Prey (BookStrand Publishing Romance) by Mary Lou George Page B

to see to it that Jade wouldn’t overhear. Michelle was proving to be a little too hard to shake. He didn’t want to hurt her, but it was getting harder to make her understand that he just wasn’t interested in her. They were meeting tomorrow for lunch in a public place. He hoped that she’d take it better than he anticipated. She was a nice woman, but not for him.
     
    * * * *
     
    Jade didn’t feel much like eating when she got home. She was jumpy and uncomfortable. Sam’s kiss had shaken her to the soles of her feet. Desire, was that what she was feeling? She’d never known this feeling before. She relived the kiss over and over in her mind, but that just made her even more restless. Her heart throbbed in her chest, and she felt just a little nauseated. Food had no appeal. It was like all her appetites had focused on Sam. This was a hunger unlike any she’d ever known. Is this the kind of feeling that made women do crazy things? She didn’t like it. It complicated things. Jade wanted to keep her life simple, but being around Sam was obviously going to make that impossible.
    A man like Sam Daniels was completely out of her league. She shuddered to think how her inexperience must have been evident in her kiss. No wonder he’d put a stop to it. She’d been wildly out of control. Had he wanted, he could have had her right there in the clinic. She’d been easy. Sexually, Jade knew she’d bore Sam in no time, and she couldn’t bear the thought of his gentle rejection. She never wanted Sam, oh God, Sam in particular, to look at her with pity. Jade knew he’d let her down gently, damn him. But the very thought of it made her cringe. He already found her a curiosity. Now she was working closely with him every day. She’d better get a handle on her reaction to him or she’d have to quit. And just how was she going to explain that? It wasn’t like she’d be able to avoid him. He was one of her closest friends here in New Crescent for heaven’s sake. The situation was impossible and proved more than she could handle at the moment.
    She plopped down on her comfy couch and turned on the television, praying for a distraction. Rags and Basil curled up beside her. They understood what she was feeling, but could offer her no sage advice.
     
    * * * *
     
    Ernestine Sinclair sat by the window and looked out at the dark night sky. She didn’t want to accept it, but she feared she had no choice. Allan Simpson’s murder could very well have been her fault. She’d had no reason to think she’d made a bad judgment call until she learned of Allan’s fate. But for years there’d been nothing. She’d had no reason to question her decision. To her knowledge, he hadn’t broken a single one of her rules…yet
    Age, is that what had clouded her judgment? Hubris? Ernestine feared she’d always suffered from that. Maybe she’d been a Guardian for too long and it was time to let the younger generation take over. Gillian and Reggie were in place. Their power was growing daily, but they were still so new to it. Ernestine had embraced her powers at the tender age of fourteen like most Guardians. She’d had years to hone her skills. Gillian had come from the outside world. She’d had difficulty accepting her abilities and was still learning how best to use them. Reggie was a descendant of Rebecca Goode. She was a member of one of the Old Families, but she too had just recently taken her place as Guardian. Realistically, Ernestine could not leave them to fend for themselves, especially now that this new danger posed such a threat to New Crescent and eventually the outside world.
    She’d have to confront him, but would she know if he lied to her? Under normal circumstances, truth was instantly recognizable to her, but his kind was rare. Were they deceitful by nature? Not in her experience. She’d trusted his word in the past. Had she been a fool or was she mistaken? It was her duty to find out even if the answer frightened