Knight in Leather Read Online Free Page B

them all indefinitely. And because of her curse, Simone still needed to be able to provide facilities for travelers. Building something brand new behind the old motel structure had made sense. The new building was a two-story grouping of suites, all a thirty-second walk to the water. A courtyard and a pool divided the new building from the old, sprawling motel. Simone hadn’t wanted the pool—she’d thought the amenity would encourage guests to stay longer—but Siobhan was convincing when she wanted to be. At the moment, the pool was empty because the cement was still curing. They’d be filling it up any day, assuming rain didn’t throw off the timeline.
    In the fridge door, Ethan found a bottle of a dark beer he hadn’t tried before and popped the cap. “Where’d Laurel go?”
    “Don’t know,” Princess Siobhan said. “Daryn shooed her away and followed her to make sure she left, but I’m sure she’ll be back.”
    Ethan took a long draft of the beer and wondered how the hell he always got himself into situations like the one with Laurel. “Fuckin’ mer-fairies,” he muttered. “We had sex one time forty years ago. I wouldn’t have touched her at all if she hadn’t been so convenient.”
    “You knew what she was and you touched her anyway?”
    He shrugged. “It was an orgy. Fairies make questionable decisions at orgies.”
    Caryl grunted and batted the ends of her hair. “True. When you’re in the thick of things, you’re only concerned about satiation, and not long-term consequences. And usually, that’s not a problem. Sídhe know that a fuck isn’t a commitment. We’re too practical to assume otherwise, but that bit of mermaid in her…”
    “Okay.” Frustrated, he threw up his hands. “Don’t know what to tell ya.”
    “I do,” Princess Siobhan said. “You’re fucked , dude. You need to get rid of her. I have no doubts she’s going to come back. Maybe she’ll be sweet and nice at first to lure you in, but she’s going to get angry, and the last thing we need right now is a blubbering mer-fairy on our hands.”
    “You think she’d mess with Dasha?”
    “Of course Laurel will try to if she figures out who Dasha is to you. She’s going to be pissed. She’s going to throw a huge fuckin’ tantrum. The girls and I will do our best to herd her away, but in the end, you might have to deal with her personally. You have to make her understand that you and her aren’t going to happen. My mother probably thinks the disruption will create an opening to get one of her assassins close, but they’re going to fail like they always do because they’re stupid, and Perry and his granny have this place magically warded out the wazoo.”
    “Right.” Ethan paced, sipping his beer.
    No one’s magic worked within a one-mile radius of the motel except the people on Perry’s approved magic user list. People could certainly try to assault them using more conventional methods, but winning a physical fight against anyone in Heath’s crew was a hard prospect. Rhiannon had learned that lesson already, but she kept trying to come up with ways to hassle them all the same.
    “And I suspect that if I don’t deal with her,” Ethan said, “Princess Simone will.”
    Princess Siobhan nodded. “Uh-huh. And if my sister-in-law has to get her hands dirty, who knows where Laurel will end up?”
    Caryl snorted. “Knowing Princess Simone, she’d open a portal to Siberia and drag the wretch through. And then she’d feel bad later and wonder if she should go rescue the nitwit. Let’s not burden the princess’s conscience any more than we need to, aye?”
    Ethan finished his beer and tossed the bottle into the recycling bin. “I’ll fix this.” Before she gets to Dasha.
    “Do what you have to do,” Caryl warned, “but don’t be afraid to ask for help. Our kind can be very crafty when tempted with things we want, and Daryn and I would understand better than anyone what you’re dealing