Page 8 of Honour Bound
‘That wasn’t my fault.’
‘It never is.’
He got to his feet. ‘Just make a wish and I’ll turn you into the most beautiful woman in the world. Men will fall at your feet. Women too. Forget Helen of Troy. You’ll be Integrity of Oban.’
I arched an eyebrow. ‘It doesn’t have quite the same ring, does it?’
Bob shrugged. ‘It’s not my fault you live here. The town with more seagulls than culture.’
‘I like them,’ I lied. I hated those buggers. They were the size of cats and they’d rip the food right out of your hands if you gave them half a chance.
‘Come on,’ he pleaded. ‘One teeny, tiny wish…’
‘No.’
‘But…’
I pinched the tips of my thumb and index finger together, grabbed him by the scruff of his neck and held him up to my face. ‘Enough of the wishes,’ I growled. ‘I’m not making any more.’ I had two wishes left at my disposal and, frankly, would have preferred it if there were none. Capricious magical wishes were almost never a good thing.
Bob stopped wriggling and sighed. ‘Fine. But there’s just one thing...’
‘What?’
He smiled innocently. ‘Now that I’m this close to your pores, I’m shocked. I could drive a four-by-four through those babies.’
I dropped him. He howled before vanishing in mid-air. Good riddance.
Speck popped his head round the door. ‘You ready?’
‘Yup.’ I gestured at myself. ‘How do I look?’
‘Um…’ Speck seemed baffled. ‘Like you?’
I sighed; that was probably the best I was going to get. ‘Let’s go.’
The plan was fairly straightforward. With Speck in tow as back up, I was going to ‘escort’ Maggie and her thankfully still-breathing husband back to the Clan Lands, making sure I bumped into either Byron or Aifric along the way.
When we reached the hospital, however, it was obvious that wasn’t going to be the case. Standing in front of the main doors was a very familiar face.
‘Jamie!’ I called out, delighted to see Byron’s dimple-cheeked Sidhe friend.
His cheeks went a vivid shade of red as soon as he realised who was calling his name. ‘Hi,’ he mumbled.
I punched him lightly on the arm. ‘There’s no need to be so shy.’ I meant it; after all we’d had sex after a rather unpleasant encounter with a conjured stoor worm. The worm I’d prefer to forget but Jamie was kind of sweet, even if he was a Moncrieffe.
‘Are you here to pick up Maggie and her man?’ I asked.
He nodded. ‘His name’s Rory.’ Then he added unnecessarily, ‘Moncrieffe.’
‘That’s very kind of you to come all this way.’
He gave an awkward shrug. ‘They’re part of our Clan.’ He looked at his shoes. ‘We look after our own.’
No doubt he was embarrassed because I didn’t have a Clan but I wasn’t thin-skinned enough to take offence. Instead I glanced meaningfully at Speck and he nodded. He hadn’t met Jamie before but he had a keen understanding of the situation. As nice as Jamie was, he wasn’t the Moncrieffe bigwig I was looking for – but he could help me get to him. Judging from his sidelong glances, Jamie didn’t know who Speck was; we could use that to our advantage.
Without any prompting, my old warlock buddy pulled back his shoulders. ‘I’m Dr Speck,’ he said, stepping forward and thrusting out his hand. Jamie stared at it warily before taking it and receiving a vigorous shake in return. ‘I’m here to oversee the return travel of the Moncrieffe pair.’
Jamie was taken aback. ‘You are? But isn’t Speck the name of…’
