Sophie's Gargoyle: Christmas Gargoyles, #2

By Katherine Kingston

*NOTE* This is a rewritten version of a short story included in the Naughty Literati anthologies. It's been revised and expanded to novella length.

Sophie Scranton, owner of a Washington, DC gift shop, escaped an abusive relationship in the past, so when she rescues a woman from the cold rain, she recognizes what the black eye and bruises on the woman's face mean. Sophie has doubts about the strange man who steps in to help her get the woman away to a shelter and protect her from harassment by the woman's husband, but she's also very attracted to him. As he continues to protect her and her shop, she comes to admire him and enjoy his dominating ways. He makes sense when he explains the difference between a bully and a dominant man. But then he also claims to be a gargoyle who can take on human form for only a limited time, and she fears he's delusional. But she's falling in love with him anyway.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Katherine Kingston
• Release date: Dec 5, 2018
• ISBN: 9781386805465

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Sophie’s Gargoyle

Katherine Kingston

This Electronic Edition Published By:

Katherine Kingston

Copyright © 2018 by Katherine Kingston

NOTE: This is a rewritten and considerably expanded version of the short story published originally as part of several Naughty Literati anthologies

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by an electronic or mechanical means, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the express written permission of the publisher, except where permitted by law.

Electronic Edition License Notes

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the author's work.

This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination, or, if real, used fictitiously.

Author's Note: I try to produce as clean a work as possible. This book has been through several rounds of editing in an effort to eliminate errors of grammar, usage, and consistency. However I realize that even multiple editors will overlook some things, so I ask that if you find any errors in this book, you let me know. You can email me at [e-mail].

Table of Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

About the Author

Sneak Peak from Gargoyle’s Christmas

Chapter 1

Sophie Scranton set down the string of Christmas lights and glanced out the shop’s main window. Lightning lit the late afternoon sky while thunder shook the glass. A woman stood on the corner, silent and bedraggled, in the pouring rain. In the dimness that followed the flash, Sophie could still see the woman, though less clearly. Odd that she wasn’t running for shelter, but the slender figure just waited. A lost tourist perhaps? Washington, D.C. had tourists year-round, and the gift shop was close enough to the cathedral to get a good bit of that traffic Most of them did have sense enough to get out of the rain, however, especially in early December, with the temperature at just under forty degrees.

She reorganized the Christmas gift and decorative items in the window, placing the Santa and his reindeer-led sleigh a bit farther back, moving up one of her favorites, an adorably homely gargoyle in a red stocking cap.

Another flash lit up the area. Across the street, in the shelter of a doorway, a second figure lurked. A large man, wearing a thick sweatshirt with the hood pulled up and concealing his features, but the angle of his head showed where his interest focused. He, too, watched the woman on the corner. She wasn’t looking back at him. Her gaze seemed fixed toward the opposite direction. Still, there was something disturbing about the man. And compelling, too, which sounded all sorts of alarms in Sophie’s brain.

Battered by wind and rain, the woman remained standing on the open corner, shoulders sagging, long hair unbound and blowing around her face. Sophie couldn’t take it. I’ll be right back, she said to her associate, Jean, as she turned from the window. She tossed on her coat and grabbed an umbrella from under the counter, opening it as she headed for the door.

Jean swiveled to face her. "Wait. What—?

She ignored Jean’s query and her wide-eyed astonishment as she went out into the rain. A freezing blast of wind pushed against her as she struggled to get to the corner. The woman still stood there, though she turned a startled and terrified look her way when Sophie put a hand on her arm. Fortunately the terror faded when she saw Sophie, but the look of resignation, almost despair, that replaced it was heart-breaking.

You’ll catch your death out here, Sophie said. My shop’s right over there. Please come in.

The woman didn’t answer, but she didn’t resist when Sophie led her to the door. Jean met them there and held it open. As Sophie turned to close it behind her, she noticed the man still watched from the doorway opposite. She couldn’t see his eyes in the shadow, but she somehow felt the weight of his stare, now focused on her. To her surprise, he nodded acknowledgment, but made no other move.

She didn’t have time to puzzle over it. Jean had already nudged the shivering woman into the one armchair, retrieved a couple of towels, and was trying to dry her off. Sophie hung her coat and dropped the umbrella in a corner. Jean had put on the kettle to heat water. Sophie made tea and brought the cup over.

Drink, she told the soaked woman, who still seemed in shock. The woman took it from her and sipped carefully. A bit of tension seeped from her and she wrapped her hands around the cup, savoring the warmth.

I’m Sophie. This is Jean. What’s your name? she asked.

Eleanor. Ella, most people call me. Her teeth chattered on the answer. She looked at them and pushed hanks of long, sopping brown hair off her face.

Sophie sucked in a harsh breath. Who did that? A swollen knot stood out on the woman’s cheek; another disfigured her sharp jaw; and a dark ring circled her left eye.

The woman leaned forward, hanging her head, letting wet hair fall back over her face. She wore a plain, gold band on her left hand.

Your husband?

A sharp, quick nod answered the question.

Do you have children?

This time she shook her head in the negative.

That was a relief. I know a place you can go where you’ll be safe, Sophie told her. I can call right now and get you in.

Ella shook her head again. He’s... You have no idea.

Sophie sighed. Oh, yes, I do. I have a very good idea. Been there.

You have? The woman jerked her head back to stare at Sophie.

"It’s not my best memory. But yes. He wasn’t my husband, but that didn’t actually make much difference. We’d talked about getting married. He’d always had a temper, but I didn’t think too much of it until he started pushing me around and