that. “Fairly certain the answer is less, but eye of the beholder.”
“Let’s try again. In this story, am I Little Red Riding Hood?”
He laughed. “You will never in your life be safer than when you’re with me. I’m bound to protect the Court and whoever is serving as magistrate.”
“So that’s why you’re having dinner with me. Two nights in a row.”
Growing suddenly serious, he shook his head slowly. “No, Rita. Why am I having trouble conveying that you’re desirable? As a woman?”
“Is that what you’re trying to convey?”
He dropped his chin and looked at me through his lashes. “Yes.”
I took a deep breath that was ragged enough to betray my damaged self-esteem. I was filled with the doubt of someone with decimated belief in her romantic mojo.
“Are you monopolizing the magistrate, Keir?” Fie had come to stand at the table’s edge.
“That’s my plan.” Keir’s smile was more predatory than welcoming.
Fie looked at me. “What do I need to do to get invited to one of your lunch parties?”
“Gosh. Word gets around, huh?”
“Small town.” Fie smiled.
“And I’m the new kid in town.”
“If I understand your meaning correctly, then yes. There’s natural curiosity.”
“I’d love to have you come tomorrow, but you’ll make six and that’s as many as we can seat in my kitchen. Twelve o’clock. And don’t spread it around. I think I’m on the verge of being in trouble with Molly.”
“Aww. Don’t worry about Molly. She makes enough during Court Weeks so that she could close down the rest of the year. Of course, I don’t know what we’d do if that happened. Have to figure out how to feed ourselves I suppose.”
“Was there something else you need?” Keir challenged. “Mayor?”
On Keir’s lips the term mayor sounded like a pejorative.
Fie’s eyes slid to Keir slowly. “Well, I’m getting the feeling I’m not wanted.”
“Imagine that,” Keir replied.
Fie smirked and turned to me. “See you tomorrow.”
I gave him my best smile, hopefully to make up for Keir’s bad behavior.
When Fie had moved off, I said, “That was unforgivably rude.”
Keir didn’t look the least daunted. “Why do you think I want forgiveness?”
“Because you should! Why did you do that?”
“My relationship with Fie was established before you arrived. He’s not my favorite person. In time, if we become close, perhaps I’ll tell you why.”
I sat back and relaxed a little. I couldn’t know Keir’s heart and mind or his history with Mayor Mistral. For all I knew, he could have good reason for acting that way.
A tiny laugh bubbled up from my solar plexus.
“What’s funny?” Keir said.
“I was just thinking, ‘Who am I to judge?’, and the question struck me as laughable.”
Jeff returned with drinks and took our orders for food. Mine was Shepherd’s Pie. His was thick chowder and a ploughman’s sandwich.
A change of subject was in order. “Tell me how you’re managing to be the only person in Britain with a tan like that.”
He grinned. “Sunlamp.”
I knew he was lying, but let it go.
We chatted more about some of the sights that stood out on my little tour. I sampled his chowder and added it to the yes list. I told him about one of the more interesting cases I’d read the night before that was comical.
He laughed softly. “I remember that.”
“How old are you, Keir?”
“Lost count.”
“Roughly.”
“Not a whole millennium.”
After a lengthy pause in which I tried, unsuccessfully to digest that, I said, “You’re nine hundred years old?” His silence was confirmation. I stared at my empty ramekin and said, “Have you been doing this enforcing thing a long time then?”
“In a sense I was created for it. But Rita, understand this. In some ways we are not that far apart in age, you and I.”
“I don’t claim to be a math whiz, but I believe that’s a difference of eight hundred fifty-seven years.”
“I know it sounds like a lot.” I snorted. “Hear me out. The world stayed pretty much the same until your grandparents’ generation. Technology sped things up in ways that made us dizzy. Information. Communication. Modes of travel. Nuclear power. Satellite surveillance?” He shook his head. “Next year and the one after that there will be astounding changes that you and I will experience for the first time.”
“So, you’re saying that you’re a lot older, but not that much more experienced than I am.”
“More or less.”
“I give you credit for creativity in attempting to make a case for equality.” I looked away in time to catch several faces I didn’t know turn away quickly. “Are people staring because I’m