Rescued By The Fae Prince (Fae 0f Ballantine Book 3) Read online

  After nearly dropping the plate, she said, “I can do it myself, thank you.”

  He wanted to laugh out loud, sure that it wouldn’t be long before she threw herself into his arms, but he eased back a bit to prolong the fun. “So, how did you find my parents?” he asked, his tone conversational.

  She looked up at him, clearly wary. “I didn’t find them, they found me, at the university where I do research. We collaborated on a paper last year,” she said, turning back to the food.

  “Oh, I thought it was the other way for some reason,” he said, then slid up next to her again and leaned over to fork up some meat, making sure his arm brushed her breast.

  She gasped and looked over at him, then stepped away again, her cheeks flaming, her eyes full of desire. “No... ummm...it’s complicated, but when they said they needed help, I said I’d come,” she finally managed to say, unable to tear her gaze from his.

  Reese knew that all he’d have to do was reach for her, and she’d come willingly into his arms, but he hesitated too long and she turned away. Momentarily shocked that she could turn away from him, he let her slip away from the buffet, but shock was quickly replaced by an aching sense of disappointment that took his breath away and left him staring after her.

  When he got back to the table, they were already deep in conversation, and all he could do was quietly eat his lunch and watch them. His little exploration at the buffet table, hadn’t told him all that much; he was sure he saw attraction and desire in Sarah’s eyes, but she’d turned away from him so easily, he could have been wrong. But watching her from across the table, he realized that he didn’t mind the idea of trying again.

  “Well, you must be tired,” his mother said when the servants had removed their dessert plates. “Would you like to see your rooms?”

  “I would love a tour of the castle first, if you don’t mind,” Sarah said, the food and conversation having clearly revived her; her eyes were sparkling with excitement. “I’ve been to a couple of castles, but I’ve never gotten to stay in one.”

  “A tour it is then,” his father said, getting to his feet. “But I have to warn you, parts of the castle haven’t been updated for a hundred years; you wouldn’t enjoy staying there for long.”

  “Sounds wonderful; lead the way,” Sarah said, getting to her feet.

  “I think I’ll tag along with you,” Reese said, rising as well. “It’s been a while since I was in the old part of the castle.”

  His father shot him a look. “We’ll need some flashlights. Reese, could you see to that?” he said, leaving no room for argument.

  When he caught up to them, they were just pushing open the big wooden doors to the east wing. “No one has done anything to this part of the castle for over a hundred years; we maintain it, of course, but that’s it,” his father said, taking a flashlight from Reese.

  He handed one to his mother and another to Sarah, then clicked his own on, sighing when his father said, “This castle has been in my family for generations.”

  What followed was his father’s customary speech about the Kinkaid family and their history as rulers of Loughmore. Of course, he never mentioned the Fae, and the story sounded a bit off, but Sarah didn’t seem to notice. She drank it all in, her face full of excitement, and as he watched her, he felt that strange pull again, a tingling deep inside him that alarmed him.

  They reached the new addition to the castle just as his father finished his rendition of their family history, and Reese was relieved. He would have gladly skipped the tour; it had been a total waste of time, revealed nothing new to him, and they were about to go into the lab. He still didn’t know if he could trust Sarah, and that bothered him, but he couldn’t stop her from going in, so he followed silently, watching her closely.

  ***Sarah***

  Sarah could see the bright glare of fluorescent lights before she stepped into the big room, but she still wasn’t prepared for the contrast between old and new. It took her a few seconds to move as her eyes took in the high ceilings and comfortable-looking furniture, and best of all, the glass-enclosed lab that sat in the middle of the room.

  “This is the new part of the castle,” Patience explained. “Stephen’s dad built it when he was a young man, and it’s been updated several times.”

  Almost in a trance, she crossed the room and peered through the glass into the lab, her heart pounding in her chest with excitement. “I’ve never worked in a lab like this one,” she said, turning back to grin at them. “Thank you for inviting me; it’s the chance of a lifetime to work here with you.”

  “Your welcome,” Stephen said, clearly pleased with her gratitude, “but don’t forget that we need you.”

  Sarah nodded, still grinning, so thrilled she could barely contain herself. “Can we go inside?” she asked, looking back at the lab, her fingers itching to touch the equipment gleaming in the lights.

  “By all means, let’s go inside,” Patience said, grinning too. “You can meet Simon. He’s our assistant.”

  She hadn’t noticed the man sitting at the desk, but just then, he looked up and their eyes met; his turned hard, and filled with anger. Surprised, she looked away only to find Reese staring at her again, his eyes boring into her as if he were trying to read her mind. A thrill sped through her, but she pushed it away, annoyed that anything was interfering with this moment. She’d been dreaming of the day she got to work in a lab like this, and she wasn’t going to let anything spoil it.

  “We can show you our prototype; it’s not fully functioning, as you know, but you’ll get the idea,” Stephen said, guiding her through the door.

  “And your research, I’d like to see that, along with all the test results, and...” but she couldn’t finish her list because Stephen held up his hand.

  “Let’s just start with a quick tour and then I think you should get settled in. You’ve had a long trip,” he said, his voice full of laughter. When Sarah looked disappointed, he added, “I promise we’ll get started first thing in the morning, after you’ve had a good night’s rest.”

  Sarah was disappointed, but then she saw a whiteboard across the room covered with calculations and was drawn to it. She stood staring at it, the numbers coming alive as they always did, but something was wrong; she could see it right away. Stephen and Patience came up behind her and stood staring at it with her.

  “Something isn’t right,” she said, looking back at them. “It’s not smooth,” she added under her breath so quiet she thought no one heard.

  “What do you mean it’s not smooth?” Simon demanded from across the room.

  She felt herself blush. “It’s just something I say when numbers aren’t doing what they’re supposed to, and these aren’t,” she tried to explain.

  He huffed. “They’re not doing what they’re supposed to because they can’t,” he said, then turned and threw himself down in his chair. “Look at it all you want; it’s just not possible.”

  Concentrating on the numbers, she shut out everyone in the room and opened her mind, letting them speak to her. Then she picked up the eraser, a marker, and began rearranging the numbers until they quieted and lay still in her head. Only then did she become aware of the silence in the lab as everyone stared open-mouthed at her, marker still in her hand.

  “What the hell have you done?” Simon screeched, rushing over and ripping the marker out of her hand. “That took me years.”

  “She fixed it,” Stephen said, staring at the board. “She fixed the equation.”

  “That’s not possible,” Simon said, looking closer at the board. Then his face paled. He looked from Stephen over at Patience, and then back at the board. “It’s still not going to work.”

  “Oh, I think it will,” Patience said, a big smile spreading across her face. “We’re going to have to rerun all our data, plug these new numbers in, but I think she’s solved our problem.”

  Simon looked around the room, then turned on Sarah. “If you think you can come in here and take over, yo
u’d better watch your back,” he said, then stalked out of the room.

  Sarah stood stunned, wondering if she’d just been threatened and how she felt about that. “I’m sorry,” she finally said. “I didn’t mean...I just, well, numbers kind of talk to me.”

  Stephen beamed at her. “He’ll be fine,” he said. “I’ll talk to him.”

  Suddenly exhausted, Sarah could think of nothing better than a nice hot bath and a long nap. “If you don’t mind, I think I’d like to go to my room for a little while. I think the trip is beginning to catch up with me.”

  She saw the suspicious look on Reese’s face and wanted to cross the room and slap him; he’d been looking at her like that all day, that is when he wasn’t coming on to her, and she was tired of it. For the first time, she wondered if she’d made a mistake coming here, so far from home. It suddenly seemed a bit overwhelming.

  But then Patience put her arm around her shoulders and the feeling vanished, replaced by a sense of wellbeing. “Of course, you must be exhausted,” she said. “I’ll take you there myself.”

  Chapter Five

  ***Reese***

  Reese had the distinct feeling that Sarah was putting on a show; it seemed all too unlikely that she’d be able to look at the calculations for only a second before coming up with the solution. Even the most intelligent of the Fae weren’t that smart, and it was just one more red flag for him, reinforcing his belief that she’d been sent by the Unseelie.

  But he let her walk out of the room with his mother, knowing that to convince his parents, he’d have to have more proof than that. Deep down, he was sure that eventually she’d give herself away, show her true colors, and he’d be there ready to pounce; until then, he’d have to bide his time, watching and waiting. For now, she’d be safely in her room, and he needed to talk to Simon, the man had threatened Sarah, and that wasn’t at all like him.

  “I think someone should talk to Simon; that was really over the top,” he said.

  His father nodded. “I just don’t understand what’s gotten into him. We do this for the good of the fanning. Whatever comes out of this will go to supporting everyone in Loughmore so that we can continue our way of life.”

  Reese nodded. “I think we all know that, but this feels personal to me,” he said. “How long has he been like this?”

  “I don’t know, maybe a couple of weeks,” his father said, shrugging, then looked up at Reese. “Now that I think about it, he started acting funny after you were here.”

  It occurred to him that the Unseelie might have followed him home, but that possibility seemed so remote, he shrugged it off. “I’m sure that’s just a coincidence,” he said, “but maybe I’ll go talk to him just in case.”

  “I suppose someone should,” his father said, already losing interest in the topic, the whiteboard pulling his attention away. “I should stay here and...”

  “Go ahead, Dad. I’ll go talk to him,” Reese said, shaking his head when all his father did was wave him off.

  But less than an hour later, he was back in the lab, interrupting his parents as they furiously worked at their computers. “I’ve searched the entire castle and I can’t find Simon anywhere,” he said, making them both look up.

  “Maybe he went into town,” his mother suggested.

  “No, I sent one of the men to look for him, and he said that he hasn’t been seen all day, not even at the bakery,” Reese said.

  This caught his father’s attention. “Simon never misses his afternoon coffee and pastry,” he said, his face creased with worry.

  “He was just upset,” his mother said. “He probably went for a hike or something. I wouldn’t worry too much; he’ll show up for dinner.”

  But Reese wasn’t satisfied. “Well, if he shows up here, someone better let me know,” he said. Then he got a brilliant idea. “I think until we find him, I should keep a close eye on Sarah; he did threaten her.”

  “Don’t you think that’s a little extreme?” his mother asked. “I mean, Sarah is safely in her room, and she’s already decided to have dinner there, so I think she’s perfectly safe. Besides, Simon wouldn’t actually hurt her; he was just angry.”

  “All the same, I would feel better,” Reese said, proud of himself for coming up with such a good excuse to stay close to Sarah. “I’ll just move my things into the room next door to hers for the night. I’m sure Simon will show up by then, but just to be safe, I’ll keep an eye on Sarah.”

  His father sighed. “Whatever you think is best,” he said.

  It didn’t take him long to get settled into the room next to Sarah, but it was quiet as a tomb in her room, and he assumed that she’d fallen asleep. He was tempted to knock on her door and announce his presence just to see what she was doing, but instead, laid down on his own bed and closed his eyes. It would be far more informative to have her find out by accident, maybe when her dinner was delivered.

  His plan worked almost too well; as he lay waiting, he fell asleep, and only the sound of dishes rattling as Sarah’s dinner cart was pushed down the hall woke him. He jumped out of bed, and waited until he heard the servant knock on Sarah’s door, then opened his own, a smile on his face. Her door opened only a second later, and the look on her face when she saw him was comical, somewhere between shock and annoyance. A little noise came out of her mouth before she recovered.

  “I didn’t know your room was next to mine,” she said. “You didn’t say anything on the tour.”

  “Oh, it’s not. I just thought, well, we haven’t been able to find Simon and he did threaten you,” he said.

  Her eyes widened just a bit, then she asked, “Do you really think he’d try to hurt me? He didn’t look...well...he’s a scientist.”

  Reese shrugged. “I won’t feel comfortable until we have a chance to talk to him,” he said, hoping he was scaring her.

  “So, you’ll be right next door until he shows up?” she asked, swallowing several times.

  He couldn’t help the grin that spread across his face when he saw how uncomfortable that made her, a sure sign that she had something to hide. Standing in one of the thick robes his mother left in all the rooms, a towel wrapped around her head, she looked innocent and again, he thought like a Pixie.

  “I’m afraid so, that is, unless you’d like to invite me in to share your dinner. I’m afraid I forgot to order my own,” he said, flashing her a seductive smile.

  Her face turned pink, and she looked down. “I’m not exactly...I’m not dressed.”

  “Oh, that’s okay,” he said, wiggling his eyebrows at her, “that will just save us time later.”

  She flushed an even darker shade of red, pulled the dinner cart into the room, quickly thanked the servant, and closed the door. “Can you please bring me some dinner?” he asked, loud enough for her to hear. “I’m afraid Ms. Sarah isn’t going to share hers with me.”

  ***Sarah***

  Sarah slammed the door and leaned against it, her heart pounding in her chest, her body demanding that she open the door again. But she listened to her mind, slowly becoming annoyed that her privacy had been shattered, and wondering which of the two men she should be more worried about. At least Simon had made it clear how he felt, whereas, Reese seemed to alternate between being suspicious of her and wanting to drag her to bed.

  She wasn’t happy about either choice and wished he’d just go away, but clearly that wasn’t going to happen, so she’d just have to learn to ignore him. Which sounded easier than it was going to be, she realized, when his lopsided grin popped into her mind, quickly followed by the memory of his muscular body and impossibly blue eyes.

  Groaning because her mind had wandered again, she slid the lock on the door into place and pushed her dinner over by the window, the smell making her stomach growl. She thought about getting dressed but took the lid off the first plate, saw the perfectly cooked steak, and sank into the chair, her mouth beginning to water with anticipation.

  She cut off a piece and shoved it into her
mouth, feeling like a pig, but moaning when her mouth filled with the most wonderful flavor. She closed her eyes and chewed, sure she’d never tasted anything like it, then cut off another piece and put it in her mouth. But instead of closing her eyes, she looked out the window, surprised to see an entire little village full of bustling people.

  She chewed slowly, watching out her window as people came and went from houses and shops all over the village, skirting small groups of children playing in the street with patient smiles. Everyone looked so happy, she couldn’t believe that the scene was real, so she reached over and opened the window. The sound of the streets below came filtering into her window, the sound of horses whinnying, people calling to each other, mothers bellowing for their children, and the men selling their wares in the street.

  Transfixed by the mixture of old and new in the little village, she ate her dinner, then polished off a huge piece of chocolate cake with a glass of milk as the sun set. When she finally got up from the table to stand at the window, night had fallen, and the village had transformed into a show of twinkling lights. Promising herself that she’d pay a visit to the village as soon as she could, she turned away from the window, climbed into bed, and picked up her journal.

  She could have filled the entire book with the crazy things that had already happened, but she could barely keep her eyes open, and before long, the book slipped to the floor, followed by her pen. As she snuggled down into the covers, an image of Reese slipped into her mind, and for the rest of the night, he was the star of her dreams.

  When she woke in the morning with only a vague sense of what she’d dreamed all night, her body flushed with pleasure, she threw back the covers in frustration. But after a long shower, she felt better. They were only dreams; dreams she couldn’t really even remember. Clearly, Reese had made an impression on her, but that didn’t mean anything; it was only her body’s response to an attractive man, chemistry at its finest.