“Here,” Duncan said, handing Cara a glass of merlot. “You look ready for it.” He kissed her cheek.
She stroked his face. “You truly are the best, my little house-husband.”
Duncan laughed. “More like the lazy, jobless roommate.” True enough, that. After all, he was mortal—officially retired, thanks to the verbal declaration made in his brother and sister-in-law’s yard. It took a couple of weeks, but someone in Records caught it, and he had to take retirement right after Cara came back.
While he wasn’t complaining—he now was aging with Cara like a normal person—he still found himself a bit listless. He’d been looking around Avalon for a position he could fill, but had yet to find something. So he’d been doing little projects while Cara was at work to update the house. Those things Cara had wanted to get to but hadn’t bothered with yet. Like painting.
She brushed his nose. “You have paint on your face.”
He rubbed his nose. “Yeah, well, the fence is painted.”
She grinned. “Thank you. It’s nice to come home to a clean house, laundry done, and dinner ready. You know I’m not much in the cooking arts.”
“Well, cooking can be learned.” He escorted her to the dinner table, where he’d prepared salmon for dinner. He thought it looked good, but the test would be if Cara liked it. She drank most of her wine in one gulp.
“Thirsty?” Duncan asked.
“Rough day. Lots of paperwork. Migraine imminent.”
He rubbed her shoulders. “I’m sure I can massage the stress right out of you.”
Cara sighed. “I bet you can. But I might fall asleep before anything fun happens.” Her head rocked back and forth as his thumbs massaged her neck.
“Well, you’ll just have to make it up to me,” Duncan said. Cara reached up and caressed his hand on her shoulder.
“You know I will—” She was cut short by someone knocking on the front door.
They glanced at each other, and Duncan squared his shoulders. This could be Malik, who lingered like a shadow over every day, wanting his favor. Was today the day?
“Were you expecting anyone?” Cara whispered.
“No.” Duncan stared at the door, hoping to glean something off whoever was on the other side. However, since he’d retired, his telepathy was not nearly as strong, since no magic fed it. “I’ll get it.”
“Can you tell who it is?” Cara asked him.
He shook his head as he approached the door.
Cara nodded, though her eyes were wide and she looked almost terrified.
Duncan pulled the door open and blinked. It wasn’t Malik.
It was two Knights Templar.
“Sir Tabor, Sir Alexander,” Duncan said, nodding to the two immortal humans. While they weren’t in their formal white Templar chasubles, they did wear black polos with red crosses on the shoulders, and their huge broadswords, so Duncan guessed it was some sort of business that brought them to his—correction, their—door. He’d met these two when he’d worked a FID case a while back.
“Mister Molar,” Tabor said. “May we speak with you?”
Duncan opened the door and allowed them in. He had to push himself into a corner to open the door wide enough for the two men—both over six-five, and humongous, to fit into the small cottage.
And Duncan didn’t think he’d fit very well—these guys practically made the place feel like it was going to pop at the seams.
“What is this about Templars?” Cara asked as she approached.
“Sorry to intrude on your evening, Miss Wallace. We wanted to speak to your fiancé,” Tabor said.
She blinked and then nodded. “Oh! Oh, um, let me get out of your way.”
Duncan glanced at Cara. “What do you know?”
She just grinned in reply. “Nothing. I know nothing.”
He did not believe her, but he wasn’t about to share that conversation with Tabor and Alexander.
“So what can I do for you?” Duncan asked.
“It is more what we can do for you,” Tabor said.
Duncan raised an eyebrow.
“I understand you need a job. And we need staff.” Tabor put his hand on the hilt of his sword.
Something Duncan couldn’t help noticing. “To do what?” His gaze darted from Tabor’s face to the hand on the sword.
Tabor took his hand off the sword and crossed his arms over his chest. “In your case, to help us coordinate with the FID units when necessary, and to help us here on the island.”
“We require a heavy support staff to run one of our bases. To have someone on staff that is both familiar with the inhabitants and has strong connections to the Fairy Realm would be very beneficial for us.” Alexander added.
“Did Cara put you up to this?” Duncan asked.
“I most certainly did not!” Cara said. Evidently, she hadn’t gone very far when she’d left him alone with the Templars.
He raised an eyebrow at his almost-wife.
“She merely heard us speaking with the Magistrates about employing residents, and if they had any recommendations to fill those spots. Your name was already on the list, before Miss Wallace mentioned you to us.”
“Oh.” Cara sounded rather deflated.
He shook his head. “When do you need me to start?”
“As soon as you are available,” Tabor said.
“I’m available.” He held out his hand, and Tabor gave him a firm handshake. They went over a few of the particulars, and the Templars left.
As soon as it was closed, Duncan spun to face his fiancé. “What did you do to me?”
She grinned. “Thought you were getting bored.”
“I think you’re tired of me being in the house all the time, doing stuff.”
“I figured you would be,” Cara replied as he closed in on her.
He pulled her against him. “Thank you.”
“No, thank you.” She hugged him tight.
Duncan rested his head on top of hers.
So this is what it feels like to be with the woman you love…
He liked it. A lot.