Sea Haven 02 - Spirit Bound

change color when he looked at it.
    “That’s called dichroic glass.”
    “It’s fascinating. It changes color when you look at it from a different angle.”
    “It’s made using various metals in micro-thin layers, vaporized using an electron beam in a vacuum chamber. I don’t make them myself, but I love the versatility. Some are clear backed and others have a black back.”
    Judith sipped her tea while she watched him get lost in the artistry of making his own kaleidoscope. She loved teaching classes on making scopes, because no one could be surrounded by the bright colorful objects and not slip into a dream of creativity. Some clients hummed, others were silent, but all smiled while they worked. She always felt joy surrounding her when she taught a class.
    Stefan Prakenskii was a serious man with a tragic past. She doubted he saw it that way. His life simply was what it was. He accepted that his parents had been murdered and his brothers ripped away from him. He accepted that he’d been shaped into a killer through rigid disciplined work and punishment, just as he accepted the strange magnetic pull between them.
    He was a man who found moments of joy in beautiful things. He found her beautiful, like the art he so admired. The type of work he did—and she didn’t want to think too closely about what that was exactly—had hardened him into a watchful, lethal man. He had to need action after living that life for so long, so did that mean she would be a momentary thing for him?
    She sighed and instantly she had his attention.
    “What is it?”
    Even his voice could stroke her skin. She watched his long, capable fingers turn the dichroic glass over and over as the colors shifted and played, all the while feeling the weight of his eyes. He could have been a pianist with fingers like that. He moved his hands so beautifully over her body. His touch was sure, as if he knew instinctively every way to heighten her pleasure until she was blinded by everything else around her—even sheer common sense.
    “I’m trying desperately to believe you could give up what you do and lead a quiet life, here, with me.” She tried to talk past the sudden lump in her throat. “Chemistry lasts only so long and then there has to be something else, Stefan.” Deliberately she used his name to remind herself he wasn’t sweet Thomas. He was a man who killed other human beings. She might wish for Jean-Claude to die horribly, but this man actually could do such a thing.
    She couldn’t pretend that the temptation to use him for such a dark, destructive purpose hadn’t crossed her mind, both alarming her and making her feel ashamed.
    “What I do isn’t living, Judith. I get no pleasure from my work. I’m good at it, but hiding my own identity, even from myself, is no way to live. I know this is where I want to be, here on this farm, living on the edge of the sea surrounded by a beautiful forest. With you.”
    He looked from her down the long table filled with color. He gestured around the room. “Your home is made for laughter and love, Judith. For the sound of children. The sounds of a man and a woman loving each other. You understand these things as I never will, but I want to share them with you.”
    “You want children?” She didn’t know why that surprised her, but it did. She definitely wanted children. She always had. She wanted them to know all about her Japanese heritage. She wanted to be like her mother, so serene, moving gracefully through her home, making her children feel as though they were the smartest, most loved children in all the world.
    He nodded his head slowly. “I would love to see little girls running around with your hair and smile and little boys with my eyes and your hair.”
    She touched her hair and couldn’t help the smile welling up. “You do like my hair.”
    His smile crept to his eyes. “I won’t waste this chance if I get it. I’m having it all.”
    “I thought you said even if you get rid of Ivanov, that man Sorbacov would send someone else after you.”
    He nodded. “I won’t lie to you, Sorbacov will definitely send another exterminator, but my brother lives here as well. And we’ll be prepared. With two of us here, believe me, honey, we’ll be safe enough.”
    Something in his voice made her shiver. He picked up one of the small pieces of wire, the aqua color attracting him. The metal was soft and without thinking, he began to bend it into softer curves. She watched him