Free Darkness Bound by Stella Cameron Page B

his tongue along the top of his teeth. And when she glanced up, his whole attention was on her mouth.
    He spread his fingers, holding her with the palms of his hands only, and there was a moment when he started to tip her toward him.
    Leigh let out the breath she had been holding. “I’m fine now,” she said, smiling brightly. “A ninny, but fine, thanks.”
    Niles’s hands fell to his sides and he gave her a lazy grin. “I guess I’ll let you get on, then. Just don’t fall and skin your knees.”
    In the cramped front yard beside them colored plastic and aluminum figures bloomed like the flowers that might have been there. Addams Family birdhouses topped rusty poles, animals made from cast-off pieces of almost anything crowded together. A stream of water slithered down the body of a twelve-foot, aluminum and red glass snake.
    “Like it?” Niles said. There was tension in his voice.
    Shaken by her reaction to him, Leigh closed her mouth and listened. The water made a hissing sound. She glanced into his face and now he seemed to be struggling to stay serious, or at least not to crack up at what must be the very strange expression on her face.
    “This can’t be the right place,” she said, searching for the card Gabriel had given her. “I’m supposed to go to a sign shop.”
    Niles pointed to a board on one side of open double front doors. The board resembled a menu.
Come And Get It If You Dare
appeared to be the name of the establishment. The list of wares read: Costumes for any event. Wands to suit you. Hats to make you memorable. Masks to make you memorable but unrecognizable. Shoes to move you faster. Boots to keep you where you are. Robes and what-have-you. Signs guaranteed to be noticed. If it isn’t listed—we have it.
    Leigh found the card: Come And Get It, and in tiny letters beneath, If You Dare, followed by the address.
    “It’s got to be a joke,” she said.
    He nodded, “Of course it is, but apparently Cliff knows they make good signs and they’re fast. Some people really get off on this kind of wacky stuff.”
    “Have you been inside?”
    Niles shook his head, no.
    She remembered where she was and what she was supposed to be doing. “I’ll just get Jazzy out and let you go about your business. Thank you for bringing me. That was quite a ride.” She smiled at him. “I’ve been leading a sheltered life. I had no idea what it felt like to be on one of these things.”
    “Did you like it?” Niles went around to open the sidecar and lift Jazzy out. The little traitor snuggled up to him, burying his face in his neck. “You kind of have to get used to it. That’s why you were shaky getting off. You’ll be better next time.”
    Next time?
    “Here.” He gave her a piece of paper with a phone number on it.
    “Just call when you’re ready to go home and I’ll takeyou back. You sure you don’t want to leave Jazzy with me?” Frowning, Leigh removed her dog from Niles’s hold and set him down. She put on his leash and gave it a firm pull. “Thanks for bringing us. If you’re sure you don’t mind, I will call.” After all, she did need a way back.
    “I don’t mind at all.”
    He was still at the curb when she and Jazzy went inside the building.

chapter
NINE
     
    L EIGH LOOKED at the card again. The shop address was the same, the name on the outside of the shop was the same, but this could
not
be the right place.
    She had dropped into a leafy bower, or so it seemed. Surrounded by walls and a ceiling smothered with vines, Leigh resisted an urge to flee. Jazzy sniffed happily at the foliage sprouting all around him. Realistic trees crowded the big room, their branches and twigs used to hang hats, capes, robes in myriad colors, and masks in shapes that quickly got Leigh bending this way and that to see them properly. She assumed the profusion of sturdy sticks, many of them oddly shaped, that stood in buckets were the wands advertised.
    On one side of the shop stood several large tables