I was so lost in thought that the tingle down my spine was the first warning I had that we were no longer alone. I glanced up to see Devlin walking toward us on the path. As I watched him approach, a barn owl swooped down over the graves and flew across the flagstones in front of him. He stopped short, but instead of following the winged predator with his gaze, he glanced over his shoulder. When he turned back around, I could see his face in the moonlight and the intensity of his expression startled me.
As Devlin entered our realm of stone angels, Papa nodded a greeting before excusing himself and setting off toward the gate. I waited until he was out of sight before rising. I thought it odd that Devlin made no move to close the space between us. Perhaps not so odd, considering my conversation with Papa, that I keep my distance from him.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, in a voice I hardly recognized as my own.
“You said you were coming to see your father today. I took a chance you’d still be here.”
“Why? What’s wrong?” I asked anxiously.
“Nothing’s wrong. I was on my way back from Columbia and had the urge to see you.”
“Why were you in Columbia?”
“I had business to attend to.” He slanted his head, studying me. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. I’m just surprised to see you.”
“Are you sure that’s all it is?”
“Yes. Why wouldn’t it be?”
“I don’t know. All these questions are starting to feel a little like an interrogation.”
“I’m sorry.”
“And I can’t help wondering why you’re still standing all the way over there.”
“I could wonder the same about you.”
He closed the distance between us. “Better?”
“Yes,” I said on a breath.
Weaving his fingers through my hair, he tilted my face, teasing open my lips with his. My mind still churned with everything Papa had told me, making me slow to respond.
Sensing my reluctance, Devlin pulled back, his fingers still threaded in my hair as he searched my face. “It’s obvious I’ve come at a bad time. Maybe I should have called first.”
“No.” My hand flitted to his chest. “It’s not you. I’m glad you’re here. You’ve no idea.”
“But something is wrong,” he said. “I take it you spoke to your father about Rose.”
I sighed. “I don’t want to talk about any of that right now.”
“That bad?”
“It’s complicated and unsettling and I’m all talked out. Right now I just want you to kiss me again.”
He pulled me to him. “Not a problem.”
“I want you to...” My eyes closed briefly. “Make me feel normal.”
“Is normal how you usually feel when I kiss you?” he teased. “We’ll have to work on that.”
He wrapped his arms around me then, lifting me so that I hovered over him. I stared down into his eyes for the longest time and then, cupping his face in my hands, I kissed him, with a hunger that startled us both. I could feel the heat of his skin through his clothing and where his hands clutched me to him, my own flesh burned. I wanted him, right then, right there. Nothing else mattered. Not Papa. Not Rose. Certainly not any of the Krolls. The night belonged to us now.
Slowly, he slid me down his body until my feet touched earth once more. “Nothing normal about that kiss,” he murmured.
“Come with me.” I took his hand and pulled him beyond the angels into the deeper shadows of the cemetery where we wouldn’t be disturbed by ghosts or humans. The statues and vines concealed us from prying eyes and hallowed ground would keep the door to the dead world firmly closed.
“I wasn’t expecting this,” he said in that old-world drawl after I’d kissed him again with the same aggression.
“Nor was I,” I said on a shiver. “But it’s that kind of night.”
A bemused smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. “There’s something different about you.” He picked a leaf from my hair and let it drift to the grass. “Your smile, your eyes. The way you kissed me just now. You seem...”
“Not normal?”
“Normal is highly overrated. You seem more somehow.”
I knew what he meant. I was more. I had a new sensitivity to everything around me, including him. My nerve endings quivered with an awareness I’d never experienced before. My senses were unnaturally heightened. I was focused on Devlin, but also hyperaware of our surroundings. The whispering leaves, the scratch of tiny claws in the underbrush. I could still smell honeysuckle and roses, but the air was now punctuated with the decadent scent of Devlin’s cologne. I drew in the fragrance like an addict.
I turned in his arms, pressing back into him as I lifted my lips to his neck. He held me tightly, one arm over my breasts, the other hand sliding down my abdomen, into my jeans, tempting me in ways that had nothing to do with the evolution of my gift.
He nuzzled my ear and whispered my name, using that irresistible drawl to melt me. His fingers moved softly against me and yet I had never felt such a delicious tension. My head fell back against his shoulder as I stared up into the treetops through half-closed eyes.
Something was up there staring down at me. Gleaming eyes in a snowy face. A barn owl, probably the same one that had winged across the path in front of Devlin.