Not Your Ordinary Faerie Tale by Christine Warren Read Free Book Online Page A

scent and the richness of her flavor.
    What in the Lady’s name was wrong with him?
    Luc tore his eyes from temptation and struggled to regain the distant amusement he’d felt when he’d first heard her voice, before her appearance had distracted him. He glanced at his host. “So, Rafe, is this a friend of yours?”
    The woman stiffened, but Rafe merely smiled and drew her carefully into the office. “Come,” he told her, in a soothing, faintly cajoling tone Luc guessed was lost on her. “You must allow me to introduce you, and then you will sit comfortably and tell me what troubles you.”
    Luc watched her step forward, her reluctance obvious. He half expected to see her look over her shoulder to be sure nothing intended to jump out at her and begin tearing her to pieces. Briefly, he considered being insulted on his host’s behalf. It appeared their guest clung to some unflattering suspicions about the Others. But, he concluded, he was neither Other nor her host, so he decided not to muster up the energy. Especially since he could barely stand to look at her without his palms itching.
    “Luc, this is Corinne D’Alessandro. She is a very dear friend of Graham’s and Dmitri’s wives, which, of course, makes her a very dear friend of mine,” Rafe continued, ignoring the look of surprise his guest gave him at hearing his introductory words. “Corinne, please meet Lucifer. Luc, as we call him, is here…on business, but we’ve known each other for a number of years. He’s perfectly harmless.”
    Luc tried to decide if that assessment amused or insulted him. No man liked to be thought of as harmless, especially not when he made his living with a sword in his hand. He didn’t think this woman was buying it anyway. Her gaze sized him up suspiciously, and she made no move to shake his hand. Maybe her attitude would do something to cool his ardor.
    “Lucifer?” she repeated, still looking quite uncomfortable.
    “Luc,” he corrected brusquely, barely softening the syllable with a small nod. “Luc Macanaw. It’s a—” He broke off. “It is interesting to meet you.”
    Her brows flew up and a wry sort of amusement joined the unease in her expression. “Yeah, the, uh, interest is all mine,” she said. She turned back to Rafe, giving Luc her shoulder and a vague sense of annoyance at being so easily dismissed.
    “Look, I’m sorry to just barge in like this, in the middle of your meeting or whatever, but I thought you might want a heads-up about this, so you could…” She guestured vaguely, then let her hand fall back to her side. “Anyway, I just thought you should know, since it’s got to be one of you guys, right?”
    “Think nothing of it,” Rafe dismissed, easing her smoothly toward a large armchair. “What has to be, er, one of us?”
    “The elf everyone is talking about.”
    Luc, who had just begun contemplating how best to remove both himself and his unfinished brandy from the room for the duration of this conversation, tuned right back in. “Elf?” he repeated, glancing at the Felix.
    Rafe seated himself across from the woman and leaned forward. “I’m afraid you’ve caught us off guard, Corinne. I’m not sure I follow. Who, exactly, has been talking? And about what?”
    “The elf,” Corinne repeated impatiently. She searched their faces for a moment, then seemed to read in their carefully controlled expressions that she needed to give them more. Luc watched her take a deep breath, then start again. “Look, I definitely don’t want to get involved in any kind of…issue you people have among yourselves, but Reggie and Missy made it pretty clear when they spilled the truth about this whole Others business to me that you guys consider it pretty damned important that no one knows about you. So when my boss handed me this assignment today, I thought it was weird. And I thought someone should let you guys know.”
    She paused and made a face. “Unfortunately, I was the only someone I could