Page 38 of Ties of Bargains

A gravel road lay on the other side of the pumpkin patch, each side lined with soggy ditches filled with tall weeds. Daisy dove into the weeds, disappearing except for the waving grasses and the occasional flick of her tail.

“Jump the ditch.” Val backed up a step to get a running start. “There’s no telling what’s lurking in those weeds.”

“Should we be worried about Daisy?” Harm leaned forward to peer into the ditch.

Something squealed, hitch-pitched and terrified.

“Nope. Daisy will be fine.” Val shot a glance along the road. Nothing and no one in sight.

Harm nodded, shrugged, and tensed next to her. Together, the two of them ran forward and jumped. With his long legs, Harm landed on the road, easily clearing the ditch. Val landed next to him, her boots crunching on the gravel.

Across the road, the slim gray trees with yellowleaves clustered around a small, tranquil pond. The trees were far smaller than she’d been hoping, but she might be able to shimmy up them high enough to string the hammocks. Getting Daisy into one would be a feat.

Not to mention, the scene was almost too perfectly peaceful. Val found herself reaching for her knife.

“You have good instincts, dearie. I wouldn’t step into that glade if I were you.” A creaky voice spoke from beside Val.

She whirled, placing Harm behind her, as she drew her knife.

An old woman with straggling gray hair and a face full of wrinkles peered up at Val. She wore a shapeless gray dress with a knitted shawl wrapped around her shoulders.

Val brandished her knife, gritting her teeth. How had this old woman sneaked up on her and Harm like this? Sure, Daisy was still distracted with decimating whatever was in the ditch, but that was no excuse. “Where did you come from?”

“My house.” The woman gestured over her shoulder.

Val blinked as she focused on the small house no longer hidden by the rise of the road. The cottage sported a small front porch, two gables, white siding, and red gingham curtains. Red flowers grew in the window boxes. The cottage would have been picturesque…except for the fact that it stood on two yellow chicken legs.

How had Val missed seeing that? She’d been positive the road had been empty a moment ago.

“Now why don’t you and your young man come infor a spot of tea.” The old woman patted Val’s arm as if oblivious to the knife pointed at her.

“He isn’t my young man.” The words popped out before Val thought them through. Harm made a noise in the back of his throat.

“You have him on a short leash. Of course he’s your young man.” The old woman gestured at the cord running from Val’s wrist to Harm’s.

“No, that’s not…” Val huffed a breath between her teeth. This wasn’t the point she should be arguing at the moment.

Nor should the old woman’s words make her as uncomfortable as they did. Apart from a tether for a small child to keep them safe, keeping a person on a leash wasn’t exactly a good thing to do. Thus her crisis of conscience.

Val tightened the grip on her knife. “Neither of us is setting foot in your house. You’ll drug us or glamour us or trick us somehow.”

“It’s good to be wary, dearie, when you have a man like that.” The old woman nodded, then waved toward the trees again. “A nixie lives in that pond. She’ll kill you and steal your man.”

Val dared to take her eyes off the old woman long enough to glance at the pond. Was the woman telling the truth? Or was it a trick to get Val and Harm into her house?

Yet Val had gotten a bad feeling when she looked at the glade.

“Do you need a place to stay for the night, dearies? The monsters will be coming out to play soon.” The oldwoman gave them a crooked- and yellow-toothed smile. “You’re welcome to stay at my place.”

Val opened her mouth to refuse, but Harm spoke first. “Can you give us a moment to discuss it?”

“Of course, dearies.” The old woman remained smiling almost too benignly.

Harm draped an arm around Val’s shoulders and steered her a few feet away from the old woman, his head leaning close to hers. “You said we need a safe place to stay tonight, right?”

“Yes, but don’t be fooled. She definitely isn’t safe.” Val would have shrugged Harm’s arm off, but the ruse of being a couple was probably just as well.

And the feel of his arm around her shoulders wasn’t as odious as she would have expected. He was warm, and so tall that she could actually stand tucked against his side like this. Even better, he’d placed himself on her left side, leaving her right arm still free to wield her knife if needed.

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