"Oh God no," he said, his eyes widening in horror. "I'd have never let you kiss me like you did if you were."
That was a relief. "She married someone else, then?"
He inclined his head to her. "It wasn't meant to be between us."
Abigail didn't miss the way he stroked the watch as if it were a part of Matilda, or the agonized grief in his eyes as he talked about her.
"She was too good for me anyway. I'm just glad she found someone who made her happy." He slid the watch back into his pocket, then changed the subject. "Andy has some food for you. I'll go ring him to bring it."
Abigail didn't try to stop him from leaving this time as she digested everything.
Could a man capable of that much love for someone else be the monster she thought he was?
While she had no doubt he was more than capable of killing her father, she seriously doubted he would have slaughtered her mother. Not with the feelings he'd had for Matilda. It didn't seem to fit.
Could it have been a shape-shifter? There were plenty who could have worn his skin.
But who and, most important, why? What would anyone have to gain by framing him and not turning him over to the authorities? And why kill her parents?
Her head ached from trying to decipher it.
I have to find out the truth and make whoever killed them pay. She owed her parents that much.
She turned back toward the bed to get her shoes, when a disgusted sound made her pause.
"What do you mean I can't go?" It was a voice she was unfamiliar with that sounded like someone standing not too far from her room.
"I thought we'd settled this, mite," Jess said sternly.
"Ah hell no, we didn't. You let me go up to Alaska with you, and I was a lot younger then."
"And there were other Squires there to watch your back. Not to mention, I was dumb enough not to know how much danger was there. This time I know, and you're not going."
"I hate you, you decrepit bastard."
Sundown scoffed. "I hear you. Now take that to Abigail and mind your manners, pup."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah." A few seconds later, he knocked on her door.
"Come in." She couldn't wait to see Sundown's Squire.
Andy walked in with a tray that carried a bottled Coke, water, and a plate filled with chicken, roasted potatoes, and green beans. He paused to eye her suspiciously. Dressed in jeans and a red T-shirt, he appeared to be around her age and extremely cute. Except for the slight curl to his lip, as if it made him ill to be in her presence.
"You must be Andy."
"Yeah, and if you hurt Jess, so help me, I will hunt you down to the farthest corner of hell and make you wish to God you'd never breathed air. You hear me?"
Well, that was most unexpected. "You greet everyone this way?"
"No. I'm usually very nice. But you ... you have no idea how much effort it's taking for me not to kill you where you stand."
She returned his sneer with one of her own. "Bring it, punk."
"Don't tempt me." He moved to set the tray at the foot of the bed. Closer to him now, she realized he was almost as tall as Sundown. Though without the massive muscles and aura of I-can-kick-the-crap-out-of-you, it wasn't quite so apparent at first glance. Unlike Sundown, he didn't dominate the room or her senses.
Andy started for the door.
"Why are you so protective of him, anyway? I thought Squires hated their Dark-Hunters."