Impractical Magic Part 23

Sequoia smiled. "It's at the hotel."

Her father wrapped his arm around her shoulder. "Then let's head back there. I'm buying lunch." He led her to the door, where Ewan waited. "You're coming, too, right, Ewan?"

He nodded once, his gaze holding Sequoia's. "I would like that."

Dad dropped his arm to hold open the door. "Your friend was the one who insisted we come watch you in action. I'll admit I was dubious, but now I'm glad I came." "So am I." Sequoia waited for her parents to precede her through the door, then paused to touch Ewan's arm. "Why did you do it?" "You have said that love made your parents want you to be happy. I thought if they could see how happy your work made you, how happy you made others, they would understand."

"I think they might, or at least they're beginning to." Sequoia kissed him. He'd done this-made the impossible happen-without using magic. Instead, he'd used his heart. Did he even realize it? "Thank you. You're actually getting this emotion stuff down."

Ewan hesitated. "I still do not understand love." She kissed him again, lingering until she felt his response, then drew back to smile slowly. "Oh, you understand much more than you think you do." Confusion mingled with heat in his eyes, but he didn't answer. Instead he linked his fingers through hers and led her to join her parents. Sequoia resisted the urge to dance through the hallway. Maybe life would turn out all right after all.

Brand frowned at the papers spread on his table. He'd forgotten what he'd been working on when Rose had appeared last night. All his attention had been focused on her.

Attention equally rewarded. He would never tire of making love to her.

But she had left with the dawn and his sanity had returned. What had he done? The plans for his moon illusion covered the tabletop. He'd been trying to review them when Rose appeared last night, and he had quickly dismissed them.

Had she seen them?

Of course. He bit back a groan as his gut twisted. She'd had complete freedom to explore his room. No wonder she fled so quickly this morning. He'd given her everything she needed for her expose.

Dammit.

With a swipe of his hand, he tossed all the papers on the floor. She wouldn't have gone snooping in his room, but she hadn't had to. He'd stupidly left everything sitting out. How could he expect her to ignore it?

She was probably at this moment composing the article that would reveal all his hard earned secrets to the world. Who would come see him once they knew how he created fire? Made the moon disappear?

With a groan Brand fled his room and rushed to pound on her door. "Rose. I need to talk to you. Now."

No answer.

Only deafening silence.

d.a.m.n.

Spotting a maid approaching, he greeted her with a smile. "Hi. I'm Brand Goodfellow, the headliner for this weekend. I'm trying to get something from one of my crew's room, but the key she gave me doesn't work. Can you let me in for just a moment?"

The card swipe keys were notorious for failing, and this saved him flying to her balcony and breaking in.

The middle-aged woman eyed him with a slight squint. "Just for a moment. I'll be watching you."

"That's fine." Either Rose was there or she wasn't.

Opening the door, the maid stepped aside for him to enter. He knew right away Rose wasn't there, though her floral scent lingered, triggering memories he preferred not to recall at that moment. Her desk was a mess. Her laptop computer was gone, but small sheets of paper littered the top. Lifting one and reading it, he smothered a groan. His secrets. All of them. Jotted on the torn pages of her notepad.

Even his moon illusion.

His gut cramped. She'd already done the story. He knew it.

He'd hoped for one ridiculous moment that she wouldn't do it, that what they'd shared would influence her. He should have known better.

"You done?" the maid asked.

"I'm done." He stepped into the hall and returned to his suite with slow steps. More than done. He was ruined.

Rose had never lied, never said she wouldn't do the expose. In fact, she'd warned him of this problem, and he'd chosen to ignore it like all the other things that stood between them.

How could he have been so foolish?

Ha, he knew that answer.

l.u.s.t, pure and simple. He'd wanted Rose with a pa.s.sion beyond control. So he'd had her.

And lost everything else.

Brand spent the day with his parents, forcing a smile for his mother's sake, ignoring his father for the most part. Rose remained absent. Though he asked everyone, no one had seen her. Not even Sequoia.

Had Rose written the story and run?

Why not? That had been their original deal. She could stay until she had the information she needed.

Now the hint of sadness in her last kiss made sense. She'd been planning to leave. Her story, her chance for a promotion, meant more than him. Why was he surprised?

His father had told him more than once about the world of the Fae, about their unfaithfulness, about their lack of responsibility. Yet Robin had fallen in love with Kate and married her. Rose's mother had done the same with Rand. There were exceptions.

And Brand had known Rose all her life. She was nothing like the Fae of Robin's stories. Maybe he was blowing this out of proportion. Maybe she hadn't written the expose. Maybe even now she was telling her editor to take a flying leap.

Or not.

He begged off supper with his folks, claiming he needed to review his plans for his big illusion. But once he reached his room, he couldn't find the energy to do anything, his thoughts in turmoil.

Should he call Rose's magazine? Demand to talk to her? As if that would do any good. Rose had always been stubborn. He smiled briefly, recalling how she'd always called it tenacity.

He sank into a chair with a groan, burying his face in his hands. What now?

A quiet knock on his door caught his attention and he lifted his head. His mother?

Opening the door, he froze. Rose stood outside, her face pale. "Can I come in?"

"I'm surprised you didn't let yourself in," Brand snapped, unable to control his initial surge of anger.

She didn't respond, but met his gaze without flinching. d.a.m.n. What was he doing? He wanted to talk to her, didn't he? Brand stepped back and allowed her inside, then pushed the door closed with more force than he'd intended so that the slam echoed in the room.

To her credit, Rose didn't jump, but turned to face him. "You were in my room."

"You stole my secrets."

"You left them lying out."

"Which you a.s.sumed meant you were welcome to them." Brand clenched his fists and stormed across the room, needing to put distance between them. Part of him still wanted to hold her, kiss her.

The stupid part.

"Was I supposed to ignore them?" Sparks flashed in her eyes.

"Yeah, you were."

"So sorry. I didn't get that message." Rose closed her eyes for a moment and drew in a deep breath. "Look, Brand, I didn't come here to argue."

"Then why are you here? More secrets? Or just hot s.e.x?"

She pressed her lips together and shook her head. "Neither." She held out several typed pages. "I wanted to give you a copy of the expose."

She'd actually written it. Was she asking his approval before she turned it in? Brand took the papers. "Have you submitted it already?" "Yes." He stared at her. So, this wasn't a copy for approval, it was merely a chance for him to see his career die before the rest of the world. Bands tightened around his chest. "Then it doesn't matter if I read it." He tore the pages into small pieces and let them drift to the floor. "I'd prefer not knowing how you destroyed me."

Her gaze narrowed. "Why not? I was particularly eloquent."

"I'm sure you were." A knife through the heart wouldn't hurt as much as this betrayal. "Was my father right all along? Were you sleeping with me to uncover my secrets?" Even as he said the words, he knew they were untrue, but he meant to hurt her.

From her flinch, he'd succeeded.

Rose lifted her chin. "I guess that's for you to decide."

Brand opened and closed his fists, struggling to keep them by his side. He wanted to shake her. He wanted to kiss her.

"Dammit all," he growled. "I should have known never to trust a faery."

Her cheeks flooded with color, then paled. Angry flames illuminated her eyes. For a moment he wouldn't have been surprised if she'd fried him on the spot.

Instead, she disappeared.

Taking all his dreams for the future with her.

Nineteen.

Seeing Ewan sitting close to Sequoia in the hotel restaurant didn't improve Brand's spirits the next morning. Though he'd tried to maintain his anger from the night before, he'd failed. Now resignation took its place, along with the inescapable thought that he'd lost something important-even more important than his illusions.

"You look terrible," Sequoia said as he joined them at the table. "Busy night?" Mischief danced in her eyes.

"Didn't sleep much," he muttered, flipping up the menu in front of him to block her view.

"Where's Rose?"

Brand continued to focus on the menu, although the words were incomprehensible. "Don't know. Don't care." Or at least that was what he wanted to believe. Sequoia slapped the menu onto the table, forcing him to look at her. "What happened? You two have a fight?" "Worse." He had no trouble working up righteous indignation. "She did the expose." His a.s.sistant frowned. "Did she ever say she wouldn't?" "Well, no, but-" He'd a.s.sumed ... "Wasn't she honest with you? Didn't she come to you from the beginning and tell you what she was doing?" "Yes, but-" "But what?" He grimaced. "She betrayed me. She has the moon illusion." "How did she get that? I thought you were careful about protecting that." "She came to my room while I was working on it," he muttered, glancing down at the menu. Sequoia didn't need to know the details.

"Didn't you take the time to put it away?"

He lifted one shoulder. "I was distracted."

"I'll bet." Sequoia shook her head. "How about this? Rose appeared, you went hot and h.o.r.n.y and forgot all about your illusion. Close?"

Too close. d.a.m.n. "Something like that."

"So you expected her to ignore those papers even though you just left them out there for her?"

"It wasn't like that." Okay, so he'd forgotten they were even there. Making love to Rose tended to do that to him.

"Come on, Brand, get real. That's like asking someone to ignore a hundred-dollar bill lying on the sidewalk."

She had a point, but that didn't make what Rose had done right. Why hadn't she discussed it with him first? Before she'd turned in the story?

When he didn't respond, Sequoia sighed. "What are you going to do now?"

"What I've said I will-give the performances I'm contracted for." He had no other option. The show must go on. "At least the article won't come out until after I perform the moon illusion."

"Not that. What about Rose?"

His gut clenched. "What about her?"

"She'd come back if you asked her to."

"And why would I do that?" Hadn't he wanted to get rid of her from the beginning? She'd been nothing but a distraction from the first day she'd invaded his life again.

Sequoia sent him a dry look, her head tilted, her lips pressed together. "I wonder."

He tried to ignore the sudden tightening around his chest. "We had some fun together and now it's over. We never had a future anyway." Something Rose had constantly told him.

Yet he'd refused to believe it.

Then.

"And whose fault is that?" Sequoia asked.

What fault? He couldn't change what Rose was. "What does that mean?"

"You're a smart man. Figure it out."

Spotting the approaching waitress, Brand pushed back his chair. "I'm not hungry. Excuse me."

He fled the restaurant, avoiding Sequoia's penetrating stare. Figure it out? What if he didn't want to?