WB

by test

  “My country house, about an hour outside of London.” Gage said with an encouraging WARLOCK’S BRIDE JENNIFER RINEHART 25

  smile. He was all easy smiles and friendliness now that I believed him about my parents and for some strange reason I felt myself getting angry about it. This was serious, damnit!

  “London! London, England? Oh, but I don't even have a passport! How did I get here?

  I could be in a lot of trouble coming into the country without one. You could be in trouble for bringing me here!” I was really mad now. On top of all this I was a criminal now. An illegal alien or something like that.

  “You don't have to worry about that, your mother likely has your passport. Your family did a lot of traveling when you were a child.” He said in an arrogant way that had me gritting my teeth. As if there was nothing to worry about and no reason to be upset. How presumptuous and rude of him! I was starting to not like him again.

  Like a child with too many toys to choose from, my thoughts swung back to my newly found family. I wondered how I was going to get used to being called by a different name and if I would be able to call my mother, mother. Would they like me? What if I disappointed them?

  What if they didn't speak English! What if they didn't remember me? What if I didn't remember them? My head ached at the number of thoughts racing through my mind.

  “This is a lot for you to adjust to,” he flicked a look at the silver watch on his wrist, “It's getting late. You should try to get some rest. Helene and Laurent will be here at about ten in the morning.”

  I turned to walk out of the room, my thoughts in turmoil. He followed me up the stairs and pointed me in the right direction when I got a little turned around at the third floor.

  An awkward silence filled the space when we stopped outside of my room. I stuck my hand out to shake his, “Thank you for reuniting me with my family” I said in a formal way wondering if I was handling this wrong.

  What do you say to the man that found you and made sure you met your people? Was there a reward still? Would he claim it tomorrow from my family? Oh, this was so confusing, I just wanted a little box where I could stow my questions to be dealt with later.

  His hand was warm and engulfed my much smaller one as he shook it slowly. I looked down at our entwined hands and shivered at the way he didn't relinquish mine and instead placed his other hand on top of our clasped ones. His thumb slowly rubbed my palm and the touch was too personal in a way I couldn't define.

  “My pleasure,” he gave me a rakish smile and leaned forward staring at my lips. With a start of surprise I realized he was going to kiss me. Even more surprising, I wanted him to.

  I saw his head approaching and I stood still, my eyes wide as he got closer and closer.

  His mouth curved into a self satisfied grin and his eyes were locked onto mine as he got ready to touch my lips. In a last minute move, I turned my face aside so that his kiss landed on my cheek instead of my mouth as he intended.

  His smile had turned grim, while mine was wide as I said, “Well goodnight then,” and walked into my bedroom and shut the door in his surprised face.

  WARLOCK’S BRIDE JENNIFER RINEHART 26

  Chapter Five

  My sleep was fractured and restless. I had another dream of Gage, this time of him reading a book in the library while nursing a large mug of coffee. Unlike my other dreams, this time there was a realism to it that I hadn't realized was missing from all the others. Now, I could smell his spicy aftershave and feel the warmth of the coffee through the crockery mug he was cradling. I could hear the crisp crinkle of pages turning as he read a mind numbing book on maritime law.

  After a few minutes of reading over his shoulder about the exciting world of liens and salvage rights I felt terrible, like I was spying on him. Not to mention that I was bored to tears, so I tried something I had never done before. I decided to will myself back into my body. I imagined my body lying in bed upstairs. I pictured the orange silk bedding, the way the sheets felt against my skin and thought about the softness of the pillows my head was resting on. When that didn't work I concentrated on one hand. I imagined moving that hand, then just the fingers on one hand and waking myself up.

  This was a lot harder than it sounds, but finally I managed it and with a twitch of my fingers, I woke up suddenly. I was in bed, with the sheets and blankets tangled around me. I was shaking from the effort of returning to wakefulness so soon and there was a slight ache in my head from trying so hard to get back from, what I now believed, was an out of body experience.

  After pulling the sheets and blankets back around me I tried to get comfortable again and go back to sleep. After about ten minutes of pillow plumping and rolling from one side of the bed to the other, I realized that my mind was running a mile a minute with all the questions I had for my mother, brother, Gage and even Celia. There was no way I could get back to sleep with this much chaos in my head.

  I felt a frown tugging at me as I tried to remember something important, something, that I had, for some strange reason forgotten. I rolled onto my right side, punched my pillow into shape and closed my eyes determined to get a few hours rest before meeting my mother and brother for the first time tomorrow.

  Maybe if I just closed my eyes and relaxed that would be enough to fool my body into thinking it had had a full nights rest. I didn't want to look like a baggy eyed monster tomorrow morning. I wanted them to like me. I was sure I would like them, they were probably really nice. They wouldn't be awful and rude, like … Lillian.

  Shit!

  My job!

  Oh holy hell!

  If Gage was right and I had been here two days that meant I'd missed work on Tuesday and Wednesday. I was supposed to assist Lillian in court on Tuesday. Missing court was beyond inexcusable. Two days without a call or email, I moaned in dismay. Even if I had called in sick on a court day, Lillian would have gone nuclear.

  Lillian liked me to be in court with her. I never could figure out why, except that she WARLOCK’S BRIDE JENNIFER RINEHART 27

  liked having an assistant trotting alongside carrying her briefcase. Mostly I just sat quietly during hearings daydreaming and looking serious. Sometimes I handed her a glass of water or a pen. There wasn't anything else for me to do and since she didn't practice criminal or family law, the hearings we went to were pretty dull.

  I reached out and fumbled around the nightstand trying to reach the switch on the lamp.

  My hands fumbled a bit in the darkness before finding the old fashioned pull chain on the lamp and I gave it a tug. The light came on and blinded me momentarily. I squinted in the sudden whiteness and saw that the clock read just after midnight.

  What should I do? My mind raced and I felt anxious and scared again. I could tell them I was in a car accident and spent the last two days unconscious. A mental breakdown and amnesia? I could call the Employee Assistance Representative and plead a blackout and alcoholism. If anyone knew what it was like to work for Lillian, they would know that drinking was the least you could do to numb yourself to the forty hours a week spent in hell with her.

  Was it too late (or too early) to try and get a hold of Patty? My thoughts were fuzzy as I tried to do the time conversion between Portland and London. New York was five hours difference from London (or was it seven?) add three hours difference between the Eastern and Western time zones which meant it was five pm in Portland? Or was that five am? Eight am?

  Arrgh, I was so tired it was hard to think straight. Oh, well, Patty was a night owl anyway.

  There was no phone in the bedroom and so I quickly pulled the soft terrycloth robe I found on a hook on the back of the bathroom door over the long cotton nightshirt I found spread out on the bed when I got back from dinner with Gage. Things were super creepy here, with invisible staff and mysteriously appearing nightwear, but I tried not to think about that and focused on the pleasure of having something clean to wear that I hadn't slept in for two days.

  I opened the door and stepped
quickly through the doorway. With a screech of alarm I fell over a large muscled lump that had been sitting on the floor in front of my bedroom door. I heard a deep, masculine grunt and a thud as my elbow cracked painfully against the edge of a table that had been sitting against the wall.

  The table fell over as well as the delicate, glass shaded lamp sitting on top of it. The reverberations of the glass shattering spread like a pebble in a pond and I wondered that no one came running to find out what all the racket was for.

  The lump on the floor cursed quietly and I was frozen in place wondering which way to go. The hallway was dark now. I could see a distant glow of light coming from the direction of the staircase and I tried to walk that way and screamed when a hand grabbed my ankle and I felt myself being pulled quickly backwards and to the side. Red glowing eyes leaned in close.

  Strong arms held me up, my bare feet dangling a foot above the floor and a muscled chest blocked my view.

  His hands were large and calloused and he breathed in deep as his face got closer to mine.

  I felt terror ratchet my heart rate up and I was trying to decide whether to scream or faint. He had a warm woodsy smell that I associated with the open, wild spaces surrounding Portland and his skin was burning hot where his hands held mine together pressed up against his hard chest.

  “Ma'am, is there anything I can do for you?” A deep voice grumbled from above me.

  I was speechless, trying to decipher his words. As my eyes adjusted I could see the man holding me up was gigantic. I don't mean fat, but huge. He would make Michael Jordan look short and Arnold Schwarzenegger scrawny by comparison. Even his head was large, with eyes, nose and mouth all in proportion to his mountainous body.

  WARLOCK’S BRIDE JENNIFER RINEHART 28

  “You could let go of me! What were you doing outside of my bedroom?” I demanded in a high pitched squeal while trying to wiggle away from him. But he was too big and strong and didn't seem to notice my attempts to move him aside.

  I saw his hand reach up for his shoulder and he pressed a button and said, “She's out of her room. What should I do?”

  His finger pressed against his ear and I barely heard a tinny voice saying something to him in response, but I couldn't make out what it was.

  “Mr. Hawthorne will see you now,” he said in his slow way.

  He pivoted quickly and gracefully hauled me up unto his shoulder like a sack of flour.

  The walls sped past as he walked swiftly towards the center of the hallway. My arms were pinned to my sides and I was pressed so tightly against him breathing was a chore.

  Before I had a chance to protest, he said, “broken glass on the floor,” and marched me down the hall and to the staircase before setting me onto my feet. He helpfully adjusted my nightgown and robe so that they covered my butt again and I whispered an embarrassed 'thanks'

  to which he gave a quick nod.

  His large hand was on my shoulder propelling me down the stairs. He walked so fast I had to practically run to keep up with him. I was out of breath and not a little pissed off by the time we reached the bottom. Gage walked out from between the double doors to the library with a concerned expression on his face. I saw him and the Mountain exchange looks that were full of male sympathy and I felt an urge to kick them both.

  “What's wrong Anna? You should be asleep now.” I glanced between Gage and the

  mountain sized man who had dragged me down the staircase and tossed me around like a football.

  I crossed my arms my arms over my chest and I glared at Gage, “I need to use the phone.”

  Gage nodded at the Mountain and said, “Thank you, I'll handle this.”

  Handle this? Boy was I getting tired of being managed and as soon as I used the phone, had a chance to meet my family and arrange transportation back to Portland I would be sure to tell Gage what he could do with his 'handling.'

  I saw the Mountain, bow, yes, actually bow to Gage, wink at me and walk away. What next? Did the housekeeper genuflect? Was I supposed to do that? I almost snorted out loud at the thought of bowing to Gage. Not in a million years!

  I looked back at Gage with an annoyed grimace.

  “Who do you want to call?” He returned with a mild look.

  “Not that's it's any of your business, but I need to call my friend Patty to find out what I can do to smooth things over at the firm where I work. I've missed two days of work, I could lose my job over this.”

  My voice rose a bit on the last as I thought about the beautiful new bedroom set I bought on credit at Steinhaus furniture (a needless extravagance now, considering I might be unemployed and homeless soon). I mentally calculated rent, utilities, car insurance, the myriad of monthly bills I had to pay to keep the lifestyle that I had become accustomed to. What was I going to do if I lost my job? I didn't have much in my savings account, definitely not enough to last through several weeks of job hunting.

  “I can take care of that, don't worry about it. I'll take care of it right now. Why don't you go back upstairs and try to get some sleep,” he said with an encouraging smile as he walked WARLOCK’S BRIDE JENNIFER RINEHART 29

  forward and reached for my elbow to direct me back upstairs. I pulled away from him with a frown.

  “Wait a minute, what do you mean? How can you take care of it? Take care of what exactly? If I call Patty, my friend in Human Resources, she might be able to help me smooth things over with my boss, Lillian. I don't know what you think you can do!”

  I was really getting annoyed now and I could feel my face heating up as I got more angry.

  Really, the nerve of him! I was the only one who could salvage the situation I found myself in and I wasn't even sure there was anything that could be done now.

  “Well, you must realize that your life will change now. Your family won't want you to live so far away. They live in France and will want to get to know you again. Portland is too far away from Paris for visiting.” He looked genuinely surprised now.

  “Are you saying I should quit my job? Well, it probably isn't that big a deal for you.”

  I swept my arm around the opulent entryway with it's inlaid marble floor, pillars as big around as tree trunks and a twenty foot high ceiling with a fresco of satyrs chasing half naked nymphs around a primordial forest. His entryway was bigger than my entire apartment.

  “But I have bills to pay; electricity, car insurance, rent …. ” I ticked off my expenses on my fingers and took a deep breath to list more reasons for why I had to get back to Portland, pronto.

  “Let's worry about this tomorrow, we can discuss this with Helene and Laurent when they get here. Don't worry. Things always seem worst before the dawn.”

  I took a deep breath to contradict him and then, after a moments contemplation decided it was pretty good advice. I’d probably already been fired. One more day wasn't going to matter.

  If my family was as well off as they seemed, perhaps I could get a small loan from them to tide me over while I looked for a new job.

  I winced at the thought of borrowing money from strangers (even if they were family) but this was an extraordinary circumstance. If things got really tough, I could probably stay with Leah or Patty until I had a permanent job.

  I thought about the employment agency whose office was on the twenty fifth floor of the building I worked, or rather, had worked in. I would sign up with them when I got back to Portland on Thursday.

  Since I had been fired, my chances of getting a letter of recommendation from Lillian was slim to none, but Patty could write me a letter. My shoulders slumped and I felt a bone deep weariness wash over me at the thought of looking for a new job. Working for Lillian hadn't been ideal, but I wasn't always going to work there. I was counting on the experience I got with her translating into better jobs down the road. Now I was back to square one, career wise.

  I allowed Gage to lead me up the stairs again and to my bedroom. The Mountain was waiting just a few feet away from my door and I gave him a little no
d that he returned with a stoic nod of his own.

  Gage didn't try to kiss me this time as he directed me to my bedroom door and I had to admit I was the teeniest bit disappointed.

  WARLOCK’S BRIDE JENNIFER RINEHART 30

  Chapter Six

  Morning sunlight filtered in through sheer orange panels hanging at the long, narrow windows making the room glow with warmth. I pushed up from the bed on shaky arms. Today was the day I would meet my mother and brother I thought with an excited shiver.

  I glanced at the ugly gray suit draped over the back of the orange club chair. Displayed against the rich tangerine velvet of the chair, the suit looked even worse than usual.

  The cheap gray fabric was wrinkled. A long, Florida shaped stain was on the side of the skirt and I tried to remember how it happened. I felt a twinge on my upper thigh and remembered the coffee shop accident. I was leaving the shop with Lillian's decaf mocha when a man holding a drinks carrier bumped into me spilling hot coffee down the side of my leg. Ouch.

  I was pretty sure the stain was permanent now and as soon as I got home I would throw it away. Leah was right, it was ugly. If I was going to be out looking for a new job I couldn't afford to walk around in dated, ill fitting suits. So I made myself a mental note to buy one nice suit for interviews. That was item three hundred and one on my to do list, I sighed, oh well, it couldn't be helped.

  Clothes shopping was not my favorite pastime. I liked the shopping part but the trying on and looking for the right size part wasn't a real hit with me. But now I wished I had spent more time on my appearance. I wanted to make a good first impression on my family. I wished Gage had seen me in something nice too, something flattering and stylish instead of a faded old suit.

  After today I probably wouldn't see him again so it didn't matter and as to my family, I was pretty sure they would be happy to see me in a potato sack and sandals if that's all I had.