Nicole Peeler - [Jane True 01] (16 page)

She adjusted my clothes and hair and then put an arm around me to help
me back into the grove. She sat me down next to Nell, who looked about as good
as I felt. After handing me a bottle of water that she pulled out of Nell’s
bag, Trill went to help Ryu lift the body out of the car.

I turned my face away, toward Nell. I’d had enough nauseating sights for
the evening. Nell patted my hand weakly and tried to smile at me. “What was
that… thing?” I asked her. “Was it the murderer?”

“No,” she said, as her eyes closed. “That was a lawyer.” And she was
asleep.

CHAPTER NINE

W
hen we
were back in the Porsche and reversing toward the main road, Ryu turned the
heat on and angled the vents toward me. I wasn’t really cold, more in shock.
But the warm air helped settle me, and after I’d rooted around in my bag to
find a piece of gum I closed my eyes and leaned back to enjoy it.

We’d spent about another twenty minutes in the little glen while Ryu and
Anyan examined the remains of the thing in the trunk and then did another sweep
of the car and the area. Finally, Ryu and Anyan had a brief, but intense,
conversation and Ryu walked off to make a phone call on his cell. Trill helped
Nell to her feet, and they said their good-byes and ambled off into the forest.
There was no fancy teleportation tonight, I noticed—Nell was still exhausted
from breaking that seal on the trunk. Anyan followed them slowly, looking back
at me as I waved good-bye. His big doggy face registered what looked like
unhappiness, and I wondered if he had known the creature in Peter’s car.

When I felt Ryu turn the Boxster back onto the main road and stop, I
opened my eyes to meet his. He turned down the heat and smiled at me, gently
brushing my cheek with the tips of his fingers. “You okay?” he asked.

“Oh, just peachy.” I smiled at him. “What was that thing?”

“A goblin,” he answered, distractedly. He reached over and picked up my
hand to kiss the palm, like he had the night before. I felt a sharp throbbing
in my lady bits while I sang the chorus to Sade’s “Smooth Operator” to myself.

“Nell said it was a lawyer.” I tried to keep my voice from trembling.
“Does she just enjoy making bad lawyer jokes?”

“No,” Ryu said, absently caressing my fingers with his own.
Sma-ooooth
op-er-ate-ooor
… echoed through my head.

“His name was Martin Manx, and he was a lawyer, all right. Goblins often
are. In fact, he was a very well-known lawyer. His firm works exclusively for
the Alfar.”

“Alfar?” I asked, trying to concentrate on his words as he raised my
hand to his lips to nibble on the tips of my fingers. The excitement of opening
the trunk and finding the body had evidently had an entirely different effect
on Ryu than it had on me.

“You might call them elves, but never,
ever
, let them hear you
say it. They’re the most powerful beings in our world,” he explained, between
nibbles.

“Oh,” I said, not understanding a word he was saying as he turned my
hand over to stroke his tongue gently over the old scars marring my wrist.

Right then my empty stomach made a noise like a strangled bear cub. Ryu
started, then laughed, and the moment was over. I didn’t know whether to curse
my prodigious appetite or bless it.

“Hungry?” he asked, letting me pull my hand back to the safety of my
lap.

“I shouldn’t be,” I said, “considering that I was just sick. But I am.”
I rolled down my window and spat my gum out without thinking. Then I realized
what I’d done and congratulated myself on my demonstration of refined elegance.

“Well,” Ryu said, “how do you feel about a picnic at the beach?”

“That sounds amazing,” I answered truthfully. It did sound amazing—and
very, very dangerous. I knew damned well that blankets on beaches at nighttime
with handsome strangers usually meant one thing and one thing only:
skinny-dipping.

Even if the water was too cold to go into all the way, any excuse for
getting your partner naked was a good excuse. If she just
happened
to
get so cold you just
had
to warm her up with your own body, well that
was just the gentlemanly thing to do, right?

For a split second I wished I hadn’t told Ryu I didn’t feel the cold.

I was being very naughty. But at least my mother had never told me not
to go swimming after a meal. Then again, she was apparently a seal.

You should also warn him about who you really are,
my
brain cut in.
He says he knows your history, but you can’t assume you know
what that means. So you’d better tell him now and get it over with. Rather than
have him walk away after something serious has happened…

My thoughts dampened my excitement, and we drove in silence out to the
public beach by the cottage Ryu was renting. He pulled a blanket and a large
basket out of the trunk, and I shot him a skeptical look. “I was hoping you’d
say yes,” he apologized, his eyes anything
but
apologetic.

We walked together down to the beach and I helped him spread out the
blanket. Then I watched, marveling, as he made a gesture as if plucking an
apple out of the sky and there suddenly appeared one of those glowing orbs of
light. This one changed color from a bright white to a soft pink as he gently
revolved it in his cupped hand.

“We call them mage lights,” he explained, leaving it hanging just above
where our heads would be when we sat down.

The picnic he had packed—or rather purchased from a very fancy deli in
Eastport, I noticed—was absolutely marvelous. My dad and I are pretty dedicated
foodies, mostly because we have nothing better to do but also because we both
love to eat. And as Ryu unpacked his treats, I thought I’d died and gone to
heaven.

Lobster rolls were the main course. Huge pieces of lightly mayonnaised
lobster were nestled into the most delicious-looking buttery brioche, making me
think guiltily about the talking lobster from my dreams. For side dishes, there
was an amazing-looking panzanella—a colorful Italian salad made with toasted
bread—and a Thai-style noodle salad with shrimp, vegetables, and crunchy
peanuts. There was also fruit salad and a smooshy dollop of soft, sharp goat’s
cheese. For dessert, there were strawberries, both plain and chocolate covered,
as well as two small
tartes aux citrons
. To drink, there was another
bottle of champagne as well as a bottle of rich red Shiraz, “for after dinner,”
Ryu explained, with a toothy grin.

His expression, and his exposed canines, spoke volumes about his
intentions for tonight, and I didn’t know whether to run away or cover him with
lobster filling and eat him up right then and there.

But first, I had something I needed to do.

“Um, yeah. About after dinner… well, I just want to make sure you know
the truth about me. You said you knew my history, but I wanted to make sure you
really knew it. I mean, knew me. Not that I am my history, or anything, but you
need to know the truth about me.”

Ryu’s expression softened and I saw that his fangs had retracted.
Misreading these signs, I was unprepared for what he said next.

“Jane, honey, stop. I know everything I need to know. I know bits of
your history, yes. And I know you’ve had a shitty life, in a lot of ways. But I
also know you’re brave, and funny, and that you’ve impressed some pretty
impressive people with the way you’ve survived.”

I ducked my head, feeling embarrassed and confused. Ryu touched the
fingers of my left hand, which had started fiddling nervously with my
shoelaces. I stared at his lovely, strong hands, not sure how to react.

“I like you, Jane. Not despite your history, but because of it. And
there’s one other thing, something
I
think
you
should know.” Ryu
paused for dramatic effect, and I finally raised my eyes to meet his.

“I am a breast man. And you, my darling, have an incredibly nice rack,”
he concluded, causing me to blush and giggle. My mood thoroughly lifted, Ryu
matched my laughs as he produced two champagne flutes from the bottom of the
hamper, along with plates and cutlery. He turned the basket over to reveal its
smooth underside; it made the perfect little table, which he set between us.
Does
this guy shop at Pimps R Us?
my libido speculated, admiringly, as he popped
the champagne and filled our glasses.

He handed me mine and we toasted. “To you, Jane, and your entry into our
society. I’ve no doubt you will have as great an impact on the others as you
have had on me.” I flushed purple, and only barely managed a sip from my glass.
If Ryu noticed my discomfiture, he didn’t make a big deal of it. He simply
passed me a plate, upon which he had sat one of the lobster rolls, and gestured
toward the food to tell me to help myself.

Everything was perfect. What was supposed to be crunchy—like the bread
in the panzanella and the toasted brioche rolls—was still crunchy, and nothing
had gotten too cold despite its long wait in the trunk. I suspected that the
same little shields that protect burned-out cars from prying eyes also made for
handy picnic aids.

The champagne, again, went down like water and it was an unbelievably
sensual experience eating all this delicious food while sitting across from a
man who made my hands tremble every time he looked at me.

“Tell me about yourself,” I said, unable to bear being so close to him
without saying—doing—something.

“What do you want to know?” he asked, grinning.

“I dunno, anything.” I shrugged. “I feel so… comfortable with you,” I
tried to explain. “But I know nothing about you, it’s ridiculous. Where do you
live? What do you do?”

“Well,” he said, licking his fingers after he’d polished off his lobster
roll. “There’s not much to tell. My base is in Boston and I live there most of
the year, except for when I’m at our Compound. That’s the seat of power for
this Territory—it’s about an hour outside of Québec. I’m an investigator, which
means that I make sure that everything runs smoothly in my area. If anything
untoward occurs, I deal with it and report back to the Compound. Or, if my
services are needed by the Court, then I’m sent out to handle whatever has come
up. That’s how I ended up here.” He smiled at me, and my heart skipped about
eight beats in a row. I was either falling hard for this guy or having
palpitations.

He put down his plate and maneuvered himself around so he was sitting
next to me. The palpitations were bordering on a coronary. I forced myself to
breathe.

“As for what I
do
,” he said, helping himself to a strawberry. I
knew without a doubt he was going to wind up feeding it to me.

Whoa, Nelly,
my brain groaned, bracing itself.

Feeeeeeeeeeeeed me
, my body roared, like the plant in
Little
Shop of Horrors
.

“I like music a lot, and going to the theater. I especially like opera
but I’m not so much a fan of musicals. I love spending time around humans and I
love their popular culture. Whatever is popular in the human world at any given
time, I try to learn about it.”

He put the strawberry to my mouth, and I took my time fitting my lips
about it.
Two can play at this game
, I thought, as I bit down ever so
slowly. He smiled encouragingly, and I noticed his canines were a bit more
pronounced. Then he put the strawberry to his own lips to finish it off,
flicking away the leafy top.

“Right now I’m really into manga and new Brit pop,” he said. “I know I’m
late on the manga bus and that it’s insanely nerdy, but I’m really enjoying it.
I really liked
Appleseed
and I just ordered the sequel.” I had no idea
what he was talking about, but smiled at him anyway. It was either that or
ravish him.

Why am I having this reaction to this guy? I’m like a horny
thirteen-year-old boy whose dad just gave him his first
Playboy.
This is
ridiculous
. Get a grip on yourself, woman.
I
seriously had no idea why I was so attracted to Ryu. I mean, he was absolutely
and completely
gorgeous
but that didn’t explain my almost entire lack of
self-control or self-consciousness around him.