‘Two secrets and two favours,’ he countered.
She considered. ‘No caveats and no limitations on either and you have a deal.’
He beamed. ‘And you’ve got yourself a happy client.’
Mallory inclined her head. To be honest, it was better than she’d expected. All in all, this had been a surprisingly successful day. ‘I’ll have the blood contract drawn up by tomorrow. My assistant will come around for your blood signature.’
Boris would grumble about visiting the vampire but Mallory knew that Longchamps was pleased enough to make the spriggan feel welcome. ‘Make sure that you read it carefully before you sign,’ she warned.
Chester Longchamps was already nodding. ‘Ms Nash, I will be eternally grateful to you for this.’
For a vampire, Mallory reflected, that was quite something.
Chapter
Five
‘Alexander MacTire is refusing to sign the blood contract,’ Boris informed her, once she was back home with a soft cushion at her back and her feet propped up on her favourite stool.
Excellent: this day was just getting better and better. Mallory took a self-congratulatory sip from her perfectly chilled, perfectly balanced Chablis. She’d hoped that the werewolf alpha would see sense and change his mind about their silly matchmaking deal, and she was delighted that her hope had been fulfilled. ‘Fabulous,’ she murmured. She raised her glass in the spriggan’s direction. ‘Cheers.’
‘He says he’ll only sign when you’re with him. He’s asked you to visit him at the MacTire residence tomorrow.’
Mallory’s shoulders immediately drooped. ‘Oh.’
‘If he has the option to back out of the deal, so do you,’ Boris reminded her gently.
She pulled a face. ‘I won’t do that. You know I won’t do that.’ Once she’d agreed verbally to a deal, Mallory made a point of sticking to it unless there were extenuating circumstances thatmade her involvement untenable. She couldn’t afford to be seen as flaky.
‘You’ve worked hard enough up to this point that your reputation can take a little tarnish here and there,’ Boris countered.
‘Maybe that’s how things work in the Summer Court, but it’s not the case here. It takes years to build a good reputation and only seconds to break one. I’ve made the offer to MacTire. I can’t back out now.’
‘Of course you can. Nobody cares what a werewolf thinks.’
‘He’s an alpha,’ she reminded him. ‘He’s theMacTirealpha.’
Boris curled his lip.
‘He’s wealthy, powerful and he has friends in many corners of Coldstream.’
‘Whatever.’ The spriggan sniffed and gave her a sideways look. ‘You like him.’
‘I barely know him. But he’s not a bad man,’ she conceded.
‘You know that if you’re successful, you’ll be inundated with similar requests. You’ll end up as Coldstream’s pre-eminent matchmaker.’
‘This is a one-off. I won’t accept any other deals like this – I’m not a one-woman dating agency.’
Boris bobbed his head. ‘If you say so, Mallory.’ She sent him a mock glare. ‘MacTire is very handsome.’ He made no effort to mask the wicked gleam in his yellow eyes.
‘All the more reason that this will be an easy contract to fulfil.’ As soon as the words had left her mouth, Mallory knew she was kidding herself. If it was easy, Alexander MacTire would already be happily bound to a beautiful mate with several tow-headed children running around his feet.
‘MacTire is going to make the Longchamps’ deal seem like child’s play,’ Boris smirked.
Unfortunately, on that count she suspected he was right.
When Mallory arrivedat the gate to the main MacTire residence the following morning, she felt decidedly out of sorts. She’d forgotten yet again to pick up some coffee beans so she’d been forced to go without her morning brew for the second day in a row. Tea simply didn’t cut the mustard. In a bid to remember on her way home, she’d scribbled the word ‘coffee’ on the back of her hand.
