“The wildlife trapper I told you about asked for permission to stay on my property while he hunts whatever’s out there.” I finished my clean up then went to meet her at the gate. “What are you doing up so late?”
To prevent her from nudging the ward, I stepped outside and pretended to need something from the car while thanking my lucky stars I had changed shirts and scrubbed up before her arrival.
“I keep hearing this noise under the floor in the kitchen.” She shifted to one side, and I got an eyeful of Bam-Bam. “I got a flashlight and checked the crawlspace, but I didn’t see anything.”
There weren’t words for how badly that could have gone wrong if one of the dobhar-chú had still been roaming.
“Probably a raccoon.” I forced my frantic heart to slow. “Maybe a possum.”
“Yeah.” She pursed her thin lips. “Anyway, I saw your lights on and came to check on you.”
“I appreciate it.” I smiled at her. “You’re always looking out for me.”
“That’s the neighborly thing to do.” She fidgeted, uncomfortable with the praise. “I ought to tell you, I heard the word about your trapper in town.” She cast me an unreadable look. “What’s he really doing here, Rue?”
Dang it.
Aedan should have passed through, which meant my trapper story would have held water, but that was out the window now that the town had forced me into a more creative backstory for him based on their logical assumptions.
I couldn’t afford for anyone to study Aedan, or me, closely. I had to fix this. Fast.
“Aedan does wildlife relocation, among other things. He’s kind of a jack of all trades.” I gestured toward the driveway and started to walk her home. “When he heard about Dasher, he came to see if there was work for him in town. We got to talking, and he confided in me.” I kept cutting my eyes back to the lights, like I was afraid he might overhear. “He seems like a good person who needs a hand to get back on his feet. I never meant to tell anyone about his past, but when his sister tracked him down, I didn’t have much choice.”
“You’ve got a good heart.” She patted my arm. “The vulnerable sense that. They’re drawn to you.”
The thought was a beautiful one, so I didn’t protest. I didn’t agree, but I added it to my goals list. To be the person others could sense would help them. To be a force for good that attracted those who had had bad things happen to them. To be…
…more than one fluke act of kindness to a small girl that resulted in a reordering of my world.
“Do me a favor and don’t shoot him in the butt, okay?”
“He’s got a nice butt.” She clenched her fist. “He’s a bit young, but that means he’s firm.”
“Mrs. Gleason.”I spat out a laugh. “He’s my guest, not a hunk of meat.”
“He’s a hunk all right.” She grinned, revealing uneven dentures. “You better watch him around the girls.”
“Oh, I plan on it.” I rolled my eyes. “They saw him once, and they’ve been drooling ever since.”
“That’s all it took for you and your man.” She elbowed me in the ribs. “He’s pretty, but a police?”
“I know, I know.” She had no love for law enforcement. “He’s so…”
Kind. Thoughtful. Smart. Funny. With a side order of viciousness and cunning.
Heck of a combination. And that was just Asa. The daemon had his own quirky yet bloodthirsty charm.
“Handsome thing like that? You better put a ring on it.”
Out of habit, I rubbed the bracelet on my wrist made from Asa’s hair. “We’ll see.”
“If he gets snapped up, don’t come crying to me. I’m telling you, the good-looking ones go first.”
“What about the good ones?”
“Eh.” She flipped a hand. “They’re men. They have one job. The least they can do is look good doing it.”
We reached her house, and I had to clear my throat of laughter a few times to find my voice.