Through The Leaded Glass (4 page)

She opened her mouth to scream, but he slammed
his other hand over her mouth. Alex held the flap aside as Nick
shoved her toward the center of the tent.

“
Hey! Watch it!” she yelled when he
released her mouth. On her Things-To-Piss-Me-Off List, Manhandling
fell right after Kidnapping. Just above Condescension, Sexism, and
Chauvinism. “Where do you get off grabbing me like that? Where in
your job description does it mention attacking the guests?” She
straightened her shirt and tried to untangle the stupid mile-long
sleeve. “If you don’t stop manhandling me, I’ll slap a lawsuit on
you so fast your heads will spin.”

They stared at her.

Okay, she could do this. Maybe they were new.
Or disgruntled employees out to make trouble for Management.
Whatever it was, she could handle it. God knew, her persuasive
abilities had won over a lot of tough-sell clients.

She straightened her shoulders and faced Alex.
“What, exactly, do you want that you felt the need to haul me in
here for?”

Alex took off his gloves and handed them to
Nick. “That’s what I should ask you since you have my stolen
items.”

“
Stolen? What are you talking
about?”

“
The shield,” said Nick.

“
This?” She lifted it. “Why on
earth are you so bent up about a shield?” She pulled it off her arm
and—

Her world spun again.

The dented, tarnished remnant of a shield
she’d purchased from Master Griff was now a perfectly restored
piece of armor, metal gleaming like a newly-minted nickel. The
etchings around the edges were inlaid with gold like he’d said, and
if those sparkling stones weren’t real jewels, she’d sell her
grandmother’s ruby ring.

Alex took it from her. “Easy enough. The ring,
as well.”

The ring
.

Kate brought her hand up, and—oh, God. What
she’d thought had been brass was
gold
and it glistened.
Without a single ding. And that gem could only be an
emerald.

Her knees buckled and she groped for a padded
bench beside her before both her legs and her sanity gave
out.

The men didn’t say anything. They didn’t have
to; they were looking at her as if she had two heads. And
considering what she was thinking, that might not be too
farfetched.

“
What’s going on?” she
whispered.

“
As I said, I should ask you that
question.” Alex pulled up a stool and sat inches from her. “How did
you come to have my property?”

“
Look, I have no idea what’s going
on here. Why that shield looks so new or the ring…” She closed her
eyes. This didn’t make any sense. Old things just didn’t look new.
Not by themselves.

She opened her eyes. It had to be some
kitschy, trick prop or something. Something to keep the customers
coming back. A promotional item the RenFaire publicity department
came up with to drum up business. That
had
to be
it.

She let out a relieved breath.
It’s a show,
Kate
. These people were actors and it was their job to convince
faire attendees they really were in the past.

She chuckled. “You know what? You guys are
good. I don’t know how you did it, but these are great.” She
pointed to the shield. “Quite the marketing ploy. I’ll have to get
in touch with your merchandiser.” She stood up. They definitely had
a customer now. She knew just the account she could use these types
of things for. Maybe customize them with the client’s logo. There
was that trade show next month—

Alex tugged her back down. “You’re not free to
leave.” His grip tightened. “Not until you explain.”

“
Explain what? Look here, mister.
Let. Me. Go.” She yanked, almost falling over when he actually
listened. “Okay, this little play-acting has gone on long enough.
I’ll buy your products; just let me out of here. I was supposed to
meet my friend a while ago. Give me your card or whoever’s
responsible for these things and I’ll touch base with them when I’m
in the office on Monday.”

Alex said nothing. Nor did Nick.

Nothing
made a sound.

It was utterly quiet.

Too
quiet.

So quiet, Kate suddenly felt uncomfortable.
Uneasy.

She put her hands in her lap, the ring burning
cold against her skin. Alex’s stare wasn’t helping
matters.

She looked around the tent. There was a woven
rug on the ground, benches ringing it, a small table with a basket
of apples. Fat wooden barrels—casks—on one side. Must be one hell
of an after-party when this show closed up for the day. A helmet
rested on another table, visor closed, large blue plume rising from
the top, and a broadsword leaned against the table. She hoped they
put that away before breaking open the casks. Nick was proof that
booze and broadswords should not go hand-in-hand.

The silence was deafening. Why wouldn’t one of
them say something? Her insides twirled and she was reminded yet
again that skipping breakfast hadn’t been the best idea.

She could feel his eyes on her, but she
couldn’t look at him. Something weird was happening..

She looked at the armored breastplate he wore,
hesitantly touching the cool polished surface.
This
was
talent. With her college medieval history class and Alicia’s
constant history lessons, Kate knew armor making was an art. One
that went out with the Middle Ages.

Her hand drifted to her lap. She took another
look around the tent and the
thunk
in her stomach had
nothing to do with that skipped meal.

No. It was ridiculous. What she was thinking
could
not
be. The ring and the shield were some new type of
gimmick. Ingenious products. Nothing more.

“
Enough is enough.” Kate shot to
her feet, thrusting all thoughts of anything else from her mind.
She was an intelligent woman. Rational. And her rational
intelligence was telling her that it was time to get out of here
and find Alicia. Back to normal. Fast.

She shoved past Alex, but Nick blocked the
tent flap.

“
Would you mind calling off your
goon?” she asked without turning around.

She felt Alex behind her before her touched
her shoulder. And, boy, did she feel
that.
A zinger, right
through her entire nervous system.

“
Tell me what I wish to know and
I’ll consider allowing you to leave.”

She shrugged off his touch and turned around.
“If I knew what you wanted to know, I’d tell you. But I don’t, so
I’m leaving.”

Exhaling heavily, he crossed his arms. “I
would have thought you’d have a ready explanation. You couldn’t
have believed you’d carry off this pretense.”

“
I have no idea what you’re talking
about and I don’t like to be accused of something I didn’t do.” She
also didn’t like his intimidation tactics. She hadn’t allowed her
ex-husband to intimidate her and there was no way any other man
would.

She crossed her arms and drew herself up to
her full five-eight. “Look here,
buddy
, I’ll say it again. I
don’t know what you’re talking about and, frankly, I don’t care.”
She turned toward the flap, glaring at the man in her way. “Get out
of my way.”

“
Not until you return my ring,”
said Alex.

Kate spun back around—which wasn’t helping
with the world-tilting thing. “You have some nerve. What is this, a
new way to mug someone? Tough. I am
not
giving you this
ring. I paid for it; it’s mine. Go find your own.” She slammed her
hands to her hips and glared at him.

Alex had the gall to smile.

That’s it; she was out of here
. She
shoved Nick aside, but Alex was too fast. He grabbed her around the
waist and pulled her up against him.

Her world tilted again, but in a completely
different way. Her skin burned where he touched and her heart
pounded. The scent of him: earth and exertion, leather and
horseflesh, filled her senses. His size, his body, surrounded her.
Overwhelmed her in a way that had nothing to do with intimidation.
For a moment, she forgot what they were arguing about, focusing
solely on where she was. And where his hand was. And his lips…
where they were.

“
Tell me how you obtained that
ring,” he said, those lips tightening into a scowl.

Kate blinked.
Back to reality
. She
tried to pull away, but Alex wasn’t giving her an inch. “You’d
better let go of me before I report you to your boss.”

Alex merely tightened his hold.

“
Fine.” She huffed, sucking in
another breath that he’d stolen—on two levels. “I got it from a
pile of old junk.”

Nick snorted.

Alex glared. “An inventive story. But I want
the truth.”

Alarm bells sounded in her brain as her
bravado fled and fear finally made itself known. What had she
stumbled into? These guys weren’t about to go postal on the
fairgrounds, were they? Ransom her? Or… worse?

She had to get out of here. Preferably before
she died from lack of oxygen.

Okay, survival first, crazy thieves
second.

“
All right. Look, it’s true. I did
buy it from someone.” She injected every drop of sincerity she
possessed into her words.

He loosened his hold. Barely.
“Who?”

“
One of the vendors.”

“
Which one? What was he selling?
What did he look like?”

“
Hey, give me a chance to answer,
will you? And some air, too.”

Alex let go and Kate took a deep breath.
“That’s better.” She adjusted the stupid sleeve that had been
caught behind her back. “He was some merchant. Wore orange and
brown. Chatty. Tried to sell me a bunch of other—”

“
Farley.” Alex rubbed his jaw and
looked at Nick. “Of course.”

“
But how would
he
know where
it was?” Nick asked. “And why was he in the market? Shouldn’t he be
preparing to meet you in the lists?”

The two men seemed to forget about her as they
discussed this Farley person and castles and vendettas and a slew
of other things, which was just fine with Kate. She inched toward
the opening.

“
Don’t move.”

She considered bolting, but then Nick stepped
on the hem of her dress. She glared at him. “Do you
mind?”

“
I don’t, no,” he said, tapping the
hilt of his sword again. “But Alex? I do believe he does. A
lot.”

“
That I do.” Alex swiped his hand
over his mouth and along his jaw.

Not fair. That was one sexy move—even if he
was exasperated with her.

Join the club.

“
How could you wear it throughout
the village without thought to the consequences?” he
asked.

“
What consequences? It’s a ring.
What’s significant about that? Lots of people wear jewelry. One
woman had a fortune’s worth sewn into her costume that was eclipsed
only by a really bad hair dye job.”

“
But not everyone wears
that
ring.” Alex took a step toward her. “
My
ring.”

Kate refused to back away. “How can it be
your
ring? I bought it fair and square.”

“
You don’t know the significance of
his ring?” asked Nick, his hand still on the sword hilt.

“
What’s so special about it? And
quit calling it ‘his ring.’”

“
But it
is
his ring.” Nick
flexed his hand on the sword.

She was
not
going to let them
intimidate her. “Look, I’m telling you the truth. It’s mine. I
bought it. And I don’t see what the big deal is. Just go talk to
whoever came up with this idea and get your own.”

“
Fine,” Alex said. “You bought it.
Who has seen you wearing it?”

“
Other than Bad Hair Dye Woman and
her maid? I have no idea. Whoever was paying attention as we walked
down the street. A few vendors. I only bought it within the last
hour.” Which made her even later to meet Alicia. She had two
reasons for wanting to get out of this tent. She looked behind her.
Still too far to make a run for it. And then there was
Nick…

Alex did that sexy hand swipe thing again.
“Even an hour can pose problems, especially if the woman’s hair was
orange.”

“
God’s blood, no.” Nick’s mouth
fell open. “Pray, say it wasn’t.”

Kate tried to keep the smile off her face.
Served the two of them right. “Yep, it was. And she had the worst
teeth I’ve ever seen. Why? Ring some bells?”

“
God’s blood, woman. What have you
done?” Nick grabbed a pitcher and downed whatever was inside. Kate
was betting on beer. Went with the whole lumberjack image. “Do you
have any idea who Alex is?”

“
Well, since he nixed Galahad, I’ll
go with Henry the Eighth.”

Nick slammed the pitcher on the table. “He is
Alexander Traverse. Earl of Shelton.”

An earl
. At least he didn’t aspire to
king, Kate had to give him that. “Okay. Right. And I’m the Queen of
Sheba.”