. Iron.Spirits made poor defense against iron and my husband was covered in throwing knives. He had his hand crossbow. He could inflict real damage on...the bastard. I cast my gaze around and spotted him struggling to stand up near the smoking ruin of the Lodestone and a burning treeman.I smiled and turned, diving for him.A purple beam soared over my head. I shuddered. The duke had recovered from the explosion and hunted me. I flapped faster and faster, streaking for the ground and for Sven. I. For more chapters and the complete story, A CRACK ON THE BEACH IS AVAILABLE ON AMAZON.COM AS A KINDLE DOWNLOAD!CHAPTER THREEThe next day as we lounged on the beach and as Shy took a swim nearby, I looked over at Cee.“I hate saying this, “I began, “but I don’t know if we can carry on getting her drunk like this every night.”Cee nodded. “I know.”We watched Shy in the waves.“But I haven’t finished yet,” Cee suddenly murmured.My stomach flipped. My God, what was going on in this woman’s. Grant, Lloyd’s former teammate, had decided to move on, and Lloyd would now be partnered with Bevan. Prior to meeting Bevan, Lloyd’s boss had asked him to help out by accommodating Bevan until he could find his own apartment. Two years earlier, Lloyd’s boss had assisted Lloyd in buying his apartment, so a refusal was out of the question. Lloyd’s comfortable two bedroom apartment was fairly old, and not in the best part of town; however, it was spacious and in a very good condition. Lloyd. Hewouldn't be looking in my direction again, if I did this right.The plastic ring that connects all the spokes of the umbrella wasresting hard on my thumb, which was the only thing stopping it fromsliding down. I angled the umbrella away from me, again without takingmy eyes off of the man, and slowly, tantalizingly pulled the umbrellaclosed.* * *Something odd was happening, but as soon as I was able to process thatthought in my head, another odd thing began to happen. I wear my briefshigh.