Angel almost took a tumble. The next best thing?
If he only knew…
Good thing he didn’t; he’d definitely want her to leave. That’d been her biggest fear just now in the kitchen. On the countertop. That he’d somehow figure out she was responsible for him kissing her as if it were their
last day on the planet.
But then he’d said she was beautiful.
Siren Song couldn’t do that. It couldn’t form opin-ions for the recipient. It only enhanced the chemi¬cal attraction—to the point of shutting down his inhibitions, obviously.
What had happened to hers was anybody’s guess. Zeus! Not only was Logan Hardington a fine speci-
men of a man, but she now knew exactly what that en-tailed. Down to every muscle-flexing, belly-quivering, nerve-shivering caress.
What was she going to do? Her study could be com-promised by this attraction. If only she’d kept her mouth shut—well, okay, not during the kiss, but—
Wait a minute. Yes, dammit, that’s exactly what she meant. If she’d kept her mouth closed all along—at the dinner table, during the kiss, now—her study wouldn’t be in jeopardy.
Well, anymore than it was with all her questions…
“I think maybe I better leave.” Before she went and did something she shouldn’t.
Not regret; just shouldn’t. “Angel, wait—”
“You can’t leave! You promised!” Michael’s wail overrode whatever Logan was going to say as Michael came running across the flagstone patio. “You said you wouldn’t leave me, Angel! You promised!” Michael wrapped his little body around her legs and held on tight.
Oh fish, she’d really messed things up.
“Michael.” She tried to pry his arms off, but the child was stronger than he looked, especially being as upset as he was. Were tears salty enough to change her legs back to her tail? “Michael. Urchin, you have to understa—”
“Sport, Angel’s not going anywhere.”
“Huh?” Michael’s bloodshot eyes blinked up at Logan.
Angel echoed the “huh?” She really should go somewhere.
“I said she’s going to stay. Calm down.”
Michael grabbed her legs even tighter. “But she said she was leaving. I heard her.”
She should go. Michael was getting too attached to her and, gods knew, she’d been way too attached to his father not ten minutes ago…
Damn. She couldn’t even muster the proper regret for that.
Logan tapped the rim of Michael’s ever-present hat. “It’s your birthday. What kind of party would it be if she left?”
“And she has to stay for ever and ever.” Michael buried his nose so far in the folds of her dress that his hat fell off and Angel got another twinge in the vicinity of her heart. Different, but no less powerful, than the twinge she’d felt with Logan.
She put her hands on his shoulders. “Michael, I can’t promise forever. No one can. But I’ll stay as long as I can, okay?” Another thing she hadn’t counted on in her deception—how her actions would affect the child she was introducing to her world in hopes of affecting change in his.
“But you have to stay until I’m all growed up.”
Angel looked at Logan. She could use some help here.
“Michael, how about if we take it a week at a time,” Logan said. “You start school soon, and Angel’s work-ing on a big project. She’s going to have to go home at some point to present it. She has a family who will miss her, too. I’m sorry, son, but sometimes you can’t have everything you want when you want it. Sometimes you just have to be happy with it when you have it. Let’s enjoy Angel while we can, okay?”
Enjoy her?
He did not just say that.
From the quick grimace on his face when their eyes met, she knew that he had—and had made the same con-nection she did.
No no no. She was here on a mission. The Coalition. Her job. The fate of the planet. Big things. Major things. Things that should be leagues more important than an attraction to an enchanted Human.
Should be. But suddenly weren’t.
“I can always come back, Michael.” Okay, where had
that come from?
Michael sniffled. “Promise?”
Somehow… “Of course I do. The world’s not that big a place.” Especially when The Oceanic Council had set up magical Travel Chambers throughout the oceans, including one not too far off this coast. And as director of the Coalition she’d have a license to return.
“Okay.” Michael swiped a hand under his nose and glanced at his father before looking at her, his face grow-ing somber. “Rainbow said everybody needs a family. That’s why she sent me to stay with Logan. Does your mom miss you?”
Oh crappie. No wonder he didn’t want her to leave.
Angel licked her lips and tried to keep emotion out of her voice. “My mom always misses me when I’m not with her, but I know she loves me and she knows that I love her, so it makes being apart easier. That’s why you’re lucky to have a dad, too, you know. More people to love you.”
She pretended not to see Logan look away. Nor hear him when he cleared his throat. But she didn’t look away when he hunkered down to eye level with the little boy.
“It’s true, Michael. I’m the lucky one. It was the best day of my life when you showed up.”
Michael wiped beneath his nose again then set his cap rim-forward. “Really? You mean I’m not ruining your life?” He even took a step toward Logan.
“No way, sport. Why would you think that? I’ve al-ways wanted to have a son.”
“Then why didn’t you come find me before?
Rainbow said I was a compi… compacation and you don’t like compacations.”
The color drained from Logan’s face. “Rainbow was wrong. She didn’t know me very well if she thought I wouldn’t want you around.”
“So you’re not going to make me leave?”
“I’m not going to make anyone leave. Not unless you want to.”
Michael smiled then and let out a big sigh. “Oh, good.
And Angel can stay, too, right?”
Logan met her eyes. “Yes. Angel can stay. For as long as she wants.”
And there was the problem. Angel wasn’t sure what
she wanted.
She was, however, rather sure she knew who she wanted.