Page 40 of Borrowed Time

“All right,” he replied. “But if anything starts to look strange, I’ll be there.”

A quick smile and a touch on his hand to let him know I understood, and then I moved toward the front desk, where a man who looked like he might be in his middle thirties was working, his thinning fair hair scraped back from his face with some pretty serious pomade.

As I approached, I made sure my cloak fell open enough to reveal the low neckline of the gown I wore. No, it wasn’t extreme compared to some of the things my friends in college had worn when we went clubbing, but it still showed off some decent cleavage, thanks to a little extra lift from my corset. And although I generally wasn’t the type who relied on feminine wiles to get her way, I wasn’t going to scruple at using those tactics now if they got Seth and me what we needed.

“Oh, good evening,” I said to the man at the front desk, doing my best to sound breathless and urgent at the same time. “I was hoping you could help me.”

“Of course, miss,” he replied politely, although he couldn’t quite keep his gaze from flickering toward my half-exposed bosom.

Perfect.

“I just attended the show at the Sundown Theater,” I explained. “I was so very impressed with Lorenzo the Magnificent’s performance, but unfortunately, I wasn’t able to catch him at the stage door to give him my congratulations. One of the members of his troupe told me he was staying here at the Bank Hotel, so I thought I would come over here to speak with him. Could you please let me know which room he’s staying in?”

The clerk hesitated, and while I didn’t quite hold my breath, my brain had already started working away at what other kinds of persuasion I might need to use to get him to give up the information I needed. Although Seth was carrying most of our cash, I had a few spare coins rattling around in my reticule.

But would they be enough to bribe the hotel clerk?

That form of additional persuasion didn’t appear to be necessary, though, because after another glance down at my chest, the clerk said with an oily smile, “He’s on the second floor, miss. Room 213.”

Not the most auspicious of numbers, but I’d take it.

“Oh, thank you so very much,” I breathed. “I certainly appreciate the assistance.”

After sending him what I hoped was a dazzling smile, I turned away from the front desk and hurried over to the stairs. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Seth stand up a little straighter, but he didn’t begin to move until I was halfway up the wide staircase with its runner of patterned burgundy wool and carved balustrade.

However, once I was out of eyeshot of the front desk, I slowed my steps so he could catch up with me.

“Room 213,” I told him, and he nodded, even as he fought to hold back a grin.

“I had no idea you were such a sweet-talker,” he remarked, and I gave him what I hoped was an effective stink-eye.

“We all have to do what we have to do, right?”

This time, he smiled for real, although he also kept moving steadily up the stairs until we reached the second floor. Here, the same patterned runner installed on the stairs widened to become wall-to-wall carpet, something I guessed was something of a luxury in 1884.

I was glad of its presence, though, because it muffled our footsteps as we made our way down the hall, eventually stopping in front of Room 213, the last door on the left.

In a murmur, Seth asked, “Do you want to do the honors, or should I?”

“You go ahead,” I replied, also in an undertone. Now that we were here, I couldn’t help wondering if we were doing the right thing. What if that amulet I’d glimpsed gave Lorenzo the Magnificent all sorts of powers, the kind of thing that Seth, with his gift of teleportation, and I, with my unreliable talent for time travel, couldn’t begin to defend ourselves against?

It probably would have been better if we’d brought Jeremiah along. As far as I could tell, he was pretty much a match for any warlock who crossed his path.

But he wasn’t here, and I consoled myself that having him with us would have only made our little group that much more conspicuous. No, this was probably better, despite the anxious butterflies in my stomach.

And as I watched, Seth lifted his hand and knocked calmly on the door.

11

GOLD MAGIC

For a long moment,there was no reply to his knock, and Seth wondered if they were somehow mistaken, if maybe Lorenzo the Magnificent had decided to spend the rest of his evening in one of the saloons that crowded Flagstaff’s downtown area.

But then the door opened, and the man stared out at him and Devynn, clearly puzzled. He’d taken off his tailcoat but still had on the white brocade vest and stiff white shirt that had been part of his performing ensemble.

“May I help you?” he asked.

All politeness, but Seth hadn’t missed the flicker in the other man’s eyes, a flicker that had occurred almost at the same time he had experienced the telltale twinge that told him the other man was indeed a warlock.

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