Lianne was here to get those results. It was as simple as that. She knew her job and she knew how to do it. Twelve men or a hundred men weren’t going to distract her. She was ready for whatever attitude problems or temper tantrums they were going to throw at her.
She didn’t bother to knock, but pushed the boardroom door open and stood there for a minute, letting the group inside figure out that something in their little world had just changed. It gave her a minute to look them over, too. First impressions were important on both sides.
A few of the guys she recognized, having worked with them at other sites before. Mr. Casper she knew from way back, and Mr. Blanchard sitting at the head of the table with his usual smug expression made her want to roll her eyes. The other men looked about like every geologist, engineer, and technical geek she usually worked with. No surprises here. Except… one guy was pacing at the back of the room.
Wow. He was not like the other ones. He paused in his pacing to stare at her, silver-blue eyes practically throwing sparks against exotic bronze skin. His gaze stalked her, wild and ferocious as a caged animal. No, he wasn’t like the other ones. Not at all.
The smile he gave her wasn’t very much like the usual patronizing smiles she got, either. His lips curled like he’d been starved for a week and was just handed a plate of lasagna. She’d never really wanted to be lasagna before, but for half a second she was ready to slather on some Parmesan cheese and tell the man dinner was served.
The insanity lasted only a heartbeat, though. After a quick draw of breath and some rapid internal scolding, she grabbed control of herself and managed to take her eyes off him. It wasn’t easy, but she knew better than to get carried away by a pretty face and a pair of ungodly wide shoulders. Any man who looked like that most likely knew he looked like that. That meant he was probably an asshole.
She’d had enough assholes for a lifetime.
“Hello, gentlemen,” she said, enjoying her moment of authority before they all started trying to assert their male dominance. “I’m not sure what you’re up to right now, but I’m here to tell you vacation time is over.”
She heard one of the computer techs mutter her name under his breath. Good. Her reputation had preceded her, so maybe she wasn’t going to have to be a total bitch to get these guys to work with her. She hated playing that role, even though she’d learned it well enough over the years.
“For those of you who don’t know me”—like the steaming-hot asshole with the silver eyes—“I’m Lianne McGowan. Yes, that’s McGowan, as in Crandall McGowan is my father and he’s the one all of you work for and he’s not been too happy with the way things are being done here. Or rather, the way things aren’t being done, so he sent me to hold your little hands and kick you in the balls until he starts seeing some improvement. Any questions?”
The men glanced back and forth at one another. She noted a couple of raised eyebrows. One of the computer geeks leaned in to his buddy and whispered something. They both snorted and tried to hide idiotic schoolgirl giggles. This was where she either gained them or lost them, right here when these pubescent juveniles tested her. It happened at least once on every site. Sooner or later, they always wanted to see what she was made of.
So she’d have to show them. They’d better not let her damn freckles or the fact that she wore a bra confuse them into thinking they could push her around. She knew exactly what she was doing, and whether it threatened their collective manhood or not, she was in charge. She nailed the giggling techs with a malicious glare.
“You two have a question?”
They shook their heads frantically. She was not about to let them off so easily.
“It sounded to me like you had a question. Did anyone else happen to hear what these two boys were mumbling about?”
Peer pressure was a wonderful thing. She loved to use it to evoke cooperation whenever possible. The men would band together, united in submissive silence, as no one wanted to be the rat who threw the pimple-faced kids under the bus. It would establish her role as leader instantly. Men were so wonderfully predictable at times.
The asshole, however, surprised her. He cleared his throat and stepped forward.
“I believe the first young man wondered if you left your leather whip in your suitcase,” he said. “And the other asked if we ought to call you Lianne, or if you prefer something more formal, like Mistress.”
The horror on the faces of the young techs proved that the asshole had, indeed, heard their whispered conversation. They probably thought they were being clever to insinuate she was some kind of dominatrix. They didn’t look so clever now. One looked like he was almost going to cry, in fact. Poor idiot kid. They’d be more respectful toward her after this.
The asshole, though… now he concerned her.
She shifted her glare to him. “And who are you? I don’t recall running across you in the personnel files.”
“I’m a consultant,” he said, and she detected the dark tones of a slight Russian accent. “Nicolai Stefanya Vladik. You can call me Nic.”
“All right, Nic. And since you’re so eager to help us answer the young tech’s question, what do you suppose I like to be called?”
He narrowed his silver eyes and contemplated her. “Here on the job, no doubt you expect to be called Ms. McGowan. In your private time, though, I suspect you prefer something else.”
Yep, asshole. His eyes were already undressing her; she could feel it. Hopefully he had a good imagination, since that was the closest he was ever getting to the goods.
“Well, nobody here is going to find out about that,” she said sweetly. “From this point on, there is no private time, gentlemen. When you’re not in the lunchroom or in your beds, you’re on the job, twenty-four/seven. Got it?”
The men who had worked with her before rolled their eyes and nodded. The others grumbled. The asshole smiled.
“I’m always on the job,” he said. “In the office, in the lunchroom, or… wherever I happen to be applying myself.”
An uninvited little thrill coursed up and then down her spine. Damn, but those silver eyes of his… they did things to her she really did not need right now. At all. And was that the jagged hint of a dagger-shaped tattoo she saw peeking out from the man’s collar at the broad, bronze nape of his neck? What kind of consultant was this, anyway?
Hell. She flew halfway across the world to this frigid, rocky wasteland to play Queen of the Bitches for the sake of dear Dad and this is what she was stuck with. It would figure.
Assholes with tattoos just happened to be her weakness. This was going to be a long, miserable assignment.
Chapter Two
The sky was a dramatic wash of wispy blue clouds and the cold yellow glow of early morning. Raea fluttered her wings, Fairy Dust glittering around her as she stretched out the stiffness in her limbs. Not that they hadn’t been getting a workout.
For the past three days, she and Kyne had been hiding here in this cabin high on a densely forested hilltop, hidden by special magic she still did not quite understand. They’d been safe from anyone who might happen to be out hunting them, and no doubt someone was, considering she’d helped break Kyne out of his interrogation cell at the Fairy Council meeting hall. It had been too easy to forget about all of that, though, and make the best of their time together here.
By the Skies, they certainly had made the best of it. Passion had ruled them night and day, and Raea’s body still hummed from the pleasure she found over and over again in Kyne’s arms. A lifetime of giving in to these forbidden wonders could never fully satisfy her. Still, she knew they couldn’t hide here forever. Kyne would wake soon and they’d have to discuss their future.
And perhaps elements of his past he’d not yet been willing to talk about.
A sound in the doorway behind her alerted her to the fact that this time had come. Kyne was up, strolling out onto the wraparound porch of the cabin to join her in the dewy morning air. She smiled at him and his wings unfurled, ba
rely clearing the door frame.
The Sizing Dust they had used still lingered over him, his fairy body holding to this human size longer than Raea’s did when she was influenced by the dust. She was tiny in comparison to him now. Her toes wriggled as she swung her legs, sitting on the porch rail in her usual fairy form.
“I can never get over what a giant you are,” she said. “Too bad the dust wears off on me so quickly.”
“It’s all right,” he said, breathing deeply and yawning. “We’ve still got a week’s worth in that little pouch.”
A week. They could continue this way for a week, avoiding their lives and loving each other. But then what? Without the precious dust, their activities would be cut short. Literally. Kyne’s fairy body was unique; when he reached his climax in the heat of their passion, he grew to human proportions. Huge, massive proportions that still took her breath away every time. Without their supply of the Sizing Dust, Raea would no longer be able to be with him that way.
“We can’t wait that long to go back,” she said. “This has been wonderful, staying here with you this way, pretending we don’t have a care in the world, but you know it can’t go on like this, Kyne. We have to go back.”
“No, I have to go back. You need to stay here, where it’s safe.”
“Forever?”
“No, of course not. Just until…”
“Until what? We don’t even know what we’re really hiding from.”
He was silent at that. What could he say? So she continued.
“Besides, the dust will run out. Whatever we do and wherever we go, we need to find more.”
Now he smiled. “You mean you’re not done with me yet?”
“Not by any means.”
He leaned against the railing beside her, and she realized his body was changing. He was reverting back to his usual form. She smiled, watching him shudder as if with a chill and then shrink with a puff of golden mist. He plopped down to sit beside her.
“And now we are equals again. Are you certain you still have no regrets, Raea? I should have never involved you in this.”
“I’m not involved in anything I didn’t run into willingly,” she assured him. “But don’t you think it’s time we try to find out just exactly what it is that we did run into?”
He sighed. She knew he would not welcome this discussion, but it couldn’t be avoided. Strange things were happening and the only way to get to the bottom of them would involve dredging up the history Kyne would much rather ignore.
“You want me to go find my father again, don’t you?”
“I think we’re going to have to. I don’t know what the Fairy Council has been plotting, or what that strange machine we found at the base of the mountain is for, but it seems that your father is involved in all of it. I’m afraid if we want to learn anything, we have to start there.”
“You keep saying ‘we.’ ”
“That’s because we’re in this together, Kyne.”
“No. I’m in this. It has nothing to do with you.”
“Nothing to do with me? I’m sorry, did I miss something? Who were you with when the council sent Swift to take you into custody? And then who came sneaking into the hall to seduce you out of confinement? And who has been climbing all over you like a raging wild animal ever since? Me, Kyne. It’s me. You’re not alone anymore, and neither am I.”
His amber eyes searched hers, and she could see the concern that filled him. She loved that he worried for her, but she worried for him, too. Someone back at their Fairyrealm had been plotting against him and she wanted to know why. Fairies and humans were in league and that could only spell trouble. Somehow she and Kyne had to uncover the truth.
“Please, Raea,” he said, laying his hand over hers. “Don’t make me drag you into more danger. Let me keep you safe. I don’t know what I’d do if something happened to you. I need you to be safe.”
“You think I’d feel the least bit safe if you went off and left me here, alone?”
“I’d rather have you alone than dead,” he declared.
The words rattled inside her. Did he really think things were quite that serious? Of course, certain members of the Fairy Council had been behaving mysteriously, and those two fairies they’d seen in the forest three days ago had clearly been up to no good… but was this truly a matter of life and death?
“You think it might come to that?” she asked softly, stroking his cheek and letting the warmth of his skin seep into her fingertips.
“I won’t take any chances, Raea. I have to go look into this alone. I just couldn’t live if I let something happen to you.”
“Then you know exactly how I feel, Kyne. I can’t let you go, not now. Whatever you do, I’m doing it with you.”
“I can see we’re going to have an argument over this,” he said, clutching her hand to his lips and kissing it gently.
“I’ll win it, of course. You know I have my ways.”
“Don’t be so sure of yourself. I’ve got a few persuasive tricks of my own, if you recall.”
“Then I guess I’ll have to be especially convincing, won’t I?”
“I’m not going down without a fight,” he said with a crooked little smile that assured her they weren’t talking about investigating the council right now.
“You’re not going down?” she asked, flashing him her own wicked grin and letting the glittery aura emanating from her speak for itself. “Then you know I will.”
She fluttered up off the railing and hovered before him, raking her fingertips over his solid form and slowly sinking lower, lower, until her lips were perfectly positioned. Oh yes, he was going down, all right. And she was going to take him there.
Their argument might be on hold for right now, but one thing was certain. They were going to need more Sizing Dust again very soon.
Please turn the page for an excerpt of the first book in Serena Gilley’s Forbidden Realm series
Kissed by the Wave
Available now!
Chapter One
Aliya flipped her fins and let the cool water of the lake glide over her. The moonlight glittered like tiny stars in the lapping waves. Her pale hair fanned around her, then fell slick against her naked skin as she pushed up through the surface, scanning the skyline and finding the large, familiar shape.
A boat—a very specific boat. He was here again. She knew he would be. After all, she was a mermaid; her mind sensed things like that. When this human was near, she could feel his presence. Her people generally did not reach their minds out to touch the humans who came onto the lake, but something about this man was different. Aliya had felt his thoughts, the burning pain and aching emptiness deep inside him, and it had triggered something inside her. She’d yearned to know more.
For nearly two cycles of the moon now she’d watched him, tracked his movements in the evenings when he would leave the safety of the human shore and venture into her world on his big, gleaming boat. Every time, she’d felt his suffering. She could not explain why this man’s emotions should touch her in such a way, but she had come to expect it. He was here now and she had to get closer.
Yes, she could feel him more strongly now. Strange, it was almost as if this human—this man—were reaching out for her, trying to touch her in some way… but of course he could not be. Everyone knew humans did not possess powers like that. She must be imagining it.
To make sure she was not, she stilled herself and opened her mind to let his emotion flood her. Yes, she could feel the familiar ache she always sensed from him, knew the emptiness that filled him. He did touch her, but he clearly had no awareness of it. And his touch reached more than just her mind. Her body felt something, too.
The velvety scales of her lower body tingled… the satin skin of her arms and her breasts pricked with sensation. She went rigid, floating helplessly as her body responded to sensations she could never put into words. They were energizing, delicious… and forbidden. Whatever she felt from this human, whatever he did to h
er, it was not something she ought to encourage.
She liked it, though. She wanted more. The Great Code of all creatures in the Forbidden Realm dictated she avoid any sort of interaction like this. It was bad enough that she’d come so near this same human on numerous occasions, but to let his mind and emotions touch her in such a way… she knew it was wrong. Still, it drew her like a moth to an inferno.
She was near his vessel now. The crystal surface of the water changed and distorted her view, but she could see him. He was tall and broad, standing alone to gaze out over the water. His shirtless form was solid against the night sky and moonlight glowed off his bronze skin. She broke through the thin surface of the water. He would see her.
The Veil could not protect her tonight, not while the man was so empty and so very lost. Usually she made sure when she needed to approach humans that they were occupied, busy with their mundane concerns that kept the Veil firmly over their eyes. If they caught sight of her they shrugged it off as a shadow, a fish, or a shift in the current. All her life she’d been careful that way; she knew her place.
But tonight… the feelings were too strong. The man needed her and she needed him. She needed to learn what it was that drew her to him, that made her feel hot and shivery all at the same time. She needed to let him see through the Veil and recognize her for what she was.
Her movement caught his attention. Her heart pounded as she felt the cool air on her skin, the damp weight of her pale hair lying against her neck. Unfiltered moonlight glittered off the wet droplets at her eyelashes. She blinked, determined to see clearly when finally his eyes met hers.
And they did. He saw her at last and she gazed steadily at him. It was too dark to know the color of his eyes, but she did not need her telepathy to read the astonishment in them.
“Where in the world did you come from?” he asked.
By the Magic of Starlight (The Forbidden Realm) Page 10