"And that means something!" His eyes werewild.
I shook my head. "Harry, I haven't even been intimate with you. I don't see you every day. You never sleep here.I-"
"I would!" he shouted. "I would do all of that, but you keep pushing meaway!"
He was right. "I just got out of a badrelationship."
Martin's music abruptly shutoff.
"Your relationship ended months ago," Harry snarled. He was so close to me now I could feel his breath on his face. "I love you,Katie."
I took a step back. "Youdon't."
"And you love me,too."
He entered myhome.
"I don't." I hated how shaky my voice was. "And I think you shouldleave."
A sinister smile played over his face. "I'm not going anywhere, Katie. Not until you admit your feelings forme."
I took another step back and bumped right into something both hard and unyielding. Strong hands clasped gently around myarms.
"Katie already told you how she felt. I'd suggest you leave. Now." Martin positioned me behind him and stepped up nose to nose withHarry.
"Oh? And what do you know about us?" Harrysnarled.
"I know enough about you to know you're scaringher."
Harry reached out and tried to grab my arm. Martin shoved him back so hard, Harry stumbled and fell. An audible snap shattered the atmosphere. Harry hissed in pain and cradled hiswrist.
"I suggest you get that looked at," Martin said, his voice deadly calm. "If you don't get up and leave her house, I will show you exactly what a Romani is capableof."
Harry's face went bleach white and he scrambled up, holding his injured wrist. As soon as he was out of the house, Martin slammed and locked the door behind him. He turned to me, his face made of stone. "Are youokay?"
"You're a Romani?"I blurted because I was so flummoxed by everything that just happened it was the only thing I could thinkof.
A quizzical look crossed his face before he stepped closer and lifted my wrists. He hissed at the red fingertips surrounding one of them. "Did he hurtyou?"
I pulled my hands away. "No. It will fade." I stared at the closed door. "I - I can't believe that happened." My fingertips touched my mouth as my brain tried to make sense of the last few moments. "I don't know what would have happened if you hadn't been here." It was true. The way he was looking at me gave me the heebie jeebies. I'd never seen that expression on his face, nor that determination to possessme.
"I think you should sit down," Martin said and gently steered me toward the kitchen table. "Tea?"
I nodded and Martin busied himself making a pot of chamomile tea. Strange how he knew his way around my kitchen more than my family did, but he'd been here way more often than they had these days. Mostly my fault. I'd retreated into a metaphorical cave and only came out for occasional work and casual dating. Which...the dating thing was now up in the air thanks toHarry.
When the tea kettle whistled, Martin poured boiling water into a mug, added a tea bag, and set it in front of me. He sat down, watched as I dunked the bag and let it sit, and he let out a long, slowbreath.
"I need to tell yousomething."
There was something in his voice I didn't like. I clasped my hands together to keep them from nervous tapping. "Okay."
He studied me for a moment, his face more serious than I'd ever seen it. "I know some things aboutHarry."
I stayedsilent.
"Lila, the woman I mentioned a few weeks ago, is hiswife."
My fingers clenched together so tightly I cut my circulation off. "Excuseme?"
