Be Careful What You Wish For Read online

  If you’re so tough then why have you cried three times in the last two days? demanded the little voice in her head. What’s wrong with you, Cass? Get it together!

  “No, I’m not crying,” she said, swiping at her eyes with the back of her arm.

  “Yes, you are—I felt your tears on my skin.” Jake’s voice had an odd quality to it—a kind of wonder. He looked over his broad shoulder at Cass. “No one has cried for me before, Cassandra. No one has given me the gift of their grief for my pain. And you have done it twice.”

  Cass wasn’t sure what to say.

  “I…I’m sorry,” she finally managed. “I guess…I’ve just never seen anyone flogged before. It’s just something awful you read about in Dianna Gabaldon novels but never actually see in real life. I…I still can’t believe you let yourself be hurt for me.”

  “I will always protect you.” His green eyes flashed fiercely. “Never doubt it, Cassandra.”

  “Even…” Cass cleared her throat. “Even when you’re mad at me for watching your U-New channel? I swear I didn’t mean to,” she added quickly. “We don’t have anything like that in the, uh, human realm. But you’re right—I should have tried to turn it off way sooner than I did.”

  Jake sighed and shook his head.

  “No, Cassandra, I am no longer angry with you for the breach of my privacy. It seems we are destined to be entwined in each others’ lives for some time—there is no point in me being annoyed or embarrassed that you learned more about my private life than I would normally tell a client.”

  “Well…you haven’t exactly seen me at my best either,” Cass pointed out. “I mean between the fact that I was wearing my night shirt when I first met you and then the way you saved me from the soul-sucker…and then what the, uh, Brandon clone was doing with my underwear the last time you popped into my room…”

  One corner of the big elf’s mouth quirked up in a grin.

  “Yes, he did seem to be enjoying himself. Hopefully no one has touched him and he’s still frozen in place. I can only imagine the havoc he is wreaking on your underwear drawer if he’s gotten free of my stasis spell.”

  “Ugh!” Cass shivered at the thought. “Let’s hope not—I like my nice underwear. It’s my only indulgence.”

  His eyes flickered over her appraisingly.

  “So you do like pretty underthings. I thought as much.”

  Cass felt her cheeks getting hot but she lifted her chin and refused to let herself feel nervous around the big elf.

  “Speaking of underthings, mine were all wet along with the rest of my clothes. Do you think I could borrow something to wear while I’m here? I’d rather not lounge around in a towel the whole time. Unless you can dry out my clothes with one of your housekeeping spells?” she added hopefully.

  Jake seemed to consider but he shook his head regretfully.

  “Not at the moment. Until I can fully heal myself even the smallest spells are beyond me. It is a wonder I could even get us back here which probably has more to do with the pull of my home on me than my own power.” He sighed. “However, you can feel free to borrow one of my shirts if you like. They are hanging in the closet by my suits.”

  “Okay, thanks.” Cass nodded. Carefully re-stoppering the long-necked blue bottle, she placed it on the counter by the sink which held her dripping clothes. Ducking back into his closet and shutting the door behind her, she found rows of conservative button-down shirts hanging beside the suits, just as Jake had promised.

  Cass pulled one off the hanger—a white one with pale blue pinstripes running down the length of it—and slipped it on as she let the towel puddle around her feet. It was much too big, of course but the cool cotton felt good against her skin. The tails of the shirt fell to her upper thighs, effectively acting as a dress and when she had rolled up the sleeves to her elbows, she thought her new outfit was quite functional.

  “While you’re in there, would you look in the top left-hand drawer to your right and get me a pair of sleep trousers?” Jake called to her through the closet door.

  Cass felt a surge of surprise. So he was actually giving her license to snoop? Not a whole lot but still, it seemed significant somehow that he was allowing her to look in his drawers. Well, one drawer anyway, she amended to herself.

  Pulling out the drawer he had mentioned, she found a neat stack of pajama bottoms folded next to an equally neat stack of boxer briefs. For a moment the neatness down to the minute detail awed her but then she reminded herself of the housekeeping spells she’d seen him do.

  I could be neat and organized too if I could make it happen just by saying the right words, she thought. I wonder if he could teach me elf magic so I could do that?

  Of course, Jake had said that any magic—even the smallest spell—was beyond him until he was healed. So they’d better concentrate on that first.

  “Here you go,” she said, stepping out of the closet and handing him the pajama bottoms, which were black and made of some heavy, satiny material which was soft and silky to the touch. “Will these be okay?”

  “These should do nicely. Thank you.”

  Jake turned his back to her and dropped the towel to put on the trousers. Though Cass tried not to watch, she couldn’t help the way her gaze was drawn to his muscular ass. Damn, she didn’t know what kind of workout they did here in the Realm of the Fae but whatever it was, it was most definitely working for Jake!

  Wouldn’t have to add anything extra if I painted him, she thought, remembering how she had beefed up the portrait of Brandon to make him look more muscular than he really was. If I painted Jake I could do it with no embellishments at all and it would still be damn impressive.

  The thought of her boyfriend should have made her feel guilty—especially since she was comparing him to another man—and a half naked man whose home she was in at that. But somehow Brandon seemed very far away at the moment…more of an abstract concept than a real person. Especially when she was staring at her court-appointed elf’s perfect ass…

  “Are you looking at my back?” Jake turned to her as he finished tying the drawstring on his pajama bottoms.

  “Oh, um, your back. Yes…yes, of course,” Cass mumbled. More like his backside, whispered a naughty little voice in her head. She could feel her cheeks getting hot but thankfully Jake didn’t seem to notice.

  “Does it look better, do you think?” He turned his head and tried to study the area in the mirror over the sink.

  “Maybe a little,” Cass offered. “The bleeding has definitely stopped and it looks like some of the whip marks are, uh, closing up.”

  Jake frowned. “Not nearly as much as I’d thought they would be though. Damn! I thought the healing potion would get me to the point where I could finish the healing with a word of power.”

  “You still don’t think you can?” Cass asked. “Maybe you ought to try.”

  “I will.” Closing his eyes he took a deep breath and said a word in Gaelic.

  Though it sounded loud and impressive, Cass felt barely a ripple of the immense power she’d felt before when she’d heard him Spell-Sing or use words of power or whatever you wanted to call it. Something was happening—something was holding him back. Was it just the wounds on his back…or something else?

  “Damn it!” Jake growled, opening his eyes and looking at his back again in the mirror. “What’s wrong with me? It’s almost like something is inhibiting my healing and my power.”

  Cass had a sudden thought.

  “I don’t know if you heard him or not but when that awful troll judge was finally letting us go he said something like, ‘I think you’ve learned a lesson that will stick with you for a long time, Counselor.’ Do you think maybe there was more than just agony potion on that whip? Maybe they put…I don’t know…some other kind of stuff on it?”

  Jake’s face darkened.

  “You know, for someone who isn’t from the Realm, your mind works in remarkably fae-ish ways. Yes, that is entirely possible. I wouldn’t pu