Claiming His Unexpected Baby (Assassins Guild #2) - Michelle Howard Page 0,18

was a large part of how he worked and he’d only been to this Gerelin colony once years ago.

No one should know him or recall that short stay.

“I can explain,” she said, taking a step back and making a wide berth around him in the living area. “I just need to set Fleur up in her room. She’s had an eventful evening. Then I’ll be back and we can talk.”

Fleur. That was the child’s name. “Fine.”

Sulen wasn’t interested in terrorizing a child. She’d clung to his shirt and shivered the entire walk here. It was better her mother took her away from their conversation. He’d get his answers one way or the other.

Amelie kept a wary eye on him as she carried the little girl into a room he could see the door to down the narrow hall. They disappeared from view and Sulen took the opportunity to observe her home.

It was small. If he had to guess, he’d say there were only five rooms. The two bedrooms down the hall, a bathing room and this living kitchen area combo. The room he stood in would be cramped if three others joined him.

Her walls teemed with framed artwork. As he investigated closer, he realized they were colorful scribbles made by a childish hand. Her daughter. She’d placed the work prominently on the walls, showing her pride to any who entered.

Sulen tried to remember if his parents had done something similar. Certainly it would have built his confidence if he’d thought he had their support in the things he wanted to do before he left home.

“Alright. She should be busy for a bit. If not, we’ll know.” The woman nervously laughed as she returned to join him, rubbing her hands together. “Fleur is not shy about making her feelings known.”

She walked with a smooth gait, her narrow hips moving in a feminine stride he could appreciate. Her blue dress was a flimsy bit of whimsy, skimming her knees and swaying about surprisingly athletic legs with trim calves. The bodice clung to her small breasts and he had a brief glimpse of nipples pressed to the material before she crossed her arms over her chest and cocked her hip to the side when she stopped in front of him.

Sulen studied her neutral expression. She’d removed the pins from her hair, letting the sheath of silk fall about her shoulders. The hollows of her collarbone tempted and he had the unnatural urge to lick and kiss the narrow slopes.

“I guess you have questions after Roan’s performance at the center today.”

“How?” The question had motivated him for four years. All of his searching had turned up nothing in his effort to discover the person on the other end of the connection forcibly created in his mind.

It was sheer luck that brought him here.

“Right. I supposed you’d want to know that.” She glanced around the room, fidgeted then seemed to gain control of herself. “Why don’t you have a seat.”

Sulen considered refusing. Anger and curiosity conflicted with his decision making ability until he finally relented and sat on the sofa she pointed out. She joined him, her knee brushing his thigh as she turned on her hip in his direction. The flash of contact ignited a slow burn Sulen ruthlessly squashed. “You’re not my bond mate.”

She flinched from his harsh accusation then rebounded with a thrust of her cute chin in the air. “I am. And I’m not.”

Blowing out a curse on an exhale, Sulen prepared to blast her with a verbal lashing but she held up a hand.

“Let me explain. I’m sure you didn’t miss Roan yelling.”

Sulen leaned back on the sofa and folded his arms over his chest. “Explain why this Roan thinks you and I are mated.”

Amelie shoved a hand through her hair but the length slid back across her forehead. “Four years ago, Roan and I were together.”

Why did the thought of her with the blond spur a grain of jealousy? Sulen didn’t get jealous. He enjoyed women whenever he could find the downtime. His sexual exploits were brief and with full understanding by both parties that it wasn’t going to be anything more. There could be no relationships due to the nature of his job.

Death waited at the door each time he went out to complete an assassination and he had no intention of leaving a partner behind to mourn his loss.

More than all of that, he did not know Amelie.

Meeting his gaze head on, she continued. “He got the