by Bonnie Vanak
“May I help you?” she asked in her most formal voice.
He turned from examining a map on the wall of land for sale. A dusting of dark beard shadowed his strong jaw, and his expression eased into a friendly smile.
Nothing like the power from last night.
“I came to see you, Ciara.”
Her name rolled off his tongue in a deep timbre, as if they were tangling together in bed, his mouth upon hers, his tongue thrusting past her startled, eager mouth, his hard cock deep inside her, claiming her slick flesh…
Taking a deep breath, she pressed two fingers against her right temple. Last night’s interrogation had been terrible, but this sensual web he wove over her presented a greater danger.
Because she could easily lose herself in him before she even recalled what she desperately needed to do to him.
“I’m looking to purchase empty land.”
Renee, scenting fresh blood, scurried into the room.
Joseph stuck out a manicured palm. “I’m Joseph Lock, owner of Lock Realty. I can help you, Mister…”
“Jon Xavier.” Xavier ignored the overture, his gaze settling on Ciara’s face. “I wish to deal with Miss Ciara only. She is the reason I am here.”
Both Renee and Joseph backpedaled, looking stunned and angry. Renee gave Xavier’s tall body a once-over, more than hunger for money flaring on her thin face.
“How much property are you interested in purchasing, Mr. Xavier?” Joseph asked.
“Two hundred acres of virgin forest.” Xavier didn’t even turn.
“Well, er, we do have some fine offerings, but that vast amount of acreage… The price…”
“I am most willing to pay any price for possessing what I desire,” Xavier murmured, his gaze flaring white once more.
Oh…damn.
“Is this for recreational use or commercial?” Renee sidestepped Joseph, vying for attention like a sideshow act.
“Recreational. I need much space for what I intend to do for my pleasure.”
Ciara trembled.
“And to whom I plan to use to indulge that pleasure,” he said in a voice so low she knew the Skins, with their blind sense of hearing attuned only to wealth, could not hear.
Joseph brightened. “We have a parcel perfect for you. It’s not for sale yet, but I am certain I can convince the owner to sell. Not quite two hundred acres but very fine, with lots of aspen, pine, and meadow…”
“Are you a licensed real estate agent?” he asked Ciara.
She shook her head.
“What is your budget?” Renee sidled up to Xavier, thrusting out her ample breasts like a stripper begging for dollar bills.
“Three million. Cash.” Xavier sidestepped Renee.
Ciara could almost see the drool drippling out of the twins’ mouths, like babes sucking on pacifiers.
Joseph and Renee began babbling, steering Xavier over to one of the fine, leather chairs, urging all manner of drinks on him. He paid them no mind but bade Ciara to sit next to him.
Desperate to get his attention away from her and onto the elegant, glossy brochures the twins had shoved at him, Ciara took each brochure, pointing out the photos, the availability of the land, and the water availability.
“A thin, clear mountain stream,” Xavier said, staring at her and not at the colorful photos of verdant meadow and woods. “A cold, crisp stream, winding through rocks and glades like a woman’s golden hair upon my pillow at night.”
Several brochures spilled to the hardwood floor as she tried to regain her lost composure. Xavier bent over and retrieved them, and their fingers touched.
Sizzling energy shot through her. Xavier caressed the back of her hand with his index finger, his touch as sensual as a purring cat. His mouth curved in a sinful, knowing smile, as if he stroked her bare breast and not her hand.
A few minutes later, Ciara agreed to take Xavier on a tour of the property interesting him the most. The parcel of mountain land was an hour’s ride away. He wanted her, not the twins. Joseph, desperate for a sale and smelling money like a mountain lion scenting fresh meat, tossed her the keys to his BMW.
She led Xavier outside to the back parking lot, and as she climbed behind the wheel, her nervousness increased. After he closed the passenger door, he placed a hand over hers on the leather steering wheel.
“I intend you no harm,” he said quietly.
Immediately all her agitation ceased, as if his mere touch drained all negative emotion. Just as his intensity had made her desperate last night, his calming demeanor had the effect of a soothing drug. Ciara took a deep breath and started the car.
She cast him a knowing sideways glance. “Hey, I’m the one who gave you my card and told you to call me.”
He nodded.
They drove out of town, toward the mountains ridging the horizon, away from the national park. Xavier talked the entire time, admiring the sweep of majestic pines in the distance, the brush of blue sky touching their tips, the jagged, snow-capped mountain peaks. He talked about the land with such rich sensuality, as if the earth were a woman, with all lovely curves and hidden, secret places.
Ciara concentrated on the drive, enjoying the lush tenor of his voice. Her Nymph side appreciated the mountains, forests, and rivers as much as Xavier did. And like the Crystal Wizard, she hated seeing all the overdevelopment.
An hour later, Ciara turned down a primitive, dirt road and stopped before a thick stretch of tall trees. She switched off the ignition.
While he got out of the car, she slipped the small pair of scissors into the pocket of her pants. Now was a good time to cut his hair, when they were alone and she could distract him.
Ciara began the usual sales ramble Joseph had taught her.
Xavier gently clasped her wrist. “Hush,” he said softly. “Listen.”
Startled, she looked at him, the firm angle of his taut jaw beneath the short, black beard, the intensity in his mouth. And then she took a deep breath and inhaled pine, decaying earth, and the sweet scent of wildflowers.
Ciara opened her senses and listened, hearing the harsh cry of a distant crow, the song of birds chattering overhead in the trees, and the whisper of water threading through the trees.
Her troubled spirit breathed as well, comforted by these woods that no man—or Other—had touched. There was something mystical about this property.
“The owner of this property is actually a corporation. I’m not certain they will sell.”
Xavier glanced down at her with a smile. “Gideon owns it. He set it up so it looks like a corporation owns it. I warded this land and all the land close by against all harm, against development, and against any Others inhabiting it, to give refuge to the wild creatures roaming here. Even Others like you, Ciara.”
Stunned, she stared at him. Had he regained his memory?
But then he frowned and rubbed his temples with his long, elegant fingers. “I do not know how I know that. Or why I suddenly had this memory. I know you are Other, like the widow who lives in my complex. I remember…and then it flees, like vanishing mist. It is so painful. It feels like a spike drilling into my head.”
Ciara ached for him. She couldn’t imagine his trauma, being a powerful being and then losing his memory, having no idea of his identity.
“Let me help,” she told him. “Sit down, over there on that rock.”
When he did, she stood in front of him. “Relax. Breathe deeply.”
Her hands upon his temples were gentle as she began massaging, directing her healing magick to ease the violent pain she sensed throbbing through his mind. Whatever had stripped his memory had caused this hurt, forcing him to forgo trying to remember.
Ciara sent tendrils of healing into his body and felt a subtle yet very strong buzz of pure magick. Shuddering, she continued her ministrations. Whoever had done this to Xavier was a most powerful being.
She knew only one creature with power enough to cast such a spell over the Crystal Wizard.
; The Goddess Danu herself.
What had Xavier done to deserve this? Bristling with indignation, she gently rubbed his temples, drawing away the spikes of agony as he sighed with apparent relief.
Xavier leaned against her, purring like a cat, pillowing his head against her breasts. There was nothing sexual about the move, but all her senses tingled and desire curled deep inside her.
He drew away and looked up, his gray-blue gaze bright with fresh understanding.
“Thank you, Ciara, for using your powers to ease my pain.”
Flustered, she dropped her trembling hands. Much of her magick had drained into him, for trying to heal this powerful wizard took all her strength. Later, she could replenish it in the stream, connecting to the earth, but now she felt weak and very vulnerable.
“How do you know I have power?” she demanded, stepping back.
“You are Ciara, Nymph of old. I do not need my memory to understand what we once shared.” Standing, he reached out and cupped her cheek, caressing her skin with the edge of one thumb. “All I need is to touch you.” His voice turned dark and smoky. “Your scent wraps around me, enticing as exotic spices, innocent as a field of wildflowers. It makes me long to touch you, to connect, discover what we once shared to see if I can recapture those lost moments once more.”
All he needed to do was touch her, and she melted. Ciara struggled with her own identity. Stealing a lock of his hair presented a greater challenge than she realized. With other lovers, she controlled her emotions, controlled them. Getting them to do her bidding was quite easy.
With Xavier, she lost all her senses. Her hormones screamed for more, and her body throbbed with the unsatisfied ache only he could fill.
It had been more than sex between them. Something deeper and a sense of bonding she couldn’t quite understand. It felt as if she’d known him forever and their lives had been intertwined and then yanked apart.
Each time she tried to analyze it, she felt such sorrow. Ciara wanted to weep.
Xavier leaned closer. “Who are you to me, lovely Ciara? I feel as if we mated in a past life. We were lovers once.” His voice deepened. “And we shall be again.”
All coherent thought fled as he dipped his head closer to hers and kissed her.
His mouth was warm, soft, and authoritative. Xavier kissed her as if he cherished her, but behind the kiss was sheer, male need, kept in check by the force of his will. That will could turn demanding, and she’d become helpless to resist his power, the memory of their lovemaking dissolving her own will and attempts for control.
The kiss intensified, and his tongue thrust past her parted lips in imitation of the sex act. Xavier cupped the back of her head with one hand, holding her steady as he ravaged her mouth. Swept up in sensation, she moaned as the sensuality of his kiss deepened. He kissed her as if they had been lovers separated through time and he wanted her again—wanted to brand her with his scent, his touch, his very mouth.
He kissed her as a man kisses a woman before he spreads her legs and drives himself deep inside her body, claiming her in the flesh.
It was a prelude to lovemaking, not a kiss of friendship or sweetness. Again and again he plundered, sweeping aside all her resistance, any protests surfacing in her mind. All she could do was cling to the broad breadth of his shoulders, anchoring herself to him in the tempest of sensuality consuming them both.
An image of her mother came to mind. Ciara pushed at Xavier, breaking his hold over her.
“Stop,” she told him, licking her lips. “I can’t…”
His eyes were dark, and a pulse beat wildly in his throat. “Why not?”
She almost laughed. He might be a mighty wizard, but he was still a guy with a guy’s logic. “Not here. Not now.”
“Ah.” Xavier slid a hand over her cheek. “Later, then.”
She pressed a finger to her sweating temple. “I have a job to do, Xavier. Let me at least take you to see the property so I can tell my bosses that you inspected it. If I fail to do my job, they’ll fire me.”
His mouth flattened. “If they dare to fire you, Ciara, I will turn them into dust balls.”
From another man’s mouth—vague, empty threats. From his, a very real possibility.
She gulped. “Not necessary. Let’s take a quick tour, and that way I can tell them you saw the land.”
For the next several minutes, they walked a pathway through the forest as Ciara pointed out the pristine trees, the signs of abundant wildlife.
They came to the stream gurgling down the mountain, tumbling over moss-covered rocks, the water as sparkling as the crystals in Xavier’s hair.
Squatting down, he cupped his hands then lifted the water to his mouth.
Xavier wiped his mouth with the back of one hand. “Can you smell the water’s freshness?”
She could. Xavier cupped his hand again and dipped it into the stream.
He brought his hand to her mouth. “Drink,” he commanded.
Ciara sipped the water, delighting in the sweet taste. Then he took his wet finger, traced a line over her mouth.
“Delicious,” he murmured.
Xavier headed for a nearby boulder and sat, closing his eyes as if enjoying the serenity of the forest. Ciara felt for the scissors in her back pocket. Now. Do it before you have to return and you might not see him again.
With extreme care, she crept up behind him, holding her breath. She raised the scissors to his head. One small lock with a crystal, just one…
Xavier suddenly turned. She managed to hide the scissors in time.
His gray-blue gaze narrowed. “Ciara, what are you doing?”
“Collecting specimens.” She bent and snipped off a small piece of fern and then tucked the scissors into her pocket. “For my garden. I like growing things.”
His brow wrinkled, and the scowl warned her this wizard was not easily fooled. But he said nothing, only stood and headed in the direction of the car.
On the drive back, she put the top down. Wind whipped Xavier’s shoulder-length, black hair as he closed his eyes, seeming to enjoy the sensation.
She was in big trouble with this wizard. Not from him but her own rising desires. Xavier could easily sweep her off her feet, make her forget all else but him.
Saving her mother meant everything. The Nymphs in the colony counted on her. All her life, Ciara had longed for acceptance, questioning her identity. Xavier might not know who he was now, but eventually his memory would return—and his place in the world.
Her place in the world hinged upon acceptance in the colony. Living in her father’s world as a half-cougar shifter had left her feeling even more displaced. The Shifters easily changed forms to hunt, not understanding her revulsion at killing small, innocent creatures for food.
Sometimes she felt like a vegetarian living in a hunting lodge. She had to leave to preserve her sanity.
With the Nymphs, Ciara felt accepted and appreciated. But now, with her mother in the clutches of the witch, she had to risk everything to bring her back to the colony. Carlina held great influence with the other Nymphs.
Having grown up without a mother or a band of sisters, Ciara craved their kinship.
Rescuing her mother meant more than saving Carlina’s life.
It meant saving her own.
Acceptance in her mother’s colony presented a more rational and practical life than pining after a wizard she thought she’d loved. She could grow old there, and content.
Do you really want a contented life? Or do you wish to abandon all practical magick and seize that distant star?
The nagging voice inside her would not be ignored. But she had lived too long in isolation and with regret.
There would never be anything between herself and Xavier except a brief bond in the flesh. And that, too, would fade by morning, just as the glittering stars in the night sky did.
A fantasy, nothing more.
When she pulled into the parking lot of the real estate office and shut off the e
ngine, Xavier turned to her.
“Before we go in there and you become all business once more, I have something to ask you, Ciara. When do you leave work?”
She glanced at her watch. “About an hour.”
“After work, would you like to go on a hike with me and then return to my townhouse for dinner?”
Had she orchestrated this, it couldn’t have been better. She could get a second attempt to try to cut off his hair. Ciara forced a smile. “I’d love to.”
“Good,” he murmured, fingering a strand of her wayward curls then tucking the lock behind her ear.
He gave her the address, but she knew where he lived.
As they headed into the office, she sensed the greater intent behind his invitation. Xavier intended to make love to her. Forget the fact she’d planned to seduce him and then snip a lock of his hair.
He planned to seduce her.
And Goddess help her, once he did, she could be hopelessly lost.
17
It felt odd to hike through Rocky Mountain National Park with a powerful wizard who had no idea he’d once walked the same path, warding the land against evil.
He took her for a short hike around Sprague Lake. The wind was bitter, but the wizard walking alongside her emitted such warmth that she did not feel the cold.
Snow dusted the majestic peaks, and drifts piled upon the ground. Tall, yellow stalks of pussy willows grew in clumps near the water, a promise of spring.
The jagged peaks of snow-capped mountains soared into the sharp, blue sky.
They sat on a fallen log. “Listen,” he murmured.
She tilted her head, heard nothing but the brush of wind through the pines, sweeping down the mountain.
“It’s snowing. Hear the flakes falling?”
The white banks of drifts stretched before them, marching up the slope of the mountain. Jagged peaks, half-hidden by clouds, ringed them.
