A Man for Megan Page 9

  He received her scolding with a smug smile. “I get it. You’re jealous.”

  “I’m what?” The speedometer needle jumped.

  “There’s no reason,” he appeased. “I did it all for your benefit.”

  “My benefit?”

  “Did you expect me to just hang out and watch that woman humiliate you? Elliot was no help.”

  “Leave Elliot out of this, okay? And Dolores wasn’t humiliating me.”

  “No. Then what do you call that little tête-à-tête I witnessed?”

  Megan eased up on the gas. Her shoulders slumped, all the fight leaving her body. “Interacting?”

  “Maybe that’s what Elliot would call it.”

  Megan stared at the road before them.

  Gino’s voice lost its teasing tone. “I wanted that woman to leave you alone. I was trying to get her mind on something else.”

  The unexpected sound of Megan’s laughter filled the car. “You did that.”

  Chuckling, she turned the car left and pulled in behind the Crelco plant. “And it was nice of you to heal her hands,” she noted.

  “I told her.” Gino leaned toward Megan and said in a half whisper:

  “Be kind to all you meet. Or your hands will come back crippled. And so will your feet. ”

  Megan hit the brakes too hard, throwing Gino backward. “You cursed Dolores?”

  He gave her a cagey grin. “Some would call it a blessing.”

  “You can’t do that.”

  He looked at her straight-on. “Yes, I can.”

  She didn’t know whether she should hit him or hug him. She lifted her arm. Her slender wrist swiveled, showing another hand he’d made ivory-smooth. “Did you curse or bless me?”

  Gino came close once more and caught her hand half-turned. “What do you think?”

  Even if she knew the answer, she couldn’t say it. She couldn’t speak, she couldn’t think—not with Gino so close, the strong lines of his face lifted with laughter. She watched the laughter level off, leaving behind a smile and a sweet wash of breath touching her face.

  She looked away from the caress in his eyes, uncertain if it was real or only her own unspoken wish.

  Their hands stayed bound. Her heart was beating hard, fast, the blood surging through her limbs. The stillness in the car became a held breath. She knew she had to look at him. She had to find the answer.

  She met his gaze. Was the same wonder in her own eyes? Did he see her wish for him to kiss her? Did he see every cell of her body begging her to say her desire out loud? And once said, it would be impossible not to say it again. Her remaining wishes would be spent. Gino would be gone. She’d have nothing.

  Except two kisses. A moment of complete happiness.

  And the memory of a man like no other.

  She lowered her head. She didn’t need to look for the answer anymore. There was only one truth, and she already knew it as she had always known it. In the end, it made no difference if Gino cared for her. In the end, he’d go.

  “What’s the verdict, Megs? Cursed or blessed?”

  She pulled back at the sound of his voice, her spine hitting the door handle. She lifted her head, her lips parting in a stiff smile. “I guess I’ll have to stop being kind to you and find out.”

  “Kind to me?” Gino snorted. “You haven’t even thanked me yet for this afternoon.”

  “Thanked you?” She returned his snort. “For what? Bursting into my future mother-in-law’s living room and doing a bad imitation of an AWOL Chippendale dancer?”

  “You’ll thank me.” Gino nodded knowingly. “When you and Elliot and Dolores become one big happy family in that two-bedroom, one-bath bungalow.”

  “I’m not living with Dolores.”

  “No? Where’s she going to be? Elliot hasn’t built the gazebo yet.”

  Megan looked front. “I’m not living with Dolores.”

  “That’s not what Elliot said,” Gino said pointedly.

  Megan stared out the windshield. “I can’t believe he never even discussed it with me. Never even mentioned it,” she said more to herself than Gino.

  “I can’t believe it, either,” he agreed, properly indignant.

  Megan turned her head to him as if remembering he was there. “Like I said before, this isn’t about Elliot. It’s about you and your fancy footwork. And handiwork.”

  She tried to withdraw her own hand from his grasp, but Gino held it firmly. He stared down at it. His finger traced the back of it where the bones stretched long and elegant.

  “My mother had lovely hands. Everyone said she was the most beautiful human ever to come to Heaven’s Lower Regions. Like an angel fallen from above. But she left, and I’ve never been able to remember her face. All I remember are her hands.” He turned Megan’s hand over, his finger now touching where the skin was like down.

  “Where’d she go?” Megan asked.

  He shrugged. “Humans don’t last long in my world. Their powers are too primitive.”

  “Your father was King. Why didn’t he protect her?”

  “They’d already mated,” Gino said as if that explained everything.

  “He wouldn’t marry her? Not even after he found out she was pregnant?”

  “Genies don’t marry. They mate.”

  Megan let out a low whistle. “Talk about every male’s fantasy come true. This father of yours, the King, who is he really? Hugh Hefner?”

  Gino chuckled. Megan didn’t.

  “My mother was only one of my father’s many mates.”

  “She had his son.”

  “A son only two-thirds genie.”

  “So?”

  “You forget, only a full-blooded genie can rule the Upper Tier. His only heir, a half-breed, born of a mortal’s loins. My father would not have anything to do with me.”

  She knew Gino would never allow the pain to show, but Megan didn’t have to see it. She felt it, as swift and sure as her own soul turning inside out.

  “Who took care of you?” she asked softly.

  “The Fairies of the South until I came of age. Then, as a warrior, my exploits were unequaled throughout the Realms. Still, to the King, I might’ve been no more than the weak Women of the Mist.”

  “Because you’re one-third human?” Megan tried to understand. “No offense to your father, but it does take two to fandango.”

  “Elliot’s mother would drink to that.”

  Megan might have laughed if she wasn’t so angry at fathers who could abandon their own children.

  Gino’s grip on her hand loosened. “Once I fulfill the curse, the Goddess will erase my flawed heritage. I’ll become a full-blooded genie and be seated on the throne taken from me by a seductress’s secrets.”

  Megan couldn’t believe a minute ago she was empathizing with this chauvinistic snake charmer. It was easy to expand her anger from fathers she’d never know to a closer target.

  “Well, right now, we need to find the crock pot taken from you by a master’s mistake.” Snatching her hand back, she reached for the door handle.

  “You’re angry again? Women!” Exasperation cracked his voice “The final frontier!”

  “That’s right, Mr. Hocus-Pocus,” Megan said to him. “You and your kind don’t know beans about women.”

  Gino smiled a too easy smile. “I’ve lived two thousand years on your earth. I’ve traveled the width and depth of many dimensions, some which’ll never be seen by human eyes. So, I feel safe in saying I speak for all of the male species when I say…” He leaned in close. “Who does?”

  Megan swung the door open hard, its hinges crying out. “It’s a good thing you genies don’t have any powers when it comes to love. You’d really mess things up.”

  “No, you do that well enough on your own.”

  She stopped, half out of the car. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “Do you love Elliot?”

  “Exactly what does that have to do with anything?”

  “I don�
�t think you do,” Gino said matter-of-factly.

  “Suddenly you’re Cupid?”

  “No, I’ve met Cupid. The man’s a control freak.”

  Another time she would have laughed. “You’re trying to distract me from finding the crock pot.” She swung her other leg out of the car. “It’s not going to work.”

  As she was about to stand up an overhead door in the warehouse opened. A tanker truck, the Crelco logo emblazoned on its side, pulled out.

  “That’s weird.” Half crouched, she watched the tanker cross the field behind the plant. “They took away our Sunday shifts last November.”

  The truck disappeared into a stand of trees at the edge of the open space. “Maybe some cleanup needed to be done while the presses were down,” she thought out loud. “Elliot would’ve worked, though. He never says no to double-time.”

  Gino looked at her hiding behind the door. “Is there a problem?”

  “I didn’t expect anyone to be here until third shift tonight,” she explained.

  Gino looked toward the far end of the field. “So we could garbage pick in peace?”

  “Believe me, it’s not my idea of a fun Sunday.”

  “We could go back to Elliot’s mother’s house,” he suggested. “I bet the roast is ruined by now, though.”

  Megan slid back into the car seat and shut the door. “We’ll have to wait for these guys to finish.”

  The tanker reappeared between the pines and started back toward the plant.

  “I don’t think they saw us,” Megan said. “That pile of skids there should’ve blocked their view. As soon as they’re inside, I’ll back the car up.”

  The tanker made two more trips back and forth, the second time followed by a garbage truck.

  “What’re they doing?” Gino asked.

  “Crelco must dump its garbage back there,” Megan answered.

  “Isn’t that illegal?”

  “Not if it’s safe waste. What does Elliot call it?” She thought for a few seconds. “Environmentally sound.’ It’s hazardous waste that causes all the problems. Elliot talks all the time about the thousands of dollars it costs Crelco each month to get rid of its toxic trash.”

  “Sounds like fascinating pillow talk.”

  Megan attributed the heat crawling up her cheeks more to anger than embarrassment. She sent Gino a sharp look. “I’m beginning to understand why that Goddess cursed you.” She turned her attention back to the tanker heading toward the trees.

  “Is that where our crock pot went?” Gino asked.

  “Probably. Just pray it isn’t buried by now.”

  After the truck’s last trip, two men came out and walked around a material silo. From behind the metal tower, a red-and-black pickup pulled out and drove away.

  Gino looked at Megan. “Looks like the coast is clear.”

  They waited ten minutes, then Megan started the car and headed toward the trees. “Actually it’s a good thing I saw the men dumping or I would’ve never known about this place. Elliot never mentioned it.”

  Past the trees, the path sloped down, stopping at a large pit far below filled with garbage. Megan eased the car down the steep, sandy trail and parked. Before they even opened the doors, a stinging odor filled the car.

  “I thought you said they didn’t dump hazardous waste back here?” Gino said.

  “They don’t.”

  “Then what is that smell?”

  “ACK. Acethyl ketene. It’s used as a sealant on filter bowls.”

  When they stepped outside, the smell was so sharp, Megan took an unconscious step backward.

  Gino blinked, his eyes beginning to water. “This stuff is safe?”

  “When I was an operator, I worked with it almost every day.” Hoping Gino didn’t notice her holding her breath, she started to walk toward the garbage. The ground was soft beneath her feet.

  He followed a few steps behind her. “They’re allowed to dump this stuff right on the soil like this?”

  “Of course.” Megan continued toward the trash. “All Crelco’s dangerous waste is shipped out. Elliot told me. The federal government doesn’t fool around with companies who deliberately contaminate. They’ve sent company personnel who’ve authorized illegal dumping to jail. Elliot talks about it all the time.”

  She was forced to inhale through her nose. The air burned the delicate tissue inside her nostrils. “ACK is as safe as mother’s milk. It’s just in mass quantity, it gets a little nasty. A pit full of Limburger cheese would probably have the same effect.” She took a big step forward.

  “What was that?” Gino asked, halting Megan’s intrepid progress.

  “What?” She came back to his side, all brave pretense gone.

  “Didn’t you hear it?” They were both still. “It was like a rustling.”

  They stood motionless until the scurrying sound was heard again. Megan moved closer to Gino. “Rats?”

  “I hate rats. And if they’ve been feeding off of this stuff, they’re probably two-headed and glow green.” Gino stepped back. “I’m not going any farther.”

  “Wait a minute.” Megan put her hands on her hips. “Aren’t you the same guy that used to slay dragons and punch out giants?”

  “That was two thousand years ago. I’ve matured.”

  “You’re really afraid of rats?”

  “I’m not afraid to admit it. I’m a nineties man, at least, for the moment.”

  The scratching movement began again. Gino backed up until he was against the car’s hood.

  “You’re serious?” Megan couldn’t hide her grin. “Don’t worry. I’ll protect you. Come on out, you two-headed, slime-spitting rat and fight like a… a… a vermin.”

  A piece of wood shook. From behind it, Megan saw two round, brown eyes ringed with white.

  “How do you feel about raccoons?” she yelled to Gino.

  “Is it rabid?”

  “It’s not frothing at the mouth. And it only has one head.”

  The raccoon blinked twice, then turned and scampered away from the dump.

  Gino came closer to Megan. “Raccoons I can deal with. But rats…” He shivered. “They give me the creeps.”

  Megan chuckled as she started back toward the trash. “You’re only human.”

  “Just one-third,” Gino said, correcting her.

  She turned an assessing gaze on him. “Close enough,” she decided.

  For two hours, they carefully picked their way through the garbage not already buried by dirt.

  “Are you sure it’s here?” Gino asked.

  “No, I’m not sure,” Megan snapped.

  “Hey,” he stated. “I’m not the one who threw out my current quarters.”

  “Sorry.” She rubbed her forehead. “I’ve a tremendous headache.” She reached into her pants pocket and pulled out a tissue and blew her nose. When she lowered the tissue, she saw it was full of blood. “Oh, my goodness.”

  Gino looked her way. “That’s it. We’re out of this toxic-waste site.” He took her by the arm before she could protest.

  “I’m just not used to ACK because I haven’t been exposed to it as much since I started working in Quality Control,” she argued.

  Gino kept a firm grip on her upper arm as he moved her toward the car. “Exposure time is over for today.”

  “But the crock pot?” she protested.

  “We’ll figure something out.” He opened the driver’s door and motioned for her to get inside. “Unless there’s an army-navy surplus store open somewhere that’ll sell us some gas masks,” he said as he got into the other side. “This landfill is off-limits.”

  Before she could even put the key into the ignition, Gino started the car and steered it up the embankment.

  “Okay, okay,” she relented as they reached the top of the pit. “At least, let me drive.”

  “Just stay under the speed limit,” he warned.

  Megan drove slowly home, her thoughts concentrated on her current situation. They didn’t fin
d the crock pot, which meant Gino would stay within five hundred feet of her at all times until she made her two wishes.

  He wasn’t that bad to have around, she rationalized. As long as he kept his clothes on and didn’t change into plant matter.

  He could make her laugh. She snuck a side glance at his striking profile. She checked her gaze back to the road, but her heartbeat stayed quick. He could make her feel like no one else ever had.

  He was like no one else, she reminded herself. He was more than a man. He was magic. And with him by her side, she had no choice but to believe in magic.

  Yet, all the wizardry and the witchery in the world wouldn’t change the fact that Gino would leave as suddenly as he came.

  He would go. Forever.

  “So, if you don’t love Elliot, why are you marrying him?” Gino broke into her thoughts.

  Megan turned the car onto her street. Mrs. Coons’s fat tabby sat beneath a streetlight and watched them pass.

  “I never said I didn’t love Elliot.”

  “You never said you did,” he countered.

  “Maybe I’m like you.” Megan saw that Billy McGee had left the bike he just got for his birthday in his front yard again. “I don’t need love.”

  “Yes, you do,” Gino insisted. “All humans do—especially the females.”

  Megan turned into her driveway and parked the car. “This female needs a man who’ll be there at the end of the day. A man who’ll be a good husband and a good father. That man is Elliot.”

  She got out of the car and walked toward the house, indicating the discussion was over.

  Gino followed her into the house. “I knew you didn’t love him.”

  In her heart, Megan knew the words Gino said were true. She became angry. “You know nothing about love,” she reminded him.

  “Obviously neither do you.”

  “I’m not discussing this any longer.” She marched out of the room. When she came back, she carried a plastic basket of dirty clothes.

  “I’ve more important things to do,” she told Gino.

  He was behind her as she walked down the stairs to the basement.

  “That’s right,” he mocked. “Laundry, shopping lists, taxes, working for the next thirty years in a place that’ll slowly cripple your body and seize your soul.”