Lucien let Imari pick the car she wanted to go for a drive in. He wanted her to be happy in it, but he was also curious as to what she’d choose.
She didn’t disappoint when she walked to the Lamborghini Aventador. It was black, if memory served. “This one,” she said as she tapped a fingertip on the hood. “Top down.”
“Excellent choice.” He smiled. “But it’s not really top down so much as it is top off.”
She smiled back. “Right. Targa top versus convertible, different and yet the same. At least the panels store in the front compartment.”
He put his hand to his heart. Her knowledge of cars alone was enough to make him fall for her. “That’s correct. Would you like to help me take them off?”
“Yes, but you’ll have to show me how.”
“It’s easy, just a latch to undo.” He walked to the driver’s side. “What made you pick this car?”
“It’s a beast of a machine.” She walked around the car toward him, her fingers coasting over the carbon fiber body. “I’ve never ridden in one. It’s one of the few in your garage that lets you feel the wind in your hair.” She came to a stop in front of him. “And, if I’m being honest here, it looks like the Batmobile, making me once again wonder if you aren’t really Bruce Wayne.”
He laughed out loud, hard. “I told you I’m not.”
She narrowed her eyes and gave him a smug little look. “Which is exactly what Bruce Wayne would say.”
He wanted to kiss that smugness right off her face. She was his wife after all. But in name only, he reminded himself. Not really his to kiss. Not until she was here because she wanted to be, not because he was the lesser of other evils. Although he hoped she didn’t consider him an evil.
He opened the driver’s door, putting a barrier between them. “I have to put the windows down before the tops can come off.” He pointed at the passenger’s side. “But you can help from that side if you want.”
She nodded. “I’m all over it.”
He got in the car, powered the windows down, then climbed out again. “Seats have to come forward, then you pull the lever right behind it.”
They got the targa tops off and stored. She was about to get in.
“Hey, wait. Catch.” He tossed her the keys.
She caught them and gave him a funny look. “What are these for?”
“If you don’t know what the keys do, maybe I shouldn’t let you drive after all.”
Her eyes went wide. “You want me to drive.”
“If you want to.”
“I—what—yes!”
He laughed as they switched places. She climbed in behind the wheel and started the car.
“Wow, that’s a nice sound,” she said as the pleasing deep rumble of the powerful engine spilled through the garage.
“It is.” He showed her how to open the big exit door, and the heavy purr vibrated into them as she slowly pulled out of the garage and rolled through Insomnia’s parking lot.
She stopped before turning onto the road. “Which way?”
He shrugged. “Whichever way you want.”
She looked in both directions, then at him. “You go for a lot of late-night drives, don’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Then take me on your favorite one.”
“I can do that.” He pointed. “Go that way.”
She checked for traffic one more time, then pressed down on the accelerator, snapping them both back into their seats.
“Whoa,” Imari said. She gripped the steering wheel harder, and her breathing picked up.
“Too fast?”
“Nope. Too fast for you?”
“No such thing.”
She was smiling, grinning really, from ear to ear, and that made him smile. “Push it harder, then.”
“For real?”
“Sure. Take it through its paces. I’ll tell you where to turn.” He did just that, calling out rights and lefts and following a familiar route that wound into the hills of Nocturne Falls. He’d driven it many times, mostly because it was a course with lots of twists and turns that really showed off the car’s agility.
Twenty minutes later, he slowed her down as they approached the largest property in Nocturne Falls. The road in front of it was one of his favorite stretches for laying on some speed, but not today. He didn’t want to do anything to anger the home’s owner.
Imari glanced out the window at the sprawling estate. “That’s Elenora Ellingham’s mansion.”
“Yes, it is.”
“Have you ever been inside?”
“Once.” He thought back. “When I first decided to move to Nocturne Falls. Have you been in?”
“Yes. I won tickets to one of the Black & Orange Balls through the spa a couple years ago. It was a lot of fun. And the house is pretty nice.”
He snorted. “Pretty nice?”
She shrugged and gave him a quick, coy look. “No indoor pool.”
He shook his head.
Imari went back to watching the road. “What if she doesn’t agree to help us?”
“She will. Her grandsons will persuade her.”
“I hope you’re right.”
Lucien did too.
She seemed so at ease behind the wheel. It was pretty sexy watching her drive. She caught him looking and smiled. “Where to now?”
“Home, I guess. Unless you want to keep driving?”
“I’m good. It’s been a very fun ride, but I have a lot of thinking to do.”
“Okay.” He’d hoped to take her mind off all that, but there was only so much distraction he could provide.
When they got back, she helped him replace the targa tops, then they walked into the house together.
“Thank you for letting me drive. That was incredible.” She paused at the living room. “I’m going to my room to think. I need to sort this all out in my head.”
“Sure. Take all the time you need. I’ll let Hattie know too.”
“Thanks.” With a smile that didn’t reach her eyes, she went off toward the guest room.
Lucien found Hattie in the library, reading through a cookbook. She looked up when he came in. “You’re back sooner than expected.”
“Imari needs to do some thinking. She’s in her room and would probably like to be left alone for a bit.”
Hattie nodded. “I won’t bother her until dinner.”
He tugged a chair toward hers to sit closer. “I would like you to be at this meeting with the wish merchant. I wouldn’t ask if I thought there was a chance you could be harmed. Your presence would mean a lot to Imari, I think. She likes you very much.”
“Of course I’ll be there. I like her very much, too.” She smiled at him, a little sadly.
“Don’t worry, it’s going to be fine. A little tense maybe, but he’s going to figure out pretty quickly that he’s been caught and the game is up.”
“That’s not…I was just thinking about you and Imari.”
“What about us?”
“What a nice couple you make. How she makes you laugh and smile and how I haven’t seen that in so long I thought I’d forgotten the sound of your laugh. Or that you’d forgotten how.” She reached out to touch his cheek even though she was in ghost form. “You deserve happiness, Lucien.”
He didn’t want to argue with her, and while he loved the new light Imari had brought to his life, he couldn’t bring himself to agree that he deserved it. Not while looking into the eyes of the woman he’d turned into a ghost. “I don’t know about that, Mémé.”
“You do. Your powers being on the fritz aren’t a measure of what you deserve. Stop punishing yourself for something that happened accidentally. Imari likes you. In fact, I think she loves you. Or she would if there wasn’t that bothersome issue of her already being promised to that Khalid person.” Hattie shook her finger at him. “You need to fix that.”
He choked out a laugh. Khalid was more than a bothersome issue, but Hattie had her own views on most everything. “I’ve already married her, and I’m not sure that’s going to make a difference. What else can I do?”
She swatted his arm. “I’m serious, Lucy.”
He sighed. “I know you are. So am I. And I plan to do everything I can. I’ve already told her I’m going to go with her to explain everything to her parents and Khalid. But she says I don’t understand her world. That nothing will stop her parents from disowning her. And that Khalid will just want to fight me. And still marry her.”
Her hands clenched into fists. “So fight him back. Stop him from marrying her. You’re one of the deadliest creatures on the planet. You’re a grim reaper, for crying out loud. You carry a scythe capable of taking men’s souls.”
He held his hands up. “First of all, I already told her I would fight him if that’s what it comes to. And secondly, it’s not like you to be so bloodthirsty, Mémé.”
She smoothed the front of her silk blouse. “I just think your happiness, and Imari’s, matters more than some stupid old tradition.”
“So noted.” He doubted Imari’s parents or betrothed would think their traditions were stupid.
The phone rang, distracting them. He got up. “I’ll take that in my study.”
He answered the phone on the fourth ring. “Hello?”
“Lucien? It’s Sebastian Ellingham. Elenora’s in.”
Relief coursed through him. It was like he could breathe again. “Excellent news. When will she be ready?”
“Tonight soon enough?”
“I’m not sure.”
“Well, I’d advise you to become sure as quickly as you can. When Elenora wants something done, she wants it done immediately.”
“And Alice, her witch?”
“Also in. Corette too. All we need is you and Imari.”
Imari sat on the guest room bed and ran her hands over the gems embedded in the filigree on her bottle. They were beautiful. Everything in the jinn world was. Precise and beautiful and all according to tradition. Everything had to be just so. It was the main tenet of jinn life. Order kept order.
Which was why she’d undoubtedly end up marrying Khalid. Sure, her life would be ruined, but at least the ceremony would be spectacular.
She picked the bottle up by the neck and jerked her arm behind her, about to throw it across the room. Then she stopped and set the bottle down.
There was no point in that. It wouldn’t break. Genie bottles were indestructible. All she’d end up doing is damaging something in Lucien’s home, and he didn’t deserve that.
A knock on the door made her jump. “Sorry to bother you, but I have some news.”
Lucien. She got up to let him in, happy for the distraction despite all she still needed to sort out. “It’s okay. What’s the news?”
He leaned against the door frame. “Elenora is going to let us use her jewelry. And she wants to do it now.”
“Now? You mean tonight?”
“No, I mean immediately.”
Imari glanced back at the bottle on her bed. “I’m not sure I’m ready for this. But I guess I have to be.”
“You can pick out the car we take, if that makes you feel any better.”
It didn’t, but it was sweet of Lucien to offer, so she pretended like it did. “Okay. The Lamborghini again.”
“Perfect, since you already know how it handles.”
“Why would I—are you going to let me drive again?”
“Yes.”
Her smile became absolutely real. Now that was how to distract someone.