Her lifelong friend was easy on the eyes, with a ruggedly handsome face, an engaging, dark-brown gaze and a head of tousled, russet-colored hair, a tad on the long side. He was tall and muscular, with long, sinewy limbs and strong, slightly calloused hands. They’d been lovers once, years ago. Both eighteen and without a clue in the world as to what they were doing.
That was the year Michael’s parents had died. His mother had been a midwife and she and her husband had traveled to a neighboring village to help deliver twins. They’d been caught in an avalanche on the way back, trapped for nearly a week before the bodies were recovered. Following that tragedy, Michael had pulled away emotionally, and so had Jade, as memories of her own loss haunted her.
He’d taken over the tavern after the deaths and Jade had tended bar with him ever since. They were the best of friends, though she never failed to miss the lingering glances he gave her. The hint of “what if?” in his chocolatey gaze.
But eight years had passed, and although he still had the ability to make her heart flutter with a grin or a chuckle, a romantic reunion didn’t seem to be in the cards. Mainly because neither one of them spoke of their pasts, which was something they both knew necessary in order to reconcile their inner turmoil and regain the emotional ground they’d once shared.
Instead of delving into painful memories, however, they chose to ignore them. Keep them buried and securely locked within their hearts.
In fact, Jade didn’t reminisce about the years as they drifted by. She focused solely on the present. On surviving when evil hovered too close for comfort around the fringes of the mortal realm.
Pushing her distressing thoughts aside, she said of the wine, “Not bad at all. The Delfinos will be very pleased.” One of their best customers.
The evening progressed in its normal manner. Some of the patrons got a bit tipsier than others, which no one minded, since everyone would agree it took the sting out of the repression most of the villagers felt, being under the thumbs of demons. And given they would be walking home, no one had concerns over causing an accident.
Jade, on the other hand, worried about what awaited her as the village’s bell tolled at midnight and the bar closed. She, Michael and Josh, the server working that evening, cleaned up and locked the door behind them.
They bid Josh good night. Then, as he did six nights a week, because the tavern wasn’t open on the holy day out of memoriam for the villagers’ slaughtered ancestors, Michael turned to Jade and asked, “Want me to see you to your cottage?”
She shook her head, as always, when his query came. “It’d hardly make sense and you know it. We’re on opposite sides of the village. You’d have to walk all the way back here. And then some.”
“Yeah, I know,” he said, hedging as though he had something to say to her. His gaze locked with hers, his brown eyes full of unexpressed feelings Jade couldn’t quite wade through. “I keep thinking someday you’ll say yes.”
To what? She couldn’t help but wonder. Yes to an escort? Or yes to so much more?
He brushed away a strand of dark hair that had blown across her face and stuck to her eyelashes. Tucking the lock behind her ear, he said, “I hate to think of you all alone in the cottage. You don’t have any neighbors, Jade. It concerns me.”
With a soft smile, she told him, “I’m very good at taking care of myself. Been doing it for a long, long time.”
“I know, it’s just…” His voice trailed off and he swallowed down what seemed to be a hard lump of emotion. “Don’t you get lonely sometimes?”
She stared up at him, emotion swelling in her own throat. She opened her mouth to speak but didn’t know the appropriate words to say. The attraction between them still existed to a degree. But circumstances beyond their control had torn them apart once and Jade had not been inclined to have her heart broken again. Nor had Michael, it seemed.
But perhaps he’d changed his mind about them.
Finally, she said, “Of course I do. Especially this time of year, when the snow’s falling and all I can think of is snuggling in front of a cozy fire with someone.”
He leaned toward her and his head dipped. “Maybe we should try again.”
His lips were just about to touch hers when a sharp snort cut the quiet air and Michael’s head snapped up.
Jade jumped back, startled. She whirled around, having heard the noise behind her. “A horse?”
The smack of a hand against a flank and the pounding of hoofs echoed ominously. The night was too dark, the trees and buildings in the heart of the village too dense and the demon and his steed too black for Jade to have seen anything. But she knew her stalker had come back for her, on horseback. To take her away with him?
A chilling sensation slithered down her spine.
Turning back to Michael, she said, “You go home and secure your door.”
He glared at her, incredulous. “Me? What about you? You think I’m just going to let you wander the woods alone at night when there was clearly someone watching us?”
“Not us. Me. He’s been following me for a while.”
Michael gripped her shoulders. “Who?” he demanded.
“I don’t know, exactly. But I intend to find out.” Her heart pounded erratically, yet she managed to speak calmly, for Michael’s benefit. “It’d be a whole lot easier if I didn’t have to worry about him coming after you too.” She could not fathom how devastating it would be if she inadvertently put him danger.
He appeared stumped by what course of action he should take.