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And then Chloe had stueus, or rather been stumbled upon by him, while he’d been holed up in a luxurious penthouse in Manhattan, searching ancient texts, trying to find a way to free hi hiht Drustan mentally unbalanced when she’d met hiht Dageus a nefarious thief and hopeless womanizer And she’d come to find out that he was possessed by purest evil

Both had taken chances with their hearts, iainst immense odds

And both were deliriously in love, happily ed painfully at her heart when Gwen had brought her tiny, beautiful dark-haired twin daughters in to nurse, and Chloe had blushingly confided that she was expecting too

And she’d not missed Adam’s part in Chloe’s happiness Chloe had told her all that had happened in those dusty catacoeus had taken aher How she’d thought she’d lost her Highland love forever, and would have, if Ada him back from the brink of death and see hi in Gabby’s hts had been going on in that beautiful dark head, behind those tis? Why would he stir himself to return a human man to his human lover? And at such a price?

For Chloe had also told her that Dageus had confided (when he’d finally co) that the reason Adam had been punished by his queen was because of his intervention to save the MacKeltars

It was yet another thing he’d not told her--refusing to anshen she’d asked him twice before--but she could hardly blame him, because she’d not have believed it then

She believed it now And that knowledge was doing crazy things to her heart

Now more than ever she wanted to knoas Ada, intensely sexual, surprisingly gentle Fae who seemed to spend more time with humans than with his own race? This Fae eminently capable of force, who never forced? This Fae who’d taken a stand for huainst his own kind?

More iuarded emotion in him reachable by aher feel shaky clear down to her toes He was looking like every inch her fantasy prince And it was scaring the hell out of her

Before the afternoon was over, Gabby told her story in its entirety as well It had been impossible not to Gwen and Chloe omen who’d endured their own epidemics of otherworldly events; there’d been no need to hold anything back Being a Sidhe-seer was only afronified

She’d told them how she’d been raised to fear the Fae, how herthe vision, how Graift" She’d told thehan Books said about the Fae, and about horong she’d realized those books were--at least about Adaht she’d seen his he’d done since

She’d finally admitted the fear she’d not, until that moment, admitted even to herself That she would somehow survive all this, fall head over heels for hie fantasies--there would be no Happily-Ever-After He would regain his immortality, secure her safety as he’d promised, then return to the Fae realain be his oyster and, in the coss, Gabby knew she was nobody’s pearl

It would be Ga taste of an all-too-brief fairy tale left on her tongue, ruining her appetite for reality forever

Well, first of all, Chloe had said gently, I think it’s too late, sweetie; you’ve already fallen

Gwen had nodded agreement But, second, and most important, Gabby, she’d said softly, the question you et a Happily-Ever-After? The question you need to ask yourself is, will you be able to live with yourself if you don’t let yourself have a happy-now, and end up having had nothing at all?

19

Gabby took her ti, a luxury she’d not been able to indulge for days While they’d been traveling and sifting about, on those rare occasions she’d gli a quick duck into a public rest rooered But tonight she had the assurance that they were on safe ground, there would be no unceremonious dips in lakes or falls froe