Page 103 of New Nebraska Heat

“Hey…” I said, twisting toward him, ready to go yank him back.

“My lady,” said an intriguing voice.

I blinked back at the red-haired Fae.

“Oh,” I said, touching my head. Sheesh, I’d had too much champagne. I’d almost forgotten he was there.

“May I introduce myself? I am Alexander Winterborn of the Fae.”

“I’m Serenity.” My name felt clumsy, like my tongue had swelled up.

“Serenity.” He kissed my glove tenderly. The touch coursed pleasure up my arm and across my chest. He stepped close, his smooth tux lapels brushing my bare shoulders. A sharp cologne pulsed from his neck.

The overwhelming smell, his eyes, his voice, they were whirling wisps in my mind, muddling my thoughts and making my limbs feel buoyed on clouds, like I’d just woken from a deep nap.

We danced as if in a dream. I could barely feel my feet touching the floor. We had to whisper very closely into each other’s ears to talk. His warm breath against my ear shouldn’t have felt so good.

“Are you a prince, Alexander?” He had to be.

“Something like that, you might say. Though one doesn’t like to brag about such things.”

I knew it. If not a prince, then one of the other fancy titles they had in England, like Duke or Earl.

“And are you a princess in the human world?”

“I think it’s obvious I’m not that special but… I don’t know, I really feel like one right now. I meanreallyfeel it.”

He moved his perfect face so close that our noses grazed. “That’s because you are special, Serenity. I’ve delved inside your soul, read your fears, your desires, felt the thump, thump, thump, of your brave little heart. You are extremely special. Your parents are very proud of you.”

“You know about my parents?”

He laughed warmly, his copper locks bobbing. “Serenity, not only do I know about them, but Iknowthem, personally. They’re here. Waiting for you. They’ve been waiting for years.”

My heart lurched. It was impossible. Right? But Alexander had said it… My parents were alive. Alive! I had to see them immediately, hold them in my arms. “Alexander, take me to my parents. I miss them so much.”

He stroked my hair, his face a mask of painful sympathy. “I also know what it means to lose someone dear. I’ll take you to them, Serenity, but we must be quick. They’re out in the gardens, but they need to go soon.”

I gripped his arms in terror. “No, they can’t go! Take me to the gardens, please.”

He extracted me gently, then clasped my hand, weaving me through a blur of satin and tuxedos, into the gardens.

My heart was racing now, my mouth dry. “Where are they? I can’t see them.”

“This way, my lady, they’re this way.” He tugged my hand harder, leading me down the path to the central fountain, then veered off onto a smaller side route where the floodlights were beaten back by the hoot of an owl and black branches.

We turned a corner into an orchard.

“There, you see them?”

Two dark figures stood off in the distance, under an apple tree. They were swathed in fog and shadows. I wanted to see their faces so much. I could just make out Mom’s messy bun and Dad’s dimpled chin in a strip of moonlight. “Mom, Dad! It really is you!”

“Thank you so much, Alexander!” I wrapped my arms round him tight and then he gripped my hand, even firmer, and smiled radiantly.

“Think nothing of it. I’m doing this with deep pleasure, my lady. Shall we go and see them?”

“Oh God, yes! Let’s go!”

We hurried on, him leading me further into the darkness.