Bedeviled Read Online Free PDF Page B

.”
    He scowled at Maggie again.
    “Then I’m kind of sorry I called the police,” the child said, and he shifted his glance to her. The younger Donovan seemed much more reasonable than her aunt. Besides, he admired strength wherever he found it, so he nodded at the girl.
    “Don’t be. You did what you should.”
    “They’ll be here any minute,” Maggie told him.
    “I won’t be here when they arrive.” He let his gaze move up and down the length of the woman who was foretold to be the hope of Otherworld and felt something quicken inside him. Her clothing didn’t exactly mark her as the savior of a race. Her jeans were paint spattered, but clung to her long legs and hugged every curve. Her shirt was ridiculous, but he enjoyed the way it displayed her full breasts. Her hair was a deep red with threads of gold brightening the darkness. Her eyes were blue, her mouth was full and, at the moment, curled into a sneer that he found offensive. Yet there was more here. He felt the crackle of energy in the air and wondered if she did, too—or was she still too human?
    Despite what his body might want, though, he wasn’t here for sex. She was the promised one, gods help him.
    To think it had come to this: a Fae warrior requiring the help of a mortal female. It was almost enough to convince him that perhaps prophecies weren’t all they were supposed to be. But even as that thought formed, he reminded himself that she’d shown him no fear. She had strength, courage. Everything she would need.
    The fact that he could spring from these ropes in an instant was meaningless. She had bested him. For the moment.
    She had actually managed to not only incapacitate him, however briefly, but surprise him as well, humiliating as it was to admit.
    The sneer she was giving him intensified, and Culhane felt his chest swell with indignation. Who was she to look at him as though he were no better than a good-for-nothing pixie? He was an elite warrior of the Fae, and no one in centuries had treated him with so little respect. She might be the hope of Otherworld, but without his assistance she was only fodder for the enemies she didn’t even know existed yet.
    “Won’t be here, huh? Just how were you planning to get out of those ropes?” Maggie tipped her head to one side and let her sugary sweet tone and self-satisfied smile tell him what she thought of him. “Eileen tied them, and she learned knots from the Girl Scouts. Trust me when I say those girls know a little something about—”
    “Enough of this.” Culhane shifted while she was speaking, sliding his body from one dimension to another and back again. With the shift, the ropes binding him came loose and dropped to the floor. He stood up, nudged the sleeping dog off his feet and looked at the woman who was at the heart of his troubles. “Ropes can’t hold me.”
    “Well, shit.” She stopped, glanced at the child and corrected herself. “Shoot.”
    “That was very cool.” The girl was looking at Culhane with renewed interest. “Like magic or something.”
    “Back up, Eileen. Stay away from this guy.” Maggie tried to shove the girl behind her, but Eileen wasn’t going willingly.
    “I’ve told you I won’t harm you or the child,” Culhane said again.
    “Well, sure, if a burglar gives you his word, why wouldn’t you believe him? Forgive me for not trusting the guy who broke into my house.”
    “I didn’t break in,” he told her. “I shifted. Just as you saw.”
    “Really?” Eileen prompted. “You can go through walls and stuff?”
    “I can.”
    “Whoa.”
    The wail of sirens sounded in the distance, and irritation crowded Culhane’s chest until he could hardly draw a breath. This was not how their meeting was to have gone. The woman was too distracted to listen to him. Her world was crowded and noisy, and apparently she had yet to come to terms with what had happened to her today.
    Now, with the human authorities arriving, Culhane was forced to leave