?What do you mean that the permits have been denied? Again?? There?s no reason to ? look at the plans! I redesigned it completely after you told me what wasn?t allowed. I checked and double-checked all the regulations you have on record here, and this building meets all of them!? Kacey slapped her palm flat down on the blueprints that were scattered over the official?s desk. The man, whose nameplate declared him as Trevor Goodwin, smirked up at her through thick glasses.
Apparently Vinny?s strategy of greasing palms hadn?t worked. Or hadn?t reached this man. Or he was holding out for more. Whatever the reason, Kacey was beyond frustrated. The debris was cleared from the site, materials were in storage ? it had been fortunate that the lock box that held the savings hadn?t melted as so much of the other metal in the fire had. All they were waiting for to begin reconstruction was the piece of paper that this man ? and only this man ? could issue.
Eyes closed, Kacey took a deep breath and let it out slowly. When she leveled chocolate-brown gaze on Trevor Goodwin again, she smiled. Slow, easy ? glamour, the only hint of her quarter-elven heritage, lit her face and erased signs of worry, fatigue and stress. Compared to the beauties to be found in RhyDin Kacey was plain, but she could smile at a man and make them forget that if there was need enough.
Watery blue eyes blinked behind the thick glasses as Mr. Goodwin?s smirk faded away into a stunned look, as if he had been hit over the head with a pole ax. That expression more than anything else told Kacey that Mr. Goodwin?s heritage was entirely human. She played on it, leaned forward over the desk with the grace that had come with over a decade of weapon?s training. ?Please, Mr. Goodwin. I know you?re only doing your job, but can?t you see my position? I need to rebuild, to get back into business, to have a home again.?
A sore point which she layered over with sweet words. Jade?s offer of a house to use had been taken ? gratefully, and she would find a way to repay her friend ? but it wasn?t her home. Kacey smiled again at Trevor Goodwin and watched him stutter and stammer before he found his voice again. It was much less assured, much less officious now. But the words were no less repulsive for being delivered quietly, in the undertones of the guilty. ?Well, perhaps, Ms Lynne? perhaps we could come to some agreement??
She recoiled inside, and her chest ached with remembered pain while her mouth recalled the vile taste of Wilkers. Once was too many times for that type of sacrifice, and she?d had to pay more than that already. To save Davarin from jail and hanging, she?d paid. For her shop, her home, her life ? Kacey?s mouth twisted into a bitterly crooked mockery of the glamour-laden smile that had stunned Mr. Goodwin so. Black rose up from the depths of chocolate brown eyes, and she leaned close to whisper something into Trevor?s Goodwin?s ear.
Some things were worth the payment. Some weren?t. When she left the musty office with its scent of old paper and fresh ink, there was a permit folded into the stack of blueprints. Behind her in the office, watery blue eyes stared through thick lenses and sweaty fingers twisted together nervously.
Apparently Vinny?s strategy of greasing palms hadn?t worked. Or hadn?t reached this man. Or he was holding out for more. Whatever the reason, Kacey was beyond frustrated. The debris was cleared from the site, materials were in storage ? it had been fortunate that the lock box that held the savings hadn?t melted as so much of the other metal in the fire had. All they were waiting for to begin reconstruction was the piece of paper that this man ? and only this man ? could issue.
Eyes closed, Kacey took a deep breath and let it out slowly. When she leveled chocolate-brown gaze on Trevor Goodwin again, she smiled. Slow, easy ? glamour, the only hint of her quarter-elven heritage, lit her face and erased signs of worry, fatigue and stress. Compared to the beauties to be found in RhyDin Kacey was plain, but she could smile at a man and make them forget that if there was need enough.
Watery blue eyes blinked behind the thick glasses as Mr. Goodwin?s smirk faded away into a stunned look, as if he had been hit over the head with a pole ax. That expression more than anything else told Kacey that Mr. Goodwin?s heritage was entirely human. She played on it, leaned forward over the desk with the grace that had come with over a decade of weapon?s training. ?Please, Mr. Goodwin. I know you?re only doing your job, but can?t you see my position? I need to rebuild, to get back into business, to have a home again.?
A sore point which she layered over with sweet words. Jade?s offer of a house to use had been taken ? gratefully, and she would find a way to repay her friend ? but it wasn?t her home. Kacey smiled again at Trevor Goodwin and watched him stutter and stammer before he found his voice again. It was much less assured, much less officious now. But the words were no less repulsive for being delivered quietly, in the undertones of the guilty. ?Well, perhaps, Ms Lynne? perhaps we could come to some agreement??
She recoiled inside, and her chest ached with remembered pain while her mouth recalled the vile taste of Wilkers. Once was too many times for that type of sacrifice, and she?d had to pay more than that already. To save Davarin from jail and hanging, she?d paid. For her shop, her home, her life ? Kacey?s mouth twisted into a bitterly crooked mockery of the glamour-laden smile that had stunned Mr. Goodwin so. Black rose up from the depths of chocolate brown eyes, and she leaned close to whisper something into Trevor?s Goodwin?s ear.
Some things were worth the payment. Some weren?t. When she left the musty office with its scent of old paper and fresh ink, there was a permit folded into the stack of blueprints. Behind her in the office, watery blue eyes stared through thick lenses and sweaty fingers twisted together nervously.