As a woman whose only master was her gypsy wanderlust, and her love for her sister, Jewel had been around. She knew the one thing ninety percent of the people in the world had in common - they loved to talk. If you knew the right questions to ask, information was ripe for the picking.

Hooper Radisson, the owner of the big white house set on the side of the mountain just out side the city, was someone the residents loved to speculate about. He’d moved to Pearson less than year ago, and set up shop as a financial consultant. Only he never actually opened up an office, and he had no local clients.

He was seen about town often, spending money and entertaining visiting clients, but that was it. And lucky for Jewel, it drove the locals crazy with curiosity. One mention of Hooper’s name at the pub and she knew where he lived, what kind of car he drove and, among other things, that he was a vegetarian.

Forty – eight hours after Nadya was taken, Jewel was smirking at the simple security system surrounding the big white house on the hill. Getting past the guard at the front gate had been as simple as climbing over the seven- foot cement wall surrounding the grounds.

Almost too easy, really. She knew that Hooper was no ordinary man, not if he could grab Nadya so easily.

She slowly made her way through the trees and up to the house, surprised at the lack of guards patrolling the grounds. She inched her way along the side of the house, and to the back, checking out each window as she went. A kid could crack the system wiring all the windows and doors, and her instincts were screaming caution.

She reached into her pocket and pulled out one of the small pouches Kaz had given her before the clan had left town. “Let’s see what we’ve got here,” she muttered to herself and spilled some of the fine powder into the palm of her hand. With a soft blow, the powder flew off her hand and into to air … where it hit a shimmering wall of energy and sparkled florescent orange for a split second. “Ohhh, nasty.”

The lovely orange color showed that the house was indeed protected by a spell. It didn’t matter that the technical security sucked, the magical security was top notch. Before Jewel could reach for her crystals, a muffled cry of pain came from nearby and the house and surrounding grounds were flooded with light.

“Shit!” She didn’t hesitate a second. Adrenaline kicked into overdrive and she spun around on her heel and took off for the dense trees nearby. A mad dash through them wasn’t the quietest way to get to the wall that separated the grounds from the winding public road where she’d parked her truck, but it was the fastest, and it offered protection from the floodlights.

Five feet from the cement security wall a shadowy form jumped from behind a tree and tackled her. Heart in her throat, she reacted instinctively, her hands going for her attacker’s throat, her knees bending and feet kicking as she tried to nail him in the balls.

The body turtled over her, heavy legs tangling with hers, pinning them, full weight on her torso as one hand covered her mouth and the other grabbed two of her fingers and yanked them back until pain made her let go of his throat. “Shut up for Christ sakes! They’re almost here.”

His whispered words registered in her mind at the same time a beam of light played over the compound wall just above them. They both froze, and Jewel finally realized that this guy wasn’t hauling her to her feet or dragging her back toward the big white house.

She closed her eyes, concentrated on calming her heart rate, then listened closely to the sounds around them. The musky scent of raw man reached her nose and butterflies unfurled in her stomach. Sensual awareness threatened to overcome her fear as they lay there.

Neither spoke, she didn’t even think they breathed, but in the distance she could hear voices raised as guards searched the grounds. A single bark split the night air and they both tensed. Jewels eyes popped open and she stared at the shadowed face above hers. Eyes black as night met hers and his hand left her lips.

“A dog!” she whispered furiously.

“Over the wall,” he replied. “Now.”

He sprang to his feet and she was right behind him.

As if they’d done it a million times before he bent his knees and Jewel stepped smoothly into his cupped hands and he boosted her to the top of the wall with ease. The stranger was over six feet tall, and with a small jump he was halfway up the wall. Jewel gripped the foot wide cement between her thighs and grabbed the back of his belt as he scrabbled up the wall with ease. As she swung her leg over and sat atop the wall, the dog came through the thicket of trees, barking madly and pulling a small man behind. A chunk of cement flew into the air as a gunshot bounced off the wall a foot to the left of Jewel and she jumped to the other side.

She hit the ground running and was at her truck in seconds, the helpful stranger right behind her. Shoving the key in the ignition and pulling her door closed at the same time she was surprised when the passenger door opened. She heard him say he was leaving with the girl and watched with wide eyes as he joined her.

What the hell?

“You can’t-“ a shot hit the windshield and she clamped her mouth shut on the instinctive cry of surprise.

“Go damn it!” he shouted.

And she did.

Without another thought she slammed the truck into gear and floored it, speeding off down the twisted mountain road.

Neither of them spoke as Jewel drove into town. She concentrated on the road ahead of them and he watched the road behind them. They must not have been followed though because he never urged her to speed up or take off on one of the side roads.

Jewel’s thoughts whipped through her head at a mile a minute while she tried to figure things out. Every now and then she’d glance sideways at her passenger only to catch him staring straight at her.

Their gazes collided more than once, yet still, neither of them spoke.

By the time they hit the Pearson city limits it was clear no men with guns had followed them, and reaction had started to set in. Jewel wasn’t an innocent to the ways of the world, she’d dealt with a lot of scary things. Shit, she was a gypsy who made the bulk of her money hustling dart games in pubs around the country - she’d been in a tough spot or two before.

She’d seen things, natural and supernatural things that were both good and evil, but she’d never been shot at before.

Her heartbeat started to slow and the trembling inside her had settled down enough so she could breathe normally. She loosened her death grip on the steering wheel, and when her knuckles were no longer glaringly white, she glanced at her passenger. Her gut tightened. What now?

As if he could read her mind, he gestured to a parking stall in front of the coffee shop across from the lake. “Pull in here,” he directed. “We need to talk.”

The only reason Jewel did what he told her to was because it was true. They did need to talk. She put the truck in park, but left it running, and turned to get her first real good look at her passenger.

The light from the streetlamp illuminated the inside of the trucks cab enough for her to see that he was extremely good looking. Short dark hair, olive skin stretched over high cheekbones, and almost bottomless eyes had her pulse picking up for a very different reason than fear. His firm jaw line was shadowed with a layer of stubble that only enhanced the shape of his very seductive mouth.

A quiver of excitement rippled through her. A man with a mouth like that had to know how to use it.

Jewel squashed the sensual awareness growing inside her and gave him a hard look. “Who the hell are you?”

The mouth in question twisted. “You can call me Devil.”

She grabbed for the dagger tucked into the side of her right boot, but before the blade cleared leather his hand gripped her wrist, hard. “I said you can call me Devil, not that I was the devil. I’m one of the good guys in this battle.”

She met his gaze head on, no fear. “I’m supposed to believe you just because you say so?”

“If I was one of them I’d have let you run right into the spotlight instead of tackling you, and I certainly wouldn’t have helped you over the fence.” He spoke matter-of-factly, his expression blank. “Now why don’t you tell me your name?”

When people lied they tended to overplay their hand. If anything convinced her to believe him – and she wasn’t sure she did – but if anything was going to convince her, it was his lack of emotion.

“Okay, say I believe you. What were you doing there?” She let go of the onyx-handled dagger, but kept her hand by the side of her leg. His hold on her wrist loosened in response, but he didn’t release her completely.

“Your name?”

Shit. “Jewel.”

His head dipped in acknowledgment. “Okay, Jewel, it doesn’t matter what I was doing there. What matters is it’s a dangerous place, and you are not to go back there.”

Fuck that, she thought to herself.

Tension thickened the air between them. Who did he think he was? He didn’t even ask what she had been doing there, just issued orders like he was the king or something. “You think you can stop me?”

“Yes.”

The one word was said with such complete arrogance that Jewel reacted instinctively.

Slapping her right hand on top of the one that held her left wrist, she pinned it there at the same time twisting her left hand up and over his. She put her weight behind it, shifting toward him and pressing down on the wristlock. He countered by moving back and pulling her on top of him, his other hand going on top of hers and yanking two fingers back – the same two fingers he’d used to get her to release her choke hold earlier. Pain ripped up her forearm and she let go, landing in his lap with their hands trapped between their bodies and their faces only millimeters apart.

She sucked in air and tried not to notice the hardness of the body beneath her … until he kissed her.