Atlantis Unmasked by Alyssa Day Page B

other than clearly clueless about babies?”
    A sharp, entirely irrational stab of denial plunged into his gut at the idea of her meeting Brennan. Beautiful Grace and Brennan of the unscarred face. “He has no sense of humor. You wouldn’t like him one bit,” he said firmly.
    â€œOh, I don’t know. So far I like all of you Atlanteans very much. Handy to have around in a pinch. Quinn said—” She broke off and formed a perfect O with her lips, which gave Alexios a mental image that led to a very uncomfortable moment of tightness in his previously loosely fitting jeans.
    He wrenched his gaze away from her luscious lips and forced himself to think of calm, non-sexy things. Turnips. Concrete. Greenhouse gases.
    â€œI just made the connection. Quinn’s Riley?”
    â€œWhat? Oh. Yes, Quinn’s sister, Riley. I am sure Quinn will be sad to have missed the birth.”
    â€œThat’s too bad, but Jack did tell me she was gone—” She snapped her fingers. “Jack. Right. Jack. The Fae.”
    Alexios tried to follow the convoluted path of her conversation, but wasn’t having much luck. “I beg your pardon? What about Jack and the Fae?”
    â€œRhys na Garanwyn. The Fae. The meeting. Sorry,” she said, shaking her head. “Rhys na Garanwyn, High Prince of the High House, Seelie Court, surprised me when I was swimming last night. He demanded a meeting with you exactly a week from last night.”
    Alexios’s lungs suddenly struggled to take in air. “Why? Why did he come after you? Did he hurt you?” He grasped her arms and offered his precise opinion of skulking Fae lordlings in vivid, virulent Atlantean gutter slang.
    â€œDid. He. Touch. You?”
    She shook her head, eyebrows drawing together. “No. He magicked my bow out of my car to show off that he could touch it, and he watched me get dressed, but he didn’t touch me.”
    His fingers tightened convulsively, images of the Fae drooling over her lovely nude body flashing through his mind. “You were naked?”
    â€œNo, I wasn’t naked,” she snapped, yanking her arms out of his grip. “What is it with men and naked? Jack asked me the same thing, for Pete’s sake.”
    Alexios clenched his fists around the hilts of his daggers and imagined himself slowly skinning a certain tiger. He sucked in a deep breath. “Jack? Jack was here, too? Asking about your nakedness? And who is this Pete?”
    Grace’s face contorted into a strange grimace, her lips flattening and then twitching, and finally she started to laugh. “There is no Pete. And Jack is an old friend, nothing more, not that it’s any of your business. There was no nakedness. Sit down and relax, and I’ll tell you all about the Fae. And Pete.”
    He scowled at her but subsided and leaned against the wall while she recounted the tale of her meeting with the Fae.
    â€œThis Rhys na Garanwyn is very persistent, and in oddly connected circles of association,” he mused when she’d concluded. “First Lucas, and then you. Both connected to me, in some way.”
    She raised her chin. “No. Not both connected to you. I have no connection with you other than this training assignment.”
    He bit back the instant denial and studied her face. Heat swept through her cheeks in a rosy flush, and a tiny bud of contentment unfurled somewhere deep inside his chest.
    He stepped on it. Hard.
    She wasn’t for him. Shouldn’t be for him. No matter how much he wanted her. There were so many reasons why he should stay far, far away from her.
    He’d always hated reason.
    He smiled and lifted a hand to touch her cheek with a single finger; was rewarded when she visibly fought herself to keep from reacting to his touch.
    â€œWe need to talk about it,” he said. “That kiss. My reasons for leaving, which I thought at the time were valid, but