by Lucy Fear
“Um—yeah, I guess so,” she stammered uncertainly. “I mean, I type fast, and as Mrs. Cummings pointed out, I do actually have a brain, so—but maybe first you should get cleaned up, sir. Don’t you think?”
Brendan chuckled. “You never told me your name.”
“Me? Oh, I’m—my name? It’s Rhi. Rhiannon Woods, actually.
“Very well, Rhi. Have someone show you to my study,” he said with a smile. “We could have someone else bring us coffee.”
*
Rhi had no idea where to find her brother, but she definitely wanted to share a word or two. She texted him a message outlining the current situation while she was changing back into her regular clothes. Mrs. Cummings had said someone would be waiting to take her to the study, but her tone clearly showed that she disapproved.
“You have got to be about the shortest-lived coffee girl I’ve ever seen,” said a young woman dressed as a maid when Rhi stepped back out of the changing room.
“I know, right?” she agreed. “Trust me, I didn’t do it on purpose. The last thing I was expecting was a sudden promotion.”
“Right,” she agreed. “Still, you are one lucky lady. Brendan is really hot, and you’re going to be working with him every single day. I sure wouldn’t mind being in your shoes.”
“You don’t know the half of it,” Rhi replied. “By the way, where in this place might I find Mr. Rory Duncan? He’s the one who hired me, so I would really like to offer him my thanks.”
“Rory?” she chuckled. “Don’t worry about him, Miss Woods. If you’re keeping company with Mr. Drake, Rory Duncan will turn up soon enough. Those two are practically inseparable.”
“Good to know,” said Rhi. “Please lead the way.”
The women trekked through a part of the castle that Rhiannon had not yet seen. She looked around curiously at the rather modern-looking sitting room, anachronistically strange nestled within the ancient structure that surrounded it. Yet somehow, the disparity really enhanced the theme.
“Did Mr. Drake choose this décor himself?” she asked curiously.
“Yes, Miss Woods, he did,” she nodded. “Drake is a man of extreme diversity. I’m sure you’ll figure that out for yourself soon enough.”
“Yes, I suppose so,” Rhi agreed.
They stepped into another long hall, then entered a door at its far end. Inside, Rhi discovered the room was filled with shelves of books, and a few tables as well. It looked much more like a library than a personal study room. Of course, a large wooden desk with a fancy desktop computer dominated the far end, making it quite apparent where most of Drake’s time was spent.
Also, the room was decorated in browns and golds, much like the man himself. It was easy to visualize what the man looked like seated here even without making use of her psychic sight. Rhi caught herself smiling as she stepped over and began to read the titles in a nearby shelf.
The door rattled, and then the man himself stepped in.
“Ah, I see you’ve found your way here, Miss Woods,” he said smoothly as he moved over to his desk to take a seat. “Come here by me. I wish to show you what I want to do. See if you agree.”
“I’m sure it’s not up to me to make the decision.” She shrugged as she dutifully grabbed one of the chairs and dragged it next to his. “You’re the businessman, not me.”
“Businessman,” he said with a chuckle. “I’ve always had trouble visualizing myself with that title. Sure, I conduct business, and I’ve got the necessary skills to create the products and make the sales, but for me it’s more about finding new ways to help than it is about the money. They say you need money to make money, and I can’t very well help people if I’ve got nothing to pay for the materials, right? Same with this book, I want to write it to help, and sure it’s going to also bring in money, but I believe the helpfulness outweighs the income greatly.”
“I understand,” Rhi said, nodding. “In today’s world, you can’t have one without the other.”
“Exactly,” he said appreciatively. “I like that you get me so well. So what about you? What makes Miss Rhiannon Woods tick?”
“Me?” she said, pulling a face. “There’s not much to say about me, I don’t suppose. I’m just trying to find my way in this world as best as I can. When I have finally amassed enough money I’ll be able to get a place of my own.”
“You won’t need to while you’re working here,” he reminded her.
Rhi repressed a guilty twinge. Of course, he was thinking that she was going to be here for a very long time, that she’d come here with no thoughts of soon returning to her real job or telling her parents about her intentions to move. To him, she’d already made the decision to move, and he probably assumed she’d told her family and they were all okay. A lot he knew—in reality none of that was true. Her parents didn’t even know where she was, and they certainly had no idea she intended to move away.
“Well, that’s true,” she had to agree. “Except, I wasn’t thinking about that when I said it. I meant in general, really. It’s been my plan for a while now to get up some money and then let my parents down easy by staying close even when I moved away.”
“You still live with your folks?” he asked curiously.
“I’m only twenty-three,” she pointed out.
“I was nineteen when I moved out,” he said. “To each their own, though. It’s not for me to say when you’d be ready. But obviously, you must be now, or you wouldn’t be here.”
“Yeah, I guess that’s true,” she said. “Though actually, I’m sort of here on a dare. I didn’t really think this whole thing through.”
“Do you regret the decision?”
“Not at all.” She grinned. “Who knew when I said yes that I’d get to work on a book with you? I’m very curious to see what all the fuss is about with you.”
“Why, what have you heard?”
“Only that you’re a metaphysical teacher and a shamanic shape shifter, and that you’ve been spotted all over the world spreading your teachings to anyone who was willing to learn,” she said. ‘That’s a great thing to do, really. So I wondered what you were teaching all these people that’s left so many begging for more.”
“Lots of things, really,” he explained. “You see, I traveled the world for years just to learn the things I know. I followed every story I ever heard pertaining to magic, or spiritual practices, or anything to do with energy transfer or transformation. In those years, I’ve seen some really powerful things. Not all of them were warm and fuzzy, but the world is not a warm and fuzzy place, I can assure you. People who are looking for fluffy bunnies are wasting their time with me.”
“So you teach darker magic, then?”
“I suppose you could say I teach a magic of many colors, if you need an analogy. It’s not about a color, but more about your intentions. All magic can be used for good, and all magic can be used for evil, depending on how you use it.”
“Yeah, that’s true,” Rhi agreed. “But why shift? And why into a dragon?”
“Dragons are a symbol of power,” he explained. “They can also be a symbol of wealth and plenty. The idea is, if you can become a dragon, then you are able to obtain the things you need, and then to keep them safe from anyone who would hope to steal those things away again. It’s sort of like an announcement to your brain, a way to say ‘hey, we’re powerful, we can get and keep the things we most want and need.’ If that makes any sense.”
“Yeah, I guess it does. And you’re going to put that into this book?”
“Well yeah, but not right at the beginning,” he shrugged. “Becoming a dragon is some pretty advanced stuff, and not everybody is able to do it. You can’t take that form until you really mean it. It takes years of dedication and tons of knowledge to ever pull it off.”
“And you think this book will help the readers to try?”
“It will illuminate the path that could lead them in that way,” he said. “But in reality, I don’t think shifting is a thi
ng you can learn from a book. For that, the dedicated students would need to come to me.”
“Interesting,” Rhi said softly.
“Tell you what, though, we don’t need to start working on the thing tonight,” he said then. “You look like you’re tired, and so am I. Let’s meet back here in the morning, say ten? That should give us some time to sleep. For now, I would like you to join Rory and me for dinner.”
“Rory?” Rhi repeated, her eyes narrowing slightly. “Yes, it should be nice to see him again.”
*
Rhiannon followed Brendan back down to the dining room. Walking at his side, she was very aware of his physical presence. He stood at least a head and a half taller than her, and he emanated an energy that she really found herself attracted to. She wondered if he was aware of her own vitality as well, but she wasn’t about to call his attention to it by asking him.
The real trouble was, she kept getting visions of the two of them, and some of them were rather naughty in nature. She couldn’t decide if they were real visions, or just wishful thinking. The man really was handsome, and powerful, too. Both qualities that drew her like a moth to a flame. To say he was sexy would be an understatement. She was trying her best not to notice, but she could feel herself losing the battle completely.
“Miss Woods—Rhi—I need to warn you about something,” he said as they neared the bottom step. “You’re in the presence of psychics now, both me and many of the others who come to learn. If you don’t want them to sniff out all your secrets, you’re going to have to learn to do better than this at shielding what you’re thinking about.”
“Oh? And what might that be?”
“I’m too much of a gentleman to say.”
Rhi’s eyes widened. She wondered just what she’d been thinking that he’d actually picked up on. True, she’d forgotten to put up any kind of a barrier between them, but it had been so easy to walk at his side. She felt comfortable with him in a way she’d never experienced before. Still, she didn’t really want him to be aware how much she would like to stick her tongue right down his throat, and she certainly didn’t want anyone else to sense it either.
“Thanks for the advice, then,” she said, her face coloring with embarrassment.
Brendan’s hand came up to cup her chin, tilting her head so she was looking up at him.
“Don’t worry about it. I was thinking about the same thing.”
Rhi gasped and looked away, her face growing redder than ever. Had she just been thinking it was comfortable to be around this man? Because now that he’d said that, she wasn’t feeling comfortable at all. Instead, she was pretty sure her hormones were running rampant all over her body. She stepped into the dining hall just to put a little distance between them.
She spotted Rory sitting at the table and went over to sit down.
“What on earth are you doing here?” he wanted to know.
“I brought her along with me,” Brendan informed him as he sat on Rhi’s other side.
“I don’t understand,” he said. “I hired this girl to work in the kitchen.”
“This girl is a deplorable choice for kitchen work,” Brendan informed him with a little shudder. “The first thing she did was pour coffee all over me. I’d be afraid to let her go back in there. However, I’ve found a better use for her in the end.”
“You have?” he asked, looking worried.
“Yes. She’ll be helping me to write a book,” said Brendan. “I’m an excellent judge of talent, and I think she’s much better suited to that task. You’re to have her belongings moved from the servant’s quarters into the family wing. I won’t hear of her having to walk all the way through the house each day just to spend time with me.”
Rory practically choked. “I’ll give her the suite next to mine.”
“Yes, you could give her those rooms,” Brendan agreed with hesitation. “Though I think she’d be more comfortable in the rooms closer to mine.”
“Sir, those rooms would be better suited to a wife than to a woman who is simply helping you to write a book,” Rory said. “Have you forgotten about the adjoining door?”
“No, I hadn’t forgotten,” he said. “But it would be so inconvenient to have to walk all the way down the hall just to bounce an idea off her after midnight. I much prefer to knock on the inner door. We’ll be putting her in there, I think.”
“As you wish, sir.”
Rhi was sitting there watching this exchange with mixed feelings. On the one hand, she was still nervous as hell and the only thing she wanted to do was tear into her brother for getting her into this mess. Yet on the other hand, she’d never been more excited in her life than to be chosen to help with such important work. She wanted to do everything she could to help Brendan with his book during the time she was there.
This business of the adjoining door, following so soon after his admission about his less than gentlemanly thoughts, had her keyed up for a completely different reason, though. With only a door between their two rooms, what was to stop the man from taking advantage of it for other types of interaction? Sure, he was a spiritualist, but that didn’t mean temptations of the flesh weren’t part of his world. How did she know he wasn’t intent on ravishing her that very night? It was not an impossibility.
“Does that door happen to have a lock on it, then?” she asked sweetly.
Smirking, Brendan said, “It does, but you shouldn’t need it. I would never come into your rooms uninvited. That’s just not how I roll.”
“I see,” she nodded, smiling softly. “It should be fine, Rory. Thank you for your concern, but I believe Brendan’s intentions are just as he says they are. I’m going to trust him unless he proves otherwise.”
Curiosity lit in Brendan’s eyes as he looked from one to the other. “It’s strange, but you two seem to favor one another. Where did you find her anyway, Rory?”
“Truthfully? She was at the airport looking dejected, and I stopped to ask her why.”
“And why were you looking dejected, Miss Woods?”
Cursing her brother for an idiot, she said, “Well, it’s complicated. You remember I told you I wanted to get out on my own? The truth is, I recently tried to move in with my boyfriend of two years, but things didn’t work out and I had to go home again. The trouble is, he’s a fellow employee at the office where I worked, and I really just wanted to get away. He cheated on me, you see.”
It was close to the truth, which should throw him off the scent about the rest of the story. Rhi felt good about not actually lying to him about anything that she’d just said. Her major concern with doing this for Rory had been the idea that she might have to lie to this man in order to help him. She was thankful that, so far, she’d been spared the need.
“So, why were you at the airport then?”
“I’d actually come out to California just to visit the ocean for a few days, see if I could clear my head. I was dejected because it seemed I wasn’t ready to go back, but felt like I didn’t have a choice,” she explained. “Rory here kind of opened up another option for me. When I agreed to come here, it was just to try the whole thing on. I wasn’t sure if I intended to stay.”
“And now?”
“Now, I’m willing to give it a bit of time to see how it goes,” she answered, shrugging. “We’ll give it a month or two, if that’s okay?”
“It’s fine,” he nodded. “You’d be amazed what can be accomplished in such a short amount of time if you want it to. And it’ll give you the chance to heal. I, too, can sense the sadness in you.”
“Can you?” she asked, smirking. “Then I really need to work on that shield.”
“I’ll be happy to teach you that, among other things,” Brendan agreed.
“You’re going to teach her to shield?” Rory gaped.
“Yes, why not?”
“No particular reason, I guess,” he said, and he began to eat the meal one of the kitchen staff had set in front of him. “Knock yourself out.”
&nbs
p; Rhi knew that Rory was well aware she’d been shielding since she was twelve, but that right now her powers were suffering from an all-time low. She didn’t mind one bit if the spiritualist was able to help her regain her control. He didn’t need to know she’d already learned the skill before. He would simply believe her to be particularly adept, and that’s all he needed to know.
After they’d eaten, Brendan and Rory both volunteered to walk Rhi to her new rooms. They sent one of the maids to fetch her belongings, and then walked together to the west wing. Rory branched off as they reach the door to his suite, and then Brendan stopped before the suite he was giving to Rhi.
“Right in here, my dear,” he said with a smile. “Would you care for the grand tour? All you really need to know about is which one is the adjoining door.”
“Yeah, I’d hate to walk into your rooms in search of my bathroom,” she said, chuckling.
“Would that be such a bad thing?” he teased. “It’s not like you couldn’t simply walk right back out again. But let me show you anyway.”
CHAPTER THREE
After showing Rhi her sitting room, bedroom, and bathroom, it felt a little awkward when Brendan winked at her as he opened the dividing door and stepped through. She was enjoying his company so much part of her didn’t really want him to go. Of course, she knew that asking him to stay would be a colossally bad idea, but that didn’t stop her from wanting to.
“Well, get some rest, okay?” he said. “And if you need anything, don’t hesitate to ask. The staff is now at your disposal, so don’t be shy. All right?”
“Sure,” she agreed, blushing slightly.
“Why do I get the feeling you’ll hesitate to try?” he asked sternly.
Rhi looked down at her hands. “I’ve never had a staff at my disposal before. Besides, won’t they all be annoyed to serve me when I showed up here intending to be a servant myself?”
