To say he loved her was like teetering on the edge of a pit, every fiber in him wanting to scramble back from the edge, saying no, no, no. To love her meant that if he didn’t win her, if he never got a chance to prove …

His breath seized at the thought, and that pit seemed to rear up, ready to swallow him whole.

Now you know how I felt.

He flinched at Gwynn’s voice, and then everything in him truly did rebel, scrambling away as fast as it could. Whatever he felt, it would never lead there. Never, ever—

“Gabriel?”

He snapped back to see Olivia watching him, her face drawn with worry. He found the barest smile for her. “Sorry. I was just … processing. I appreciate that you were concerned. That …”

He cleared his throat and forced the words out as fast as he could. “That means a lot to me. But my own feelings on the matter …? Patrick is fae. He made some effort, and while it would not come near your standard for proper parenting, it exceeds my own experience.” He said the last with a tiny smile, but the flash of pain on her face made him wish he hadn’t gone there.

She loves me, too, in her way.

“Coffee?” he said.

She smiled. “Yes, I’m finally done, and we may have coffee.”

CHAPTER FORTY

We took our coffees into the garden, where we sat on the bench and drank, and Gabriel mentioned the possibility of a backyard stove or fire pit, and we discussed that—types I’d seen at garden parties, and which would work best here.

“Then you will buy one?” he said.

“As soon as you use the fireplace at the office.”

“Would you settle for a fire in my wastebasket?”

I mock-glowered at him. “No. Get yours going, and I’ll buy more comfortable seating, too.” I shifted and made a face. “Soon. Please.”

We sipped our coffees and talked about lawn furniture. There was still part of me that worried he was in shock about Patrick. He’d handled the revelation as if I’d been telling him the weather forecast, and really, it wasn’t as if he planned to be out of doors anyway.

When Gabriel’s phone rang, I recognized the ring tone, having set it up myself. “The office? It’s Saturday night”

“Lydia planned to work this evening in return for a half day off next week.” He answered the phone, and I heard uncharacteristic rapid-fire speech from the other end.

Gabriel glanced at me and hit a button. “Olivia’s here. I’m putting you on speaker.”

“—don’t need to put me on speaker, Gabriel,” Lydia said. “You need to get over here. Now.”

I rose, but Gabriel held out a hand, stopping me.

“You said there’s a girl—”

“—in your office. Completely panicked and refusing to speak to anyone except you or someone named Gwynn.”

I took the phone and started for the gate. “It’s me. We’re on our way, but we’re in Cainsville and the car is a half mile away. Can you put her on the phone? Tell her it’s Olivia, and Gabriel is right here.”

“I would, but she’s out cold.”

“What?”

“I think it’s drugs. She was talking about someone named Gwynn and seemed to get him confused with Gabriel. She mentioned you, but she said she really needed Gabriel. Then she was speaking in another language. Then back to English, about hounds and pepper, and it made absolutely no sense, Liv. I couldn’t even get her to calm down enough to let me phone Gabriel until she passed out.”

“We’ll be there as soon as we can.”

We found the lamia on the chaise lounge in Gabriel’s office. Lydia apologized for that, but it was the only horizontal surface.

“You should go,” I said to Lydia. “We’ve got this.”

She shook her head. “I can—”

“You’ve done enough,” Gabriel said. “We appreciate you staying with her.”

“You know what this is about, then,” she said.

When Gabriel didn’t answer, I said, “Yes, we do.”

“And it would be better if I left?”

“Yes, it would.”

I walked her to her desk, where she got her jacket and laptop bag. “Thank you. For handling this.”

She busied herself putting on her jacket. “I know things have changed, Liv. Not just because you’re here, and Gabriel no longer practically lives in this office. Which is wonderful to see, but …” She looked at me. “I’m not demanding to know more, but I think it would help if I did.”

“Gabriel doesn’t want—”

“He’s always been very careful to keep me out of anything that could land me in a jail cell.” She smiled. “He’d hate the bother of replacing me. I understand he thinks it’s unsafe for me to know more, but I’m asking.”

At a noise from Gabriel’s office, I turned.

“Go on,” she said. “Just consider it. Please.”

I said goodbye and hurried back to the office, where Gabriel had taken off his jacket and pulled a chair over to the chaise lounge. He sat there, watching the lamia, making no move to wake her.

The girl looked about sixteen with curly black hair, a thin face, and a thin body. No makeup. Dressed in a battered leather jacket, jeans, and combat boots. Not hunting, then. Just being a regular girl—regular fae.

I shook her gently, but she didn’t move. When I pressed my fingers to her neck, I could feel a pulse. Barely feel a pulse.