Page 28 of The Mating Fire
“I ask one thing of you. If you fall in love with me, do not lie about doing so. For if you do and I catch you in a lie…”
He dropped his hand and stepped back, his gaze narrowing.
“You will not like the consequences.”
Chapter 10
As she showered and then dressed in her own faded jeans, a threadbare purple sweater and her favorite purple and pink anklet boots that Jared had brought to the castle, Harper kept thinking of the odd request and thinly veiled threat he made.
Fall in love with him? Was that why he’d brought her here? How could she love him, when he was a stranger, a dangerous one at that? Certainly, he was sexy, with a certain charm edged with sarcasm.
She felt out of her element, like a limestone rock dropped into a snowy field. Everything she’d known, all her knowledge and smarts, proved useless in this situation.
All I wanted to do was satisfy my desire to see blue fire from the volcano. Now look at me. I have magick powers I still don’t know really exist and there’s a devastatingly sexy guy who wants me in his bed. Maybe that’s his idea of love.
The thought of being naked with Jared, having his powerful body thrust slow and deep into hers, making them one flesh, made the space between her legs throb. As if her body wanted this man, needed this man, needed pleasure he would deliver.
Harper scowled at her taut nipples as she studied the tips of her suede boots, boots she’d found in a thrift store. “Stop that. Sex is out of the question.”
“Why is sex out of the question?”
She turned away from the bed at the high-pitched, young voice. Stunned, Harper rubbed her eyes. A girl, no older than perhaps five or six, sat on the white fur rug by the enormous fireplace.
No, she wasn’t actually sitting on the rug, the little girl floated a few inches above it.
“Excuse me, did you ever hear of knocking?”
The blonde girl nodded. “That’s when you warn people before …what did daddy call it? Barging into their privacy.”
Harper tugged at the comfortable sweater, feeling the armor of her own clothing. Something well-worn to anchor her to a crazy world where men claimed to be sex demons and little girls levitated.
“Who are you and what are you doing here? Do you live here?”
“I’m Sonia. I come here when I can. When mommy and daddy aren’t looking.” She giggled. “They know I like to visit Jared. He’s fun to play with.”
Fun? She couldn’t imagine the castle’s owner, who claimed he was a sex demon, playing mundane games.
“Who exactly are your parents?”
“Ciara and Xavier. They’re wizards. My daddy is the great Crystal Wizard of the Brehon, the wizards who rule over Others like you. I heard him talking to mommy that he met you.”
The wheels inside her head finally began to turn. “Xavier…is your daddy tall, with dark hair and a beard and wears strange clothing?”
“That’s him.” Sonia beamed.
Harper pressed two fingers against her temples. “Xavier, the guide who took me to the volcano…and his wife, Ciara who joined us for the hike. Would you stop floating in the air? I find it dizzying.”
Sonia floated back to the ground and ran over to her. Dressed in a purple shirt with alligators on it and bright green pants and sneakers with blinking lights, she looked adorable, despite the awful clothing. Small wonder she was Xavier’s daughter, with his sense of “style.”
Sonia leaned against the bed. “I overheard daddy telling mommy that this was the demon’s last chance. Daddy took you to the volcano so you could find your powers. And meet Jared. But before Daddy could say what powers you had, Mommy caught me … what do you call it?”
“Eavesdropping.”
Sonia nodded. “I disguised myself as a spider, but Mommy knows all my disguises. Wanna see?”
Before Harper could shake her head, the little girl vanished. In her place was a Huntsman’s spider with a five-inch leg span, larger than her hand.Heteropoda venatoriawas known to terrify the hardiest soul.
Swallowing hard, Harper forced herself not to back off.
