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.“However, I fail to see how all hope is lost.”“Then maybe you don’t really have a grasp on the situation.Would you like me to explain?”Corinne felt her eyes widen.“I know red hair is supposed to indicate a quick temper,” she muttered to Luc, “but I had no idea it also equated to rudeness and criminal stupidity.”“Watch it, Emily Post,” he murmured back.The man made more pop references than she did half the time, and wondering how he’d become so conversant in human culture threatened to drive her crazy.She reminded herself to ask him about it later.Right now she wanted to watch the fireworks.“I hardly think I need any explanations from you, Fergus, nor is this the time for us to listen to you throw a tantrum,” Rafe purred.Not the way a cat being stroked purrs, but the way a leopard feasting on the entrails of his kill does.“However, if you feel the need to question my understanding, I would be happy to discuss it with you.Later.Alone.”Corinne shuddered and decided to be very sure she wasn’t around for later.“Can we get down to business?” Luc asked, cutting through the tension and drawing all eyes off Rafe and Fergus and onto him and Corinne.She fought the urge to squirm.“I think that is a marvelous idea.” Dmitri shifted Reggie on his lap and spoke over the top of her auburn head.“Perhaps you could fill us in on what is happening, Luc.Rafe already told us of the reason for this most recent visit of yours to our world, but I suspect something important has happened if both you and Fergus felt the need to call us all together here.”“The calling-together was Rafe’s idea, but I’ll admit it was a good one.From what Fergus told me, I have a feeling it’s going to take all of us to wrap up this mess.” Luc reached out a hand to accept the glass of champagne Rafe handed to him and passed it to Corinne.“And we don’t have a lot of time.”Across the room, Graham sighed and rested his right hand on Missy’s distended belly.“Then I suggest you make with the storytelling, buddy.”Corinne watched and listened and sipped champagne as Luc filled the others in on the saga of Seoc, Hibbish, Rabbi Aaronson, and the Faerie doors.Everyone but Fergus listened intently, their faces growing grimmer as the tale came out.No one seemed pleased to hear about what was going on, and Corinne found herself feeling almost sorry for Seoc.She certainly wouldn’t want these five men—well, these four men and a sorry-assed excuse for an ill-mannered Fae—to add her to their fecal rosters.Just the thought made her shiver.Luc must have noticed, because he tightened his arm around her and began to rub his hand up and down her arm, as if chafing some warmth into her.She grimaced when she saw both Reggie and Missy make note of the motion and exchange Aha!glances.Maybe if she climbed over so she was sitting directly behind Luc, they’d forget she was there.When Luc finally stopped speaking, Dmitri grunted.“I can see why you were concerned, brahtok.The Queen’s nephew is breaking at least five clauses from the concordance between our peoples.I think Rafael would agree that the Others are as anxious as you are to see him stopped and returned to Faerie.”Rafe nodded over the rim of his champagne flute.“Of course.We will be happy to do all we can to help you.”Luc turned his gaze to Dmitri.“Will it involve more this time than giving me your phone number and wishing me luck?”Dmitri chuckled.“If more is required, of course it will.” He cast a knowing glance at the arm Luc still had snugged around Corinne’s shoulders.“But I believe you have managed to discover quite a bit all on your own.Do you disagree?”Luc smiled lazily in return.“No, I don’t suppose I do.Remind me to thank you later, brahtok.”“Excuse me,” Corinne snapped, looking from one self-satisfied male face to the other, “but I’m sitting right here, and I’m not brain-dead.Do you think you could refrain from talking about me as if I were an object? At least while I’m in the room to hear you?”Luc brushed his lips against her temple, and she could feel his suppressed laughter.“Maybe.It’ll be tough, but I’ll make the effort.”A strange squeaking noise made them both turn to look at Reggie.She sat in Dmitri’s lap, struggling to get to her feet, but he held her easily with his arms wrapped around her waist.“That’s it!” Reggie cried, grabbing her husband’s wrists and attempting to pull his hands off her.“I want to know what you’ve done to Corinne! Have you cast some sort of weird Fae love spell on her? Have you?”Dmitri tried to hush her, but he was having trouble speaking over his laughter.Reggie ignored him.“What makes you think I had to use magic to make her love me?” Luc asked.“I think I may be insulted.”“Oh, no, you’ll know when you’ve been insulted,” Missy growled from the other side of the room, “because I’m about to insult you big time.What kind of dirty, rotten, manipulative, rat-faced bastard plays with someone’s emotions like that? You ought to be ashamed of yourself! Graham, let me go! I want to hit him.Hard.”Corinne groaned and tried to squirm out from under Luc’s arm, but he was having none of it.“Would you all stop it? You, too, Mr.Grabby Hands.” She glared at Luc before turning back to her primary targets.“And you, my supposed friends who went and got involved with figments of the collective human imagination long before I ever met the guy you want to punish, who the hell do you think you are? If I want to fall in love with a three-toed tree sloth, I’d like to see you try to stop me.”Breathing hard, she jerked back and felt her eyes widen.Had she just shouted that she was in love with Luc? Had she?“We don’t care who you fall in love with,” Missy said.“Though the tree sloth thing might take some getting used to.But we do care when you have a spell cast on you by some unscrupulous Fae Lothario.”“For your information, there is no magic involved here,” she retorted.“Luc couldn’t use magic to make me love him if he tried.He’s already told me his illusions don’t work on me.So there.”She realized that the so theremight come across as a little childish, but when faced with the choice between saying it and sticking her tongue out, she went with the verbal jab and patted herself on the back for her restraint.She also braced herself for another volley of arguments, but it never came.Instead, every eye in the room turned to stare at her and Luc, and every jaw—except Fergus’s—dropped to the floor.Her friends were dumbstruck, and Corinne had no idea what was wrong with them.She looked from face to face, reading in each the exact same expression of stunned disbelief [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]