Loving a Fairy Godmother (3 page)

A resigned smile curved Tiernan’s lips. He
turned to look at Reina then, his sky blue eyes direct on hers,
holding her captive. “I guess this means your wish came true,
Reina. They are going to move me.”

Reina had a hard time swallowing as she met
that intense gaze. Where was the ecstasy, the jubilation? Finally,
she was vindicated, and Tiernan was to be removed. Why weren’t her
lips twisting in glee at the thought of finally being rid of
him?

Sara’s voice cut through Reina’s confused
thoughts. “The Elf King has called for complete revocation of the
wish, not reassignment.”

Tiernan’s laugh was low, the gallows evident
in the sound. For some reason, Reina could not comprehend the
sentence that had just been uttered. Yes, she knew the words, but
she must have somehow switched meanings in her mind. That sentence
could not possibly mean what she thought it did. “Godmother Sara,”
Reina began, then stopped as no sound passed her tight throat. Why
was her body not under her control?

Tiernan’s hand curled around her wrist,
pulling her into the curve of his body. “Godmother Sara, I want
Reina to leave. I’ll do whatever is required, but I refuse to allow
her to see my death sentence carried out.”

Reina’s face burrowed into his neck,
Tiernan’s words unlocking her body as their truth cut through her
denials. Tiernan had wished to become a Fairy Godfather as he lay
dying. Revocation of the wish meant he would be returned to the
instant before he made the wish, scant moments before his mortal
body would have expired.

She wanted to be free of him, hadn’t she? And
how pathetic her reasons sounded now when she was faced with her
wish being granted.
Please no, I don’t want a world without him
in it. I don’t want him forever gone from me. I want
…

“Don’t give up the ghost quite yet, Tiernan,”
said Sara, and both Tiernan and Reina startled, turning their gaze
to her. Reina, aware of how entwined their bodies had become,
wrenched herself from his grasp.

Tiernan made no move to stop her, absorbed in
the Fairy in front of him. “What do you mean?” he asked, his voice
cautious.

“I mean that your boss was able to do some
nifty neat negotiating on your behalf.”

An open mouthed smile came over his face.
“You sly fox. Marry me.”

“Don’t tempt me, boy. I just might force you
to waste yourself on me. It boils down to this, Tiernan. You have
one last chance to prove yourself. Your next assignment ends in a
Happily Ever After, or the Elf King wins.”

“Not a problem. You want it in one day, or
two?”

Sara’s laughter rang out, welcome after the
uncomfortable past minutes. “Well, I am glad to see you in full
spirits, Tiernan. It bodes well for your success. Don’t take this
too lightly though. This is beyond the Council. You must produce a
HEA, because if you don’t, I can do nothing else for you.”

“You’ve done so much for me already. Don’t
think I’m not appreciative.” He closed his mouth, his brows coming
together, his fingers tapping his leg in a quick staccato movement.
“The Elf King will not be happy about this last chance, and I’m
sure he’ll know all the details of your bargaining. He’ll do
anything to stop me from getting a Happily Ever After.”

Sara’s hands clapped together, and she rubbed
them furiously together. “Now that, we can help with, and that is
why Reina is here.”

Tiernan’s eyes once again turned to Reina,
gleeful calculation replacing the relief that had been in them. Now
on her guard, Reina asked the council, “How am I to help?”

Sara was practically vibrating in her seat,
and Reina knew she wasn’t going to like what was said next. “Reina,
you are going to be sent with Tiernan to prevent any attempts by
the Elf King—or any other outside party—to stop Tiernan from
getting his HEA.”

Almost as an automatic response, Reina began
shaking her head. “Godmother Sara, there must be others besides me
who are more suited for this job.”

“No, Reina, there is no one else.” Sara gave
her a hard look. “Let me continue my frank speech because I’m
enjoying it so much and I don’t get to do it often enough. It is a
well-known fact that you are against Tiernan being in the program.
If I send anyone else with him, should Tiernan get a HEA,” she
turned her gaze to Tiernan, “and I am fully expecting you to get
one, boy. Nevertheless, with anyone else, the Elf King will bring
charges of collusion. If he tried that against you, people would
hurt themselves falling down laughing. Beyond that, you are strong
enough to take on any challenge that the Elf King would send to
prevent Tiernan’s HEA.”

Oh yes, Sara was very serious about this.
Short of holing up in an enchanted castle, there was no way Reina
was getting out of this one. “What would be my duties?”

“You are to assist Tiernan. You are not in
any way to interfere or take lead; you are there to follow his
directions. The HEA must be his alone. If you discover someone from
our realm trying to disrupt the HEA process, you are to immediately
neutralize any threat. Is this understood?”

Follow his directions? Put herself in the
hands of that arrogant, cocksure male? Screw the castle; she was
going to get her very own pet fire-breathing dragon. “Perfectly,
Godmother Sara.”

Reina could feel her face taking on a pinched
look, and this was confirmed a moment later when Tiernan burst out
laughing. He leaned over and whispered, “You look like you’ve just
eaten a basket of lemons, Godmother Reina.”

Once this was over and the Elf King dealt
with, she was going to make it her life’s mission to get him
reassigned and away from the Fairy Godmothers. Once that was
accomplished she would dance a jig, she would cavort naked in a
meadow, she would never, ever, ever offend the heavens again by
having a second of hesitation with her feelings of him leaving. On
all that was sacred, this she promised.

Reina was walking at a good clip ahead of him
as they exited the Council Chambers and went to her offices.
Tiernan’s eyes wandered down her body, past those squared
shoulders, continuing down the long column of her back, until they
settled on that delicious backside he so adored. Even when stomping
mad, Reina’s body had an instinctive seductive sway, all the more
enticing because Tiernan knew there was not one shred of artifice
in it.

In fact, she would probably start walking
under a tent if she ever realized how the movements of her body
were so well known to him.

He followed, keeping slightly behind her to
enjoy the view. Since it also allowed her the illusion of control,
it was a win-win situation as far as he was concerned.

As the cool early evening breeze swirled
around him, he let himself recall the feeling of Reina’s body
pressed against his. She fit him, every curve aligned to a hollow
of his body. He’d discovered that in those scant moments where she
forgot to be unyielding and clung to him. Now, if only he could
find a way to get her to do that without his death as a
motivator.

He also wondered about Sara. Not that he
minded, but there were others besides Reina who should have been
chosen for this job. Instead, once again she had put him and Reina
together. Sara always had, right from the beginning. When she had
Reina train him, he assumed that it was a backdoor way to get out
of the wish, putting him under the power of a person she knew
didn’t like him. He was wrong about that, though. Sara knew if he
passed under Reina’s instruction no one could say he did not
deserve his place amongst the Fairy Godmothers.

Sara also knew what Reina was. Reina was
tough, but she never did anything underhanded to try to get him
kicked out of the program. He would succeed or fail on his own
merits.

That was Reina, honor and inherent fairness
underneath sternness, using propriety to try to hide an innate
sensuality that could never be quashed, no matter how she
tried.

That a woman so sensual would try so hard to
deny that part of herself had him very curious as to why. It didn’t
take much to find out what drove some of her animosity. Some light
flirting, some seemingly random questions about her to different
fairies, and he heard of the scum who broke her heart, very nasty,
very public.

His favorite fantasy involved throwing the
bleeding carcass of that sorry excuse at her feet in tribute, then
letting her go to her knees to reward him.

“I received the file earlier,” Reina said as
they entered her office and took their respective seats around her
desk.

“What file?” he asked, partly to annoy her.
No, make that completely to annoy her.

She gave him a disbelieving look. “Your HEA
file? Your last chance file? The file that will determine whether
you live? That file?”

“Oh, my next assignment, you mean. You talk
as if you think it’s a possibility I’m going to fail.”

He nearly smiled as he watched her control
her tongue. She was just too much fun to tease. He wondered what
she would do if he told her seeing her in a temper caused him to
get harder than seeing any other woman naked.

Hmmm, if he decided to do that, he should
probably get used to the idea of eating flies and hope green was a
good shade on him.

“Godfather Tiernan—”

“You can just call me Tiernan,” he
interrupted.

She tried again. “Godfather Tiernan—”

“”Didn’t Sara just tell you that you had to
follow my directions?”

That pushed her over the edge. “Do you truly
think you are going to secure a HEA when you haven’t been able to
do it yet?”

He let out a derisive snort, but immediately
realized that was a huge mistake. Her face lost her usual look of
annoyance crossed with bemused tolerance, leaving pure ice in its
place. “This is why men should not be allowed into the Godmother
program. None of you have any respect for Happily Ever Afters.”

“I never said I didn’t believe in HEAs” he
began, but she cut him off.

“Every case you’ve been on tells me you don’t
believe, or else you would have tried once, just once, to get
one!”

His hands slammed on the table as he leaned
across it, his face coming inches from hers. “I’ve never tried
because I believe in love! Humans need love so much, who the hell
was I to screw up two people in love to get them to HEA status? I
could never forgive myself if two people in love missed out on each
other because of my actions!”

All anger fled her face, and a hesitant,
unsure look came over features. “What do you think a HEA is?”

He drew in a deep breath, sitting down once
again. “I think happily ever after is a nice way to end a story,
but in the world I remember, it’s a waste.”

Her hand was halfway towards him before she
seemed to remember their roles, and she pulled it back to her side.
“Love is wonderful, but only love alone is incomplete. You can love
someone, but they can ultimately not be right for you. Even in
love, people can still be led to believe the worst of each other,
still hurt each other, still decide they are better without the
other,” she began, her words hesitant, as if she was trying to
define to herself what it all meant as much as to him. “But the
Happily Ever After is so much more. It’s finding your perfect
match, love purified, refined, to such an extent that it can never
be sundered. With a Happily Ever After, men can achieve greatness,
as can all the generations who follow growing up in its
shadow.”

“And you think jeopardizing the surety of a
love match now is worth it for only the possibility of a Happily
Ever After?” he asked, his voice gentle, reverent, wanting nothing
to break this intimacy their words were creating.

“I do. In your view, maybe that seems cruel,
but in my view, there is no greater tragedy then two people who
almost make this connection but fall short in the end.”

Such a hard exterior to cover such a tender
heart. “I’m not sure if I can believe as you do,” he said after
considering her words. “But I never want Sara… you… to feel as if I
let you down. After we get this situation behind us, I want you
proud of the job I do.”

And as his breath caught at the rare smile
she bestowed upon him just then, he knew all she had to do was keep
smiling at him like that, and anything she wanted, whether it be
his beliefs or his blood, he would give her.

Her smile faded, and the moment ended. Reina
cloaked herself in her position of authority as she handed him the
file that had been sitting on her desk. It was already open to show
a picture of a blond girl, pretty and vibrant with a mouth full of
straight white teeth, all of which was evident even underneath the
dirt. “I looked over this case earlier, before I realized what was
going on,” she said. “It is a good, solid HEA case. There are
several challenges to overcome, but also several sources of help
for the client. It is about as perfect as a case can be for this
purpose, as evenly balanced as I’ve ever seen. No one can accuse
the council of favoring either side. The girl’s name is Cinderella.
She lives with an abusive Stepmother and two rotten spoiled
stepsisters. She is a very kind, generous girl—though a little too
much of a doormat, if you ask me—but outside of that, not really
any other character flaws. She is much beloved in her village,
children and small animals flock to her daily. In short, we exist
to give HEAs to mortals like her.”

Tiernan read the file quickly, then flipped
the page and took in the photo of the male who would supply the
HEA. “A prince, huh? That’s pretty standard.”

“Indeed, but for the most part, we don’t mess
with the classics here.” The pointed look she gave him told him he
was one of the exceptions, and she wasn’t necessarily thrilled
about it. Ah yes, completely back to normal.