Keri Arthur: Chasing The Shadows

"You deserve it sometimes."

"Maybe." He raised her hand and kissed her palm, then pressed her hand against his heart. "The way you and Jake dealt with Farmer proved you could take care of yourselves. But Farmer is far from the worst I deal with, and there will be times I cannot allow you to be with me. No matter what you threaten."

She nodded. "I know. I was just so angry that you wouldn't listen to me, wouldn't even consider…" She shrugged. "I'm not a fool, despite the fact I may have been acting like one the last couple of days. And I have no doubt there are things I'm better off not knowing about."

That was a certainty. Some of the things he did she had no need to know. Sometimes the only way to catch a monster was to act like one.

"Seline wants you and Jake to become official Circle members. That'll mean undergoing some training, both in combat fighting and, for you at least, at a psychic level. And she'll probably want you to undergo some testing, so we have a better idea of where, exactly, these talents of yours might be leading."

She blinked. "Wow. When you agree to something, you go in full tilt."

"If you're going to join me on missions, I'm going to make damn sure you and Jake are primed to defend yourselves. I don't want to lose either of you."

"Have you talked to Jake about this?"

"Yesterday. He thought it was a damn good idea." He hesitated. "I don't think he wants to reopen the agency, anyway. Nor do I think he wants to return to Lyndhurst or his home there." Too many memories. And no ghosts.

She nodded. "Lyndhurst is pretty much a lost cause for us. After losing two clients in the manner we did, our name is basically mud." She paused. "But where is he going to live if not in Lyndhurst? Especially if he's going to become a member of the Circle?"

"Our headquarters is in Washington. We've apartments there he could use, or if he'd prefer to stay near you, I have a house in Cody in dire need of some attention. He could fix it up when we're not working."

And Cody was little more than half an hour's drive from where they lived.

"Have you given him those options?"

"Not yet. He's not really ready to make such decisions yet, despite his determination to get on with life."

She nodded and raised her other hand, cupping his cheek. "Thank you."

"You may want to retract that thank you once you see what you've gotten yourself into."

"You're letting me in, Michael. Letting me see your whole world. That's what I'm thanking you for. I don't care about the danger."

She never did, and that was half the problem. But maybe Seline could drum some caution into her. He kissed her fingers. "We've only been living together for four months. At this rate, you'll have nothing left to discover about me two years down the road, let alone a century."

"I have a feeling there will always be something to discover about you." Amusement sparked in her eyes and flowed through the link, surrounding him in warmth. "You have three hundred years of living I know nothing about. At the rate I pull information out of you, it'll take me another three centuries to uncover it."

"Maybe." Probably. "In the meantime, why don't you drag your bones out of that bed and come see the Christmas tree?"

"Why don't you drag your bones into this bed and ravish me lustily?"

"Ravish you lustily? What on earth are you reading these days?"

Her grin sent his pulse rate sky high. "Something that's given me lots of ideas." She patted the sheets.

"Hop in, and we'll try some out."

He was tempted. Very tempted. But there was still something left to do. He flipped the blankets away, exposing her to the cool morning air. Her yelp was full of amused indignation.

"Not before you see the tree and unwrap your present."

"There's a present? Why didn't you say so in the first place?"

She sat up, planted a fierce kiss on his mouth, then grabbed her robe and bounced out of bed. He followed her from the room, feeling a little like a scrap of paper drawn into the wake of a cyclone and loving every minute of it.

Her soft gasp made him smile. She'd stopped in the middle the room, her face tilted upwards as she viewed the massive and ornately decorated Christmas tree. He stopped behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, drawing her close.

"Merry Christmas." He kissed her ear, her neck, but resisted the temptation to do any more. Not yet.

Not until she'd unwrapped her presents—the one under the tree, and the one in his pocket. The one he'd carried all the way home from Ireland.

"It looks like one of those department store trees."

"It is."

She tilted her head and met his gaze. "How on earth did you manage to get something like this on Christmas morning?"

He smiled. "I can be a very persuasive fellow when I want to be."

Her smile was saucy, stirring his already aching body.

"Yeah, I know. But that doesn't answer my question."

"No, but right now, it doesn't really matter." He dropped a kiss on her nose then moved around her and over to the tree. He picked up the long, brightly wrapped box and handed it to her. "Open your present."

Her expression was that of a kid in a candy store. She plopped cross-legged onto the floor and began unwrapping the gift. He sat down in front of her, amusement stirring as she tossed aside the paper and ribbons he'd spent so much time over and hurriedly opened the box.

Her gasp was soft. "It's beautiful." She lifted the delicate ivory silk nightgown from the box and held it up.

"Well, you were always complaining you didn't have any decent nightwear. I took it as a hint."

She grinned. "It was. Thank you." She leaned forward and kissed him briefly, then said against his lips, "How about I put it on and we see how long it takes you to get it off me again?"

He touched a hand to her face, caressing her cheek with his thumb. "I have something else to give you."

She raised an eyebrow and said archly, "Yeah, that's exactly what I was talking about."

Heat surged between them. He battled the urge to take her right there and then and said patiently, "I mean another present."

"Two presents? Why didn't you say so?" She sat back, amusement and love evident in her expression.

"Well, come on, stop teasing and give."

He reached into his pocket and wrapped his fingers around the small velvet box. "It comes with a question you must answer."

She raised an eyebrow. "Christmas is a time of giving and receiving presents. I can't ever remember it being a time of twenty questions."

"Not twenty questions, just one." He withdrew the velvet box from his pocket and offered it to her.

She went still, her gaze darting from the box to his face and back again. She reached out, taking it from his palm then carefully opening it. The band inside was simple, plain. His family had been poor farmers, and had the simple tradition of taking the stone from their homeland to fashion it into rings for those that they loved. His grandfather had done it for his grandmother, his father for his mother. And he, who had outlived them all by many centuries, had finally fashioned a ring of his own for the woman he loved.

Disbelief, excitement and love surged through the link, burning his senses, encasing his heart. He didn't really need to ask the question, because he had it right there in that rush of emotion. In the tears and affirmation that glittered in her beautiful eyes when her gaze rose to his again.

But he asked it anyway.

"Nikki, will you marry me?"