Spiritbound Read online

  ‘I do forgive you.’

  ‘I have another important favour to ask.’

  Grace nodded, dreading that it would be a plea to walk away and leave Declan. She held her breath, getting nothing from Delores through the skin contact. She was shielding herself.

  ‘Accept us into your life. Please, I beg you. I know you have no reason to and we won’t interfere much; we are going to the mountains. But we do so much want to be part of Declan’s life.’

  Grace went down her on knees and looked up into Delores’s eyes. ‘That is what I want more than anything. Family is important to me. What you have said has made me feel so happy. I don’t want to exclude you. Declan loves you and I couldn’t do anything to make him unhappy. Forget about the past, Delores. I have. There is nothing there now but my love for Declan.’

  Delores touched her hair and sniffed. “I have more to say. From my heart I want to thank for my son’s life. I know you gave of your own life force to keep him in this world. That nice Dr Wentz told me. Your mother made the council join together to send you. Do you know how remarkable that is? The council hardly ever work together.”

  Grace sat next to Delores and hugged her. The woman sobbed and Grace rocked her back and forth. She was free of that taint, the fragment of her dead brother. Yet, there was an ingrained sadness in her, one that Grace vowed not to increase.

  ’Can I get you something?’

  Delores looked up and blinked at the tissue Grace extended. ‘Dinner?’

  Grace frowned. ‘I don’t understand.’

  ‘Your mother said you would cook for us.’

  Grace lifted her chin. ‘My mother is a sly witch. Excuse me while I tell them to come in. Mother has an appointment with some potatoes.’

  Sometime later, after a big meal of roast lamb and all the trimmings, Grace lay back against Declan on the sofa with her eyes clothed.

  ‘Are you happy?’ Declan asked, kissing the top of her ear.

  ‘More than I thought possible. I love you more than anything, but it would have been so hard to be with you if your parents hated me.’

  The hand that was caressing her stilled. ‘So if my parents detested you, then you wouldn’t be with me?’

  Grace turned around and bumped heads with him. ‘It would have taken some convincing.’

  ‘Right then.’ Grace leapt off the sofa and screamed as she was chased into her room. Declan caught her in the hall. ‘Your mother is out, isn’t she?’

  A door opened. ‘But I’m in,’ said Elena. There was a meow from around her feet.

  So am I. Tell your big tom to keep it down.

  He is a big tom, isn’t he? Grace thought to the cat. I don’t think he can keep it down.

  Grace burst out laughing. Elena picked up the cat. ‘You talking to the cat again, Grace?’

  That made Grace laugh harder.

  ‘Good night, Elena. Use earplugs,’ Declan said as he scooped up Grace and kicked open the door.

  Grace squeaked and then all the air exploded out of her as she landed on the bed, closely followed by a very large man.

  Now, where were we?

  You were going to convince me.

  His lips captured her hungry mouth. Touching heads, touching minds. Grace let herself sink into the warm golden glow that was her man. His energy pervaded her, giving back the last vestiges of the power she’d given him. Her body was energised. The fingers that peeled off her top left ripples of electricity in their wake.

  How am I doing so far?

  Fair to middling.

  He slapped her bottom. ‘I love you, Grace Riordon. I’m looking forward to spending my life with you.’

  He kissed down the column of her throat, then across to her breasts. Grace cried out when he latched onto her nipple. She grabbed a handful of his hair and pulled. He grinned at her and lunged for the other breast.

  ‘Declan Mallory, consider yourself joined.’ She pushed at his shoulders and he obligingly flopped over onto his back. His expression grew serious as he traced a finger along her chin.

  ‘What is it?’ she asked.

  ‘I love the joy in you. It’s infectious.’

  Grace chewed her lip. ‘That’s nice, but what is really bothering you? Don’t make me go in there and fish it out.’

  ‘I’d like to see you try that. I’ve been working on my shielding. You may only get past my guard if I’m unconscious and I trust’—He poked her softly on the nose—‘that you will be honourable.’

  ‘I always am honourable.’ She looked from side to side. ‘Well, mostly…’ She would never stop being embarrassed about the under-endowed rumour. ‘And that’s not it. Spill.’

  ‘Are you really okay with holding off on having children?’ His voice was hushed.

  ‘Of course I’m okay with it. I want a couple of years to work over your body and then maybe, just maybe, I’ll think of sharing you with a child.’

  Declan gaped at her for a moment and then dissolved in a fit of laughter.

  ‘What did I say?’

  ‘You work over my body? A little thing like you?’

  Her grin was very wide. ‘Yes, a little thing like me. Now, if you would just cooperate by taking off your clothes, I think we should start, unless I have to bring out Randy Roger.’

  Her man erupted off the bed and had her flat on her back and naked in thirty seconds. ‘I’m afraid your predilection for small, underendowed appliances will have to end.’

  ‘You think so?’

  He ground his heavy erection and against her. ‘I know so.’

  Grace sighed with pure pleasure as Declan very slowly, very gently made love to her, with his mind and with his body.

  I love you, Declan Mallory.

  And I love you, Grace Riordon.

  The end

  Thanks for reading Spiritbound. I hope you enjoyed it.

  If you’d like to know more about me, my books, or to connect with me online, you can visit my webpage danikristoff.wordpress.com, follow me on twitter @dani_kristoff, or like my Facebook page facebook.com/danikristoff

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  ISBN: 9780857992437

  Title: Spiritbound

  Copyright © 2015 by Dani Kristoff

  All rights reserved. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of publisher, Harlequin Enterprises (Australia) Limited, Level 4/132 Arthur Street, North Sydney, NSW, Australia, 2060.

  All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.

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