Magical Midlife Love (Leveling Up 4)

Information Niamh had been gathering wasn’t easing my mind. Sebastian had been right—it seemed this mage had a reputation for cunning, cutthroat deals and behavior. Lesser mages disappeared after meetings with him, but he was never investigated by the Mages’ Guild. Alliances ended abruptly, usually with an “unexplained” death, and often leaving him the better for it. He seemed underhanded and downright slimy.

To make matters worse, Sebastian said he’d always heard this mage had a fragile ego. The smallest slight would create big issues, and since the mage did have some wealth, he could hire mercenaries if he had to, intent on using force to look like the bigger man.

Bottom line, he didn’t seem like someone I wanted a connection with, but he was certainly someone I didn’t want on my bad side. I’d need to really watch myself in the dinners and meetings, showing him my best face, and aiming to end the week as neutrally as possible. That was the best way.

“Miss, Austin Steele will pick you up in…” Mr. Tom checked his Spider-Man watch. Jimmy had accidentally left it behind and said Mr. Tom could keep it. It was cheap and silly, and I had no idea why my son had had it in the first place, but now Mr. Tom wore it as though it were a priceless relic. “Fifteen minutes. Is that what you’re going to wear?”

I looked down at my jeans and pastel pink blouse. “Yes?”

“Oh no, miss, no. You’re going to dinner with two alphas. You need to dress nicely.”

“I know, but Austin said this was just an informal dinner with his brother.”

“Dinner, though.” Mr. Tom put his hands behind his back and lifted his eyebrows. “With two alphas.”

I sighed. “Fine, what should I wear?”

“How nice of you to ask. Since I am clearly a master on the latest trends for ladies, let me just select something for you.”

The amazing thing was that he wasn’t joking.

Austin had originally asked for me to come over a few days ago, but shifters kept trying to sneak into the territory and cause a ruckus. I didn’t understand the point or the politics—maybe they were trying to see how well the borders were locked down?—but it was keeping Austin incredibly busy.

Mr. Tom picked out a little black dress, simple but elegant, and not at all what I would wear over to someone’s house for a casual dinner.

“Is this a ‘dress for the job you want’ situation?” I asked, changing in my closet while he waited at the little table near the window.

“Yes.” When I came out, he stood and looked me over. “A touch of makeup, a tighter curl, and then we’ll see about some jewels.”

I frowned at him before heading back to the bathroom. Dinner with two alphas was clearly a much bigger deal than I’d thought.

Or maybe Mr. Tom knew something I didn’t. Were Austin and Kingsley having doubts that I could pull off a façade of refined elegance for the visiting mage? Was this dinner a trial run, of sorts, to see what they were working with?

If so, they clearly didn’t know about my past. After attending hundreds of work parties and boring, WASP-y functions with my ex and his parents, I knew how to pull off regal, self-important, and stuffy. Conversation might pose more difficulties, of course.

A little while later, Mr. Tom came back with a stack of long, flat black boxes. He set them on the table and began arranging them.

“How about this?” I emerged from the threshold to the bathroom. “I don’t want to go too formal with makeup and hair because it’ll look out of whack with the dress. I’ve had extensive training on how those things go together. My ex-mother-in-law criticized me every time she saw me for the first five years of my marriage.”

Mr. Tom straightened and turned, scanning me from head to toe. “You are a vision, miss. Perfect.”

I beamed. My ex’s mother had never said anything like that, that was for sure.

“Now. All you need are some finishing touches.” Mr. Tom stepped to the side as he partially turned, looking down at the boxes, then back at me. “Which do you think?”

Stepping closer, I nearly choked on my spit. My ex had been in the habit of buying me nice jewelry—expensive jewelry—which I had always liked. Sometimes a lady needed a little bling. But this!

Four boxes in total, each containing a necklace, earrings, and a bracelet, except for the last one, which didn’t have a bracelet. The first set was a tasteful and elegant design of pearls separated with diamonds. My ex’s mother would highly approve. Those were out.

The next box held a simple strand of diamonds, all the same size on the necklace, studs for earrings, and a tennis bracelet. The third set incorporated rubies, the teardrop necklace ending in a large crimson stone, the earrings a similar design, and the bracelet switching off diamonds and rubies. But it was the last set that stole my ability to speak. The earrings were elegant strands of diamonds, but the real beauty was the necklace: a sort of webbing of black and white diamonds that would drape down the neck, almost to the cleavage. The crisscrossed strands were dainty, the glitter elegant but not overbearing, and the wow factor off the charts. That one would make my ex-mother-in-law green with envy, and if I ever met her again, I’d wear it.