Ellida by J. F. Kaufmann Page A

notice
some tension between Charlie and Lucy?” she asked as they drove
back to town.
    “You’re right. They both seem on some kind
of… I don’t know… emotionally alert. Maybe they argued or
something. I have a feeling they’re crazy about each other. There
seems to be a lot of suppressed attraction between them. Maybe they
have a hard time admitting it.”
    Astrid glanced at Jack with admiration. “Hmm,
emotionally alert, you say? Nice way to describe it, Jack.”
    Jack leaned forward and kissed her before he
continued with his mini-assessment. “First of all, Lucy’s twelve or
thirteen years younger than Charlie. Second, his previous marriage
was quite traumatic. Third, they married after a very short
courtship. As I said, their families are close. Hugh Langdon is an
old friend of Lucy’s grandmother, so I’m wondering if the two of
them conspired somehow to get Charlie and Lucy together. I should
remember to ask James if he knows more about that.”
    “You said before that you know her
grandmother. She’d hired you to rescue her son-in-law, right?”
    Jack nodded. “She’s a hell of a woman. She’s
the owner of Quantum Industries, probably one of the biggest mining
machinery manufacturers in North America. Richer than Croesus.”
Jack laughed. “Knowing her, I can easily imagine her taking her
granddaughter’s love life into her own hands.”
    “I hope she didn’t do more harm than good,”
Astrid said, more sharply than she intended. Any kind of meddling
in somebody’s love life, divine or mundane, was an unfailing temper
trigger for Astrid. “What about Lucy’s mother?”
    “She’s a zoologist, an expert on tigers, who
spends most of her time far away from home. Her father, a
journalist, traveled a lot, too. That’s the nature of his job. They
separated when Lucy was a child, but they never divorced. Lucy’s
grandmother raised her.”
    “Oh, I see,” Astrid said and changed the
subject. “I can’t pinpoint it, but there’s something that bothers
me in that house. I’m not sure if it’s that old housekeeper or that
young farm manager, Harper Letterman. One was too polite, the other
one almost rude. What do you know about Harper?
    “You felt it, too, huh? Harper has been
running the farm for years. I think she was in love with Charlie
even before his first marriage.”
    “She might still have feelings for him.
Strange she wanted to stay here after he got married again. She’s
young and good looking.”
    “It must not be an easy situation for her.
The girls told me Crusoe doesn’t like her.”
    “It goes both ways. Besides, the dog chose
Lucy as his master. He’s naturally gentle with Kay and Rory because
they are children. He ranked everybody in the house else according
to his own criteria. Charlie’s close to the top, Harper’s at the
bottom of his list. Dogs are like that.”
    Astrid laughed. “Lucy might be leading the
list, but Crusoe came to you as soon as we stepped in.”
    “Well, we are sort of distant cousins, aren’t
we? His father’s a wolf, just like mine.”
    “So what did you tell your cousin?”
    “To watch over Lucy,” Jack said in a somber
voice.
    Less than two months ago, it would have
sounded totally crazy, but now Astrid just nodded.
    “Good idea,” she said.

 
     
Eleven
Astrid
     
    JACK WAS about to leave again, and he was
tense.
    “I’ll do my best to be back by next Sunday,”
Jack said quietly, tracing my arm with his fingers. I felt loved
and cherished.
    We were in my room. Lying on my side facing
Jack, I caressed his face with the back of my hand, trying to
soothe his anxiety. I knew everything inside him was screaming
against leaving me when he thought I was the most vulnerable.
    “Don’t worry about me, Jack,” I said. “You go
and do what you have to do. I’ll be fine.”
    “If I’m delayed, Mom and James will stay with
you during the transformation.”
    “They will not!” I snapped, jerking upright.
“Why are you making such