Piper (Queen's Birds of Prey 4)

“Sorry, but I’m not pissed. I don’t get pissed. It’s not worth the effort.” Grant looked at her and winked. “You see, when you have one of the queen’s prey as your mate, you don’t have to worry about much of anything bothering you. So this is your final say, is it? You’re not moving on?”

“Nope.” Curtain aimed his gun at her when she hopped in his direction. Grant told him that if he did that, he was only going to piss her off. “She ain’t real anyway.”

The gun went off just as she drew in a breath to hit the tent behind the man. As soon as he realized it was flaming, he aimed the gun at Grant. Piper turned her flame to Curtain, and it hit him all at once. Her fire was hotter than anything manmade. Mr. Curtain didn’t even have time to scream.

Chapter 6

The castle was a mix of modern and old. There were places along the walls that would hold things such as books and collections. Grant knew that over the years, he’d collected a lot of both. Mostly books, but he did have a few things he thought would mix well with the things he was sure Piper had collected too. She met him in the office where he was looking around.

“I’m not sure what is going on right now, but the kitchen changes every time I come out and go back into it. I don’t cook, you see. I could if pressed, but I don’t. So when I leave, it changes, I’m assuming, to your standards of kitchen work. With mine, it’s two microwaves, as well as lots of paper plates. I’m not sure I like that.” He asked her what was bothering her about it. “That this place is more in tune with me than I am. Do you cook?”

“I do. And I love to. But I think we’ll still need someone here to cook all the time. With the projects we have going, we’ll need to do that. Have you heard from Benson about the children?” She told him what she’d heard. “I figured as much. Malnourished seems to be the way children of his sort wind up. Mercy has contacted their mother. She’s been looking for them for six months. He took them out of the state when he only had weekend visitation rights. Apparently, she’s more than grateful to have them back. The others have left as well. They even cleaned up their messes instead of leaving it for us. I believe you scared some sense into them.”

“For the moment anyway.” He knew that sometime in the future, they were going to have to do the same again. Grant hoped the castle being occupied would deter some people, but he didn’t have much faith. “Baker went to find us some staff. The kitchen is going to be your domain, so you can interview someone for that. I’ll see about having the staff here in the morning. I want this night, our first night here, to be just about the two of us. How about we look over the rest of this place, and then we head up to what is going to be our bedroom and make it ours?”

She wiggled her brows at him, and he laughed. Piper was as straight forward as anyone he’d ever met. When she wanted something, Piper didn’t have any trouble asking for it. He thought perhaps that was why he loved her so much. Before they went any further, he bent on one knee in front of her.

“It’s about time.” He laughed again, telling her to behave herself. “I don’t know if you’ve realized this or not, but I don’t do behaving very well. I can, I suppose, but what the hell is the fun in all that? But I do love you.”

“And I love you. Will you marry me?” Her laughter made him smile. She didn’t do ladylike laughter either. When laughing, Piper did so with her entire self. “Is that a yes, or do you have to think on it for a little while?”

“It’s very much so a yes. Also, you should know that in all my life, I’ve never had as much fun as I’ve had with you these last few days. Thank you for that.” He asked her about Curtain. “He was trying to kill you. I know you’re immortal and that all he would have done was piss you off. However, he didn’t know that. My bird, she didn’t want him to harm anyone, and she ended him so we’d not have to watch over our shoulders for the rest of his life. Nor those that he convinced to come here with him. Are you going to put that on my finger, or do I have to do it by myself?”

He pushed the beautiful ring up and over her knuckle. It looked good on her; the ruby was a beautiful gem against her skin. Watching it sparkle all around the room, he nearly missed what she was saying to him. She told him she had one for him as well. When she got down on her knees with him, she put the matching ring on his finger. The ruby was twice the size of hers and set in the same setting he loved on the one he’d given her.

“I had an idea why Jude handed me this yesterday. She isn’t very sneaky, by the way. Don’t tell her anything you don’t want blabbed around.” Piper kissed him and continued. “The rings were a part of a larger set, she told me. There was a necklace, as well as several bracelets in the trunk. Since it had long since rotted, the jewelry had spread out all over the bottom of the sea. I guess Duncan found the rest of it buried under some of the debris that was part of the belly of the ship where the new bride was chained up.”

“Such a sad story. I’m sorry.” Piper kissed him again, this time lingering a little longer. “You’re not upset to have this ring when you know it was for someone that lost everything?”

“No. I mean, I am sorry for the woman that lost her entire family. But I believe you and I can make better, newer stories that go along with this set. We’ll be happy. Have children if you want them, as well as live out a long life we can be proud of.” She tisked as she continued. “I have a couple of shows coming up at the end of the year. One of them is in Paris, the other in Germany. We’ll make a long trip of them if you’d like.”

“I would. I would love to see those places with you.” She nodded and put her arms over his shoulders. “Anything else before I take you up to our bedroom and ravage you?”

“Yes. I want children with you. By you or not, I want to have little ones running around this place. Bring joy here. Make memories of our lives here that we can be proud of.” He told her he liked that idea. “Thank you. Also, I would very much enjoy seeing the world once again, before we get to the point where we’re only here all the time. I can see us doing that too. Being people that are so happy with their home, they never want to leave.”

“Yes. However, I don’t think of you as a homebody. You’re more of the kind of woman that goes out and conquers the world one country at a time.” They both laughed, and Grant stood up. Scooping Piper up into his arms, he started for the stairs. “It doesn’t matter if we’re here or abroad; I want to spend my life with you, making you as happy as we can be together.”

The bedroom was perfect for them. The bed looked like it was from when he was younger, the wood of it as old as he was. After putting Piper on her feet, he rubbed the post closest to him and could feel the wood speak to him. He turned to Piper when she said his name.

“This is the bed that was in Dante’s castle. No one used it, as it was for guests of the household. After the king died, the room this was in was shut off and not used again. It despaired of ever having someone use it again.” She asked him if the bed spoke to him. “Not the bed. The wood. Everything has a story to tell. Whether it be old like this or newly cut.”

“This is from the stash. I remember seeing it in the corner when we were there last. It called to me, and I remember touching my fingers

to the headboard and feeling something. At the time, I thought I had lost my mind. Perhaps it, like this place, knew we’d be here together. Make love to me, Grant. I so need for you to take me.” Grant pulled her into his arms and kissed her deeply. “I love you.”

She left him there while she went to the bathroom. He wanted to tell her she didn’t need to dress up for him. That he wanted only to have her now. However, when she closed the door between them, he could feel his excitement to see what surprise she might have for him.

Pulling the bottle of champagne out of the ice, he wondered where it had come from. Then he remembered Piper had told him she’d asked for something special for their room. He supposed this was their wedding night, and he should have thought of it too. When he heard the door open behind him, Grant turned slowly. Seeing her standing there made his entire body hard as stone.

The glass in his hand shattered from his excitement. Champaign poured down his hand, along with blood from the glass, cutting deeply into his hand. Dropping the bottle to see to his other hand, it hit his bare foot and had him jumping up and down from the pain. He knew what he must look like, but right at that moment, he didn’t care. He was hurting. Just as he was getting his shit together and the pain leveling out, he kicked the bottle across the room and hit Piper in the shin. Falling forward to try and catch the projectile, he hit his head on the corner of the bed and laid there. Christ, he thought, I’m a fucking moron. He looked up at Piper when she started laughing.

“Oh my God, Grant, that was by far the funniest thing I’ve ever witnessed. What the hell happened?” He didn’t even bother trying to get up, fearful of what else might befall him. “If I’d not seen this, I would never have believed it. Are you hurt?”

“No. I’m humiliated. Why did you come out of the bathroom naked? Don’t you know I’m a man on edge?” He looked up at her again. “Can we start over? And never mention this again? Christ, my head hurts.”

Piper got on the floor with him, and he kissed the large knot on her shin. She told him she was just fine but did look at his head. Grant wondered what would have happened had they had a tray of food here too. What sort of mess would he have made then? When she had him sit up, she examined not just his head that had a large knot on it, but also his hand and foot. She was still laughing when she told him he was going to be just fine. Grant pulled her over his lap and held her while she continued to laugh at him.

“Anytime you want to stop laughing is going to be all right with me.” That, of course, made her laugh all the harder. “I swear to you, Piper, I’ve never felt as stupid or as clumsy as I have today. It was as if I’d never seen a naked woman before.”