Fate Forgotten (7 page)

Her face had paled noticeably and she moved behind the counter, almost as though looking for something to put between them. “I don’t know. A man like you, I’m sure there are plenty of women in the city who would be willing to show you around to their favorite restaurants. It seemed selfish to keep you to myself.”

He laughed. This was exactly why he sought her company. “Considerate as well as lovely. Do you have any faults?”

The smile faltered again and she looked away. “I hope you’ll never know them.”

“I hope that I might. Somehow I think they’ll be just as charming as your attributes.” He hated when she turned from him that way. Her face was so animated. “You’re not disappointed to see me are you?”

Her smile didn’t return. “No.”

There was something haunting her, he decided, and her expression was almost sad. “But you’re not happy to see me, either?”

She sighed and turned her back on him altogether, straightening shelves already kept perfectly organized. “I shouldn’t be happy to see you.”

“Why not?”

“It’s complicated.”

“I’m sure I have both the time and the patience to understand.” Honestly her sudden caginess baffled him. He could feel her interest. What had he done to make her cautious of him? She had laughed at all of his jokes last night. He was certain she’d enjoyed herself. He’d made sure of it. Or was she engaged? But she wore no ring, no mark at all of having committed herself elsewhere. “Please, Renata.”

“It will only hurt more later, if I let you have your way.”

He was certain then, at that moment, she felt it too. The same thing that had brought him back here to find her. Like a rubber band stretched between them, drawing them together for some purpose. “I won’t hurt you.”

She glanced back over her shoulder, and he saw the sad little smile tug at her lips. “I believe you.”

“Then there’s no reason why we can’t have dinner again.” He smiled in what he hoped was an encouraging way. “Besides, I never did get to tell you who you reminded me of. I thought you wanted to know.”

“Is that supposed to be some sort of bribe? If I have dinner with you, you’ll confess all your secrets?”

“Not all, certainly, but a few, perhaps. If you ask the right questions.”

She laughed and then turned, studying his face. “You’re not going to leave until I agree, are you?”

He met her gaze levelly and tried to sound thoughtful. “I haven’t decided quite yet. I don’t want to come on too strong, you know.”

“No, of course not. The last thing you want is for me to think you’re some kind of stalker.” She shook her head, her eyes rising to the ceiling in an expression close to exasperation. “Seven o’clock then. What kind of food would you like?”

He grinned. “Somehow I don’t think we’ve plumbed the depths of
Mangiamo’s
menu, yet. There must be more to them than their golden veal.”

“You don’t want to try somewhere else?”

“Why ruin a good thing?” he shrugged. And it helped that she was comfortable there. As reluctant as she was to allow him this second date, he didn’t want to give her any excuse not to show up.

“If that’s what you want, I won’t object. I can’t say no to good Italian food when it isn’t going to cost me anything.” She shook her head again. “My parents aren’t going to be happy about this.”

He raised both eyebrows. “Would it help if I picked you up? I’m sure if they met me they wouldn’t mind.” He’d make sure of it. It would hardly take more than a thought—

“No, no. I’ll meet you at the restaurant. Don’t worry about it.”

“Are you sure? I’d be more than happy—”

She laughed. “No, it’s fine. I’ll figure something out.”

“Seven o’clock then. I’ll be looking forward to it.”

She nodded. “Now that you’ve secured me for dinner, will you let me get back to work?”

He smiled and stepped back from the counter. “Certainly.” And when she made a shooing motion, waving him away, he left with a laugh.

“You never did say what you were here for,” Renata said, swirling her wine in her glass. She rested her chin in her hand, propped up by her elbow on the edge of the table.

The wine was beginning to have an effect on her, and Adam smiled. He hadn’t expected her to become so relaxed. “Sure I did. I told you I was here on business.”

She raised an eyebrow and sipped her wine. “So specific.”

He laughed, topping off her glass again. It was their second bottle of the night. Dinner had been as excellent as it was the night before, and he had encouraged her to order whatever she liked, the more expensive the better. Judging by the fact that she was wearing the same simple dress that she had worn the previous evening, he wasn’t wrong about her finances, and with a little bit of persuasion, she had been tempted to try something new after he had announced he would be ordering the most expensive item on the menu and a very pricey bottle of wine to go with it.

“You ask me all the hard questions, Renata.”

“This time you have a full stomach, so that can’t be your excuse. What’s so difficult about telling me what you do for a living?”

He smiled, shaking his head. It was too entertaining to tease her. “My business is not my living. At least not in this case.”

He leaned back in his seat, wondering if he should tell her the truth or not. She was bound to think it odd, and there were so many things he couldn’t explain. Was this how Eve had felt, every time she met someone new? It was like teetering on the edge of a knife. How much could he share before his balance was tipped one way or the other? But somehow he felt he could trust her, at least with this much.

Her brow furrowed and he could feel her curiosity. “Are you going to make me guess?”

“Do you have one?”

“A guess? No. Although it must be something that doesn’t require you to spend your days in an office, since you seem to have all the time in the world to pester me at the shop.”

“My business here does not keep me in an office, no. In fact, spending the day in an office would be counter-productive to my goals.”

“And what are your goals?” she asked, leaning forward. “Or are you going to refuse to tell me that too?”

He laughed and tossed his napkin onto the table. “I was under the impression that you were the one refusing me.”

“Deflection.” She made a noise in the back of her throat and sat up, sipping the wine again. “I’ve had more than my fill of that particular conversational device for this lifetime and the next, thank you very much.”

He stopped, watching her closely for a moment. Something about the way she said it made him think it wasn’t just colloquialism. But it couldn’t be. He’d have known it long before now, and she never would’ve agreed to come to dinner with him the first time, never mind the second. Would she?

“It’s late,” she said. “I should probably get home. My parents will be waiting for me.”

“It’s not that late.” He reached for her hand but she pulled it away to take another drink just at that moment. “And if you stay a bit longer I promise to give you at least one direct answer.”

Her eyes narrowed, but she smiled. “You just want to serve me more wine.”

He shrugged, looking into her eyes again, though she wouldn’t meet his. Those green eyes, so like Eve’s. “I can’t say the thought didn’t occur to me. But I won’t ply you if you don’t want me to.”

“It isn’t about what I want, Jeremiah. You’re a man who expects to get things his way, and somehow always manages it. Am I right?”

“You’re not wrong.” Except for one thing. The reason he was in this country to begin with. He made up his mind then, for better or worse. “I’m looking for someone.”

“What?” she asked, blinking.

He laughed. The wine had caused her cheeks to flush, and he was beginning to hear its influence in her voice. “You asked me why I’m here. What my business is. I’m looking for someone.”

She drank the last of the wine and set the glass down carefully, her gaze averted. “Who?”

“A woman. She’s…” He wasn’t sure how to describe her. His sister? His friend? His family? None of the terms seemed to fit. He shrugged. “An old acquaintance of mine.”

“What does she look like?”

He smiled slightly. “Another hard question.”

She lifted an eyebrow, her expression oddly serious. “If you know her, how is it hard to describe her?”

“It’s been a long time since I saw her last. But she has green eyes, like yours. Very much like yours.”

“Ah.” She sighed. “I remind you of the woman you’re looking for, don’t I? This old friend of yours.”

He nodded. “But she never would have let herself get drunk at dinner with me, I don’t think. Unless she was trying to purposely mislead me.”

She was studying the bottle of wine now, as though considering another glass. “Why would she want to mislead you?”

He took the bottle from her hand and their fingers brushed. It was like fire and lightning, racing through him but she pulled her hand away at once, hiding it in her lap. He stared at her, but she didn’t meet his eyes.

“I think she’s afraid of what would happen if I found her,” he said slowly, a pressure growing against his heart. He refilled her glass.

But Eve wouldn’t have had to ask any of these questions. And he’d never known her to be deceitful. She’d never lied to him, never hidden. It would have been beneath her to do so. And God help him, but this woman was everything he hadn’t realized he wanted. Everything he had wanted from Eve that she’d refused to give him. And it would be so easy. So much easier than it could ever be with Eve.

“I want to see you again, Renata.”

She closed her eyes and looked away, silent for a long moment. “If you’re in love with this other woman, I’m not sure there’s any point.”

He shook his head, sure of himself now, more sure than he had been even about Mia, when they had first met in Paris and he had realized at once she was exactly what he was looking for. “If I’m in love with anyone, it’s you.”

She swallowed hard and looked back at his face; her own was twisted with grief. “I have to go to the restroom.”

He watched her stand up, unsteady on her feet, and wondered if he should offer to walk her there, but she seemed to manage.

It was fifteen minutes before he realized she wasn’t coming back.

Chapter Seven: 165 AD

Thor stayed a few more days near the House of Lions, to be sure that Loki didn’t return to bother Evaline or her husband. The last thing he wished was to bring this descendant of Eve his troubles with the Trickster, but at least here he could enforce his own rules and use his power to protect them without concern for the wrath of Zeus or Odin.

He went north to see to Owen’s people, so far removed now from the son of Eve that none remembered who his father was any longer. Still, he made sure they had rain and sun as needed, and renewed the proper signs and sacrifices to ensure Freyr did not overlook them. He did not dare return to Asgard though, or speak to Freyr personally. Doing so would only cause Sif to take notice, and he had no desire to test her. And then there was Odin, and the banishment that had yet to be lifted. For the best, perhaps. He had no wish to look upon his father, knowing what he did now. All the betrayal, all the faithlessness. On earth, he need not be reminded of it.

As long as Eve stayed in the Far East, and Adam in the west, he felt it safe enough not to haunt her steps, and it made his heart ache to look on her and know that whatever Gabriel had said, the time when she would know him could not be soon. Maybe that was why Sif had divorced him at last. To make it all the more bittersweet, all the more trying. Even unmarried he could not have Eve. He felt Sif mocking him from Asgard, and he traveled south again. Away. Always away.

There was no moon so the stars shone more brightly. With the depth of shadows in the dark, it was some time before he realized that he was being followed, lost as he was in his own misery, and the riddles that dogged him. He stopped and waited.

“Were you ever going to come to me?”

Athena. Of course. And no doubt Sif had made sure word had reached her. Wasn’t it enough that she tortured him, without making Athena suffer as well?

He turned to see her standing along the road, shining in the starlight, brilliant as the moon in spite of its absence. “It doesn’t change things between us, Athena, and I did not want to give you false hope.”