Page 60 of Box of Frogs
‘Why do you think that?’
‘Because,’ I answered without meeting his eyes, ‘it’s what I would do if I needed you out of the way for a while.’
A muscle ticked in Morgan’s jaw but he didn’t respond. ‘You altered time again,’ he eventually said gruffly, without looking at me. ‘How many times have I told you that’s forbidden?’
I rolled my eyes. ‘Dave was on the verge of remembering who I was. I couldn’t let that happen.’
‘He’s the human you came with to my pub.’
I nodded. ‘I met him on the street about ten minutes before we walked in. There’s was nothing nefarious going on. It was just a coincidence.’
Morgan sniffed. ‘You mean the same sort of coincidence as Rubus kidnapping your new boss?’
I had to admit that looked shady. ‘I haven’t lied to you, Morgan. I don’t know any more about that than you do.’ Unless the fact that Julie was a vampire was an issue – but surely that wasn’t related to all these coincidences.
‘There’s no other reason why Rubus would have taken her unless it was something to do with you.’
‘Maybe he’s a big soap fan. Maybe he never misses an episode ofSt Thomas Close.’
Morgan ground his teeth in exasperation.
I sighed. ‘I’m telling you the truth, Morgan. I appreciate I might not be the good person I thought I was. I appreciate you have very good reason to despise me. But my connection both to Dave and to Julie is nothing more than coincidence. There is nothing more to it than that, unlikely as it may seen.’
‘You’re right,’ he growled. ‘It’s completely unlikely. In fact…’ His voice trailed off and his brow furrowed. He looked at me, his green eyes all but pinning me in place. ‘Tell me again about when you woke up on the golf course.’
I ran a hand through my hair. ‘What does that have to do with anything? I’ve already been through it.’
Morgan shook his head. ‘You told me what happened. You didn’t tell me how you felt.’
I failed to see why that was important but as long as Morgan wasn’t pointing his finger at me, or hauling me in for torture and interrogation because I supposedly knew more than I was letting on, I figured I shouldn’t complain.
‘Well,’ I drawled, ‘I certainly didn’t feel all zip-de-do-dah. That’s hardly a surprise.’
‘Stop being difficult, Madrona.’
He could be a patronising bastard when he wanted to be. I put my hands on my hips and injected as much sass into both my body and my voice as I could. ‘I’m actually very easy to get along with, once you learn to worship me properly.’
Morgan muttered something inaudible before raising baleful eyes. ‘Be specific. How did you feel exactly? I want to know everything.’
‘Do you?’ I dropped my voice to a low seductive husk. ‘Is that what you really, really want, Morgan?’
He gazed back. ‘Yes,’ he said, his tone flat.
Gasbudlikins. I sighed. ‘Fine. I felt sick.’ I raised my eyebrows. ‘I wasn’t actually sick but I definitely felt nauseous. My ribs were sore, as if they’d been cracked. My legs were stiff and it was difficult to walk at first, although that eased off later when people started shooting at me. Then, of course, I cut myself on that stupid rowan-coated sword.’ I shrugged. ‘We all know what happened next.’
Morgan remained watchful. ‘Anything else?’ he prodded. ‘Anything at all?’
I tried to think. ‘I had a bad taste in my mouth. Like wet dog or something.’
He nodded. ‘Get on the bike.’
I cocked my head. ‘Why?’
‘Because there’s a woman we need to see about that wet dog,’ he told me.
‘Julie is still missing. Rubus still has her. I don’t have time for games, Morgan.’
‘This is far from a game. And unless you have any bright ideas about how to find either of them, quit complaining and get on the damned bike.’
