Beauty and the Beastmaster - Linda Winstead Jones Page 0,51

powers whenever Gabi was around, but Mia was a different story. She wouldn’t be able to tell anyone if she saw an old man levitate out of his chair, or juggle four tennis balls without using hands, or make a rainbow appear out of thin air.

The old men’s wrinkled faces lit up as they entertained the child. They tried to get Mia to sit in their laps but the kid was far too wound up this afternoon to sit anywhere, so their requests were roundly rejected, with a squeal and an adorable baby giggle as she ran away. Even that made them laugh. It was a game, to her and to them.

Judge was not as anti-social. He allowed each of the men to give him a gentle scratch behind the ears, as if he were saying hello to them one after another. Through it all he wouldn’t let Mia out of his sight for more than a minute.

Silas was willing to babysit, to keep an eye on these two females who were suddenly a part of his life, but he drew the line at changing a diaper. When it became clear that was necessary he carried Mia to Gabi, interrupting Frannie Smith’s complaints about her oven still being broken.

Thank God. If Mystic Springs had seen its last Funeral Cake, it wasn’t exactly a bad thing.

While Gabi was taking care of the diaper, Helen left her chair and walked over to stand beside Silas. She scratched the top of Judge’s head, then looked up at Silas and said, “You don’t need what you think you need.”

“What?” Silas asked.

“I wish I could explain in more detail, but I can’t. Something is wrong,” Helen whispered. “The universe is wonky in some way I can’t identify.”

Gabi, who finished the diaper chore in record time and was walking Silas’s way, heard that last sentence. She placed a comforting hand on Helen’s arm and asked. “Are you okay? Should I call someone?”

Helen patted Gabi’s arm, then stroked Mia’s fine hair. “Nothing’s wrong with me, dear. It’s bigger than that. It’s more important. The entire town is under…”

Tag Keen, who seemed to be at the front desk more often than not, walked into the room with purpose. The man could move quickly. “Now Helen, let Gabi finish up and get out of here. It’s almost time for supper.”

Helen lifted her chin in defiance. “I don’t like to eat before six.”

“Well, we’re having supper at five-thirty tonight.” He took her arm. “You look lovely, by the way.”

Helen smiled and blushed, and leaned into the man who was at least thirty years younger than she was. “Why, thank you, Tag. Aren’t you sweet?” She seemed to forget her warning, her insistence that something was wrong.

Something was definitely wrong. Silas was one of the few who knew what it was.

How many others in town were experiencing the same feelings of unease? Jenna would’ve done her best to block knowledge of her plans from the psychics in town, to mute the energy required to pull it off. How successful had she been? Not entirely, if Helen sensed something off.

Gabi assured him that she was almost finished. Thank goodness. Silas would rather chase a hundred dogs around Mystic Springs three times than babysit. Mia was exhausting. Where did all that energy come from? Was the kid never still?

Apparently not unless she was sleeping.

As he walked the halls and chased the toddler in the main area, Silas tried, again, to catch some hint that Mia had Springer blood. Nothing. He could almost convince himself he’d imagined the mine, that day in Gabi’s shop, or that it had come from Judge, not the kid.

Only Judge didn’t have words, not like that.

When Gabi walked out of the room where she’d been working all afternoon, Silas breathed a sigh of relief. If anyone ever opened a Mystic Springs daycare center, it wouldn’t be him.

Mia ran to her mama, laughing the whole way. The child launched herself, and Gabi caught her.

The love on Gabi’s face, the joy so clear in Mia’s “mama, mama, mama,” damn near made Silas’s heart stop.

No one would hurt those two. And no one would run them out of town unless they wanted to go. Jenna had given him a different task that had set this all in motion, but protecting Gabi and her child had just become his mission.

The tale Jenna spun for him was outlandish. Impossible. But Blake couldn’t deny what his eyes told him. She could make herself look and