Drake Sisters 04 - Dangerous Tides

thought of it." She waved her hand toward the kitchen. "And you never stay on task. We might all perish without cookies."

    "Did you do the ones with that butter frosting you make, Hannah?" Kate asked. "I love those."

    Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

    "For you." Hannah smiled at Kate but turned to give Sarah a hard look. "But not for you. You sided with Jonas Harrington over the movie the other night. You're in the doghouse so no frosting on your cookies."

    "Hannah," Sarah protested. "You can't deprive me for liking a movie you didn't like."

    "I'm not depriving you because you liked the movie, you treacherous wench, I'm depriving you because you admitted it in front of the caveman and inflated his ego."

    "I'm sure Sarah didn't mean to side with Jonas," Libby said.

    Another round of laughter went up. "You're hopeless, Lib," Hannah said. "I'm showing you how to be Hagatha and you just can't grasp the concept."

    A gust of wind blew through the house as the living room door opened, admitting a tall man with broad shoulders. Jonas Harrington, the local sheriff, slammed the door behind him and strode in as if he owned the place.

    Hannah's gaze jumped to the huge window overlooking the sea, her heart pounding in sudden alarm. The fury of the wind whipped the dark clouds around, but failed to hide the blood-red circle slowly seeping into the blackened ring around the moon. Her hand went to her throat—a purely defensive gesture—as her gaze met her youngest sister's. Elle had the same knowledge of impending danger in her eyes.

    "Hannah?" Libby ran her hand down Hannah's arm to comfort her. "Is something wrong?"

    To distract her sisters, Hannah gestured toward the sheriff and groaned. "Speak of the devil. I swear, it's like you whisper his name and it conjures him up, just like a demon from hell."

    Joley nudged Libby. "See, that's censoring. She was thinking way worse than that, right, Hannah?"

    Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
    Hannah nodded. "You'd better believe it." She felt the instant shift of power in the room, the subtle flow of her sisters automatically helping her, keeping her from the curse of stammering or worse, having one of her panic attacks simply because someone other than a family member was with them.

    "Baby doll," Jonas greeted Hannah, deliberately provoking her with a hated nickname. "It's impossible for you to teach Libby how to be a Hagatha. You were born that way. She, however, is nothing but goodness." He grabbed a handful of cookies as the plate floated by and expertly tossed his jacket on the couch without looking.

    "Why don't your obnoxious guard dogs bite him?" Hannah asked Sarah. "The next time either of them wants food I'm going to remind them they failed in their most important job."

    Sarah shrugged. "They like Jonas."

    "They have good taste," Jonas said, smirking. He sat on the floor, wedging himself between Hannah and Elle. "Move over cupcake." He pushed his leg hard against Hannah's thigh. "I'm joining the family powwow tonight."

    Hannah opened her mouth, then closed it abruptly, studying the grim lines etched around Jonas's mouth, noting the smile didn't quite reach his eyes. She knew, as did all her sisters, that when something went terribly wrong at work, Jonas sought the comfort of the people and the one place he called family and home. Hannah waved her hands in a graceful, complicated pattern toward the kitchen and at once the tea kettle whistled.

    "Libby wants to be a bad girl," Sarah announced.

    Jonas's eyebrow shot up. A slow smile spread across his face. "Libby, hon, there is no way you can be corrupted by the rest of your sisters. You're just too sweet."

    Libby glared at him, totally exasperated. "I am not. Come on! You could help out a little, Jonas. I have the ability to be just as wicked as the rest of my family."

    "Hear, hear," Elle said. "Well said, sister."

    Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

    Joley nodded her head in agreement. "Not true, but well said," she agreed.

    Hannah lifted her hand palm out and a mug of steaming tea floated out of the kitchen toward the circle of sisters. She caught it carefully, blew on it until the bubbles quieted and handed it to Jonas.

    "So why do you want to be a bad girl?" Jonas asked.

    "My life is boring. Borrrr-iing," Libby said, drawing the word out. "I want to have fun. I don't