Guild Boss (Ghost Hunters #14)(80)

“Is this supposed to be a scene from the Old World?”

“No,” Peabody said. “If I am correctly interpreting the story that Aloysius Jones was trying to tell in this exhibit, it is a warning.”

Gabriel studied the scene. “A warning that a Trenchard came through the Curtain, settled on Harmony, and tried to go back into the weapons business. Apparently Preston Trenchard inherited both the technology and the talent.”

“Yes,” Peabody said. “There is a vast, mostly undiscovered trove of crystals and resonating amber here on Harmony, not to mention artifacts of a vanished civilization that was technologically advanced. But with so many resources available and so much potential, why go into the weapons business? That was the last thing anyone needed in the Colonial era. The city-states were struggling just to survive.”

“I doubt if anyone ever went broke in the weapons business, regardless of the era,” Gabriel said.





CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR





The Lord of the Underworld showed up with the dust bunny and a pizza.

Lucy smiled at the sight of Gabriel standing in the doorway. He had an Ollie’s House of Pizza box in his hand. Otis was on his shoulder.

“It’s about time you two got home,” she said. “I thought you might have had an emergency at the office.”

“Ollie’s was busy tonight,” Gabriel said. “Long line.”

She eyed the box in his hands. “You stopped to pick up pizza?”

“I thought it would make things more romantic,” Gabriel said.

“Pizza? Romantic?”

“We met over a box of pizza, remember?”

“Oh. Right. How sweet.” She stepped back so that Gabriel and Otis could move into the hall.

Gabriel was trying to be romantic. She had to respect and appreciate the gesture. Okay, so she did not consider the days and nights she had been imprisoned in the Underworld chamber romantic. She had been hallucinating wildly, and Gabriel had been simply doing his job when he rescued her. But apparently he looked back on the experiences in a different light.

The man might be struggling with the nuances of a relationship, but he was making a concerted effort. That’s all that mattered. He was on a mission again. Focused. On her.

She smiled and then realized Gabriel was still standing in the doorway.

“Aren’t you going to come inside?” she asked.

“Not yet,” he said. “I have to ask you the question I wanted to ask the first time I saw you sitting there on your quartz throne.”

“You wanted to ask me if I was hallucinating?”

“No.”

Otis chortled and bailed off Gabriel’s shoulder. He stood on his hind paws and looked up at the pizza box. He, too, was focused.

“Sorry,” Gabriel said. “I promised you the pizza, didn’t I?”

He gave the box to Otis, who seized it in two paws and disappeared into the living room.

Lucy raised her brows. “So the pizza isn’t for me?”

“Figured you’d probably had enough for a while.”

“You got that right. You said you wanted to ask me a question that night?”

“Yes,” Gabriel said. “I wanted to ask you to marry me.”

She stared at him, speechless for a few seconds. She finally found her voice. “What?”

“The instant I felt your vibe, I knew you were the woman I had been looking for, the one I wanted to be with forever. Maybe the word marriage didn’t come into my head at that moment, but—”

“Uh-huh.”

“I was too dazzled to follow the logic of the situation all the way to marriage, but I knew I wanted you. I knew I would never be able to forget you. I also knew I had another assignment coming up, so I wouldn’t be able to stick around. Be honest—if I had told you that I wanted you in ways I’ve never wanted anyone else, you would have thought I was weird, possibly dangerous.”

“Well, it would definitely have been a rather startling statement, under the circumstances.”

“Not to mention extremely unprofessional.”

“Extremely.”

“I figured that when I moved to Illusion Town to start a new Guild I would have time to convince you that I was serious. Time for you to get to know me and maybe fall in love with me. But everything went wrong. When I got out of the Rainforest, I discovered you weren’t taking my calls.”

“I wasn’t taking anyone’s calls.”

“It got more complicated, because your father and stepmother told me you were suffering some sort of para-psych trauma and were unable to go back into the Underworld. When I did get to Illusion Town, I discovered you were working for that low-budget tour operation in the Storm Zone. I told myself I’d arrange to meet you there and see if I could convince you to go out to dinner with me. But that’s when the Arcane Museum people showed up asking me to find the clockwork doll. It occurred to me that offering you a contract might be the best way to reconnect with you.”

“Strategic thinking.” Lucy folded her arms and smiled. “I like that about you.”

“You aren’t going to make this easy, are you?”

“Why don’t you just ask me the question?”

“I love you. I’m hoping you might be able to love me.”