Just Believe (29 page)

"No more for me," Annabelle
started.

"Nonsense. Nobody has just one
pint."

Seemed like nobody had just two either.
Gaelen kept the pints coming.

And coming.

Chapter Twenty

"Too-rah, loo-rah, loo-rah!" Annabelle
sang at the top of her lungs.

"Shhh," Gaelen whispered, trying to
keep a straight face.

"Too-rah, loo-rah-lie!"

"Annabelle, the constable--"

"Too-rah, loo-rah, loo-rah!" She gulped
a huge breath. Gaelen closed his eyes in dread. Instead of belting
à la Merman, she placed her finger against his lips. "Hush now,
don't you cry," she sang in a whisper.

"Hush now," he sang along, trying to
get her to take the hint.

"Too-rah, loo-rah, loo-rah! Too-rah,
loo-rah-lie!" She raised her arms, her voice boldly going where Joe
Feeney had never gone before. "Too-rah, loo-rah, loo-rah! It's an
I-Irish luh--"

Gasp.

"--luh--"

Gasp.

Gaelen grimaced for the big
finish.

"--bye!"

Her arms wide, she twirled.

"Uh-oh." Gaelen stepped in and caught
her, mid-twirl.

She giggled. "Wanna hear another Irish
song?"

He smothered a laugh. "Let's go to our
room, and you can sing me to sleep. How does that
sound?"

She nuzzled his neck, sending his whole
body into shock. "Maybe we'll do something better than sing, hmmm?"
Her arms circled his neck and she frowned. "Kiss me again, Gaelen.
It was too short. It's always too short when you kiss
me."

He had to agree with that. Her lips,
full and ripe, lured him to his--and her--ruin.

"You know we can't," he said, pulling
her arms from around his neck. "Come on, darlin'. I'll put you to
bed." He put his arm around her, guiding her to Mrs. O'Hara's
house.

"Why can't we?" She stumbled alongside
him, nearly sending the both of them facedown into the muddy
street.

"You know why," he whispered. "Let's
not talk about this until we get upstairs. See, here we
are."

He pushed open the front door and sent
Annabelle across the threshold. There was no sign of their hostess.
A fire burned on the hearth, the only light except for a small lamp
on the table by the window.

"Come on, now." He guided Annabelle to
the stairs and helped her--pushed her, really--up to the second
floor. When he'd closed the door behind him, Annabelle
attacked.

Well, she didn't actually attack. Only
in a figurative sense. Her palms settled against the back of his
neck and pulled him to her. She sealed his mouth shut with her own,
taking what she'd asked him for.

His first inclination was to stop this.
She was drunk. She didn't know what she was doing.

The first taste killed his good
intentions. After all, if the girl yearned to be kissed, who was he
to deny her? He enfolded her in his arms, meaning only to kiss her
as thoroughly as he'd been wanting for so, so long.

Heaven. Sweet and spicy and luscious.
He fell headfirst, allowing her to fill every sense.

Idiot. What do you think you're
doing?

The law. The Council. His brother. Her
sister.

Gaelen grabbed her arms and pried her
loose. In releasing himself, he shoved her away and she fell on the
bed.

A pained silence flooded the
room.

"I'm sorry," she whispered after a
moment. "I thought…"

Her broken sentence and the hurt in her
eyes felt like a blade between his ribs. No, it was worse than
that. It was more like he'd slipped a blade between her
ribs.

Of course she'd thought... After all,
he'd been all over her back there in the pub.

Not to mention their ventures into the
Dream Realm together.

He shoved the memories away. It
wouldn't do to ponder them. It wasn't like they could become
reality.

She got off the bed and reached
unsteadily for her overnight bag.

"'Scuse me," she whispered, her words
slurred enough to remind him she wasn't responsible for her
actions.

Gaelen didn't realize until then he was
completely blocking the door.

"Please let me out."

"Wait, Annabelle--"

"No." She raised her hand to punctuate
her order. "Don't." She hadn't looked at him for long seconds. She
wouldn't raise her eyes to his.

"I'm sorry, darlin'."

"Don't call me...that." He heard the
tears in her voice. "And don't talk nice to me anymore. Just get
out of my way."

"Wait."

"Look. I made a mistake. You aren't in
the least interested. It was only a dream. That's fine." Again, she
tried to weave past him.

"No. You surprised me, that's all." No
way was he going to get out of her way and let her just walk out
with this unresolved between them.

"Look, Gaelen, you don't have to try to
make me feel better." She stood unsteadily before him. "I'm loaded.
When I wake up in the morning, I'll be so sick--" As though to
demonstrate, she hiccupped. "I won't even remember making a total
fool of myself." She tried straight-arming him out of the
way.

"Where are you going?"

"I'm going to see if Mrs. O'Hara has an
extra room."

"No. Don't do that."

"Why not?" Finally, she'd gotten enough
control of herself, she could raise her eyes to his and the sight
terrified him. Deep down inside where he didn't think fear
lived.

She was in love with him.

He couldn't even contemplate the
disaster. He couldn't even try to decide how he felt about
her.

He thought fast. Why should she not
move to another room? What reason could he give her?

"We have to stay together. Remember the
goons at the airport?" He could see her softening. "We have to stay
together."

Bobbing and weaving like a
prizefighter, she appeared to consider this. "All right. But only
because we have to. And I know you don't want anything to do with
me, so you don't have to pretend anymore. I'll help you. After all,
my sister is in there, too." She turned away, then whipped back
toward him, closing her eyes and reaching for support. "Just tell
me something. I'll probably be sorry about this, too, but what the
hell? I might as well get all my stupid things over with at one
time, hmmm?"

"What do you want to know?"

"Is it true what Dr. Duncan
said?"

"Yes."

"It is?" Her face fell. "You're
gay?"

"What?"

"That's what she said."

"Linette?"

Annabelle nodded. "I guess that makes
it a little better, then. It's not just me that doesn't turn you
on."

"What the hell are you babbling
about?"

"She said you're gay. It makes it
easier to take that you're not interested in me. I suppose I'm not
the first woman who's dreamed erotic dreams about you."

Gaelen caught her by the shoulders and
gave her a little shake. "What did she say? Exactly."

Annabelle stared up at him. "You've got
the most beautiful eyes. Did you know that?"

"Thank you. Now, Linette. What exactly
did she say about me?"

"She said you were gay." Annabelle
rocked her head to the side and scrunched her brow in confusion.
"No. That's not exactly it. She said you're a fairy."

"She told you that? When?"

"Oh, I don't know. Before you did. Of
course, I though she was talking about a fairy." She held up her
arm and let her wrist go limp. "But you're a fairy." She flapped
her hands in imitation of a bird's wings.

"Yes." He thought he understood. "How
did you get the idea that I'm gay?"

"She said so."

He felt a headache coming
on.

"Well, I guess maybe I assumed so. From
fairy," again she flopped her hand around, "you know."

"Ah. I see."

"But now you say you are."

"What?"

"Just now. You said what she said was
true."

"Yes, darlin', I'm a fairy." He grinned
at her and flopped a limp wrist at her. "But not a fairy. Not that
there's anything wrong with that."

Annabelle recognized the famous
Seinfeld line and squealed, her formerly limp wrist slamming across
her mouth to shut off her mad giggle.

"You see, darlin'," Gaelen said, taking
her hand and stroking the bones, "I thought she'd only told the
truth. Pixies cannot lie."

"Really?"

"Really. Pixies often twist the truth,
technically being honest, while intentionally leaving the wrong
impression. So she told the truth, knowing you'd understand her
words in the wrong way." He shook his head. "Clever
girl."

"That's what Lucas said, too. I didn't
understand him then."

Gaelen shrugged at the thought of the
ribbing he'd be likely to get from his little brother when this was
all over.

Not that there was anything wrong with
that.

"Oh, I don't feel good," she
moaned.

Her color was suddenly only slightly
better than wilted lettuce. She dropped her bag and pushed him
aside, nearly ripping the door from its hinges and dashing into the
hallway and across to the bathroom.

Feeling somewhat responsible for her
wretched condition, Gaelen followed her into the bathroom and
dampened a cloth. After the first wave was over, he went in and sat
on the floor beside her, wiping her face with the cool cloth,
smoothing back her sweat-dampened hair.

How could he watch her puke and still
want to take her back across the room and make love to her until
morning? What spell had she cast over him?

The shock made him straighten, pulling
away from her. The expression on her face was a repeat of the one
earlier, when he'd rebuffed her kiss.

Maybe it was better to let her think he
didn't want her. Hell, maybe it would be better if he were gay. At
least for a little while until they cleaned up this mess Lucas had
made. Then he could go back to his books and forget about
her.

As if that could ever happen. He
suddenly realized he didn't want to forget about her.

She took the cloth from him. "Thanks.
You don't need to stay with me now." She sounded almost
sober.

"I want to," he replied honestly. He
couldn't leave her.

He loved her.

There, Gaelen. That didn't hurt too
much, did it?

But he could never have her. Sure,
maybe for a moment, for a night, or two. But the forever his heart
demanded was impossible.

Annabelle gazed at him with a hazy
expression, slightly hungry, yearning.

The words came from his lips before he
could stop them. "We can't, Annabelle. The law."

She frowned, then shook her head
slightly as though trying to clear it.

"Come on." He got up and held a hand
down to her. She laid hers in his. The fit choked him. He swallowed
the feeling he was refusing the greatest gift anyone had ever
offered.

But he pushed aside his regret. It was
useless to get mired down in something he couldn't help. And they
had enough problems without the two of them getting mixed up
together.

Still he hated it.

"Here you go," he said, stepping across
the hallway and retrieving her overnight bag. "Get your nightgown
on and brush your teeth. You need to get to bed, I mean,
sleep."

She nodded and slowly shut the door in
his face.

He waited in the bedroom where they
would both have to try to get some sleep tonight. Both aware of the
other. Both wanting the other.

"Damn!" he muttered in frustration. Why
couldn't he have been born just a man? A plain vanilla, mortal
man?

Even as the thought shimmered through
his mind, he knew it for the treachery it was. He was what he was.
Annabelle had accepted it readily enough. Of course, she got her
fey side from her father.

"Your turn," she said, slipping into
the room on silent bare feet.

"Thanks." He grabbed his bag and made a
quick getaway.

* * * *

He was gone for a long time. Once it
sunk into her head he wasn't coming back tonight, Annabelle curled
under the thick downy comforter and snuggled into the marshmallow
soft mattress. She'd slept alone since she was a baby--except for
the times thunder and lightning or a particularly good scary story
had sent her dashing into her parents' king-sized bed. Why did she
feel so alone? This was no different from any other
night.

Oh, yes, it was. It was different from
last night, when Gaelen's big body had curved behind hers, heating
her through and making her feel safe. When he'd come to her in her
dreams and given her pleasure like she'd never known. Suddenly she
didn't feel safe at all.