Page 21 of Pints & Potions

No one looked inclined to comply with her demand.

“I mean it. I need to speak with Cian.Alone,” she emphasized.

All eyes turned on him, and Cian’s grin widened. “We’re going to work on the glue part,” he assured them with a wink.

“There will be no gluing.” Piper’s growl tickled his funny bone.

“Now, darlin’, don’t be hasty. Sure, and there’s other things we can do besides ‘gluing’ but they wouldn’t be as much fun.”

Red faced and bordering on livid, her entire body trembled.

He struggled not to laugh.

“I’ll glue my fist to your face if you don’t…” She scowled again, realizing her threat made no sense. “Whatever. You know what I mean.”

GiGi’s throaty laughter pulled the carpet from under Cian. If asked, he’d have said she didn’t have a lick of humor inside that tall, waif-thin body of hers. But she was Ryker’s wife, and Cian suspected she had a bawdy-humor to match her husband’s.

Leaning in, GiGi kissed Piper’s cheek. “We’ll go check into our room. How about we meet for dinner in two hours?” She caught Ryker’s suggestive look and a secretive smile curled her lips. “Make thatthreehours.”

Piper gave her a clipped nod. With her arms crossed and her toe tapping, she turned her attention on Liz. “I told you at the ruins that I was fine.”

“You did. But I needed to see for myself, especially after you mentioned the other guy following you.” She’d been caught and didn’t try to make excuses for the mischief she’d been up to.

“So you couldn’t help but watch the show,” Cian concluded, not at all offended by the intrusion of their privacy. After all, he’d been a spy. Turnabout was fair play.

“She’s too trusting,” Liz told him with an apologetic grimace for her cousin. “I’m sorry, but you know it’s true, Piper.”

“We all are now and again, to be sure.” Trying to cut the tension, Cian walked over to the sideboard and poured two glasses of wine. Falling back into bartender mode came as easy as breathing, and his laid-back manner always worked. These two women needed to mend their small rift. It would give him the necessary time to look into who had sent Baran to assassinate him. “How about you both relax for a wee while? It’s been a stressful day. Piper, you can crush me bollocks later, when no one is watching.”

She narrowed her eyes, picking up on his sexual innuendo. Anyone else would believe he meant kick him in the balls for what went down, but he knew she was smarter than that. He didn’t try to hide his devilish smirk as he handed her the wineglass.

“Oh, there will be ball crushing,to be sure,” she said nastily, clearly mocking him. “But trust me, it won’t be the way you’re suggesting.”

He laughed all the way out the door.

8

“He’s cute.”

Piper dragged her eyes from the laughing Irishman’s backside and faced Liz. “And he knows it.”

“He might be good for a quickshag,” Liz said with a waggle of her brows.

“Exactly how long were you scrying, woman?”

“Long enough.” Liz showed no remorse, and Piper sighed her irritation at her meddlesome family. “Were you awake the entire time?”

“Pretty much. Thanks for coming to my rescue by the cliff.”

Liz waved her hand in dismissal. “I wondered why GiGi couldn’t heal you. Between Alastair and her, you should’ve jumped right up. But I guess he knew that, didn’t he? Alastair was too calm to be worried.”

“I almost lost it when he threatened Cian,” Piper admitted with a laugh. “Did you see him pale? I thought he was going to crap himself.”

Liz crowed with laughter. “You were peeking!”

“Of course, I was! I thoroughly enjoy how Alastair can make men wet their pants with a barely implied threat.”

“You’re pure evil.” Liz sipped her wine and shot her a side glance. “But I love you anyway.”

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