Free Avenger's Angel: A Novel of the Lost Angels by Heather Killough-Walden Page B

It wasn’t on the cover. She knew that already. He opened it and searched the table of contents. Ellie shifted from one foot to the other, trying not to let her embarrassment show. Burton’s article was on page twenty-three. “I’m surprised you knew it was in here,” Daniels said. “What with all of this eye candy in the way.”
    Eleanore said nothing to that. Instead, she took another sip of her coffee and tried to hide her face behind her mug as she did so.
    On the couch, Daniels opened the magazine up to his own article, which was easy, since the magazine had been opened to that page so often it now did so automatically. Daniels shot her another knowing glance and Ellie felt like sticking her head in a hole. Then he began reading. “Christopher Daniels came out of the closet today when he announced to the world that he has a crush on his costar, Lawrence McNabb, the tall blond actor who plays Daniels’s enemy in Comeuppance .”
    “It does not say that!” Eleanore exclaimed, coming forward to put her coffee mug down on the table in order to snatch the magazine from him.
    He was faster, though, and moved it to the side so that she nearly fell on top of him. She barely managed to brace herself on the arm of the couch, and she caught his wicked grin when she only just prevented herself from landing in his lap. “So you did read it,” he said.
    Eleanore hastily straightened and crossed her arms over her chest. That did it. She had been nervous as it was, but his teasing had now put her on the defensive. “What are you doing here?” she asked him. “And how did you find me?”
    Daniels dropped the magazine on the coffee table and leaned back to drape his arms over the back of the sofa. Ellie’s gaze flicked to his thick arms and then flicked back to his face. She couldn’t help it. He hadn’t missed it, though, and his smile broadened.
    “The truth?” he asked.
    “It’s usually preferable,” she said tightly.
    He nodded and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and lacing his fingers together. His gaze never left hers. “I had my agent track down your address. I just needed to see you again.”
    She felt her brow furrow. “Do you always track down your dates this way?”
    He smiled a winning smile. “You’re not my date. You turned me down, remember?”
    She mulled that over. It was true enough.
    “I also didn’t know how else to meet you,” he admitted then, with a sigh. He leaned back once more into the sofa and shrugged. “If I return to the bookstore where you work, everyone will recognize me and you’ll end up on the cover of People magazine. Call me crazy, but I had this impression that you wouldn’t appreciate that kind of publicity.”
    Ellie blinked. Then she looked away. She was caught off guard by this small confession. He couldn’t be more right, of course, but she wondered how he knew. Was it that obvious? Or did it have something to do with the storm? With her healing little Jennifer?
    The questions were back again. They were always there, it seemed.
    Suddenly, she felt very weary. “Fair enough,” she finally said and sat down in the love seat opposite him. As she sat, the light caught the gold band on his wrist and reflected off it.
    She frowned a little and cocked her head to one side. “That’s an interesting bracelet. Where did you get it?”
    Daniels looked down at his wrist and seemed to think very carefully before answering. “I’ve had it for years,” he said. “It was passed down to me from my father. It’s supposed to be magic.”
    Her interest was piqued now. Being that she could call lightning from the skies and control fire, magic—or rather, power , at least—was something she happened to know a little about. “Oh?”
    Daniels looked back up at her, once more trapping her gaze in his. He considered her in silence for several tense moments and then licked his lips. “The writing on the outside tells a tale,” he explained. “The bracelet was