Jayne Castle - After Glow

"The answers will come eventually. It's going to take the authorities a while to sort it all out."

Emmett unfastened the collar of his shirt and dropped onto the heavily cushioned sofa. He took off his shoes and stacked his heels on the coffee table. Fuzz scampered down to his knee and perched there contentedly, nibbling on his pretzel.

It was good to be home, Emmett thought, raising the glass to his mouth. Good to smell dinner rezzing on the stove. Good to think about the night ahead.

Good to be married to Lydia.

He watched her walk toward him carrying a small plate of crackers and cheese and wondered how she felt about being married to him.

She put the plate down on the table and dropped lightly onto the sofa beside him. "Any news about Burgis's three pals?"

"Not yet. Martinez thinks they probably all had emergency escape plans in place and used them to disappear. They'll show up eventually in one of the other cities."

She curled one leg under herself. "It's hard to believe that those four really thought that they could establish their own private army of fanatics down in the catacombs."

"Burgis was obviously mentally unstable and dangerously obsessed right from the start. His friends were very likely equally unbalanced. But after fifteen years underground searching for Vance's lost chamber, all four of them must have become raving lunatics. They had probably lost all touch with reality."

"How's Mercer Wyatt doing?"

"Recovering nicely. He's as tough as old quartz. He's going to start coming back into the office part time next week. He should be back full time at the end of the month."

She watched him with deep, serious eyes. "What about you, Emmett?"

"Me?" He helped himself to a cracker and some cheese. "I go back into private consulting next week."

"So soon? You don't have to wait until Mercer returns to work full time?"

"Nope. Mercer plans to employ another consultant to help him run the Guild for a while."

"For heaven's sake, who?"

"Tamara."

Lydia's jaw dropped in surprise. "Oh, my."

"Mercer has finally given up trying to convince me to be his handpicked successor. He told me that he has a scheme to get Tamara onto the Council. An advisory position at first, naturally. But I've got a hunch he intends to find a way to make her the next president of the Cadence Guild."

"Oh, my," Lydia said again. She shook her head in wonder. "A female Guild boss. Talk about taking the organization into the modern age in a hurry."

"If anyone can pull it off, it's Wyatt."

"Whew. It's finally over."

A long time later, he opened the door of the steamy bathroom. Lydia stood in front of the mirror, a large, fluffy towel secured around her breasts. Her hair was pinned up in a careless knot on top of her head. She had just finished showering and brushing her teeth.

She turned off the water in the sink and met his gaze in the mirror. She frowned. "Emmett? Is something wrong?"

He moved to stand behind her and put his hands on her shoulders. She was warm and damp from the shower. Little tendrils of red-gold hair had escaped the pins.

"Earlier this evening, you said something about it being over. It's not."

She went very still beneath his hands. "What's not over?"

"Our marriage."

She tensed. "It's only for a year."

"I'm well aware of that."

"I told you, I'm sorry I got you into this mess." She waved her hands. "I just couldn't think of anything better at the time."

"I can," he said.

She watched him warily. "You can what?"

"Think of something better."

She swallowed. "Oh."

"I love you, Lydia."

"Oh."

He raised his brows. "Is that all you can say?"

"No." Her smile was radiant in the foggy mirror. She turned to face him. "No, it isn't all I can say. I love you, too."

"Enough to consider a Covenant Marriage to a hunter who is about to become an ex-Guild boss?"

"Oh, yes, yes ." She put her arms around his neck. "I do love you so."

Happiness and certainty whirled through him. He kissed her forehead. "Let's make it as soon as possible."

She raised her head quickly, frowning a little as she concentrated. "If we skip all the expensive stuff like the big church wedding and reception, we can probably arrange it within a couple of months. There's still a lot of paperwork, of course."

"But we're not going to skip the expensive stuff," he said firmly.

"Really, Emmett, there's no need to spend a fortune on a fancy wedding."

"I'll take care of everything."

"You will?"

He started to remove the pins in her hair. "I'm not trusting you to arrange another marriage for us. The last time you handled things we ended up with a tacky, five-minute Marriage of Convenience at the registrar's office. No fancy clothes, no great food, no dancing, no presents. I learned my lesson. This time things are going to be different."

She blinked. "They are?"

Her hair tumbled down to her shoulders. Satisfied, he unknotted the towel. It fell to the floor. He surveyed her from head to toe, taking his time. She turned very pink under his gaze.

"Yes," he said eventually. "Things are going to be very different this time."

She started to giggle. He kissed her until she stopped laughing and started making the sweet little murmurs of pleasure and anticipation that set fire to his blood.

After a while, he picked her up and carried her into the bedroom and put her down on the turned-back bed. She watched him from the shadows as he got out of his clothes.

He lowered himself beside her and pulled her into his arms. The curve of her bare thigh was perfect under his palm. He slid one leg between hers and bent his head to kiss her breast.

He took his time making love to her. When she shivered in his arms and whispered his name, he entered her, sinking deep and savoring the connection on every plane from the physical to the paranormal.

In the end he surrendered to the pounding satisfaction, embracing the release in a way that he had never been able to do with any other woman.

He covered Lydia's mouth with his own in a kiss that was as hot as ghost fire.

It was pouring rain. Lydia fumbled with the umbrella getting out of the cab. The driver watched her drag her purse and large portfolio case out of the vehicle.

"You sure this is the right address, lady?" he asked, doubtful.

Okay, so she didn't look like the kind of person who hung around with the upscale crowd here on Ruin View Hill. There was no need for the cabbie to point it out.

"Yes, it's the right place." Irritated, she paid him and stuffed her wallet back into her purse.

"Want me to wait?"

"No, thanks. I'll call another cab when I'm ready to leave," she said icily.

"Suit yourself, I was just trying to help." The driver's eyes widened. "Hey, wait a second, I know you. Saw your picture in the papers. Didn't recognize you because of those big dark glasses and that scarf. You're the new Guild boss's wife, aren't you? The tangler who was with London when he found the skeleton of Vincent Lee Vance."

So much for her pitiful disguise, Lydia thought. It was Melanie who had suggested the large scarf and the oversized dark glasses so that she could walk the streets without being asked for an autograph every five steps. It had worked, up to a point, but clearly it wasn't enough to fool the cab driver.

Lydia had been desperate enough to try any tactic to evade reporters and autograph seekers. The glowing accounts of the Guild's heroic role in the discovery of Vance's remains and the destruction of the Greenie empire were still making headlines daily. While most of the attention had been directed at Emmet, who coolly referred all inquiries to the Guild's public relations department, she had been accosted on the street every time she left Shrimpton's.