To Have & to Hold by Mackenzie Lucas

Author:Mackenzie Lucas [Lucas, Mackenzie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Amazon: B00AOENI7O
Publisher: ML Publishing
Published: 2013-12-04T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Six

“David will be here later today,” Hattie announced when Cate entered the kitchen half an hour later.

“David Pierson? Why?” She dropped her purse and keys on an antique sideboard and studied the soft lined face of the older woman. Hattie never showed anxiety, but today tension pinched her mouth. In her late fifties and thin and wiry, Hattie McDaniels wore her platinum gray hair short. An inch and a half all over, it stuck straight up at wild angles. Big bronze hoop earrings dangled from her tiny ears. The blue scoop-necked cotton knit top that perfectly matched her shrewd eyes was cinched at her waist with a matching bronze belt dangling into the folds of her multi-colored skirt. Hattie’s bohemian style seemed earthy and natural on a dragon mage midwife.

“Trouble’s brewing.”

“What kind of trouble now?”

“Michael James. He’s come looking for you. David asked us to deter Michael until after he arrives. He’d rather you didn’t meet him alone.

Cate laughed. “Why not? I can handle Michael.”

“They found a murdered woman in the London office of your trust solicitors. Evidence links her to Michael.”

“No, that can’t be right. Michael wouldn’t hurt anyone.”

“David didn’t elaborate and it’s not my position to question the Consortium leader.”

“I thought I saw Michael today when I went into town.”

“Did he follow you home?”

“No, I don’t think so. I lost him on the street in Mystic Springs.”

“I’ll have Declan and Anu patrol the perimeter of the property.”

“Are you certain he said Michael James? I can’t believe he’d harm anyone.”

“Are you calling the Consortium leader a liar?”

Cate shook her head, confused. “No. Not David.”

“If he sent a warning, there’s a viable threat. He’s never wrong, that one.”

“Understood.” Cate worried her bottom lip. “I’m going upstairs to rest.” Something was brewing, and it was more than trouble stirred up by a very human Michael James. Cate smelled a Consortium rat. She just didn’t know where or who, yet. But she would.

She walked through the great room and watched while a gray sheet of rain moved across the sky, the high winds whipped the treetops. Rain lashed the windows as darkness settled in, and the noonday sun disappeared. An artificial twilight cocooned the chalet. Lightning split the sky. A chill ran up her spine and the hairs on her neck rose. Static electricity? Or an omen?

Hattie had followed her into the great room. The midwife touched her temple. “I’ll be downstairs in my room if you need me. I have a pounding headache.”

They’d struck a comfortable balance since she’d arrived. Hattie had given Cate plenty of room to adjust to the pregnancy over the past four months. She didn’t hover, didn’t expect to be entertained, didn’t hope to be Cate’s best friend. She provided support when asked and listened when Cate felt like talking.

“Thanks, Hattie. I’m not the best company today. Sorry.”

“No worries, darling. I understand. Call me on the intercom if you need me.”

Cate nodded and hugged herself. She’d been more tired recently, feeling the tug of the growing baby on her own body.

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