Following the departure of his sister…and his anam cara, fuck…Rik stalked back to his private office and into the en suite bathroom. Shoving open the closet and tugging out a new dress shirt, Rik was unsure if he should actually be glad he kept an entire week’s worth of clothes at the office. Yanking off his ruined shirt, he pointedly ignored the tingling in his left pectoral muscle, refusing to even look into the mirror as he pulled on a fresh shirt and buttoned it to the neck. He’d deal with that later. Much later.
Fuck. Goodbye happy bachelorhood! Rik thought morosely, although he was a bit shocked to find he wasn’t as regretful as he may have been just days ago. Hell, even just an hour ago.
Quickly, he finished getting dressed, grabbing the first tie to come to hand and tying it in a perfect Double Windsor before he secured it with a lion-headed pin. When he went back into his office and saw his bag still lying next to his fallen chair, Rik couldn’t stop the small chuckle that escaped. His cara was something else. She had managed to knock him off his feet with just a few words; and considering she not only apparently possessed a finely honed Irish temper, it was reinforced with the legendary fire of redheads. His eternal life just got a lot more interesting.
Righting his chair, Rik sat down and pulled on his shoes. As he tied the laces, his gaze caught the golden, glittering ink on his day planner once more. His grin slipped away as reality sunk in.
Ms. Samantha Kelly was a Mortal. She had to be. As a Sidhe, a direct descendant of the legendary Tuatha Dé, and the heir apparent to the Clan Leon, the Shields of the Courts, his family was familiar with all the Leanaí—the term used as a catch-all for all those associated with the Tuatha Dé, from their Sidhe descendants to the Faefolk who had migrated to the Mortal Realm from the Otherworlds.
She wasn’t Fae, wasn’t Sidhe, and while her temper could be due to shifter blood, she didn’t have the sheer animalistic presence possessed by all shifters. She had the pale complexion of a vampire, but there was no way she was old enough to survive being out in the sunlight as often as she obviously had, going by the freckles dotting her skin. She could be from one of the witch families, but that didn’t feel right either, and the witches were just as rigid about maintaining their bloodlines and keeping familial records as the Sidhe were.
Rik buzzed Lizzy’s desk, and when she answered with a chortle, Rik snorted his own amusement. “Yeah, yeah, I know. I done fucked up right good. Like I said, you’re the nice one. Anyways, if you’d kindly do some research on Ms. Samantha Kelly for me, I’d greatly appreciate it.”
“Planning on stalking the poor woman?” Lizzy teased.
“Yes,” Rik said honestly. Leaning back, a wide grin crossed his face. “I seem to have pissed off ma petite flamme, and I have a feeling she’s not going to make it easy to earn her forgiveness. So I need to be properly prepared.”
“Good.” Rik heard that, even if Lizzy muttered it under her breath. Giving another snort in amusement, Rik looked at his planner to see what the rest of his day looked like.
It would probably be a good idea to let his sister calm Sam down. Chasing after her—as much as his body craved it—and causing a scene in a coffee shop was something his grandparents would have his head for. He shuddered.
Dammit, Clara’s going to tell on me. I’m fucked, and not in the happy fun way I really want right now.
Cracking his jaw, Rik got to work.
The rest of the day went as usual. Cœur de Lyon Enterprises oversaw more than just his family’s Estates. His family was old, the American branch of the clan coming to the Americas following the Great Schism in the 16th Century, when the Enochs had driven the Tuatha Dé from the Mortal World and sealed most of the portals between this realm and the others.
While there were still European branches of the clan, the American Leons had spread throughout North America. His grandfather, Jean-Paul, had assumed the mantle of Clan Patron, overseeing the entire Leon Clan, during the First World War, when his older brother had been killed without an heir. The family had always been wealthy, making money in smart investments and political maneuvering throughout the centuries, but the American Leons had truly begun to come into dominance over the last century.
Rik’s father, Sebastian, had formed Cœur de Lyon Enterprises in the 1920s, bringing together the disparate Clan businesses under a unifying banner, leaving Jean-Paul free to focus on clan affairs. Every clan within the Sidhe had a “divine” purpose, their noblesse oblige given to them by their Tuatha ancestors. The members of Clan Leon had always been Knight Protectors, the shields that protected the Leanaí. In the New World, Jean-Paul had interpreted that as not only protecting the fae and Sidhe and guarding those sacred places that served as portals to the Otherworlds, but to also create sanctuaries where all supernatural beings could find protection. Throughout North America, and even on islands in the Caribbean and Pacific, the clan had secured properties, building businesses and resorts, but also being careful not to become too popular, or too large, to avoid drawing too much Mortal interest.
Clan Leon was not the only Sidhe family to incorporate, however. Perhaps inspired by the American spirit, the North American Leanaí had begun to align themselves into more modern organizations. There was still the lingering, traditional hierarchies and “noble” aristocracy, but instead of serving in courts or swearing fealty to a king or queen, the American Leanaí formed corporations, with CEOs, CFOs, boards, holding companies, and all the other trappings of corporate America.
In North America, the Leanaí tended to fall under the auspices of one of three “parent” companies: Albrecht Industries, representing the ‘Seelie’ or Light Leanaí; Midnight Enterprises, representing the ‘Unseelie’ or Dark Leanaí; and then there were the Shadow Leanaí, those who had forsworn both factions and was determined to remain neutral in the traditional discord between the Light and Dark Leanaí. The Shadows had reluctantly given up some of their independence, however, by aligning themselves with Wyrdgard International and its CEO, Audrick Gunvald, the Black Dragon.
Audrick had been instrumental in forming a council comprised of all the main supernatural races, forcing them to realize that as technology grew and Mortals spread to every corner of the world, the supernaturals needed to band together. It was he who had agreed to take temporary responsibility over the Shadows, or Gray Fae, until a suitable candidate could be found to protect the Shadows. Unfortunately, no candidate had yet to step forward in the last century, at least not one who could offer the same protection Audrick could, as Audrick was one of the most powerful supernatural beings in the world, one of the few remaining dragons who predated even the Tuatha Dé.
After completing his virtual meeting with investors to go over the expansion of the Cœur de Lyon Village and the Renaissance and Fantasy Faire, Rik signed off of Skype with a groan. Although the morning and been busy, with meetings and phone calls to the various investors, he had been unable to completely focus on his work. Instead, half his mind was completely occupied with trying to strip the mental image of his cara naked, teasing him, a mental game of figuring out just how far down those freckles of hers went.
The sound of a throat clearing and a light knock on his office door drew Rik’s head up. A scowl darkened his face as he saw Clara grinning at him with unholy glee.
“So, Ms. Kelly will be spending the week up at the Estates. I decided to offer her the position, but she hasn’t decided yet,” Clara sashayed over to collapse in one of the chairs opposite of him. Stretching her legs out, crossed at the ankles, she rested clasped hands over her stomach, that grin of hers taunting him. Brat.
Rik ran a hand through his thick golden-blond hair, mussing the carefully styled length on top. With a sigh, he picked up a folder and slid it across the desk.
“Look, this is the original candidate for the position,” he watched Clara pick up the folder and flip through the paperwork. When he saw her face fall with a look of consternation, Rik nodded.
“Exactly. I don’t know what Grand-père is thinking, but that candidate,” Rik pointed to the folder in Clara’s hand, “came with a very strong recommendation from Audrick Gunvald.”
“Fuck,” Clara muttered as she tossed the folder back on to Rik’s desk. She looked up at her big brother. “Rik, I Oathed her, but more than that, I like her. More than that, though, I’ve got the feeling that she’s supposed to come to the Estates.”
Rik scrubbed his face in frustration. “What can we do? Our family swore fealty to Audrick. If he wants us to hire someone, he’s got a good reason for it.”
“Yeah, but him?Why him?” Clara’s voice rose, her expression concerned.
“He’s due out here on Friday,” Rik said, unconcerned. “That gives us a few days to figure things out with what to do with them, and how to deal with this.”
There was no way Rik was going to tell his sister that Sam was his anam cara. Nope. No way, no how, no sirree! He didn’t need her playing matchmaker, or her deciding to make things more difficult just for the fun of it—it could go either way with his sisters when they decided to get involved.
However, now that he thought about it…Rik grinned, and the look on his face must’ve been quite frightening, since Clara drew back at seeing his expression. “Go ahead and show Sam around. Make her comfortable and let her settle in.”
“Um, okay?” Clara replied, drawing out the last word questioningly. “Are you sure about that? I mean, if you’re just going to hire Audrick’s candidate, it seems wrong somehow to lead her on like that.”
Rik waved a hand dismissively. “Don’t worry, I have a plan.”