Chapter Four

The theatre quieted. Breath-by-breath the dancers went into their dreamless states. The curse that tied them to the theatre also transformed them during daylight hours. They became frozen dolls, though some might dispute the description. Silent and still, they wouldn’t regain their “living state” until the sun went down. 

Heidi filled a teapot with steaming water, a knot of tension between her shoulder blades. This was her quiet time—when the theatre emptied, the dancers slept and even Minion snoozed in her room, exhausted from a night of playful antics. She treasured this alone time. Stan, her silent sentinel, stood by the wall of her office. The guardian’s silver hair looked shaggy around the edges. “You can go, Stan.”

“You shouldn’t be alone.” The appearance of a businessman in an Italian suit allowed Stan to blend in with the theatre audience. Beneath the glamour, he wore heavy chain armor with a sword strapped to his back.

“I’ll be fine. Go. Rest. Cerveau may wish to go out into the casino tonight and you’ll have your hands full.” The Amazon had changed in the months since her shield-sister mated the were-tiger. She roused, albeit slowly, from her malaise. It could be related to the queen’s visit, but Heidi suspected other interference—a problem for another day. “Go, Stan.”

He straightened, caution etched into his features. “He’s coming. You shouldn’t be alone with him.”

She set the teapot onto the tray and faced him. “Do I look like someone who needs your protection?”

The guard blanched. “No, ma’am.”

“Good answer. Now, go.” She picked up the tray and carried it over to the settee and chairs. She could hear Stan’s unspoken grumble, but he obeyed and left her office. Sulfur curled through the air, and Connor coalesced into the chair on her right.

“Your guard worries about you. It’s almost sweet.” His voice teased her senses, provocative and alluring.

“Tea?” She ignored the overt seduction and filled both cups with steaming brew.

Connor leaned forward. “You need to stop interfering.”

She passed him a teacup and saucer. “The show was well-attended this evening, despite many of the regulars being limited to where they could go.”

He stared at the cup as if it might bite him and waited until Heidi took a sip of her drink before lifting his cautiously. “I’m not playing with you, Heidi. You have to stay out of it.”

“The Arcana in Monaco reached out. They want to initiate an exchange… Personally, I think they are more interested in Anthony and Roseâtre than the other dancers, but they’ve proposed sending their headliner here while ours go there.” The cardamom and chamomile needed more cinnamon, but she sampled it.

“Dammit, woman. Don’t test my patience. You know what I’m referring to. Stay out of it. That’s an order.” His eyes went opaque and his compulsion clung to her shields, all but battering to get at her.

She took another sip. “Connor, you really should drink your tea.” Unsurprisingly, he threw the china, tea and all, across the room. It smashed against the door and rained porcelain onto the carpet.

Rising to his feet, he stalked around the room—a caged beast testing her defenses. “This isn’t our game.”

“Something must truly vex you to have you behaving like this.” Despite her conversational tone, his behavior jangled her internal alarms. The FBI agent couldn’t be all that bothered him. As quickly as he began his pacing, Connor ceased and claimed a seat next to her on the sofa. His leg brushed her thigh.

“Of all the times we have clashed, and of all the times we have warred—this is the worst possible time for it. If I ask you nicely, will you do as I wish?” Bold gestures aside, the plea folded into the request gave her pause.

Refusing to fall into so neatly set a trap, Heidi returned the cup and saucer to the tray. “Connor, Pepper has an illness that will kill her if we don’t treat it. As long as she is human again, the cancer will resume its course. I am interfering only enough to protect her. The longer she has to spend with him, the faster the magic that stopped the disease will unravel and the quicker she will become sick.”

“Then have your teas delivered by room service and stay out of her head…”

“You must be watching them very close to know that I was anywhere near her head.” Not that she denied the accusation. “All I did was help Pepper start a conversation. She’s a dancer, not an actress.”

“Of course I am keeping an eye on them. I told you, he is dangerous…to all of us.” Connor dropped a heavy hand onto her knee. Heat rolled through her that had nothing to do with magic, offensive or defensive. The visceral physical reaction to his touch was all that remained of what they once were.

The world around her slowed. The seconds hand on the clock in the corner froze, hovering between one tick and the next. The air in the room crystallized, muting the sound from beyond the silence of her office. Connor surrounded her, bleeding black into the crystal, solidifying, shackling, encasing.

Eyes closed, she sampled the fragrant air. Night-blooming orchids, rich with the spice of vanilla and honeysuckle teased her nostrils. Underlying it all was his deeply masculine scent, potent and hypnotic. Her lips tingled, with the whisper of a kiss. All she need do was open her shields and he would be hers.

Always…

“No.” The silence shattered. Time raced to catch up and the blackness fell away. Connor leaned into her, his face just inches away, and scowled.

“You are so stubborn.”

“I know.” She smiled and caressed his cheek. “And so very not interested.” With a push, she shoved him away and rose. He disappeared with an explosion of sulfur. The harsh scent burned her nostrils and left tears in her eyes. It also ruined her tea. Her words must have hit their mark for him to make such a ruckus, his abilities were far smoother than that. Thankfully he left before her quivering limbs betrayed her.

She hadn’t wanted to say no.

For the first time in a century, she’d almost yielded. Leveling out her breathing helped and piece by piece she gathered together her chaotic thoughts. She needed to hurry Pepper along. The sooner this crisis with the FBI agent was over, the sooner she and Connor could go back to ignoring each other.

Pepper woke to shafts of sunlight peeking through the gap in the curtains. She hadn’t pulled them all the way closed when Finn delivered her to the room the night before. Exhausted, she’d fallen onto her bed and straight to sleep. Pushing her hair out of her face, she grimaced. Sleeping in one’s clothes was tacky and she refused to look at the mirror.

Stripping down, she walked into the bathroom and turned on the shower. Brushing her teeth made avoiding the mirror difficult, but she managed. Steam rose from the shower by the time she slipped under the hot spray. Every muscle in her body ached with bone-crushing fatigue. She performed nightly, dancing three and sometimes four sets throughout the various shows they did… How could dinner and a slot game leave her this worn out?

Her stomach rumbled and her side pinched. Flattening one hand against the tile, she fought the nausea swimming up. What is wrong with me? Pushing the door to the stall open let cooler air in and she breathed deep until it passed. I need to eat. Hunger was an unfamiliar sensation. One she hadn’t experienced in years. She ate food, they all did, but only when the mood took them. They could eat anything they wanted, her year long obsession with every variety of donut was a testament to that.

Whatever magic held their bodies in stasis washed the toxins from their blood and purged all those unneeded calories before they settled on hips or thighs. Her meal last night was the first one she’d really consumed in…

Not thinking about that. She shook off the mental cobwebs and went to work shampooing her hair. Returning to routine had an ameliorating effect on her mood. Her queasy stomach settled, as if the act of acknowledging her hunger quieted its tantrum.

Twenty minutes later, she wrapped her hair in a towel and a second towel around her body. Finally, she looked in the mirror.

“Tired.” She sighed. “I look tired.” Shadows marred the faint bags under her eyes and her mouth drooped at the corners. A hint of lines deepened the grooves at the corners of her eyes. Heidi said she’d be human without the curse, that her illness would return—but she said nothing about aging. Would she age rapidly and catch up to her natural years?

Apprehension shivered up her spine. “No.” She told her reflection. “My natural age would be dead at the moment, so I’m not getting older. I just stayed out too late and I didn’t wash off my make up before I went to sleep.”

That was her story and she planned to stick with it.

A knock at the door jerked her around. She clutched her towel and waited to see if whoever it was would go away. Half a minute passed and the knock repeated. Dammit. Tiptoeing to the edge of the bathroom, she stared at the door as though it might bite her.

“Yes?”

“Room service.”

But she hadn’t ordered anything.

Edging closer to the door, she wondered about the peephole. She could look through it and confirm the identity or she could just send them away. Her gut knotted. For years, the only people who ever knocked on her door were the other dancers and occasionally Heidi. She didn’t have to worry about who or what stood on the other side.

“Ma’am?” The voice called, this time with a note of uncertainty. “This is your breakfast wake up call. You ordered it when you booked the room.”

Closing the gap to the door, Pepper rose up on her tiptoes to peek out. A white-coated waiter stood there with a large tray over his shoulder. Silver domed plates filled the tray along with a pot of some type—coffee or… Tea! Heidi said she would send me tea.

“One moment.” Fumbling with the lock, Pepper firmed her grip on the towel before she opened the door. “I’m sorry, I was in the shower.” She used the door as a shield. No cosmetics and her hair wrapped in a towel was not how she planned to greet the world. “Could you put it on the table for me?”

“Of course.” If the waiter thought her odd, he didn’t say anything. He carried the tray from the cart in without a glance at her. “When you’re done, just set the tray outside or leave this slip…” He tapped a white piece of paper on the tray, “…hanging on the door and someone will collect it for you. Would you like me to set up for you?”

“Um, no thank you. I can take care of that.” Please turn around and just go.

The waiter turned and their gazes collided briefly. His rebounded to look elsewhere. Cringing inwardly, she summoned up a smile. “Thank you, I don’t have a tip right now, but I can have it added to the receipt.”

“It’s all taken care of, ma’am,” he replied smoothly and retreated to the hallway. “Have a great stay at the Arcana Royale.”

Relieved, Pepper pushed the door closed, but it didn’t quite latch. Frowning, she turned and found a hand bracing it open. Finn was smiling at her from the hall.

“Oh God.” She wore a towel and nothing else. Fleeing to the bathroom, she slammed the door shut and leaned against it.

“Pepper?” he called. “I’m going to let your door close and wait out here in the hall. Just come open the door when you’re dressed.”

Oh, I could die right now and that wouldn’t be a bad thing. “Thank you,” she answered weakly. Could her day get any worse?

Knowing he waited outside rushed her choices. She changed into trousers and a loose poet’s shirt. She added a pseudo corset to create a trimmer line. Fortunately, it boasted a hidden zipper and faux laces. Soft, suede black boots completed her outfit. She applied light cosmetics, hiding the shadows under her eyes. If she took more time to blow-dry her hair, breakfast would be cold. Braiding it was the best she could do.

As though roused by the thought, her stomach gurgled in protest. Reaching the door, she peeked through the peephole. Finn leaned against the far wall, working on the phone in his hand. His dark hair fell across his forehead. He looked positively scrumptious in a navy blue polo shirt and jeans. His bare arms were toned and lightly sprinkled with dark hair. The curved lines of a tattoo peeked out from his shirtsleeves. Attraction, hot and bright, sped her heart. She hadn’t been this nervous since the night of her prom—and her date hadn’t been half as handsome. It had been decades since she’d thought of a man in this way at all.

He lifted his head and she could have sworn he looked right at her through the peephole. “I can see your shadow under the door, Pepper.”

Her cheeks flushed. Unable to put him off any longer, she opened the door and smiled. “Good morning.”

In one smooth motion, he straightened. “Good morning, sorry for surprising you earlier.”

“I wasn’t expecting company, but I’m good now. Did we have an appointment?” She honestly couldn’t remember what they decided at the end of their night. Her cheeks warmed remembering how easily he’d picked out her lie. When he walked her back to her room, she’d been too tired to chat much.

“No. But I wanted to invite you to breakfast. Maybe take a stroll on the strip and head out to the Hoover Dam, if you’d like. You know, see the sights…” He stayed in the hallway, but she hadn’t invited him inside.

“They delivered breakfast to my room.” She glanced over at the tray. There were several silver topped plates—and the tea. I really should drink that. Tension wound slowly inside of her, like a clock turned one too many times. She didn’t really want him in her room, but ignoring his offer was rude. And I still have a job to do.

“Well, I’ll head down and eat and come back in an hour? How does that sound?” He slid back a step, letting her off the hook. “Or we could meet later in the day.”

Heidi would kill her if she let him get away no matter how attractive the idea was. “Actually, would you like to join me?”

Finn studied her. “You don’t sound like you really want me to.”

She sighed. Acting was not her forte. “I don’t really know you that well, so inviting you into my hotel room seems a bit personal. But I am really hungry and you were kind enough to invite me to breakfast, so it would be rude not to just share the one I have.”

“All right. Let’s flip the latch, so it will keep the door open.” He reached around and caught the latch, which would secure the inner door. He folded it out to block the hotel room door from closing. Pepper chewed the inside of her cheek. Oddly enough, the simple act did quiet her nerves some.

She backed up and he followed her inside. Instead of continuing deeper into the room, he waited. Pepper’s nervousness receded. They were closeted in here, completely alone. “All good?” Finn asked as if he were aware of her uncertainty.

“I think so. Sorry.” The last came out as an afterthought.

“Not at all. You’re visiting a fairly strange city. I would be a little concerned if you weren’t cautious.” He looked around the room, pausing at the mostly closed curtains. “Shall I open those for you?”

She’d almost forgotten about the sunlight and nodded. With a quick smile, Finn passed her and pulled the curtains open. Pepper gasped at the dazzling light that flooded the room. It warmed her everywhere it touched. But what held her captive wasn’t the brightness, but the blue—the endless verdant blue sky.

The decades since she last gazed upon it melted away. Oh, she’d seen the sky in movies, but it didn’t compare to the real thing. She didn’t fight the inexorable pull to walk over to the glass. Touching it with three fingers, she sighed at the warmth. Las Vegas wasn’t much to look at during the day, the spectacular neon paradise looked almost ordinary under the sun. 

From their vantage, she could see past the other buildings. Dozens of casinos lined the strip, but the Royale afforded them a view beyond the lazy sprawling town to the desert and mountains beyond.

“It’s beautiful,” she murmured.

“Yes, it is,” he agreed. Awareness prickled over her. Finn wasn’t looking out the window. Instead, he stared at her.

Her face heated and she dragged her attention away from the sky—the openness and the freedom. She was supposed to be seducing him or distracting him, not gawking like someone who hadn’t seen the sun in thirty years. Even if I haven’t… Rubbing her hand against her hip, she gestured to the desk. “Shall we?”

“After you.” He hooked one of the chairs by the window and pulled it over to the desk. He didn’t crowd her, yet her spacious hotel room seemed very small with Finn in it.

Hands trembling, she removed the silver lids. Three plates filled with bacon, eggs and pancakes awaited her. They were plenty warm and the scent made her mouth water. Her hunger was no longer content to be put off and it took all of her manners to keep from falling on the food like a ravenous beast. As if the dining staff expected she wouldn’t be eating alone, she found extra plates in a warmer, along with biscuits and—Oh my God, is that gravy?

Sealed under clear wrap was a bowl of white sausage gravy. That clinched it. Pepper sank into a seat and dished out a helping eggs, bacon and pancakes for Finn. She passed it over to him and barely heard his thanks before loading her own plate with a couple of biscuits, topped them with eggs and then poured gravy over the lot.

Finn handed her some of the wrapped silverware. Spreading the napkin on her lap, she wasted no time taking her first bite of the gravy-smothered-eggs-and-biscuits. The flavor explosion on her tongue earned a low moan. “Oh, so good.”

One bite led to another and then another. She cleared her plate in a few minutes, not allowing even a drop of the gravy to escape. Replete, she leaned back in the chair and sighed.

“I thought about asking if I could have some of the gravy,” said Finn, “but I think you should have another.” Amusement warmed his voice and Pepper winced, embarrassed.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I should have offered.” Stricken, she looked at the nearly empty bowl of gravy and then back at Finn.

“Not at all.” He leaned forward, steady and firm. “I enjoyed your unabashed pleasure.”

A shiver of apprehension collided with her delight. Ducking her head, she wished she hadn’t braided her hair. Even damp, it might have afforded her a shield against his teasing gaze. “I really like biscuits and gravy.”

“I could tell.” He’d eaten a good portion of his food. “Want some water or…is that coffee?”

“Oh, I’ll do that and it’s tea.” She reached for the pot of Heidi’s tea before he could. Heidi said don’t skip a single one and here I am obsessing over food. Pouring a cup for herself, she hesitated. What if he wanted tea too?

“Hmm, I prefer coffee. I’ll just have some water.” 

“I could call down and order coffee.” She relaxed a little.

“No, water is fine. I think there’s an espresso shop a few doors down. We could stop there on our way out.” It was the second time he mentioned leaving the casino.

Her nerves took flight again. Trying to cover, she sipped the tea. It was bitter and didn’t go down smoothly at all. She did her best to control her expression. It didn’t matter how bad it tasted, she had no desire to be ill—again.

Four acrid gulps later, she glanced out the window. “You wanted to go for a walk? And you said something about the Dam?”

“Yeah, we can rent a car. The Royale provides vehicles for guests. I think it’s important to get out and see what there is to be seen. Too often, the casinos provide you with so much—you might forget to leave altogether.” His mouth twisted on the end of his sentence. Something about the casino bothered him. Of course something bothers him. He’s here to investigate it, remember?

Or he wants to know if you can leave… The thought drifted through her mind unbidden and she knew it didn’t belong to her—and it was distinctly feminine. Heidi? She didn’t know the stage manager could do that. The simple joy of breakfast diminished with the reminder of the task at hand. If he needed proof she could leave, then she would give it.

“I think that sounds like fun. Do you mind if I finish my tea first?”

His cheek dimpled with a half-smile. “Not at all. And thank you.”

“For what?”

“For breakfast, for agreeing to be my company—for last night.” He stretched his legs out and crossed one ankle over the other. The action drew her gaze and she wondered at the muscles lining his body beneath his clothes. He was a tall man, broad-shouldered, and capable. Even in her heels, he’d dwarfed her.

“I had fun last night.” She didn’t have to pretend that.

“Well, we’re not done yet.” He winked.

No. They were far from done.