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longer so they could make a detour to the Brady house.
“How about you come with me, Ellie?” Josh seemed to be thinking along the same lines. “You can protect me from Aunt Maura. I’m going to be a poor shipwrecked sailor and she’s the horrible sea monster who’s chasing me.”
Ellie’s face lit up. “Yes, Uncle Josh! Daddy...?”
Rick chuckled. “If you don’t mind, Josh? We’ll call in and pick her up on our way to the library.”
“Of course not. We’ll need our little Moon Warrior to help us.” Josh grinned at Ellie and lifted her down from the high stool.
* * *
He looked so handsome in his suit. Handsome and wicked, the way he’d been in her dreams. The question of whether Rick was a good guy or a bad one had been answered a while ago, but it was still a joke between them. And the indulgence of dressing him up as a Victorian English gentleman had paid off. He played the part with more panache than Fleur could ever have imagined.
“So...is Jess a Moon Warrior as well?” He steered the car through the dark streets.
“No, she’s a ghost. She wasn’t going to come tonight but I persuaded her to. I said I’d make sure she has the best costume in town.” Fleur quirked her mouth down.
“That sounds...defiant. I thought everyone was going to be there, so why didn’t Jess want to come?”
He seemed always to know what she was thinking, how she was feeling. Fleur shifted uneasily in her seat, fiddling with the silver rings on her fingers.
“She was going out with this boy. He thought it would be a good idea for her to lose her virginity to him on her sixteenth birthday. He broke up with her when she stood her ground and told him no.”
“Good girl.” Rick’s words rang with approval. “So Jim Brady’s got this lad in lock-up, awaiting execution, has he?”
“No, he had a word with the boy’s father, who took a pretty dim view of it. But that’s all Jim can do as the boy hasn’t actually done anything illegal, because he never touched Jess. And Jim can’t protect her from the other kids. Apparently the boy cut her dead at school the other day and walked off laughing with his friends. Jess was pretty cut up about it.”
“But you can protect her, by making her the belle of the ball tonight.” The warmth in his tone curled around Fleur’s senses like a soft blanket.
“Yeah. I’m going to do my best.”
He chuckled quietly. “Coming from a Moon Warrior, I’d be more than surprised if your best isn’t more than good enough.”
* * *
Fleur was a warrior on a mission. Forget the swords, the determination in her blue eyes as Jess’s mother, Emma Brady, ushered her into the large hallway was enough to make armies of teenage boys with the wrong idea cower at her feet.
“You both look fabulous!” Emma was wearing a long gingham dress with a white apron, covered in what looked like tomato sauce. “Dr. Jekyll, I presume?”
“At your service, ma’am.” Rick smiled, and tried out a sweeping bow. He must have done well enough, because he heard Fleur giggle.
“Nice. But as it’s a fright night you might like to go for something a bit more sinister. A maniacal laugh wouldn’t go amiss...”
Emma rolled her eyes. “Jess is upstairs in her room. I curled her hair for her, as you said...”
“Thanks. Could I leave my swords down here, please?”
“Yes, of course. Put them with my axe on the hall table.”
Emma indicated a bloodstained axe, and Rick wondered whether there were any fake weapons on this side of Boston that hadn’t been pressed into service as props for tonight. Fleur put her swords on the hall table and carried the bag she’d brought with her upstairs.
“Come and have some coffee. Jim will be down in a minute...he’s just getting the boys ready.” Emma led Rick into a large family kitchen, clearing a space for him at the cluttered wood-topped table.
* * *
Sheriff Brady had plainly decided to go over to the dark side for the evening, and take his three sons with him. Rick heard the sound of feet thumping down the stairs, and four Draculas of varying sizes spilled into the kitchen. The three larger ones were red-haired, and the smallest one, a solemn-looking five-year-old, had his mother’s dark hair. Rick rose, shaking Jim’s hand and Emma took her youngest son onto her lap, telling him how smart he looked in his suit and bow tie.
“Isn’t Jess ready yet?” one of the middle-sized Draculas started to complain.
