The Magical Christmas Cat

Trust no one. "I don't want to talk about it," she said.

"Perhaps later," Zane said, sounding more disappointed than he had when she'd made him take his hand off her bare breast.

Even when dawn came, Ruby refused to tell him about the latest dream. She said she'd forgotten the details, but Zane didn't believe her.

She was white as a sheet and refused to try to get more sleep. She was exhausted but afraid of another nightmare. The nightmare had just begun, he knew that, but he couldn't tell her, not until he knew what could be done to stop II Colletore.

By now the others would be frantic, wondering at which location the collection would occur. He should've reported his findings yesterday, but he had not. It was unfortunate that he liked Ruby so well.

What if it wasn't possible to save her? What if only her death saved the world from destruction at the hands of a demon that had been locked away for nearly three thousand years?

He watched Ruby make coffee and shuffle to the refrigerator for eggs and bacon. She moved like a zombie, slow and heavy and without emotion. Only her eyes hinted at life, and they revealed her terror.

Last night, he had seen more than terror in those lovely green eyes, and he had liked it. They were at a critical juncture. Her life was literally at stake, and if she had not called a halt to their explorations last night, they would've ended up having sex on her couch. He needed to protect her, and he could not even protect her from himself.

"Don't go to work today," he said.

"I have a business to run."

"You also have employees. Call one of them and let someone else run the bakery for one day."

"Most of my people are out of town." Ruby wrinkled her nose. "But I really don't feel like going to work today. I haven't missed a day since I opened the place four years ago, but . . ."

"You can't work like this," Zane said.

"I know." Ruby made her way to the kitchen phone and dialed a number from memory. "Marielle?" She paused, while the girl on the other end of the line spoke. "I know it's early, but I can't make it in today.

I'm sick." She looked pointedly at Zane. "Can you run the store today?"

Apparently Marielle agreed, because Ruby told her employee where the special orders were stored, and that with the students out of town business would be slow, so they could get by with the inventory on hand.

If they ran out of anything . . . well, there was nothing to be done.

Zane knew that Ruby needed sleep, but it was likely any sleep she got would be filled with terrifying dreams. How many days did they have left before II Colletore rose? Two? Three? Four?

"Let me make you breakfast," Zane said, walking into the kitchen intent on taking the eggs and bacon from her. In her current state, she was likely to burn herself. He hadn't gotten any more sleep than she had, but he was used to-getting by with little sleep. She was not, obviously.

"No," Ruby said sharply. She looked at him with suspicious eyes. "I really appreciate your coming over, but I'm all right, now. You can go home."

Zane's jaw tightened. "You are not all right, I assure you."

"I don't need anyone to take care of me."

"I beg to differ."

Her face hardened. "Go home, Professor."

Professor? She hadn't called him that in days. "I'd rather . . ."

"This is my house, and I'm asking you to leave."

She looked him up and down. "As it is, you're going to raise a few eyebrows crossing the street half-dressed at dawn. Wait an hour, and everyone in the neighborhood is likely to see."

"You care what the neighbors think?"

She hesitated, then said, "No, but you need to leave anyway."

This was her house, and he could not insist on staying. "I thought we were . . ."

"You thought wrong," she said, long before he was finished.

As he walked through the living room toward the front door, Zane looked at the jade cat, which remained on the coffee table. Ruby hadn't wanted to touch it after it had made its unexplained trip from the garbage can to the living room, so there it had remained all night. He could offer to take it with him, but when it reappeared close to Ruby, where it should not be, she would only be freaked out all over again.

"I'll check on you later," he said as he opened the front door on a cool morning.

"Don't!" she called, and Zane wondered what had happened in her most recent dream to make her afraid of him.

Chapter 5

After a breakfast of bacon and eggs, Ruby showered, hoping the spray of water and the familiar routine would wake her up and chase away the lingering dreams. It didn't work. She dressed in a faded pair of jeans and a lightweight blue sweater, trying for normalcy even though at the moment her life felt anything but normal.

In all three of the dreams, it had been a friend or lover who offered a woman's soul to the demon. They had all been betrayed by men they loved or cared for.

A husband, a lover, an old family friend.

She sat on the couch and stared at the jade cat. It seemed to stare back at her, but there was no purring, no distant and creepy meow. Not yet, at least. The feline's green face was pointed and sharp, primitively feral, not at all like a normal cat. Ruby didn't believe in ghosts and demons, she didn't believe in Zane's woowoo. But something was going on, and this damn cat was at the center of it.

Trust no one.

The only man Ruby trusted, the only man she had trusted in more than two years, was Zane Benedict.

She was not going to sit here and wait to see what might happen next! It took her no more than three minutes to grab her coat, her keys, her cell phone, and her purse. She had credit cards and some cash, and she was, by God, going to get as far away from Holland Court as she possibly could.

As Ruby locked the front door, Hester Livingston was walking up the driveway with a loaf wrapped in foil grasped in her hands. "Hellooo," the older woman called, and she flashed a smile. "Did I catch you going to work? You're later leaving than usual. When I saw your car in the driveway, I thought you might be ill, so I brought you a loaf of my homemade cheese bread."

"I'm just on my way out," Ruby said.

Hester was not deterred. "This will just take a minute. I know you make your own baked goods, and you're quite talented, but my cheese bread is special."

Intent on taking the bread from the old woman and just carrying it with her, as that seemed the simplest and fastest way to end this encounter, Ruby met Hester on the driveway. "Thanks," she said.

The nosy neighbor did not leave; did not even move from her position between Ruby and the car. "I was up early this morning, and I could've sworn I saw Professor Benedict leaving your house in nothing but his skivvies."

Ah, so this was the reason for the visit and the cheese bread. "They were flannel pants," Ruby said.

"Not skivvies."

Hester waved a dismissive hand. "He was hardly dressed at all. Unsavory situations like this can give the neighborhood a bad reputation."

So could demons, Ruby thought. "Zane and I are two fully grown unattached adults. What we do indoors is really none of your business." Letting the old woman believe that Zane had been at her house for a little recreational sex and nothing more was much better than the truth. "Now, if we start hooking up in the middle of the street . . ."

Hester's eyes got wide. "There's no reason for sarcasm."

"There's no reason to be meddlesome."

In a huff, Hester reclaimed her foil-wrapped bread and turned to stalk toward home. Any other time, Ruby would've felt guilty about being short with her neighbor, but today she only had one thing on her mind. Escape.

She got in the car and threw her purse on the passenger seat, started the engine, and let it idle for a moment to warm up. When she put the car in reverse to back out of the driveway, she looked into the rearview mirror and saw the front door to Zane's house open. He stepped onto the porch as she backed into the street, but she didn't give him another glance or another thought. She had to get away from here, and she suspected if she gave him the chance, he would try to stop her.

She didn't know where she was going, but the interstate would be a good start. Twenty minutes to the interstate, and from there she'd go to Birmingham or Huntsville or beyond. Maybe she'd just keep driving until she couldn't keep her eyes open, then she'd find a motel and crash for the night, so tired she couldn't possibly dream.

Not five minutes from the house, Ruby pulled up to a four-way stop. She looked to her left, and saw nothing. She looked to her right, and there on her dashboard, where a moment ago there had been nothing, sat the jade cat. It appeared to be smiling.

Ruby screamed as she instinctively hit the gas and raced impulsively through the empty intersection. She could feel herself losing control, inside and out. She didn't see the telephone pole until it was too late.

Amalie smiled as she stretched her naked body across the fine sheets of her lover's bed. She had never known such pleasures existed, but then, until Henry had claimed her body and soul, she had known very little pleasure in life. An orphan since the age of eleven, a ladies' maid who served others and answered to others' demands, she had never thought to know such indulgence for herself.

"You are incredibly beautiful," Henry said. He was naked, too. She liked his body. It was hard and strong, and so very different from her own. She could not keep her hands off him.

He said they would soon be married, but he had family business to see to first. His wealthy merchant father would not approve of his taking a woman who had once been a servant as his wife. Henry was planning a charade. By the time all was said and done, his family would think she was a fine lady just recently arrived in the colonies from France.

"I think he will like you happy," Henry said.

"Who will like me happy?" Amalie asked, smiling as she ran her hands along his fine chest. "Your father?"