Tempted by Fate by Kate Perry Page A

Because I could have still been snuggling with my naked wife.”
    “
Max.
” Blushing, Gabrielle’s best friend Carrie smacked her husband with a pretty solid left.
    Rhys arched his eyebrow. “As much as it pains me, I’d have to agree with Max, love.”
    Usually she melted whenever he called her
love
in his crisp British accent. But right now, after the incident last night and the ensuing lack of sleep, she wasn’t inclined to being soothed. “This isn’t a joke. When have you known me to willingly wake up before noon?”
    Rhys nodded at Max. “She has a point.”
    “Damn right I have a point.” She started pacing again. She could still feel the residual aftershocks from the surge of her power last night. It vibrated inside her, making her feel volatile. “Last night before closing, a woman walked in—”
    “But I was there before closing last night,” Carrie interrupted.
    “She came after you and Ramirez left.”
    “How do you know she was a Guardian?” Max asked.
    Gabrielle rolled her eyes. “The zap I felt when she walked into the room was pretty telling—a definite disturbance in the Force if I ever felt one.”
    “She?” Frowning, Carrie turned to her husband. “Didn’t Francesca deliver the Book of Water to a guy?”
    “Yes.”
    “She was the Wood Guardian.” Gabe wrinkled her nose. “I thought I smelled fresh-cut wood when I got close to her.”
    “Why was the Guardian of the Book of Wood in the Pour House?” Max asked, a puzzled look on his face.
    “Hey, don’t look at me like that. It’s not my fault shewalked into the bar.” She glared at him. “I’ve never seen her before.”
    “Why don’t you just tell us what happened, love?” her boyfriend said in that aggravatingly reasonable voice of his.
    She threw her hands in the air. “That’s what I was trying to do.”
    Carrie reached up and patted her arm. “We’re listening, Gabe.”
    “The short of it is, she was sitting at the bar when I walked out of the storeroom. We saw each other, I lost it, broke a few bottles, and then she hit me with the Force and ran out.” Gabe rubbed the spot on her chest. It felt like something had thrust into her and split her in two. It still ached, and she had a huge bruise, too. She’d had to hide it from Rhys that morning because he overreacted to things like that.
    Rhys stood with the quick grace of a striking rattlesnake and held her by her arms. “Why didn’t you tell me? Did she hurt you?”
    See? That’s what she was talking about. She smoothed the superfine wool of his suit. “I’m fine. Really.”
    He didn’t look like he believed her, but he eased down a little. He took her hand and pulled her down next to him on the couch, keeping hold of her.
    “You know what?” Carrie said slowly. Her gaze distant, the same look she got when she was contemplating the complexities of ancient Chinese texts. “I felt something weird last night as Rick and I were headed to his car.”
    Max went on instant alert. “What?”
    “Easy, big boy.” She patted her husband’s leg. “I just felt a strange sensation. Kind of like a ripple in a pond.”
    Gabe stared at her friend, the klepto, who’d stolen the Book of Water from a monastery in China because she wanted to make a splash in her academic world. Carrie had lucked out. Except for the occasional rippling twinge, she’d emerged from her time with the Book of Water unscathed. She could have been killed, or worse, for what she had done. She’d also managed to find true love in the process.
    “I think I must have felt her,” Carrie continued. “I wouldn’t have felt the zap you guys apparently feel when you’re in the same room, but I’m still a little sensitive to your energies.”
    “The question is what she wanted,” Max said, slipping a protective arm around his wife’s shoulders.
    “The question is what the hell is she doing here,” Gabe corrected. “It’s against the commandments.”
    Max raised his brow.