Page 20 of Mountain Man's Muse
He propped the spear by the front door, next to three others. The tools to render down the skillet were out in the shop and he didn’t want to leave Adelyn alone, but he’d been able to turn the spoons and log rack into useful weapons.
She wasn’t leaving without a fight.
But she would leave eventually.
He had heard it in her voice, in her exquisitely kind attempts to tell him his feelings—damn feelings—were confused. Just hours ago, he had killed some sort of fairy monster and she thought he was confused about his feelings. It wasn’t his feelings that confused him.
“Damn you, woman,” he muttered. But she would just tell him she wasn’t a woman.
Wolly wagged his stub tail in commiseration.
When Josh heard her moving in the bedroom, he took one of the spears. “C’mon, boy. Let’s go see what we got last night.”
They headed out into the yard under a gray sky, threatening more snow, and found the spot where the imp had burned. Only a sodden gray ash pile remained, but Josh knew it was the spot because Wolly put his nose down, sneezed, and then pissed right on it.
If he had been the sort of man to disbelieve his own eyes, he might have been inclined to forget the night. But that would require forgetting Adelyn, which wasn’t going to happen.
With the tip of the spear, he prodded the remnants of the imp corpse.
To his surprise, a curl of smoke drifted up from the touch of the iron. Wolly sneezed again.
The spear ticked against a hard object. Josh poked a little deeper and, nestled in the ashes, something glinted.
He used the spear to flick it out. Wolly jumped back, then approached cautiously to sniff the find.
Josh bent down to look too. A shining stone the size of his thumbnail lay in the dirt. Hesitantly, he reached for it. He smoothed the muck away with his fingertip.
An emerald. To the bare eye, flawless in cut and clarity. He had never handled a gemstone like it, but he’d bet every cow in his pasture it was no imitation crystal. When he held the jewel to the wan winter light, it gleamed, a perfect match to Adelyn’s eyes.
“Keep it,” Adelyn said from behind him. “As a reward.”
He glanced over his shoulder. When he had first seen her in her fluttering veils and gold slippers, really he should have guessed she was a fairy princess. Now she stood just steps away, his worn heather flannel knotted at her midriff and his winter-gray sweatpants rolled over his extra boots. Though she was draped in his castoffs and his hands had learned the curves of her body, she seemed more untouchable—and more desirable—than ever. “You should take a spear with you when you leave the house. The wooden handle won’t burn your hands.”
“Being near iron strips our glamour and leaves us exposed. It hurts, even when it’s not touching. Besides, I have you.”
He pushed to his feet. “True. I’m yours to command.”
Her eyes widened. “I didn’t mean—”
“I know what you meant.” He tossed her the emerald and she caught it. “It’s yours, isn’t it?”
She looked down at the glint of green in her hand. “Every fae has a knack. I cry stones.”
Somehow, her disregard for the valuable jewel was the final rock hurled at the fragile glass of his old reality. He could almost hear the shattering. This was worse than when he’d taken off his eye patch years ago and realized the scarring on his cornea would forever blur his vision. “Not just stones. Gemstones.”
She shrugged. “Not a remarkable talent among fae who could spin your straw into gold. Before I was exiled, I cried in front of the faedrealii, and the imp swallowed it.”
Had she cried because she hadn’t wanted to leave? “I guess it came after you.” He stared up at the sky, at the mountains that ringed them, anywhere but her. “The clouds will make it dark early, and I have chores.” He fished in his pocket and pulled out the old bone whistle he’d found earlier. “Just blow. I’ll come running.” He almost addedlike a dog, but didn’t want to insult Wolly.
He thought he managed to keep his voice mostly matter-of-fact, but she winced. “Josh—”
“Go on back to the house. And take Wolly with you. He’s still a little sore.”
Adelyn gave him a distressed look, a look Wolly echoed. Josh gave them a shooing gesture and the dog reluctantly headed for the house, Adelyn trailing. They both glanced back at him, as if they didn’t believe a man wanted his alone time.
He would just have to get used to it again.
He moved through his chores, grateful for the work that kept his attention. Once he had fed and watered every living thing that actually wanted and needed him, he fired up the cell booster, dialed his phone, and held his breath. Sometimes cloud cover played hell with a signal, but sometimes the bounce was just right.
