The Matchmaker's Mark (19 page)

"But I didn't want to leave." No, she'd wanted them to leave. She sighed, the rush of success turning to defeat as, once again, her magic did its own thing. "I wanted them to leave," she repeated aloud. "Did Amy send you?"

"No. I was around town today and remembered your words from last night."

She did a mental replay, but couldn't recall saying anything about the shop. Didn't mean he hadn't picked up on something she'd left unsaid. Some elves could do that, but most didn't out of courtesy to one another. But having a human mother, she wasn't exactly one of his kind.

"So you're admitting I was right about the lovesick werewolf thing."

"I came to check on you," he agreed. "You were with the wolf and things looked…heated. I left, but later I decided to come back. To be sure this beast was someone you wanted."

She snorted. "I do not need another big brother." He frowned, thoroughly confused, so she made it clear as crystal. "Cade is my brother. The other man is not 'wanted', as you put it. He was hoping to trap the Matchmaker by staying close to me. Stupid really, since it's not like anyone has her on speed dial. Except maybe you."

"You contacted Cade to help you kick out the other man. The werewolf."

"Yes." For a legendary guard, Dare was pretty dense about this. "What does it matter to you?"

The one question Dare couldn't answer. What did it matter to him? As Cade's sister she was now more unattainable than she'd been an hour ago. Cade would kill him for his interest, dreams be damned. In the Guards a sister was always off limits.

In the deepening shadows Dare's glimmer of hope fizzled. He was as lost about his options as ever. Clearing his throat, he hung on to the pragmatism that had served him well. "Cade's probably cleared out the infestation by now," he said. "I'll walk you back."

"Are you sure I was the one who brought us here?"

Her familiar eyes were wide, shining with wonder and a hope that could turn to pride with the smallest encouragement. She didn't seem to know the power she'd wielded. How could she be blind to it? "I'm sure. Can you get us back?"

Her chin came up, she closed her eyes, fisted her hands, but they didn't move. She even stomped her foot, but the churchyard didn't so much as ripple.

Her courage deflated in a rush, her shoulders slumped and her gaze dropped to the cobbled path. Damn. He'd meant to challenge her in a 'good job, now do it again' way. He reached out, intending only to comfort and encourage. But the jolt of the initial contact gave way to a pleasant hum deep in his blood.

Touching her shoulder, he followed the line of her arm until he held her hand, uncurling her fist. Smaller than his, her hand was narrow with long, elegant fingers, but the calluses told the real story. He studied the lines on her palm, and skimmed each of her fingers in turn.

Slowly, he raised her palm to his lips, pressed a kiss there, wishing he had the right to kiss her everywhere. The scent of her work, the flowers and greenery, filled him. Tempted him. If only this was a beginning, he would lay her down in a meadow at dusk and reveal every inch of her creamy skin to the rising moon and stars. She swayed closer, her body brushing his, igniting his fantasies.

He fought the urge to caress her hip, to pull her close enough to comprehend her effect on him.

Eyes locked on hers, he nipped her fingertip, soothed it with his tongue, and released her.

"We should go back."

She nodded and turned toward the gate.

"The way we came."

"Oh." She ran a hand over her hair. "Right."

"Just think about the shop and why it's where you need to be."

She winked out immediately.

He braced to follow, as he'd done to get here, but she'd altered her spell, blocking him from piggybacking her magic. Smart girl. He decided walking gave him more time to cool off before he had to look her brother in the eye.

But suddenly the path was blocked by a beaming Lily. Gods, she was radiant as sunlight. The ghosts would think they'd been cheated a night of tourists.

"I had to make sure it was me." Her hands were restless, patting a frantic rhythm on her thighs, until she grabbed his shirt. She gifted him with a kiss, her lips warm and soft on his. And gone too quickly. "Thank you," she said, smoothing his shirt. "It tickles."

He rubbed at the stubble on his chin, searching for any appropriate reply, but she'd blanked his mind.

"Not that." She laughed. "The spell."

Of course not that. He was twisted up with sexual fantasies and she was riding the high of successful magic. Big difference. "Never thought of it that way," he managed, proud his voice sounded normal.

"Really, Dare. Thank you." She bounced on her toes like a kid anticipating Christmas morning. "Come on. Let's walk back. The shop is trashed and I refuse to do all the clean up."

"The werewolf is gone?"

"So says the note from Cade. Although it also says he's bringing back pizza for dinner."

"A peace offering." Dare hated pizza, but he had to hope for an invite so he could debrief Cade.

"What's she like?"

He didn't bother asking who Lily meant. "She's new." And he didn't need to look to see the frown marring her lovely face.

"What's that mean?"

"She's new to the job. No roots yet, she's just feeling her way."

"Got it." She tugged on her sleeves and he wove a little spell around her like a sweater. "The werewolf is determined to find her. Confront her." She heaved a sigh. "Don't take this the wrong way, but I feel a little sorry for him."

"The wolf?" Dare was trying to digest that when Lily shocked him further.

"He claims I'm not his match, but I'd rather hear it from her."

He thought of the sketch. "No."

"But he showed up, tracked me down –"

"No!" He snarled it as he jerked her off the sidewalk, pressing her back into the doorway of a closed bakery. Fate wouldn't be so cruel as to give someone so fine as Lily to a barbarian like that animal.

The memory of the afternoon, seeing that furball pawing at her hazed his vision. He pushed it away so he could feast on the reality of her, of this moment. Those huge blue eyes blinked at him now, full of uncertainty. He studied her mouth, his imagination surging beyond the sweet to a dark, sensual plunder. He backed away. She'd had enough fright for one day. No matter that they couldn't be together, he would not leave her with bad memories of him.

"My apologies."

"Wait, wait." Her delicate fists curled into his jacket and held him with a surprising strength. "When did you come by the shop? I never saw you today."

"I didn't come inside. You were otherwise occupied. I decided not to interrupt."

"Heated, you said." She glared at him. "I was a captive, remember?"

He did remember. He remembered the look on the werewolf's face. "That son of a bitch knew." Dare slumped against the opposite wall of the doorway, breaking Lily's grip. Regrettable, but it made for clearer thinking. "How would he know about me?"

"Umm. My fault?"

He looked at her, took in the guilty expression, but he couldn't believe she'd done anything on purpose to assist that blasted animal. "Explain."

"We fought when he first, um, arrived."

Dare was incensed. Ready to beat an apology from the werewolf at the earliest opportunity.

"No big surprise that I lost," she said, looking at her feet.

"How could any sister of Cade lose to a wolf?"

She shook her head. "Cade's halfling sister, remember? I can manage many unimpressive things. But I was saying I didn't wake up until the next morning. He could have –"

Dare muted her voice with magic and punched the wall. "I'll kill him."

"No! Not that." She swallowed. "I mean he could have searched my mind for information. He probably did, considering my own mark was completely visible to him."

He glanced down when she pulled her sleeve up. His heart dropped into his stomach. Her mark was definitely reacting to something. All his battle instincts screamed 'retreat' and 'reassess'. Officially, his trek to Charleston had nothing to do with Lily. She was coincidental. Just a woman who might have been the fantasy of his youth. There were too many obstacles. Too many factors opposing his hopes of a quiet match.

And when had he begun hoping about a match?

He shook his head, shaking off the haze left behind from this day packed with too much emotional chaos. "Again I must apologize. You were clearly not in the danger I assumed. I am glad." A small part of him protested the extreme formality, but his training was all that could save him from irreversible embarrassment.

"Thanks. I think I'm flattered by your concern."

Her voice was cool and in the small space, she managed to shrink away from him. "I'll be fine from here."

"Cade would not appreciate my leaving you unattended." Inside he cringed. Cade would not appreciate Dare's pulsing desire and vivid fantasies about Lily. It's not like he didn't know she was marked. Of all the inhabitants of the world, he knew better than to dally with a woman marked for another.

For the first time in his life, he prayed for his own skin to stain with the Matchmaker's mark. Preferably in the pattern that would match Lily's.

They stepped onto the sidewalk and headed down King Street toward her shop. "Who will prevent the werewolf's return?"

"I'm sure Cade's thought of something. I only hope the solution's not worse than the werewolf. "

An odd thought, but Dare kept quiet. It probably related to sibling dynamics.

The orange tabby cat was waiting for them by the back door, purring at the sight of Lily. "Henry the Eighth," she said by way of introductions, bending to pet him.

He eyed the cat, reminded himself it was ridiculous to covet Lily's touch. "How does he know where to find Cade?"

"Some spell my brothers put on the collar. If Henry's in the right mood, he takes it to the elves and eventually one of my brothers shows up."

He gazed down at her, wondering. "Do you have to use it often?"

"Mostly just Christmas and Easter." She was smiling, so he mirrored the wry expression, though he didn't get the joke.

She stood up, reached for the door, then spun around abruptly to face him. "Hey. Did you see how Cade opened the door?"

"No. He went in through the window."

"Oh." Dare watched as she thought it through. "How did you get in?"

He pointed to the planter and muttered, "I used the key."

He wasn't sure what she found amusing, but she laughed as lightly as spring rain. The sound shimmered over him, through him, urging him closer. Urging him to taste it. Dare recognized the unmistakable comfort and familiarity of the girl from his dreams. How was he supposed to hold strong against such a lovely temptation?

He had to get beyond this. Lily was not who Camille had sent him to find. By disappearing, Camille effectively released him from service – after he united Amy and the book – but that didn't negate the laws of love and politics he'd learned by her side. Despite the romantic notions of the elderly trees on the Battery, he would be moving on. Tomorrow.

"Good night," he said to Lily as she and the cat crossed the threshold. "Take care."

"You too."

As the door was closed and locked between them, Dare forced his feet to move away.

Sensing movement on the fire escape opposite, he tensed for attack, but it was only Cade leaping to the ground.

"Thank you for taking her away."

Dare nodded, letting Cade believe what he wanted.

"Doesn't look like she hurt you."

"No." Dare caught Cade's joke. "She wasn't happy, but she didn't take it out on me. You might want to give her a little space though."

"Yeah. I'm staying here, but I have other, um, responsibilities."

Dare understood Cade's hesitation as the limits of available information. "What about the werewolf?"

"He'll be holed up, licking his wounds far from here for awhile."

"So Lily is safe?"

Cade's smile was wicked. "I won't ask what you're doing in town, but if you could stay tuned in while you're here…" He cleared his throat. "I'd owe you one."

A big concession from a member of the Elite Guard. And a blanket favor like that wasn't offered often, which made it particularly rude to turn such an offer down. The last thing he needed was a legitimate reason to stay near Lily. Somber, Dare extended his arm and Cade matched the grip, hand to elbow. "For as long as I'm in town."

"Is the Matchmaker here? For her?"

"To the best of my knowledge yes and no, respectively."

Cade's eyes revealed his resignation. "She's been different her whole life. I'd hoped for more for her than this half existence among her mother's people."

Dare had no idea how to address that uncomfortable topic or how to extricate himself from the awkward moment. He didn't attempt even a trite reassurance.

"Well. She'll want me to clean up. To your health!"