He noted Ildaria’s startled expression at the use of his name and then Lucian said, “Call him Joshua then, Angelina. At least,in those moments.”
When G.G. glanced between the pair in question at the odd comment Ildaria scowled and explained, “He was very rudely reading my mind again, and”—her scowl eased—“I was thinking that I like your name and am uncomfortable calling you G.G. when we are . . . being intimate,” she said, flushing, and then rushed on. “It is a nickname and feels disrespectful, or impersonal in such special moments.”
“And I suggested she use your real name,” Lucian finished when she fell silent.
Much to G.G.’s amusement, Ildaria rolled her eyes now. She obviously wasn’t the least cowed by the man’s power and position.At least, if she was, she had no intention of showing it. He suspected she’d had to put a brave face on a lot over the centuries.
Ignoring Lucian, G.G. met her gaze and said, “I understand. Why do you think I’ve taken to calling you Angel in our shareddreams and out?”
“Because it is her name,” Lucian said dryly.
Now it was G.G.’s turn to roll his eyes. But either Lucian didn’t notice, or he chose to ignore it in favor of telling Ildaria,“You should use the name you were given. It is who you are. Who your family wanted you to be.”
G.G. noted the way Ildaria’s jaw tightened at Lucian’s lecture and decided a change of subject was needed. Turning to thepackage of bacon he’d just retrieved from the fridge, he asked, “Are you hungry, Lucian?”
“I could eat,” Lucian said mildly, settling himself on a chair at the island.
“I thought you wanted to talk about the South American Enforcers,” Ildaria said laconically.
“I can do that while we wait for Joshua to finish the bacon and make the eggs,” Lucian said easily.
G.G. opened the bacon package and started laying out strips on the long griddle he’d placed over two of the burners on thestove. Once the last piece was on, he put the first batch of bacon in the oven to stay warm with the potatoes and toast.
“Coffee or tea?” Ildaria asked, her voice a bit snappy.
“Tea,” Lucian said, and when Ildaria simply stared at him, he added, “Please,” as an afterthought.
G.G. suspected Lucian was not a man used to saying please or thank you. Actually, he was pretty sure he wasn’t. The man didn’t even bother with hello and goodbye during phone conversations. G.G. didn’t think Lucian was intentionally rude, he was just a very abrupt man, used to givingorders. Orders did not usually include please or thank you unless you were in a restaurant.
“So,” Lucian said finally when Ildaria set a cup of tea in front of him and stepped back to eye him expectantly. “The SouthAmericans were not trying to kidnap you.”
“What?” Ildaria asked with disbelief. Crossing her arms with a harrumph, she shook her head. “They are lying.”
“They cannot lie to me,” Lucian said simply. “I read their minds. They approached you to invite you back to South Americaon the behalf of the head of their Council, Juan Villaverde.”
Ildaria’s mouth tightened at that name, and she growled, “I don’t care if you’ve read their minds. They may have been told to simply ask me back, but when I refused, they would have been ordered to take me.”
Lucian shook his head. “As I said, I read their minds. They were ordered just to invite you personally. When Juan called aweek ago and asked me to send you back to South America, I felt sure it had to do with your time on the pirate ship, so Irefused. But, apparently Villaverde has been looking for you for quite a while, and it has nothing to do with the mortalsyou attacked on Vasco’s boat.”
“No, it has to do with Juan attacking me a little over two hundred years ago,” Ildaria snapped.
Lucian’s eyebrows rose and then lowered again and his eyes concentrated on her.
Reading her mind, G.G. thought, and was surprised when Ildaria merely lifted her chin, and apparently let him. Except thathe supposed it was a much faster and less stressful way for the man to get the full story. At least, this way she didn’t haveto relive it again in the telling, he thought as he turned back to the bacon and left them to it. A startled sound from Luciana few moments later had him glancing over his shoulder in time to see the pained look on the man’s face before it cleared.
Guessing he’d got to the biting part, and knowing that there was still more for him to read, G.G. turned back to his cooking.
“I see,” Lucian said quietly several moments later. “I was not aware of any of this.”
“I’m surprised you didn’t read it from my mind when the men first brought me here from Montana,” Ildaria commented.
G.G. looked around to see Lucian shrug. “I was looking only for information on the mortals you attacked on the ship, and thereason for it. I was not interested in a recounting of your entire two centuries of life.”
Ildaria nodded and walked around the island to drop into the chair farthest from Lucian’s before asking, “And now that youknow?”
Lucian was silent for several minutes and then sighed and agreed with what she’d said earlier. “I suspect they would havebeen ordered to take you if you had refused. Villaverde has been hunting you too long to just accept a no thank you.”
Ildaria relaxed a little at that, and turned her attention to her own tea.
“How do you want your eggs, Lucian?” G.G. asked when silence followed. “Scrambled, over easy, or sunny side up?”
“Sunny side up,” Lucian answered, and then recalled the, “Please,” on his own, if a second later.
G.G. grabbed the eggs. He already knew Ildaria preferred hers over easy. This wasn’t the first time he’d made her breakfastthis week, although she’d made it for him more.
A heavy sigh caught his ear, and then Lucian said, “I do not
