The history professor had never existed. The spy was the man who seemed so far away. Except when he and Nell were working on a new book. “I do like to research.”
He didn’t have to for the series Nell had recently been writing. She didn’t realize how close to the truth she was about him.
But that truth was in the past, so it didn’t matter. He was a man who built things now, and one of those things was a beautiful future with his wife.
And kid. He was going to be a dad. He felt a loopy grin cross his face. And then fade because it wasn’t the first time he’d been here.
She turned, keeping her floured hands down and away from him. “Don’t.”
He lowered his forehead to hers. “I’m just worried about you.”
He felt her head shake slightly, though because he was against her it felt like she was nuzzling him. That’s what Nell did for him. She took something that was naturally a negative and made it warm and fuzzy. “It’s not the same this time. We’re past the first six weeks. This one is going to be okay. I feel it deep inside. When I was picking herbs this morning, I felt the sun on my face, and I swear a butterfly landed right on me. My mother used to tell me that when a butterfly landed on me, it was the pixies telling me everything was all right.”
Her mother had deeply believed she’d come from another plane of existence. He’d only known Moira Finn briefly, but he’d heard Nell talk about her mother often and the challenges of growing up with a woman who perceived reality differently.
Once he would have simply called Moira Finn insane and thought the best way to deal with her was to force her to acknowledge reality. But he’d grown to learn reality could mean different things to different people if one was open minded. If thinking their unborn child was blessed by pixies made Nell more confident after two miscarriages, then he would thank the pixies.
Did they drink cream or something? Or was that brownies?
He knew too much about faery creatures, but then Nell had written a romance featuring a faery prince and a human woman, and it was his job to do all the research she needed. It was their secret—the fact that she wrote erotic romance.
And their baby was their secret. For now.
“I’m glad to hear it.” He glanced up and saw someone moving across the lawn. His first instinct was to wave at Logan Green and point him out to Nell. Logan was staying at that monstrosity of a cabin Seth Stark had built, along with Seth and Georgia Dawson. Watching those three work through their problems had been deeply entertaining for him and Nell. The last few days they’d sat on the front porch at night and listened in on the relationship drama.
Sometimes it was good to know his wife was human. Oh, she might have shaken her head and said they shouldn’t find someone else’s troubles entertaining, but she hadn’t gotten up from her chair. She’d let him rub her feet while Georgia proved she could yell really loud.
Yes, he would have pointed out to his wife that Logan was coming over, except Logan didn’t go for the front of the cabin. He moved toward the rear, and he stopped twice as though trying to ensure he hadn’t been followed.
Henry’s primary instincts took over, the ones he’d buried deep when he’d left his old life behind—the ones that told him trouble was coming.
Every instinct he had told him something was wrong.
He forced himself to move away from Nell and kept his expression as calm as possible. “I just think you do too much. Between all the housework, the writing, and everything you’ve done to help with the wedding, you need to rest more. And you haven’t been eating much.”
He walked out of the kitchen and into the small room at the back of the cabin where they did much of their work. They had two desks set up on one side. One for him and one for her. Her desk overlooked the backyard, with their vegetable garden and a view of the Rio Grande. Much of the money they’d made over the last couple of years had gone into their cabin and their property, though Nell had protested no one should own land.
He’d pointed out that if the land was for sale, who knew who could buy it? Potentially someone who would pollute or overfish or do something terrible with it. When she’d thought about the possibilities, she’d decided it was best to own the land she wanted to steward. Now they quietly owned one of the larger tracts in Bliss.
Logan moved across that land they’d purchased, and there was no mistaking the glint of metal in his right hand. Logan was dressed in the khakis that marked him as a deputy with the Bliss County Sheriff’s Department, though no one thought he would be working there for much longer. He’d been fighting the idea of being in a relationship with Georgia, of sharing her with his best friend, Seth, on a permanent basis, but there wasn’t a person in Bliss who thought Logan would win that fight.
However, it looked like there was another fight entirely playing out at that big cabin of Seth’s.
Henry watched as the door to the back of Seth’s cabin opened and a large man stepped out. He was muscular and packing. There was a gun in his shoulder holster.
A chill crept up Henry’s spine.
“I’m better.” Nell had gone back to her bread. “You worry too much, Henry.
