Someone further back in the group made a grunt that could have been assent or only the start of a debate, but at that moment, Leander shifted silently out of the shadows ahead of us into the pale glow of the streetlamps…and I lost my place in the conversation entirely.

Like me, he was still wearing respectable evening wear. There was nothing respectable about Leander Fabian, though, and he wasn’t trying to hide that any longer.

His blood-ruby ring was back from wherever he’d stashed it, worn prominently again on his right forefinger. His dark hair fell loose around his face, rippling in the chill, warning breeze that fluttered through the air around him.

I did not let my legs go physically weak at the sight, because—rampaging emotions notwithstanding—I was still holding a fragile baby.

Ruby squirmed in my arms as they tightened around her, and Leander’s eyebrows arched high on his pale forehead. He looked from my face to hers…and back again. “My, my. Have you exciting new secrets to reveal, Mia?”

Jasper shifted protectively in front of Ruby…which placed him partly in front of me, as well. Leander’s eyes narrowed.

“This is my neighbor,” I said hastily to Jasper, “Leander Fabian. He’s here to help us.”

Behind us, Bessie’s owner was still sniffly from her recent, tearful farewells with the beast, who had been left to live in peace in the lake where she’d been born, with no dangerous refugees to guard any longer. Still, the woman hadn’t lost her voice, unfortunately for me. “Didn’t you say, before, that he was your husband?”

Jasper frowned. “You’re married…to your neighbor?”

Leander cocked his head, pointedly waiting for my answer.

It was absolutely the wrong moment to glimpse a telltale glint of silver by the light of the streetlamp and realize that he hadn’t taken off his silver “wedding” ring yet after all.

Obviously, he’d been in too much of a hurry to think of it. Equally obviously, he was a scoundrel with an infuriating sense of humor. “Fake-married,” I snapped, glowering, “and only for the sake of our mutual protection.”

“Well,” Leander drawled, “I wouldn’t say that was the only—”

“Anyway!” I strode forward, brushing swiftly past him and not allowing myself to savor the illicit tingle that shivered through my skin at that brief contact. “Everyone, stand back—but be ready to run.”

“Wait!” Jasper said. “I’ll take Ruby first, before—”

“You need to keep your luggage in hand, ready to run,” I told him. “Trust me: I won’t let anything touch her.”