Barb was impressed, despite herself. “That was nice of him. Give credit where it’s due - most people wouldn’t have bothered.”
Viviane smiled. “I thought it was a gallant gesture,” she said softly, that smile broadening to make her features glow. “Something fitting for a knight of old to do for his lady.”
Oh boy, she was smitten.
“Well, he must have wanted to see you again,” Barb acknowledged reluctantly. “Maybe it was an excuse. They like that - covering up a sweet gesture with what seems like a logical one.” Or a horny one. Barb couldn’t bring herself to say that when Viviane looked so hopeful. Instead she reached out one hand. “Let me see it.”
The pendant was a moonstone set in silver, an old piece and obviously of some value. There was a lot of silver in the heavy setting and the stone was probably the biggest and bluest moonstone Barb had ever seen.
She touched it with one fingertip and shivered at the coldness of the stone. “It’s beautiful and unique.”
“My mother gave it to me,” Viviane admitted.
A sentimental piece. The guy had played a sentimental card and, judging by Viviane’s softened expression, he had played it well. Barb frowned - that wasn’t the gesture of a guy determined to cut and run.
Maybe, just maybe, he was smitten as badly as Viviane but did a better job of hiding it. Barb ran her thumb across the stone and wondered.
Maybe.
“Right.” Barb released the pendant and gave her employee a smile. “Maybe you should cut him some slack. If he’s a creep trying to take advantage of you, you’ll know soon enough. That kind of thing is hard to hide.” She shrugged and finished her tea.
But Viviane didn’t look away. “Do you think he’s a creep?”
Barb turned her empty mug in that wet mark again, but she found it impossible to lie to Viviane.
“I don’t know.” Barb shrugged. “He could just be Grade A prime male, right to the bone.”
The younger woman flashed an impish grin. “Or maybe he just doesn’t understand that we’re meant for each other.” Before Viviane could say anything more, the man in question appeared on the stairs to the room above.
“Viviane?” he said, the low rumble of his voice filling the shop. His gaze fixed on Viviane and he smiled the kind of slow, sensuous smile that would make every woman with a pulse ready to surrender.
He was almost better looking dressed than half-naked, though it was a close call. He was certainly all man. Barb took a good look to confirm her conclusion and silently sighed with almost forgotten longing.
“Are you not hungered this morn?” Niall asked, the direction of his thoughts as obvious as the perfect nose on his ruggedly handsome face.
Barb snorted at her own reality check and took her cup to the sink. “One hundred percent prime, all right,” she muttered.
Niall frowned and Barb felt his gaze follow her. “I must apologize to you for this morn. I did not know the marvels of this washroom…”
Barb waved off his apology. “What’s done is done.” She fired a glance his way. “I and the Siberian Iris would appreciate no repeats.”
Niall bowed and Barb disliked that she was so easily impressed by his manners.
Viviane looked between the pair of them with obvious confusion. “You know each other already?”
“We met in the garden,” Barb supplied crisply, unable to resist tossing one hard look at the man in question. He held her gaze steadily and she credited him with not wincing.
But it wouldn’t hurt Viviane to have all the facts. “Funny what you said about not staying long,” she said flatly. “Viviane seems to think you’re here to stay.”
He inhaled sharply and Viviane gasped, her smile banished. She turned to Niall with dismay and Barb felt a surge of satisfaction that at least she’d moved everything out into the open.
“Go on, take the day,” she said with a cheerful wave and a wink for Viviane. Her employee was busy looking daggers at Niall, who was glaring at Barb. “Get your boy toy fed. It’s going to be slow today, anyhow, what with the rain.”
It would probably take them all day to sort that one out.
Barb almost wished she could watch.
*
To Niall’s relief, Viviane seemed disinclined to chatter, which could only mean that she was hungered as well. She marched along beside him, with nary a glance his way. And ’twas easier to not be tempted by her charm this way, that much was certain.
Though after a few moments, Niall began to wonder whether there was more at root than hunger.
“You seem less than amiable,” he ventured. “Did this Barb complain of my pissing in her garden?”
Viviane flashed a lethal glance his way. “So, that was how you met. Did you have a nice long chat?”
“Nay.”
The lady sniffed and hauled open the door of a shop, firing a glance over her shoulder that would have made a lesser man cringe. “Then isn’t it strange that you had time to tell her of your plans, when you haven’t told me.”
She let the door close right behind her, leaving Niall to open it again and stride after her.
“Viviane!”
“I have nothing to say to you,” she snapped, then made a show of examining the pastries on display. “After all, you’re not even staying.” She smiled deliberately for the man behind the counter, her manner turning sweet as honey. “Good morning, Joe.”
A burly man with thinning hair and perspiration on his pate smiled a greeting from behind the counter. “Morning, Viviane.” He jerked a thumb toward Niall. “This guy giving you trouble?”
Her smile broadened, though she did not even glance at Niall. “In a way, yes, but there’s no need to worry yourself.” For the first time, she looked at Niall, though the characteristic warmth in her eyes had faded.
That hurt lingered there again and Niall knew that he was responsible for it.
“I’m sure it’s just a misunderstanding,” she added softly, the hint of vulnerability in her tone twisting a knife in Niall’s heart.
Oh, if she had not been a witch, he would have been a base villain! He could not help feeling the part, though he knew that she deliberately toyed with him.
The baker looked doubtful. “If you say so.”
Niall’s belly knotted at the smell of fresh bread and he knew he would not be able to think matters through without a good meal. He eyed the goods on display and his hunger grew a thousand-fold. They even had pastry filled with sausage meat, his favored treat, though the pastries were over small.
Niall frowned. Though ’twas not uncommon for merchants to cut portions to ensure higher profits. Surely even here there was a master of the market to ensure the measures were being met?
But no one seemed prepared to complain besides Niall.
“What would you like today?”
Viviane stepped forward and opened her mouth, but Niall did not like the gleam in the man’s eye. Why did this one take Viviane’s protection upon his own shoulders? And what would he desire of her in return? Niall could readily imagine and did not like the thought.
Indeed, he would win her favor once more by showing himself respectful of her honor. Then she would be irked with him no longer. Niall immediately stepped up beside Viviane and asked for a dozen of the small sausage-filled pastries.
After all, he wanted to ensure that they had enough.
Viviane caught her breath and flicked another cold glance his way, but Niall realized that his plan to win her favor was not working over well.
“Anything else, sir?”
“A measure of ale would be most welcome.”
The man behind the counter snorted. “Not here. No need for a liquor license in a bakery.”
Niall was astonished. “A man cannot break his fast with ale?”
“Only in the tavern, and on some days, not before midday,” Viviane confided in an undertone.
Niall shook his head. “And you call this paradise,” he muttered, earning a sympa
thetic grin from the man behind the counter.
“I’m with you. Nothing like a cold brew first thing in the morning to start the day off right.” He winced. “And nothing like the old L.C.B.C. to take the fun out of that.”
Niall knew of no Elsie Beesie, and thus knew not what to say. How could a woman keep a man from selling ale in the morn? He could not imagine, but dared not ask Viviane under this merchant’s bright eye.
The baker propped an elbow on the counter, clearly warming to a favored theme. “Nothing like the government putting their dirty fingers into everything, taxing the life out of us, that’s what they’re doing. I say they should get out of the liquor business, privatize the selling of booze like they’ve done in Alberta. They’ll never do it, though, bunch of weenies, because they’re making too much money to bear to give it up.”
He nodded crisply and Niall slanted a glance to Viviane. She looked as confused by this monologue as he, and he was startled to find himself again feeling a sense of kinship with her.
Niall nodded, because it seemed some acknowledgement should be made. “You speak good sense,” he allowed, and the baker sniffed approval.
“Then you’d be able to have your brew in the morning, because you can be sure I’d have it right on tap, right here.” He winked. “Though it wouldn’t be the most profitable enterprise I ever took on, if you know what I mean.”
Niall did not, but refrained from saying so.
“Usual for you, Viviane?”
“Yes, please, Joe.”
“And what is this concoction?” Niall asked her as the balding man bustled away to mix things together. He couldn’t help but wish that she would at least glance his way, even knowing ’twas her spell that left him yearning like a pup.
’Twas most disconcerting to have her resolve to ignore him before he could apologize, then proceed to keep his distance from her.
“Is it of the same ilk as Paula’s potion?”
Viviane smiled for the balding man, but not - Niall noticed with disappointment - for him. “Joe’s café au lait is so good that you’ll believe it’s made by magic alone.” She tossed her hair over her shoulder and smiled again for the baker Joe.
That man beamed as he set a cup on the counter. The warm gaze he spared for Viviane was duly noted by Niall.
Who heartily disapproved.
Aye, this man wore a ring upon his finger, a gold band of import that could not be missed. And Viviane was not his spouse!
Niall was prepared to dislike this concoction on principle alone, at least until the steam rising from the frothing cup teased his nostrils. It smelled so exotic and unlike anything else he had known that he immediately decided to take Viviane’s advice.
Perhaps that would win her favor.
But nay, she seemed not to note his choice, not at all.
Niall’s mood soured yet further. When the tally was made, he tried to pay with one of the coins he had moved from purse to pocket on Derek’s vessel, but the baker frowned at it.
“We don’t take foreign money,” Joe said crisply and handed it back. “U.S. dollars at par, unless you go to the bank. Sorry -” he shrugged “- but it’s so busy that I don’t have time to screw around with exchange rates.”
Niall looked to Viviane, embarrassed by his inability to pay for their victuals. She dug in her own pocket, producing an odd array of colored coins and paper.
The balance was paid while Niall’s ears burned, though none seemed to find him less of a man for so relying upon his female companion’s largesse. Indeed, friendly greetings exchanged as they gathered their purchases, and the shop filled with familiar talk about the weather. The merchant had provided small tables and chairs in his shop, perhaps the reason for his small portions.
Niall followed Viviane’s lead with brown powders she called sugar and cinnamon, his first sip of this beverage making his eyes close in wonder. ’Twas marvelous and he could quickly see that he would have need of another.
Niall consumed several sausage rolls in silence before his belly was appeased, then met Viviane’s cautious gaze. The deed could be avoided no longer. “I would apologize to you, for ’tis clear you are angered with me this morn.”
Her lips tightened and she avoided his gaze. “If you’re leaving, it doesn’t matter whether I’m angry with you or not.”
“Viviane…”
She put her cup back down on the board with force. “Are you leaving? And if you are, how could you tell Barb but not me? You don’t even know her! And why did you ignore me this morning?” Her lovely eyes clouded with tears, which must have been the only reason Niall’s innards clenched. “What’s wrong? How could you even think of leaving? I thought that we…”
Niall reached across and snared her hand, wishing the others in this establishment were not so interested in their conversation. He looked into Viviane’s eyes, knowing he couldn’t lie to her despite her witchery, but needing to reassure her.
And zounds, he had to ensure she did not cry!
Some parts of the truth would simply have to be avoided, there was naught else for it.
“Viviane,” he said in a voice low with determination. “If I had joined you in your showering chamber, we should still be there.”
That was true enough.
She caught her breath, her eyes widening slightly as she stared at him. Her gaze was so full of hope that he could not imagine the expression was contrived.
Niall held her gaze and smiled slowly, liking how her hand relaxed in his and her gaze softened. He stroked the back of her hand with his thumb, unaware he intended to do so before he felt the smooth sweep of her skin pass beneath his touch.
“And if I had but looked upon you,” he murmured, “then I would have joined you. Matters might well have moved too quickly and we might have done what would later be regretted.”
“Oh, Niall!” Viviane smiled at him then, for the first time since he had come into the shop seeking her and Niall’s heart clenched. “Trust you to be worried about something like that!”
And she reached across the table, framed his face in her hands and kissed him soundly.
Niall’s heart leapt, but Viviane did not pull back, her lips soft against his own. He could smell the sweet scent of her skin, of that cursed lotion she had used in the shower, and his body responded with vigor.
When she flicked her tongue against his lips like a thirty kitten sipping milk, desire raged hot through his veins. Zounds, he would take her right here and care naught for the consequences!
Niall caught at her wrists, and with a herculean effort, lifted her hands from his face. He broke their kiss, knowing his gaze simmered into hers but unable to stop it.
His breathing was ragged, the sight of Viviane’s flushed cheeks doing naught to ease his state.
Then, she smiled.
’Twas only because he had affirmed the effect of her spell upon him, Niall was certain. Though now he realized the folly of what he had done, too late to undo it.
At least, the tears had disappeared from her eyes.
Indeed, she leaned closer and Niall’s heart skipped a beat, his mouth going dry. “Oh, Niall, I just knew that everything would come out right. I knew that you had to desire me, just as I want you and now that I know that you’re not leaving, well everything will be just fine! Barb said you would be shy about confessing your emotions, but I think you’ve done a wonderful job already and now -” she pinkened in a most delightful way as she smiled at him “- now, I’ll just have to convince you to love me. Don’t worry, it will be perfect!”
And she sipped her beverage, as content as a cat by the fire.
Niall swallowed. He had put himself back in the position he most wished to avoid. He had to say something to keep Viviane at distance, something to undermine her conviction that they would shortly share a bed, something to make her forget her intent to charm him.
So, Niall said the first thing that came to mind, prompted as it was by the smell of a warm sausage pastry.
> “Aye, I should be sorely hungered if we still were in this washing room. ’Tis good indeed that we were not delayed there overlong.”
Niall bit into his pastry with gusto.
Through his lashes, he watched Viviane catch her breath and deliberately decided to make matters worse.
“Indeed, I cannot imagine what a man could love more than a warm pastry such as this one.” He finished it with one hearty bite, quickly claiming another, smacking his lips and feigning indifference to the lady’s presence.
Viviane glared at him, her lips tight, then sat back in her chair. Her eyes shone oddly but Niall refused to let himself be swayed by the prospect of tears.
Nay, he had a mission. And he could only fulfill his mission by ensuring Viviane’s desire was not achieved.
Surprisingly, his own desire to kiss her did not ease.
Indeed, Niall felt newly guilty for disappointing her. ’Twas an irrational impulse and he would do best to not linger upon it.
“What is the coin of this realm?” Niall asked, in a bid to distract her and prompt her chatter once again. The woman loved to talk, after all, and she was uncommonly good at explaining matters, even if she was prone to attribute all to magic. “Let me see it. I would not err so again.”
Viviane obligingly poured it onto the table between them, though her manner indicated that she was unimpressed by the chance to explain it to him.
’Twas unlike any currency Niall had ever seen before, the rims of the coins unnicked. There were coins of all hues of metal, instead of simply gold or silver, and they were most finely minted. There was a regent on one side - a queen, no less! - which was familiar enough, and an animal on the reverse, much like the emblems Niall knew well.
The images upon them however were more crisp than any Niall had ever seen. This he suspected was a function of a skilled die-maker.
“Tell me of it,” he asked.
The lady folded her arms across her chest mutinously.
“Viviane, ’tis all I ask of you,” Niall murmured and saw her heave a sigh.
“Are you leaving?”
Time Travel Romances Boxed Set Page 82