Page 52 of Mortal Heart

His mouth twitched. “Are you interested in whether or not the good doctor is a demon?”

“Obviously she’s not, or we’d still be in there instead of getting ourselves thrown out,” she said, exasperated.

He eyed her.

Realization dawned. “Oh,” she said, and crossed her arms. “Okay, fine, so she won’t go looking for us because she thinks we have something on her. As ifyoucame up with that idea. It’s the oldest trick in the book.”

He chuckled. “I never tried to take credit for it, Miss Woodall.”

“But you sure as hell enjoyed trying to throw me off my game by suddenly claiming we were reporters.” She scowled. “So the doctor might have some skeletons in the closet—maybe even literally—but she’s not a demon.”

“That’s the situation.” He glanced down at his polo shirt and khakis. “Given that’s the case, I don’t know about you, but I’d like to change.”

“Respectable businessman is definitely not your vibe,” she agreed. She pulled out into traffic and headed for home. “I can’t imagine you even use that ruse very often. I’m surprised you had the clothes in your saddlebag.” She frowned. “As a matter of fact, I could have sworn youdidn’thave those clothes with you when I went looking for a shirt to wear earlier. All I found were jeans and dirty T-shirts.”

“My saddlebags are…unusual.”

“Oh, gee whiz, you don’t say,” she said sarcastically. “I’m going to hazard a guess: they conjure up certain things you need when you need them.”

“Certain things,” he admitted. “But they don’t conjure them. Everything that comes out of them, I’ve put in them. They can store quite a lot. More than they can hold, in fact.”

She had to think about that for a few minutes as she drove. “So they’re bigger on the inside?” she said finally. “I’ve seen a show about something like that.”

“Fae objects can come in very handy, as long as the person who has them understands how to use them.”

She slid a glance at him. He raised his eyebrows.

“You have fae saddlebags on your Harley,” she said, just to hear the words aloud.

“Yes,” he said easily, as if that was a perfectly ordinary thing for anyone to have. “Much more expensive than the regular kind, but infinitely more useful.”

“How expensive?”

“Very.” He smiled. “Thinking about some for yourself?”

“Maybe. I do also have a birthday coming up, in case you’re not sure what to get me.”

He laughed. She liked his laugh.

“So, the doctor isn’t a demon,” she said with a sigh a few minutes later as they pulled into her driveway. His Harley was inside the garage to hide it from anyone who might be looking for it. She parked out front and turned off the vehicle. “We might be completely off about the drawing being Carmody Tower. Or maybe it’s not the penthouse floor. We need to talk to Katy again.”

“She’s still asleep,” Ronan said to her surprise. “I texted Carly a few minutes ago. She said Katy will be asleep for several more hours. She had no interest in waking her any sooner than that.”

“I’m not surprised. I don’t think she liked how far Katy pushed herself to give us the answers we’ve got.” Arkady unlocked the front door, led him inside, and tossed her keys on the kitchen counter. “What now? Sit on our hands until Katy wakes up?”

He shut the front door and locked it. “I’m no more a fan of sitting on my hands than you are. Point us in a direction to go.”

“All we have right now is Carmody.” She draped her blazer over the back of the couch. Under it, she’d worn a blue top, slim but stretchy pants, and dressy-looking boots. All were far from her usual attire, but still ideal for running, kicking, or stomping. Unfortunately, their trip to the clinic had not given her the chance to do any of those things, and now she was antsy. “We still feel pretty sure our demon isn’t the bank president or the widow?”

“Pretty sure.” He pulled his polo shirt off over his head and tossed it on the back of the couch next to her blazer. “I’m not saying it’s impossible, but my instincts say no.”

“I’m all about instincts.” She’d been in the middle of unzipping her boots, but she abandoned that activity to run her hands up his bare chest.

Alice had mentioned more than once how much she loved Sean’s signature scent, which she described as smelling like a forest. It was a big turn-on for her, just as Alice’s own scent turned Sean on. Arkady had seen Sean sniff the air in the hallway at Maclin Security even ten or fifteen minutes after Alice had walked past and his eyes turned golden.

Though she’d certainly appreciated various men’s scents over the years, Arkady had figured that was more of a shifter thing…until now. Ronan smelled really,reallygood to her. And not just his leather and denim. Even his skin drew her in.

“We’ve done pretty well following our instincts so far, haven’t we?” she asked, pressing a kiss to his sternum so she could taste him again too.

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