“Just watching,” Malik said. “Please do not let me interrupt.” The djinn’s blue skin was almost subdued under the black clothes he wore, though the vest with red and gold embroidery reminded Cara of the ornate furniture in his cave house.
And his bare blue feet. Can’t forget his bare feet.
“You don’t need to be here, Malik,” Cara said. “This is not your business.”
The blue djinn crossed his arms. “Oh, but it is. You see, everything you do until your debt is paid is my business.”
“Cara, you didn’t,” Duncan whispered.
Cara met Duncan’s gaze, and from the look on his face, she was pretty sure he already knew the answer.
“Tell him, little screamer.” Malik stepped closer to her chair, and she could feel the desert heat on him—that dry, gritty smell seemed to permeate his pores even here on Avalon.
A smell she hoped she’d never smell again.
Cara shivered. She met Duncan’s gaze, but when she saw the disappointment in his eyes, she just stared at the floor.
She clenched her hands in her dress, balling the fabric, hoping the gesture would calm her nerves.
But this part—this was her own making, her own mess. She’d let Malik’s words twist in her gut, ball up and create this, well, excuse, to run away.
And run she did. Because she’d been scared of her own damn feelings.
And now she’d have to live with that mistake.
“Yes, I made a deal with Malik,” Cara said, after she brought her head up. What else could she do? She had to own it now. “I needed help. He offered to help me.”
Duncan inhaled a breath, and the entire room was silent for several minutes. No one breathed. Cara was afraid to, Duncan didn’t seem to, and Malik…well, if he had anything to say, he was staying quiet.
Cara glared at the djinn. “You have horrible timing.”
He raised an eyebrow. “It would be in your best interest to say yes to this fairy’s proposal.”
“Only if I don’t rescind the proposal,” Duncan said.
Cara snapped her gaze to him, the words stabbing her in the heart. “You…you would do that?”
“In a heartbeat,” Duncan said. He stood. “If you cannot be honest enough to me to tell me about making a deal with a djinn, then how can I trust you?” He stood and started walking out of the house.
Cara stared at him in shock. “I was trying to save my own life. What else was I supposed to do?”
“There’s always another option,” Duncan said.
“Seriously, you’re walking out on me?” Cara asked through their telepathy.
Duncan glanced at her over his shoulder, for just a second, his face stone cold. Then, he walked out the door.
And didn’t even bother slamming it shut.
Cara shook her head. That answered that.
“That was unexpected,” Malik said. “Pity. But that still keeps you within my reach.”
Cara spun around and threw a punch at him.
Not that Malik let her land it. He merely disappeared and reappeared across the room.
“You bastard! How could you do that! I was going to tell him. I was going to explain it to him before we said any vows.”
Malik raised his eyebrow. “Are you sure about that, little screamer?” He crossed to her. “Because I’m pretty sure I recall you telling me, as we stood on the Eiffel Tower, that your debt to me was our private business. No one else’s.”
“You take my words out of context,” she said. And she had said that in an effort to convince him to keep the debt on her alone and not bring her family into it.
Obviously, it had not worked.
“But they are your words,” Malik said. “Why didn’t you tell him immediately? He is your love, is he not? The man you pined for our entire trip?” He ran his hand over his jacket sleeve.
“Yes,” she said.
“The one you were so certain had abandoned you in the desert. And now, he has abandoned you again.” He shook his head. “Tsk, tsk. He doesn’t seem to care that much about you after all.”
The words jabbed at her. “Perhaps you’re right. Maybe I was mistaken about his feelings.”
She had considered, while she got their breakfast, after everything he’d been through at the hands of djinn, of not telling him right away about her debt.
Of course, she hadn’t expected Duncan to actually propose to her today. That was enough of a shock. Then for him to propose and rescind it? Talk about raking her heart over the coals.
Of course, hadn’t she done that to him, disappearing like she had?
Maybe this was what she deserved after all.
“Rescinding a proposal and then walking out on you doesn’t seem very loving to me.”
She gritted her teeth. “Did you need something, Malik? Perhaps a favor I can return to you?” But Malik’s appearance steeled one thing in her mind—she couldn’t marry Duncan, even if she did love him to pieces.
“Oh, nothing yet. Just checking on my investment.”
“Well, you’ve checked. You can be going now.”
“Perhaps I should. It seems the excitement of the day is over--”
He was cut off when Cara’s front door opened. She leaped from her seat to see who it was, and about broke down in tears when she saw it wasn’t Duncan.
It was her sister, Janelle.
She looked past her sister to see if she saw Duncan out there somewhere, but he was gone.
Cara spun on Malik ready to punch him again. Or maybe throw her coffee on him. Something. “I may kill you, you jerk.”
“Whoa, what?” Janelle held up her hands.
Malik just raised an eyebrow, not paying much attention to the new arrival. “Many have tried, little screamer.”
At least for a moment. Then his gaze shifted to Janelle. “And who might you be?” he asked, though more to himself than to anyone in the room.
“I’m Janelle. Who are you?”
Malik crossed to Janelle. “Malik. I see your sister has forgotten her manners.” He held out his hand for Janelle to accept.
Janelle tentatively took his hand, and Malik raised it to his lips and pressed a kiss on the back.
“Leave her alone,” Cara said, pushing Malik away, and noticing the pink stain on her sister’s cheeks. She rolled her eyes and glared at the djinn. “If I wanted you to know her, I would have introduced you.”
Malik’s gaze cut to Cara. “Tsk tsk. You should not keep such a lovely creature from me.”
“Yeah, um, I’m married,” Janelle said. “And you’re not my husband.”
Malik looked her up and down again. “Yet there is no mark of a wedding band…”
“I took it off,” Janelle said.
“And why would you do that?”
Janelle stood straight and glared at him. “It’s none of your business, you big blue cloud of smoke. Look, I’m here to see my sister. If you need something, get on with it, and get going.”
He appraised her, his gaze roaming over Janelle, but his face remained impassive. Then he glanced back at Cara. “I will be calling.”
With that, the djinn disappeared in a puff of blue smoke.
Cara dropped into the nearest chair and buried her face in her hands. Maybe now it would be okay to cry. Because she’d flat screwed up her life.
Tears came out, and Cara just sat there for a moment, unsure what she should do.
“Okay, I know I’ve been away, but, uh, Hell Hounds, Cara, what was that?” Janelle came and sat next to her sister. “Is that the djinn that took you world hopping?”
Cara nodded. “He was really nice at first. Now I just want to strangle him.”
Janelle rolled her eyes. “Good luck with that.” She pulled out a piece of gum from her pocket and offered it to Cara, but she wasn
’t in the mood. Instead, her sister popped the gum in her mouth and leaned back. “So, uh, here.” She handed Cara a tissue.
“Thanks.” Cara patted her eyes. Though it didn’t make the pain in her heart go away. “Just an hour ago, everything was perfect. Duncan proposed to me.”
Janelle’s eyes widened. “Really? That quick? Huh.”
“What?”
Janelle shrugged. “Well, just do yourself a favor, and date a while. Don’t jump head-long into marriage. You’ll regret it.”
Cara glanced at her sister. “But you did.”
“And now, I regret it.” She glanced at her hand. “The djinn is observant. I haven’t worn my wedding ring in a month.”
Cara sniffed, in a way relieved to hear about someone else’s stuff rather than her own crazy drama. “You’re not, uh, cheating on your husband, are you?”
Janelle shot her a rude look. “Really? You know me better than that. We are separated. And I’m thinking pretty seriously about moving back to Avalon. I can still use The Portal to deliver my screams. I just don’t have to be there to do it.”
Cara nodded, and Janelle continued to talk about what was going on with her, and as they spoke about everything from her not-so-perfect marriage to releasing screams, Cara realized how much she’d missed her sister.
She hadn’t had that in a while. Ever since Janelle left eight years ago and got married to her—at least then—Prince Charming, their visits had been short. No time for girly discussions about all those sisterly things.
And then there was all the stuff between Cara and Duncan that they discussed, dissected, and generally over-analyzed.
They were in the middle of a funny story about Janelle’s soon-to-be ex, when there was another knock at the door.
“Want me to get it?” Janelle asked.
Cara nodded. She wasn’t ready to deal with any new visitors today. She pulled the little afghan off the back of her couch and wrapped it around her.
Janelle went to the door, and after she opened it, she stepped to the side. “Cara, it’s for you.”
Duncan stood there. This time, he was dressed in a suit. Not his FID suit, either. This was Armani, if she wasn’t mistaken.
He looked amazing.
And he was holding red roses, but his gaze darted around her cottage. She was pretty sure he was looking for Malik.
“Okay, I’m confused,” Cara said as she crawled out from under her blanket.
Duncan raised his eyebrow. “I’m going for romantic here.”
She stood slowly and took a couple of hesitant steps toward him. While he was always hot, right now he had that sophisticated, modern day, could-be-a-billionaire-could-be-a-movie-star refined thing going.
Which really sucked, because as gorgeous as he looked, she thought he was done with her. The way he left—
It didn’t make much sense.
“Yeah, I think I’ll be going.” Janelle’s gaze darted between Cara and Duncan’s, and then she pinned Cara with a glare. “You had so better call me…”
Cara nodded. “Full disclosure.”
Duncan stepped to the side, letting Janelle walk out of the house, then came in. “Full disclosure, eh?”
Cara shrugged. “You’ve been talked about. She wants to know what happens. It’s a sister thing.”
“Ahh. Brothers are not quite so chatty.” He held out the flowers. “Here.”
“They’re beautiful, Duncan.” Cara savored the sweet rose smell as she walked into the kitchen to fetch a vase. She pulled the paper wrapping off the stems and cut them.
Busy work was good, because otherwise her hands would be shaking.
“I just want to know one thing, Cara.”
She almost jumped out of her skin, not realizing he’d followed her into the kitchen.
Arranging the flowers in the vase, however, didn’t hide the shakes anymore. “What is that?”
“Were you planning on telling me about Malik?” His voice was unusually soft, and she wasn’t sure she wanted to see his expression. Whether he was angry or hurt—she didn’t know if she could handle either.
“Of course I was.” Cara made herself turn and face him. His face was stone cold again, and it hit her like a brick. As bad as her anxiety, if not worse.
“Before or after I proposed?” There he went with that low whisper again.
“I’m sorry. I was, Duncan I was. I promise that I was. With your, uh, wounds, and everything, I was going to wait a few days, tell you after, well, we’d figured out what this was between us. I didn’t expect you to propose. I hadn’t even considered the implications of your proposal until Malik appeared. I was still just adoring being with you. Wondering why we didn’t figure this out until now. I hadn’t even considered the next step for this relationship.”
She took a step toward him, looking at his still very somber expression for a crack. Even reaching out with her telepathy if only to see if she could feel something—anything—from him.
Duncan, however, gave nothing away.
If he hadn’t shown up with roses and in a suit, she would have thought he never wanted to see her again.
“So you do want to see this relationship continue?”
Cara nodded. “Why wouldn’t I?”
“You cannot keep things from me, Cara. If we’re in this, we have to be in this together. I need full disclosure too.”
“I know. I’m sorry. I just didn’t know when, or really how to tell you. I was afraid.” She put her hands on the counter to steady herself. Some part of her had to be steady—her heart hammered at a million miles an hour, and she felt like she might lose her breath.
“You should never be afraid of me.”
She couldn’t look at him as she spoke. “I was today.”
“I’m sorry.” He sighed. “I was angry, yes. Surely by now, you can trust me. With anything. I hope you know that.” He put his hand on her shoulder. A casual touch, but one that she felt all the way to her toes.
“I do. I just didn’t want to hurt you again. I finally have you, and I didn’t want to push you away because of that stupid debt, of my foolishness to listen to a djinn. I should know better. He twists everything around to get what he wants.”
He nodded. “And that’s why you didn’t come home? Because of him?”
“Yes.”
“He cannot keep us apart. I won’t let him.” He took her hands, squeezing them, and she squeezed his hands back.
“Neither will I,” she said.
“So you do want to marry me?” Duncan said.
“No,” Cara said, shaking her head. She and Janelle had discussed this at length. They’d talked it around a dozen different directions.
This seemed the best course of action to take. The logical one, all things considered.
Duncan blinked and stepped away from her. “I see.”
She wasn’t letting him walk away—not again. Not without saying her piece first. She followed him and grabbed his hand before he took off. “No, you really don’t. I adore you Duncan, you’re everything I’ve ever wanted in a man. You always have been.”
“But you don’t want to marry me?”
She squeezed his hand. “Of course I want to marry you. I just can’t right now. Because of the debt.” She crossed to her couch and plopped on it—that way her mother always chastised her about.
Duncan sat on the opposite end of the couch. “So what do you owe him?”
“I don’t know,” Cara said, wadding the material of her dress in her fingers again.
He raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean you don’t know?”
“I owe him a favor, when he asks for it.”
He sighed. “So what does he want?”
“I won’t know until he asks. And he may not ask me for anything.” She reached over the couch to touch his hand
. “You know how djinn debts work, Duncan.”
Surprisingly, he laced his fingers with hers. “They apply to the entire family—”
“Which is why I can’t marry you. If he owes a debt to me, a lowly banshee, there isn’t much I can do for him. But if I marry you…”
“Then the debt applies to me as well.”
Cara nodded. “It’s the only way I can protect you. You, being FID, would have a lot more resources available to ask favors for. I won’t let you carry my debt.”
He nodded. “You should have said something sooner.”
She raised her eyebrow. “We’ve been a little preoccupied since we got here.”
This did make him smile. “That we have been.” He pulled her closer to him and wrapped his arm around hers. “So you will marry me?”
“Eventually, yes.”
“Good,” Duncan said. “Because I would hate for this to go to waste.” He pulled out of his pocket a ring box.
Cara’s breath caught in her throat.
He opened it.
Tears welled up in her eyes.
He pulled the ring out of the box and took her hand. “It’s called a destiny diamond.” The ring had a solitaire in the center, with a platinum band and diamonds along the side in an infinity design. Both elaborate and simple at the same time.
And big. It had to be at least a carat.
“I thought, since, well…our destinies seem to be tied together…” Duncan said as he slipped the ring on all the way.
Cara nodded. “Yes, they are.” She met his gaze. “We are tied together.”
He reached up and caressed her cheek, his finger grazing her dimple. “Yes, we are.”
Epilogue
“Here,” Duncan said, handing Cara a glass of merlot. “You look ready for it.” He kissed her cheek.
She stroked his face. “You truly are the best, my little house-husband.”
Duncan laughed. “More like the lazy, jobless roommate.” True enough, that. After all, he was mortal—officially retired, thanks to the verbal declaration made in his brother and sister-in-law’s yard. It took a couple of weeks, but someone in Records caught it, and he had to take retirement right after Cara came back.
Saving Her Destiny Page 18