She glared, unaware of how much he suffered at the sight of her. How she had lit his carefully constructed calm ablaze. “But youcouldtake someone, right? If you wanted.”
He sighed.Please, don’t ask. “I could, yes.”
“Then take me!” She froze and red bloomed beyond the tinted powder she had applied to her cheeks. They both sensed the implication of her chosen words, but Kieran’s eyes narrowed to razor focus. There was a part of him that screamed to do just that. A rather loud part, whose arguments were growingquite compelling. He allowed the voice its ramblings while she corrected demurely, “I mean, allow me to attendwithyou.”
Kieran saw no future where he took Seraphina to a ball and it ended well for either of them. Attending those inane rituals alone was torment enough. The small talk and unwritten rules and scrutiny, all interminable in their own right, but there was also the unspoken sport of spouse hunting that produced unparalleled agony. The stir they would cause both because Kieran had never before escorted a woman to one of these functions and because Sera would be a human on the arm of a Winter Fae. It seemed Miss Wilde from the precinct had taken up her sister’s mantle and proceeded in her relationship with Lord Drake, the papers were whispering about marriage being imminent, but that would not be enough to save them from talk should Kieran show up at Levity’s ball escorting Sera like he had a claim on her.
His jaw clenched, fingers squeezing into fists. He had no claim. He had no right to escort her anywhere. This was not going to happen.
He only attended these sorts of parties out of obligation. Showed precisely on time and lingered only as long as courtesy dictated. Add Sera, dressed in something fashionable—designed with the sole aim of enticing prospective partners—begging him with her impossible eyes for a dance—he never danced, it was well understood—her body flushed with the exertion and the unbearable heat of so many bodies crammed together without consideration for those that needed cold. A drink or two loosening her already provocative words.
Kieran cleared his throat. Per his own self-inflicted rules for how he would proceed with Sera, bringing her to a ball simply because she wished for it was out of the question.
Thirty-two. Thirty-one.
It was also unfair to deny her when he was the one with the problem. Perhaps he could stay home and allow her to attend in his place. “I’ll inform Levity that you plan to attend.”
Her delighted squeal was sharp and lilting, the excitement reverberating through her body as she bounced on her feet.
“Oh, and I’ve solved your problem,” she said, stepping further into the room. Which was still plenty of distance from him, but also not enough. The scent of her had wafted on the breeze of her entrance and his hands still balanced on his desk turned to fists. He was starting to dread the scent of almonds.
She had not solved his problem. She’d made it worse. He couldn’t think.
He couldn’t concentrate on more than keeping his breath steady and fighting the impulse to slam the door and then her against it. Perhaps, he could contrive a way for her to reject him outright. While the uncertainty of her stance on physical intimacy hung between them, he was free to entertain that it was merely his own control keeping them apart. All he needed was a ‘no’ and this maddening lust would disappear.
That was the answer. He needed her to deny him.
How did he glean such a response? Did he push her? Breach the line between them on the thin hope she denied him? Sera was a creature of impulses and indulgence. There was every chance she would not only accept his advances but exploit the opportunity with enthusiasm.
Twenty-nine.Twenty-eight.Twenty-seven.Twenty-six.
Gods, he was not doing himself any favors.
Her glowing smile faltered as she took in his posture and face, a flicker of doubt reaching her eyes. Kieran straightened and fought to get his arms behind his back, one hand holding the opposite wrist in a grip so tight he cut off the blood flow.
“I’m… sorry, is this a bad time? I realize I should have knocked. You’re busy. I’ll come back—” She started to retreat.
He settled his eyes on her and forced the one image he knew would break her hold on him. Her fear when he’d kissed her.
“I’m not busy. What problem have you solved?” Though it could not be the problem that mattered most.
She hesitated, hugging something to her chest as she licked her lips.
Twenty-one. Twenty.
“You asked me to find someone to look over your park proposal,” she started, his feigned nonchalance seeming to put her at ease.
“Ah, you’ve found one then?”
Color bloomed in her cheeks. “Yes and no.” She stepped forward and set the proposal down on the desk. “I looked at it myself. And I think if you make these adjustments, you could effectively make your changes and save enough on cost to undercut the proposed budget.
“I’ve been looking into fae-refined steel and, if I’m understanding correctly, there’s a much easier way to do this. The usual process of making steel requires heat and forges that would mean removing the iron and transporting it to be refined, then reshaped and transported back. However, fae-refinement doesn’t require a full forge. I noticed the metal used in your house all have an enchantment that prevents them from freezing. Plus, a fae forge could be easily transported in a cart andmovedto the locations directly. You disassemble a bench, remove the iron and use the same element that prevents freezing to help the iron maintain its shape during the chemical changes. Then you’ve refined the iron into fae-forged steel and there’s no reshaping or transporting necessary. I’d have to run a few trials… get my hands on some of the materials and fully inspect a working fae forge, but I think I could correct for any potential variables…”
Her enthusiasm trailed off and she started to shrink. Pulled her arms inward and hiked up her shoulders. Doubt wormed through her confidence. “That is… I think this will all work as predicted. And… if it does, then eliminating those steps should cut more than half the proposed cost for everything… um, if it does work. I mean, maybe I should find a professional to take a look.”
Kieran crossed around the front of the desk and looked down at the neat diagrams and accompanying equations. It was nonsense to his mind, but he understood currency. He flipped until he found her estimated cost and, if her calculations were sound—and he would bet that they were—then she would undercut his quoted budget by thousands.
Three hundred, to fully revitalize the entire public park system and remove all iron contamination, bordered on sorcery. Kieran had been certain he would need to expand the budget; the question had just been by how much. And yet his secretary, who called herself stupid, had presented a workable solution for mere pocket change. And she had done it in a couple days.
