“Bikini-line”. Hah. She’d never worn a bikini in her entire life, and had no plans to do so in the future, either. Ditto with a tankini.
After finally convincing the not very tactful, practically pre-pubescent shop assistant to quit bringing her two-piece swimsuits by stating there was no way in hell she’d be seen in public with her tummy roll exposed to view, Ruby settled for a plain one-piece in basic navy.
“That one’s very tasteful,” the shop assistant said. “Considering.”
Ouch. The girl had been doing kind of okay until then. “Yes, I agree,” Ruby said, smiling at the skinny little thing for all she was worth. It would be immensely satisfying to snap at her for being so rude and walk out without purchasing a thing. Or to lay a complaint with the shop’s manager. But neither of those would be quite so satisfying as what she planned. Ah, revenge. It was going to be so terribly sweet. She upped the wattage of her fake smile. “It is quite tasteful. I’ll take it.”
The skinny little thing smiled, her vapidly pretty face forming an expression of abject relief. Ruby would bet her most comfy knickers the girl had never had to work so hard to make a sale before. Obviously she was thinking the nightmare was over, and she could get back to texting her friends on her mobile, like she’d been doing when Ruby first walked in. Hah. Boy, was she in for a shock.
Ruby socked it to her. “And I’ll also need a bunch of t-shirts and shorts suitable for running in.”
In retrospect, she probably ruined the girl’s entire day. And likely she would be responsible for the girl’s sudden desire to switch careers, too. Oh dear. What a shame. Never mind.
Next stop, the specialist store for running shoes.
The guy who attended her was a complete professional, who didn’t bat an eyelid at someone like Ruby wanting to buy proper running shoes and socks. And from his lack of reaction when she mentioned “women’s triathlon”, she might have thought he attended plus-sized women espousing truly unrealistic exercise goals on a daily basis.
All he cared about was the welfare of her feet. She left the shop feeling almost buoyant.
She glanced at her watch. Just gone midday. Plenty of time for a quick bite and a coffee before meeting Mike.
She moseyed on down to her favorite café and ordered her usual: latté in a bowl, plus the roasted vegetable and pasta salad with pine nuts.
Ruby liked this particular café. The staff were always friendly and the coffee consistently good. Unfortunately, her enjoyment was marred by a bunch of scantily clad teenagers who kept eyeing her up, then whispering loudly and giggling.
After five minutes of stoically ignoring them, it became increasingly difficult not to be overly self-conscious every time she lifted her fork to her mouth. Even though she was eating a healthy salad and not gorging herself on buns and cakes, she felt like they were judging her. She knew it was likely her own paranoia brought on by sub-zero self-esteem, but she couldn’t help it.
She was seriously considering leaving her salad and asking one of the staff to pour what remained of her latté into a takeaway cup, when a familiar voice cut through her misery. “Hey, Rubes!”
She swiveled and spotted Mike and another man walking toward her. Great. He’d brought along a mate. Just what she needed right now—not.
Plastering a plastic, happy-happy joy-joy smile on her face, she steeled herself to act as though all was right in her pathetic little world.
Mike jogged up to her table. “Thought we might find you here. We’re a bit early, I know, but—”
“Aren’t you going to introduce me to—?” She suddenly recognized Mike’s companion, who was sauntering over to join them.
Her heart missed a beat. Kyan looked incredibly hot in his leather pants and one of Mike’s t-shirts. His gaze locked onto hers. His lips curved into a smile of welcome.
“Wha-wha—?” Ruby’s brain turned to mush. Her throat was so dry she could barely speak. She swallowed convulsively, licking her lips.
Kyan’s glance strayed to her mouth and stayed there until, discomforted by the intentness of his gaze, she blotted her mouth with a serviette. He shook his head slightly and blinked a couple of times, as though coming out of a trance. His gaze turned brooding as he strode up and sat next to her on the bench-style seat. His leather-clad thigh brushed against her. A wave of longing swamped her and her breath hitched. She jerked away, nearly sloshing her latté over the table as she sought to distance herself so she could breathe and think, and, if she was lucky, form actual words.
“Hello, Ruby,” he said.
Her name on his lips made it sound sexy—made her feel sexy. And for once she was more than thrilled to be able to call that combination of letters her own. She wanted to melt into a little puddle of lust, lie there forever on the unyielding, burnished concrete floor of the café, happily fantasizing about the impossible.
“H-hey, Kyan,” she managed to get out, in a voice that little more than a squeak.
From the corner of her eye she noted she wasn’t the only female affected by Kyan’s particular brand of effortless, lust-evoking sex appeal. The gaggle of Paris Hilton wannabes who’d been sniggering at her, feasted their gazes on Kyan for all of a minute before their hero worship deteriorated into blatant come-hither looks. One even took out her fancy mobile phone and snapped a photo of him to send to her friends.
Ruby wondered whether Kyan liked them that young and that obvious.
Mmm. Apparently not. He seemed oblivious to their appreciative stares, more interested in the little paper tubes with various sugars that had been arranged in the ceramic jar on their table.
Mike made a gurgling noise that sounded suspiciously like a laugh. Ruby slanted him a glance and caught him smirking.
“What’s your problem?” she said.
“Nothing.”
She tossed him one of her narrow-eyed “you’ve so got some explaining to do, bud,” looks, and then jerked her chin at Kyan. Typically, Mike pretended not to know what she was getting at. Ruby let her brother win that round. But only because good manners dictated she didn’t publicly ream him about why in the heck Kyan was still hanging around.
“You hungry, Kyan?” Mike asked.
“Indeed.” He ripped open a tube of sugar and sniffed the contents before pouring it into the palm of his hand. He toyed with the granules for a bit, then apparently satisfied, brought his hand to his mouth and licked his palm.
A chorus of sighs gushed from the next table.
Good grief. At this rate those teenagers would end up doing a Meg Ryan and start panting all over their energy drinks.
Mike dug a twenty and a ten out of his wallet and handed it to Kyan. “Choose whatever you want. And can you get me a soy flat-white and a turkey roll, too, please?”
Panic flashed across Kyan’s face. Ruby was about to jump in and offer to order for them both when Mike spoke up again. “Just head on up to the display case and see what looks appetizing. Then point it out to the girl behind the counter and tell her you want it, plus one turkey roll, one flat-white with soymilk, and one long black. Give her the money and she’ll give you the change and a card with a number on it to bring back to the table. Okay with that?”
Kyan’s frown deepened.
“Turkey roll. Flat-white with soymilk. Long black.” Mike ticked each item off on his fingers. “Don’t worry, I’ll be right here keeping an eye on things. Just holler if you need me.”
Kyan nodded. Ruby could see him chanting the order beneath his breath. His mouth was set in a grim line as he stood. He squared his shoulders, looking very much like a man about to undertake a mission of dire unpleasantness. He heaved a deep breath then made his way to the counter, clutching the notes Mike had given him as though his life depended on it.
The eyes of every female in the café, young and old, were on him—or more specifically, his amazing bum as he bent to examine the café food in the lower level display cabinets. He glanced back at Mike, who gave him the thumbs up. Then he began to place
his order.
Ruby tore her gaze from the glorious picture he presented and swallowed a sigh. Then commonsense asserted itself and she confronted her brother. “What the hell was all that about?” she asked, unable to contain her annoyance a second longer.
“Keep your voice down, Rubes. I don’t want anyone to overhear this, okay?”
“Fine. What-the-freak-ever. Now tell me what’s going on. Why is Kyan still here?”
Mike scrubbed his hands over his face. “You’re not going to fucking believe this, Rubes.”
“Really. Just spit it out.”
“I ask where Kyan lives, right? And he gives me this spiel about the desert and a bunch of marauding warrior-types, yadda yadda. Yeah, yeah, I say, figuring he’s talking about Afghanistan, or somewhere in the Middle East. So next, I want to know where he’s staying now—like, here in Auckland. And he has no answer.”
He paused, as though waiting for Ruby’s reaction. She made a rolling gesture with her hand for him to continue.
“Okay. I quiz him a bit, because this is sounding a bit suspicious, you know? And he knows absolutely nothing about New Zealand. Can’t tell me a single thing about it.”
“Well that’s weird,” Ruby said. “Even if he’d only recently arrived from overseas, his English is pretty good. So you’d think he’d recognize at least some of the things New Zealand is famous for. How ’bout kiwis? The birds, not the fruit, I mean.”
“Nope.”
“The All Blacks?”
“Nope. He doesn’t have a clue what rugby is, either.”
“Pineapple lumps?”
Mike rolled his eyes. “Now you’re just being daft.”
“All right, how about Auckland International Airport? That’s scrawled on practically every sign at the airport in huge freaking letters. He must at least recognize that.”
Mike shook his head.
“Bizarre.”
“Exactly what I thought,” Mike said. “But he’s never heard of it. Doesn’t understand what an airport is, let alone a plane. So I have this brainwave. I Google a plane on your computer and show him. And, Rubes, he bloody near craps himself with amazement. I’d swear on my life he’s never seen a plane before, let alone flown in one.”
“So? He came by ship.”
“Way ahead of you, Rubes. And the answer’s still no.”
Ruby scrunched up her nose and tweaked her earlobe. “What do you reckon, Mike? Druggie? Amnesiac? Nutcase? Ummm…. How about really good liar?”
“None of the above.”
“You sure?”
“I’d stake my life on it,” Mike said. “He’s far too congruent to be lying. Now here’s where it gets freaky,” he said, leaning closer so his voice wouldn’t carry. “I ask him what he does other than stripping—like before he got into that gig. And get this. He tells me he’s not a stripper, he’s a warrior. One of a tehun—a troupe of ten men. And this tehun was commanded by a man named Wulfenite, Lord Keeper of the Shifting Sands fief.”
Ruby stared at her brother. He wasn’t pulling her leg. “You’re serious? That’s what he said?”
“Yep.”
She snorted a laugh. “Where’d he come up with that load of bollocks? You know what, Mike, I’m leaning towards the complete nutcase scenario. I reckon this stuff he’s told you is him buying a little too much into his stripper persona. He’s lost his grip on reality, living the role, so to speak. That’s why he sounds so sincere. He really believes what he’s telling you.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” Mike said. “See, I had another brainwave.”
“Brain-fart more like.”
“You know he’s named after a crystal?”
“Huh?” Thanks for the lightening-fast subject change, bro. “What on earth do you mean?”
“You know, a gem, or a stone. One of those New Agey-type crystals that supposedly have healing properties etcetera.”
“Kyan is a crystal?”
“Not quite. Kyanite is a crystal. As are you—or rather, your name. Think about it. Ruby and garnet. Both crystals.”
“Wrong,” she said. “They’re gemstones, not crystals.”
“Gemstones are actually crystals. Lemme see if I can remember this stuff.” He screwed up his face, squinting with intense concentration and looking so endearingly comical Ruby wanted to laugh.
He snapped his fingers suddenly. “Got it. Ruby is a crystal for energy and vigor. It encourages passion and shields against psychic attacks. Um, what else? Oh yeah. It’s supposed to help people retain wealth.”
“How come I’m always so short of money, then?”
“Duh. ’Cause even though you’re called Ruby, you don’t actually own a ruby, do you?”
She mentally catalogued the contents of her jewelry box and had to give him that one. “Fine. Well, Brother Dearest, if you really want to help me out with my finances, instead of lecturing me about credit cards and investments, now you know what you can give me for Christmas.”
Mike scratched his chin and appeared to be seriously contemplating her suggestion. “Not a bad idea.”
Ruby shook her head, not bothering to hide her reaction to the bizarre turn this conversation had taken. Mike was beginning to sound like a tree-hugger. Next thing, he’d be extolling the virtues of smoking weed to all and sundry. “And you know all this stuff about crystals because—?”
“I Googled it.”
Ruby toyed with the wilted remains of her salad. Google had a lot to answer for. “So Kyan and I are both named after crystals. So what?”
“How about this for a coincidence then. Kyan told me his entire troupe—in fact, all the warriors of his world—are named after crystals. When each warrior is initiated, a crystal is chosen for him by the priests. And that becomes his ‘true’ name.”
“Wait a minute. Kyan’s world? Doesn’t he mean country?
“Nope. World.”
“Oh please. Does he think he’s a bloody ali—?”
Mike held up a hand and smiled in a smug sort of way.
She figured he was about to floor her with some fait accompli of deductive reasoning. Wait for it—
“So, on impulse I Googled ‘crystal’ and ‘warrior.’ And you know what I came up with?”
She rolled her eyes. “Gee. I can’t possibly imagine.”
“A website. Crystal Warriors dot com.”
“The plot thickens. And this is important how, exactly?”
“Because,” Mike said, his tone indicating he was up for sainthood for being so excessively patient, “the website’s owner is an American woman called Chalcedony Laureano. She and her husband are using it as a tool to try and track a bunch of missing men. And when I Googled this woman’s name, I found she’s also named for a crystal.”
“Laureano is a kind of crystal? Sounds more like a kind of party pill or energy drink to me.”
Mike closed his eyes and appeared to be praying for guidance. “Sometimes I wonder about you, Rubes. Chalcedony is a crystal. And her husband’s name is Wulf. So what d’ya think of that?” He leaned back, gazing at her with a triumphant “so there” expression.
“So?” Ruby wasn’t trying to be difficult. Honest. She just wasn’t following this at all.
“Geez. Weren’t you listening at all when I mentioned Kyan’s commander’s name?”
She shrugged. “Sort of?”
“His full name is Wulfenite—also a crystal. Wulf. Wulfenite? Get it?”
“Yeah. I get it. And he’s married to this Chalcedony chick. So?”
“God, Rubes. You can be impossibly dense sometimes.”
Ruby glanced at Kyan, who was now chatting with the smitten cashier. No doubt he was charming her right out of her knickers. Or, by the size of her, it was probably a g-string.
Mike rapped on the table with his knuckles, demanding her full attention again. “Guess whose name is on the list of men Ms Laureano is trying to track down?”
“Gee. I don’t know. Kyan’s?”
M
ike rewarded her guess with an ear-to-ear grin. “Right on. So guess what we did next?”
“We?”
“Me and Kyan.”
She huffed a sigh. “I dread to think.”
“I got this Chalcedony woman’s number from International Directory Services and rang her. When I mentioned Kyan’s name and described him to her, she got very excited. We were on the phone for about an hour and she told me—”
“You made an hour-long toll call to America? On my phone?” Bloody hell. Next month’s bill was going to be huge. “Have you any idea how much that’s going to cost? You might have to consider that my Christmas present to you.”
He waved away her concerns. “I’ll pay for the call. Shut up and listen. You’re never gonna believe this, but she demanded to speak to Kyan. So I showed Kyan how to work the phone and—”
“Lemme guess. He’s never seen or used a phone before.”
“Right. So then she puts her husband, this Wulf guy, on the phone to Kyan. Turns out they both know each other. They’re both Styrian warriors. Styrian means ‘Storm Rider’ by the way. And Chalcedony Laureano’s husband really is—was—Kyan’s commander. You should have seen the look on Kyan’s face while he was talking to this guy. Seems Wulf is Kyan’s kinsman. They’re related somehow—I didn’t really understand how. And this Wulf dude is one scary-arse mother.”
Ruby took a sip of her latté. No help there. Her head was still spinning. She took another sip and the perfect solution popped into her head. “Our problem’s solved then. We stick Kyan on the first flight back to the good ole U.S. of A. for Chalcedony and her scary-arse husband to deal with.”
“It’s not that simple, Ruby.” Kyan handed Mike his change and took a seat next to her again.
Gee. Why did that not surprise her? Nothing in her life was ever simple. “Look, Kyan. If you don’t have enough money for a flight home, I’ll book you a flight on my VISA, okay? You don’t even have to pay me back.”
“He can’t go home,” Mike said.
She glanced from one man to the other. There was definitely something they weren’t telling her. “Okay, you two. Spill. What are you not telling me?”
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