Sea Haven 02 - Spirit Bound

with every job, making the dream they all shared come true.
    Judith stood up, gathered the empty teacups and took them to the sink. “Shadows can be just shadows,” she called over her shoulder. “We could just be paranoid.”
    “That’s true,” Blythe admitted, getting to her feet as well. She did a slow stretch. “I guess I’ll go talk to Lexi and see you tonight at the gym.”
    Judith swung around with a small grimace. “Honestly, I detest self-defense class. I feel like the teacher’s duncey student.”
    Airiana flung her arm around Judith’s waist. “Honey, you are the teacher’s dunce student. Fortunately we all love you, so it doesn’t matter if you can kick butt or not.”
    “I totally can kick butt. I’ve got all the moves.” Judith huffed her disapproval, glaring down at Airiana’s smirking face. “I just prefer not to hit people. I’m more evolved and civilized than the rest of you.”
    “Well, you did flip Blythe onto her back last night,” Airiana conceded. “But then you burst into tears and that sort of ruined the whole effect.”
    “Levi was so exasperated,” Blythe said and burst out laughing at the memory. “Did you see his face? I thought he might run out of there.”
    Judith couldn’t help but laugh as well, although remembering the moment when she’d thrown her sister to the mat made her a little nauseous. The sound of Blythe’s body hitting the mat, the air rushing from her lungs had been sickening. Judith couldn’t explain to Levi—or her sisters—that she wanted to learn, she just didn’t want to hurt anyone in the process. She believed she could defend her sisters fiercely if she had to, but to deliberately hit one of them or throw them down so hard it knocked the breath from them was abhorrent to her. And what if she lost her temper? What disaster would she bring down on everyone then?
    “He definitely doesn’t like any of us to cry,” Airiana agreed. “And have you ever seen him when Rikki is upset? He’s crazy about her.”
    Blythe sighed. “I have to admit that he is. I watch him all the time. I still drop by in the early morning hours for coffee and Rikki’s always waiting outside for me. Levi brings the coffee out and seems happy enough to see me, but he rarely takes his eyes off of Rikki. I’m happy for her.”
    Judith nodded, knowing Blythe was right. Levi Hammond was so in love with Rikki, her autism didn’t seem to be in any way a deterrent. “Does it make you think maybe there’s someone out there for the rest of us? He’s so different, and I can’t imagine either one with anyone else. They were made for each other. Maybe there really is a Mr. Right.”
    Her voice lacked conviction and she knew it. There would never be a Mr. Right for her. She couldn’t trust herself, or her talent, to not ever put those she loved in peril again. She was attracted to the wrong kind of man. In the past few years, she hadn’t even dared look at a man with any degree of interest. She didn’t dare go down that path ever again. Worse, she felt as if her own body had died. She hadn’t been the least attracted, physically or emotionally, to any man she’d met in the past five years.
    Blythe shook her head. “I’m past the age where some knight in shining armor is going to ride in on a white steed and sweep me off my feet.”
    Airiana did a few little dance steps across the thick, creamy carpet. “I think Levi is going to be starved for male company, poor man.”
    Judith forced another laugh, but that shadow passing over her house hadn’t kept going, it had slipped inside her and a deep dread blossomed and grew.

3
     
    SHE came toward him, walking with unhurried steps, un-aware of his presence. Stefan stood in the shadows, just inside the alcove by the gallery door, his back to the building, where he could see anything coming at him. Judith Henderson was far more breathtaking in person than in her photographs. She was still a good distance away, so he had plenty of time to absorb her. Tall, long legs, her suit as elegant as they came. A pencil skirt hugged the curve of her hips lovingly. Her short, flared matching jacket was severe black, but the bright red silk shirt beneath it clung like a second skin and looked as sexy as hell.
    Women didn’t affect his pulse, or his body, yet deep inside where no one could see, the earth shook so hard something cracked wide open, deep, a fissure he couldn’t repair. Emotions long buried, thought dead, rose with