Chapter 19 #2
Ward sauntered down the center aisle, keen gaze scanning the mess.
His boots crunched on bits of broken glass, and his brow wrinkled with some concern.
He looked up, took in Luna. His eyes widened, and she realized what an absolute fright she must look!
Quite the contrast to the glamorous woman he’d taken out to dinner only the night before.
“Ward, what are you doing here?” she gasped, her hands coming down on the countertop for support.
“Oh, you know. I just happened to be in the neighborhood,” he replied and winked. “Took a trolley and a couple of wrong turns to make certain I ended up in the neighborhood. But those are just details.”
Mr. Marlin stared at him, aghast. “Officer,” he wheezed, “do you know what this woman is?”
“I’ve a fairly good idea,” Ward replied, giving Luna a smirking once-over that made her cheeks burn.
“She’s a sorceress!” Marlin squeaked.
Luna’s heart tumbled out of her throat and down to her gut once more.
All this while, she’d been able to pretend Ward hadn’t noticed her tattoo, pretend that she’d been successful in hiding it and keeping her identity safe.
There was no hiding anymore, however. Mr. Marlin reached across the counter, grabbed her arm, and yanked her wrist out beyond her cuff, displaying the ugly heptagram for all to see.
Luna tried to wrench free, but Marlin’s grip was surprisingly strong for such a reedy little fellow.
“Hey, now.” Ward’s face darkened like a cloud passing over the sun.
Luna wilted, knowing the anger, the betrayal that must be forthcoming.
To her surprise, however, Ward collared Mr. Marlin.
Giving him a sharp yank, he pulled the wheezing proprietor away from the counter so that he was forced to drop his hold on Luna.
“There’s no call to go manhandling a lady. I could write you up for harassment.”
Marlin gaped up at him, aghast. “But don’t you see it?”
“See what?” Ward blinked blandly.
“The sorcerer’s mark!”
“Oh, that.” Ward grinned Luna’s way. She felt as though the floor was tilting under her feet. “Yeah, I see it.”
“Aren’t you going to arrest her?”
“What for?”
“For sorcery!”
“I don’t see any sorcery.”
Marlin nearly choked on a little squeal. He waved a hand, taking in the whole shop. “There’s sorcery all over this place!”
“Is there?” Ward sniffed, nose wrinkling as he turned his head this way and that. “I smell Green Magic, sure. And I know Miss Talbot is a talented tea witch. That’s about the greenest magic there is. But I’ve never seen any sign of sorcery.”
“But she’s a sorceress!”
“How do you figure?”
“She’s got the mark!”
“Hmmm. True enough, I suppose.” Ward addressed himself to Luna then, looking her squarely in the eye. “Miss Talbot, have you ever performed sorcery?”
“No!”
“Have you any intention of performing sorcery?”
She shook her head. “Absolutely not.”
“There, sir.” Ward grinned down at Mr. Marlin, who twisted helplessly in his grasp. “Does that satisfy you?”
“It most certainly does not! She’s enchanted all my customers! Siren-called them away from my shop with her ensorcelled brews!”
“Well, I will admit that Miss Talbot is certainly enchanting,” Ward answered smoothly. “And her teas are, um, something. Are your teas ensorcelled, Miss Talbot?”
“They’re just teas, Officer Ward.”
“And you have all the proper licensing required to serve tea in this establishment, haven’t you?”
She pointed to the framed certificate on the back wall, and Ward made a show of inspecting it. “Mmmm hmmm,” he murmured. “Certified and signed by the Senior Officer of the Food and Beverages Department of Ballycastle. Yup, looks pretty official.”
“But it’s not right!” Mr. Marlin wailed.
“What’s not right?”
“She’s stolen all my customers! I’ve been in business here in Lower Eastside for the better part of two decades, and now . . . and now . . .”
“Well, perhaps you should offer her a job.”
“What!” Luna and Mr. Marlin blurted out in chorus. Luna couldn’t say which of the two of them sounded more shocked.
“With a healthy salary increase, of course,” Ward continued, warming to his idea.
“At least twenty percent, I’d say. And maybe a management position.
Just the thing to revitalize your little shop around the corner.
” He grinned again in that irrepressible way of his.
“Seems to me, if you want your customers back, you’re going to have to get yourself a new tea witch. ”
Mr. Marlin managed to catch his breath first of the two of them. “I will die before I hire a”—and he offered up some truly colorful verbiage here, finishing with, “damned sorceress!”
“Language, sir,” Ward said sternly, glaring down at him, “or I’ll write you up for gross abuse of the Mother Tongue in a lady’s presence. So let me get this straight: you do not intend to hire our Miss Talbot?”
“I absolute do not—”
“And you have nothing further of which to accuse her?”
“But she’s a—She’s still a—I demand a—”
“In that case,” Ward said, turning the man abruptly around and pointing him toward the door before releasing his collar, “you’d best run along back to your shop, sir. Otherwise, I’ll have to bring you in. Might take you a night in the Lower Eastside cooler to chill your head.”
Mr. Marlin shut his mouth so hard, his teeth threatened to crack.
He stared first at Ward then at Luna then at Ward again, as though desperately trying to figure out which of them he hated most. Finally, he shook out his head, rolled his shoulders, and backed down the aisle, unaware of the tiger lilies taking swipes at his trousers as he passed by.
“You’ll be sorry for this!” he declared.
Reaching the door at last, he turned, staggered out onto the sidewalk, and the bells rang joyfully to signal his departure.
Ward turned his dimples full-blast on Luna. “Oh, Ward!” she gasped, sagging against the counter. “Ward, I . . . I don’t know what to . . .”
He tilted his hat back from his forehead, releasing that bobbing black curl of his. “Aw, it was nothing,” he said. “Little rat like that you could have handled on your own. Just glad I happened to turn up when I did.”
“But what are doing here, Ward? I thought you were on assignment.”
He leaned an elbow on the counter and inclined his head toward her, grinning. “Did you miss me?”
“You weren’t gone long enough to miss!”
He pouted at this, his full lips working their darndest to earn their keep.
“I think I’m insulted. Because I missed you all day.
In fact, when I got word that plans had changed, and I’d be shipping out on Thursday instead, I promised myself, the minute my shift ended today, I’d try to make it to your flower shop before you got off work.
Wanted to ask you out again. Thought for sure I’d miss you.
Can’t say how glad I was to see the lights still on. ”
“Yes, well.” Luna glanced uneasily around at the still-messy shop. “I had some cleanup still to do.”
“And old Grimm skipped out, leaving you to manage on your own?”
Luna’s brow tightened. “I’m perfectly capable of handling things.”
“No doubt.” Ward shrugged and shifted his weight to his other elbow. “But what’s say you give me a broom, let me help you out a bit, then we go get a bite of dinner.”
“Oh, Ward!” Luna looked down at her bedraggled self and shook her head, helplessly. “I’m not fit to go anywhere!”
He looked her over. “You do look rather, um, natural, as they say. Still cute as a button though.” Reaching over the counter, he plucked up her hand and held it rather firmly.
Luna felt her whole body go very still and stiff in response.
“Come on,” he said. “The place I’ve got in mind, you don’t need to be all glammed-up. You’ll fit in fine.”
Luna stared at the sight of her fingers held in that powerful grasp. “I’m not sure that speaks volumes for the quality of the place.”
Ward smirked. “Go find a comb. Do something with your hair. I’ll finish sweeping up. Just show me where to toss it all.”
Luna worried her lower lip. She wasn’t sure she felt up to another evening out with Ward, not after the day she’d just had.
Then again, he had come to her rescue rather gallantly, hadn’t he?
Surely she owed him a little something for that.
And he would be leaving soon for who-knows how long anyway.
“All right,” she said, laughing faintly.
“I’ll just nip up to Mr. Grimm’s apartment and see if I can freshen up a little. ”
“Sure. Borrow the old boy’s pomade.” Ward chuckled.
Then, stretching out his hand to lay claim to the broom handle, he began sweeping rather too vigorously to be much use.
Luna opened her mouth to correct him then shrugged.
She’d already taken care of the worst of the mess, and she could always come in a bit early tomorrow to finish up before opening.
Only . . . not too early.
She didn’t want to be here when Bryony was leaving.
Grimacing against the sudden sickness in her gut, Luna hastened up the stairs. She would have a night out. And it would be fun. And she wouldn’t think about anything.