bounds, and they were all managing to straddle the line between father/son and liege/knight well within their Order of Domus.
Refocusing on the matter at hand, Knox tried again. “I have no doubt about that, my lady. As a female life warden, you are more than qualified to handle whatever life throws at you.”
For some reason, his compliment fell flat once more, with Dawn’s face shutting down. He looked over Dawn’s shoulder to find one of her male paladins gesturing quickly with his hand in a slashing motion near his neck. Knox wasn’t the smartest man in the room, but he knew that meant to shut the hell up. He snapped his mouth closed but couldn’t deny he was starting to feel a little frustrated. He was usually much better received by women.
“Yes. Well. This life warden is not in need of your aid,” Dawn’s voice was clipped and cool and she spun around to leave.
Knox reached out and grabbed her arm in a gentle loose grip. They both immediately gasped, and Knox dropped his hand with a swift apology. He had no idea why Dawn was gasping but Knox had felt something like electricity jump from her arm to his. It wasn’t altogether unpleasant, but he didn’t think it was normal either. Still, not only had his orders come from Mother Nature herself, he was also a stubborn son of a bitch, so he tried one more time to figure out what was going on with the complicated woman in front of him. “Don’t go. I apologise. I seem to have offended you in some way.”
Dawn rubbed her arm, frown lines coming to life on her forehead as she looked down at the limb. Then she looked up and met Knox’s gaze directly. She stared at him for a moment before her shoulders slumped and she sighed, shaking her long hair back over her shoulders with the motion of her head. “No. I am the one who should be sorry. You’ve caught me at the wrong time – I’m in a poor mood. I was just the wrong audience for your word choice.”
“My word choice?” Knox quickly replayed the conversation in his head. Sure, there had been a misunderstanding and an innuendo in the beginning of their conversation, but even then, he had been nothing but polite.
“When you repeatedly referred to me as a life warden,” Dawn said, obviously thinking she was clarifying things, but it only served to confuse Knox more.
“But you are a warden of the life element,” Knox pointed out, talking slowly.
“I am,” Dawn allowed. “But that is not all I am.”
Knox reared back, a lightbulb turning on in his head. It appeared Dawn had taken exception to him mentioning her status. Knox couldn’t say he fully understood her reasons why, but clearly it was a sensitive issue for her. He, of all people, understood what it was like to be judged on what you were, rather than who you were. First, as a chade and then as a chaden. So it was no hardship to say, “Of course not. You are also a woman and a friend – and all manner of other things I haven’t yet had the privilege to discover. But I sure would like to.”
Dawn looked surprised. “You would?” she asked.
He wanted to jump up and down and say hell yeah! But he remained the mature adult he was, instead replying calmly, “I would.”
“Huh. Okay, well. That’s good … I guess.” Dawn looked at him like a puzzle she was trying to solve. “Please accept my apologies for my behaviour. Not the best first impression, huh?”
Knox appreciated the self-deprecating humour, and he chuckled. “Trust me, I’ve certainly had worse. And yes, I accept your apology. Although, it’s hardly necessary. If this is you in a bad mood, I think you’re doing okay.”
Dawn shook her head, “As I said, you’ve been unlucky enough to catch me at a bad time. Thank you for accepting my apology – and for being so understanding.” She paused, cocking her head to the side in thought, before barking out an appealing laugh. “I can’t believe I said I service myself.”
Knox smiled and then felt his grin widen as he watched Dawn giggle and shake her head. Her cheeks flushed a lovely shade of pink and her thick, chestnut hair swished around her shoulders with every move of her head. It seemed she wasn’t as uptight as he had been starting to believe. In fact, her sense of humour