Unwrapping Mr. Roth (7 page)

“Hey!” Agnes griped.

“Sorry, my dear.” Nick bowed low. “Present company excluded. Your mother was a great beauty in her day. It was wise of her to send you to me. Who knows where you would have ended up?”

“You’re older than Agnes?” Gillian asked, stunned.

“Yes, by several hundred years. Elf aging isn’t particularly straightforward, as you’ll learn, especially when certain elves have one parent who’s very nearly immortal.”

“How freakin’ old are you?”

“Old enough to know answering that question won’t endear me to you.”

“Well, it seems you two have a lot to talk about, so I’ll get goin’,” Agnes said.

Puffer followed at her heels and she stopped, picked him up, and gave Gillian a curious look.

Gillian groaned. “Just take the little furry traitor.”

“Thank you, milady.” Agnes sidled around Nick, scurried outside, and down the stairs to ground level.

A car door slammed, and then an ignition started.

“She’s right,” Nick said flatly. “We do have a lot to discuss.”

“Maybe, but it won’t be tonight. Please leave.” Gillian placed her hands against his chest and tried to back him out the door, but he was like a goddamned anvil.

He wrapped his hands around her wrists and pulled her in for a rough kiss. She felt very Scarlett O’Hara to his Rhett Butler, and stood there swaying when he let go of her.

She couldn’t help it. The man had a knack for overwhelming her senses. She should have been given a trophy for being able to remain upright in his proximity.

“You know, I’m within my rights to stay.” He leaned against the doorframe and folded his arms over his cashmere-covered chest. “But I’ll let you go to your petty little jobs tomorrow so you can put in your notice.”

“You’re kidding me, right?”

“Absolutely not.”

“I think you’re taking this sham a bit too seriously.”

“It’s real to me, pet.”

“Get out. I don’t want to deal with this right now.”

He pulled her forward by the neckline of her ugly dress and pressed one more scorching kiss on her lips that left her wheezing. Then he did that tender smoothing of her collar yet again.

“Enjoy your cold bed, Gilly.” He traced a finger along her jaw, and although Typical Gillian would have swatted his hand away, Obviously-Ensorcelled Gillian stood statue-like, savoring the touch and leaning into it.

Damn.

Maybe he
did
have some magic she wasn’t immune to after all.

“Don’t get too comfortable, though,” he said before teleporting away.

She let the ominous-sounding warning settle in. Maybe she wasn’t an elf and didn’t have any magic of her own, but even she could tell when she needed to put her guard up.

Husband or not, Nick Roth wasn’t a man to be trusted.

Hell, she couldn’t even trust
herself
around him.

At around four a.m., the sound of breathing that wasn’t Gillian’s ripped her from a delicious dream about a certain blond elf and the backseat of a sleigh.

She opened her eyes and found a pale face shrouded by green-tinged hair leaning over her bed.

“Jesus, Kori!” Gillian sat up and tapped her lamp clumsily until the light came on. “What the hell are you doing here? How did you even
find
me?”

“Uncle Nick let me in.”

“It’s four a.m.”

“He said I’m supposed to stay with you.”

“Why?”

“I’m your lady-in-waiting.”

“Bullshit.” Gillian flopped back and covered her face with her pillow, regretting that she’d enjoyed that dream. She should have hated it. It should have been like a nightmare for her, but it freakin’ wasn’t.

So thirsty.

Kori picked up a corner of the pillow and said into the gap, “Really.”

Gillian moved the pillow away. “Kori, this doesn’t make sense. If you’re at constant risk of being kidnapped, why would he have you out in the open with me when you could be safe at the palace?”

“Don’t shoot the messenger, but he said you’d be less likely to take stupid risks if I were around.”

“Let me guess. He pulled your spell so you’re not ugly anymore, right?”

“Not exactly. He just had it altered a bit. Now I just look like a pimply-faced dork instead of a complete ogre.”

“Poor baby. I’m going back to sleep until five. I’ll deal with your mobster of an uncle in the morning.” She pointed to the space beside her. “You lay there.”

Kori obeyed.

As it turned out, Kori wasn’t actually that bad to have around. She worked the stereo for Gillian during Zumba, and when she trailed along to preschool, she helped Gillian’s assistant teacher—Terry—with the never-ending chore of escorting kids to the bathroom and helping them wash their hands.

The kids were wary of the stranger at first, but once they discovered Kori’s willingness to play the same two songs on the ukulele over and over again they warmed right up.

When the kids were out on the playground for their mandatory fifteen minutes of fresh air, Terry joined Gillian beneath the monkey bars where Gillian was hiding from little Gladys Shaw. Gillian didn’t believe the doctor’s note that said the child’s hand, foot, and mouth disease had gone away, and she couldn’t afford to get sick.

Or maybe I can? Nick’ll probably give me money
.

She rolled her eyes at herself.

I hope I’ll never stoop so low to have to ask him for it.
She was used to paying her own way.

Terry was dressed in her usual all-black ensemble with the exception of the retro Santa woodcut headscarf she wore tied around her dark tresses. Gillian had snorted at the scarf when she’d seen it that morning at circle time, and realized every time she saw picture of that holly jolly bastard, she’d think of Nick.

She gave Gillian a nudge with her elbow. “Hey.”

“What’s up, T?”

“Can you do me a favor?”

Gillian raised a brow. Doing favors for Terry always ended either with extreme embarrassment or a negative bank account balance.

“I mean, you can say ‘no’ and it won’t upset me none. It’s just that… Well…”

“T, just tell me.”

For a moment, they watched silently as Kori led the kids in a high-stakes game of duck-duck-goose.

“Okay.” Terry drew in a long breath as if to brace herself.

Gillian held up an index finger of warning. “Wait. This doesn’t involve paranormal investigation again, does it?”

“Oh, no! Nothin’ like that. Uh…” Terry looked back toward the school building. The director’s office looked out onto the playground. The light was off, which probably meant their boss wasn’t in there. “Can you write me a reference letter?” Terry asked without moving her lips.

“Are you trying to leave me without an assistant teacher mid-year?”

“Well, it wouldn’t be until next year, but I gotta pick up another gig, you know? This don’t pay enough and I gotta move out of Momma’s trailer. She’s getting married again.”

“What’d you have in mind?”

“I’m applying to school to learn to become a masseuse.”

“Of all things, why a masseuse? There’s not much of a market for that here. People are too conservative. They don’t want to be touched by strangers.” Gillian added in a mumble, “At least not if they have to pay for it.”

Terry canted her head and clucked her tongue. “You don’t think so?”

“Nuh-uh.”

“Damn it. I gotta come up with somethin’.”

“Just tell me what to do and I’ll scribble my signature on whatever you want.”

“I’ll figure it out. Hey, you wanna meet me at the tavern later and share a pitcher of margaritas?”

Gillian opened her mouth to say yes, because she freakin’ needed it, then heard Kori’s giggles as she got ‘goosed.’ That reminded Gillian of a particular responsibility that would certainly get in the way of drinking away her worries. She sighed. “I can’t. I got a conflict. I picked up a third job. Sorry.”

“Lucky.”

“Well, I don’t know about that. The uniform is ugly and my boss is a pushy jerk.”

“Is the pay good?”

Gillian cringed and pulled herself up to her feet. She needed to prepare the kids’ snacks. “The pay sucks, but I can’t quit.”

Yet.

***

Gillian chuckled at Kori who was gripping the
oh shit!
handle on the passenger side of the car. As it was only the third car ride of Kori’s life, Gillian couldn’t take Kori’s reactions personally. Most folks who knew her said that Gillian was something of a granny driver, so she was certain it wasn’t her speed that was making the child green around the gills.

“Distract yourself from the motion of the car by telling me something,” Gillian said. “Anything.”

“Okay. Sure thing.” Kori gulped. “Your boss is a little strange.”

“What do you mean? And I’m guessing you don’t mean the elfin mob boss.”

“No!” Kori giggled. “The guy in the office. Oh my gods, watch out for that truck!”

Gillian whipped her head forward in search of the dangerous vehicle, and saw nothing—save for an eighteen-wheeler about a quarter mile up the road.

She let out a strained laugh. The child was going to give her a heart attack. “Jeez, Kori.” Gillian pulled in a deep breath and let it out. “Do you mean Hal? And what was he doing?”

“Well, it was just weird. I don’t have a lot of experience being around humans, but it seemed unusual he didn’t acknowledge that I was there or ask me who I was. I must have walked past the office about ten times. I know he saw me.”

Gillian furrowed her brow and tapped her fingertips against the steering wheel as they idled at a stoplight. “Odd. What was he doing?”

“The first couple of times I walked past, he was on the phone. From what I could hear from the kitchen, he was telling some folks there were student openings starting January and they should go ahead and bring their deposits in.”

“What? I haven’t heard about students leaving between the terms and we teachers normally share that information pretty freely. What else was he doing?”

“Shredding stuff.”

Gillian shrugged. “Probably just old bills or something. Don’t tell me you’re the paranoid sort. Are nymphs prone to increased paranoia?”

“Well,
duh
, we have to be, but it didn’t seem like bills to me. I may only be a nymph, but I can smell shenanigans from a mile away.”

“Lot of shenanigans going on around you, Kori?”

“All the time. Pretty sure my father’s love of mystery and intrigue is what got him killed.” She gripped the bar a little tighter as Gillian picked up speed going toward the edge of town where Gillian’s apartment complex was located.

Gillian looked over at her.

Kori had her head against the window and she fidgeted her sweatshirt cuffs. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“Not really.”

“You can if you want, you know. Must be weird for you knowing your father was supposed to be king and here you are, what, a princess? And you’re assigned to be my babysitter? I’ll try not to let this thing drag on longer than it needs to.”

Kori perked up and turned her luminescent face toward Gillian. “What do you mean?”

“Your uncle and your grandmother explained some of the political stuff going on in your world and impressed on me how important it is for there to be a king.”

“Yeah?”

“So, we did the binding thing to make him eligible. Supposedly even if we divorce or whatever elves do when they don’t like each other anymore, he’ll still be king.”

“Well, yeah, that’s true…”

“I feel a ‘but’ coming on, and that kind of ‘but’ isn’t my favorite kind.” Gillian parked the car in her assigned spot.

Kori got out, slammed her door, and shrugged her narrow shoulders. “It’s a shame you don’t like Uncle Nick, ’cause you’re stuck with him, Gillian.”

“What are you talking about?” Gillian started them up the stairs to the apartment.

“What I’m saying is, while it may be possible for you and Uncle Nick to separate, he’s not going to let it happen.”

Gillian shoved her key into the lock and pushed the door in. “I’m pretty sure there are two parties in this marriage. We have to both want to be in it.”

“You obviously don’t know Uncle Nick,” Kori said. She crossed her arms over her the chest of her borrowed purple hoodie—Gillian’s—and leaned against the doorframe.

“Well,
obviously
.” Gillian turned to look at the smirking teen and planted her hands firmly on her hips. “And that’s one of many reasons I don’t want to be married to him.”

“I think you’ll soon learn elf men are sort of unrelenting when it comes to their partners. Maybe Grandmother can tell you about it. I hear Granddad was a beast.”

“That whole one-sided love-at-first-sight thing?” Gillian bobbed her head toward the inside and waited for Kori to walk in.

“Yep,” Kori called back. “And you’re his mate, which adds a whole other layer of elf angst to it all. Uh-oh.”

“Uh-oh,
what
?” Gillian finished scraping the mud from the bottoms of her boots onto the doormat, closed the door, walked the four feet through the short foyer that opened into her living room, and then froze.

What the fuck?
“Kori?”

“Yes, Aunt Gillian?”

“Don’t call me that.”
Don’t get attached.
“And where’s my furniture?”

“Smells like Uncle Nick’s been here.”

“I’m going to kill him.”

“Are you sure you’re not a little bit elf? Because that sounds like something an elf would say.”

Growling, Gillian yanked off her Christmas hat and cracked her knuckles. “Nope. No elf in me, but I come from a long line of roughnecks and shysters. If your uncle wants to make this a game? Fine.” She tossed the hat onto the counter and stomped to her bedroom to see what was left. “We’ll make it a game. I think he’ll find out quickly enough that I’m not worth the hassle, and I’ll get to have my life back.”

“What about mine?” Kori asked. “I didn’t get to go out before you came.”

Gillian rubbed her eyes and tried to suppress her nervous laughter. No matter what she did, someone was going to be screwed. The least she could do was try not to have it hurt so badly. “I’ll find you someone else, Kori. I
promise
.”

***

Hmm, right on time.

Gillian—beautiful and angry as always—stormed through Nick’s office door with Kori on her heels and her lips already parted, likely to spew some insult.

She didn’t spit it out.

She looked at him, and then all the others gathered in his office.

“You’re right on time for the board meeting, pet,” he said.

Mother leaned onto the edge of his desk and waved them in.

Gillian shifted her weight and put on a smile for the folks in the room—his sisters in the armchairs across from him, and also various elves, gnomes, and other beings at the bar, fixing drinks.

The room was eerily quiet for what felt like an entire minute, and then behind Gillian, Kori muttered under her breath, “Oh,
shit
.”

Gillian chuckled and lacked her fingers together over her belly. “I can come back later.”

“Oh, no. Now that you’re here, certainly you wouldn’t deprive me of your company.” Nick strode over casually as if her intrusion into his corporate dealings was an acceptable thing and picked up one of her hands. He laid a kiss on it and then wrapped it inside both of his. “Such fortuitous timing, Kori. Thank you for bringing her,” he said, loud enough for the room to hear.

Kori—obviously having absolutely no clue what was happening—giggled nervously.

Gillian narrowed her eyes at him and he kissed her forehead, whispering against it, “Behave, brat.”

“Ladies and gentlemen,” he said aloud, “I’m glad you’re all here this afternoon. It’s so difficult to get this woman to stand still for long, but no worries—she’s nearly installed at the palace now. She should be
much
more available in coming weeks.” Nick wore a toothy grin that dared her to challenge him.

She looked like she wanted to kick him. She’d just have to save it for later.

“Everyone, this is my wife, Gillian. The newest Mrs. Roth.”

The people at the bar began making their way over with their drinks and offered her deep bows or curtsies, introducing themselves as members of the charity board.

Mother unplanted herself from in front of the window and joined Nick near the door. She looped an arm around Gillian’s waist and leaned in close to whisper, “I told him removing your things would be unwise. He didn’t care.”

“I can hear you, Mother,” Nick said through clenched teeth. “Stay out of it.”

“She’s not an elf, Nicholas,” Mother said through her own tight bite. “You can’t expect her to do things our way. She has her own life. I told you to exercise some patience.”

“As did Father, I lack that.”

The board members had wandered away after making their introductions and concentrated on freshening their drinks. The fact the Ho’s hadn’t deigned to leave their seats wasn’t lost on Nick. Rude was their usual temperature.