch downstairs. Should I have allowed him to stay inside with me, especially after kissing him? Probably not, I thought, but it was done now. I would be sure to lock my bedroom door, though considering he was nearly seven feet tall and extremely muscular, he could probably break it down if he wanted to.

Only he didn’t seem like the type to do that. Carlo certainly was. I didn’t dare to try and lock him out to hide from him. He’d taken an axe to our bedroom door once, not long after we were first married, and at first I was sure he was going to chop me up too, the way he’d chopped through the wooden door.

Kael didn’t seem like that. Yes, he had gotten mad and went full-gargoyle when he saw the bruises Carlo left on my face, but his anger hadn’t been directed at me. And I couldn’t help remembering the gentle way he’d kissed my cheeks to heal me.

In his angelic form he was one of the most beautiful men I’d ever seen and his silver eyes were so unusual. Also, what was that strange, almost electrical surge I’d felt when I took his hand to bring him in the house? It had tightened my nipples and made my pussy instantly wet. A sensation I got again when we were kissing. How?—

Stop it, Willow—what are you doing?I scolded myself.I hope you’re not catching feelings for the statue-man who came to life and says he’s your protector. Because that’s crazy andyou know it. You’re leaving Hidden Hollow tomorrow and you’re going alone—you arenotbringing him back with you. Where would you even put him? And what if he just seems nice now, like Carlo did at first, and then turns into a monster—literally!

No, I decided, I was better off trying to forget all about this crazy adventure and going home to New Orleans. I would make myself scarce if Carlo came around and as for Big Nicky, I would just have to apologize again and hope he would forgive me. It might be nice to think about taking a huge angelic/demonic protector home, but in the end, I was sure he would cause more trouble than he would solve. Besides, he was male, and I still wasn’t ready to trust a man again—and never would be, I didn’t think.

You trusted him enough to kiss him,a little voice in my head pointed out. But I refused to listen to it. I was going back home alone and that was that.

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