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lions.
    Bloody hell, what was I thinking?
    Hand stretched toward me, Julian tilted his
head. “Hi, Jona. Everything all right?”
    Not given to sympathize with the enemy, I
shoved my hands deep into the pockets of my torn jeans. “Save your
pleasantries. Just because you freed me this morning doesn’t make
us friends.”
    He leaned a little closer. “Still pissed you
couldn’t bring yourself to run off because of me?” he
whispered.
    Pardon ? I fisted my hands to
my hips and took a step backward. “I’ll have you know that I didn’t
leave the court for Quinn’s sake. He trusted you with watching me.
And you…failed. I wouldn’t cause my friend trouble because of your carelessness.”
    Those warm blue eyes leveled with mine.
Damn, they kicked me off my train of thought.
    “At least you care for someone .”
    Hands clapped behind us, Quinn’s voice
carried to my ears, but his words made no sense to me. Julian’s
intense stare held me captured. His gorgeous eyes knew no barrier.
They penetrated my steeled core until I felt naked before him, with
all the dark bits of my soul spread out for him to see.
    I so hated it.
    Neither of us broke the stare. Then slowly,
on his left cheek, a sweet dimple appeared. A lopsided grin
followed. “What do you say, shall we go in?”
    I watched his lips part as he spoke and
soaked in the chime of his voice. But it took a moment for me to
understand. We were alone. Quinn and the dragon had already gone
inside. Lips pressed together, I tore my gaze from him and stalked
through the door of the restaurant. A low chuckle drifted to me as
he followed on my heels. The fiend knew he had distracted me.
    The smell of spicy food and beer hung thick
in the low vault-like pub. One foot placed on the iron bar under
the counter, Quinn was talking to the waiter. My mother flanked his
left side, her elbow resting on the countertop, and I caught the
first real glimpse of her this evening.
    A claw fixed her limp hair at the back of
her head, the faded red contrasting with the black of her silk
blouse. A mud brown skirt that didn’t quite reach her knees
enhanced her narrow hips, and high heels brought the top of her
head level with Quinn’s eyes. Her left foot slipped out of its shoe
at the heel, suggesting she felt anything but comfortable in them.
So who the hell was she trying to impress?
    Shaking my head, I joined Quinn on his
right. He leaned slightly my way. “Glad you made it in. For a
moment there, I thought you wouldn’t be coming.”
    “Oh, and miss out on all the fun? How could
I?” I rolled my eyes, but the bartender was the only one who
noticed it, and the corners of his mouth twitched.
    I moved my gaze to Quinn. “Why are we
standing here?”
    “Waiting to get a table.”
    I pivoted and glanced around. “Why, there’s
a nice table over there. We can take that one.”
    Quinn followed the direction of my pointed
finger then gave me a hard stare. “That’s a table for twelve. I’m
sure we can get something more private.”
    “You want privacy?” My intentionally loud
tone caught my mother’s and Julian’s attention. “I’d say we better
get rid of the annoying company then.”
    The off-duty officer slipped his hand under
my hair and placed warm fingers on my neck. His squeeze was none
too gentle. “You’re too sweet today, little witch,” he said through
a wide grin and gritted teeth.
    “I’m doing my best.”
    “I don’t doubt it for a second.”
    A waiter came from the back of the pub and
led us to a niche with a small table. Square. Quinn and my mother
lowered at opposite sides. Julian went around the table, giving me
a suggestive glance over the candle-lit top before he eased down.
This left me to sit between my mother and Quinn.
    Just great. I coughed innocently and shoved
my chair toward Quinn’s side as far as possible.
    He waited until I had made myself
comfortable, then he leaned in with a puzzled frown. “Maybe you’d
like to sit on my lap?”
    Yeah,