by Susan Shay
Opening her mouth as if to say something, Cassie sucked in a quick breath, but for a long moment she was silent as her gaze drifted to the ground. Finally she blinked hard, then glared at him as if he’d slapped her in the face. “Keegan, if we don’t stay now, she won’t be here when we come back.”
Chapter Four
Anxiety stung Cassie’s nape, then down the back of her arms as alarm zipped into her extremities. Since she hadn’t really seen anything, why couldn’t she just ignore it? After all, it could be normal, run-of-the-mill, scared-of-the-boogie-man nerves. There had been no flash or rumble, and a vision hadn’t played through her mind. But the uneasiness dancing along her spine made her want to go back inside, bundle up her best friend, and take her home to hide.
Why was it when using her gift really mattered, when she really cared, she was no good? Couldn’t see? Couldn’t help?
Keegan frowned at her, an unreadable expression on his face. “Why don’t you get in the car so we can talk about this?”
She struggled to take a clean breath. “N-no. We can’t leave, Keegan.”
Firmly grasping her arm, he unlocked and opened the door. “Fine. We’ll sit here where we can see the front and drink our chocolottas. I promise we won’t go anywhere until you’re comfortable leaving.”
Recklessly, she eased her protective guard and turned toward him. As close as we are, our faces mere inches apart, his body—she swallowed hard—so near mine that I can practically feel the heat coming from him, I should be able to tell what it is he wants.
But even making herself vulnerable to him, she could see nothing. No emotion. No impulse. No beliefs. Except for a distant aura sparking in her vision, emptiness spread. What was wrong with her? Was her gift weakening? Could it be she was going to lose it as suddenly as she’d gained it?
Thoughts whirling, she let him maneuver her into the seat and close the door, then waited as he rounded the car to get in on the other side. “From here, we can see if anyone goes into the store. Or if Miriam leaves.”
Somewhat relieved, Cassie nodded. “And if she remembered to set the alarm, we’ll know it if anyone tries to enter another way.”
With a quick glance and a quirk of an eyebrow that sent her stomach dipping down around her knees, he pulled out his cell phone. After pressing a single button, he put the phone to his ear. “Hey, Sis. Cassie wanted me to ask if you set the alarm.”
Feeling a little childish, Cassie hiked her chin. So what if she was being silly? She cared about Miriam, and her friend was bad about remembering to set the alarm. How many mornings had they gone to work after Miriam closed up and found it hadn’t been set? One morning, they’d even gone to work to find the front door unlocked, although Miriam swore she’d locked it.
Miriam was the only real friend she’d ever had. How could she survive if something happened to her?
After listening a moment, Keegan chuckled, then disconnected. “She said she was just about to set it, but I didn’t let her hang up until it was done.”
Cassie blew out a breath, then removed the tab from the lid of her steaming cup. “I knew it. She’s a little forgetful when she has something on her mind.”
Looking puzzled, he braced his arm along the back of her seat. “There’s something on her mind, besides the divorce?”
“Hadn’t you noticed? When we were at the bar, men were lining up to dance with her, but when we suggested going home, she didn’t hesitate. It was as if she’d been treading water the entire time we were there and she hadn’t paid the men flocking to her any attention.” Unable to return his gaze burning into her, she stared at the building. Then another memory blossomed. “And just a while ago, when I practically banged the office door through the wall, she didn’t even look startled. She just...told whoever was on the phone that they would finish their conversation later.”
“Do you know who it was?” His intensity surprised her. Did he know who’d been on the phone?
She paused a moment, opening her mind to whom it might have been. But drawing a blank, she shrugged. “No, I don’t.”
Leaning closer, he dropped his voice to a low murmur. “You don’t even have an idea?”
As he came near, his tone was almost mesmerizing. “No...I wish I did.” Carefully, she sipped the warm concoction in the cup, then had to stifle a moan of pleasure. The sweet flavor of caramel mixed with the dark taste of chocolate swirling in bitter coffee, topped with cool whipped cream tasted so good she wanted to drink until she could hold no more.
He took off the entire lid off his cup, laid it on the console, then took a long drink. “Well, at least she hasn’t forgotten how to mix a mean chocolotta. I just hope this doesn’t keep us awake tonight.”
And if it does, maybe together, we can put that time to good use. The thought slipped into her mind as if it had been coated with something hot, titillating, and welcome. What was wrong with her? She was not about to find oh-so-intimate ways of putting time to good use with Keegan Flynn. Feeling her face warm at her brash thoughts, she hoped with all her might that he couldn’t see any better in the dark than she could. How embarrassing would that be?
“Sometimes, do you get funny feelings about things?” Running his tongue along his upper lip to catch elusive whipped cream, he caused her heart to slow.
Its beat became a rhythm she’d never before known—an undulating throbbing that dried her mouth and caused her palms to sweat. Finding she couldn’t swallow, she tried to clear her throat, but that, too, proved futile. “Funny” didn’t begin to describe the feeling that had taken possession of her. “Uh, yeah. I have had funny feelings from time to time. Everyone does, don’t they?”
His mouth turned down as he shook his head. “I don’t think so.”
With an effort, she cleared her mind. “Well, you do, I know for a fact.”
“What?” His voice rose to a squeaking zenith as his eyebrows almost buried themselves the nearly black hair sweeping over his forehead.
Determined not to meet his gaze and lose her train of thought, she looked out the window behind him. “How else did you know your sister needed you so desperately during this divorce? How else did you know I was frightened, simply because I rushed from the coffee shop to the office? How else did you know that the minister who leads your parents’ cult was a fake?”
His shrug was casual, but she knew she’d unsettled him. “Simple knowledge. My sister has always needed somebody. You ran as if you were in a fifty yard dash and missed the starting gun. And my parents never could tell the difference between a fraud and the real thing.”
She allowed herself an easy, somewhat smug grin. “Wasn’t it really because of the feelings you got? After all, your sister is an adult, and adults go through divorces everyday in this country. With Steve like he is, she might have been ready for this divorce. And while I could have looked frightened, I also might have suddenly remembered something and was afraid I could be in trouble for forgetting. And even your parents must have accidentally chosen the real thing at sometime since you were born. Just by the law of averages, they can’t have been wrong every time.”
With a slight, almost non-existent nod, he drained the last of his coffee. “Okay, so your theory is that everyone, even men, have intuition? What about little kids?”
She dipped her chin and watched him struggle with the suggestion. “Haven’t you ever seen a little kid take one look at someone and run screaming for their mother?”
His laughter was short, almost a bark. “Yeah. When Miriam was little, she was scared to death of our dad’s brother. Of course, he had teeth like a werewolf, a laugh like a TNT explosion, and teased us kids unmercifully, but he was harmless. Once, when he showed up for a family picnic, she locked herself in the car, got down in the floor of the back seat, and hid her face. It took me a long time just to coax her into letting me get in. No way could I get her out.”
She thought of the sweet, quiet child Miriam must have been. For a little girl that shy to react so stron
gly meant she must have either felt something about the man, or that something physical had happened between them. And as close as Keegan was to his sister, she’d lay money he’d have known if something physical had happened. It must have been a psychic link. “See?” she asked softly.
“See what?” He crunched the now empty cup in his hand, then glared at her. “It was unfounded fear. Nothing ever happened. Our uncle never laid a hand on her, good, bad, or otherwise.”
“But if she hadn’t had that feeling, that fear, he might have. Or he might have taken her someplace where she could have been...hurt. Or they might have been in a severe car accident. I don’t know what her fear prevented, but I do know that kind of fear was given to us for our good.” Forgetting who she was talking to, she warmed to her subject. “Just as pain is a gift we were given so we would know when we’re hurt, intuition was given to keep us from potentially dangerous situations—or to lead us into potentially wonderful ones. The trouble is, as we mature, most people stop listening to that inner voice.”
“But you never stopped listening, did you?” Keegan forced himself to relax into the seatback and keep his expression casual as he waited for her to reply. If she thought he was doing more than just making idle conversation, she’d clam up for sure. Furtively, he blew out a long, slow breath and hoped for the best.
He’d interviewed potential subjects many times without letting them know what he was doing. Why did he feel like a kid on his first assignment this time? As he waited for her answer, he tried to let his mind drift in the direction he wanted to steer their conversation. But instead of thinking ahead, he thought about her eyes and mouth. Instead of preparing himself, he wished he could reach across the car and pull her into his arms. Instead of trying to remember her words, he could only feel himself grow hard, wanting her. What in the hell was the matter with him?
Cassie was merely the subject of his next debunking project, not someone special. Just because she was his first female subject should make no difference. After all, a fraud was a fraud, and it was his duty to protect the world, especially his sister and the unsuspecting town of Stone Hill, by exposing Cassie.
So what if she had the face of an angel and a spirit to match? So what if she was so near he could smell the shampoo she’d used that morning? So what if her touch made him want to hold her, kiss her, make slow, sweet love to her? He’d get over it.
He’d have to.
Brow puckered, she tipped her head slightly. “To be honest, I think it’s foolish for anyone to ignore...”
The pause at the end of her sentence, rather than her words, caught his attention. He waited for a beat. “What were you saying?”
After a quick glance out the window, she turned back to him, her chin firm as if she expected him to slug it. “I was trying not to say something. I’ve been trying to keep from saying that I thought anyone who willingly ignored such a gift was foolish, because I’ve been doing that since I was thirteen. Or at least trying to.”
What? He scrambled mentally, trying to make sense of her words. Straightening in the seat, he focused, forcing himself to continue even though he wished he didn’t have to. “What happened when you were thirteen?”
Her uncertain gaze brushed his face as lightly as if he weren’t there, then she turned toward the bookstore, but whether or not she saw it, he wasn’t sure. After waiting for so long he wondered if she intended to answer, she shrugged. “I-I’m not sure what happened, really. My parents said it was nothing. A dream, caused by the fall. But it was so real, so physical, I smelled and tasted and felt the things around me. How often in dreams can you smell and taste?” Her gaze, now piercing the darkness to focus on him, was disturbing.
She waited as if for his answer, but unable to find his voice, all he could manage was to shake his head, then give a feeble shrug. Great interviewer he was, not even able join in the conversation.
Closing her eyes for a moment, she inhaled deeply, then blew out the breath. Without opening her eyes, she continued. “It was deep summer. My dad had died a little over a year earlier, and my mother had just married my stepfather, Howard. Mother thought it would be a good idea if we all went to Rainbow Falls for a picnic. My sister Alexandra and I were sailing paper boats at the base of the falls when I decided to go get us a couple of soft drinks.
“After climbing up the long way, I thought I would take a shortcut back. As I stepped off the flat rock ridge onto an easy sloping decline, a feeling came over me as if something wonderful was about to happen. Something even better than discovering a new path—maybe a buried treasure, or a brand new species of butterfly.”
Keegan glanced from her strained face to her hands, which were clasped in her lap. The knuckles had blanched so, their deathly color stood out in the darkness. Wishing he’d never started the conversation, he cleared his throat and hoped she’d stop. But her words continued, tumbling over one another in their rush to escape.
“But it wasn’t a butterfly I found that day. It was a hidden opening in what I thought was solid rock. I fell about twenty feet to the floor of a cave. I must have blacked out for a few moments, because when I came to, I was lying there, my head pounding like it was about to burst, dirt in my mouth and nose. Everything smelled musty, like an old basement. Even after I spit out all I could, my mouth tasted like dirt, so I desperately wanted something to drink.
“A little way from me, I saw a light. Hoping it was the way out, I went down a passageway toward it. But instead of it leading outside, I found a chamber that was lined with gold. And when I stepped into it, the light was so bright, I could see everything—even when my eyes were closed. The air smelled of springtime, my head stopped aching, and I was no longer thirsty. In fact, I felt as if I’d just had a long drink of cool spring water.
“Time ceased to exist as I saw some of the most amazing...beautiful...fantastic things that have ever been. But finally, I found myself outside the chamber and I couldn’t seem to find the way back in, so I followed the passageway until I was outside. I could hear my parents and the men on the rescue squad, calling me. When I answered, the knot on my head started throbbing again.
“Howard was a doctor, like my dad, so he rode in the ambulance with me. On the way, when I tried to describe the wonders I’d seen, he told me I was talking out of my head. Then to make his point, he asked what happened to my shoes. I was shocked to find my feet were bare. Cold. Bleeding. The next day, he went back into the cave and found my shoes lined up, toes against a solid rock wall where I’d described the entrance to the chamber of gold.”
Keegan swallowed hard, trying to sort out the emotions rocketing through him. Her own family hadn’t listened? Had her stepfather given her any sympathy? Understanding? Or had he been brusque, short, and coldly professional? From her face, he was willing to bet he’d been more worried about the time wasted and his reputation than what Cassie had been through. “What did your mother think?”
Her glance was sharp, dousing. “Mother, think? Women in her social circle didn’t bother thinking. As long as she had a husband who held the right title and made the right salary and gave her enough prestige, she simply regurgitated whatever line he fed her.”
Funny how much alike parents could be. His cared more about their place in their religious cult, hers about professional standing. He could tell by the look on her face that there was more to the story, but he didn’t want to hear it. Already, she’d weakened his determination to expose her. After all, she’d had enough betrayal in her life. Why should he want to make it worse?
After biting her lip for a moment, she tipped her head to the side. “That’s when things got bad.”
Hoping to stem the flow of her memories, he gently grasped her arm. “Listen, Cassie, I’m really sor—”
“My God, Keegan. Who is that?” Yanking her arm from his grasp, she pointed toward the front of the bookstore as a dark figure hovered furtively at the door, then slipped inside. “Keegan, who... ?”
Before she finished the
question, he was out of the car, running toward the store. If he was fast enough, he might catch the door before it latched. If not....
Grabbing the door handle, he jerked hard, almost wrenching his shoulder out of joint as he hauled on the locked door. After a hard kick, he balled his fist and hammered the glass with his knuckles. “Miriam, are you okay? Let me in, dammit!”
“I’ve got a key.” Cassie’s voice, sharp with anxiety, came from just behind him. He had no idea she’d followed him out of the car.
With a glance over his shoulder, he saw her reach into her bag. “Here it is.” Nudging him out of the way with her hip, she shoved the key in the lock and twisted.
But as the door eased open, Miriam filled it, her stance aggressive. “What in the world is going on out here?”
Feeling like a deer caught in headlights, Keegan froze, his hand at Cassie’s waist as he prepared to haul her back so he could charge into the store. “Uh, w-we thought we saw someone breaking in.”
Miriam’s answering chuckle was deep, with a tinge of something...sexual? Dreamily, she lounged against the doorframe. “Oh, there’s nothing wrong. Nothing at all.”
Lifting his head, he looked into the darkened store. “Who was that?”
As he tried to see past her, she bristled, anger filling her eyes. “It’s a friend of mine. Don’t worry about it, Keegan.”
He hardened his jaw. A man entering a darkened store where a young, beautiful, single woman waited didn’t normally add up to something bad, but with the murders that had happened in the area, who could tell? Of course, if he hadn’t been listening to the woman just now burning a brand in his side tell her mysterious tale, he might not have thought much about it at all. “Why didn’t you tell us you were meeting someone?”
“Obviously, big brother, we don’t tell one another everything.” Her gaze slid past him to rest meaningfully on Cassie.
“You said you had work to do,” Cassie said, her voice soft.
“Okay, maybe I lied.” Miriam’s face colored slightly as she dropped her gaze. “But I didn’t know if he would come or not. Besides, I wanted to keep it a secret for a while. Okay?”
