“Well, duh.” She looked across the room and met Scary Faerie’s gaze. “Why is he here? Why not tell me, and then I’ll know what the danger is. For that matter, why are you here?”
“As to the former—I cannot say. It is against the conditions of an agreement, a covenant of sorts.” She tilted her head. “As to the latter, as I said before, I am here to warn you.”
“Covenant? Conditions of an agreement? So, you’re a member of some kind of secret faerie union?”
“Something like that.” Scary Faerie almost smiled. The ozone scent filled the room, and she took on the otherworld transparency. “I was able to keep your presence hidden from him until now. Believe me—”
“You can do that?” Sidney’s eyebrows shot up.
“I can do many things.”
Scary Faerie’s words sent goose bumps skittering over Sidney’s skin.
“Did I not tell you? I’m not a faerie. I’m a goddess.”
Scary Goddess just didn’t have the same ring to it that Scary Faerie did, but she wasn’t going to argue the point. “If you kept my presence hidden for all these years, how did he find me?” For an instant, strong emotions flitted across the being’s face. Rage? Just when Sidney was beginning to believe the creature wasn’t evil. What the hell?
Scary Faerie’s face hardened. “It is in your own best interest to stay away from Dermot MacKay. No more excuses.”
She disappeared, and Sidney was left staring into space with questions whirling around in her head. If she knew what the danger was, it would be so much easier to resist temptation. Dermot MacKay made her feel things she couldn’t explain.
Well, that wasn’t entirely honest. The lust she understood. The man oozed sexuality. But the deep currents of emotion rising to the surface whenever he was near? Those defied reason. Where did the grief come from, and the longing? His presence made her restless and discontented. He made her ache for the things she didn’t have in her life—intimacy, loving and being loved by a man—a man like him, but without all the mystery and supernatural encounters.
She gathered the remaining sketches, placed them on the floor and crawled back into bed. Dermot planned to take her to lunch again tomorrow, even though she’d declined the invitation again.
When he arrived, she’d be gone.
Sidney stood in front of the kitchen counter and watched the coffee trickle into the glass carafe of their coffee maker. Between the faerie and the Scot she was the wishbone—each side pulled her toward their…what? What did Scary Faerie know about Dermot MacKay? What did Dermot MacKay want with her, and how would what he wanted affect her? She moved away from the counter toward the phone. Oh, how she dreaded making this call.
“Hey, Sid, it’s only 6:00 a.m. What are you doing up so early?” David walked into the kitchen. His sandy blond hair stood on end from sleep, and his favorite flannel robe hung open over his pajamas with the belt dragging on the floor.
“I’m not up. I never slept.” She yawned, grateful for the short reprieve before calling her mother. David and her mother were morning people, while she could easily sleep until midmorning.
“Why not?” He opened a cabinet door, pulled out two mugs and poured them both coffee before taking a seat at the kitchen table.
She went to the refrigerator for half-and-half. “Things on my mind I guess. I was about to call Mom and ask her to cover for me at the store today.”
He gave her a surprised look. “Are you sure you want to do that? It sets a precedent, a foot in the door and all. I’m off today, and I don’t have any classes. I can cover for you.”
Sidney tousled his hair. “You’re the best little brother ever. Are you sure you want to give up your day off?”
“Sure. I can always use the extra money.” He grinned. “You have to make me breakfast though.”
“Done.” She crossed the kitchen to the fridge and pulled out bacon, eggs and bread. “Do you want your eggs scrambled?” She peeled off pieces of bacon and placed them in a cast-iron skillet.
“Sure.” He gave her a speculative look. “Does your lack of sleep have anything to do with the man I met the other day?”
“Maybe.”
“Can’t get him off your mind, eh?” He waggled his eyebrows at her. “This is a good sign. I’ve never known you to lose sleep over a guy.”
“No. It’s not a good sign. He’s not here to date me. He’s here for a couple of weeks, and then I’ll never see him again.” Why did that thought make her feel so hollow inside?
“Unless you do business with him. I am a business major. I’d love to get involved in some international trade. That is…if you want my help.”
She glanced over her shoulder at her brother. “We aren’t going to do business with him. Maybe once Panache is better established we’ll look into branching out. You’re welcome to handle all the international endeavors when we do.”
“Why do I get the feeling there’s a story here?”
“I don’t know what it is.” An understatement if ever there was one.
“Whatever. It’s your store anyway.”
Sidney turned to face him. “No. It’s the family business, just like the hardware store.” Memories of her father behind the counter swamped her, and a lump filled her throat. She and her brother had grown up in that building, had played and run up and down the aisles while their parents worked. The place held her family’s history, and the history of three generations of her father’s family. “It will always be the family business.”
“Then why not let Mom work there? You know she wants to.”
“Of course I know she wants to,” she choked out. “Maybe once we’re turning a big, fat profit, and I don’t feel like she’s looking over my shoulder or judging how I do things—maybe then.” She blinked her tears away and concentrated on turning the bacon over in the skillet. Maybe once she was sure her mother couldn’t say I told you so, she would welcome her help.
“Lord save me from early risers,” Zoe grumbled as she yawned her way into the kitchen and headed for the coffee. “What are you doing up so early, Sid?”
“Did our conversation wake you?” David pushed a chair out for Zoe with his foot.
“No. The smell of coffee and bacon woke me. Mmm. That bacon smells good. I hope you’re making enough for three.” Zoe reached for a mug, poured herself some coffee and sank into the kitchen chair.
“I’ll throw some more on. Do you want eggs?”
“Of course. Nothing beats food somebody else cooks for me.” She grinned.
“I’m not going to work today,” Sidney said.
Zoe look confused. “What do you mean you’re not going to work today?”
“I mean I’m taking the day off.”
Zoe sat up straighter. “What do you mean you’re taking the day off?”
“I mean I won’t be there, as in carry on without me. You can do it.”
“Tomorrow is Sunday. We’re closed.” Zoe frowned. “That means you’re really taking two days off…in a row.”
“Drink your coffee, sweetie. We’ll discuss it once the caffeine has been absorbed into your bloodstream.”
“You never take days off. Remember when you were so sick with the flu? Even then you dragged your skinny ass in to work,” Zoe sputtered. “You’re doing this to avoid Dermot, right?”
“That’s what I thought,” David added. “She couldn’t sleep last night.”
Zoe studied her. “Really?”
“He won’t take no for an answer.” Sidney shrugged. “I figure if I’m not there, he’ll get the message and go away for good.”
“And then again, maybe not.” Zoe got up to top off her coffee, refilling all their mugs at the same time. “Thomas has nothing but good things to say about him. They’re cousins, you know. Maybe you should give the man a chance.”
“A chance at what?” She gave her friend a skeptical look. “He’s a man on a mission, and he won’t tell me…Zoe?”
“What?”
“You
know something, don’t you?” She watched her squirm.
“I don’t know anything.” Zoe’s eyes remained fixed on the table. “Why would you think I do?”
“Well, duh, because of Thomas.”
“You think we spend all of our time talking about you and Dermot? Think again.” She raised an eyebrow. “You’re leaving me to deal with this. Dermot is going to come into Panache à Trois, and I’m going to have to tell him you’re not there.” She frowned. “By the way, where will you be?”
“Not at Panache.”
“You’re not going to tell me?” She sounded stunned.
“Tit-for-tat.”
“I don’t know anything,” she grumbled.
“Sure you don’t.”
“I can deal with Dermot if you want me to,” David offered.
“Do.”
“Good idea.” Sidney answered at the same time Zoe did.
Chapter Five
The moment Dermot walked into Panache à Trois, he sensed Sidney’s absence. A myriad of emotions ran through him—anger, uncertainty, disappointment. Now what? He knew he’d been pushing her, but dammit, the anniversary of Mairéad’s murder was only sixteen days away. He watched her brother approach. “Where is Sidney?”
“She had some personal business to take care of. She’s not coming in today.”
Dermot’s body tensed. What if she was with another man? The thought of someone else near her had him seeing red. No. He forced himself to relax. She’d indicated she wasn’t involved with anyone. “Where is she?” He tried to catch David’s eye. He’d compel him to reveal Sidney’s whereabouts if necessary.
“I can’t say.” David refused to meet his gaze.
Dermot ran a hand over the lower half of his face and searched the store as if he might still find her there. Gods, the disappointment ate at him. He felt foolish, like a boy in the throes of his first crush. “You canna, or will no’ say?”
“She declined your invitation to lunch today. She’s declined all of your invitations. Canna and will no’ are moot.” David gave him a sympathetic look. “Sorry. I think Sidney’s made herself pretty clear.”
Dermot’s fists clenched at his sides. Since his arrival, he’d had to deal with things completely out of his realm and out of his control. He didn’t like the helplessness knotting his stomach. Gods, he missed his quiet, orderly stillroom. “When will she return?”
“Don’t send our customers away like you did before,” Zoe whispered urgently behind him. “Sidney wouldn’t like it, and neither would I.”
Dermot spun around to glare at Zoe. Thomas stood behind her. “What have you told her, Thomas?”
“What I tell Zoe is none of your business.”
“Ah, but it is.” He took a step toward him, and the urge to throttle his cousin tested his resolve.
“Zoe has a right to know.” Thomas met his glare with one of his own and took a step forward. “Do you no’ recognize her, Druid?”
Dermot studied the petite blonde. “I do, and it makes no difference. What are you playing at here? She canna help us. You had no right to tell her anything without checking with me first.”
“This involves her.”
“As usual, you have no’ thought this through.” Dermot turned to Zoe. “You’ve talked to Sidney haven’t you? That’s why she’s no’ here.”
“Nuh-uh,” Zoe protested. “I haven’t said a thing. Thomas made me swear.”
Dermot leaned toward her, staring deep into the pool of her soul through her eyes. He placed his hand on her shoulder and altered the vibrational pitch of his voice. “You will tell me where she is.”
“I…I don’t know where Sidney is. She wouldn’t say.”
“Dammit.” Thomas shoved him away. “Do no’ use your Druidy hocus-pocus on Zoe.”
Fuming, Dermot scowled at his cousin while directing his comment to Zoe. “Has Thomas told you what will happen in the end, lass?”
“What end? The end of the story?”
“Nay.” Leaning close so no one else would hear, Dermot whispered. “The end of the curse.”
“No.” Zoe’s eyes flew to Thomas. “What happens in the end?”
His cousin’s body tensed. It gave Dermot a moment’s satisfaction before the hollow ache took over. He wanted Sidney. The need to find her overwhelmed him.
“Sod off, Dermot.” Thomas took Zoe’s hand and started to lead her out of the store.
“Have you given any thought about what will happen should Sidney flee, Thomas?”
His cousin stopped and raked a hand through his hair. He shot Dermot a baleful glance before continuing on his way, Zoe in tow.
“Why do I feel like there’s a story here?” David wondered aloud beside him.
“Because there is.” Dermot turned to him. “I need to find your sister. Where is she?”
“Sorry, man.” David shrugged. “She really didn’t say where she’d be. Even if she had, she’s my sister. I look out for her.”
“Admirable. I canna fault you for wanting to protect her.” What else could he say? I need her to lift a curse I’ve been under for sixteen and a half centuries? Oh, yes, and I can hardly walk because of the hard-on I’ve had since first laying eyes on her. Dermot reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a business card. “Here’s a number where I can be reached. Please ask your sister to call me.”
“You know she won’t.”
“I don’t suppose you’d give me her number?”
“No.” David shook his head. “It wouldn’t do you any good anyway. She won’t answer an unfamiliar number.”
“I thought as much.” Dermot took a deep breath to calm himself. “I mean her no harm, David. I hope you believe me.”
“I can’t say what I believe. I don’t have any idea what this is about. Whatever it is, it’s causing Sidney to lose sleep, and that bugs me.”
Losing sleep? Could it be memories of their past life together were awakening within her? If so, her anger might prevent her from helping him. Perhaps that was why she’d taken so long to be reborn. She couldn’t forgive him. Or…could desire be the cause of her lack of sleep? Gods knew he suffered.
Dermot nodded, his mind already on his search. He knew where she lived. Perhaps he could catch her coming or going. If not, he had other means at his disposal. More akin to a stalking she’d said. So be it. Matters couldn’t get much worse, and he needed to do something to escape the horrible emptiness filling him.
Thomas worried about where Zoe’s thoughts were taking her. She walked stiffly down the sidewalk beside him. “I’ve rented a car, love, and I moved out of the suite I shared with the others.” He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. “I have a private room now.”
“What happens at the end, Thomas?” Her voice quivered.
“Och, we’ve no’ yet gotten to the middle.” Thomas reached for her hand only to have her yank it from his grasp. “Where did we leave off?”
“What happens at the end? Is Sidney in danger?”
“Ah, I recall. When last we spoke, Mairéad had agreed to forfeit immortality to marry Dermot.”
Zoe stopped dead in her tracks at his words.
“We’re about to have our first fight, aren’t we, leannan?”
“Yes, we are. You haven’t answered my question. I’m not taking another step anywhere with you until you do.”
Thomas fidgeted. He wasn’t ready with an answer. Zoe glared up at him with her blue eyes shooting sparks and her hands on her hips. Exasperated, he let all the air out of his lungs and stared at the sky. “No one knows. We’ve been arguing the point for more than sixteen hundred years.”
“Well, what are the possibilities?”
“Zoe, can we no’ finish the tale and then discuss the possible endings?”
“No.”
“Stubborn wench.”
“Mule-headed man.”
“Do we get to have make-up sex tonight?” She didn’t answer. Not a good sign. “Och, lass. Dermot believes the mi
nute the curse is lifted, time will catch us up. We’ll disintegrate into sixteen-hundred-year-old dust.”
Zoe hauled her fist back and slugged him hard in the biceps.
“Oy.” Thomas rubbed the spot where his sweet little woman had punched him. “There’s no need for violence.”
“I can’t believe you were going to let us just ‘take up where we left off’ knowing full well I’m going to lose you in the end.” Zoe slugged him again. “What was all that there’s no life for me without you bullshit?”
“Zoe.” Thomas wrapped his arms around her. “Disintegration is what Dermot believes will happen. It’s no’ what I think. Remember, Mairéad gave up her immortality to be with Dermot. She didn’t disintegrate. We were cursed with immortality. The logical end to the curse is mortality. Mairéad’s mother has never said what will happen once it’s lifted. She’s always refused to say.” He rested his chin on the top of her head. “I’ve always wondered about that. I think her refusal to say is another way to torture us.”
“You’re going off on a tangent again,” Zoe mumbled into his chest. “Mairéad gave up her immortality to marry Dermot. So what? Was she sixteen hundred years old? For all you know, she could’ve been in her teens or early twenties at the time.”
“I doubt it.” Thomas rubbed her back. “The tale of her mortal father had been around forever by the time we met her. She must have lived at least a hundred years or more.”
“You said you don’t believe the Tuatha Dé Danann are born immortal. You don’t really know though, do you? Maybe choosing mortality affects them differently than it does humans.” She raised her head to glare at him. “I’m going to be so pissed off if you disintegrate.” Zoe grabbed the collar of his jacket with both hands and gave him a shake. “I’ll never forgive you.”
His heart melted. They’d only been reunited for a few days, and already she cared. “I promise I will no’ leave you, love. If Dermot is proved right, I’ll remain cursed is all.” Thomas cupped her face in his hands. “I’ll no’ give up my chance at a life with you. I swear it.” He kissed her, and the brief contact electrified his entire body. “Did I mention I have my own room at the hotel?”
Heart of the Druid Laird Page 6