Read Online To Dance with the Devil (The Blood Singer Novels) by Cat Adams - Free Book Online Page A

them both. I hadn’t told Kevin or Warren about that, though—hadn’t really had an opportunity, wasn’t exactly sure how to bring it up. I knew I would, eventually. But right now I didn’t want to go into the whole long story with Dawna, so I just said, “yeah.”
    “I’m glad.” She smiled and came back to the table. “Do you think he’ll be able to do it?”
    “Yeah, I do. Particularly if we keep him on desk duty as much as we can. And wow, does he cover a lot of our needs. Pull out the list—other than a mage, what else do we still need?”
    She pulled out the list, then gave me a long look. “I’m surprised that you don’t have Bruno coming in as the mage.”
    I gave a pained sigh. I so didn’t want to talk about this right now. Later, after a couple of stiff drinks, maybe. Still, Dawna was my business partner. She deserved an honest answer. So I started ticking reasons off on my fingers. “First, he doesn’t want to work in the private sector anymore. He wants to teach. Second, there’s no way in hell we could afford him.”
    She smiled, trying to take the sting out of what she was about to say. “And third, there’s no way he’d follow orders any better than John Creede did.” She shook her head. “You do pick such alpha men.”
    It was good to see her smiling. I wouldn’t have expected it, as depressed as she’d been when she first got here. But I was still a little sensitive after what had happened yesterday, and I guess it showed.
    “Uh-oh,” Dawna said. “I know that look. What’s up?”
    “Bruno and I had a fight.”
    “Evidently there’s a lot of that going around,” she said wryly. “What was yours about?”
    “He thinks I should have asked him to be my business partner, and that I take him for granted, and that I should consult him before I make ‘major life decisions like this.’”
    “Oh.” Wisely, she didn’t say anything more. Then again, what was there to say?
    “Yours?” I asked.
    “Chris doesn’t want me working with you or hanging out with you. He says it’s too dangerous.”
    Uh-oh.
    “I told him that was rich, coming from a man who works for a paramilitary company.”
    I tried to think of anything I could say that wouldn’t either make things worse or bite me in the ass later, and wound up empty.
    Dawna took a deep breath. She met my eyes, her expression serious. “You’re my friend, Celia—my best friend. I like working with you. I think what we do is important. I know I haven’t exactly been holding up my end lately, and I’m sorry. But that’s going to change.”
    “You’re sure?”
    She gave a firm nod. Her jaw was set in such a stubborn line that I decided not to press further. I changed the subject. “So, what do we still need?”
    “Well, obviously a mage. It would also be good to have at least one other person to do basic bodyguard work. There are some other things that would be helpful, but we agreed that we didn’t want to go overboard on hiring until we build up some business.
    “Dottie has been calling. She’s hoping we’ll let her help out around the office. If not, we’ll have to hire a clairvoyant or find one we can contract with.”
    Dawna was right on all counts. I had a fair amount of money on hand right now. The job for Adriana and Dahlmar had paid well, and the insurance money (be still my heart, they actually paid) for my old office building had come through. In fact, the city had offered to buy the land where the building had stood “as is,” so they could expand their offices. The price wasn’t great, but it wasn’t bad. I was hoping that if I combined the insurance payout and the money from the sale, I could get or build a new building. And we needed a clairvoyant and a mage on staff. Neither came cheap. Oh, well, money always goes faster than you want it to.
    “Does Dottie really still want to work part-time now that she’s married?”
    “Oh, yes. And she’s hoping you find an office soon. Her super is