mosey on over and get my clothes," Maya murmured, still grinning as Axell and Selene glared at one another like two gladiators in a ring. She slipped from the stool and edged toward the door.
"You'll damned well not go inside that building!" Axell shouted, apparently recovering his senses as she reached for the knob.
"If it's safe for the movers, it's safe for me," she called, marching out without looking back.
Furious at his inability to control the capricious twit, Axell stalked after her.
"She's a Pisces," Selene called after him. "You might as well try to catch a fish with your bare hands!"
Axell shot her a glare of disbelief and strode out. Pisces, his foot and eye. Someone just needed to put a rein and harness on her. And a muzzle.
He found Maya ecstatically polishing her silly teapot and cups and carefully packing them in paper into a box that looked as if it had been carried through Donner Pass on mule back. Three times.
"The movers will bring packing boxes," he reminded her.
Rain clouds had moved in earlier that day, so no sunlight danced through the prisms over her head. Still, her cascade of auburn curls glowed with a light of their own as she shook her head.
"No one moves these but me," she announced firmly.
Since she seldom announced anything, much less acted on it with such determination, Axell resisted arguing. Obviously, he didn't understand the attachment, but he recognized it for it was. "All right, let me find you a stronger box. Why don't you come over to the restaurant with me and have some tea while I look?"
She glanced at him mischievously. "You're afraid I'll do something silly if you let me out of your sight. I've been surviving on my own for a lot longer than you realize, you know."
"Yeah, and a hell of a job you've done, too," he said dryly, extending his hand to help her rise from the floor. "Humor an old man and come with me."
Accepting his hand, she glanced at him curiously. "Old man? Have I aged you that quickly?"
Her perceptive look nearly floored him, but Axell tugged her toward the door without acknowledging it. Her kiss earlier had awakened his awareness of their age differences. She was still young and full of enthusiasm. He was jaded and beyond feeling much of anything, except testosterone surges during mind-bending kisses. Like an alcoholic craving a drink, he wanted another.
"Kids'll do that to you," he replied evasively.
"Constance seems happier after your talk with her. I notice she even told you what shoes she wanted with her dress this morning."
Axell grimaced. "Yeah, the ones you painted dragons on. Now, if she'd just learn to dress herself, we may have accomplished something."
Suspiciously, he watched Maya bite her lower lip as they progressed slowly through the sprinkling mist toward the restaurant. He recognized that look.
"What?" he demanded. "What are you not telling me now?"
An impish dimple appeared and disappeared at the corner of her mouth as she slanted him a sidelong look. A man could imagine all sorts of things in a look like that. It was a damned good thing she was pregnant so he knew where he stood.
"Well-l-l," she drew out the word thoughtfully. "You'll not like it if I tell you."
"I already figured that," he said resignedly. "I've noticed I seldom like anything you tell me." He bit back a groan as he watched his mother-in-law emerge from the restaurant with all her battle armor in place. "You'd better hurry up and say it because this may be the last time you see me alive."
Startled, Maya followed his glance and giggled. Giggled. Axell could scarcely believe his ears. No one giggled at Sandra in full battle mode. Southern ladies might be all sweet and creamy on the outside, but a Southern man knew the sugar concealed one hell of a tough pecan beneath.
"The hair looks like a helmet, don't you think? Does she carry a sword?"
"What do you think that ring is on her finger? She can cut a man's throat with that thing."
Maya's gurgle of laughter almost had him grinning. He'd never grinned in Sandra's company before.
"The designer suit is full battle regalia, right?" she whispered as Sandra apparently saw them and waited impatiently, tapping her elegantly shod toe.
"The pearls are her magic shield. They're supposed to blind the enemy with her wealth and protect her from all who couldn't possibly afford them."
"Ooo, you're good." Maya shot him an admiring glance. "I might need you