“Oh, my heavens. Are you okay, Miss Ivie? Can I get you a drink?” Nora slapped my spine hard enough to dislodge my back teeth.
“No,” I sputtered, catching my breath. I glanced at Chloe, and she winked. “I’m fine.”
Callum darted his eyes down the hall in both directions before settling them on Chloe’s face. “And who might you be?”
Without missing a beat, Chloe spread her lips in a smile worthy of an orthodontia ad and shoved her hand toward him. “Chloe Jamison, the wedding planner. Ivie’s mother hired me to make sure her daughter’s wedding went off without a hitch. So here I am.” Her expression turned serious, and she leaned in as if she had a secret to share with him. “I’m assuming you have the itinerary? I’ll need to be brought up to speed immediately.”
Callum didn’t take her proffered hand, but he did steal another peek at her cleavage before exhaling. “Miss Ivie, did you know your mother would be sending a—what did you call yourself?”
Chloe rolled her eyes then said the words slowly, enunciating each syllable. “A wed-ding plan-ner.”
He rotated his head from side to side as if he still didn’t comprehend her meaning. “That would be Miss Nora’s field of expertise. My job is to stand guard.”
“Well, then.” Chloe turned to Nora and cranked up her smile to full volume again. “I guess it’s you and me!”
Nora’s eyes widened until I almost worried they’d fall out of her delicate face as Chloe linked their arms together and dragged Nora into my suite. Jack slid past Callum’s radar, keeping pace with Chloe as she had Nora show her around the sitting room.
Jon cleared his throat and signaled with his head for me to go in before mimicking Callum’s posture. “I suppose it can’t hurt to have two of us stand guard, aye?”
He didn’t have to tell me twice. I hurried into the room, sending up another prayer for Jon to say as little as possible. His accent might have been better than mine, but that wasn’t saying much.
The instant the door had closed behind me, Jack wrapped his arms around my waist. He yanked me off my feet, dragging me to the side.
I swallowed a squeal, turning in his arms and planting a breathless kiss on him before realizing what I’d done. “Oh, my God. What are you doing here?”
Jack did a quick sweep of the room, but since we could hear Chloe oohing and ahhing over the marble fixtures in the bathroom, we knew we were safe for the moment. “I’ve come to rescue you.”
“Rescue me? In a kilt?” I zeroed in on Jack’s exposed stomach muscles then back up in time to see him smirk. “And yes, you look amazing, but that’s not the point.”
His eyebrows pulled together in a deep furrow as the severity of the situation hit him. “Right. The point is, I can’t let you marry… or bind yourself… to Liam. I love you. You’re worth fighting for.”
As much as I wanted to, I didn’t have time to melt at his words. I had to get him out of there. If Marion found him, all my sacrifices would’ve been for nothing. “Jack, under any other circumstances, I’d not only be flattered, I’d agree with you. But you don’t understand.”
“Ivie—” Jack whipped his head to the side as Chloe’s voice got closer. “Damn it, come on. You need to listen to what I have to say.” He grabbed my hand and pulled me into the adjoining room.
As soon as the door closed behind us, I wheeled on him with my pulse pounding in my ears. “No, you need to listen to me. There is no other way this can end. I’m a sorceress, and you’ve never been comfortable with that fact.” He opened his mouth to argue, but I silenced him with a finger over his lips. “Think about it. I’ve dragged you across the country on a wild goose chase after using magic I didn’t even know I had. I almost got you killed by my crazy neighbor. You got your ass kicked in a magical showdown with a sorcerer.” I ticked off each one on my fingers. “You were arrested. I was arrested. I lost a job I absolutely loved. All because of magic.”
“None of that was—”
“It doesn’t matter whose fault it was. It happened because of me.”
“I don’t care.” Jack pressed his lips into a tight line, and I recognized the stubborn set of his shoulders.
He could lie to himself but not to me. “Yes, you—”
“No.” His voice dipped, and he rested his forehead against mine. He panted, hot against my face. “I don’t.”
I let out a shuddering breath as Jack skated his hands up my arms and over my shoulders.
He locked his eyes on mine and sank his fingers into my hair. “You listen to me, Ivie McKie. I love you for who you are—sorceress or not.”
With his fingers rubbing soothing patterns on my scalp, I’d lost the will to fight. I barely had the will to speak. “It’ll never work out. I can’t have a normal job or a normal life.” His hands stilled for a second, and I jerked out of his grasp. “For once, I’m going to do the right thing.”
He flinched as if I’d slapped him, and my already broken heart shattered into a million pieces. “Ivie, no.”
I sucked in a deep breath and kept going as if I wasn’t dying inside—as if saying goodbye to him again didn’t destroy me. “I’m sorry, Jack, but I’m going to marry Liam and move to Scotland where I can be with other people like me, where I can blow up labs until I learn to control the magic, and where I’ll have someone to help me the next time I turn random strangers into domestic pets.”
“Stop.” Jack grabbed a hold of his hair with both hands and paced. “I know why you’re doing this, and I won’t let you. Chloe said you’re afraid Liam’s mother will retaliate against me if you walk away, but sweetheart, I’ll tell you what I told her. I’d rather die than let you bind yourself to someone you don’t even love.” Jack stopped pacing and grabbed both sides of my face to lock his gaze with mine. A sad smile crossed his lips, and his voice dropped to a whisper. “And if you think for even half a second I’m going to walk out that door and let you consummate anything with him in front of a bunch of strangers and your parents, well, you don’t know me very well.”
My broken heart hammered against my ribs as I blinked back tears and pressed my lacquered lips to his. A goodbye kiss—because nothing has changed. I still couldn’t allow him to sacrifice his life for me.
“Ivie, it’s almost time!” Nora shouted from the other room, making us jump apart. “You’d better not have wrinkled that dress!”
I wrenched myself farther away from Jack before I changed my mind. “I have to go.”
Jack grabbed for my hand, but I pulled it away before he could get a good grip. “Damn it, Ivie. No, you don’t. Come with me. We’ll just disappear. Name the place, and we’ll go there.”
I shook my head as tears spilled over my lower lashes and down my cheeks. My lips moved, but barely a whisper came out. “They’ll find me.”
“Then we’ll keep moving. I’ll do whatever it takes to be with you.” He stalked toward me until he’d backed me against the wall.
No matter how hard I tried to hold it in, a sob slipped out. “Jack, you don’t understand!”
“Then explain it to me.” His eyes glistened with unshed tears as he slammed his fist into the wall beside my head. “I know you love me. Why won’t you run away with me?”
“Because in less than an hour, Ivie will be bound to me.” Liam stood in the open doorway, flames sparking from his eyes. He slammed the door and crossed the room. Instead of confronting Jack, he cupped my face in his hand. “Are you okay?” I nodded, and he whipped around to face Jack. “Don’t look so surprised. I’ve told you before, we’re connected. I can feel her stress. I can tell when she’s upset, and as usual, you’re the reason.”
Jack took a step toward Liam, danger flashing in his own eyes. “Have you ever stopped to think maybe you’re the reason she’s upset?”
“Me?” Liam pressed a finger int
o his own chest. “You think I’m the reason she’s upset?”
Jack nodded once, his jaw clenched, and the vein in his neck bulged more with every breath he took. “Everything was fine before you got here. We were happy.”
“You call that happy?” Liam turned his eyes to the ceiling and barked out a humorless laugh.
“I’m right here!” I shouted, but they ignored me.
One long stride brought Liam within striking distance of Jack, and I waited for him to throw the first punch. But he had a more damaging attack in mind. “Ivie’s never been anything but a plaything to you. You kept her in a box, only taking her out when it served your purpose.”
Jack froze in place with his head tilted to one side. He’d gone so still, I thought for half a second Liam might’ve actually hit him. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“You used her for her magic.” With his hands fisted at his sides, Liam circled Jack like a boxer in the ring. “Tricked her into doing your bidding.”
Jack’s mouth dropped open, and he rocked back on his heels, looking defeated.
“Don’t look so shocked. Did you think I wouldn’t find out? Her father told me what you’ve done.”
“My father?” I took a hesitant step toward Liam as, one by one, the pieces fell into place. “What did my father tell you?”
“He told me how your precious magician had used you, forced you to perform magic, then took advantage of your heightened physical state afterward, forcing you to do unspeakable acts.” Liam spoke to me, but he stared at Jack with hatred in his eyes. “He told me how you’d been completely mesmerized by him, unable to see through his façade.” Liam turned to me, and the affection in his expression chipped away at my defenses. “I took a vow to protect you from people like him, Ivie. I won’t back down now, not when we’re so close to being one.”
“Liam, you don’t understand.” I cautiously laid my hand on his forearm, and the corded muscles jumped beneath my fingers. “My father lied to you.”
Pain flashed in Liam’s eyes. “You’re still defending him? After everything I’ve just told you? You still want him?” He turned on Jack like a rabid dog, a spark of blue light dancing along his fingertips as he pointed at him before it fizzled out like a match in the rain. I saw the moment he realized what had happened. His fists clenched at his sides, and he launched himself at Jack.
“Liam, NO!” I jumped on his back like a spider monkey, knocking his hand away before he could punch Jack. We crashed into the bedside table, smashing my second lamp in a day and sending shards of glass everywhere. I kept my arms coiled around his neck, holding on for dear life. “Please, don’t hit him. Just give me a minute to say goodbye.”
Liam huffed out a heavy breath as his muscles relaxed. He nodded.
I unwrapped my arms and slid off his back, glancing down at my wrinkled dress. “Nora’s gonna kill me.”
“She’ll have to go through me first.” His lips curved into a sad smile as he crossed to the sitting room door. He pointed at Jack. “One minute.”
As soon as Liam closed the door behind him, I dropped to the floor with my dress puddling around me like an emerald pool.
“Don’t even say it.” Jack stood over me, his face set in a determined scowl. “I won’t let you say goodbye to me.”
“I know.” I smiled through my tears as I thought back to our last goodbye. He wouldn’t let me say the words then either.
“You don’t love him.” He stared at the closed door.
“No,” I whispered, but I knew he’d heard me when he brought his eyes back to mine. “I don’t. But I love you enough to let you go. To keep you safe.”
Jack crouched down beside me, running his long fingers through my tangled hair. “We’ve been through worse than this, sweetheart.”
“Uh, actually, no.” I laughed through a sob. “We haven’t.”
Jack grunted out his agreement. “So maybe this is the worst thing we’ve had to deal with, but that doesn’t mean we should give up!”
I gazed up at his stubbled jaw, clenched so tight I was sure it would shatter, and wondered how I’d survive without seeing his face every morning. “You’re only saying that because you don’t know what I’ve done. You’ll hate me when you find out.”
Jack sat down, smoothing the wrinkles in my dress with his finger. “What could you have possibly done to make me hate you?”
“Do you remember that first night in the woods?”
He raised his eyebrows and smirked. “Are you kidding me?”
“Right.” The corners of my lips tipped up only to fall again. “Of course you do. Well, apparently, your idea of a magical convergence was dead on the money, and I did it, and now you only love me because I accidentally put a binding spell on us.”
His eyebrows came together as he frowned. “What are you talking about?”
“Don’t you see? You love me because of a stupid spell I didn’t even know I was capable of. It’s like the spell my father put on me. I love you. I know I do. I feel it with every fiber in my being, but my feelings aren’t real. And whatever you feel for me, that’s not real either. It’s the spell. Just like with Liam.”
Chapter 23
Jack’s face went ashen. “That’s not possible. I’m not a… I don’t have the power to… Ivie, you know I made that up. Nothing that happened to us in the woods that night was magic. Well, it was, but not that kind of magic.”
“Then I must have done it myself. I’ve been to see a witch doctor, and he said it’s true.” I couldn’t control the wail that ripped out of me.
Liam cleared his throat from the doorway. “That isn’t possible.”
My head snapped up, and I stared at Liam through a steady flow of tears. “Have you been listening this whole time?”
He ignored my question and continued. “In order to perform a binding spell like the one your father performed, you would’ve needed a potion made up of parts of yourself and parts of Jack—blood, fingernail clippings, hair—I’m assuming you didn’t have any of those things.”
I shook my head, mesmerized by the soothing tone in his voice.
“And since Jack isn’t a sorcerer, even if he’d had those things, he couldn’t have done it. Then there’s the whole issue of intent. I’m going to assume you didn’t intend to bind yourself to him that night?”
I shook my head again.
“Without a potion and without proper intent, it’s highly unlikely a novice sorceress would have successfully performed such a complex spell by accident.”
“Oh.” I blinked at Liam to bring him into focus.
He shifted his weight, and the sadness in his eyes made me want to cry. “So you really don’t have any feelings for me?”
I started to shake my head and stopped myself. “No! I do. But…”
“But those feelings came from the spell.”
“Yeah.” I nodded.
“And what your father said about Jack…” He glanced at Jack, who sat as still as a statue beside me. “None of that was true?”
Jack and I both shook our heads.
Liam sank to the floor beside us and scratched his head. “I don’t know what to say. An apology doesn’t seem to be enough after everything—”
“My dad told me about his relationship with your mother and how he jilted her for my mom. That’s what really caused all this. So it’s me who owes you an apology.”
Jack grabbed my hand and slid his fingers between mine. “I should have neutered him while he was still a cat.”
“He did some horrible things. And he told some impressive lies to cover up for them. But my dad’s still right, you know. Nothing has changed.” I squeezed Jack’s hand. “If I don’t bond with Liam, you’ll pay the price. Or my parents will. Or someone else I love. And I can’t let that happen.
”
“That’s a horrible reason to want to be with me.” Liam let out a strained laugh.
“Do I really have a choice?”
“Maybe.” Liam’s eyes lit up, but before he could finish his thought, Nora pushed her way into the room with Chloe hot on her heels.
“We’re gonna be late!” Nora skidded to a stop a few feet from where Liam, Jack, and I sat cross-legged on the floor. “What on earth are ya doing? Marion’s already sent someone to make sure you were on your way. It’s past eleven!”
Chloe shoved past Nora to stand over us. “Clearly, you’re not familiar with American traditions. They’re pray-ing.” She stretched the word into two long syllables.
Nora pressed a hand to her chest and jumped back as if she’d stepped on someone’s fingers. “Oh. I-I’m sorry I interrupted your prayers. I hate to rush you, but how long will you be?”
“Not much longer at all.” Chloe widened her eyes at me and mouthed “hurry up” as she grabbed Nora by the shoulders and steered her out the door, pulling it shut behind her.
“If you’ve got a plan, you’d better talk fast.” Jack hopped up, nodding toward the door. “I don’t think even Chloe can keep that one at bay for long.”
Turning from Jack, I caught Liam’s blue eyes and held them. I was close enough to feel his warm breath on my face. “You hinted at a choice. What did you mean?”
Liam’s eyes darted to my lips then back again. He took a deep breath before speaking. “Did you ever wonder why Mum never retaliated against your parents directly? She would’ve had a number of opportunities over the years.”
His powder-blue eyes pulled me in again, and I had to look away to concentrate on his question. “Mom and Dad said Marion put a spell on them to make it harder to conceive.”
Liam groaned. “That’s an old rumor, one I’m not entirely convinced is true. But even if she did interfere with their fertility, I’d hardly call that revenge, considering they did ultimately have a child.”
Suddenly Spellbound Page 21
