She’d glanced around, looking for the men’s leader as they each retreated, but she couldn’t find him. The crowd seemed to have swallowed him. Or he’d left. Dangerous, that absence, given his air of malice as well as his aura’s pitch-black, densely saturated depth.
She shivered. A man didn’t develop an aura like that from doing good works in life. Not even close. Someone as marked as he was had to have a violent history, a past that would likely keep her—her—up at night. His hands, scarred and broad, had been strong and capable, his body even more so. The air of subtle menace that surrounded him, giving depth and substance to his aura, said he had killed before—must have—and wouldn’t hesitate to do so again if necessary. That subtlety was far more terrifying than overt aggression. He was a predator who would slit a man’s throat between breaths and disappear into the night.
“Don’t be a fool,” she muttered to herself. “You served him a drink. You watched him across the room. That hardly a killer makes.”
But the truth was there in his very presence, his persona, his command of the men at the table. He was Other, had acknowledged her as such and was currently invisible to her searching gaze.
A plan took root, began to form—one that was wild and reckless and measured by levels of desperation. Hers. If the man was as wicked as all that, he could well be the one to see her through her triennial fertility cycle, to keep her safe should the proverbial wolf end up at her door. Would he use that violence to her advantage? Could she convince him to give up a week of his life, maybe a bit more, and commit to staying with her until the worst of it had passed? She could move on then, would move on so as to leave no trace of her extended stay here in the village. She took it to extremes to ensure she always stayed two steps ahead of the men of her clan who would seek to call her their own and to hell with her preferences.
She’d get through this cycle and leave not only the county but the country. Maybe she’d try Wales this time. She could settle in a little village deep in the mountains and make some sort of life until it was time to see Geoffrey and, once again, move on.
But that was years away. This epithicas had to be addressed sooner, not later.
Siobhan, the barmaid, flounced up to the bar’s edge and glared at Ashley. “The table in the corner is asking for a round of Jameson’s and three pints of Smithwick’s.”
Ashley ignored the girl’s attitude, searching the table again under the pretense of counting out the number of shot glasses needed.
“Eleven,” Siobhan snapped. “There are eleven men.”
“Seems they’re missing the leader of their merry little band,” Ashley said with as much indifference as she could summon.
“He left,” the girl snapped, flipping her hair over her shoulder. “I’ll warn you to keep your hands off that one.”
Ashley sighed. “Yeah? And why is that? You involved with him?”
Siobhan narrowed her eyes and Ashley caught her intent before she ducked under the pass-through and tried to use her rounded frame to intimidate Ashley’s height. “You know, Ashley, you’re a real bitch. I’ve had my eye on Gareth for more than a year. Keep away from him.”
Ashley leaned down and went nose to nose with the girl, ignoring the way her face paled and her toxic breath came in short, panted bursts. “Listen, you gurrier. I’m only going to say this once.” Again. “You want a man? You claim him. I won’t touch him. But if you think you can bop around here like a loose bit, stamping your claim on every good-looking man to pass through the door? You’ve another think coming, Siobhan.” From me. “Trust it will be as far from pleasant as East is from West.” Rising, she twisted her hair up into a loose knot and stabbed it through with long stir sticks to hold it in place. Then she grabbed the girl’s serving tray and loaded it with twelve shot glasses and three pints. She poured the order and, slapping her bar towel down, called to the kitchen. “Fergus! Man the bar, yeah?” Then she focused on Siobhan. “And you? Tóg go bog é.” Calm down.
Slamming the pass-through up, she stormed around the bar end. Her epithicas fueled her already volatile temper and heated her blood to the point a flush spread over her skin. She wove through the dancers and approached the table of men. But the man she sought, Gareth, wasn’t there.
One of the young men, a tall, perfect specimen of attractiveness with an undertone of violence she had to admire, stood. “Well, and if it isn’t our favorite bartender in County Clare.”
She let a seductive, suggestive smile spread over her face, forcing it to reach her eyes. “That the best you can do, lad? I’m a bit disappointed. I’d have thought Gareth would’ve taught you better than to use lame pickup lines on a woman who’s in the profession to have heard them all.”
He blinked owlishly.
“A bartender,” she said on a laugh. “Nothing more, ye bowsie.”
He blushed as the other men laughed and poked fun at him.
With deft experience, she slid drinks across the table, found homes for the Smithwick’s they’d ordered and picked up the twelfth shot glass. “Gareth?”
A dark-haired young man leaned back, considering her as he ran a fingertip around the rim of his shot glass. “He left a good half hour ago, love.”
Her stomach tightened, her breath hanging up in her chest. Gone. She’d have to go with an alternate male. The clinical part of her mind began to assess the men in front of her even as her phoenix rebelled. Loudly.
“Sure and there’s one of us as would love to give you a spin...” His grin widened. “Around the floor, of course.”
Ashley reached out and slipped his shot from under his fingertip and tossed it back. “The least you can do is buy me a drink before you proposition me.” Who to choose? Would one of these younger men be willing to defend her if she was found and incapable of defending herself?
The memory of Gareth’s hands came back to her, their calloused appearance an indicator of strength. She glanced at the younger man’s hands.
Smooth.
Not one of these men would be sufficient. They weren’t Gareth, and both her mind and body craved him.
A swift swipe and she picked up the extra shot she’d poured in the hopes of cornering Gareth. Slamming it back, she flipped the glass over and set it top down. “I’ve a bit of an issue to take up with him. How’s the best way to get in touch with him?”
To a man they went still, each doing their best to appear nonchalant and failing so miserably she almost pitied them.
Younger than I thought.
She crossed her arms over her chest and, one by one, gave them a cool stare. “C’mon, boys. How do I reach him?”
“I’ll deliver a message,” the dark-haired man muttered, his tone laced with disappointment.
“While I appreciate the offer, that’s not what I asked for,” she countered.
“Repeat the question, would you? I was out of earshot.” The chill of his breath skated across the shell of her ear as he leaned down and spoke to her and her alone. Deep and almost mocking, he pressed on. “And now you seem to have taken a shot poured for me. I’ll cover the cost out of admiration for your bravado. Once.”
Every cell in Ashley’s body threatened to divide. Half demanded she take flight and run from him; half demanded she turn and run to him. The thunderous beat of her heart was like a heavy metal band’s kick drum on a fast track. Her pulse hammered savagely at every pulse point. Heat washed through her. She closed her eyes and reveled. No man had ever affected her so physically, rendered her so full of wanting with so few words, and disdainful ones at that. She shouldn’t want a man like this, not even in her epithicas. It was the equivalent of losing herself, so similar to falling into a life of obscurity as one of a handful of wives, never cherished, never the one thing a man would give anything for. If she couldn’t