“Sean isn’t Sidhe?”
He sighed and took her hand, just because. He began stroking her fingers absently. “No, he’s not, and that’s the root of a lot of the problems on the Joloun side. His blood isn’t blue enough for Mom’s family to fully accept him.”
“What kind of Fae is he, then?”
He looked at her and just knew what her reaction was going to be. “He’s a leprechaun.”
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Dare to Believe
For a moment she didn’t react. Then her lips twitched.
“I wouldn’t say it if I were you.”
If she heard the mild warning in his voice she chose to ignore it. “So, are they really always after his Lucky Charms?” Her eyes were beginning to water as she tried to suppress her laugh.
“Ruby, I’d stop now.” He could feel Sean beginning to move towards the barn. When a leprechaun wanted to, he could move with preternatural speed on his own land.
“Can I see the purple horseshoes?” She bit her lip, the laugh beginning to escape.
His father was inside the barn now, propped up against the door, one ankle crossed over the other to match the arms crossed over his chest. He was staring up at the hayloft with an amused expression. Leo sighed.
“So, is the blue moon this month?”
Sean’s brow rose and Leo braced himself. “No, but I understand the two of you were mooning my horses a little while ago. Care to come down here and ask me those questions now?”
Ruby jumped, her face filled with a mixture of guilt and fun.
“Dad, we’re not bonded yet, so don’t do anything…permanent, okay?”
Ruby leaned over the side and grinned down at Sean. “So, what really happens if I take my eyes off the leprechaun?”
Leo’s awed, horrified “Holy shit! ” was almost lost as Sean gave her a wickedly lethal grin. “Darling, if you’re really, really lucky, said leprechaun will show you he knows exactly where the pot of gold is.”
Leo gaped. He knew his father was devoted to his mother. He also knew his father wouldn’t really put the moves on Ruby. When his father winked at him, he closed his mouth.
Sometimes Leo needed that little reminder that, in fact, he was a leprechaun, too.
Sean pushed away from the doorframe. “Now, if you two are done playing in my hayloft, Aileen has lunch ready.” Sean sauntered, whistling, towards the house, and Leo’s heart left his throat.
“You are a brave, brave woman, and if you ever scare me like that again I will tie you up and lock you in a tower for the rest of your life.”
Ruby looked back at him. Something in his face must have given away exactly how much she’d frightened him, because now, after the fact, she looked concerned. “What?”
Leo took a steady, calming breath. She had to learn, and she had to learn fast. He couldn’t let her be hurt through ignorance. “Leprechauns are earth spirits. This is Dad’s land. If he really wanted to, he could hear a whisper a mile away, cause an earthquake, open a sinkhole the size of a dime that goes damn near to the core of the earth, you name it. He knows everything that happens on his land unless something is done deliberately to block him. The minute you started with the jokes he knew and headed over here.” Leo growled. “And you are very lucky he likes you.”
“Oh.”
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63
Dana Marie Bell
“Needless to say, we did not eat Lucky Charms when I was a kid.”
“Poor deprived baby.” The joke was almost absent-minded, like she’d already dismissed his warning.
“Lunch, then we finish the conversation?”
His stomach growled.
She laughed shakily and tugged him to his feet. “C’mon, big guy, let’s go eat.”
Jaden slammed the drawer shut with a snarl. The damn bitch was getting loonier by the day, and if he didn’t find out how she’d figured out his weakness soon he was going to scream.
Jaden paced the room, knowing he had about an hour before the Deranged Darling got back from her big society party. She’d hopped Daddy’s jet for a little jaunt to California yesterday, and Jaden for one couldn’t be happier.
Jaden hoped she got hit by a bus. It wouldn’t kill her, but damn if it wouldn’t make him feel better.
She was so meticulous and neat, she had to have the information written down somewhere. But it wasn’t in her desk, her room, or in the hidden safe behind the Renoir, and damn if that wasn’t one of the cheesiest things he’d ever seen. Talk about a cliché.
Where would she hide it? If he could just lay his hands on the name of the person who ratted him out…