Free 2 Witch and Famous by Eve Paludan, Stuart Sharp Page A

nothing. Like it’s okay that we just take .”
    Niall had reached my shoulder by now. “We give, too. Or do you think the man you kissed won’t think of that moment with pleasure?”
    “That isn’t the point,” I said. “What were you doing in the club? This time, tell me the truth. Tell me something .”
    Niall paused, which was more than a little distracting, because his mouth had just found my ear.
    “I was revisiting the past, going back into things that I had thought long buried. I do not want to drag you down into them. I wouldn’t want to see your face as I told you about them.”
    “You said that what matters is whether I love you,” I countered. “How can I love you if I don’t even really know you? Talk to me.”
    He sighed, his lips meeting mine halfway through, so that the sound seemed to be inside me. “Tomorrow, Elle. Tomorrow, I will tell you.”
    “Why not now?”
    His hand moved up my thigh. “Because I can think of better things to do with you right now.”
    Even while I wanted to scream in frustration at him not talking, I had to agree. They were better.
     
    I woke with the sunlight streaming down on me. What did it say that I didn’t even feel a disconnection at waking up somewhere other than my own bed anymore? And that it still didn’t mean I got to wake up beside the man I loved? I looked around, feeling the absence beside me, and then swore. Niall was gone. As usual. I reached out, looking for him with my magic, trying to feel the emotional signature that might mean he was just downstairs. Nothing.
    I got up, showered, and dressed. Kelly the housekeeper had breakfast waiting for me, and I ate it, even though it wasn’t food I wanted right then. It wasn’t even energy. It was answers. What had Niall been talking about last night? What parts of the past had been coming back? He’d left early because he’d known I would want answers, I was sure. This wasn’t just whatever strange need he had to never be there when I woke. Even so, when Niall’s assistant Marie came in to get coffee, I decided to make certain of it.
     “Marie, did Niall leave a note for me or anything?” I asked.
    She shook her head. “I don’t think so. I haven’t been over to his study yet, but he would have left something like that where you might find it, wouldn’t he?”
    “I guess.”
    “I could check.”
    I stood up. “No, I’ll go.”
    “I’m really not sure if—”
    I cut her off with a look. “I’ll go,” I repeated, and then forced myself to smile. “Why don’t you phone Fergie or something? You know he’s interested in you, right?”
    Marie’s look was surprised, but also pleased. It looked like I’d said the right thing. Good. I didn’t always get things right with Niall’s staff. I’d probably caused them more than a few problems over the last few weeks. Helping Marie and Fergie was the least I could do. It also meant that Marie was too busy to follow after me. I could be manipulative when I needed to be.
    I headed off through the house, looking for Niall’s study. I hadn’t actually been in there before, because we tended to split our time between the living room, the kitchen, the gallery, and the bedroom. Mostly the bedroom, come to think of it. It didn’t take me long to find his study, though.
    Given that Niall was born in 1873, I suppose I should have expected the room to look as it did. It was oak paneled, with the same antique furniture found throughout the house. Victorian carved bookcases lined the walls, and there was even a grandfather clock ticking away somberly to itself in the corner. I checked Niall’s desk, just in case he really had left a note for me.
    He hadn’t, but what I found there was almost as interesting. There was a folder, and there was a trinket box. The folder turned out to be full of the details of old agreements, mixed in with letters, most of which seemed to be from women. Several of them referred to gifts the writers hoped that Niall had