“Yes, you did,” she said flatly, and threw a piece of battered cardboard packaging onto the bed with the rest.
“You wouldn’t let an intern stand on a chair to get something from a high shelf without reading the health and safety manual. And now you’re throwing yourself out of windows? You—” He tried, and failed, to soften his voice. “Are you all right?”
“Corin, if I never climbed up on the roof by myself, I would bethat momwhose child lives with the birds in the eaves. My life is a lot different to when I worked for you.” She edged away, avoiding his eyes. “And I am all right. What sort of question is that?”
“Maya—”
“Someone promised me coffee, and I’d better get down there before Tomás and Tally burn the house down.” She marched away without a backwards look.
Why are you angry with her for finding her child’s hiding places?his dragon asked.You should be angry at yourself, for not being here to catch her if she did fall.
Now is not the time, he told it, teeth gritted, and followed Maya downstairs.
She was in the kitchen with a red-haired woman. Tomás was in human shape, running around the table with a slightly larger, also human-shaped child, while the adults sipped coffee.
Maya’s eyes flashed as he came in, but her voice was perfectly friendly as she said, “Corin, this is Jacqueline. Jacqueline, Corin.”
He held out one hand. “Jacqueline? Pleased to meet you.”
The red-haired woman took his hand and shook firmly. “If you don’t mind, I’ll give it a few days before I say the same.”
“Jacqueline!” Maya hissed.
Jacqueline squeezed her hand, then kept talking, holding Corin’s gaze. “Hideaway Cove took me in when I thought I’d already lost everything good in my life. I never thought it was possible to be as happy as I am here. And Maya is one of us, now. She’s safe here. If you do anything to make her not safe—”
“I already went over this with Felicity,” Maya said in a hurried undertone.
“Well, she and Pol will have to hold off on sending him head-over-tail until the rest of us get a word in,” Jacqueline said firmly. “We’re your friends, too.”
She jerked a thumb over her shoulder in the direction of the beach. “My mate, Arlo, and our other two kids are back at the house.” Jacqueline explained. “You might meet them later, if you stick around long enough.”
“He’s not going to be staying that long. Just until we figure out what’s going on with the stolen treasure.”
“Right—”
“I know it’s another problem Hideaway doesn’t need. We’re going to fix it as soon as possible.” Maya sounded almost pleading, and all Corin’s protective instincts rose up. His dragon lashed its tail, corralling his magic before he even realized it was blossoming.
“I wouldn’t want some creep sending me crap in the mail, either.Orstalking me.”
“Excuse me?” Corin raised one haughty eyebrow.
Maya looked as though she wanted to run out of the room and lock the door behind her. “He hasn’t been stalking me.”
“Who’s the dragon that’s been sneaking around outside the bay, then?”
The child she’d brought with her grinned toothily. “LOTSA dragons!”
All three adults exchanged a worried look. “I thought you said they were making up stories?” Maya said. “Tally seems pretty convinced.”
“So did the older boy who saw me flying yesterday,” Corin said grimly.
“I’ll talk to Apollo and Felicity,” Jacqueline said firmly. She put an arm around Maya’s shoulder in a brief hug. “Okay. Enough threatening your visitor. Let me know if there’s anything I can do, okay?”
“You’re already helping so much with Tomás.”
“Speaking of which, we’d better head off before the teen and the pre-teen wake up and eat us out of house and home. Come on, ratbags. Out the door!”
It took another quarter hour to corral the toddlers and all the various bags and equipment Tomás apparently needed for a morning out. The little girl shifted into a small seal and bloopedout of Jacqueline’s arms when she tried to pick her up. But eventually, the door closed behind them.
