Sea Haven 02 - Spirit Bound

of her house, obviously taking pride in it, yet she skipped a major portion of the downstairs without so much as glancing at it, rather she’d taken great care to look away from it, instantly arousing his interest.
    “Where does this door lead?” He managed to look innocent as he asked, but he didn’t take his eyes off of her noting her sudden withdrawal, the frozen look on her face and guilt that crept into her eyes. His hand dropped to the doorknob, but it was locked.
    She shook her head, her eyes sliding away from his. “Just another studio. I keep it locked and don’t often go in there.” Color crept up her neck into her face.
    She was flat-out lying to him, when she hadn’t lied about anything else and she wasn’t very good at it. Nothing else could have raised his suspicion more. What the hell was she hiding? He tried not to let his mind make a leap back to Jean-Claude, but the man was obsessed with her, had someone watching her, taking pictures for five straight years. Was it possible she was holding something for him? Her loathing of the man rang true, yet why would she lie?
    He worked for his government and until he knew for absolute certain that he was on a list to be wiped out, he would make certain his country’s secrets were protected at all times. He had to make sure that Judith was in no way guarding the microchip Jean-Claude had managed to keep hidden for the last five years. He had to get into that studio. A part of him acknowledged he didn’t really believe she was still connected to Jean-Claude. He simply didn’t like her keeping secrets from him.
    He wanted her giving every part of herself to him, holding nothing back. He stayed still forcing her to look at him. She looked away quickly and then down at the floor. He gestured toward the stairs, with a small shrug. Judith took the lead and he deliberately brushed his fingertips over her denim-clad butt.
    “You are one beautiful woman, Judith.” If she needed the subject changed, he would oblige. He had no compunction about returning on his own and finding out the things he wanted to know. She didn’t use her alarm system and he had been careful to commit the details of her home to the map in his mind. He would have no trouble finding his way around in the dark of the night where he mostly lived.
    Instantly the tension drained out of her and she sent him a smoldering smile over her shoulder as she led him back into the kitchen.
    “I like to have lunch on the balcony or in the garden when I’m not working at the store or gallery,” Judith explained. “It’s so beautiful outside, and the colors of the sky and forest along with the flowers always inspire me.”
    Stefan unpacked the food containers and handed them to her. “That sounds good to me.”
    He made certain that Judith forgot all about the uncomfortable moment standing in her hallway in front of the locked door. He got her laughing, kissed her thoroughly over and over and talked about creating kaleidoscopes, a subject he didn’t have to feign interest in. The afternoon melted away and when she glanced at her watch, he took the cue and stood up to leave.
     
     
    ATTENTION to detail, meticulous attention to detail was the secret formula that kept men like Stefan Prakenskii alive. He noted every detail of his surroundings at all times. License plates, make and models of cars, animals and tracks, whether shades were up or down, the slightest detail was significant and could save his life. He’d learned such things in a hard school, where one small screw-up earned beatings that left him crawling across the floor, or out in the freezing cold snow and ice until he could no longer feel his body.
    Those years of training, of enduring, had taught him to accomplish his mission no matter the hardship, to go on even when his body and brain protested and there was only his will driving him. Judith Henderson had become his mission. He would not fail in his objective. He was staking his claim and no one— no one —would stop him. Stefan knew only one way to play the game and that was life or death. For him, Judith was life and everything else was death.
    Stefan pulled his vehicle through the gates with the birds following him every step of the way. The double gate swung automatically closed behind him. He drove toward the highway, surrounded by the forest, until he’d rounded several bends and knew if anyone from the farm was watching, his car was long gone from sight and sound. He