The male sitting behind the driver nudged the brown-haired one sitting next to Aislyn. He jerked his head in Aislyn’s direction before sniggering. "You can always tell the new ones by the way they gawk," he muttered. "Seems the female ones are no different."
Let them poke fun, Aislyn thought, allowing her nose to drift upward in a show of disdain. Stupid male fairies. And they were fairies--Aislyn could tell by the faint blue aura surrounding their heads. No matter--she didn’t need them. She’d find friends among the humans. She turned her attention back to the world outside the taxi. As the cab slowed for a set of traffic lights, a group of six young humans--teenagers--ran across the road, whooping and hollering. There were so many people living and working in the city. With privacy at a premium, she wondered where she was meant to test the anti-cat potions. She hadn’t seen a cat the whole day, and she’d been looking.
The cab stopped outside a building. The sign read, The Muddy Farmer. No sooner had the taxi stopped then the males piled from the cab, the last one pointing at Aislyn.
"She’s paying," he said to the driver. The fairies disappeared inside the pub as quickly as Murphy when Moira was on the warpath. Rats, Aislyn thought, scowling at the empty doorway of the pub. They wouldn’t catch her like that again. The board had given her exactly fifty human dollars to start off, and she couldn’t afford to waste it.
"That’s fifteen dollars fifty thanks, luv."
Rats again. Aislyn climbed out of the cab, pulled a battered leather wallet from her pocket and opened it to extract the single crisp fifty-dollar note. "Here you go."
The driver handed her change, and Aislyn glanced at the notes curiously before she put them away.
"I’ll take that!" A stranger snatched her wallet from her hand and raced away.
"But that’s...." Shock yielded to fury. How dare he steal her money? She whipped back her hand, muttered a quick incantation, and pointed an index finger in the direction of the fleeing thief.
Nothing happened.
Confused and perplexed, Aislyn tried a different spell. The man disappeared around a corner into an alley with every single hair on his head intact.
"Are you all right, luv?"
Aislyn gaped at the taxi driver, shock robbing her of rational thought. Her magic ... AWOL! "Ah, yeah," she murmured, turning to stare at the alley where the thief had disappeared. Apart from the fact, her last dollars now resided in the thief’s pocket and her magical powers had mysteriously vanished. Yeah, she was fine and dandy.
"Here’s my card, luv. If you need the name of a witness when you make a report to the police get them to contact me. You can ring them from inside the pub."
"Thanks," Aislyn murmured, her mind on more immediate concerns--like the failure of her magical powers.
The driver nodded and climbed into his cab. Seconds later, the cab pulled away from the curb and drove off. Aislyn took one step toward the entranceway of the pub then came to an abrupt halt. Her mouth tightened, her eyes narrowed, her chin jutted out and up. Stubbornness, her father would have said. Foolish pride. Aislyn didn’t care. She wanted her wallet back.
Aislyn strode to the alleyway. Her magic might have failed but, thanks to her training with Seamus, she knew several hand-to-hand combat moves that would send the thief limping for the hills. If she managed to catch him, that is.
The alley ran between a warehouse and the rear of an Indian restaurant. A huge skip overflowed with debris from the gutted warehouse. A smaller red bin held rubbish from the restaurant. The stench was enough to make her eyes water. Aislyn panted through her mouth to block the smell. It was a good place for a thief to loiter because no sane being would willingly stand next to the bin wafting such noxious odors. She adjusted her firm footfalls to a noiseless skulk. A loud clatter up ahead made her freeze. Was it the thief? Her heart pattered, but she inched forward, impatience throwing prudence by the wayside. Something, a foot perhaps, knocked a piece of wood that had fallen from the rubbish skip.
"Hiyah!" Aislyn hollered as she sprang, hands raised in a classic defense position. From the corner of her eye, she caught a small movement in the dark shadows.
"Hiyah!" Mid-air, she realized a small creature had caused the noise. Frantically, she twisted, trying to avoid the creature that didn’t seem to have the intelligence of a gnat. Aislyn fell to the ground with a giant thud, the air exploding from her lungs like a balloon pricked by a sharp pin.
She groaned, wheezing like an asthmatic, while she struggled to breathe. Minutes passed. Her elbows smarted and her right hip felt like someone was jabbing it with a sharp stick. Aislyn struggled to sit, then clambered to her feet. "Rats," she muttered. Well, that was it--so much for her wallet. The thief had scampered.
As she brushed down her black trousers, the creature that had caused her fall slunk from the shadows, approaching her cautiously. "Miaow."
"A cat," Aislyn muttered, her voice tinged with irritation as she eyed the skinny black animal. "Why didn’t you trip over the wallet thief? Why did it have to be me?"
"Miaow." The cat sprang onto a low window ledge then up onto a piece of timber jutting out from inside the skip. A few inches to the right of where the cat landed, Aislyn spied her wallet.
Aislyn grabbed the brown leather wallet and combed through the contents. No money, but everything else was intact, including her precious photo of Seamus. Aislyn sighed. "Thanks, cat. I’d better get to this party. Maybe someone will lend me enough money to buy one drink."
The door flew open seconds before Aislyn was about to open it. The man on the other side winked at her and stood aside to let her enter. "In you go. Wish I was staying."
"Thanks," Aislyn said, the loud chatter and sheer number of bodies making her hesitate. Aware of people entering behind her, Aislyn moved toward the bar.
A blue haze of smoke floated in the air while music poured from the corner of the room. Irish music. The twang of the fiddle, the flirty tin whistle, and the thud of the bodhrán made her feel more at home.
"Do you know where the private function room is?" Aislyn asked the man standing next to her.
"Aye. See that sign over there? The function room is to the right, down the passage, turn left, and then right again. You can’t miss it."
"Thanks." Right, Aislyn thought. The sign, right, passage, left, right. Got it.
Up ahead, she caught the faint flash of a blue aura. A fairy. They’d want the same direction she did.
Aislyn ploughed through a gap in the crowd. The gap closed as quickly as a Venus flytrap closed on a fly. Aislyn collided head on with a muscular chest wearing a soft blue shirt.
"Hello, sweetheart."
Aislyn knew that voice, recognized that aftershave. Before she could move away from Seamus, another hard jolt from a woman tottering past on high heels sent her flying into his arms. Hard, sculpted muscles pressed into her chest, her belly, her legs, and instant desire speared her body with an almost painful thrust. Holy heck! Heat seared her face, her heart galloped and an internal shudder rocked her from head to foot. Memories of the kisses they’d shared sped through her mind, and she knew then that she’d been fooling herself.
She wanted Seamus.
"You’re late," he growled next to her ear. "Where have you been? I know you arrived at least half an hour ago with a group from the hostel."
Aislyn sighed but made no attempt to evade the truth. "I had a tiny accident."
Seamus pushed her far enough away that he could see her face. "What happened?"
"It was my own fault," she confessed. "When--"
"It’s always your fault."
Hands fisted at her sides, his words lighting the fuse to her temper. "Do you want me to tell you or not?"
"Go on."
Aislyn’s eyes narrowed. She wanted to hit him, she really did--smug, arrogant, pompous, know-it-all. She sucked in a breath to douse her raising ire. "When I was paying for the taxi, a man appeared from nowhere and grabbed my wallet." After scanning the faces of the people s
tanding around her, she lowered her voice. "I tried to zap him, but nothing happened. He stole my money and got clean away because my magic wouldn’t work."
"I told you to read that manual from cover to cover before you went outside. If you had, you’d know that the pills we take to keep us human size strip our magical powers."
Chagrin swept through her. "All of them?" she blurted.
"We can’t have fairies going around performing magic whenever they please. Think what would happen if the humans discovered our powers. Gives lab rats a new spin."
Okay, the lack of magical powers made sense now that he’d explained. "That means I need to keep up my fitness levels." Rats. That meant going to a gym.
"Are you sure you don’t want to go home?"
"I can’t go home. You heard what the board said."
"Aislyn--"
"I don’t want to go home, and you can’t make me." She refrained from stomping her feet and instead, whirled away in the direction of the function room.
"Will you wait?" He grabbed her elbow, drawing her to a halt and gestured at her trousers. "All I wanted to say was that you should clean up first. You have a streak of dirt on your cheek as well." Grasping her shoulders, he turned her in the direction of the ladies room. "I’ll wait for you outside."
Seamus shrugged inwardly at the flash of irritation that bolted across her gamine face. Since she had all the street smarts of a four year old, he intended to stay on her six whether she liked it or not.
"I don’t need a babysitter. Forget your promise to Duncan. I absolve you from responsibility." As he watched, her face crumpled then she regrouped and thrust out her stubborn chin. "My father has written me off. You should too."
"Quit babbling, Aislyn. Go and clean up, and we’ll go to the party." Aislyn slammed through the swinging door into the ladies restrooms. When she thought he couldn’t see, her shoulders slumped as though she bore the weight of the colony on her back. Damn her father. One day O’Sullivan would regret his fool stubborn pride. Aislyn was a fairling to be proud of. Her differences were what made her unique--albeit, a pain in the backside. Seamus grinned ruefully. He had to remind himself of that fact the next time he felt like wringing her pretty little neck.
"Seamus." A stunning blonde halted inches from him.
Seamus wrenched his gaze from the wooden door of the restroom and hastily assembled a smile on his mouth. One decent gust of wind and she’d be plastered against him. He inched back and tried not to breath in the cloying designer scent she wore.
"Seamus! Good to see you again."
Seamus maintained the smile but downgraded it to polite. He edged back a little more and hoped that Aislyn made an appearance soon. For once, she could rescue him. "Geraldine, how are you?"
She closed the distance between them with one deep breath. "I think I deserve a better hello than that." Her eyelids fluttered shut, and her lips puckered to the shape of a kiss.
The seconds ticked by, stretching while Seamus furtively checked for means of rescue. Cornered. Man--could she be any subtler?
"Seamus?"
"Thought I saw someone I knew," he muttered, his hand coming up to tug at his collar. Finally accepting the inevitable, he bent his head and brushed a light kiss across the russet colored lips. From the corner of his eye, he caught the flash of copper. About time. "I’m with someone," he said to Geraldine.
"I thought so." One tanned shoulder lifted in a delicate shrug, her lips pursing in a moue of regret. She combed through a bad the size of a small envelope and produced a pale yellow business card. "My number. If things don’t work out, give me a call."
"I’m ready, Seamus."
Relief made his knees weak. Seamus draped an arm around Aislyn’s shoulders and tugged her close to his side. "Geraldine, this is Aislyn."
Aislyn frowned. "Seamus, you should have said you were meeting with friends. I can go to the party by myself."
Geraldine’s expression did a three-sixty, disappointment transforming into predatory interest. Hell fire, Aislyn was meant to rescue him, not dump him straight into the jaws of this man-eater.
"Oh, I assumed you were here with someone special," Geraldine said.
"I am," Seamus stated a trifle grimly. Before either female could comment on that little gem, he dipped his head claiming Aislyn’s lips in a kiss. The minute his lips touched Aislyn’s he forgot where he was, he forgot he had an audience as Aislyn’s familiar taste and scent filled him.
A sharp kick at his right ankle brought him back. Unwillingly, he lifted his head, his gaze diverted by Aislyn’s soft, moist lips. An elbow to the ribs jerked his gaze North to her indignant eyes.
"Aislyn and I are very close," he murmured.
"Right," Aislyn agreed, her tone dry and not far away from mutiny.
Seamus decided to hurry things along. "Nice to see you again, Geraldine." He’d had trouble extracting himself from Geraldine’s claws before. Seamus blamed Gill for setting up the blind date and his own stupidity for going along with the idea. "Aislyn and I are meant to attend a party in one of the private rooms. I’ll see you again." But not if I see you first. Seamus hustled Aislyn away in the direction of the private function room.
"What was that all about?"
"Keep your voice down."
"Not a discarded suitor?"
Now she sounded amused instead of pissed. Great. "An ex-girlfriend who won’t take no for an answer. Until now, I’ve managed to avoid her."
"I think you’re being a bit mean." A devilish smile zapped to her lips. "You know, you should have told me earlier. If I’d had prior warning, I could have made the kiss appear more authentic. I’m a very good actress."
Seamus shuddered inwardly but managed a weak grin. A good actress--damn--that one kiss had packed more punch than any of Geraldine’s attempts. Without volition, his gaze drifted to her lips. A soft natural pink, they held more allure ... Man, that female was dangerous.
"Party," he muttered. "This way. Now."
"Humph!" Aislyn flounced in the direction he indicated.
Part of him wanted to laugh. He started to, but then his gaze zeroed in on her pert backside. His eyes followed the subtle rock of her hips then moved higher to study the two-inch gap of creamy white skin between the band of her trousers and her skimpy black top. His breath eased out with a soft hiss. Man. He shook his head. Seamus knew he was in big trouble but had no idea how to halt his escalating attraction to Aislyn.
His mother had transmitted picture of her three favored candidates for daughter-in-law via email last night. Seamus tried to picture their faces and failed. Instead, a vision of copper curls formed, laughing blue eyes and a stubborn chin. Yep, he was in trouble all right.
Males lined the small bar, clustering around it like bees in a flower garden. Seamus caught up to Aislyn and shouldered his way through the press of bodies towing her behind him.
"Seamus, you made it."
Hell’s teeth! He’d meant to avoid Gill. "Gill," he acknowledged, gritting his friend’s name through his teeth because he knew he was in for some major league teasing.
"And Aislyn too." Gill’s mouth twitched.
Seamus tensed. He wanted to curse until the air turned blue. No prize for guessing what his friend was thinking. "Aislyn is staying at the hostel with the other new recruits."
Gill’s blond brows shot upward. "Is she now?"
"Stop it," Seamus growled. "Aislyn is a friend. I’m looking out for a mate’s sister."
"Is that right?" Gill’s mouth curled up at the corners, but he didn’t make the mistake of smiling outright.
"Duncan and Seamus went to school together," Aislyn said.
"Mmm." Gill scratched his chin this time. "You don’t say?"
"Knock it off, Gill." Seamus turned his back on his friend, his jaw flexing as he fought for control. "Aislyn, what do you want to drink? Orange juice or a soft drink?"
Her eyes narrowed and her chin shot up. Seamus tensed knowing that what ever was coming was
going to piss him off.
"I’ll have a glass of Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc, please."
The thought of a tiddly Aislyn made him cringe. "Are you sure?"
"I’m buying," Gill said. "One glass of wine for the lady and a beer for you, Seamus? I’m with Rachel." He jerked his head to the left. "We managed to nab a table over in the corner. I’ll bring the drinks over." Gill plunged into the melee at the bar leaving Seamus alone with Aislyn.
"What do you mean by ordering a glass of wine? Have you had wine before?"
"No," Aislyn said. "I saw wine mentioned when I flicked through the manual and decided to try it at the first opportunity."
"If you managed to read about wine then how come you missed the bit about losing your magical powers?"
"I looked at the pictures."
"Aislyn!" Give me strength. How had he ever thought that having Aislyn on the human side would be easy? His brain had short-circuited--that was it.
"You have absolutely no sense of humor."
Seamus bit back a holler of exasperation. His hands itched to paddle her backside, and his gaze drifted in that direction. A massive jolt of lust rocked his system. Hell’s teeth--no, that was not a good part of her anatomy to think about let alone look at. Distraction. He needed it in a worst possible way. "Come on. We’d better find Rachel."
"Will there be dancing later on?"
"No." He intended to hustle Aislyn out of here after one drink. Make that half a drink, he decided after checking Aislyn’s petite form.
"I like dancing," she said, plowing straight into one of Seamus’s workmates. "Sorry. My fault."
The man’s hands dropped to Aislyn’s waist while his smile ratcheted into sincere and charming. Seamus bristled, recognizing a competitor when he saw one. "Are you going to let her go anytime soon, Maxwell?"
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