Dreams of Stardust Read Free Page B

problems when people think I'm
just the bodyguard."
    "I suppose," Gideon said with a smile, tapping the papers on his
desk. "All the more reason for you to go north. You'll go mad for the
rubbish piled in heaps against the walls in the vault. You might even
find something useful."
    "No," was out of Jake's mouth before he could stop it.
    Artane…
    "No," Jake repeated firmly. "I can't."
    "My father has to sign this," Gideon said.
    "Send a courier."
    Gideon looked at him and Jake could have sworn the man's nose
twitched, as if he smelled something suspicious.
    Damn it.
    "No," Gideon said slowly, looking at Jake quite seriously, "no, I
don't think so. Either you go, or the deal's off."
    Jake felt his jaw slide south. "I beg your pardon?"
    "I just have the feeling there might be something in my father's
hall that you need to see." He paused, then smiled briefly. "Call it
Fate."
    "I don't believe in Fate."
    "My father can put you up," Gideon continued, as if he hadn't heard.
"Or you can stay at my wife's inn."
    "She runs an inn?"
    "She owns an inn," Gideon corrected. "The Boar's Head. Very quaint.
Very sixteenth century. I'll ring them and have them set a room aside."
    "I need—"
    "A reservation? Don't worry. I'll do it for you." He handed Jake the
papers. "I assume you're going home to get cleaned up?"
    Jake glared at him. It wasn't very polite, but he couldn't help
himself. "Damn you," he muttered.
    Gideon laughed. "I'll have all the details over to you in an hour.
Give my love to my family. Enjoy your stay at the inn."
    Jake looked at him narrowly. "Why do I feel like there's something
more going on here than simple altruism?"
    "As I said before, I'm a big believer in Fate, and Fate's telling me
you need to see my father's hall."
    Jake gritted his teeth. He didn't have time for Fate, not when
high-powered buyers were waiting for goods he was supposed to bring
home in less than a week, goods he was going to have to do some
ferocious bargaining to get.
    That same breath of sea air whispered over his soul, bringing with
it a longing so intense, a joy so sweet, that he caught his breath. He,
Jackson Kilchurn IV, a take-no-prisoners kind of guy, thought he just
might have to sit down. He drew his hand over his eyes and then rubbed
them for good measure.
    "Not enough sleep," he announced.
    Gideon rose and came around the desk. He clapped a hand on Jake's
shoulder and led him the rest of the way to the door. "It's been a
pleasure. Ring me when you return and let me know how you found things.
Perhaps I'll take some of my hard earned sterling and come visit your
shop."
    "I'll try not to sell you paste," Jake said sourly.
    "You'll have a smashing time," Gideon promised, sounding pleased.
"Expect directions within the hour."
    "Thank you so much," Jake grumbled.
    "My pleasure." He held out his hand and shook Jake's. "Best of luck
in my father's vault."
    "That much of it I'll enjoy," Jake said as he left Gideon's office.
    He made it unmolested to his car and returned with all haste to his
flat, fully intending to go immediately to bed and forget the
unsettling and quite unwholesome events of the day.
    Instead he found himself pacing in front of his expensive
double-hung windows and pausing every now and again to stare at the
equally expensive Georgian manors across the street. But instead of
being soothed by their symmetry, he found himself being overwhelmed by
the vision of a grim-looking, stone bird of prey, crouched on a bluff
by the sea, looking out over the beach as if it dared anyone to come
and try to conquer it.
    It was just a castle.
    Then why did the mere sight of it threaten to shatter his quite
manly and jaded heart?
    Almost an hour to the minute from when he'd left Gideon's office, a
discreet tap sounded on his front door. Jake accepted an equally
discreet manilla envelope from a well-dressed lad who demurred when
Jake offered him a tip. Obviously Gideon paid his people well.
    He opened the envelope to find that it contained