The Goblin King (37 page)

The two black Jags parked out front. Eliza had told them to be back in half an hour, but the wedding had taken less than that. On the way to the church, the guys had been in one and the girls in the other. Now Roan and Eliza would take one, which left Amanda and Dai and Brigit with the other.

Dai held open the car door and Brigit slid into the backseat. Amanda followed, carefully swinging her legs in, knees together.
Stupid dress
. Then he closed the door and got in front. Out of the cool air, Amanda took off his jacket and laid it on the seat, even though she wanted to keep it wrapped around her.

She licked her lips. She had a hundred questions she wanted to ask, but quizzing him in the car probably wasn’t the best idea as Brigit listened to everything. And just because the chauffeur was silent didn’t mean he didn’t gossip. After the media fiasco with Steve’s fraud, the last thing Eliza needed was questions about her new husband. So Amanda leaned back and gazed out the window.
Later.

But maybe she was just making an excuse to spend more time with Dai later.

The chauffeur drove back through the city and stopped at the gourmet pizza shop not far from Eliza’s house. Dai went in and picked up the order. There was no fancy reception, just pizza and champagne. She watched as he walked back to the car, her fingers brushing his jacket. He didn’t move like someone who’d spent his life behind a desk. There was a grace that only athletes and people who understood their body acquired. There was more to his life than study.

But it was much easier to label her attraction as curiosity and to ignore the tightening in her belly. She touched the ring on her finger; she’d never taken it off. Couldn’t. Yet Dai had caught her attention. She tried to ignore the fragile sensation but it grew anyway, tightening her breath and making her light-headed like a teenager in lust.

That’s all this was. Simple lust. And she was only overheating because she hadn’t been with a man since her husband. Dai got back into the car and gave her a small smile as if he knew exactly what she was thinking. Just because she was thinking about what he’d look like with less clothes didn’t mean she would act on it. She forced herself to focus out the window. She didn’t have time to indulge, or even dabble, in lust, and Eliza’s new brother-in-law was definitely the wrong person.

***

With the pizza almost gone and an empty bottle of champagne sitting in the middle of the dining table, everyone was eased back in their chairs. Pizza tasted better when it hadn’t been stolen and brought back to the Shadowlands. Dai’s lips curved. Everything tasted better when not eaten in the Shadowlands. He finished his champagne and flexed his fingers against the glass. He’d never expected to be eating in the Fixed Realm again—as a man. But then he’d never expected to live again as a man. For too many centuries he’d thought either the curse or a blade would claim him. Despite his years of magical study he’d never have guessed the cure would’ve been as simple as love.

Then again, loving a goblin was never simple.

Coming Spring 2012

Acknowledgments

A lot of peopled helped shape this novel. I’d like to thank BN and TH for their advice on the police and legal work; the WINK girls for making sure I got the story out of my head and onto the page—a cross-genre critique group is worth their weight in gold; JD Cregan for his knowledge of story spine and structure; my family for being themselves. And my editor, Leah, for loving my goblins as much as I do.

About the Author

A civil designer by day and an author by night, Shona Husk lives in Western Australia at the edge of the Indian Ocean. Blessed with a lively imagination, she spent most of her childhood making up stories. As an adult she discovered romance novels and hasn’t looked back. Drawing on history and myth, she writes about heroes who are armed and dangerous but have a heart of gold—sometimes literally.