“She is not yet an issue for him. But precautions can be taken,” Rowena mused, tapping a finger on the rim of her glass. “She can be protected, to an extent, until her time begins.”
“If it begins,”Pitte corrected.
“Hes pessimistic by nature,” Rowena smiled. “I have more faith.” She walked back to the sofa, sat on the arm with the fluid grace some women are born with. Reaching down, she took Danas face in her hands.
“You know the truth when you hear it. You may turn your ear from it, close your mind to it. As my man is pessimistic, you are stubborn by nature.”
“Got that in one,” Jordan muttered.
“But when you choose to hear it, the truth rings clear for you. This is your gift. He cant deceive you unless you allow it. When you accept what you already know youll have the rest.”
“You wouldnt like to be a little more specific?”
A smile touched the corners of Rowenas mouth. “You have enough to think of for now.”
* * *
LATER, when they were alone, Rowena curled on the sofa besidePitte , rested her head on his shoulder and watched the fire. In the flames she studied Dana, her hands competent on the steering wheel as she drove through the night toward the quiet valley below the Peak.
She admired competence, in gods and mortals.
“She worries him,” she said quietly.
Pittewatched the fire, and the images in it as well. “Whom does she worry? The soul-stealer or the story-spinner?”
Absently, for comfort, Rowena rubbed her cheek againstPittes shoulder. “Both, certainly. And both have hurt her, though only one with intent. But a lovers blade slices deeper than any enemys. She worries Kane,” she said, “but the man is worried for her.”
“They have heat.”Pitte turned his head to brush his lips over Rowenas hair. “He should take her to bed and let the heat seal old wounds.”
“So like a male, to think bedding is always the answer.”
“Its a good one.”Pitte gave her a little shove, and when she fell, it was onto the big bed they shared.
She cocked an eyebrow at him. Her silver dress had melted away so that she wore only her own skin. Such things, she knew, were one of his more playful, and interesting, habits.
“Heat isnt enough.” She spread her arms, and dozens of candles flared into flame. “Its warmth, my love, my only love, that heals the wounded heart.”
With her arms still open wide, she sat up and welcomed him to her.
* * *
DANA had hardly gotten back in the door—and kept Jordan out—had barely settled down with Othello again and cleared her mind enough to focus on the task at hand, when there was another knock.
Figuring Jordan had come back with some new ploy to wheedle his way in, she ignored it.
She was, by Jesus, going to spend two hours working on this book angle, and then she was going to think about the drive to the Peak, what had been said there. What hadnt been said on the drive home.
If she had to think about Jordan, she sure as hell wasnt going to do it when he was around.
Hed sniff it out of her head like a bloodhound. There was another knock, more insistent this time. She merely bared her teeth and kept scanning the play.
But the barking got her attention.
Realizing that she would get nowhere until the door was answered, she got up and opened it. “What the hell are you doing here? Both of you.” She scowled at Flynn, then leaned down to rub Moes floppy ears and make kissing noises. “Did Malory kick you out? Poor baby.” Her sympathetic tone turned icy as she straightened and peered at her brother. “Youre not sleeping here.”
“Dont plan to.”
“Then whats in the bag?”
“Stuff.” He squeezed inside, around his dog and his sister. “I hear you had a rough one last night.”
“It was an experience, and Im not in the mood to rehash it. Its after ten. Im working, then Im sleeping.”
With, she thought, every light in the apartment burning, just as she had the night before.
“Fine. Heres his stuff.”
“Whose stuff?”
“Moes. Ill haul over the big-ass bag of dog food tomorrow, but theres enough in there for his breakfast.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” She looked in the bag hed shoved into her arms and saw a mangled tennis ball, a tattered rope, a box of dog biscuits on top of about five pounds of dry dog food.
“What the hell is this?”
“His stuff,” Flynn repeated cheerfully, and grunted when Moe leaped up to plant his paws on his shoulders. “Moes your new temporary roommate. Well,gotta go. See you tomorrow.”
“Oh, no, you dont.” She tossed the bag on a chair, beat him to the door by a step, and threw herself against it. “Youre not walking out that door without this dog.”
He gave her a smile that was both mildly quizzical and wholly innocent. “You just said I couldnt sleep here.”
“You cant. Neither can he.” “Now look, youve hurt his feelings.” He looked sorrowfully at Moe, who was trying to nose his way into the bag. “Its all right, big guy. She didnt mean it.”
“Give me a break.”
“You dont know what dogs understand. Scientific tests are inconclusive.” He gave Dana a brotherly pat on the cheek. “So anyway, Moes going to stay for a couple weeks. Play guard dog.”
“Guard dog?” She noted that Moe was now chewing on the bag. “Give me a serious break.”
Obviously not finding the brown paper to his taste, Moe wandered off to sniff for crumbs, and Flynn sat down, stretched out his legs. Hed reconsidered his strategy and decided that this tack was foolproof with Dana. “Okay. Ill stay and be guard dog since you have no faith in Moe. Lets flip a coin for the bed.”
“Im the only one sleeping in my bed, and I have less faith in you than I do in that big mutt, who is currently chasing his own tail. Moe! Cut that out before you wreck my place.”
She considered just tearing out her own hair when Moe bashed against a table in his desperate attempt to latch teeth onto tail, and sent books thudding down on his head.
He gave a startled bark and scrambled toward Flynn for protection.
“Go away, Flynn, and take your klutzy dog with you.”
Flynn simply lifted his legs and used Moe as a footstool. “Lets just go over our options,” he began.
Twenty minutes later Dana stomped into the kitchen. She stopped short, hissed through her teeth when she saw the contents of her trash can strewed from one end of the floor to the other and Moe happily sprawled over the mess of it, chewing on a wad of paper towels.
“How does he do it? How the hell did he talk me into this?” And that, she admitted, was the mystery of Flynn Hennessy. You never knew just how he managed to box you into the corner of his choice.
She crouched down, got nose to nose with Moe.
Moe rolled his eyes to the side, avoiding hers. Dana swore that if dogs could whistle, shed have heard the I-wasnt-doing-anything tune coming out of the dogs mouth. “Okay, pal, you and I are going to go over the rules of the household.”
He responded by licking her face, then flopping over to expose his belly. * * *
SHE woke with the sun streaming over her face and her legs paralyzed. The sun was easy to explain. Shed forgotten to draw the curtains again. And her legs werent paralyzed, she realized after a moment of panic. They were trapped under the massive bulk of Moe.
“Okay, this is no way to begin.” She sat up, then shoved the dog hard.“
“I said no dogs allowed on the bed. I was very clear about that rule.”
He moaned, an oddly human sound that made her lips twitch. Then he opened one eye. Then that eye brightened with manic joy.
“No!”
But it was too late. In one leap, hed trapped not only her legs but her entire body. Dancing paws pressed into her belly, her breasts, her crotch. His tongue slathered her face with desperate love.