Page 88 of Cross & Crown

up to join Julian and Kelly in the salon. They were sitting

opposite each other, both of them unblinking, both of them

smirking slightly.

Nick put his hands on his hips and took a deep breath

to get control of his temper. “Okay,” he said finally. “Julian

Cross, this is Kelly Abbott. He kicked your ass once and he’ll

do it again.”

“Again. I wasn’t fighting back,” Julian reminded. He

looked Kelly up and down. “Although he does seem quite

formidable for his stature.”

“Whatever,” Nick said, knowing that nothing Julian

could say would ruffle Kelly’s feathers. He sat in the chair

beside Kelly and leaned both elbows on his knees, waiting for

Julian to begin talking.

“Do you know who you have in that cabin downstairs?”

Julian finally asked.

“No. Do you?”

“No, unfortunately.”

Disappointment spiked hard before Nick could get

control of it. He had been resting a lot of hope on Julian

89

being able to shed some light on this. “Okay,” he said through

gritted teeth. “So what do you know?”

Julian clucked his tongue. “I know what they’re after.”

Nick and Kelly waited, staring at Julian as he grinned

at them.

“Well, what are you waiting for here, dude, dramatic

music?” Kelly finally blurted. “What the hell are they after?”

Julian looked a little annoyed that they hadn’t enjoyed

the theatrics. He sat back and pulled his coat away, showing