Because of Baby by Donna Clayton

Author:Donna Clayton
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2013-09-15T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Six

“Okay.” Paul walked into the family room and announced, “I’m ready now.”

Fern looked up from where she’d been thumbing through a glossy magazine. “Ready?” she asked. “Ready for what?”

It had been two days since their exciting adventure in New York City. Their lives had settled back into the normal routine. Fern watched Katy during the day while Paul worked on his novel. In the evenings they would have dinner together. Paul would play with Katy or the three of them would take a walk, and then the toddler would be put to bed. Paul had just returned from tucking in his daughter for the night.

“I’ve got my plot all laid out,” he said. “But now I need some secondary characters. I’ve got the human ones fleshed out, I think. But now I’m ready for you to tell me more about the magical beings of Irish folklore.”

“Ah.” She smiled, closing the cover of the magazine and sliding it onto the couch cushion beside her. “You want to know more about Sidhe.”

“I do.” He sat on the chair, his knee nearly contacting hers. “I thought I might have someone—or maybe I should say something—coming to my protagonist’s aid. Something…some being that helps my leading character escape the dullahan.”

“But there is no escaping the dullahan,” she whispered helplessly, even though she knew he was already privy to the fact.

“I know that. And as I said, in the end the dullahan does succeed in completing the chore of taking my main character to the netherworld.” His eyes lit with excitement, his mouth quirking. “But not until the ‘dude of death’ has been taken on a merry chase first.” Paul rubbed his palms together and chuckled. “I was thinking of using a leprechaun as the person…or thing, rather, that helps my guy elude the dullahan for a time.”

“A leprechaun is a fairy,” she informed him. “A leprechaun would be highly insulted if he heard you call him a thing.”

Paul’s dark eyes sparked with laughter. “I do apologize to all leprechauns everywhere.”

After taking a moment to ponder, Fern said, “I’m not certain a leprechaun would suit your purposes. They’re very industrious beings. They take their work too seriously to help a mere mortal with a problem. Leprechauns would see it as a complete waste of time. A cluricaun, maybe, if you could catch one sober.”

Curiosity etched Paul’s handsome features.

“Cluricauns,” she continued, “are related to leprechauns but are not fond of work. They are, however, fond of drink. And mischief. They jump on the backs of unsuspecting animals and ride the terrorized beasts through the night over hill and dale.” She grinned, admitting, “There are some who say that cluricauns are leprechauns who cut loose and carouse at midnight, and who refuse to take responsibility for their actions in the sober light of morning.”

He laughed, and the delicious sound made Fern’s toes curl.

“Your best bet would probably be a pixie. W—they’re—” she stumbled over the pronoun, nearly saying we’re “—known for playing pranks, but it’s widely known that pixies have a fondness for mortals.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.