Page 46 of Against Ebony Irish Seas

He watched as the doorknob turned and sat back to wait. Then the door was flung open. A shower of bicarbonate exploded. He heard coughing and laughing before Ellie and Kathleen peered into the room.

“We got you this time!” Ellie said, clutching her belly. “We triggered your trap without getting caught.”

“We’re onto you, Fitzgerald.” Kathleen pointed two fingers at her own eyes and then poked them in his direction, chortling herself.

He regarded them as he would truant children, by raising his eyebrow. “I’m glad you’re amused. And here I thought you’d arrived to see what I was going to wear tonight.”

They both stepped forward in their eagerness and hit the wire he’d stretched across the threshold. The bucket of water tipped, drenching them. Their outraged shrieks filled his chamber.

He couldn’t help it. He started to laugh.

Sputtering, Ellie pushed soggy locks of hair out of her face. “You tricked us!”

Kathleen only wiped the water from her skin. “Crafty, Jamie. Very crafty. You’re going to have to pay for that.”

He jolted as she started to rush him. Oh, hell. He shot to his feet, using his chair as a shield and edging back against the stone wall. “Now, girls…”

“You forget I have seven older brothers,” Kathleen called out, crouching in a menacing way. “Do you know what a wedgie is? Jamie Fitzgerald, I’m about to give you one. Block the door, Ellie. This is war.”

He almost shrieked as she darted toward him, making him hold up the chair like he was a lion tamer. “You’re the one trespassing!”

“Have you finally outraged the women, Jamie?” Liam asked, appearing behind Ellie.

“I had aDo Not Disturbup.” He eyed Kathleen, who was now crouched, waiting to see which way he would run. “Liam, tell them to stop this.”

“I’m just an impartial observer.” Liam was biting his lip to keep from laughing. “Waterandbicarbonate, Jamie?”

“He soaked us!” Ellie accused again with a finger pointed in his direction.

“Now he’s going down,” Kathleen said before rushing him at full speed.

He threw aside the chair, not wanting to hurt her, and then she was grabbing him in a wet bear hug. She was a tall and strong woman, and he couldn’t in good conscience break her grip by virtue of his superior strength.

“Give him the wedgie, Ellie,” Kathleen called.

And that’s when all bets were off. He picked her up off her toes and deposited her on the bed before running like mad for the doorway. Ellie, bless her, tried to block his way, but he knew she was ticklish, so he waggled his fingers against her side, making her shriek. He was in the hallway a moment later, running as fast as he could down the stairs.

His only thought was to find somewhere to hide—somewhere they’d never imagine he’d go—so he flew down the basement stairs and ended up in Liam’s meditation room.

The former dungeon he would not call it, lest he go mad.

He wedged himself in the corner beside a bookshelf filled with self-help books and an odd trio of singing bowls. It wasn’t so bad really.

Then he heard an unnatural laugh. An agonizing moan. And chains being dragged.

Sorcha!

Good God, he hoped it was her. He stood there, trembling in fright for who knew how long. Lifting his wrist, he saw his watch had stopped working. Didn’t watches stop working during supernatural events? His stomach heaved.

“Jamie,” Liam called. “I know you’re down here. I’m coming in to meditate—alone. Don’t jump me. I even brought your date outfit. Sweet of you to lay it out on the bed.”

He didn’t dare peer out. “The girls aren’t with you?”

“No, they’re cleaning up and changing. That was low, going for the two-step booby trap. Reminds me of when you put a firecracker inside the Christmas candle at school. Your mother shrieked like a banshee.”

“I wrote sentences until my hand almost fell off,” he said, slowly emerging but still watchful.

“Do you remember when you and Brady put holes in all the soda bottles at the St. Stephens party? You used to pull pranks all the time. I always wondered why you’d stopped.”

---