Spirit Bound - Christine Feehan [47]
Blythe sent an answering smile back. “Of course. Every time I think we’ve all come so far, this time of year rolls around and throws you—and me—right back into a depression, wallowing in guilt and sorrow.”
“And then I have to meet Thomas Vincent. Poor innocent man, walks into the big mess of our lives. I guess we’re all just holding it together by a thread. Inviting a stranger into our lives even for an afternoon probably isn’t very fair. I didn’t think it through.” She bit down on her lower lip. “Maybe I should I call him.”
Blythe shook her head. “I think we can accommodate Mr. Vincent. Lexi won’t mind. She’s been saying she wanted to take a day off to read up on the temperatures needed in the greenhouse for some exotic plant she wants to grow.”
Judith couldn’t help but laugh. “That’s our Lexi. She doesn’t have enough plants or enough forest to play in, she has to bring the jungle to Sea Haven.”
“I love her so much,” Blythe said. “I ache for her sometimes.”
Judith nodded. “Me too. I think we all do. She’s thriving here though.”
“She hides from the world,” Blythe pointed out.
Judith laid a comforting hand on Blythe’s shoulder. “We’re all hiding from the world, Blythe,” she said gently. “Those gates make us feel safe here and none of us wants to venture too far out of our comfort zone.”
Blythe frowned. “You’re so right, Judith. No wonder I had such a reaction to you bringing a man here, I wanted our safe little world to remain intact. That’s the same reason we were all upset when Rikki found Levi.”
It was Judith’s turn to frown. “Not exactly. We all tend to protect Rikki.”
“We protect ourselves as well as each other. Bring him. We all need to be shaken up a little. It isn’t good for any of us to hide away. Maybe at first we needed a sanctuary, but it isn’t living—not really.”
“I’ll call Lexi right now,” Judith said.
“She’ll be very understanding,” Blythe assured.
“So will Rikki.”
Blythe nodded. “That’s true, but Levi, not so much. We think Jonas is bad, but Levi has a protective streak a mile wide and it’s extended from a wide circle around Rikki to the rest of us. He’ll be watching out for you, Judith.”
“I’m not certain Levi’s way of watching for us is something we want to look too closely at,” Judith admitted.
They exchanged a small smile of understanding.
6
HIGHWAY 1 was beautiful, the ocean lapping at the cliffs on one side, the other with forests spreading up the mountains and ribbons of silvery water cascading over rocks through the variety of trees. Stefan had never really appreciated the beauty of his surroundings as he did in this particular place. He loved the color, vivid greens in various shades and splashes of bright flowers vying for space on the rising mountains. In spite of the bruising across his chest and the thin knife wounds on his arms, he felt surprisingly good. Ivanov wouldn’t be in any shape to follow him and he could have this one day with Judith to himself.
He shook his head at the absolute absurdity of what he was doing. Spending time with Judith Henderson was far more dangerous than chasing Petr Ivanov in the dark of the night but the need was too strong to resist. He’d never for one moment dreamt of meeting a woman like her. Falling in love was a fairy tale. He hadn’t believed in such things, and certainly didn’t believe he was capable of falling under a woman’s spell. He was not a man who put aside who and what he was to indulge himself. For him, this peculiar behavior was just one more sign that he’d been in the business too long.
In the end, all the recriminations in the world didn’t matter. He’d lain awake most of the night and thought about her, all the while rubbing his left palm along his thigh. Strangely, his palm had itched most of the night and this morning there was a strange burning. He knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that the weird problem with his palm had something to do with Judith. Part of him hoped that when he saw Judith again, the terrible