Motor City Witch by Cindy Spencer Pape Page A

she knew she did need to rest and it was so warm and comfortable here in his arms.
    “Not tonight, though I’ve never been more tempted in my life,” he murmured.
    She knew she should protest, but the fatigue hit her like a sledgehammer and she went with it, cuddling into his embrace.
    Aidan settled back against the pillows, holding her close. She heard his words as if from a distance as she drifted off to sleep. “Go to sleep, Elise. I promise I won’t let you go.”

Chapter Four
    Aidan did manage to sleep, if lightly, and only for an hour or so. Every time Elise shifted or whimpered in her slumber, he roused until he was sure she was all right. When his cell phone began to vibrate on his nightstand, he snatched it up before it could wake her and slipped out of bed to answer it. His suite’s sitting area was far enough from the bed that he could talk without disturbing her sleep.
    “Talk to me,” he said to Wallis as he flipped open the phone.
    “You’ve got company,” the security chief said. “Desmond Sutton is here, demanding to see you.”
    “Shite.” Aidan scrubbed his fingers through his hair and absently scratched like every normal male humanoid did on waking. “I’ll be down in five, but tell him Elise is asleep and I’m not waking her.”
    “He’s blaming you, boss.” Wallis sounded faintly amused.
    “Big sodding surprise.” Desmond would find a way to blame Aidan for global warming if he could. “Tell him what we know and let me get dressed. Oh—and keep him away from Novak if you don’t want things to get really messy.” One day he’d find out what Des had against werewolves. Though maybe the wizard just flat-out hated everyone.
    “Mr. Novak is outside patrolling the ground.”
    “Is Toby back yet?” Aidan ducked into the bathroom.
    “No.”
    “Any word from the men at Elise’s condo?”
    “I checked in five minutes ago,” the ever-efficient Wallis said. “There’ve been no calls, no visitors, no disturbance of any kind.”
    “Send Mairead up to sit with Elise. See you in five.” Elves didn’t need a lot of sleep, but Elise was human—she’d need all she could get before this day was over. Aidan clicked his phone shut, brushed his teeth and pulled on a pair of jeans and a shirt. When he reentered the bedroom, Mairead was sitting in a chair near the door, knitting in the near darkness.
    “Thank you,” he whispered as he passed.
    He sensed her return smile. “Go. We’ll be fine.”
    He walked down the stairs buttoning his blue oxford shirt, grateful for Mairead’s understanding. The gnome/Fae hybrid had worked for him for close to a century and he’d become fond of the motherly female. How had he not known she and Toby were an item? Had he really been that wrapped up in his work and his search, so much so that he’d shut himself off from the lives of the people around him?
    Perhaps Elise had been right. He had been too obsessed with his duties to be of any use as a man. Had he overlooked her feelings as well?
    Well that was ending right here and now. And one of the things he needed to do was mend fences with Des. He descended the mansion’s curved grand staircase and found the Wyndewin waiting impatiently in the foyer below.
    “Where’s Elise?” Des snarled.
    “She’s asleep, upstairs,” Aidan answered calmly, resisting the urge to snarl back. Mending fences , he reminded himself. He nodded to the guard stationed at the front door, who turned back to watching the outside of the house. Another guard was posted right inside the library door, since the Underhill portal was off of Aidan’s private office. Aidan nodded to him as well.
    “Go get her.” Des moved toward the stairs.
    Still half a dozen steps from the bottom, Aidan paused in the middle of the stairway, as if blocking it with his body. “No. She’s so sodding exhausted and frantic, she’s liable to make herself ill. Let her sleep until we have some kind of news.”
    “I’m right here.”