Read Online The Twiceborn Queen (The Proving Book 2) by Marina Finlayson - Free Book Online Page A

to ring the door bell.”
    Sure enough, my neighbour stood on the door step, looking like she’d come from the gym, her breasts jammed into a skimpy Lycra top and her dark hair tied back in a jaunty ponytail. Her suspicious frown at being greeted by a hulking stranger cleared when I pushed past him, and she grabbed me with a cry of delight.
    “You’re back! How are you, hon? How’s your mum?”
    She caught me in a crushing bear hug, despite her tiny size, and enveloped me in a cloud of her signature perfume, sweet and floral.
    “I’m good—Mum’s good—we’re all good,” I laughed. “Tanya! I can’t breathe!”
    “Sorry!” She eased off the pressure a bit. “It’s so good to see you.”
    When she finally let go I smelled like the Estée Lauder counter at David Jones and I had a crick in my neck.
    “It’s good to see you too. Thanks for looking after the place for me.”
    “No problem, honey. Any time.” Steve had faded back into the bedroom, but Garth lurked in the background, and she looked him up and down in blatant assessment, a predatory gleam in her eye. It was her dearest wish to see me hook up with someone—anyone, she didn’t care—and she’d taken my prolonged singleness as a personal challenge. “Who’s your friend?”
    I hurried to make introductions. Garth nodded hello then disappeared to join Steve, leaving us to chat. We went into the kitchen, where I discovered she had, in fact, cleaned out my fridge, and emptied the rubbish bin too—on top of cleaning up the shattered mess Garth and I had left after our fight.
    “He seems nice.” Never one to waste an opportunity, she moved straight to digging-for-goss mode. “Nice” wouldn’t have been my choice of adjective, though if muscled-up guys were your thing, he was certainly easy on the eye. “Surly” probably came closer, but Tanya was an incurable glass-half-full kind of person. “Where did you meet him?”
    I smothered a laugh. She’d never believe me if I told her the truth.
    Or maybe she would. After New Year’s Eve, a lot of people were finding it easier to believe in things they never had before.
    Our meeting in this very room had left more than a few gaps in the china collection displayed in the old-fashioned dresser. I moved in for a closer look. As I’d feared, Grandma’s willow-pattern plate hadn’t survived the experience. I ran my hand lightly over the pepper grinder, back on its familiar shelf, a smile tugging at the corners of my mouth. Never underestimate a pepper grinder in a fight.
    “Garth? Feels like I’ve known him for ages.”
    I picked up a mug that sported a big new chip, rubbing my thumb over the rough spot.
    “Now you’re back you can check if anything’s been taken,” Tanya said. “The police will want to know.”
    “Sure.” I turned the mug over in my hands, wondering which was the lesser of the two evils: ignore the police and risk them chasing me up over the supposed burglary, or file a report and draw Detective Hartley’s attention to a burglary complete with random blood stains connected to my already-sullied name.
    “I had to come in when I saw a strange car in the driveway,” Tanya said. “I wasn’t sure it was you. Why didn’t you tell me you were coming back? I could have picked you up at the airport.”
    “No, no, it was fine. I had Garth.”
    “Have you?”
    “What?”
    “Had Garth.”
    I choked. I hoped he hadn’t heard that. Werewolf ears were pretty sharp. “God, Tanya, don’t you ever stop? He’s just a friend.” And thanks very much for putting that idea in my head . As if my dragon libido needed any encouragement to start thinking inappropriate thoughts about my employees.
    She pouted. “You always say that. What about that gorgeous hunk of man flesh you work with? What’s he going to think when he sees you running around with this Garth guy?”
    “Actually—” I could feel my cheeks warming as the image of a naked Garth persisted. “Actually, Ben and I