A wad of paper knocked Alice in the back of the head, and she blinked, turning to see where it came from. Megan made a face, gesturing at Donovan. Crap on a cracker. How long had she been staring at the man?
She cleared her throat and stepped toward him. “Hi…” The tip of her tongue touched the roof of her mouth as she started to say his name. Luckily, her jaw clamped shut as he made eye contact, her thickening throat not allowing her to commit the faux pas. She sure as heck didn’t want to explain why she already knew his name when he’d just arrived in town yesterday.
I watched you unpack from your balcony railing until your mongoose tried to eat me. Then I went to city hall and asked every person in the building until someone told me your name, but I promise I’m not a stalker! Yeah…that would go over really well.
“Hello.” He grinned, and the corners of his eyes crinkled. That was good. Crinkles meant he smiled a lot.
“Welcome to Shifted Treasures. I’m Alice. Can I help you find something in particular?” She returned the smile, and his widened, commanding her crow’s attention. Oh, boy. If her bird had taken notice, she was in a mess of trouble. That damn mating instinct better not kick in now.
“Just browsing.” He picked up a small aluminum figurine of a frog playing a banjo and chuckled before returning it to the shelf.
“Okay, well, I’m here all day, if you need me.” She took two slow steps backward. When he simply nodded, she turned and joined Megan behind the counter.
“Way to sound desperate,” Megan whispered out of the side of her mouth.
“How was that desperate? He’s a patron in our store, and I offered to help.”
“‘I’m here all day, if you need me,’” Megan mocked. “You have to convince him he needs you, and you do that by playing hard to get. You should have told him you’re about to step out. Then he’d know he’s running out of time.”
“But I’m not about to step out. I just got back.”
Megan glared at her, speaking through clenched teeth, “So, step out again.”
“You step out.”
“Then he’ll think he needs me.”
Alice sighed. “Seriously, Meg. You really are impossible.”
“Do you ladies create all this art yourselves?” In the thirty seconds Alice had been bickering with her friend, Donovan had moved to stand directly in front of the counter. Within earshot. Fan-friggin-tastic.
Alice scooted to the end of the counter, away from Megan and her badgering. “We do. We also take custom orders if there’s something specific you’re looking for that you don’t see in the store.”
“Hm.” He nodded and swept his gaze across the room. “It’s whimsical. I like it.”
“Thank you. I’m full of whimsy, so…” She held in a groan. Full of whimsy? More like full of crap.
One corner of his mouth twitched as he gazed at an antique school desk she’d bejeweled with assorted stones and shards of metal. “Where do you find the material?”
Alice squared her shoulders, getting her act together. Yes, he was hotter than asphalt on an August afternoon, but he was still a customer. “Various places. Junkyards, buildings that are being torn down, donations.”
“Finding the treasures in people’s trash is in our blood,” Megan said proudly.
Alice shot her a look. You didn’t go around telling polished, sophisticated, downright sexy men that you dug through other people’s garbage. Maybe Megan was the one who needed to step out before she scared the man away.
“It’s all thoroughly cleaned before it’s incorporated into a piece. In fact…” Alice padded toward a vintage mirror she’d framed. “This one is made from the reclaimed wood of a historic building in downtown Austin.”
“Nice.” He peered into the mirror, focusing on her in the reflection.
Donovan Drake had to be the most handsome man she’d ever laid eyes on. She chewed the inside of her cheek, trying to recall a more perfect face, a better body—even through the clothes. Nope, nothing. And something about the way he looked at her made her blood feel all fizzy in her veins.
“So, if someone in this town had lost something…something that most would consider junk, where might they go to find it?”
Alice’s stomach sank. It was possible he was talking about the amulet currently hanging inside her shirt. But if she admitted she had it, she’d have to explain what she was doing at the manor in the first place. The home was set so far back from the main road, you’d have to be going there on purpose to even pass by.
But she’d found the necklace in the garbage can, discarded like…well, like trash. And anyway, he was a warlock. Couldn’t he cast a locating spell or scry for it if it were that important?
She cleared her throat. “Depending on the size of the lost item, it could be at the junkyard. If it’s small, though, it’s probably on its way to a landfill. What did you lose?”
He held her gaze, his dark, brooding eyes boring into her, making her pulse race. “Nothing I can’t live without. Alice, right? I’m Donovan.”
Hot diggity dog. This guy must’ve had laser vision because he was about to melt her panties off with those mysterious eyes. An amused grin lifted his lips, and it wasn’t until she finally dragged her gaze away from his face that she noticed he’d offered his hand to shake.
She slapped her palm against his a little too hard, gripping his hand and shaking it like a madwoman. “Nice to meet you.” Releasing her hold, she laced her fingers together as Megan suppressed a giggle.
“The pleasure is mine.” Mirth danced in his eyes.
“What brings you to Shift Creek?”
“I heard about your magical stream and had to see it for myself. It really reverses flow on the full moon?”
He’d heard about the creek? The man was staying in the ancestral home of the warlock who enchanted it. Surely he knew its condition. “I hate to be the one to tell you this, but it hasn’t shifted in six months. It’s drying up.”
His brow lowered, the look on his face indicating he did not know its condition. Poor guy.
“I see. That wasn’t mentioned on the website.” The muscles in his neck tightened as he clenched his teeth.
“It’s in the fine print at the bottom. The font is small, and it’s red on black, so I can see how you’d miss it.” She’d tried to convince the city to make it more prominent on the page—on both the mundy and the supe sites—but when their main source of income was drying up, it wasn’t something they wanted to advertise.
He glanced toward the door and lowered his voice. “And the healing properties? Has it lost those too?”
“Not yet. It’s slower than it used to be, but it still heals.”
“Alice used it to heal her foot last night when she got caught in a farmer’s trap,” Megan said.
“You were caught in a trap?” Donovan’s eyes held concern.
Alice shot Megan a look before shaking her head. “It’s a long story. I’m fine.”
“Good to hear.” He glanced at her feet. “It really healed your wounds?”
She rotated her ankle. “It did.”