Finally Dageus finished, and she heard Gwen and Chloe say simultaneously, breathlessly: "Oh. my God"
Gabby opened her eyes.
Drustan had risen to his feet and was scowling, an expression mirrored by his twin. Both were glaring at Adam— whom they obviously could now see. Then at their wives, then back at Adam.
Gabby absorbed the looks on Chloe's and Gwen's faces, and suddenly felt so much better about having had such a hard time ignoring the Fae all her life.
It isn't just me, she thought gratefully. She wasn't a woman of weak moral turpitude, a spineless, undisciplined fairy-abduction-waiting-to-happen; the Fae did have something magnetic and inordinately seductive, something women simply couldn't resist. Adam was affecting Chloe and Gwen in the same way he affected her.
And how could he not? she thought, seeing him anew through their eyes. He was nearly six and a half feet of powerful, gold-skinned Fae prince, his body sculpted of pure muscle, his long black hair spilling to his waist in a dark silky tangle. Clad in those tattooed jeans, boots, an ivory sweater, and leather coat, gold torque gleaming at his neck, he dripped dark, otherworldly eroticism. His chiseled face was savagely beautiful, shadowed with a few-days' dark stubble. Ancient intelligence and barely banked sexual heat glittered in his exotic, dual-colored eyes. The faint fragrance of jasmine, sandalwood, and spicy man that always clung to him seemed suddenly to fill the room with his heady, intoxicating scent. She wondered, not for the first time, if there were some kind of chemical in the scent a Fae gave off that worked as an aphrodisiac on humans of the opposite sex.
He was, quite simply, a living, breathing fantasy, exuding an irresistible come-hither that held an intrinsic, unspoken caveat of danger. He had a come-and-get-me-baby-I'm-pure-trouble-and-you're-gonna-love-it kind of attitude that provoked a woman's most primitive sexual drives. Drew her even as she knew she should be running like hell in the opposite direction. Drew her, in fact, in some perverse way, because she knew she should be running like hell in the opposite direction.
And now that she was seeing the looks on Gwen's and Chloe's faces, she wondered how she'd managed to stay out of bed with him as long as she had.
For that matter... just how much longer she was going to be able to resist him.
For that matter, she amended irritably, as she watched Gwen and Chloe watching him, why she was. It sure didn't look like they would be.
"Holy cow," Chloe said faintly.
"No kidding," Gwen breathed.
The sexy Fae prince flashed them a smile that was pure devilish charm, sexy and playful and mischievous, briefly catching the tip of his tongue between white teeth, before his lips curved, dark eyes sparking gold.
Gabby groaned. She choked on it hastily, camouflaging it with a dry little cough. Her own private stash of eye candy had just been made available for public consumption and she didn't like it one bit.
Apparently she wasn't the only one.
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking. Dageus?" Drustan said irritably.
"Och, aye," Dageus said darkly. "You liked him better invisible too?"
"Och, aye."
"Should I curse him again?"
"Och, aye."
Adam threw back his head and laughed, eyes sparkling with gold fire. "Bloody hell, it's good to be back," he purred.
18
Dageus and Drustan weren't the only ones who'd like to see... er, rather, not see... Adam invisible again.
There were twenty-three females on the Keltar estate— not counting Gwen, Chloe, herself, or the cat— Gabby knew, because shortly after Adam had become visible last night, she'd met each and every one, from tiniest tot to tottering ancient.
It had begun with a plump, thirtyish maid popping in to pull the drapes for the evening and inquire if the MacKeltars "were wishing aught else?" The moment her bespectacled gaze had fallen on Adam, she'd begun stammering and tripping over her own feet. It had taken her a few moments to regain a semblance of coordination, but she'd managed to stumble from the library, nearly upsetting a lamp and a small end table in her haste.
Apparently it had been haste to alert the forces, for a veritable parade had ensued: a blushing curvaceous maid had come offering a warm-up of tea (they'd not been having any), followed by a giggling maid seeking a forgotten dust cloth (which— was anyone surprised?— was nowhere to be found), then a third one looking for a waylaid broom (yeah, right— they swept castles at midnight in Scotland— who believed that?), then a fourth, fifth, and sixth inquiring if the Crystal Chamber would do for Mr. Black (no one seemed to care what chamber might do for her: she half-expected to end up in an outbuilding somewhere). A seventh, eighth, and ninth had come to announce that his chamber was ready and would he like an escort? A bath drawn? Help undressing? (Well, okay, maybe they hadn't actually asked the last, but their eyes certainly had.)