over to set them on the counter next to the stove.
“Joshua,” Lucian greeted him in response. The man wasn’t one for nicknames unless it was one he had given the person. G.G. was always Joshua to him.
He noted Ildaria’s startled expression at the use of his name and then Lucian said, “Call him Joshua then, Angelina. At least, in those moments.”
When G.G. glanced between the pair in question at the odd comment Ildaria scowled and explained, “He was very rudely reading my mind again, and”—her scowl eased—“I was thinking that I like your name and am uncomfortable calling you G.G. when we are . . . being intimate,” she said, flushing, and then rushed on. “It is a nickname and feels disrespectful, or impersonal in such special moments.”
“And I suggested she use your real name,” Lucian finished when she fell silent.
Much to G.G.’s amusement, Ildaria rolled her eyes now. She obviously wasn’t the least cowed by the man’s power and position. At least, if she was, she had no intention of showing it. He suspected she’d had to put a brave face on a lot over the centuries.
Ignoring Lucian, G.G. met her gaze and said, “I understand. Why do you think I’ve taken to calling you Angel in our shared dreams and out?”
“Because it is her name,” Lucian said dryly.
Now it was G.G.’s turn to roll his eyes. But either Lucian didn’t notice, or he chose to ignore it in favor of telling Ildaria, “You should use the name you were given. It is who you are. Who your family wanted you to be.”
G.G. noted the way Ildaria’s jaw tightened at Lucian’s lecture and decided a change of subject was needed. Turning to the package of bacon he’d just retrieved from the fridge, he asked, “Are you hungry, Lucian?”
“I could eat,” Lucian said mildly, settling himself on a chair at the island.
“I thought you wanted to talk about the South American Enforcers,” Ildaria said laconically.
“I can do that while we wait for Joshua to finish the bacon and make the eggs,” Lucian said easily.
G.G. opened the bacon package and started laying out strips on the long griddle he’d placed over two of the burners on the stove. Once the last piece was on, he put the first batch of bacon in the oven to stay warm with the potatoes and toast.
“Coffee or tea?” Ildaria asked, her voice a bit snappy.
“Tea,” Lucian said, and when Ildaria simply stared at him, he added, “Please,” as an afterthought.
G.G. suspected Lucian was not a man used to saying please or thank you. Actually, he was pretty sure he wasn’t. The man didn’t even bother with hello and goodbye during phone conversations. G.G. didn’t think Lucian was intentionally rude, he was just a very abrupt man, used to giving orders. Orders did not usually include please or thank you unless you were in a restaurant.
“So,” Lucian said finally when Ildaria set a cup of tea in front of him and stepped back to eye him expectantly. “The South Americans were not trying to kidnap you.”
“What?” Ildaria asked with disbelief. Crossing her arms with a harrumph, she shook her head. “They are lying.”
“They cannot lie to me,” Lucian said simply. “I read their minds. They approached you to invite you back to South America on the behalf of the head of their Council, Juan Villaverde.”
Ildaria’s mouth tightened at that name, and she growled, “I don’t care if you’ve read their minds. They may have been told to simply ask me back, but when I refused, they would have been ordered to take me.”
Lucian shook his head. “As I said, I read their minds. They were ordered just to invite you personally. When Juan called a week ago and asked me to send you back to South America, I felt sure it had to do with your time on the pirate ship, so I refused. But, apparently Villaverde has been looking for you for quite a while, and it has nothing to do with the mortals you attacked on Vasco’s boat.”
“No, it has to do with Juan attacking me a little over two hundred years ago,” Ildaria snapped.
Lucian’s eyebrows rose and then lowered again and his eyes concentrated on her.
Reading her mind, G.G. thought, and was surprised when Ildaria merely lifted her chin, and apparently let him. Except that he supposed it was a much faster and less stressful way for the man to get the full story. At least, this way she didn’t have to relive