Free Jade (Rare Gems Series) by Kathi S. Barton Page A

was all askew, and her pajamas looked like something she’d had since childhood. There were giant strawberries all over the pants and a little girl with a strawberry on her head on the tee-shirt. When he realized she had no bra on, his cock hardened. Her grandmother made him take a step back when she smiled. Christ, he’d been ready to throw Jade on the counter, not caring at all that his daughter was there, too.
    As soon as Debra saw him , the transformation was immediate and profound. She looked as if she was going to sob right then, and her face screwed up into what he could only surmise as pain. He took a step back from her when she nearly leapt in his arms, remembering at the last moment what Jade had told him the other day about being marked.
    “Quentin? Are you all right?” She reached for him again, and he dodged her hand. When her face began to change into a grimace, he looked at Blair, who, despite his earlier threat, didn’t leave him. “What’s going on?”
    “I just don’t want you to touch me.” He’d said it low, but she heard him. “I don’t even know why you’re down here, Debra. I’ve asked you time and time again to go back to your home. Why are you still here?” He looked around, then at her again as Blair was called away. “Is it because of Roger?”
    Her face took on so many changes that had he not been looking directly at her , he would have missed them. She looked as if she was shocked for a second, no more, and then she was mad. The anger that surged from her had him take a step back, then another. Milliseconds later, she was as serene as though nothing had happened. Her smile, however, was brittle and harsh.
    “I don’t know what you’re talking about. What would…why would you think that Roger held anything for me that I’d stay? I’m in love with you, Quentin. I think I have been my whole life.” She took a step toward him, and he took another back. “Quentin?”
    She was mad. Not pissed , though he was pretty sure she was that as well. But stark raving mad, mad-as-a-hatter mad. When she smiled again, Quentin felt something move along his mind and he tried to shy away from it, suddenly very afraid. But when Jade spoke, he nearly looked for her.
    “I can feel that something’s wrong. What is it? Has something happened?” He looked around and saw Blair coming to him, walking very quickly. “Blair is coming to find you. He’s going to help you until I can get there.”
    “Don’t.” He had no idea what the fuck was going on, but her coming to him right now would not be good. Quentin was afraid she’d be hurt. Thinking about how he was speaking to her this way made him think he was a little off, too. “I’m fine. I can see Blair. He’s coming to me now. It’s Debra. I think she’s lost her mind.”
    “If she ever had one.” He smiled and sobered when Debra cocked a brow at him. “You’re very confused, aren’t you?”
    “You think?” He felt her laughter and relaxed with it. “She’s telling me that she loves me and that she’s only still here because of me. I asked her about Roger and she, of course, denied it.”
    “She would. He will, too, I would imagine.” Quentin moved toward Blair when he was close and walked away with him, leaving Debra standing there alone. He looked up at the man and let go of the breath he’d been holding.
    “Jade said that I was to protect your human ass.” Blair grinned as he chuckled. “Not in those words, mind you, but she did ask me to make sure you’re fine. Are you?”
    “I’m not sure.” And he wasn’t. The only thing he was sure of was the little girl running at him full tilt. When she leapt into his arms, he held her to him. “I’m all right now. Everything is just fine.”
    ~~~
    She was stalling. Jade thought her sister knew it too and was laughing at her. When she got up and went to the smallish bathroom again to check the lockers in there, Sapphire finally asked her what the hell she was doing. There