Page 21 of Her Magic Light

“She’s taken her glasses off,” Coop growled.

Locke glanced up, and I met his sunglasses in the rearview mirror. “So I see,” he murmured. Then he leaned forward and glanced upward, out of the top of the windshield. “Looks like it’s going to be a cloudy night, though. Shouldn’t get a lot lighter. Think we’ll be okay.”

I almost sighed a second wave of relief but wait, what? No more light? They’d be okay? LikeI’mthe dangerous one in the car.

Coop nodded solemnly.

“What do you mean about being okay?” The question was out of my mouth before I could consider the wisdom of asking it, but neither of them replied.

The shouts of the armed guards echoed around the courtyard as they called instructions from tower to tower, then Locke stopped the car abruptly. I couldn’t see them, but there were guards in the shadows, too.

I scooched forward, the movement smooth rather than jerky because our speed had already been slow. But Coop slammed his arm across my chest, anyway, like he needed to prevent me flying from the vehicle, and I collapsed back against the seat.

I frowned. “What are you doing?”

Locke rolled down his window so he could hear what the guards were saying, and one materialized from some nearby shadows. The other man positioned himself so he could glance inside the car, and his mouth took on a smirk when he saw me.

“Very nice,” he murmured. “Very nice sample indeed.”

Sample? How was I a sample? As outraged as his comment made me, I shrank back from the threat in his tone. Sample meant product not person. I wanted to fade into the seat behind me. Coop withdrew his arm, and I missed the anchoring warmth and contact.

The guard outside the car hefted his gun higher, putting it directly in my field of view as he cradled it in his arms like he was holding his firstborn. “ID,” he barked, although he probably knew both Coop and Locke.

“All right, Paulson, give us a minute.” Locke addressed him by name, confirming my suspicion. “No need to get snippy.”

Coop tapped Locke on the shoulder and handed him a card, and Locke added another before passing both of them to Paulson.

He barely looked at them before passing them back. That was interesting… A power-hungry guard. Never the best combination of attributes in the same person. He swung sharply to his left and called up to the closest tower.

“Spots.”

“Jesus.” Coop unbuckled his seat belt and lunged toward me as powerful spotlights were suddenly directed at the car. He clamped his hand over my eyes, and I shrieked in surprise as he tucked me against him.

“Easy,” he muttered at my ear, and his voice and touch relaxed me again.

Damn the man. I didn’t want to be relaxed—especially not around someone so grumpy and in a situation so precarious.

“What are you doing, Paulson?” It was the most irritated Locke had sounded the whole day. “A bit high-risk, don’t you think?”

“Procedure.” Even I could hear the ring of insolence in the middle-aged guard’s voice.

“But you know who we are and what we’re carrying.”

“Yeah.” Paulson laughed, and the sound left me needing a shower. “I see that preciouscargo.” The lights outside went dark.

I stiffened. That cargo was clearly me.Sample. Cargo.What the hell did they think I was?

Abruptly, Coop released me and seemed to push himself to the farthest corner away from me. Yeah, sure, the spotlights had disappeared, but Paulson briefly shone a flashlight in my face as he whisked it around the interior of the car. He made a motion to roll down the window and then gestured to all of them.

With no glass between us, I shrank away from him again, and he laughed. What kind of guy was okay with being feared? Not a good one.

He leaned in and looked me over. “She could be fun.” He smirked again, and his face took on cruel angles as shadows played across it. “And look at all your pretty hair. Mmmm.”

Coop hissed quietly. “Are you done, Paulson?”

“Procedure,” the guard said again as he lazily brought the flashlight back around.

This time, he didn’t shine it in my face, but the tiny dancing light lingered over my breasts. He was…Holy shit. Paulson was awful.

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