Dangerous Gifts by Mary Jo Putney

would never agree to such a thing.”
    His uptilted brows arched, and she saw that he was laughing at her. “But you will, my dear girl. It is the best of the choices I offer you.”
    She ran her tongue over her dry lips. “Tell me the other two.
    He began to pace around the glade again, his sword swinging by his side. “You say that you are to be married. Captain Townley, I assume.” Ranulph gave her a glance that demanded a reply.
    “Duncan and I have an understanding,” she said reluctantly. “After he has spoken to my father, our betrothal will be official.”
    “A handsome youth,” Ranulph said musingly. “A warrior hero.”
    Leah nodded warily, not sure where this was leading.
    The faery lord halted at the far side of the clearing and turned to face her. In a voice that chilled her to the bone, he said, “Your second choice, my dearest girl, is to bring me his heart.”
    Leah stared at Ranulph. “What do you mean? The fact that he has pledged me his heart does not mean that I can give it to another. Love isn’t like that.”
    The faery’s eyes narrowed. “I was not speaking in metaphor, Leah. Never fear, I shall make the task easy.” A silver dagger materialized in his hand, the blade glittering wickedly. “This is an enchanted blade. Even a small creature like you will find it easy to slide the dagger between his ribs and cut out his heart when he is dead.”
    “You’re mad!” Shocked beyond words, she gagged, on the verge of vomiting at the horrific image conjured by Ranulph’s words. To look into Duncan’s smiling eyes, then murder him . . . She pressed her hand to her mouth as her stomach heaved.
    Bland as butter, Ranulph continued, “I suggest that you do the deed when on a walk in my wood, so you will not have to go far to deliver your payment. You need not fear retribution from your own kind. Simply weep prettily and claim that you were set upon by a madman who slew your lover. No one will believe that a woman so beautiful, so fragile, so in love, could perform such a bloody deed.”
    He smiled satirically. “After a suitable mourning period, you will be free to seek another husband. That duke who mauled you in his garden, for instance. He was angry then, but I’m sure you could win him back with a single enchanting smile.” Ranulph pressed the silver dagger into her numb hand. The hilt was cool against her palm.
    She stared at the shining weapon, her horror intensifying. “I can’t. I won’t.”
    He tilted his head, wicked, inhuman amusement in his eyes. “I didn’t think you would. That’s why I waited until now. It would take a fierce woman to kill her lover.”
    “You needn’t have waited so long,” she said in a shaking voice. “I could never do such a thing even to a stranger.”
    “You are that sentimental about all mortals?” he said, surprised. “If I had realized the extent of your squeamishness, I would have come to claim you sooner.”
    More than anything else he had done, that statement made Leah realize how utterly alien he was. He simply had no understanding of humans. “What is your last choice—my firstborn child?” she said bitterly. “If you ask that, I swear I shall use your dagger right now.” She raised the weapon in shaking hands and held it to her breast, wondering if she would have the strength to kill herself. He’d said the blade was enchanted. Perhaps it would slide home easily . . .
    Ranulph leaped across the clearing in one bound and wrenched the dagger away from her. “Goddess, and you think I’m insane? ” he said furiously. “I don’t want your life, nor another man’s squalling brat.”
    He tossed the dagger aside. It vanished in midair. More calmly, he said, “A babe fathered by me—now that would be more interesting. The Folk are not prolific, but in an eternity of mating, we are bound to produce a child now and then.”
    He truly intended to own her body and soul. Shaking her head in revulsion, Leah said, “You owe me