“What happened?” someone asked.
“Are you okay?”
“I’ve called an ambulance.”
“We’re fine,” Jago said. “She fell, and I jumped in after her. We don’t need an ambulance.”
“If you’ve swallowed any of that water, you do,” a guy said.
At the wail of a siren, he tried to pull Ellie to her feet, but she slumped on the jetty.
Jago sucked in a breath as he stared at the river. “Where’s Micah?”
“He stayed,” Ellie whispered. “He said he wanted to.”
“I worried he was in the Thames.”
She took a deep breath and pushed herself up. “I nearly swam. Did you see?”
He let out a choked laugh. “Yes. I saw.”
“I could have used magic to whisk myself out,” she whispered. “But I swallowed water and panicked. Thank you for saving me.”
Her fingers wrapped around his and squeezed tight.
* * * *
Jago thought they were lucky the police accepted his version of events. No one had seen Ellie fall, but several people had seen him jump. When he explained she couldn’t swim, someone called him a hero. The thought of him not being there when she’d needed him made his heart ache. After he and Ellie had showered and been given antibiotics, her parents were allowed to take them home. Her mum had stifled a sob when Ellie told them Micah had stayed to find out what had happened to the missing children. There had been something between Micah and Oberon, but that wasn’t hers to tell.
Her father made Ellie repeat everything twice, and she had to do it all over again for Pixie and Asher when they got back to the house.
“Where’s the slate?” Pixie asked. “Let’s see how we can get to Faerieland.”
“Leave it alone,” her father snapped. “If you break it…”
Asher picked it up and put it on the table. “You do tend to break stuff, Pix.”
He laid his hand on it. “How can we return to Faerieland?” he asked. The slate turned white, and when he lifted his fingers, he read: “Return at the largest tree in the redwood grove in Kew Gardens.”
“Don’t tell anyone, Pixie,” her mother said.
“Doesn’t anyone trust me?”
There was complete silence, and Jago hid his smile.
He couldn’t stop the smile bursting onto his face when Ellie told him Micah’s car was his for as long as he wanted. And when Asher gave them fifty pounds for gas, Jago wanted to set off right away. He liked Ellie’s family, but he needed to go home, lie in his bed with Ellie, and keep her next to him forever. He just had to find the words to tell her.
They packed as many of Ellie’s belongings in the car as they could, and her parents said they’d drive up the following weekend with the rest. Finally, amid tears, they set off on the long journey north, Ellie’s hand resting on his thigh.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“I feel like I’m having a dream. I keep wanting to pinch myself, except I’d be devastated if I woke up and it had been a dream.”
He smiled. “If you were directing the rest of the dream, how would you want it to go?”
“For Henry and maybe Diane to sit down with us so we can draw up plans for ways to raise money for Sharwood’s upkeep. I have lots more ideas, and I think grants might be available for some of them. We could host a writers’ retreat, a weekend for artists, maybe convert the old stable block into rentable studios. At Halloween we’ll have a ball or run an event for children. Maybe go into partnership with a health and fitness center. Run ghost tours in the cellar—”
“We don’t have any ghosts.”
“We can invite one to stay.”
He wasn’t sure if she was joking.
“What do you think?” Ellie asked.
Jago took his hand from the wheel to squeeze her fingers. “I think you can do anything. We can do anything,” he corrected. “I love you.”
“I loved you from the moment you opened the door of Sharwood and in a lot of words told me to get lost,” she said with a laugh. “I loved you even more when I saw the way you looked at me on Henry’s porch. I knew then you were mine. Love at first sight.” She blushed. “Even when everything went wrong, I believed there’d be a way to put it right. I had to believe. Had to.”
Jago glanced across at her. He’d never let her down again.
* * * *
Ellie woke as Jago lifted her out of the car outside Sharwood Hall. She stood up and shivered in the cold night air.
“Did I sleep all the way?” she asked.
“And snored.”
“I didn’t.”
“And dribbled.”
She laughed.
“We can bring everything in tomorrow,” Jago said. “All I can think about is bed.”
She grabbed his hand, and they walked toward the steps. “You must be really tired.”
“I am.”
“Really, really tired?”
He laughed. “Maybe not that tired.”
Before they’d even entered the hall, he pinned her up against the door and slid his hand under her dress.
“Damp panties? Who have you been dreaming about?”
He ran his finger between her thighs and massaged her clit.
“I’m waiting for an answer,” he whispered.
She gave a mournful sigh. “I can’t remember.”
Jago growled.
“Oh, that was it,” she said. “Some tall, dark, good-looking guy with well-cut hair, beautiful eyes, who doesn’t growl like a bear, but I’ll make do with you.”
He unlocked the door and tugged her inside. They couldn’t keep their hands off each other as they fumbled their way upstairs. They left a trail of clothing in their wake. With the door kicked shut and wrapped in each other’s arms, they fell onto Jago’s bed.
“Love you, love you, love you,” he whispered.
Ellie kissed her way down his chest until she reached his cock. She licked the glistening head, pressed her tongue into the little slit, and Jago sucked in a noisy breath. “Did I tell you how much I love you?”
He groaned as she wrapped her lips around the silky crest and sucked. Ellie really liked doing this, driving him wild, going wild with him.
“Enough foreplay,” he gasped.
“Three seconds? You’re no fun at all.”
“You just like to torture me.”
“You’re so easy to torture. Three seconds?” She licked from crown to root and mouthed his balls, letting them roll in her cheeks, tugging at them gently.
Jago moaned. “Did you hear that noise?”
Ellie lifted her head. “What noise?”
“It was a whimper. I’m desperate. All I could think about while I was driving back was having you in this bed.” He pulled her up and rolled so she lay beneath him. “And pushing my cock into you time after time after time.”
“Only three times?”
He scowled. “If you’re lucky. I’m afraid it might only be twice.”
Ellie wrapped her legs around him. “Let’s try for four.”
The weight of his chest lifted from her as he moved to position his cock between her legs. She was wet and open, and he slid straight in, one long deep push until their hips locked.
“Ellie, Ellie, Ellie.” He whispered her name against her mouth, groaned it, moaned it, and every time he said it, she clenched around him.
Jago slid his hand under her backside and held it while he fucked her, helping her push up into his down thrust. Ellie strained for his mouth, and as he crushed his lips against hers, she spread her palms on his back and shivered as his muscles rippled under her fingers. When he groaned into her throat, she swallowed his answering moan, and danced her hand down his back to the crease of his butt. Before her finger could move farther, he flipped her over and lifted her off the bed by her hips, putting her on all fours.
“Don’t you dare. Not tonight,” he said and pushed into her from behind.
His strokes were m
ore forceful now, long, deep, and hard, and when he pulled back, she felt his cock brush against her thighs. Ellie could dimly hear the sounds they were both making, little cries and grunts, the slap of wet flesh, but she floated outside herself as she sprinted toward orgasm. But not so far gone that she couldn’t try a little magic.
“Oh my God.” Jago sucked in a breath. “What the hell? Three hands? How can you be—oh, I don’t care how. That feels perfect.”
Magic fingers in his ass, and she smiled.
Every touch wound her tighter. He licked her back, and it was like being caressed by silk. Then his cock was out of her, and his tongue was inside her, warm and slick and electric. And she knew she could never have enough of this, of him. She wanted the night to last forever, wanted his mouth on her, his lips on her, his cock in her forever and ever and ever.
She came on his mouth, splintering under his tongue in a shower of sparks, and then his cock was inside her again, hot and thick and hard, and he emptied himself, bathing her in staccato bursts of cum. Then Ellie came once more, white lights flashing behind her eyes, and she used her magic to stretch the pleasure until they both came again.
“Fuuuuck,” Jago gasped. “Was that your magic wand?”
They came down together, hands soothing, mouths kissing, bodies entwined, and Ellie laid her head on Jago’s chest, listening to his pounding heart.
“You are incredible. You make me feel as though I can do anything, cope with anything.”
She smiled and rubbed her thumb over his nipple. “Have a piercing in your balls.”
“Anything but that.”
“In your co—”
“Nor there. No piercings.”
“How about a tattoo?”
“No.”
She laughed.
“You know what I mean.” He pressed his face against her hair. “This place was an albatross around my neck. Now I feel as if together we could make it into a swan. I can picture our kids playing in the garden, Henry teaching them the names of the trees, you sending their minds soaring into the clouds, and me planting their feet on the ground. I hope they’re like you, full of fun and optimism… I’m not thinking we should have kids yet, obviously, but… What’s wrong?”
She knew she’d stiffened against him. She wished, wished, wished she could give him children.
“Stay on the pill, Ellie. I wasn’t trying to push you. I just—Jesus, I’m sorry, have I said something to upset you?”
He pulled back and turned her so she faced him.
“I lied. I’m sorry. I’m not on the pill. I can’t have children. I’m a faerie. You’re not. It won’t work.”
She rolled off the bed and stood up. “I forgot you needed heirs to pass this place to. I’m really sorry.” Tears sprang behind her eyes. “I should have asked Oberon to make me human or make you a faerie. You’re going to die, and I won’t for ages, and…”
Jago leaped off the bed and wrapped his arms around her. “Don’t, Ellie. If you want kids, we’ll adopt. If you don’t, then we won’t have them. Denzel can have Sharwood, and then his kids can have it. And if he doesn’t have them, so what? I don’t care. The building will survive or not. I only care about you and making you happy. People are what’s important, not places. It’s taken me long enough to see it. I do love Sharwood, and I want it to be our home and a place we can be proud of, but it’s had enough of my life. I give the rest to you. I hope you’ll still love me when I’m old and gray.”
Her heart was full to bursting.
He kissed her hair. “I’ll do anything for you, Ellie.”
“Get your cock pierced?”
He growled, changed it to a howl, and threw her on the bed, and then climbed on top. “Right after you get your nipples pierced.”
“Well…”
“No. I like them as they are.”
They play-fought, made love, and fell asleep wrapped so tightly around each other, it was hard to tell where one ended and the other began.
* * * *
“We need to talk to Henry,” Ellie said.
“What are we going to tell him?” Jago wondered how he could explain giving away millions of pounds of jewelry.
“Oberon told me not to tell anyone.”
“Henry already knows. He was the one who read the bill of sale and pointed out what I’d missed.”
“But he doesn’t know faeries are real.”
As they walked out of the hall, Jago spotted Henry farther down the drive talking to a man and woman. As he and Ellie drew nearer the three figures, Jago felt a fluttering of unease in his belly. The pair looked familiar. Oh Christ. It was like seeing an avalanche rushing toward him, except instead of running away, he was walking toward it.
“They don’t want to pay to come in,” Henry said.
“That’s because we want a word with him.” The man pointed to Jago. “In private.”
“Do you want me to call the police?” Henry shot Jago a look of concern.
He guessed he’d paled. He didn’t want to go anywhere with the prostitute he’d nearly fucked and the pimp who’d blackened his eye. Not difficult to guess what they wanted.
“We saw your picture in the paper,” Jill said. “Quite a party you had last weekend.”
“Is there somewhere we can go?” asked the man.
Ellie gripped his hand harder. Jago knew what he did in these next couple of minutes might dictate his future. No lies, he and Ellie had said, and the truth was that nothing had happened between him and this woman, but it wouldn’t look good.
“What do you want?” Jago asked, grinding his teeth.
“I think we ought to go somewhere private,” Jill said.
“Here’s fine.” Jago tried to unclench his jaw.
“Jago—” Henry started.
“It’s okay. Let them say what they’ve come to say, and then they can leave.”
“But—”
“Spit it out,” Jago snapped.
Jill sniggered. “That’s not what you told me to do.”
Ellie sucked in a breath.
“Why don’t you come into—”
“No.” Jago interrupted Henry again without looking away from the couple. “What do you want?”
“You had sex with her last week and didn’t pay,” said the man. “You owe us two hundred for that. Course, if you don’t want us to go to the press, you might like to pay a little more in compensation.”
Ellie’s hand fell limp in his. Jago didn’t let her go.
“You’re lying. I didn’t have sex with you.”
“Yes, you did. I think I’d know,” said the woman.
“You came tear-arsing out of her place without paying. I gave you a black eye.”
Jago clutched Ellie’s hand, willing her to tighten her hold. “I bought you a drink in a pub, and you practically took your knickers off in there. I had no idea you intended me to pay for sex. The moment you talked about money, I left. Which is what I want you to do right now. Leave.”
The man pulled at the woman’s arm. “Come on. We’ll talk to the papers instead about Jack-the-lad here. Should make us a few thousand if he’s not going to do the honorable thing.”
Oh fuck, fuck. Jago had no idea what to do.
“Did he take his clothes off?” Ellie said to their backs.
“Yeah.” The woman turned. “He’s got a nice body.”
“Then you saw the tattoo on his butt?” Ellie paused.
“Might have,” she said cagily.
“Can’t really miss it. The spider?”
What are you doing, Ellie?
The man nudged the woman, and she said, “No, he doesn’t have anything like that.”
“Want him to show you?” Ellie asked.
The man crossed his arms. “Yes.”
“I’m not—” Jago shut up when he looked at Ellie’s face. He unfastened the button on his pants, unzipped, and exposed his backside.
“Shit,” said the guy.
Jago peered over his shou
lder, saw a couple of hairy arms, and gasped.
“Let’s get out of here,” the man said and glared at the woman.
They stomped off down the drive, arguing with each other, and it started to rain, hard bullet-like drops pelting his face. He fumbled with his zipper and button, his head spinning. Jago watched Ellie hurry toward the gatehouse, shoulders down, Henry following. Ellie had saved his butt—literally—but how the hell was he going to put this right?
Chapter Twenty
Jago set off after Henry and Ellie, and the rain poured down even harder, soaking him. The door of the gatehouse opened at his push. He closed and locked it and brushed the water out of his hair.
Henry stood in the kitchen with his back against the sink. The look of disapproval on his face shriveled Jago’s guts.
“I didn’t do anything,” Jago said.
“You went with her to her place. You intended to have sex with her.”
He cringed. “Probably, until she expected me to pay.”
“Jago!”
“I know; I know. We all have bad days. It was a shitty day. Where’s Ellie?”
“In my bedroom with Diane.”
“I didn’t do anything, Henry. She knows I didn’t. She made up the crap about the tattoo to get rid of that woman.”
Henry gaped at him. “She didn’t make it up. I saw it. A tattoo? What the hell were you thinking?”
“It was a trick. I’ll explain later. Ellie knows I didn’t do anything with that woman.”
“Then ask yourself if she knows it isn’t true, why she’s so upset?”
Then Jago got it. Ellie had told him she’d loved him from the moment she saw him, even though he’d spouted all that stuff to get rid of her. Love at first sight. The lump grew in his throat. She’d told him she’d loved him even more when she’d seen the way he looked at her as she stood under Henry’s porch. Now she knew moments after he’d first laid eyes on her he’d driven away with the intention of getting laid. Shit.
Jago walked down the corridor and knocked on the door of Henry’s bedroom. As the door opened, he straightened, but it was Diane who stood there. She frowned and crossed her arms.
“It’s okay, Diane,” Ellie said.
Diane left, and Jago walked in and closed the door. Ellie lay crumpled on the bed like a fallen leaf, her cheeks stained with tears. Jago dropped to his knees at her side and laid his hand on the cover near hers.
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