“Oh, screw you, Jericho Barrons! Tell me what it is. You said you would.”

“If you insist. Don’t be a fool. Don’t insist.”

“I’m insisting. What is it?”

“Last chance.” For many things.

“Too bad. I don’t want a last chance. Tell me.”

I was lying anyway. Her last chance was her first one. She walked through my door. “The Sinsar Dubh is a book.”

“A book? That’s all? Just a book?”

“On the contrary, Ms. Lane, never make that mistake. Never think it just a book. It is an exceedingly rare and exceedingly ancient manuscript countless people would kill to possess.”

“Including you? Would you kill to possess it?”

“Absolutely. Anyone and anything that gets in my way. Always have. Always will. Reconsidering your stay, Ms. Lane?”

“Absolutely not.”

“You’ll be going home in a box, then.”

“Is that another of your threats?”

“It is not me who will put you there.”

“Who will?”

“I answered your question, now it’s your turn to answer mine. What do you know of the Sinsar Dubh, Ms. Lane? Tell me. And don’t lie. I’ll know.” I could Voice her, force her to tell me everything. Little fun there.

“My sister was studying here. She was killed a month ago. She left me a voice-mail message right before she died, telling me I had to find the Sinsar Dubh.”

“Why?”

“She didn’t say. She just said everything depended on it.”

“Where is this message? I must hear it myself.”

“I accidentally deleted it.” Her gaze darts to the side.

“Liar. You would make no such mistake with a sister you care enough about to die for. Where is it? If you are not with me, Ms. Lane, you are against me. I have no mercy for my enemies.”

“I already gave a copy of this recording to the Dublin Gardai. They’re working to track down the man she was involved with.” There goes her gaze again.

“Give me your phone.”

“Not a chance. But I’ll put it on speakerphone.”

She plays the message. Never takes her gaze from my face. The things I could teach her … if she could survive them.

“Did you know my sister?”

I slice my head once to the left in silent negation.

“You were both after this ‘exceedingly rare book’ yet never ran into each other?”

“Dublin is a city of a million-odd people inundated daily by countless commuters and besieged by a never-ending wave of tourists, Ms. Lane. The oddity would be if we had encountered each other. What did she mean by ‘you don’t even know what you are’?”

“I wondered that myself. I have no idea.”

“None?”

“None.”

“Hmm. This was all she left you? A message?”

She nods.

“Nothing more? No note or package or anything of the sort?”

She slices her head once to the left in silent negation. I scan her eyes. Deep but there, a hidden mirth. She just mocked me. My dick gets harder.

“And you had no idea what she meant by the Sinsar Dubh? Your sister didn’t confide in you?”

“I used to think she did. Apparently I was wrong.”

“Who did she mean by ‘them’?”

“I thought you might be able to tell me that.”

“I am not one of these ‘them,’ if that is what you’re inferring. Many seek the Sinsar Dubh, both individuals and factions. I want it as well, but I work alone.”

“Why do you want it?”

“It is priceless. I am a book collector.”

“And that makes you willing to kill for it? What do you plan to do with it? Sell it to the highest bidder?”

“If you don’t approve of my methods, stay out of my way.”

“Fine.”

“Fine. What else have you to tell me, Ms. Lane?”

“Not a thing.” She jerks a frosty look from me to the door.

I laugh. “I do believe I’m being dismissed. I can’t recall the last time I was dismissed.” Let her think I’m leaving. It’s time to close the door.

I’m nearly past her, nearly at the door, when I grab her and slam her back against my body. The back of her skull thuds into my chest. Her teeth clack together. She makes a wordless sound, protest, and another more guttural sound that is not protest at all. I band an arm beneath her breasts.

I can smell when a woman wants to fuck. I smelled it in my store. I smell it now. She can’t see herself yet, she certainly can’t see me, can’t admit what she wants. But her body knows. Lust is a thing of the blood. Doesn’t need head or heart. Her flesh is soft and pink. Her blood is red hot.

“What are you doing?”

“Need a fucking manual?” I press hard against her ass.

“You’ve got to be kidding! You’re totally not my type and you’re … you’re … how old are you anyway? Eeew!”

“Your scent says otherwise.” I inhale. So much sweeter this close.

“My scent? Like you think you can smell — you think I — Oh! Let me go! Now! Get off me! I’m going to scream.”

“You will most certainly scream. I promise you that.” Beneath my arm, her heart hammers, she breathes quick and shallow. Sexual excitement alters the lines of her body, fuses it into new lines against mine. A woman’s spine changes when she wants to fuck, a subtle, supple shifting at the base, a sharper curve at that hollow where back meets ass. Breasts tighten and lift, the slant of jaw changes as the mouth prepares and muscles draw tight. I have studied humans for a small eternity. Intent infuses their every movement. Road maps to their inner navigation, plastered all over their skin. Born to be slaves.

“You’re delusional. I don’t want you. Get out of my room.”

“So you can crawl back into bed, weep for the sister you lost and brood about your own ineptitude? Scribble down your silly plans and plot vengeance? You don’t even know what the word means.” But she could learn. “Are you in such a hurry to be alone with your grief? Is it such a grand bedmate? When’s the last time you lost yourself in a good, hard fuck, Ms. Lane? Have you ever? I think it’s always been gentle, nice and sanitary, and when it was over you lay there wondering what all the fuss was about.”

“You’re crazy! You know that, right? You’re abso-frigging-lutely crazy. How dare you come in here and threaten and bully and be shitty to me then try to sleep with me? Then make fun of perfectly good sex!”

“I have no desire to sleep with you. I want to fuck you. And there is no such thing as perfectly good sex. If it’s ‘perfectly good,’ ” I mock in falsetto, “he should be shot in the head and put out of everyone’s misery. Sex either blows your fucking mind or it’s not good enough. You want me to blow your fucking mind, Ms. Lane? Come on. Do it. Be a big girl.”

Her whole body jerks in my arms. “I don’t even like you.”

“I don’t like you either. But my dick is hard and you’re wet—”

“You can’t know that!”

My hand slides to the top button of her fly. “Want me to prove it? If you persist in lying, you leave me no choice.” I pop the first button, then the second. Her spine changes against my back, yet more curve, more pliancy. The human body is remarkable.

“Are you wet, Ms. Lane? Yes or no?” When she makes no reply, I pop the third button. “Let’s make a deal. I’ll check, and if you’re dry I’ll leave.”

She hisses.

“Answer the question.”

“It’s none of your business.”

“Tell me to stop.” I pop the fourth button. There’s only one left.

“I hate you.”

“I can live with that. Have you fucked since your sister was murdered? Let go, Ms. Lane. For once in your circumscribed little life, let the fuck go.”

She is suddenly steel in my arms. She pushes back with her hips, twists and turns in my arms, slams her hands into my chest and knees me in the balls. Or tries. I block it with a knee at the last second.

“You don’t know anything about me!” Her chest heaves, a pulse beats wildly at her throat.

“I know you better than those you call your best friends. I see you.”

“Yeah?” Her jaw juts. Something flashes deep in her eyes. I go still. What was that? Something very different from what she shows on the surface. I didn’t expect it. Interesting. “Just what the fuck do you see?” she practically snarls.