6. Chapter 6
The shock of the cold slammed into my body, but I kicked hard, only surfacing once the bag was in my hand. A splash next to me announced Jack’s arrival.
He surfaced and treaded water, assessing me for injuries. His amber eyes glowed with an intensity I hadn’t seen in him before.
“I’m fine,” I said. “And I got it.” I raised the purse triumphantly. Cheers erupted from the ferry.
“What were you thinking?” he asked, his usual playful tone now tinged with exasperation.
“I was thinking that this bag means a lot to that girl up there, and I wasn’t about to let some careless boy lose it for her.” I forced the words out through chattering teeth.
“Unbelievable,” Jack muttered under his breath, though he didn’t sound angry like I’d expected he would. I turned toward the shore, shivering. It couldn’t be more than a mile away, which would be a good workout. But then I’d have to figure out a way to find the girl to return her bag.
My body must have been shutting down from the frigid water because I stopped feeling the cold. A moment later it went from tepid to bathwater warm. I turned back to Jack, whose forehead was crinkled in concentration. Water droplets clung to his eyelashes and I had the crazy urge to wipe them away.
“Are you warming the water?”
He smiled. “My fae gift is a sort of raw elemental power. Changing the temperature of a small area is one of my favorite tricks.”
“I bet that comes in handy a lot.”
“Yeah, it can be useful. But we should get back to the ferry. I asked an officer to drop a ladder for us before I jumped.”
We swam close together, his magic making the water temperature tolerable, and I couldn’t help but admire his powerful stroke. He’d removed his jacket and shirt before diving in, and the water clung to his muscles that flexed and contracted as he cut through the water.
Sure enough, a rope ladder hung on the side of the ferry. It swayed as I climbed and the cold air bit at my exposed body, sending goosebumps racing across my skin. When I reached the top, a sailor helped me over the railing.
I handed the bag to the girl who had been watching me with wide eyes. “Thank you so much!” She hugged the bag to her chest.
A moment later, Jack climbed over the edge. He stalked over to a bench where he had stashed our clothes and held out my dress to me.
“Thanks, but no. This dress can’t get wet, it’s magical dry clean only.”
He pursed his lips, taking in my shivering body, and I tried not to be offended that he was looking at me with concern rather than appreciation. He wrapped his jacket around my shoulders before putting on his own shirt, unfortunately covering that glorious torso.
“How long until we reach the shore?” I asked, my teeth chattering.
He settled in on the bench. “Thirty minutes.”
A ferry employee brought over a large wool blanket and two steaming mugs of tea.
“Thank you.” I wrapped my hands around the warm ceramic.
Jack wrapped the blanket around our shoulders and I leaned into his warmth. The air under the blanket heated as well, courtesy of Jack’s magic.
“Is this the part where you lecture me about putting myself in danger?” I asked.
“Of course not. I’m not going to stop you from doing anything you want to do. I’ll be right behind you making sure you’re safe while you do it.”
My mouth dropped open.
“But a little warning next time would help me to do my job.” His gentle hand on my chin shut it again.
I’d have to thank Sydney later. Or not. I blinked, trying to clear my head with a handsome man in such close proximity who smelled like cedar and vetiver.
But I didn’t have to worry about getting too close to Jack because he was my employee, which meant he was absolutely off limits.
And I was going to start setting appropriate boundaries with him. Just as soon as I warmed up.
I draped my legs over his and he placed one arm across them, pulling me closer to his body. His chin dipped to rest on the top of my head and the air around us warmed.
“You have the best fae gift,” I said.
He shrugged. “I’m not very good, to be honest. I’ve got a sort of raw, untrained power that my tutors always said showed great aptitude in elemental magic. But I never tried very hard to hone it. So as my mother will readily tell you, my potential has been wasted.”
His voice held a twinge of bitterness I hadn’t heard from him before. I frowned, unsure what to say.
“No matter. Now I’m a hero, protecting the life of a gorgeous woman.”
I hit him lightly on the arm. “You’re such a tease.”
His expression turned serious. “I will protect you,” he said. “You’re safe with me.”
Safe. My eyes flicked from his eyes to his lips and back again. He might protect me from external danger, but what about another heartbreak? I needed to be careful with this one. And I would. But first I’d enjoy his warmth on the ride back to Austen Heights.
“I could glamour us a blanket, but it wouldn’t provide any actual warmth,” I said.
“That’s your specialty, illusions?” His voice was edged in surprise.
“It is. It comes in handy more often than you’d think.”
“I believe it.”
All too soon, we reached the shore, and thanks to Jack’s warm flow of air, I was dry enough to put my dress back on. I handed back his jacket but he shook his head. “You should keep it.”
“No thanks, I don’t want to cover up my dress.”
He shook his head in disapproval but a smile lifted the corner of his lips. “You know, Vixen, you could reschedule your appointment with this lady. I’m sure you’d feel better after a hot shower and a meal.”
“This client is going to turn everything around for me,” I told Jack. His hair was almost as disheveled as mine, so I reached forward and smoothed it for him.
“In what way?” he asked, his voice husky.
“I’ll design her house and do an amazing job, and other wealthy Marked in the area will admire it and hire me.
Before long, I’ll have enough money to move out of Charles’s house and get my own place.
But more importantly, when people think of me, they won’t remember what Louisa did or what my father did.
They’ll just think about how talented I am. ”
The corner of his mouth turned up in a smile. “Then let’s go in there and knock it out of the park.”
I pulled into Mrs. Ponvale’s and glanced in the visor mirror to check my appearance.
Ugh, my hair was a damp, tangled mess. I ran my fingers through it a couple of times, wishing my car was as solicitous as Netherfield and would provide me with a brush.
I sighed and gave up, glamouring it to look like it was lightly curled. Nobody would know the difference.
Mrs. Ponvale had asked us to meet at 6:30. I glanced at my watch. Right on time.
Her Tudor manor was stately, complete with creeping vines that had turned red and orange like the leaves of the giant trees flanking the house.
It was a newer build than the architecture style would suggest, probably made to fit in an existing neighborhood.
A golden retriever ran up to meet us, tail wagging.
If he was supposed to be a guard dog, he did a pretty poor job of it.
Jack knelt and scratched him behind the ears and the dog stared up at him adoringly.
I paused, my hand halfway to the doorbell, and watched him for a moment. It was hard enough to ignore the fact that he was so good looking, did he have to be adorable with animals, too? I turned back to the door and rang the bell.
An elderly gentleman in a very fine three-piece suit answered the door. “You must be the designer.”
“That’s right, I’m Caroline Bingley.”
“Right this way.” He led us to a lavish but outdated sitting room with some regular seats and some smaller ones that would be more comfortable for a gnome.
Mrs. Ponvale joined us a few moments later.
She wore a patchwork skirt paired with an intricately knitted top and large earrings dangling from her ears, which caught the light as she moved.
It was a much more eccentric ensemble than she’d worn to my reveal party, and I had a feeling this was more her preferred style.
“Thank you for coming, dear,” she said, reaching her small hand out to grasp mine. “As you can see, this room is well in need of a makeover.” Her posture was hunched and tense, as though this meeting made her nervous.
“In my professional opinion, this room reflects your excellent taste, Mrs. Ponvale. And the fact that you’ve observed a shift in popular design and are ready for an update only reinforces that idea.”
“Please, call me Gladys. And who is this handsome young man you’ve brought with you?”
“I’m Jack Levi.” He extended his hand and she shook it enthusiastically.
“Jack is my bodyguard. With a murderer on the loose, I feel better having someone to watch over me.”
“Yes,” she said, frowning. “That was regrettable. But I’m sure you have nothing to worry about, dear.”
Time for a change of subject, this was supposed to be fun for Gladys. “Perhaps you could show me around the manor, so I can get a feel for the layout.”
“It’s not very put together. The other designer started a few projects, so the rooms are quite disheveled.”
“That’s okay, Gladys, I promise I won’t be judging your taste on what I see.”
The tension in her shoulders eased a little.
She led us through the rooms I’d be renovating: five bedrooms, an enormous dining room that could comfortably seat twenty, and a cozy study with high potential that currently looked like it belonged in a 90s sitcom before ending the tour back in the formal sitting room.
The furniture was a mix of sizes, with lots of gnome-sized seating as well as larger pieces.
“That’s it for the tour,” Gladys said, leading us back to the sitting room. “The rest of the house suits me for the time being.”
I made a note of it in my design notebook. “Very good. Would you like to show me the rest? Even though I won’t be decorating those rooms, it would be good for me to know what’s there so I can maintain a sense of cohesion.”