Far From Heaven

The thought forced a wild giggle from her throat. His hand tugged her shirt from her pants and, before she could gather her wits enough to warn him people were going to see, her breast filled his palm. Which was the only place it really wanted to be. She giggled again.

“What’s with you?” he asked, laughter in his own voice.

“You just…make me happy. At a time when I really need it.” He paused, then slowly released her. Hell. She shouldn’t have said that. “I mean, for…oh, damn. Please don’t take that the wrong way, I know this isn’t—”

Ash lifted a finger to her lips. “Shh. It’s all right.” His eyes were like twin chips of the night sky, but with no stars. She fell silent, but couldn’t resist giving his fingertip a nibble. “It’s all right,” he repeated. “It’s just the first time anyone has ever said something like that to me.”

What was wrong with the women he’d known? And what could she say? Granted, she’d known him only for a day. But everything she’d seen so far intrigued her. Even the thought of the intricate tattoos swirling across his back set a slow burn through her veins now. She liked imagining how they’d move over his flexing muscles as she dug her fingernails into his flesh…

“Are we going to stand here all night, or are we going to go do something about this?” she asked throatily, slipping her fingers through his belt loops and grinding her h*ps into him so she could feel his erection against her stomach.

His hands traveled up to her face, capturing her cheeks. She sucked in a breath as he stared into her eyes, her legs melting from under her. “Now there’s an invitation I can’t resist,” he said.

Her lips turned down, bitterness still too close to the surface. “Even though I’m such a f**king mess?”

“But such a pretty mess. I do have to take care of something first, though. Why don’t you head to your place, and I’ll meet you there in thirty minutes or so.”

“Oh. Okay. Are you sure? If it’s bad timing—”

“It is, actually. Dreadful timing.” He smiled. “But I’m still going to be with you. What does that tell you?”

It told her…this was in serious danger of going exactly where she hadn’t wanted it to go—straight to the heart. But God help her, she wasn’t about to stop it.

Chapter Nine

Once he’d tucked Madeleine into her car, given her one more lingering kiss and shut her door, he waited until the Jeep’s taillights were out of sight before turning to face the angel who’d so rudely intruded. The same one who’d caught him on the street last night.

“Well?” Ash demanded.

“You have an appointment.”

“You’ve got that right.”

“With the mediator.”

Fuck! How had the bastard wrangled that? This thing was so cut-and-dried, it couldn’t be any simpler. “Why are you even bothering?”

“You know, I asked myself that question, given the circumstances. But I figured better safe than sorry.”

“I’m moving on her tonight.”

“No, you’re not.” The angel reached into his robes and pulled out a scroll, which he tossed at Ash’s feet. “You’ve been stayed pending our meeting with Nicolae. Until then, you are barred from claiming her.” As Ash glared in speechless outrage at his plans being thwarted before his very eyes, one corner of the angel’s mouth hiked up. “Again, not that I really think I needed it. But you are hanging around quite a bit, so I figured your superiors would eventually start to get antsy, and you’re all so…unpredictable. I’m just covering my bases, you understand.”

“You are one cryptic bastard. What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You are one delusional demon if you can’t figure it out.” He turned to go. “We’ll be seeing you two weeks from tonight—Nicolae has other engagements for a while. Be there or be prepared to forfeit.”

“Other engagements,” Ash grumbled. “Hopefully death is one of them.” He watched as the winged figure arrowed toward the heavens, swift as a shooting star.

The scroll lay at his feet. He picked it up and unfurled it, giving it only a cursory glance. All looked in order—he really couldn’t move on Madeleine pending the outcome of the meeting.

Damn angel was talking crazy, though. He’d often thought they were whacked out of their heads anyway, thinking there could be any good left in this world worth fighting for. This one seemed especially mad.

The mediator. Shit. It wasn’t that Ash was concerned, really…but sitting in that study with his careful work under scrutiny was a place no demon wanted to be. It was rare, but there was always the chance for disaster if Nicolae saw something in the contract that made his gray mustache twitch.

But…this gave him a reprieve, too, at least for a short while. He didn’t have to worry about taking Madeleine right now.

Wait, what? Since when was he worried?

The sudden absence of a weight in his chest proved to him he had indeed been worried about it. Even more troubling, the thought of spending tonight with her, unhindered by the duty that must be done, was…thrilling. No cares. Just him and Madeleine.

Such a simple concept, but the enormity of it rocked him to the core. How would it feel not to have that damn contract looming over every moment he spent with her? He felt almost peaceful.

Snap out of it, idiot. The contract was the reason she would be with him, for eternity. Not an eternity she would enjoy, but one in which he could do with her soul as he pleased. She wouldn’t be here, walking this earth beyond his reach, tormenting him any longer. The moment he claimed her would be the moment he’d find true peace. He should be angrier, far angrier, about what had just been done to him. But, try as he might, he couldn’t muster more than mild annoyance at the angel for being one step ahead.

How could he, when he knew Madeleine was probably arriving at her little apartment at this very moment, thinking of him, waiting for him, anticipating the night ahead? Everything else faded into the far distance. He didn’t understand it, but neither was he fighting it.

The promise of one night of peace for his kind, with no scheming or agendas—just pleasure—was far too precious to question.

It was all he could do to kill time, to allow enough of a delay in his arrival that she’d believe he’d run his imaginary errand. His shields were still raised from his conversation with the angel, so prying eyes were no concern. He paced the parking lot, he watched the people coming and going from the restaurant. Couples arm-in-arm. Laughing and snuggling, driving off into the night.

For the first time in his entire existence—far longer than even his earliest memories allowed him to contemplate—he knew exactly how they felt.

Her door flew open after he’d barely tapped on it, and she stood there looking up at him with an eager wide-eyed expectancy he found f**king adorable. “Okay,” she said before he could make a move. “You can totally say no if you want. Totally. But my friend called, and when I told her I was off early and, um, seeing you…she asked if we wanted to meet her for a few drinks at this club downtown we like to go to. I just thought, maybe it would be fun to hang out, dance…if you like that sort of thing. If not, that’s cool too. I said I’d ask. That’s all.”

He couldn’t stop grinning at her nervous excitement, at her babbling, at the way she practically bounced from one foot to the other. He so did not dance. But if it meant that much to her, hell, he could pretend. “Sure. We can do that.”

“Awesome! But will you tell me one thing first?”

“Anything.”

“Um…what the hell is your last name? I’m sorry, it’s just…I’d like to know.”

“All you had to do was ask.” He thought fast. “It’s Emmons.”

“Emmons. Ash Emmons. Great. And I’m Madeleine Dean, in case, you know, in case you were wondering.”

He clasped her hand in his and brought it to his lips. “Charmed, Madeleine Dean.” Oh, was he ever. She beamed at him, her blue eyes bright, her white teeth sinking into her plump lower lip.

“So, um…will you tell me some more about you?”

Great. She tugged him into her apartment and closed the door behind him, shutting out the rush of traffic and a gaggle of voices from the parking lot. “What do you want to know?”

“Like…do you live here?”

“No. I don’t.”

“Oh.” He saw her face fall even though she obviously tried to maintain an air of cheerfulness. “Where are you from?”

“Here and there. I move a lot.” Dammit, he had to do better than that. But she was already moving toward her bedroom, having accepted his nonanswer with good grace.

“Must be interesting. I’m going to take just a few minutes and change, okay?”

“All right.” Now he felt like an ass…and, in the grand scheme of things, that was ridiculous. “I live in Houston right now.” He’d been there on enough assignments to know it was a nice comparison to his true place of origin. He quite liked it.

“Wow!” she called from her room. “I never would’ve thought. You don’t sound like— But then, I guess you wouldn’t, since you move a lot. Duh. Are you here on business or pleasure?”

Business that has very unexpectedly turned into pleasure.

“Business.”

“The contract stuff you don’t like to talk about, huh? Sorry.”

He reserved comment and ambled over to the parrot’s cage, which she had rolled into the living room at some point. The bird was perched inside, utterly still and gazing impassively at him. His feathers were jewel green, except for an explosion of yellow around the face. “Demon,” he chirped.

“You know it,” Ash muttered. The almost intelligent, assessing way the bird stared at him was disturbing.

Madeleine emerged from her bedroom a minute later, wearing a slinky black top and jeans that hugged her curves in all the right places. Her hair was a wild, glorious cascade of curls. His mouth began to water. The bird wolf-whistled accordingly. She laughed and spied Ash standing near the cage. “Making friends?”

If he’d quit calling me out, sure, we’d be great friends. Yeah, the parrot’s name was supposed to be Demon, but…looking into those beady little bird eyes, he couldn’t help but wonder. Animals didn’t like his kind as a rule, but thankfully, most animals couldn’t talk.

“Hey,” Madeleine said, approaching him and reaching up to fiddle with the zipper of his leather jacket. “I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“Well, I knew what was up when I brought you here last night, and now I’m pressing for your life history like this is something that… I’ll stop, okay? You just tell me what you want, when you want. If you want.”

He stared down at her, her angelic beauty, the cerulean blue gaze that somehow managed to be shy even as it was direct. She would be—should be—any mortal man’s dream. Yet again he thought of that poor clueless bastard who’d let her go last night. And hurt her tonight. A slow burn of fury slithered through his blood. “The truth is, Madeleine…” She stared expectantly at him, her breath held. “I’m only in town for a couple of weeks.”