Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 97287 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 486(@200wpm)___ 389(@250wpm)___ 324(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 97287 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 486(@200wpm)___ 389(@250wpm)___ 324(@300wpm)
“Well, thank you,” Ella says.
“I told him to knock it off with the formalities,” Magnus tells her.
“And I’m glad he didn’t listen to you,” she says. Then she smiles at me. “But Magnus is right. We’re pretty relaxed around here, and we like it that way. Please call me Ella.”
“Very well, Ella,” I tell her.
“Where are the boys?” she asks Magnus.
“Out front with Laila,” he says.
She gives me a wary smile. “Have you been properly introduced?”
“To the boys? I’m afraid not.”
Her eyes go to Magnus for a moment, then come back to me. “That’s right. You already know Laila, don’t you?”
I’m starting to think that Laila has said some not-so-positive things about me.
“I do,” I tell her. “We lost touch after she left the Fairfax household. It’s nice to be working with her again.” I say that all so smoothly, finishing it with a charming smile, that I have even nearly fooled myself.
“Great,” Ella says, and then beckons for me to follow her. She glances at me over her shoulder and frowns. “Are you going to be warm in that? You should at least get some gloves in case the boys cajole you into a snowball fight.”
I pull my leather gloves out of my coat pocket to show her.
“I suppose that will do,” she says as we head to the doors, grabbing a puffy coat from the rack. “You’ll get used to the winters here. I grew up in Liechtenstein, and I thought our Alps were cold. Here it can go to a whole other level of—what is Magnus fond of saying again?”
“Colder than a witch’s tit,” Magnus pipes up from behind us, striding quickly to catch up, pulling on his own coat.
“We have that saying in Scotland,” I tell them.
“See, I knew we were related in some way,” he says, laughing.
“But it’s the darkness here that gets you,” she says with a sigh as we carefully walk back down the steps, eyeing the sky. “In another twenty minutes it will be pitch black outside.”
We stop at the base of the stairs, and Ella puts her hands on her hips. “Hey, boys, maybe it’s time to come inside before you can’t see anything. We have a friend here we’d like you to officially meet.”
I swear I hear Laila’s sigh as she bends down to scoop up the youngest boy, holding him in her arms.
“Come on, Bjorn,” Laila says, reaching for the other boy’s hand.
But Bjorn is not having it. He’s rolling up a snowball again, his tongue sticking out of his mouth in a devious manner.
“Hey, Bjornsy!” Magnus booms. “Do what Laila says.”
Bjorn then giggles and yells, “No!” He throws a snowball at Laila’s head before turning and running off across the lawn toward the woods.
Magnus mutters something in Norwegian and starts running across the snow, chasing down his son.
“I don’t know what gets into him,” Ella says, coming over to Laila and taking her other son, Tor, from her arms. “Here, I’ve got him. Why don’t you and James get reacquainted?”
Laila opens her mouth in protest as Ella walks back up the steps with her son, then closes it on second thought.
“So, Laila,” I say to her, having to be the bigger person here and hating it. “I honestly had no idea that you’d be working here.”
She pastes a stiff smile on her face, her hood moving back just enough for me to make out more of her features in the dim light. Bloody hell, she’s still ridiculously beautiful. She’s got these huge dark hazel eyes that tell you everything she’s thinking (and right now she’s thinking how much she’d like to dunk my head in a snowbank, that’s for sure), and the kind of lips that know how to make a man feel pretty damn good. She reminds me of a young Julia Roberts, only with honey-highlighted hair and more attitude. If you can get her to laugh, though, it’s a momentous occasion.
“I didn’t know you’d be here either,” she says sharply. “When they said they got a new protection officer from England, I never thought it would be you.”
“I got him!” Magnus yells at us, trudging through the snow with Bjorn on his shoulder, literally kicking and screaming. “Laila, take the rest of the night off. We’ll take care of the demon spawn. You guys just relax.”
He gives me a wink and then carries the shrieking demon spawn up the stairs and into the house.
Laila gives me a veiled glance. “I guess I should be thanking you for getting me a night off,” she says. “Then again, you’re about to ruin every one of my days for the foreseeable future, aren’t you?”
Laila starts off for the house, but I instinctively reach out and grab her arm. “I really don’t want us to get off on the wrong foot,” I tell her. “Can we start over again?”