Darkness Bound (9 page)

“Bring him with us and he can play on the beach up there. Blue loves it, too.”

Leigh couldn’t find an excuse to refuse. “Okay, give me a call when you’re ready,” she said. Confession was a good thing—she wanted to go with him.

“We might as well head out now,” Niles said. “Get Jazzy and I’ll meet you outside.” He took Blue by the collar and led him to the door.

Leigh didn’t miss the longing stare Molly aimed at Niles. That, at least, gave Leigh some wicked pleasure—even if it did make her worry more about Gabriel’s feelings.

She let Jazzy out of the office. He leaped around like a lifer suddenly released from the pen and headed back to the bar, by which time Molly was nowhere in sight.

Gabriel took Leigh aside to one end of the bar. “Cliff recommended this place for making signs,” he said, slipping a card into her hand. “Did Molly give you a hard time? From what she just said, I think she might have. The only one you have to take any notice of is me and I haven’t seen anything I needed to talk about. You’re a gem, my girl.”

“Molly’s protective of you, is all.” Leigh thought about
it. “But we do have to collect accounts from customers—something I’m good at—and after I finish finding out the going rates for the stuff we use, I’ll negotiate better prices where it’s appropriate. No one has to worry about things like that. People who make their living selling things are used to negotiation.”

Gabriel gave her one of his charming smiles and nodded. “You will remember what we discussed about the sign?”

“You bet.” She hesitated. “What would you think about holding a dance once a month?”

“People already dance here.”

“We could hire a live band. Have prizes and special theme food on the menu.”

Gabriel thought about it. “You might have something there. We’d have to plan it with Cliff.”

Smiling, Leigh headed for the door. “Niles will wonder where I am,” she said.

L
EIGH HAD NOT BEEN
prepared for what she found outside. A gigantic black motorcycle stood there and Blue had just put himself into the largest sidecar Leigh had ever seen.

Jazzy had to visit some of his favorite territory among the thick screen of firs that framed the gravel car park.

Niles got tired of waiting and clapped his hands. “C’mon Jazzy, boy. Quit checking your pee-mail.” He swept up Leigh’s dog and stuffed him between Blue’s front feet.

Blue gave Jazzy a lick and got an adoring stare in response.

Niles closed down the sidecar and handed Leigh a crash helmet. When she didn’t seem to know what to do with it, he put it on her head and carefully fastened and checked it for fit.

He lifted her from the ground and placed her on the pillion, then slid a leg over and sat in front of her.

Her heart did jumping jacks and she thought her blood might have heated up several degrees. The leather-covered back in front of her was impossibly broad and black wavy hair escaped the bottom of Niles’s helmet. She couldn’t take in everything she’d like to from her current position but flexed thighs filling out his jeans would be hard to miss, and when he leaned forward to kick off the stand a quick downward glance gave a perfect view of hard buns.

She looked at the sky. This was outrageous. What was she doing here with this man? On a motorcycle? Leigh had never been on a motorcycle before.

He smiled at her over his shoulder. “Off we go. Feel free to hang on to anything that appeals to you. Everything about this bike is absolutely safe.”

She nodded and thought,
including you?

The bike roared off, leaving Leigh’s stomach in Gabriel’s parking lot. A glance at the sidecar showed Jazzy standing between Blue’s front legs, body fully extended to reach the window rim, so he could look out with a doggy laugh at the passing scenery. So much for the dog who didn’t like riding in cars—evidently motorbikes were different.

Wind grabbed at Leigh’s hair, lifting it on either side of the helmet. The air smelled good, of pine and the coldest part of the winter that was almost upon them.

They leaned into a corner and Leigh’s tummy went the wrong way again. She filled her hands with the two pleats where Niles’s leather jacket expanded for movement. Her own coat, though down, was not thick enough to keep out the biting air.

They shot past several cars and made another turn, in the opposite direction.

Leigh closed her eyes, slid her arms as far as they
would go around Niles, and pressed her visored face into his back. She clung on, letting herself go with the moves until she was almost lulled.

From time to time she looked to see where they were but she was more comfortable with her eyes shut. Once Niles patted her hand against his side and the simple gesture made her smile.

“Fun, huh?” he said loudly.

She opened her eyes and realized they had stopped at a curb and there were a few buildings on either side of a gravel-strewn road on the outskirts of Langley. The ride had only taken about twenty minutes.

With a jerk, she sat straight and pulled her arms back to rest her hands on her thighs.

Niles kicked down the stand and looked back at her again. “You okay?”

“Oh, yes. That was great.”

“See those two,” he said, pointing at the sidecar. “They want more.”

The dogs did look as if they were drunk on pleasure and panting for more of the same.

When Leigh climbed off the cycle she had a shock. Her legs felt like water. They seemed to have no substance and she could scarcely stop herself from falling.

“Hey,” Niles said, laughing. “Your first time? That can happen.” He put an arm around her waist and took off the helmet for her before removing his own. He hung one on each handlebar, keeping an eye on Leigh at the same time.

Her apparent inability to walk shocked her. She tried to take a step and laughed nervously when Niles swung back and caught her by the shoulders.

This time he didn’t laugh.

She couldn’t look away from his face. He frowned a little, searching her eyes as if he thought he could see inside her.

“Just stay still for a few moments,” he said, his voice quietly, deeply penetrating. “We all need to get our sea legs sometimes.”

His lips parted and he passed the tip of his tongue along the top of his teeth. And when she glanced up, his whole attention was on her mouth.

He spread his fingers, holding her with the palms of his hands only, and there was a moment when he started to tip her toward him.

Leigh let out the breath she had been holding. “I’m fine now,” she said, smiling brightly. “A ninny, but fine, thanks.”

Niles’s hands fell to his sides and he gave her a lazy grin. “I guess I’ll let you get on, then. Just don’t fall and skin your knees.”

In the cramped front yard beside them colored plastic and aluminum figures bloomed like the flowers that might have been there. Addams Family birdhouses topped rusty poles, animals made from cast-off pieces of almost anything crowded together. A stream of water slithered down the body of a twelve-foot, aluminum and red glass snake.

“Like it?” Niles said. There was tension in his voice.

Shaken by her reaction to him, Leigh closed her mouth and listened. The water made a hissing sound. She glanced into his face and now he seemed to be struggling to stay serious, or at least not to crack up at what must be the very strange expression on her face.

“This can’t be the right place,” she said, searching for the card Gabriel had given her. “I’m supposed to go to a sign shop.”

Niles pointed to a board on one side of open double front doors. The board resembled a menu.
Come And Get It If You Dare
appeared to be the name of the establishment. The list of wares read: Costumes for any event. Wands to suit you. Hats to make you memorable. Masks to make you memorable but unrecognizable. Shoes to move you faster. Boots to keep you where you are. Robes and what-have-you. Signs guaranteed to be noticed. If it isn’t listed—we have it.

Leigh found the card: Come And Get It, and in tiny letters beneath, If You Dare, followed by the address.

“It’s got to be a joke,” she said.

He nodded, “Of course it is, but apparently Cliff knows they make good signs and they’re fast. Some people really get off on this kind of wacky stuff.”

“Have you been inside?”

Niles shook his head, no.

She remembered where she was and what she was supposed to be doing. “I’ll just get Jazzy out and let you go about your business. Thank you for bringing me. That was quite a ride.” She smiled at him. “I’ve been leading a sheltered life. I had no idea what it felt like to be on one of these things.”

“Did you like it?” Niles went around to open the sidecar and lift Jazzy out. The little traitor snuggled up to him, burying his face in his neck. “You kind of have to get used to it. That’s why you were shaky getting off. You’ll be better next time.”

Next time?

“Here.” He gave her a piece of paper with a phone number on it.

“Just call when you’re ready to go home and I’ll take
you back. You sure you don’t want to leave Jazzy with me?” Frowning, Leigh removed her dog from Niles’s hold and set him down. She put on his leash and gave it a firm pull. “Thanks for bringing us. If you’re sure you don’t mind, I will call.” After all, she did need a way back.

“I don’t mind at all.”

He was still at the curb when she and Jazzy went inside the building.

L
EIGH LOOKED
at the card again. The shop address was the same, the name on the outside of the shop was the same, but this could
not
be the right place.

She had dropped into a leafy bower, or so it seemed. Surrounded by walls and a ceiling smothered with vines, Leigh resisted an urge to flee. Jazzy sniffed happily at the foliage sprouting all around him. Realistic trees crowded the big room, their branches and twigs used to hang hats, capes, robes in myriad colors, and masks in shapes that quickly got Leigh bending this way and that to see them properly. She assumed the profusion of sturdy sticks, many of them oddly shaped, that stood in buckets were the wands advertised.

On one side of the shop stood several large tables with products in various stages of completion. Thin shiny leather, pigskin, suede, heavy silk, feathers, spools of gold chain. There was too much to take in.

Leigh slapped a hand over her heart—little twinkling
purple lights had popped on among the vines and branches, probably thousands of them. And they twinkled to the accompaniment of what sounded like chipmunks singing in Latin. Or was it “Greensleeves,” but distorted by the nuts in their cheeks?

She shook her head and turned to walk out.

Jazzy wasn’t leaving. He sat, transfixed, his chin raised to stare at a doll-sized four-poster bed heaped with small, soft blankets.

“C’mon, Jazzy,” she said. “Let’s go.”

The dog’s response was to loll his tongue from his mouth and pant happily. He stood up and whined.

From the nest of little blankets, a head appeared, a silvery-gray head with long whiskers and pointed ears with small tufts on the ends. In a smooth movement the smallest cat Leigh had ever seen emerged and sat with its paws in a precise row and a tail twice as long as its body curled in a tight circle around it. Silver all over with violet eyes, it transfixed Leigh. She got a prickling sensation up her spine. The cat was irresistible. Leigh had to reach out a hand.

The cat closed its eyes and purred gently while allowing herself to be stroked.

Jazzy whined louder and the cat jumped down to sniff him thoroughly. Jazzy grinned while the cat scooted to settle on top of his front paws.

“That’s weird,” Leigh muttered, the spine prickles intensifying.

“Leigh! I thought you might be coming but then I wasn’t sure I didn’t have my days all muddled up.”

She would have recognized that hoarse voice anywhere and swung around. “Sally? What are you doing
here?” The second half of Gabriel’s kitchen staff slid from an opening in the vines.

“And Skillywidden,” Sally cooed to the cat, ignoring Leigh’s question. “Jazzy is every bit as special as we know he is. Skillywidden is a perfect judge of character—unless she’s protecting the weak. Everyone should keep their distance then. She has adopted Jazzy and he knows he is blessed. She will always look after him.”

“That’s nice,” Leigh said. “She’s still a kitten, isn’t she?”

Fluttering her hands, Sally said, “I’ve had her for years. I have no idea how old she is.”

“I see.”
Whoa, she and Jazzy had gone through the looking glass.

“Gabriel didn’t tell me it was you who ran this shop.”

“He doesn’t know,” Sally said, fixing Leigh with a penetrating stare. “It would be better if he didn’t find out. Would that be all right?”

“I guess. But Cliff knows?”