What if itmeant there was a possibility of breaking the curse?
Nix fixed herwith a sincere stare. “Look at me,” he instructed. She did. “Do youtrust me?”
“You can’t askme a question like that. I don’t even know you.” She pressed herlips and frowned. “Or maybe I do. That’s the problem.”
He took herhands across the table. “What does your heart tell you?”
She shook herhead. “It’s doesn’t matter. My head is telling me this is crazy andI should leave.”
“Tell me youdon’t feel something between us, some sort of connection. Say thewords, and you’ll never see me again.” He held his breath. He hadto know for certain if she’d recognised something in him, howeverminuscule or vague that recognition might be.
She didn’tmove. Her gaze flitted down to his hands, holding hers.
When she didn’tanswer, he tried again. “I don’t wish to lie to you, but if youwant to know the truth, you have to stop asking me questions Ican’t answer truthfully. Not yet.”
She met hisgaze, her frown deepening. “So you do know me.”
He kneweverything about her. What made her laugh, what made her cry. Heknew her smile, the way her eyes changed before she morphed into adragon. Katarina was the most magnificent of dragons; her scalesice blue, they sparkled like a million diamonds—damn near took hisbreath away every time. He missed seeing her in her true form,missed her frosty breath as she whispered provocative words in hisear.
Nix knew howmuch she loved whiskey too, and how they used to get sloshed ontheir homemade moonshine back in the late eighteenth century.
The years apartfrom her had taken their toll, and somewhere along the line, he’dlost a part of himself too. He’d forgotten how to laugh, how tohave fun without a care in the world.
Nix nodded,hoping against the odds that admitting he did know her, even thoughhe didn’t speak the words, had not ruined the closest chance he’dhad of breaking the sorceress’s dark magic once and for all.
Katarina lickedher lips and swallowed. “I don’t understand any of this. I just metyou. I don’t know what to think. What if my memories come back andI don’t like who or what I am?”
His heart wentout to her. How selfish of him to wish for one second that he couldforget everything. At least he had his memories of their beautifullife together. Guilt reigned. “I can’t answer that for you. All Ican tell you is if I could ease your pain, I would do it in aheartbeat, and knowing I’m the cause of that pain is killing me,but…” He squeezed his eyelids shut to stop the sting of tears. “Ifthere was any other way…”
Composinghimself, Nix opened his eyes. The last thing she needed was himbeing an emotional wreck; his turmoil was nothing compared tohers.
Tears glistenedin her eyes, gathered along her thick lashes. “I don’t know if Itrust you or not yet, but for some weird reason I can’t explain, Ibelieve you, Nicholas.”
Calling him byhis fake name only served to increase his guilt. He couldn’t bearthe lies. She didn’t deserve that. She deserved to know the truth,a truth he could not reveal, but at least her belief in him was astart. “Thank you,” he uttered. “It’s more than I could have hopedfor.” He inhaled and let go of her hands.
She sipped herwhiskey, her gaze never leaving his. “So what now?”
“That’s up toyou. If you want to go, I can’t stop you.”
She put downher empty glass. “No, I don’t want to go.”
He barely heardher whisper above the noisy crowd, but his heart pounded inside hischest, filled with more hope than he’d felt in a long, longtime.
Nix grinned,the relief overwhelming. “Great!” He didn’t care if he sounded tooenthusiastic; he wanted to leap around the pub and sing out loud.His dragon wanted to scoop her in his forelimbs and soar into thesky. “How about I buy you another whiskey?”
“No.”
He came back toearth with a thump.
With one cheekysmirk, Katarina eased his concerns and lightened the atmospherethat crackled between them. He’d sensed the magic the second shewalked into the pub, smelt the sweet scent too. Could it be toomuch to hope there were greater forces at work?
“It’s my turnto buy the drinks,” she said.
She got up andheaded for the bar, leaving him bemused and aroused at the sametime.
A few minuteslater, she came back with two tall glasses of bright, two-tonedorange drinks, complete with cherries on a cocktail stick and thosestupid paper umbrellas perched on the top.
He arched aneyebrow. “Tequila sunrise? Girls’ drinks, if you ask me.”
Her eyesglinted with mischief. “Mock all you like, but have you ever triedone?” she said, repeating his earlier words.
“No, I can’tsay I have.” He winked. “But I’ll try anything once.”
Her beautifulface lit up with a smile. “A good night always goes well whenthere’s tequila, I say. And I intend to have a good night.”
This was theKatarina he knew and loved.
“No promises,and no more questions,” she continued. “Let’s just enjoy tonightand see where it goes, okay?”
“Sounds perfectto me.” He grinned. “Although you do know mixing drinks can lead totrouble?”
She raised hereyebrow seductively. “My plan exactly. What’s a good night withouta bit of trouble?”
Phoenixlaughed. His Katarina. His fun-loving dragon girl. The only womanwho made the fire rage in his belly, a fire only her ice couldcontrol.
He hooked outthe paper umbrella and tried his tequila sunrise.
“What do youthink?” she asked.
“All I cantaste is orange juice at the moment.”
“Wait until youget to the tequila.”
“Maybe I don’twant to wait.” He gulped the drink down to the last drop andgrinned. “Not bad,” he admitted. “But I still prefer whiskey.Another one?”
She drainedhers too, then fluttered her eyelashes. “Why, Nicholas, are youtrying to get a defenceless maiden drunk?”
“I somehowdon’t think you’re the defenceless type.” He knew she wasn’t.
Nix scraped hischair back, intending to go to the bar, but with the pub socrowded, he accidentally knocked someone standing behind him. Theman’s pint of lager sloshed over his glass and down the front ofhis trousers.
The man spun toface him, swaying. “Watch it, you
