Free What a Demon Wants by Kathy Love Page A

threat Ellina presented, but she was a threat.
    No. His reaction to her was the threat, but he could control his reactions. Yes, she was a beautiful woman. Yes, he was attracted to her. Any male would be. But he didn’t have to respond to that attraction.
    Bad choice.
    Ellina had unwittingly made a comment that applied to so many things at the moment.
    He turned away from the door, away from the light, as if even seeing the warm glow could lure him back like a helpless insect drawn to a hot flame.
    Stupid, he told himself. He could control himself. Control had been key to his existence, and he was good at it.
    Still he hastened his pace, putting space between them. He paused just outside the darkened kitchen, letting the shadows encompass him as if the darkness could mask his response.
    Then he pulled in a deep breath.
    Without looking back toward the office, he forced his attention onto what drew him away from his computer. Food. Food always captured his attention easily enough. He flipped on the light inside the doorway of Ellina’s miniature kitchen and began perusing her cupboards for dinner staples.

    After just a few moments rooting, Jude found dried red beans and rice, and in her mini fridge, he also found chicken breasts. He could make a good meal out of this, and it would allow him to focus on something other than Ellina looking frazzled and lovely.
    Food was always a good distraction. Even for other types of hunger.

    Was there any hope of getting these notes back into order? Ellina thought, tossing down yet another bit of her research. What a mess.
    She hadn’t numbered some of the pages. Others were numbered, but with the same numbers as other spells and incantations.
    Note to self, number consecutively. Or better yet, keep things in a binder. Had she learned nothing from the breakins? This was her third time sorting these things out.
    And frankly, she was damned tired of it.
    With a sigh, she picked up the page in front of her. Page 2—and only one of six others she had piled in front of her. What spells did this one go with? Which pages 1 and 3
    did it go between? She didn’t know—some of this research she’d done months ago and she just couldn’t recall the sequence of the spells.
    It was frustrating, exhausting, and making her tense. Having a sister-in-law in labor, brothers angry at her, undoubtedly an impending visit from her father ahead of her, and a stranger posing as her boyfriend in her house wasn’t helping her tension.
    Ellina pushed her chair away from her desk and stretched, reaching her arms over her head and up toward the ceiling, telling herself to just focus on the task at hand.
    A noise, metal against metal, paused her stretch. She listened again, now hearing a faint movement in another part of the cottage.
    Then she realized a smell filled the room. An appetizing scent that made her stomach growl in a loud appeal. She dropped a hand to her complaining belly and frowned toward the door.
    What was the smell? It was wonderful.
    She stood, following the scent out of her office toward the kitchen.
    Food, she realized. The smell of cooking food, emanating from her kitchen. Now that was a novel idea.

    When Ellina reached her kitchen, she was surprised again. Jude stood at the counter, his large frame taking up most of the width of the galley-style room. His back was to her, and she could see the subtle roll of his muscles under his T-shirt as he stirred something.
    Leaning on the door frame, she didn’t speak, just watched him work. He finished mixing whatever was on the stove, then turned to the counter, quickly and precisely chopping what looked like garlic.
    Garlic? Where did he get that? Did she even have garlic? Without seeming aware of her watching, he returned to the stove, adding the possible garlic to something sizzling in a pan.
    “It’s almost ready,” he said, and for a moment she wasn’t even sure he was talking to her. But when she didn’t respond, he glanced at her over