Page 13 of The Lord of Whispers

Rhett bellowed, clearly pleased that he had invoked such a response upon meeting me for the first time.

“Yeah, yeah. Rhett’s dreamy.” Luke sighed. “Anyway, lunch beers all around!” he declared.

I rolled my eyes. I knew from the moment Luke proposed lunch that we weren’t getting any work done after.

“I’ll grab them,” I volunteered, making my way to the bar before Luke could object.

I came back to the middle of a story that Rhett was relaying to Luke with enthusiasm.

“And then she just slapped me!” Rhett exclaimed happily.

“Who slapped you?” I asked, setting down the three heavy mugs of lager.

I was intrigued more by Rhett’s glee than the fact that he had been slapped.

“James. Lady James Morrigan,” he said, probably remembering I was still new to Court. “And then she said I could be a real bastard sometimes. Can you believe it?” he asked, thrilled.

Luke gave his best friend a look that said he could easily believe it.

“And you’re happy about this because…” I asked.

“He likes the rejection as much as he likes the, well, ya know,” Luke said, lifting his eyebrows suggestively.

“What he’s not telling you, Al, is that in my past life, I was even more irresistible than I am now,” Rhett said, wagging his eyebrows at me playfully. “I know, I know,” he said sarcastically, like it was hard to believe.

It was.Rhett already seemed perfect. It was difficult to imagine how his good looks and easy banter could be even more consuming than they already were.

“The truth is that women became infatuated with me. It wasexhausting,” Rhett explained. “I could never, you know, justdate. But now, now that my curse has been lifted, and my magic has faded somewhat, the ladies just think I’m really,reallygood looking,” Rhett finished with an irresistible grin on his handsome face and a twinkle in his eye that left no doubt in my mind that he was telling the truth.

I rolled my eyes again. They were going to get stuck like that if I kept spending time with these guys.

“Oh, is that all? Really,reallygood looking?” I asked.

Rhett nodded his head emphatically.

“What’s your endgame, then? You just want to be a charming bastard?” I asked.

“Well, bastard was James’s word, not mine. But yeah, I think that’s what I was able to convince her of before it was all said and done,” Rhett replied, giving me his best self-satisfied grin.

Luke raised his eyebrows at me with an amused expression on his handsome face as if to say, “You asked.”

I’d never heard anyone be so open about their own magic lessening, much less be happy about it. In most company, it was considered irreverent to even intimate that someone’s powers had faded.

The three of us spent the afternoon at Bar Louie, shooting darts and drinking beer. Luke walked me back to the manor in the last few minutes of sunlight remaining in the day.

“See! You thought I was going to keep you out all night. But here you are, home by sundown, because I’m a gentleman and scholar!” Luke bragged.

“Ok, scholar,” I said jokingly. “You only have me home by sundown because the sun stays up until almost nine o’clock on these long summer days.”

“A technicality, m’lady,” he exclaimed.

“And as far as a gentleman—”

Luke leaned in, giving me a discreet kiss on the cheek, stopping any further teasing from me. He flashed me once more with his signature smile and left me in the foyer overflowing with the warm feel of the summer evening and his lips on my skin.

6

Alarie

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