AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Chatter? You started to say Chatter.” I cocked my head. “Rhia . . . please, promise me you won’t settle. That you won’t tie yourself to someone you aren’t sure about.”
She bit her lip, staring at the floor. “I know . . . I know . . . but what is love? Love brings pain and sorrow. Isn’t it better to marry someone you consider a good friend rather than getting your heart broken?”
I pulled her close, kissing her cheek. “Oh, Rhiannon . . . whether they’re friends or lovers or both, we’ll always have broken hearts. When they reject us, if they love us and then leave . . . if we live with them a hundred years loving them, and then they die—our hearts are bound to break. Why cut yourself off from the wonderful part just to avoid the sad?”
She shivered. “What if . . . what if I throw away something good to find I’m chasing an illusion? What if I discover that I’ve built something up in my mind? Can I hurt him, because I just maybe think I might be in love with someone else?”
“You’re walking on a tightrope. Please promise you’ll talk to Chatter? Find out how he feels before you say anything to Leo?”
She glanced at the closed door behind us. “That feels so wrong. Like I’m going behind his back.”
I bit my lip, not sure what to say. “Just promise me you’ll think long and hard before you actually get married. Breaking an engagement is a lot easier than five years down the line when you’re filing for divorce.”
Rhiannon let out a low sigh. “Yeah, I know. I’ll think about it.” She shrugged. “Come on, let’s get you dolled up.”
As we entered my bedroom and I closed the door, Rhiannon sat cross-legged on the floor next to the bed, resting her elbows on her knees. She played with the hem of my blanket as I slipped out of my clothes and into my bathrobe.
“I’ll be back in a few—I just need a quick rinse off.” I headed into the shower and, dropping my bathrobe, called out to Rhiannon. “Can you find me something nice to wear? I’m not sure what, but it’s not a party, as far as I know, although he said formal dress.”
When I finished soaping up and rinsing off, I climbed out of the shower to find her holding up a gorgeous cobalt blue sleeveless dress. Low cut, it was made of a simple jersey, with gathered shoulders and a woven black belt. I stared at it, struck by its beauty. The color was rich—so rich it was hard to look at.
“Where did you find that? I know full well I don’t own anything like that.”
She grinned. “I raided Heather’s back closet. This never fit her—it was too short and too . . . well . . . a couple sizes too big. But it looks like it’s made for you. I think she bought it for you on your last trip home, but you didn’t stay long enough for her to give it to you. Not after you and Grieve . . .”>“Trust Peyton.” As I buttered my toast and spread jam on it, there was a sudden whisper on the slipstream, and my wolf let out a low rumble, not a howl, not pain, but a slow stream of yipping noises that sounded almost joyful. I stared down at my stomach.
Grieve! It was Grieve and he wasn’t in pain—and it was daylight. I pressed my hand to my stomach and focused, but all I could feel was the joyous dancing of my wolf. Before anyone could notice what I was doing, I stopped and reached for the orange juice, trying to remain low-key.
Leo came stomping in, looking red in the face from the exertion. He nodded when he saw me, unwrapping the scarf from around his neck and sliding out of his jacket.
“We’re having the winter from hell,” he said, panting.
“Of course we are. Look who’s bringing it in.” I motioned toward an empty chair. “You should sit down. You don’t look well.”
He fidgeted, tugging at his collar as he coughed. “I don’t feel so good. I’m really sweating, and my throat hurts.” As he winced, Rhia crossed to his side.
“Open your mouth,” she said. He did and she peered down his throat. “As I thought. You’ve got a nasty swollen throat. The beginnings of strep throat or laryngitis at best. Get out of your clothes and up to bed.”
“Geoffrey expects me to take care of his errands today—” Leo tried to push himself to his feet, but he was so unsteady that he almost fell. Rhia caught him on one side, Kaylin from the other.
“You aren’t going anywhere. What’s so important that it can’t wait?”
“I’ve got a list here . . .” He waved his notebook around, but then the fever took him and he dropped it and slumped back in the chair, mumbling.
I picked up his Day-Timer and flipped it open. A number of errands, yes, but nothing that couldn’t be taken care of by any one of us.
“We can do this, dude. You get your butt up to bed. Rhiannon, Kaylin, make sure he’s under the covers. I’m going to see Geoffrey tonight; I’ll just take his dry cleaning with me.”
Besides, I thought, it would give me a chance to learn a bit more about the Regent. There weren’t any exclusively secret operations listed, but some of the errands would perhaps shed some light on just who I was dealing with.
As Rhia and Kaylin struggled to get Leo up the stairs, I went back to my toast and jam, wondering what I was going to find out—if anything. But in the back of my mind, Lannan’s e-mail played itself over and over, and I hated the fact that I believed every word he’d written.
Chapter 20
The first few items were easy, and rather boring. I stopped at Cheri’s Alterations & Dry Cleaning and picked up Geoffrey’s clothing, marveling at the rampant textures and colors of the Regent’s smoking jackets. There were ten. He must change clothes twice a day, I thought, to go through this many.
As I pulled out of the mini-mall’s parking lot, Favonis purred and I cruised along the streets, watching passersby. It might have been any other year, any holiday shopping rush, except people walked in groups, and cars were no longer single-occupant. Carpooling had suddenly become popular in New Forest.
I turned up the music—“Napalm Love” by Air pounded out of the speakers and I thought about Lannan’s note. There were no demands in it, no orders to pay him back for his advice. For once, I had the feeling he might be stepping outside his comfort zone and doing something altruistic.
