by Ashlyn Chase
“How’re you keepin’?” he asked.
“Oh, I’m keeping. Like I’m on ice.” Thin ice, with Mother Nature mad at me.
“Ah. Whatever that means… I’m ready to come back to Boston. Is Finn still there?”
“As far as I know.”
“Do you happen to have your powers back?”
She closed her eyes and thought of his cottage. Nothing happened. “Nope. I’m still grounded.”
“I’m sorry to hear it.”
His voice was muffled, as if he’d put his hand over the mouthpiece, but she heard him anyway. “Go fetch him, fellas. He’ll be in the apartment directly above mine.”
“So who are you sending for Finn?”
“Ah. I forget you can hear me. I guess you haven’t lost all your muse abilities.”
She was relieved that she still had her supernatural hearing. Maybe Gaia wasn’t giving up on her completely.
“Speaking of which, I heard a bunch of people upstairs in your sisters’ apartment. I think I recognized the managers’ voices,” she said.
“What were they sayin?”
“I wasn’t really paying attention. I think I heard Finn say something about spirits. I don’t know if he was out of whiskey or what.”
“I’m not really thinkin’ about Finn right now,” Rory said in a low, sexy voice.
“Um, Rory?”
“That’s me.”
She wished he’d stop being charming for one minute so she could complete a thought… But that just reinforced what she had been considering.
“We need to have that talk, and I think it might be better to do that on the phone…now. When we’re together, we keep getting—distracted.”
He chuckled. “I know what you mean. But there’s nothin’ to talk about, really. Is there?”
Her heart sank. Would he be packing up his few belongings and moving back to Ireland now that the leprechauns had lifted their ban on the dragons?
“I-I guess not.”
He was quiet, but she didn’t know what to say either. She should get off the phone before she choked up and he could hear it in her voice.
“On the other hand,” he said, “I suppose there is one thing we need to settle.”
She took a deep breath, figuring he wanted to give her the apartment—officially. Fortunately he forged on before she could interrupt.
“Do you want to live in Boston or Ballyhoo?”
“Ireland?” She was temporarily stunned.
“O’ course we can make a home in both countries…”
A home? “Together?”
He laughed. “Sure’n you know we’re meant to be together by now.”
“Together, together?” she repeated, stupefied.
“We have a sayin’ here in Ireland—not that we don’t have many sayin’s, but this one seems to fit. ‘In our togetherness, castles are built.’”
Togetherness. “I—uh…”
“Do you need time to think on it?”
At last she recovered her composure. “No!”
“No? Do you mean you will not live with me, or you don’t need time to think on it?”
“The second one. I don’t need time. Of course I want to stay with you!” She finally let the tears fall. “Anywhere,” she choked out.
“Ah, lass. You’ve made me a happy man.”
“But what about that double standard? It’s okay for you and me to ‘live in sin’”—she used air quotes even though he couldn’t see her—“but it’s not okay for your sister? Shannon is apt to be furious.”
“Marry me, then.”
She couldn’t speak around the lump in her throat.
“If you’re worried about the paperwork, me cousins know a guy in Ulster who can make me a birth certificate, passport, the works. If there’s no way to get there earlier, I’ll see you in a few days and we can…” He lowered his voice. “Well, you know what we can do then.”
“You betcha.”
* * *
Chad watched the leprechauns from a safe distance, perched upon the large chandelier that graced the main entrance.
“You’re a thief!” Lucky yelled. His voice carried up the stairwell of the Beacon Street brownstone.
Shamus scowled. “Keep your voice down. It’s nuthin’ you wouldn’t have done yerself.”
Lucky gasped. “What? Are you mad? We’ve never stolen from each other. And then you went and blamed it on the dragons!”
“I did not. You really must keep your voice down. Not everyone in the buildin’ knows about dragons.”
Lucky couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “You did!”
Chad interjected. “He’s right about one thing. Finn is in the apartment right upstairs, and he doesn’t know a thing about paranormals—well, except leprechauns.”
Lucky took a few deep breaths and tried to calm down. When he could finally speak in a quieter tone, he said, “You said the dragons’ love of treasure must have led them to steal Clancy’s gold.”
Shamus straightened. “It could have. We all know they love their treasure and will do almost anythin’ to protect their keep.”
Lucky paced. “Fagan isn’t goin’ to like this.”
“And you’re not goin’ to tell him.”
Astounded, Lucky halted and stared at his brother. “And why wouldn’t I?”
“Because if you do, I’ll say you were complicit. O’ course, if you are, I won’t say a word and we can split it fifty-fifty.”
Lucky shook his head. “I won’t lie for you, Shamus.” Then he withdrew a four-leaf clover from his pocket and tucked it into the buttonhole on Shamus’s lapel.
“What’s that for?”
“For luck. When Fagan and Clancy find out, you’ll need it.”
“But that’s what I’m sayin’… They need never find out. All you have to do is keep your trap shut.”
“There’s one thing you’re forgettin’,” Lucky said. “Even if I were as crooked as you, and I’m not, there’s a spirit who knows the truth.”
“How? What did you see, spirit? You weren’t in Ireland a few weeks ago, were you?”
“No. But I saw you plant Morgaine’s crystal ball in a shoe box that belonged to either Chloe or Shannon, and you put Gwyneth’s money under their sofa cushions.”
“Ha! But you never saw me take any gold, did you?”
“I saw you produce a few gold coins from your pocket. By the way, Amber found them in her toilet, and you need to cop to it before she and Sly blame Rory for them.”
“Show yerself, spirit. If you don’t, I’ll know you for a coward.”
Chad’s ghostly form floated down from the chandelier. On his way past, he gave the crystals a tug, which resulted in a tinkling sound. Shamus looked up at him and frowned.
Leaning over the little man, Chad said, “Here I am. Boo!”
The desperate leprechaun actually tried to punch him in the nose. His fist whizzed right through Chad’s face and the ghost laughed.
“Sometimes I love not having a physical body.”
Shamus’s ruddy face turned bright red, and without warning he took a shot at Lucky. That effort met flesh with a smack. Stunned, Lucky staggered back a few feet.
When he recovered his balance, he yelled, “What the feck is the matter with you, Shamus? Have you lost your senses along with your pride?”
“I’ve lost nuthin’. And before I lose me gold too, I’m g—”
Lucky figured he was going to say he was going somewhere or already gone, so he grabbed on to his brother’s coat. Shamus took another swing at him, and this time Lucky was ready. He ducked and while Shamus was off balance, Lucky sent a good uppercut to his chin.
“What’s going on?” Morgaine called downstairs.
People poured out of the paranormal clu
b, and Finn opened the door across the hall.
Before anyone could say “Whist,” the two leprechauns were rolling and punching and grabbing and clawing. Lucky held on tight to Shamus’s coat until the little fecker bit him.
“Ouch!”
The moment Lucky let go, Shamus disappeared.
“Feckers!” Lucky yelled.
“I don’t know what y’all were fightin’ about, but it sounds like someone needs to put a dollar in the swear jar,” the redheaded witch said.
Morgaine hastily descended the stairs. “I’m sorry for the disturbance, everyone,” she called out as she rounded the second floor. “You can go back to whatever you were doing. Sly and I will take care of this.”
As if on cue, Sly emerged from the cellar door. “What’s going on?”
Lucky pulled his throbbing hand out of his mouth. “Just a little brotherly spat.”
Two other leprechauns appeared, seemingly out of thin air.
“Did you get all that?” Lucky asked.
“We did,” the older one said.
Sly planted his hands on his hips and leaned over Lucky. “We don’t like family fights in the hallway. We actively discourage any fights, and until now we haven’t had a problem.”
“Well, not since Morgaine and I made peace and got our own apartments,” Gwyneth offered helpfully.
“None of you four even live here,” Morgaine said.
“Before you blame the wrong dude, Morgaine, you should tell Sly that Lucky was trying to get his brother to fess up to stealing your shit.”
“Oh.” Morgaine glanced upstairs to where almost a dozen curious onlookers leaned over the railing. “You can all go back inside now. We’ve got this.”
Most everyone mumbled some kind of assent and returned to the paranormal club. Gwyneth jogged down the stairs to join her cousin and Sly. She stopped when she got to Finn.
“Y’all need to pop back inside your sweetie’s apartment too, hon. This don’t involve ya.”
He pointed to Lucky. “It sounds like me friend is in trouble. I’m not goin’ to walk away while he’s accused of disturbin’ the peace.”
“Tell him I saw the whole thing, Gwyneth,” Chad said.
“Y’all don’t think he’ll be spooked? He looked a might scared when he learned you were in the buildin’, Chad.”
“He’s a lot braver and more open-minded than you would think. Give him a little credit…and tell him I’ll stick up for his friend.”
Morgaine glanced at Gwyneth and nodded. While Gwyneth explained what Chad said to Finn, Morgaine whispered to Sly, who relaxed his menacing posture…slightly.
“We take care of our own,” the older leprechaun said. “We’ll find Shamus and bring him to justice.”
Lucky hung his head. “He was given the right name long ago. He shamed us all.”
“So, do you know where he went?” Chad asked.
“I’ve a fair idea where he might be,” Clancy said. “We wondered why he wanted to go to Cambridge alone. I found his hideout.”
“Did you now?” Lucky exclaimed. “Where is it?”
“In one of the boathouses on the river. There’s an emblem in dark red on the door.”
“Ah. That would be the Harvard Crimson,” Sly said. “The college has rowing crews.”
“Now it’s just a matter of all three of us sneakin’ up on him,” Fagan said.
Lucky smiled. “That should not be difficult, considerin’ we can come and go in the blink of an eye.”
“When we have ahold of him, we’ll take him back to Ireland for trial,” Fagan said.
“He might never confess.” Lucky turned to Clancy and placed a hand on his green coat. “Are you goin’ to be all right if we never find your gold?”
Clancy nodded.
Fagan puffed out his chest. “Oh, Shamus will confess, all right. I have a nice dank place to hold him until he does.” Then he tipped his hat to Morgaine and Gwyneth and bowed to Sly. “If you’ll excuse us, we’ll be on our way, and we should never have to bother you again.”
The building residents just nodded and the three leprechauns disappeared.
“Well, most of them seemed pretty cool,” Chad said.
Morgaine rolled her eyes and said, “One of these days I hope things get back to normal around here.”
Gwyneth laughed. “When has this buildin’ ever been normal?”
Chapter 16
In the apartment’s kitchen, Amber beat a chocolate cake mix by hand. Sure, she had a mixer, but taking her frustrations out on cake batter while wishing she had her powers back seemed like a good idea. She wanted to see Rory sooner rather than later, and waiting for him to get a passport so he could fly to Boston via airplane made her antsy as hell.
She turned around to grab the greased and floured cake pans and almost bumped into the white-robed figure of Mother Nature.
“Oh! I didn’t see you there, Gaia.”
The goddess smirked. “I like to keep my muses on their toes.”
Amber lifted her brows hopefully. “Am I still your muse?”
“You are if you want to be.”
“I want to be! I really do. I’m sorry about the stupid way I behaved before. Can you forgive me?”
Mother Nature offered a genuine smile. “Well, since you called your own behavior stupid and I didn’t have to label it for you, it sounds like you’ve learned your lesson.”
“I have. I swear it. I’m very sorry for bragging about meeting you.”
“And you won’t do it again?”
“Never.”
The goddess didn’t answer right away. Instead, she strolled out of the kitchen and sat in the small dining area. “I’ve been thinking about your situation…”
“What situation is that?”
“I realize I may have forgotten to give you the incentive I’ve given other muses. With nothing at stake, you may not have had the proper motivation to stick to my simple rules. Not that you should need motivation to do what’s right,” Gaia amended quickly.
Amber just nodded. Until she knew what the goddess meant by incentive and motivation, she wasn’t about to interrupt.
“For instance, Brandee was easy. She wanted a career in photography with her own gallery. I gave her the gallery on Newbury Street as a reward for her duties as one of my modern muses.”
“I see…” Amber was only beginning to guess where Mother Nature was going with this.
The goddess picked up a lock of her own long hair and began curling it around her finger as if giving in to a nervous habit. “Bliss was more difficult to persuade. I thought losing all her belongings in a fire was her biggest problem, so I tried to solve that with a money tree.” Gaia let her hair drop. “I still have a hard time believing she turned that down.”
“What was it she really wanted?” Amber hadn’t known the other modern muse that long and couldn’t guess what she’d finally received.
“She wanted her husband to be made fireproof again. I had just gone to all the trouble of turning him mortal, but because he continued to work as a firefighter, she got all worried about him.” Mother Nature tutted. “Talk about shortsighted!”
“Oh yeah. I heard about that. I guess Bliss realized her mistake too. But she got pregnant while he was human.”
“Yes, it worked out for them, but don’t get any ideas. The whole thing was a giant pain in the ass.”
Amber’s prospects were beginning to look up. She didn’t want to get ahead of herself though. Maybe being forgiven was enough of a reward.
“You, I can’t figure out at all,” the goddess continued. “You wanted this apartment and a man to love who would love you in return. Well, you achieved that all on your own.”
Amber couldn’t help being relieved. If Mother Nature had given her those things, she’d have been worried.<
br />
Gaia rose and paced with her hands clasped behind her back. The vine that belted her gown trailed along the floor behind her. “I finally decided to stop overtaxing my brain and just come out and ask you.” She halted and stared at her anxious muse. “What is it you want?”
Amber hadn’t even thought about it. What did she really need? Not much. She had a great place to live—possibly two places. She had the man of her dreams and he’d recently proposed. Presumably, she’d have all her muse powers, including instant travel, so she didn’t think that would count.
So she thought beyond herself. What could she do for someone else that would make her happy too?
“I, uh…I understand you have rules about humans and dragons committing to each other, but I would be eternally grateful if you’d make an exception to that rule.”
Mother Nature reared back but didn’t interrupt.
“I’ve never seen a love so happy and pure as Shannon and Finn’s. It just about killed Rory to think he’d have to tell his sister they couldn’t marry—especially after he’d given them his blessing.”
Gaia sighed. “I see where you’re going with this, muse. It speaks well of your character that you want something for someone else. Something that wouldn’t benefit you in the least. And yet, that’s not good enough.”
Amber’s jaw dropped. Not good enough? Did that mean the goddess wouldn’t grant that favor?
“That means I can grant your wish, but I have to do something for you too.”
“Oh yeah. I forgot you can read my mind.”
“Only when I want to. I thought you might give me an inkling as to what you really want, but I still don’t see it.”
“So, will you grant my only wish?”
The all-powerful one crossed her arms and scowled. “You’re pushing your luck, you know. I just restored your powers, and you’re asking me to make a huge exception to my number one rule.” Then she pointed at Amber. “And what is that rule, Muse?”
“Never to reveal the paranormal world to humans,” Amber said without hesitation.
Gaia’s posture relaxed. “Very good. At least you know what an enormous favor you’re asking.”
“I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t believe the young man could handle it. By the way, does Shannon really have two hearts?”
