“A lifetime might not be a bad thing,” he said.
“We have to go sometime.”
“Yes.” She saw his smile. “But not just yet. I mean, if that’s all right with you.”
She wrapped her arms around him and pulled him close. She felt the sleekness of his body, the length of his limbs, the pulse of his blood and the heat of his skin.
Just to touch.
Just to feel.
Just to know…
It was amazing again. It was another dimension, sensations so strong and rich and vital that she felt as if she’d died and come back to life, only to die again and ascend to some strange heaven. Yes, it was sex, physical beyond a doubt, and yet it was also magic, something ethereal. She was certain that hearts didn’t always beat together, that two people didn’t always feel as if their minds and souls had joined so intimately into a single whole….
Eventually, finally, they had to rise and dress and head back to the house.
As they got settled in the car again, she looked at him gravely. “Don’t ever try to tell me that the fantastic does not exist, that magic isn’t real.”
He smiled, then leaned over and kissed her slowly, holding her chin, studying her eyes.
“Careful,” he teased, his eyes warm, alive with tenderness. “You seem to be magic yourself. You just may make me fall in love with you.”
She looked back at him without smiling. “It’s life itself that is magic, Zach.” She turned to look out the window, and he turned on the car and drove. She kept looking out the window, thinking that she didn’t have to worry about falling in love with him.
She’d already done it the first time she’d seen his eyes, and that had only been in a picture. And then she had seen him.
And gotten to know him, and to care.
It was magic.
And with magic, there was always a price to pay.
12
The next evening, Zach was in Sean’s office studying the local sea charts kept there.
A scream cut through the air.
“What on earth was that?” Clara cried, practically dropping the sandwich she was carrying, her eyes darting to Zach’s.
Without answering, he tore from the room and down the hallway toward the dining room, where everyone else—except Bridey, who was still sick—was having dinner.
When he got there, it was like looking at a tableau. Everyone was so completely motionless, they didn’t even appear to be breathing.
Caer was standing slightly in front of Marni and Amanda, who were flanking her as if they were backup singers, although Zach had to admit he’d never seen a backup singer holding a plate of blueberry pie, as Marni was. Cal was on his feet as if he had just leaped up from his chair. Tom had apparently come rushing in from outside, because his hands were dirty and his face was flushed. Sean was standing next to Kat, at the end of the table, her hand locked around a silver pie server.
“What the hell?” Zach demanded, and all eyes shot to him.
“Glass,” Kat announced, and lifted the hand that held the server.
A thin trail of blood was oozing along the side of her palm.
Confused, Zach strode forward to Kat, took the pie server from her and grabbed a cloth napkin, which he held tightly against the cut. “You cut yourself slicing a pie and screamed?” he asked, puzzled.
She shook her head. “I cut my hand on the pie.”
Clara had come in behind Zach, and she said, “Child, you can’t cut your hand on a pie.”
“Yes you can,” Kat said. “If there’s glass in the pie.”
Marni let out a sudden howl, grabbed a napkin and held it to her mouth, and started spitting out blueberry filling.
“Did you swallow any of it?” Cal asked anxiously.
“No!” she gasped.
“Clara!” Amanda snapped.
“Wait,” Sean began.
“There is no wait, anymore, Sean. Clara cooked glass into a pie. Someone could have eaten that and—”
“Could have? It was in my mouth!” Marni cried.
“You spit it out soon enough,” Amanda pointed out. “But it could have been much worse. Sean, I know you love Clara, but we can’t keep on living like this.”
“Oh, Mr. O’Riley!” Clara gasped with horror. “I would never, ever, make such a mistake. I have no idea how that happened, but I promise you, I…” She burst into tears, and Tom hurried to her side to put a protective arm around her.
“Now, now,” Sean said firmly. “Amanda, we don’t know what happened. Clara, please stop crying. You know how much I treasure you.”
“Excuse me, but I’m the one who almost swallowed glass,” Marni said, then hurried from the room. Cal rushed out after her.
Zach already had his phone out and was dialing Morrissey’s number.
“What are you doing?” Kat asked him.
“Calling the police.”
“The police?” Amanda asked.
“Yes. We’re going to give this pie to Detective Morrissey and find out just what the hell is in it,” Zach said.
“I don’t think we need to bring the police into this,” Sean said.