Maybe he was a fool after all.
Damning silence filled the room as they glowered at each other.
“You’re an idiot,” she finally growled. She jerked her wrist free and stormed from the room, slamming the door behind her.
Chapter Fifteen
“Xander and Kyanna will be here soon,” Gideon told Maggie as he crossed the backyard and approached the gazebo.
“I’d better run inside and change,” Maggie murmured. She rose from where she’d been clearing out one of the many flower gardens and dusted her hands on the knees of her jeans. She’d politely refused his offers to conjure the yard back into shape, insisting she needed something to do.
She studiously avoided looking at him as she hurried toward the house. She’d been doing a lot of that since this morning, avoiding him like the plague ever since she’d begged him to get her a pregnancy test and then sat for hours staring in shock at the little plus sign on the stick. His temper was coming apart at the seams. Much more of this and he was likely to snap.
He watched her scurry across the yard, as if fearful he might follow if she lingered. Swearing beneath his breath, he swung around to glower at the lazy river. But getting his temper under control was fast becoming more than he could manage. Not even the peaceful solitude, nor the gentle sounds of nature could soothe him as they once had.
He glanced over his shoulder at the gazebo where Maggie seemed to prefer spending so much of her time. The damned thing was all but falling apart. She’d insisted it was fine. That it had character.
It was a damned hazard. An accident waiting to happen. And she was—
He stopped, forcing a swallow.
She was pregnant. She didn’t have any business putting herself in danger. With a swift, focused thought and a push of energy, Gideon conjured the gazebo back to its original whitewashed glory, complete with climbing emerald vines. She could get mad all she wanted—at least she’d be safe.
Hell, maybe that was what he needed to do. Piss her off on a regular basis. It might relieve him of some of this anger, and it might chip through that careful, cordial wall of ice she’d erected between them.
No. Probably not the best idea. She was pregnant after all. He should be working to keep her calm, give her peace. Not plotting ways to make her blow a gasket.
Even as the thought occurred, a burst of pain shot through his head, and he could feel his energy waning. Made reckless by his frustration, he ignored the pain and extended himself further, depleting his energy just a bit more by conjuring a sturdy log swing, placing it in a golden patch of sunlight.
Sitting down, he tipped his aching head back, basking in the sun’s rays. This would be a peaceful place for Maggie to read, or just to sit and enjoy the calm. He turned slightly in his seat, taking in the yard behind the house.
It was too soon just yet, but someday he’d put a swing set beneath the shade of that big maple. Maybe a jungle gym. Oh, and a sandbox too. Kids loved sandboxes, didn’t they? Of course, he’d have to put up a fence. No little kid should be playing around a river.
Will he hate me as much as his mother does?
His shoulders sank, and he squinted against the bright sunlight. How had everything gone to hell so fast?
A shiver of awareness went through him. A new, familiar power had arrived, in the direction of the house. Xander was here.
Stirring himself, he drew his focus in, preparing to shimmer to the kitchen, only to catch himself at the last moment. Heaving a sigh of resignation, he pushed to his feet and slowly made his way up the gentle slope of the yard.
Gideon opened the back door to the kitchen and stepped inside. Heaving another sigh, this one of disgust, he closed the door with a rude thump. Xander had Kyanna perched on the edge of the counter, his narrow hips wedged tight between her thighs, one hand gripped tight on her ass. A mass of long blonde hair was wound around Xander’s fist, and he tugged the woman’s head back and to the side as he devoured the side of her throat. At the sound of the door closing, pretty blue eyes flew wide open, and Kyanna began pushing Xander away.
She was like a beautiful butterfly struggling against the inevitable force of the wind. She wasn’t going anywhere until Xander decided to let her go. As if to prove the point, his hand still anchored in her hair, Xander held her head still until she stopped fighting and met his steady stare. The moment her struggles ceased, he sealed his lips over hers, patently ignoring Gideon’s presence.