Declan put Tara on her feet, gazing down at her in awed astonishment. "That was an incredibly good idea. My God, look at you, beautiful and brilliant as well."
"The inspiration of panic," Tara said with visible embarrassment. "I'm just glad it worked. Although I think at least five people saw me bring a peacock in here and now I'm going to walk out with a man. That might be a problem."
"Not unless there are security cameras, and maybe not then," Declan said thoughtfully. "We can brazen it out if there's not. I mean it would be madness for you to have been carrying a peacock around, right?"
"Well, there's that…"
"And if there are cameras…" Dylan glanced upward like he'd be able to see them, even though the stall walls and door went all the way to the ceiling. "How about we burn that bridge when we get there?"
"That actually seems like the best idea," Tara admitted. "You're okay? I nearly had a heart attack when that guy netted you."
"I'm fine. Nothing bruised but my ego. I should have seen him coming. Peacocks aren't great fliers, but I could have gotten far enough away to shift. But you rescued me anyway." He beamed down at her. "You really are fantastic. My heroine."
"You would have done the same for me." Tara paused. "If I could turn into a peacock, anyway. Or a peahen, I guess. Because it certainly would have been hard to explain if they'd just nettedmeand thrown me in the peacock enclosure."
Declan laughed and drew her into another hug, exhaling happily as the warmth of her soft body pressed against his. "Yes. Yes, it would have been. And yes, I would have. I tell you, I was looking for a way to cut through the fence, or dig a hole under it, or…"
Nest in a cozy coop,his peacock offered. Apparently it hadn't been terribly worried about being stuck there forever.
We'll go home and nest this evening,Declan promised.You've earned it.
Will our mate come with us?
I hope so.
That seemed to satisfy his peacock, which settled down comfortably as Declan added, "Will we try to brazen it out, then? Should we go out one at a time, or together?"
"Oh! Me first. If anybody wants to know where the peacock is I'll try to be distracting so you can sneak out so they don't notice you were in the ladies'."
"Clever woman. All right, you go. But first!" He dipped his head to steal a kiss, then, distracted, pressed her up against the stall door to kiss her more thoroughly. They were both breathless and smiling when they finally came up for air, and even Declan thought he sounded a little vague as he said, "You'd better go before things get out of hand."
"If we didn't have Colette to deal with…" Tara opened the stall door and scurried out, leaving Declan to sort himself out.He'd almost forgotten about Colette in all the fuss, and hoped the designer wasn't out there pulling peacock tails. Although she couldn't be, unless the school kids were also gone.
With an under-his-breath mutter, he went to the door, peeked through a crack to see Tara in an animated discussion with a couple of other tourists, and slipped out to head back into the castle grounds unnoticed. A quick glance at his phone told him his friends were on the way, so all he and Tara had to do was find Colette—somewhere in sixty acres of castle grounds—and be ready when Seamus and Brian got there.
Tara rejoined him, all lovely bounces and jiggles as she jogged up the path to his side, then heaved a breathless sigh. "Brazening it out more or less worked. I think maybe we should try to wrap it up and get out of here as fast as possible, though. The rest of the peacocks are in their enclosure, but if we get far enough away from that, you should be able to shift and maybe draw her out without drawing attention from the groundskeepers, right?"
"Hopefully. Or we can split up and search for her, then ring the other if we find her?"
Tara put her hand in his and shook her head. "No, thank you. I've had enough adventures in splitting up from you for one day already. We'll find her, we'll…I still don't know what," she admitted with a grimace. "She doesn't seem the type to back off easily, but calling the police when there are shifters involved…."
"You've gotten used to that quick like," Declan said with a smile as they wandered through the castle grounds. "Having to think carefully about who to involve, when shifters are part of the equation. I think I can convince her, though. You said something about peacock gods earlier, right? What if I could make her think I was one?"
Tara's eyebrows climbed and she looked up at him skeptically. "How?"
"Shifters tend to run large, when they take their animal forms, but bird shifters can take it to an extreme. I can get…" He hesitated. "Verybig."
His fated mate's mouth twitched, although she struggled to keep her face straight and assumed the most innocent voice imaginable. "Are you telling me that you've got a big cock, Declan?"
Yes! You do! Tell her you do! She'll like that!His peacock sounded thrilled. Declan thought he might die. Voice suddenly hoarse with both embarrassment and desire, he said, "I wouldn't have put it that way…"
Tara's laughter pealed out across the castle grounds, and Declan thought he would be a happy man if he could spend the rest of his life listening to that laugh.
You can,his peacock told him eagerly.Just keep reminding her about your big cock! I'm very big! And handsome! And I can get it up any time she wants me to!
Declan choked on a laugh, then gave up and gave into it, shoulders shaking as he and Tara walked along. This was perfection, he thought. Nothing could be better, except to explain the fated mate bond and live happily ever after. And he would—theywould—as soon as they found and dealt with Colette Saunier.
"There she is," Tara murmured, almost as if she'd heard his thoughts. "I'll go say hello and you—oop!" The last was to Declan as he took a quick look around and shifted. The designer was in a clearing, scowling around as she searched the ground, probably looking for peacock feathers. She glanced up at the sound of Tara's footsteps, and her eyes narrowed greedily when she found Declan parading a few feet in front of her.
