by Lee McKenzie
She nodded.
“Okay. But I still don’t see how that affects Leslie.”
“Look at the page.”
Nick stepped up to the table and stood close enough so that Maggie’s shoulder touched his arm. He looked at Candice’s photograph. It was partly obscured by a reddish-brown stain.
“I had to set up some candles around the picture on the first Friday after the full moon and recite an incantation. My mother warned me about this spell and I should have listened, but I had no idea it was so powerful.”
“Maggie, I’m sure this stuff seems real to you, but—”
“You won’t be such a skeptic when I tell you what happened.”
Nick sighed. She’d get to the end of this story sooner if he humored her. “Then I guess you’d better tell me.”
She took a long breath.
“The short version,” he said, even though he knew she’d tell it her way and there wasn’t a thing he could do about it.
“I didn’t want to cut up Aunt Margaret’s yearbook so I laid it open on the table and set up the candles around it. After I lit one of them, I accidentally knocked it over, but I didn’t think that would be problem, so I just set up everything again and recited the incantation. But now I see that some of the wax dripped on the photograph next to Candice’s.”
She pointed to the page.
Sure enough there was another waxy stain, right smack in the middle of Gerald Bedford’s face. “And you think that’s what got Gerald and Candice together?”
“What other explanation could there be?”
He could think of several. As for Maggie, she was so convinced she had all this power, and he loved her for it, but was there any way to ease her conscience without bursting her bubble? “Okay,” he said cautiously. “Let me get this straight. By putting that stuff on the two pictures, whether you meant to or not, you brought those two together?”
She looked relieved. “Yes! I’m such a klutz. I had no idea what I’d done until it was too late. I saw them when I left the church a while ago. They were together in Candice’s car and they were making out.”
He closed the book. “I have a confession to make, too, and I think it’s going to make your confession obsolete.”
“Obsolete?”
He nodded. “I’m afraid so. The night of Allison’s barbecue, I saw Gerald and Candice together.”
Maggie’s eyes went wide.
“Gerald went into the house and Candice followed him a few minutes later. I didn’t think much of it until I saw them come back outside a while later, just after the fireworks, when we were leaving.”
“You mean they’d been—”
“That’s what I mean.”
“But you don’t know for sure.”
“No. I don’t seem to be equipped with any of your sixth sense, but I do have a brain. If I’d been using it, I would have said something to my sister.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“I told myself it was none of my business. I mean, I didn’t think she should marry that guy under any circumstances but who was I to tell her that?”
“Well, you are her brother.”
He shrugged. “And a pretty lousy one, but what else is new?”
“That’s not true.”
While Maggie absorbed what he’d just told her, he took advantage of her preoccupation to put his arms around her. He was tired of talking about other people.
She looked up at him. “So you think Candice and Gerald were together before I did the love spell?”
“I’d say they were definitely together.”
“So I didn’t—”
“Ruin Leslie’s wedding?” He decided to let her down easy. “I’m afraid you can’t take any credit for that.”
“I still feel badly about what happened. Besides, what if what you saw was just a coincidence? They might have noticed each other but they probably wouldn’t have fallen in love if—”
“Who said anything about love? Those two aren’t capable of having feelings for anyone but themselves. Besides, if Gerald had suddenly fallen in love with Candice—” oh, man, he couldn’t believe they were having this conversation “—why do you think was he still going to marry my sister?”
Her eyes went narrow. “I’m not sure.”
“I’ll tell you why. Because he’s a self-centered jerk. He thought he could have it all. A beautiful, successful wife. A trampy mistress.”
The disillusioned look in Maggie’s eyes made him stop.
“I don’t know why Leslie waited until the last minute to call off the wedding,” he said.
“Maybe she saw them together. Candice and Gerald weren’t being very discreet. Or maybe she just sensed something wasn’t right.”
“Trust me, my sister is no more equipped with a sixth sense than I am.” He smoothed the damp hair away from Maggie’s face. “You, on the other hand, have an amazing way with people, Maggie Meadowcroft. I think you got Leslie to think about whether being married to Gerald was what she really wanted, and the answer was no.”
“What about you? Have you thought about what you want?”
“Oh, yeah.”
“And?”
He took in the beautiful woman standing in front of him. “I like what I see, and...I like my life the way it is. So whatever you had in mind for a makeover, you can just forget it. You’ll have to take me the way I am.”
“The way you are, huh?” There was that smug little smile again.
“What are you grinning about?” he asked.
“Nothing. If you’re happy, then so am I.”
“So are we through talking about everyone else’s love life?”
She nodded and her gorgeous brown eyes were filled with promise. Finally.
“Good.”
He tilted her chin up and kissed her.
“Nick?” she said against his lips.
“What?”
“I’m sorry for saying anything to Allison. And I’ve definitely sworn off meddling.”
“Shh. We’re finished talking, remember?”
“Fine,” she whispered. “No more talking.”
She kissed him back, and he knew right then that this was for real. That no matter what kind of crazy ideas she had about love spells and ghosts...
He backed off a little and looked at her. “Your aunt isn’t hanging around here, is she?”
Maggie tilted her head a little and glanced around the room, but she couldn’t hide the mischief in her eyes. “No sign of her. She told me she was getting tired and that I needed to find someone else to look after me.”
He ran a finger over the strand of pearls. “And you haven’t cast a spell on me?”
She shook her head.
“Do you promise you’ll never try one?”
“I promise.”
“Good. Because I’d like to think I’ve fallen in love with you without any interference from anybody. Not even you.”
Her eyes went wide. “You’re in love with me?”
“Isn’t it obvious?”
She seemed to give that some thought. “It is now.” Then she pointed to the yearbook. “It says in there that your favorite pastime is breaking hearts.”
“I didn’t write that.”
“So it isn’t true?”
“You know, no one ever asked if I had my heart broken. How do I know you won’t break it?”
“I don’t break hearts. I only mend them.”
“Then I’d say we’re both in good hands.”
* * * * *
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ISBN: 9781460312964
Copyright © 2013 by Lee McKenzie McAnally
Originally published as THE MAN FOR MAGGIE
Copyright © 2007 by Lee McKenzie McAnally
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.
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