This time, when I walked back past their table, I fixed on the handsome dimpled Sidhe who was sitting next to Byron. He caught my eye and smiled. I smiled back slowly. His eyes danced. Yahtzee. I continued to saunter past and, just for a moment, there was a brief lull in the conversation. Well, well, well. It appeared I was already getting somewhere.

I jumped awkwardly back onto my bar stool and smiled at the bartender. ‘Hey,’ I said. ‘What do you know about the Macquarrie Clan?’

He opened his mouth but was forestalled by a smooth voice from behind. ‘Other than the fact that insanity runs in their family?’

I glanced round, my gaze falling on none other than Byron himself. ‘Insanity, huh?’ I murmured. ‘That makes sense.’

The corners of his chiselled lips lifted . ‘I’m Byron,’ he said.

I gave a tiny smile back. ‘I know.’

His emerald green eyes laughed at me. ‘Then you’re at an unfair advantage. Aren’t you going to tell me who you are?’

My tongue darted out and wet my lips. His eyes followed the movement and I felt a frisson of unexpected lust in my belly. That was quite enough of that, I told myself firmly. I sniffed. ‘I’m here incognito,’ I told him quietly. ‘I could tell you…’

‘But then you’d have to kill me?’

I shrugged. ‘I’m a pacifist. But, yeah, at the very least I’d have to tie you up in a room somewhere while I made my escape.’

‘Sounds like fun,’ he murmured. ‘Can I get you a drink?’

‘Don’t bother, mate,’ grunted the Cockney, appearing at my other side in a bid to get the bartender’s attention. ‘She’s not interested.’

Perfect timing. I waved a hand in the air. ‘He’s right,’ I said cheerfully. ‘You should go back to your friends. I’m just enjoying a quiet drink.’

Byron folded his arms so that his biceps bulged. I wondered how many times he’d practised that move in the mirror. ‘Right now,’ he drawled, ‘it’s far more interesting here.’ He gestured to the stool next to me. ‘May I sit down?’

I did my best to look nonchalant. ‘It’s a free country.’

He sat down. My dress was already riding high again but, to Byron’s credit, his eyes didn’t once drift downwards. I caught a whiff of spicy aftershave that almost did me in. Then I remembered what he was really like and what I was here for.

‘I’m surprised that you’re not aware of the Macquarrie Clan’s reputation,’ he commented. ‘It’s well advertised across the Sidhe world.’