Rory nodded, thoughts were jumbled like Lizbeth’s jacks. “I heard a lot, Ace—they talked ’bout Mrs. B.—”
“Tell us upstairs,” Arthur said quietly. “But first tell me you’re okay.” He still had Rory’s bag slung across his own shoulder and his hands were strong and steadying.
“I’m okay.” Rory swallowed. “’Cause of you.”
“The rescue was all Jade—”
“Yeah and I’m gonna thank her too, but you got me free from a vision. Kept me outta the big house. And you threw that fella’s stick in a tree.”
“He’s lucky I didn’t throw him,” Arthur said darkly. “He hit you. There’s no history you can see where I’m okay with that.”
Rory’s heart did a funny flutter. He was saved from blurting out his messy thanks by Arthur tugging them back into a walk.
“Come on,” said Arthur. “Let’s get some privacy.”
Rory tagged along at his side to the elevator banks, shoulders still tingling with the ghost of Arthur’s warm hands, and tried to ignore the stares of the building’s patrons on his own ratty and now-dirty clothes. Several others also crowded into the elevator, and they were pushed to the back and very close together.
Rory took a deep breath of Arthur. “Why do you always smell so good?”
Three people looked over their shoulders. Rory flinched; he couldn’t keep his damn trap shut.
But Arthur just shrugged and said, “Showered after boxing,” like he wasn’t bothered by the inappropriate question. “Trust me, you would not be saying that if I hadn’t.”
Ace, boxing. Sweating. Maybe shirtless. Rory’s squeak was thankfully drowned out by the elevator doors. He was still flushed when they got off on the fourth floor and the door to the apartment swung open on its own.
“You gave us a scare!” Jade said, as she clasped Rory’s hands in her own.
Rory ducked his head but let her pull him inside. “That move with the cane—you saved mylife.”
Jade waved it off, like saving lives with magic was her regular Friday night. “I’m glad you’re okay.” She smiled. “But I think you gave poor Ace another gray hair.”
“Yeah, right. Like he’s got a single gray in all that shiny black.” He winced as soon as he said it. Well, maybe all of Manhattan was gonna guess his feelings, but he wasn’t gonna pretend Arthur was anything less than the best-looking man he’d ever seen.
They moved into the study, where the tops of the trees could just barely be seen through the windows in the last of the day’s light. Arthur gave him a gentle push in the direction of the settee and Rory flopped onto it without a fight. “Gwen went to the antiques shop.”
Arthur went very still. “Did she see you?”
“No, but she sawMrs. B.” Rory stared up at the fancy molding encircling Arthur’s study, stomach churning. “Gwen and Mansfield were talking about her just now, when they opened up that relic again.” He let out a shaky breath. “Gwen told him Mrs. B.’s harmless.”
Jade clucked her tongue. “Paranormals do tend to forget that those without magic are not always completely useless.”
“Thank you, Jade,” Arthur said dryly. “Where’s Mrs. Brodigan now?”
“Holy Cross Church.” Rory bit his lip. “I shouldn’t have left her alone, I just didn’t know what else to do.”
Arthur looked at Jade. “Would Zhang—”
“Of course he will.” She was already walking toward the parlor and the telephone. “Check Rory for—”
“Naturally.”
Rory made a face. “You two don’t even talk in full sentences.”
“She’s going to see if Zhang will check on Mrs. Brodigan, and he’ll do it because he’s a good person but also because he’d foxtrot on the Woolworth Building if Jade asked him to.” Arthur bent to look into Rory’s eyes again, and Rory froze as Arthur’s face came close. “And she wants me to check if you’re hurt because she’s worried about how hard you hit that sidewalk when she yanked you from the road.”
Rory’s gaze locked on Arthur’s lips, on the jet-black stubble on his jaw. “Nah,” he managed to say. “She got me safe. You two don’t gotta worry about me.”
“Indulge us.” Arthur’s voice was quiet as he drew away, leaving Rory aching to grab his tie and pull him right back. “Gwen was our friend once. We worried about her too, only to discover we weren’t worried enough.”
