Chapter 1

      Scarlett lowered herself onto a barstool and ordered a shot of whiskey from a Hawaiian-shirt-clad bartender. She tilted her head back as she tipped it past her lips, closing her eyes as it burned a fiery path down her throat. She sighed in appreciation, thankful that her father had insisted on paying for a full bar.

      Tapping the empty glass with two fingers, she signaled the bartender to make the next one a double. She gave the dark purple hem of her bridesmaid’s dress an irritable yank as she waited for him to finish with another order.

      She supposed she should be grateful that her new sister-in-law hadn’t chosen one of the more frilly contraptions she’d seen at the bridal shop. Whoever had designed some of those dresses bore an unhealthy obsession with making women look like cupcakes.

      At least this frock had a simple cut and was short enough to give her a full range of movement. But Scarlett still preferred the loose robes that her people, the sidhe, wore for such ceremonies.

      Or even better, her favorite jeans and leather vest.

      Not that the pointy heels her mother had insisted she wear didn’t have some intriguing possibilities...too bad they all involved using them as weaponry instead of shoes.

      Scarlett’s face ached from the strain of forcing a smile for the pictures. And it was going to take a week of sparring with her cousins to work out the knots in her shoulders and neck from sitting through getting her hair and nails done.

      Being surrounded by all of these humans made her tense as hell.

      She downed the second shot, the warmth in her belly taking root, and reached up to massage the base of her neck. A man in a rumpled suit grinned at her from down the bar. She glared at him, but it wasn’t the deterrent she’d hoped.

      He slid over to sit on the stool next to hers, the crinkles around his eyes glowing white against his too-tanned face as his smile widened. Combined with his shaggy, sun-streaked