Dreams of Stardust Read Free Page A

family seat?"
    "Yes, actually," Gideon said. "Have you never been?"
    "Never."
    "Why not?"
    "I'm not sure." But if it had anything at all to do with his violent
reaction to the place, maybe he was grateful for it.
    "You don't have much of an American accent. Have you lived in
England long?"
    Jake happily turned his back on Artane and leaned against Gideon's
sideboard. "Years. My father sent me to Eton when he learned I was
enjoying my pricey New England boarding school a little too much."
    "Did you enjoy it?"
    Jake was ready to blurt out his standard answer of it was hell ,
but
found
himself unsettled enough by his recent encounter with
photography to have to scramble for something else.
    "It was fine," he managed finally.
    "Did you go to University here, as well? I assume you live here
now."
    "I did and I do."
    Gideon gestured to the castle behind Jake. "You should make a
visit."
    "I don't really have time—"
    "Married?"
    "No time for that either. In fact," Jake said, straightening and
rubbing his hands together purposefully, "I don't really have time for
much at all. I've got to be going, if you're finished…"
    "There are rumors that it's haunted," Gideon continued, as if he
hadn't noticed Jake getting antsy. "Artane," he added, as if he thought
Jake might be unsure of which castle he was referring to.
    "Interesting," Jake said, looking for the closest exit.
    "Of course, I will admit that Artane doesn't have ghosts like they
do at other castles," Gideon conceded. "Seakirk, for instance."
    "How unfortunate," Jake murmured sympathetically, moving toward the
door.
    "But we have the occasional odd thing turn up at odd hours."
    Jake didn't believe in ghosts and he certainly didn't believe in
anything else he couldn't see—unless of course it was the rumor of a
bit of sapphire or opal in some obscure third-world country that would
require him to don his fedora and hike through malaria-infested jungles
or leech-plagued swamps—but even so, he couldn't deny that just looking
at Artane gave him a feeling of déjà vu that was
altogether unsettling. All the more reason to get the hell out of there
while he had his sanity intact.
    Obviously he'd gotten up too early that morning. It had taken a toll
on his common sense.
    "Artane has been home to de Piagets since the beginning of the
thirteenth century." Gideon continued, apparently oblivious to Jake's
discomfort. "Quite a decent lot, on the whole."
    "How nice."
    "We have a fabulous collection of medieval artifacts," Gideon went
on. "I come from a family of pack rats, it seems. Books, swords,
jewelry. If you're interested in old, it's there for the asking."
    "I have to be going now," Jake said, wondering how rude it would be
if he just grabbed the appropriate paperwork from Gideon's hands on his
way to the door.
    "We've resorted to tourists," Gideon said. "My father isn't thrilled
about it, you know, and he isn't open all that often, but you do what
you have to in order to satisfy the Inland Revenue. And we have AE, as
well. Several other interests globally. I'm hoping the venture with
your father will add to that."
    "Well, if it has anything to do with making money, you can be sure
my father won't come to the party unless he plans to take quite a haul
away," he said shortly. "Now, if you don't mind—"
    Then something Gideon had said registered in his busy brain.
    "Jewelry, did you say?" he asked.
    "Vats of it. Are you into that sort…" Gideon paused, then looked at
Jake in surprise. "You aren't any relation to Kilchurn Ltd., are you?
Importers of the rare, the unique, and the ridiculously expensive?"
    "We're not ridiculously expensive," Jake said evenly. "Considering
what I have to go through to procure the rare, unique and equitably
priced, as well as all the design time—"
    "You design it as well?" Gideon asked, with mild disbelief. "You
don't look like a designer."
    "I'm a full service shop," Jake said dryly. "Acquisition, accounts
receivable, and security. I have fewer