I didn’t know what hurt worse: the thought that Ben was willing to continue with the farce, or that I didn’t matter as much to him as David.
Francesca—
No, don’t say it. I am ashamed of myself for even thinking that. I gave him a chagrined smile. I’m going to have to get used to you seeing the real me, warty thoughts and all.
There’s nothing about your thoughts that are warty. I just wish—
I know, I interrupted. I’m being selfish and self-centered, and you’re only trying to help your friend. All right, we’ll help him.
David had been thanking me during that entire exchange, finally finishing with, “I can’t tell you how much this means to my pride and me.”
I was even more ashamed that I had put my own feelings so far ahead of his concern for his family. “There’s no need to thank me. Is there anything I can do to help you?” I glanced at Ben. “I assume Ben told you about my abilities?”
David looked down at my black-laced hands. “Yes, he did. I don’t know how psychometry can help us now, but I appreciate you offering your assistance, and I’m just desperate enough that I will ask for help should you be able to give it. I just hope you forgive me for . . . er . . . bringing you here as I did. Benedikt told me to bring you without causing you any distress, and it seemed easiest to simply drug you.”
“I won’t say I enjoyed it, but there’s no harm done.” I looked around us, trying to figure out just where we were. We seemed to be in some sort of thickly wooded area. A faint thrum of noise sounded in the distance. “Are we near the Faire?”
“About seven miles,” Ben said. “This is a small wild-life preserve that David uses when he’s in the area. No one ever comes out—”
He stopped speaking when three people, two men each wearing half a horse costume, and a woman clad in a nude-colored body stocking and knee-length blond wig, strolled past with polite greetings.
“—here,” Ben finished, looking after the threesome.
“This is the weirdest town I’ve ever been in,” I commented.
“I’ll take you back to the Faire,” Ben said, holding out his hand for me. I took it, smiling to myself when he peeled off both sets of gloves, handing them back to me before taking my hand again.
“Will David be all right out there by himself? Well, by himself and with whatever oddballs are walking through the woods in the middle of the night in stage costumes?” I asked, glancing over my shoulder to see David waving at us before disappearing into the shadows.
“Yes. His kind prefers solitude to intense contact with mortals. Would you have really kissed him?”
My secret smile grew a lot bigger. “What do you think?”
He helped me down a gravelly incline, holding back the branches of a scraggly fir tree. “I think you were deliberately trying to bait me.”
“Then that must be the answer,” I said complacently, greatly enjoying the irritated look he shot me as he lifted me over a fallen tree. I debated pointing out that I was perfectly able to clamber over obstacles on my own, but decided to enjoy his show of masculinity.
Ten minutes later we reached a narrow dirt track. Ben’s lantern didn’t cast much light, but there was enough for me to see no bulky shape of a car. “We’re walking to the Faire?”
“No.” He tugged me after him. A few hundred yards down the track, it curved. As we rounded it, a black shadow loomed up against the darker trees. I stopped, a strange joy filling me. “Your bike! You still have it?”
“Of course. It’s a classic.” His lips quirked for a moment. “No helmets, though. Do you think your mother will be angry?”
“No doubt, but I trust you not to kill me or leave me brain dead,” I said, waiting for him to get onto the motorcycle before climbing on behind him. “At the risk of inflating your ego past bearable levels, I have to admit that I’ve often thought of the rides we took together. For some reason, they always left me . . .”
I hesitated, searching for the right word.
“Aroused?” he asked, looking back at me.
“Yes. I just didn’t realize that’s what it was.”
He grinned. I’m glad I wasn’t alone in that. The last few times, I was afraid I’d scare you off forever with the natural consequence of you riding in front of me.
Oh, I noticed you were in a very happy mood. I was flattered, to be honest. And more than a little intrigued.
He gave me an unreadable look before turning around to start the bike.
A little thrill ran through me at the combination of the motorcycle vibrating beneath me and the fact that I was plastered up against Ben’s back. “I’ve missed this.”