Free Wicked Whispers by Nina Bangs Page A

under the covers.
    “Are you crazy?”
    Despite everything, she sensed laughter in Murmur’s words.
    “You don’t step between two powerhouses like Sparkle and Asima without waving good-bye to your ass beforehand.” He glanced at Ivy. “Don’t worry, they won’t destroy each other. This is just a claws and hair-pulling event. If they were out for a kill, half of Galveston would be gone by now.”
    Gee, that was comforting. She glanced around at people still walking nearby. “Why isn’t anyone noticing the noise? I mean, you can see the store moving .”
    “Ganymede glamoured the place before he ran.”
    Glamoured? The word triggered her memory of the ogre and what Murmur had done to her. She yanked her hand from his. “I want your compulsion gone. The whole thing will come out anyway. Asima saw…” She ground her teeth in frustration as once again her lips refused to form the words. “Anyway, Asima will tell everyone what she saw, so you may as well let me tell it first.”
    Asima knew? Murmur had to rethink his plan. He couldn’t stop the cat from talking if she decided to blab. But he could negotiate for her silence. Asima was as manipulative as anyone in the castle. She’d have a price.
    “I don’t think so. I need your silence for a little longer.” Say about two weeks.
    He studied Ivy. Now that he’d spent some time with her, he realized that not only did she have a great mouth, but her eyes weren’t an ordinary brown. They were deep, rich chocolate framed by long dark lashes. Strange how he hadn’t noticed that before.
    “You are such an ass.”
    Of course, that beautiful mouth didn’t always form beautiful words.
    “Why should it matter if I saw… ?” Her lips clamped shut while her eyes promised him a slow painful death as soon as she figured out how to do it.
    He smiled. “I love a woman with a healthy temper. It’s a sign of passion.”
    She paused as though she couldn’t think of anything insulting enough to toss at him. Not surprising. People who’d lived a lot longer and knew a lot more than she did usually had trouble too. Of course, they were usually dying at the time. Tough to concentrate under those circumstances.
    Ivy finally settled on “Go to hell.”
    “Been there, given guided tours.” He shrugged it off. She’d have to do a lot better than that. “It doesn’t look as though you’ll have a chance to talk to Sparkle for the rest of the day, so what will you do?”
    She pushed her hair away from her face. Beautiful dark hair—shiny and smooth with red highlights when the sunlight touched it. Not ordinary at all. Where had his mind been that first time?
    She shrugged. “Go back to my room and hope nothing unexpected pops in.” She shot him a pointed stare. “Oh, and read complaints.”
    Complaints? He didn’t need to know. “Since Sparkle won’t be available, I can fill in some of the blanks for you.” That was a dumb offer. Instead of wasting time with her, he should be scouting out an acceptable substitute to offer to the Sluagh Sidhe. But since she was still pissed at him for compelling her silence, she’d probably turn him down anyway.
    “Fine. I need information, and if you’re the only one who’ll give it to me…”
    She left the rest unsaid. The part where she swore she’d rather kiss the ogre than spend time with him. Too bad. He smiled.
    “But you’re not setting one foot in my room. And I don’t want to go to your room either.”
    “Afraid to be alone with me?”
    “Afraid of being trapped with you.”
    Murmur nodded. “Fair enough. I have a place we can talk without interruptions.” He wouldn’t shatter her illusion. She couldn’t run fast enough or far enough to escape his music if he wanted her. Okay, maybe a good set of earplugs might help.
    But as she followed him through the great hall, she spotted Holgarth. He was busy harassing the castle employees who were helping to set the room up for tonight’s fantasies. She headed toward