To Bedevil A Beauty (Southern Sanctuary - Book 5) (20 page)

Berry
bit back a moan, she wanted to tell Ramsey not to antagonise the man.
 Gerry really was willing to kill him.  With her head forced down she
was finding it kind of difficult to see what was going on.
 
From her current position she could only see
Ramsey’s long legs and the fact that he had one thumb hooked on his belt, his
long index finger tapping the leather in a slow steady rhythm, it was kind of
hypnotic in a way.

“I
suppose the real question that needs to be asked here Gerard, how do you know
who I am?”

Gerry
barked a harsh laugh.  “You didn’t think I’d put it together? 
Realise that there had to be someone working on the inside… undercover, to take
the Bruga brothers and their network down.  That I couldn’t get my lawyer
to request all the case files and work out Raymond Gaines, who supposedly died
thanks to injuries sustained during the police raid, was an alias.  A thin
one at that. Friend of mine in records provided me with your file, your photo…
I memorised it all, those scars of yours.  Hoping… knowing one day we’d be
meeting like this face to face.”

“Always
nice to meet a fan.”

Berry
whimpered as Gerry’s hand twisted in her hair.  If only she could see
Gerry eyes… or Ramsey’s for that matter.
 
Then maybe she could use her powers to know what to do next.  Urgh,
she hated feeling… so useless.  Straining her neck she tried to get a
better look at Ramsey and that damn tapping finger of his… why was he tapping
it?  Was it code?  Ignoring the pain, her scalp feeling like her hair
was being pulled out by the roots, she tilted her head as much as she was able,
desperate to view the action.

She
was concentrating so hard it wasn’t until a light fan of warm breath caressed
her cheek that she realised someone else was in the room.  It definitely
wasn’t Gerry, as this person’s breath smelt minty and fresh, as they placed
their mouth directly over her ear.  She tried not to flinch or react too
obviously, hard when an invisible man is leaning over you trying to get your
attention.  She ran through the catalogue of her relatives, who could turn
invisible?  She came up blank, but at least she was prepared when they
finally delivered their message in a soft, barely there, low whisper.

“Close
your eyes Berry… close your eyes and keep them closed if you want him to live.”

Of
all the requests to make that had to be the hardest for Berry.  Her magic
was linked to her sight but it seemed the easiest instruction in the world to
follow right at that moment… Ramsey’s life was hanging in the balance.

“Why
are you smiling like that?”  Gerry, oblivious to Ramsey’s invisible
back-up, drilled the barrel of the gun even harder into the crown of Berry’s
head.

“Isn’t
it obvious?”  Ramsey continued to tap his leather belt in a slow rhythmic
pattern.  “I’ve just won this encounter Gerard, you might as well put the
gun down and raise your hands.”

Gerry
laughed, but it sounded strained.  Hughes was acting too relaxed, too
confident and what was up with that tapping finger of his?  It would be
nice to think it was Hughes’ nervous tell but it seemed too deliberate. 
“I have a gun to your girlfriend’s head… I have you standing in front of me
unarmed.  In what universe have you won?”

Ramsey
gave Gerry one last hard smile.  “In the magic one.”  He stopped
tapping his finger.

Gerry
blinked, his face screwing up in shock and surprise.  “What the
fuck?  Where are you?”  Gerry lifted the gun from Berry’s skull,
twisting on the spot, desperately looking for Hughes. The gun out in front of
his body, ready to fire when he found his target.  He bought the gun
around, intending to shoot the wall where Ramsey had been standing when the
unmistakeable feel of a pistol being thrust into the base of his skull had him
freezing in place.

“Drop
the gun shithead.”  A gravelly male voice growled the words directly into
Gerry’s ear.

Gerry
blinking, fearing he had imagined Ramsey Hughes being in the room,
complied.  Raising his hands, trying to twist his head back to see who was
behind him.  “Who are you?  Where did Hughes go?  What the fuck
is going on here?”

“Can
I open my eyes now?”  Berry requested, still bent over the desk.
 
Afraid to move as she had no idea what was
going on.

“Sure
Berry, we’re good here.” 

Berry
stood up, her back protesting, her eyes blinking as she took in the sight of
Gerry standing across from her, flushed and sweaty, his eyes blinking
frantically.
 
Behind him stood
Sinclair.  Of course, it was obvious to her now, it had to be one of the
Hidden Cove boys in the room.  “Hey Sinclair, haven’t seen you since
school.  Thanks for the save.”

“Where’d
he go?”  Gerry turned his head her way suddenly, demanding an
answer. 

“Who?”
Berry massaged her sore scalp; she hoped she didn’t have a bald patch.

“Hughes.” 
Gerry’s eyes were so wide, they were more white than dark.

Berry
frowned, ouch, she’d forgotten about the bruise on her forehead.  Turning
her head she looked over at Ramsey, still standing in the spot he’d been all
along, looking a little pale and shell shocked.
 
He was holding himself perfectly still, staring at her with a
questioning look in his eyes.

“Ummm,”
Berry wondered how she was going to explain to him Sinclair magically appearing
in front of him, oh and all of Gerry’s ramblings about her being a witch. 
Damn, she had some lies to tell.  “He’s right there.”  She pointed
Ramsey’s way.

Gerry
looked over and actually jumped in shocked surprise, flinching and
swearing.  “Where did you go?  How did you do that you fucker? 
Are you one of them?”  Gerry twisted in Sinclair’s grip, frantically
trying to get loose.  “You’re one of them aren’t you?  You’re just
like her.” Gerry was spraying spit everywhere as he raved on, his eyes flicking
back and forth in their sockets, sweat dotting his forehead.  He struggled
ineffectually once more against Sinclair’s hold, as if he intended to launch
himself straight at Ramsey before abruptly sagging to the floor in a boneless
heap. 

No
one looked more surprised than Sinclair.  “It wasn’t me.”  He got the
disclaimer in quickly, kneeling down to check on Gerry’s welfare even as he
pulled his mobile from his back pocket and called for reinforcements.

Berry
looked over at Ramsey, who seemed to be welded to the section of wall he was
leaning against.  “You okay?’  She asked softly.

A
choked burst of laughter erupted from Ramsey’s lips.  “Am I okay?  I
should probably be asking you that.”  He frowned, distracted for a
moment. 

Berry
was starting to get worried.
 
His
reactions seemed off, like someone had just hit him with an invisible two by
four, not as impossible as it might sound.  

Despite
all her aches and pains she shuffled around the desk headed in his
direction.  She reached up a hand to cup his face and then thought better
of it, grabbing his shoulder to squeeze it gently. “Ramsey, are you sure you’re
okay?” 

At
her touch Ramsey released a deep shuddering sigh, his eyes flicking to hers,
shock and disbelief filling those grey depths of his.  “It seems… that I’m
quite literally, magic.”

Chapter
Eighteen

“Hold
on one freaking minute. If you didn’t believe Sinclair when he said you could
go
Shadow
, then why the hell did you climb over the balcony and walk in
unarmed?”  Berry was pretty sure she was hitting fish-wife levels of high
pitch, but she didn’t care.

Ramsey
shrugged, he was still trying to process what had happened.  It didn’t
feel real… it couldn’t be real.  Magic, wasn’t real.

“And
quit it with all the shrugging.”  Berry thumped him hard on the arm, moaning
in pain as her headache revved into overdrive and muscles in her back spasmed
and tightened.

“Damn.” 
Ramsey frowned.  “How much damage did you sustain?”  Gently he pushed
back the hair from her face to get a better look at the knot on her forehead
and the bruise on her cheek.  “Someone from medical will be in soon to
take a look at you as soon as they’ve finish stabilising Gideon for transport.”

“Oh
Goddess.”  Berry gripped Ramsey’s arm tight.  “How is he?  Is he
going to be okay?”

“He’ll
be fine, stubborn bastard.  Wouldn’t let medical touch him until I
promised that I wouldn’t go through your office door.
 
Kept yelling at me, telling me no matter what
happened, not to go through the door.”

“Oh
thank Heavens, he heard me.”  Berry collapsed back onto the soft sofa.
Marion’s office was a quiet oasis down the hallway from her own office where
Gerry was being guarded by over half the Southern Sanctuary Police Force and
several Family enforcers, as they too waited on someone from medical to verify
his condition before moving him. 

Berry
was glad Ramsey had insisted the two of them move out of everyone’s way. 
She was pretty sure after she finished yelling at him she was going to start
crying and the less people that witnessed that, the better.  “So you still
haven’t explained to me why you went along with Elijah’s plan if you didn’t
believe that you could turn invisible?”

Ramsey
fought the urge to shrug, not wanting to wind Berry up any tighter in her
emotional condition.  “Elijah’s one big bastard for a start.  Charged
me like a battering ram when I tried to go up to the second floor.  We’ve
got Gideon down, leaking blood all over the place, his brothers wanting
revenge, you a hostage, and Elijah turns up, out of nowhere, and gets in my
face.  Starts off telling me he’s not the head of the neighbourhood watch
but the leader of the Southern Sanctuary Enforcement team.  That he’s
magic, the town, the whole district is magic.  I tried to deck him there
and then.”

Berry
winced, and then flinched at how much that hurt her head.  “You
didn’t.  What happened?”

“I
was angry.  It felt like he was stalling me.  You were in
danger.  I just wanted to get passed him.”

Berry
reached over unthinkingly and took his hand.  “Then what happened?”

“Mac
and Cam restrained me.  People dressed in surgical gear appeared. Again,
seemingly from out of nowhere.  Elijah’s back in my face trying to
convince me that magic is real… that I’m… magical.”  Ramsey was still
having trouble getting his head around that concept.  “I knew this place
was hinky… but magic never crossed my radar.”

“Wacky
town later… story now.”

“So
everyone’s restraining me and Elijah makes a call asking Sinclair for help and
fifteen seconds later Sinclair strolls up… except everyone, including Elijah,
jump when he says hello, as if up until Sinclair wanted them too, they couldn’t
see him.”

“And
you have shadow magic… sort of like Sinclair?”

Ramsey
shifted, still uncomfortable with this topic.  “More than that… Sinclair
thinks we might be related.”

Berry
wanted to say how great that was, that officially Ramsey could never consider
himself alone again but there was a wary look in his eyes that stopped
her.
 
Almost as if he wanted it to be
true too much so therefore couldn’t bring himself to believe it.  “But you
didn’t believe him did you… about being a shadow?  Being magic?  So
why did you come via the balcony?”

“I
was out-numbered and it was the only way they would let me go.
 
You were in danger.  I didn’t realise
how much though until I was crouched outside your office, listening to that
lunatic.  What happened here today was my fault Berry. You getting hurt,
taken hostage, Gideon getting shot. I didn’t believe you when you said this was
about me… I never considered that Gerard Bannon would know who I was, what I
looked like.
 
That he’d been holding a
grudge all this time.”

“But
you took such a leap of faith… to save me.”

“Not
really.  If the whole - being completely still and turning shadow - thing
turned out to be bogus, then I was just going to tackle Gerry for the gun.”

Berry
felt her stomach drop.  The risks he’d taken to save her, despite not
believing what Sinclair had told him.
 
It
scared her to think what might have happened if he and Gerry had tussled for
the gun.  Dear Goddess, it was a frightening thought, Ramsey hurt…
dead.  She blinked away tears that threatened to fall, refusing to give
in.  Shaking her head in wonder.  “What are the chances that he’d
hook up with Robert and stumble across you here?”

“A
coincidence of epic proportion.”  Ramsey frowned.  “I really hate
coincidences.  I’m guessing that when Gerard saw me he went off plan.
 
Instead of watching you, figuring a way to
snatch you. He recognised me and took a shot in the heat of the moment. 
When that didn’t go well, I assume he and Robert split up, or had a fight and
went their separate ways.  Gerard hangs around, torching cars, maybe
turning on lights at the Bright place trying to lure me out, so he can take
another pot-shot at me and Robert…”

“And
Robert without someone to do all his dirty work for him has probably made a run
for the hills.  I can’t imagine what he was thinking.
 
Did he really believe he could just turn up
here and convince me to go with him or kidnap me?  It beggars belief.”

Ramsey
shook his head.  “Sounds like Robert expected to find only one
good
luck witch charm
here, not a whole district of magically enhanced
warriors.  So you’re a witch, huh?”

Berry
tried to pull back her hand but Ramsey wouldn’t relinquish his grip.  “I’m
not a witch.
 
There is no such thing as
witches… oh, hold on, my cousin’s meld mate is a witch and she comes from a
long line of witches… so yes, there are witches.  I’m just not one of
them.”

Ramsey’s
lips were quirking up at the edges.  He could tell Berry was exceedingly
uncomfortable talking about magic, but the rabbit was literally out of the hat
now, he wanted answers.  “So if you’re not a witch then you’re a…?”

“We
shouldn’t…”  She tried to tug her hand free once more.

“Shouldn’t
what?  Talk about magic?
 
I think that
Hogwarts’s train has left the station, don’t you Berry?”

“I
don’t think we should hold hands.
 
What
if someone comes in to check on us?”

Ramsey
wanted to shake her, after today… God, after the last week together, she was
still insisting that they were only a booty call hook up.  Man, he was
failing on all fronts, he hadn’t even been able to upgrade his status to
friends with benefits
.  “They’ll
think I’m comforting you after a very trying incident.”

Berry
attempted one more ineffectual tug.  “I’m perfectly fine.”

“Then
maybe I’m the one who needs comforting.”  He sent her an intense slate
grey look.  “Please don’t let go just yet Berry.”

Berry
rolled her eyes heavenwards.  “Honestly, you with the pretty words and the
flirty looks.”

Ramsey
grinned as she relaxed her hand in his. “Only you seem to think so Berry. 
Maybe you bring it out in me.  So this magic of yours, I think you’d
better tell me about it and why Robert is so desperate to get his hands on
you.”

Berry
fought not to sigh. This promised to be a doozy of a conversation.
 
Honestly, if she was going to spill her guts
concerning her magic and her failed three year marriage it would have been nice
to have a drink in hand… and the rest of the bottle nearby waiting.  She
opened her mouth to start, but stopped abruptly as Nell appeared in the
doorway, doctor’s bag in hand.

“Your
turn Berry.”  Nell approached, a soft smile playing over her gorgeous
mouth, not a hair out of place or an unsightly wrinkle marring her designer
dress to show how busy she’d been in the last fifteen frantic minutes. 
“That’s quite the bruise you’ve got coming up on your forehead.”

“How’s
Gideon?”  Ramsey asked, releasing Berry’s hand reluctantly and getting to
his feet so that Nell could sit beside her patient on the couch.

“Good,
he’s in for a lot of bed rest though; the bullet caused quite a bit of damage
and ribs can be tricky to heal.”

Ramsey
nodded his thanks.  “Well, I suppose I’d better go check on my prisoner.”

“Oh.”
Nell forestalled him.  “I think they’re about ready to transport him to
the station.  He’s not a well man, with all that giggling, babbling about
invisible men and the tears… I’m not sure if he’s going to ever be quite right
again.”

“Damn.” 
Ramsey had been hoping for some straight answers on where Robert Granger was
hiding out and what his plans were.  “I still need to question him…” 
He paused in the doorway looking back at Berry.  “This conversation isn’t
finished Berry, later?”

“Later.” 
Berry confirmed, turning to brush her hair out the way so that Nell could get a
better look at the knot on her forehead.

Ramsey
paused on the other side of the door for the moment, doing what he did best,
covert eavesdropping.

“So,
do my eyes deceive me or were you and the good Chief of Police holding
hands?”  Nell’s husky voice was low and teasing.

“The
man had a very trying day.
 
Learning
about magic. Facing off against that lunatic, Gerry.
 
I was just comforting him.”

Who
knew the elegant doctor could snort so derisively.

“Honest
Nell.  There is absolutely nothing going on between me and Ramsey
Hughes.”  Berry protested quickly.

“Just
how hard did you hit your head sweetie?  I saw the way the man reacted to
you being in danger. He was ready to rip the world apart to save you.  And
you… you’re so hyper aware of him that the air around you practically sizzles
with the heat you’re putting out.”

“You’re
delusional.”  Berry snapped back.

Nell
just laughed, low and long.  Ramsey decided he’d pushed his luck enough
today and silently left the vicinity.
 
He
had a babbling lunatic to question and the sooner he did that, the sooner he
could get back to Berry.

Berry
shifted on the sofa, wincing.

“Sore?” 
Nell queried.

“My
back, basically I think I’m just one big bruise.”  Berry acknowledged.

“A
bath would help with the aches and pains.”  Nell smoothed some bright
green salve over Berry’s bruised forehead.  “Heat bags and a glass of wine
or two should probably do the rest.  Would you like something to help you
sleep tonight or does the Chief already have that covered?”

“Nell.” 
Berry would have liked to scowl at her cousin but her forehead had just gone
blissfully numb.

“Oh
don’t be so stuffy Berry, admit it, you’re sleeping with Chief Hughes.”

“No,
absolutely not. The last thing I’m doing with the man is sleeping with
him.  Sleeping together is for couples and we are definitely not a
couple.”

“So
what are you?”  Nell applied some salve to the bruise on Berry’s cheek
next.

“Sex…
we’re just having sex together… lots and lots of sex together.”  Whoa, how
potent was Nell’s salve?

“What’s
the exact measurement of
lots and lots,
exactly?”  Nell teased with a pleased smile, blue eyes twinkling as she
checked the rest of Berry over.

Berry
couldn’t help but chuff a laugh.  “When it occurs so often that I lose
count.”

“Oooh,
nice.  So you and the Chief, huh?”

“Are
just having sex, yes.  We’re not a couple.  We don’t date.  We
don’t flirt… okay, he does sometimes, but I think it’s just a reflex on his
part.”

“Um,
you sure about that?  Chief Hughes doesn’t strike me as a natural born…
flirt.”

“Oh,
trust me.”  Berry rolled back the cuff of her sleeve to show Nell the
fingerprint bruises marring her sore wrist.  “The man’s incorrigible,
batting those gorgeous eyes of his my way, looming with intent.”

Nell
hesitated and then nodded her head slowly in agreement. “Sure, gorgeous eyes,
looming.”

“Why
did you say it like that?”

“Sweetie,
I’m not saying the man’s not sexy in a mysterious - sticking to the shadows -
bad boy kind of way.  But those eyes of his, it’s like they can see
straight through to your soul and he’s cataloguing all your sins, weighing up
whether to kill you or not.  And the looming?  Not that I’m not
pleased to see him, but for that first split second, it’s like one of those
shadow monsters suddenly leaping out about to throttle me to death.”