Free Sparring Partners by Leigh Morgan

did. The last thing
any of them needed was Jordon's name plastered around. Someone was
bound to recognize it, and then all hell would break loose. Not
only for Jordon, but for his new in-laws as well.
    He should have kept his internal smart-ass
in check. It came out to play whenever he met a woman he was
strongly attracted to, no matter how unlikely it was that he would
or could do anything about it.
    Henry leaned back against his car crossing
his arms over his chest, cocking one foot in front of the other. It
was a casual pose designed to put his opponent at ease. Most people
didn't notice that he coiled his body in such a way that he could
spring like a snake if he needed to. Finn didn't seem to be the
exception to that rule, although her cat growled at him again.
    Smart cat .
    Henry ignored Freya and focused on her
mistress. "I was spying. Next question."
    "Why?"
    So much for distracting her. "It's my
job."
    "Who hired you to spy on us?"
    "My boss."
    The smile on her face wasn't pleasant. "We
can do this all morning. Or I can call the police again." She said,
twirling the bat with an expert flick of her wrist. "Or I could use
your car for batting practice. I haven't had the satisfaction of
hearing glass shatter in a long time. I've been doing more work
with metal these days than glass and I miss it. I do have some frog
blobs I could throw through your windows. That way I could get rid
of the trash and listen to shattering glass at the same time. Then,
there's the added benefit of smashing from a distance. I don't like
picking glass out of my hair."
    He didn't know what the hell she was talking
about, but the gleam in her blue eyes, coupled with the grin on her
face, told him she'd have no problem wielding that bat. He didn't
need the complication of explaining the damage to the rental
company, especially when he'd declined the rental insurance. Even
if he had taken the insurance, Henry doubted intentional bat or
frog blob damage was covered. He answered her question.
    "I work for Jordon Bennett. Among other
things, I supervise his security. Just routine safety check. Making
sure the woman he cares about is safe. No big deal."
    "You're pretty easy to sneak up on for a
security guy. And whomever Jordon Bennett thinks he is, he has no
business here. One date with Reed doesn't rate a security check,
unless he did something that would merit me taking this bat to him.
So why don't you cut the crap and tell me what you're really doing
here?"
    Usually when Henry dropped Jordon's name
that was the end of it. Not this time. Finn didn't seem to know or
care who Jordon was beyond the fact that he was dating her niece,
so using Jordon's name wasn't going to get Henry anywhere. The
comment about being easy to sneak up on stung. He wasn't easy to
sneak up on. The fact the valkyrie standing in front of him had
done it irritated the hell out of him. He should have sensed her.
The fact that he hadn't had Henry scowling at her cat, who
responded by swishing her tail, totally unimpressed with him and
his show of bravado.
    "I am doing surveillance work. I am head of
Jordon's security. And, I'm damn good at my job."
    Finn looked at her cat. It didn't hiss. When
she looked back at him she appeared to accept that he was telling
the truth.
    "Why are you here?"
    This was getting old. "I'm assessing the
security threat to Potters Woods. The rest you'll have to get
directly from Jordon. Call the cops if that'll make you feel safer,
but as far as I can tell from the survey map, I'm not actually on
Potters Woods. This," Henry said, lifting one foot then letting it
fall to the ground, "is not your property."
    He smiled without real warmth. He was still
stung by her opinion of his skills. "Taking photos isn't a crime
and I'm not loitering. Go ahead, call the police. I'll tell them
I'm bird watching on what is actually county park land. Come on,
pull that phone back out, sweetheart. I'd like to lodge a complaint
for harassment and assault."
    "You'd know it