hartsheart_GEN Page 9

  Maddie stumbled back, bracing herself on the Job-Johnny. His sudden change in demeanor frightened her. Some women hid when confronted by something that made them afraid, but Maddie had always been the type to react with anger. “Uh, you grabbed me, asshole.” She straightened the dress where Cage had pulled it up over her hip. The way he’d gone from hot to cold put her off-center. “Where’s Adam?”

  Cage curled his fingers into fists. “I’m not your goddamned tour guide.” He sharply turned on his heel and stalked off.

  She stared at him as he disappeared behind the big top before erupting into a frustrated shout. It took a couple of seconds for her stomach to stop its jittery dance.

  “Girl,” she heard a woman call. She turned and saw Isis the snake dancer waving her over.

  Maddie cast one last glance where Cage had disappeared and rubbed her arms to ward off the shiver creeping across her skin. “Hey,” Maddie said.

  “Adam is looking for you.” She turned, and Maddie knew there was an expectation she would follow.

  Isis led Maddie to a small open area on the far end of the carnival, the opposite side of the parking lot. There were tables set up with folding chairs filled with men and woman of different sizes and obvious backgrounds. Her eyes locked on a large woman with a hairy face sitting with a very tall and broad man. His wide jaw and protruding forehead reminded Maddie of early Cro-Magnon man.

  The woman laughed and wrapped her arms around his narrow waist. He smiled down at her and kissed the top of her head. Adam was at the head of their table. He laughed as the woman said something Maddie couldn’t hear, slapped the giant on the belly, and then tilted her head at an angle to kiss him solid on his wide mouth.

  Adam quickly noticed Maddie, and patted the seat next to him. There was a plate of food already there, and she wondered whose seat she’d be taking. Cage’s? She took the seat down one from the full plate.

  The bearded woman raised a brow. “This your new stray, Adam?”

  Maddie said, “No,” at the same time that Adam said, “Yes.”

  The woman slapped the table and laughed, the rich sound filling the empty space around them. “I like her already.” She wiped a greasy palm on her dress and held her hand out. “I’m Marlena.” She stroked her facial hair with her thumb and forefinger. “The bearded lady, obviously.”

  “I’m Maddie Granger.” Maddie took the woman’s thick, chubby hand and gave it a squeeze. “Nice to meet you.”

  Marlena assessed Maddie for a moment then gestured to the giant man next to her. “This here’s my man Darren.”

  Their names were familiar—Marlena and Darren are at it again… In her dream, she’d walked past their trailer where they’d been having very noisy sex. Maddie’s cheeks warmed. “I…er…it’s nice to meet you both.”

  She felt Adam’s gaze, and she worried he’d think she was judging Marlena and Darren, the way she had with Isis and Carl. She didn’t want him thinking she was a really awful person, so she drew herself up and held out her hand to briefly shake Darren’s.

  Adam pushed the plate down in front of her. “Eat up. You must be starving.”

  He’d made the plate for her, and for some stupid reason, it made Maddie deliriously happy.

  She looked down at the scrambled eggs, more orange slices, and thick white peppered gravy over toast. The combined aroma made her mouth water and her stomach growl. Her hands shook at she picked up the fork next to the plate. “Thank you,” she said to Adam when she finally got the nerve to look at him.

  Her heart raced when she saw the easy smile that lit his dark-blue eyes. The color of midnight… On impulse, she reached out and covered his hand with her own. The warmth of his skin sent a shock of tingles up her arm. He raised a questioning brow, but didn’t move his hand away. He didn’t have to. Maddie snatched her hand back as if she’d stuck it in a mess of hot coals.

  “I’m sorry,” she mumbled, staring down into her plate of eggs, her appetite suddenly abated. “I don’t know what’s gotten into me.” Since she’d been at the carnival, she hadn’t wanted to leave. It was the first time in nearly six months that she didn’t feel the call of the road.

  Adam lifted his hand and sniffed the back of it. “Cage,” he said absently. He smiled, ignoring her apology. “Where are you from, Madeline?”

  “Maddie,” she corrected.

  “Madeline is a very beautiful name. A woman’s name.”

  Maddie’s woman parts all took notice of Adam. Her bits throbbed and her nipples perked. She definitely wanted him to see her as a grown-up. “I guess you can call me Madeline.”

  He rewarded her with a sweet smile. A smile just for her and her alone. Maddie’s appetite returned. She happily dove into the pleasingly good meal.

  *

  Cage snarled as he waited for Adam to arrive at the tent to practice their routine. They’d thrown in a few new tricks that needed to be perfected. To kill time he did pull-ups on the lowered trapeze bar until his biceps burned. He let go, dropping the few feet to the center ring. That woman! His frustration grew with every minute Adam allowed her to stay.

  He’d marked her palm with his scent! How could he so callously scent another woman who wasn’t Clary? He paced with aggressive energy. He needed a good work out. Something to take the piss and vinegar, as Marlena liked to say, out of him. He began jogging the rings, his mind racing with every step. The woman had felt so good in his arms, so vulnerable and sexy. When she’d stroked his face, his instinct took over as he’d rubbed himself against her hand. Her supple thigh, her curvy body pressed against his, had made his cock jerk to attention. It had also snapped him out of the spell she put him under.

  Clary had been human, but she’d been an anomaly, like the rest of Pantheros & Company. She’d been a psychic—a real medium with the ability to foresee the future. His heart sank as he wished he could talk to her again. Hold her just one more time. Her death had left a hole in Cage, and it seemed nothing and no one could fill.

  Except when he’d held the irritating woman. Why did he have these feelings for this stranger, this human female, so frail…so much like Clary? Why did Maddie feel so right in his arms? Anger exploded in Cage and he grabbed the nearest item, a small wooden stand. He threw it across the ring, roaring his rage and loss and grief, as it shattered against the hard dirt floor.

  Adam ducked inside the tent before Cage could grab the next stand. “Calm yourself, brother.”

  Cage sagged to his knees, the rage sputtering until it was no more than an ember in his gut. Adam wasted no time coming to his side. He squatted next to Cage and put his arms around him. “I think she’s meant to be ours, brother.”

  “No,” Cage said with hollow denial. She felt like theirs already, but he couldn’t reconcile his new feelings for Maddie with his grief for Clary Sage.

  “We shall see,” was all Adam said. “Let’s practice. Or are you too tired?”

  “I’m ready.” Cage looked at Adam, holding back the unshed tears.

  Adam placed his hand on the back of Cage’s neck, his fingers massaging into the tightly knotted muscles. “I know you are.”

  *

  Adam hurt for Cage. He could see how conflicted his brother was over Madeline. She’d thrown Adam for a loop in the beginning, but now that he’d had time to think about her, and their connection to her, he understood that a true match rarely came along once in a lifetime. It would be foolish of him and Cage to turn away from a second chance out of loyalty to their lost love.

  His chest squeezed as he remembered Clary. He thought there would never be another woman after her, but this Madeline was proving that maybe the gods did know mercy. Cage would say if the gods were involved then Madeline was a cruel joke. She was so different from Clary. Clary had been docile, almost submissive—exactly what two dominant males needed in a mate. Her beauty was only rivaled by her generosity and kindness. She’d been able to soothe Cage in a way Adam couldn’t. He loved her for saving Cage from his own demons.

>   Madeline was a different creature all together. If Clary had been sharpened steel, Madeline was a blunt edge. In a very short time, Adam learned she was quick to judge, quick to anger, and quick to passion. He smelled it on her with every encounter. Clary had taken longer to come around—a slow burn. She’d been uncertain about mating with two lion-shifters and becoming their queen. It had taken almost of year of courting for her to finally agree. Their time as a trio had been cut short too soon. Nearly two years of pure happiness—he’d almost forgotten what Cage had been like before she loved them, before they’d claimed her.

  As he watched his brother torment himself over the loss, Adam knew Madeline would never replace Clary, but it didn’t mean they couldn’t learn to love again. When Madeline had touched his hand at breakfast, he could smell Cage’s scent on her. She would have had to have touched his face, and he would have had to release the oil from the tiny glands at the side of his mouth on purpose.

  What had happened in the short time it had taken Madeline to leave Alana’s trailer and find her way to the dining area? Cage was too keyed up to ask him now. Adam would wait until tonight. He’d wait until Cage relaxed next to him, where he could calm his brother if needed. He would wait.