Page 56 of A Touch of Treachery
Gabriel grinned.“Unattainable?Clearly, you haven’t been paying attention to my many charms.”
I snorted.“Oh, I’ve seen yourcharmsup close and personal, especially the messy aftermath they leave behind.I distinctly remember you dating my high school and college friends like they were different flavors of candy you were sampling.”
Gabriel’s grin widened.“What can I say?I’m just irresistible to some folks.”
Somehow I bit back another groan.Gabriel practically oozed confidence, although I thought Joan would be far more resistant to his so-called charms than he realized, especially since she was still mourning Graham Walker.
“While you’re keeping an eye on Joan, do me a favor.Nose around, and see if you can find anything that might tell us where Henrika’s lab is.Desmond and I need to get our hands on any samples of Redburn she might have here.Maybe we can trade the samples for the UC list and avert at least one catastrophe this weekend.”
Gabriel nodded.“I’ll see what I can do.Might be harder than you think, though.Even with my phasing ability, this place is huge and crawling with guards.”
He was right.Dozens of men and women in dark suits with guns on their belts and earpieces trailing down their necks were patrolling the terraces.Henrika wasn’t taking any chances with her safety, which made me wonder yet again why she’d come out of hiding and invited Desmond and me to her resort.What did she want from us?
“Incoming,” Gabriel muttered.He pretended to take another photo, then wandered away.
“Ah, there you are,” a voice crooned.“I’ve been looking for you, Charlotte.”
Niles Perran strode over to me.I didn’t have Desmond’s galvanist ability to see and interpret auras, but something about the biomagical chemist repelled me on a deep, instinctual level.Even more telling, my synesthesia surged to life and painted his entire body a bright, bloody red, like a firecracker about to explode.
“Care for some champagne?”Niles held out a glass.
I looked at it, and a faint pink haze bloomed in the depths of the shimmering liquid.For a moment, I thought it was pink champagne, but then I realized the color was my synesthesia warning me about some hidden danger in the sparkling bubbles.Niles had definitely added a little something extra to the champagne.Maybe a truth serum to get me to spill my guts about Desmond’s supposed fortune—or a poison to knock me out of the Redburn auction.
Anger flared in my chest, but I knew better than to reveal anything about my magic, so I tamped down the emotion, took the glass, and set it on the wall that cordoned off the terrace from the drop below.
“Thank you, but my thirst has been quenched for the moment.”
Niles’s lips flattened out into a thin line, but he didn’t suggest I take a drink.He must have known that would have made me even more suspicious.
“Of course,” he murmured, taking a hearty swig from his own glass.“The champagne was just an excuse to talk to you.Things were quite tense in Henrika’s library, and I thought it would be nice to get to know each other better.”
His pale blue gaze trailed down my body, moving from my throat to my chest to my legs just as Steig Helseth’s had done earlier.But instead of gripping a knife like the assassin had, Niles wet his lips, leaned closer, and drew in a breath, as though he was trying to get a whiff of any perfume I might be wearing.More revulsion crashed over me.Niles wouldn’t hunt me down like an animal the way Steig would, but he was still a dangerous predator.
“Why would you want to get to know me better?”
Niles shrugged.“I got the impression you weren’t happy to be here.”
“I go where Desmond and his business take me.That’s my job.”
“Yes, Mr.Macfarlane hasquitethe reputation.Why, if some of the gossip is to be believed, he has a special friend like you in every city around the world.”
I laughed.“Is that some piss-poor attempt to make me jealous?Please.Desmond and I have an arrangement that suits us both just fine.”
“A woman like you deserves an arrangement that is more thanjust fine.”Niles wet his lips again, and his gaze roamed up and down my body, as if he was seeing straight through my clothes to my curves underneath.His open, lecherous perusal made my skin crawl.
Suddenly, I remembered something else I’d read about Niles Perran: the biomagical chemist had a habit of dating women who later ended up dead, usually from some severe, mysterious, and previously unknown allergic reaction.I repressed a shudder.I’d been so worried about Henrika murdering us that I hadn’t given much thought to how the other paramortals might want to play with Desmond and me for their own twisted amusement.
Niles stepped even closer.His breath washed over my face in a warm, fetid wave, and I had to bite my tongue to keep from gagging.Someone had had way too many garlic crackers earlier.
“You know, Charlotte, we could always go somewhere more private and ...talk.”Niles dropped his high, nasally voice to what he probably thought was a low, husky growl, but it sounded more like a dying hyena.
“Talk about what?”
“How unhappy you are with Desmond.”He cooed another wave of garlic breath into my face.“And how much happierIcould make you.I’mverygood at keeping women satisfied.”
I blinked a few times.Despite all my Section training, I honestly did not know how to respond to his boast without laughing, cursing, or inflicting a large amount of violence on him.
Niles took my blank look for encouragement and leaned in a little more.If he got any closer, he’d be wearing my sweater like it was his own.“Since we’re being so friendly, maybe you can tell me why Desmond wants the Redburn formula so badly.From what I’ve heard, guns and missiles are more his style, not biomagical explosives.”
