Of course, that didn’t mean that Mitch would give up very easily.

“Well, don’t sign any prenuptial agreements before your lawyer reads them!” he called behind her and Andrea smiled as she climbed the stairs.

He was just a protective old bear, that was Mitch’s problem. Trying to save the world from itself, just like she told Lilith. It was endearing in a way.

When it wasn’t downright irritating.

She pivoted at the top of the stairs and eyed her disgruntled stepson saucily. “Tsk tsk. If you’d been nice to me, I might have volunteered to do your grocery shopping tomorrow.”

Mitch snorted, but Andrea could hear his usual even temper already being restored. “Right. Cheetos and Popsicles all around. Don’t do me any favors.”

Andrea grinned. “I was thinking more of chocolate bars and bubble gum.”

Mitch groaned in mock agony and she laughed.

“What if I make you a list?” he suggested.

“Oh, all those boring nutritious foods. Fruits and vegetables, whole grain bread. I know how you are.” Andrea wrinkled her nose and sighed in mock concession. “But I suppose I could be convinced to follow a list. With just a few embellishments. There is a tragic shortage of frozen burritos in this house.”

Mitch grinned. “That would be great, Andrea. If you think you can manage with the kids.”

“It’s no problem at all. I’d be glad to do it.”

The pair smiled at each other with mutual affection. “Have I thanked you enough recently for everything you’ve done?”

Andrea shrugged, her smile turning loving. “Probably not, but I know when I’m appreciated.”

Mitch suddenly sobered. “Just promise me you’ll really think about the wisdom of going on this cruise, Andrea. You’re too smart of a lady to get conned.”

Andrea’s heart melted, but she pointed a finger at him playfully. “Now, why didn’t you remember that two minutes ago?”

Mitch chuckled and raised a hand in concession. “Just promise me you’ll think about it.”

Andrea smiled, having no intention of doing any such thing, and her stepson turned back to the task of wringing order from chaos in the kitchen. Mitch had made great progress in setting things to rights - the house already looked half-civilized.

And time would prove his worries about this cruise wrong. Time and a big diamond rockeroo on Andrea’s left hand. After all, Mitch didn’t know much about love and how good it could be, thanks to Janice. No, it really wasn’t Mitch’s fault that he couldn’t trust in the concept of love.

He’d learn.

Eventually.

What Mitch needed was a woman to tie a big bow around his heart and drag him around behind her for the rest of his life. A woman like Lilith. That would keep him busy! And give him a much more appropriate focus for all that protectiveness.

Hmm. She’d have to think of a way to get those two together somehow.

Andrea’s smile widened as she thought about someone tying a bow around her own heart. Oh, she hoped the man of her dreams would be a really good dancer, as Lilith predicted. Three trips to the altar and she’d never yet married a man who could dance worth a hoot. Andrea dearly loved to dance.

Especially waltzes.

She would dream tonight of a Captain’s black tie dinner and dancing, dancing, swirling around an elegant room, locked in a perfectly eligible man’s arms. Andrea made a mental note to find a lovely swingy dress for that cruise.

You had to dress for success, after all.

 

* * *

 

The calls of “bye bye” brought Lilith to her front window Monday morning. She peeked through the blinds, feeling a bit guilty for spying, but unable to miss witnessing Mitch saying goodbye to his kids. Little Jen gave him a big hug, that well-loved blue bunny right in the middle of the transaction.

Lilith’s heart clenched and she bit her lip, those tears threatening to rise one more time. But she was never going to have children and she might as well get over it. Why on earth had it just started to bother her now?

Maybe because her true love was back?

Lilith wouldn’t have believed it, but Mitch looked even better dressed for work than he had on the weekend. His khaki chinos were pleated to perfection, his plaid short-sleeved shirt emphasized the breadth of his shoulders and his muscled forearms. Her heart twisted when he winked at Andrea and Lilith was certain he’d at least glance toward her house.

She braced herself for that look.

But Mitch just pivoted and walked toward Bloor Street and the subway. He didn’t even glance back. Lilith nibbled her lip and turned away, avoiding D’Artagnan’s perceptive glance.

She had the very definite sense that it wasn’t a coincidence Mitch hadn’t looked her way. No, Lilith was knew that he was irked with her.

But why?

Lilith’s gaze landed on the tarot cards she used for her readings, but for the first time in a long time, they just wouldn’t do. Neither would the stack on her night table. Lilith impulsively raced upstairs, rummaged in her cedar chest and brought an ancient treasure to light.

The tarot cards Dritta had given her. The tarot cards she had learned with. The tarot cards Lilith had not used since Sebastian drew The Fool.

Since she left the Rom kumpania.

They were heavy in Lilith’s hands, heavier than she remembered. Just holding them prompted a wealth of memories, she imagined the deck smelled faintly of patchouli. She cradled them in her hands, for they were frail after so many years, even with Lilith’s careful storage. She carried them down to the living room and eased them from the protective cocoon of silk.

It had been so long since she had even revealed them to the light. Lilith held her breath as she unwound the last layer of silk, half expecting that the cards would have disintegrated.

But they hadn’t, they were still whole, even though their edges were frayed and feathered. They were so thick! The colors of the paintings had faded, she supposed it was tempura paint or something equally perishable that had been used all those years ago.

The images made her smile in recollection. Lilith went slowly through the cards, Dritta’s voice echoing in her ears with the sight of each one. When she reached The Fool, she paused, her fingertips easing over the painting, then lingering on the zero above his head.

The first card. The null. Nothing on its own, The Fool increases everything it joins tenfold. A magical number, a mystical number, a card to be reckoned with.

A card of journeys, follies, adventures.

Lilith suddenly remembered an assertion Dritta had once made when they sat together late one night, a claim the other woman had never repeated. Lilith had never been able to coax Dritta to acknowledge again that she had even made the claim, let alone repeat it.

But she had and Lilith remembered. Dritta had said that the high cards - those twenty-one numbered individually - marked the path of a journey or a transformation, a coming to wisdom.

Lilith shuffled through the old deck with shaking fingers, unable to deny her sudden sense that she had remembered something very important.

Sebastian had drawn The Fool, the zero card.

On Saturday, Lilith had drawn The Magician, the one card.

After Mitch left Saturday night, The High Priestess had separated herself from the deck. Her number was two.

Yesterday, Lilith had drawn the Empress, number three.

She spread the four cards out on the table and looked at them carefully. It couldn’t be a coincidence that they had been coming to her in order. Just to test her belief that there was no such thing as coincidence, Lilith drew another card randomly from the deck.

It was The Emperor. Fifth card in the sequence, carrying the number four.

Lilith’s heart skipped a beat and she was instantly reassured at the state of matters between herself and Mitch. The Emperor, signified an audience with authority, with the man in charge, with a charismatic and decisive man. A man who valued logic and tangible evidence, a man who could be relied upon to do what is right.

Lilith had a pretty good idea who that man was.

Mitch was coming to see her.

But when?

Lilith had a sense that the cards were telling her something, just as they did in every consultation. She studied the five cards more carefully, the horizontal figure eight hanging in the air over The Magician’s head reminding her of something Dritta had done that night. She had lain out the court cards in a strange way, a way that represented the journey upon which they were guideposts.

Lilith quickly separated the rest of the court cards from her old deck and laid them out in her best recollection of how they should be. A few adjustments, some lip nibbling and concentration, and she was certain she had it right.

Immediately in front of herself, Lilith had laid The Fool, followed to his left by the next ten cards. They made a circle - or the left half of the sideways eight - each card facing outwards, their toes into the circle. Closing the circle was the eleventh card, number 10, The Wheel of Fortune, at what could be called three o’clock.

From there, Lilith had echoed the composition to the right, making the right half of the figure eight with the remaining cards. These ones, though, she had faced inwards, with their heads into the circle and their toes out. The twenty-second card - The World, number twenty-one - lay on top of The Wheel of Fortune.

The result was a figure eight turned sideways.

The symbol of infinity.

Lilith traced the curve with one fingertip, beginning with the Fool and ending with The World. Then she did it again. Dritta had talked that night about the endless cycle of reincarnation, the cycle of renewal and transformation. The path of the lower cards she had called sunwise, outward, male; the path of the higher cards being moonwise, inward, female.

Lilith understood instinctively that Sebastian had been reborn as Mitch, that he was on this journey, and somewhere, somehow, the course of his travels would mesh with Lilith’s. She supposed the cards were already telling her that it had.

The Fool was the beginning of it all, the new threshold that Sebastian had crossed, Lilith supposed the one that she had crossed when she was declared mahrime.

The Magician defined the moment she had chosen herself to have some influence on events, the moment Lilith had decided to act and create a spell. Perhaps it also represented the moment Mitch had chosen to buy his house, to make a home out of a neglected property, to conjure gold from dross.

The High Priestess whispered of intuition. It had been she who told Lilith to have faith in her conviction that Mitch was truly Sebastian, even if he didn’t remember. And maybe she had given Mitch a similar message, for he had been charming to Lilith when they next met.

Of course, his dog had trashed her garden in the interim.

Lilith ran her fingertips across The Empress card. Productivity was her realm, not just in terms of work but in terms of the earth itself. The Empress knew of gardens, of fruit and harvest. Lilith’s smile faded. And The Empress advised on parenting. Hadn’t yesterday shown what a protective parent Mitch was?

And reminded Lilith of the parent she would never be?

Lilith forced herself to consider the next card in their mutual adventure. A decisive man demanding an audience, that was The Emperor, which no doubt hinted at what Mitch would do sometime soon. But The Emperor was also concerned with the balance of power, with domination and submission, with defining who was in charge.

Lilith sat back and chewed her lip thoughtfully, unable to dismiss her sense that she didn’t like the import of that.

Eventually, Lilith turned the successive cards face down, leaving only those up to The Emperor face up. With one last glance over them, she left the cards where they lay and went to make herself a pot of chamomile tea to help her ponder Mitch’s next move.

 

* * *

 

The newsroom was a familiar cacophony of sound and Mitch welcomed the evidence of organization after his muddled weekend.

“Get moved all right?” Isabel demanded cheerfully. Their current interim, she was young and idealistic, too thin to be healthy to Mitch’s way of thinking and a whiz with both her camera and their antiquated filing system. Today she wore black, despite the heat, her lips a decidedly Gothic burgundy.

“Pretty much,” Mitch admitted. He gave her clothing a significant glance. “You look like you’ve been hanging out with those Edwardian vampires on Queen West.”

“New guy,” Isabel conceded. “So, what’s going on today?”

“I don’t know yet.” Mitch noted that his boss was beckoning him into their morning meeting. He grabbed a coffee and decided to take a chance. “But maybe you could do me a favor in the interim.”

“Anything for the star reporter.” Isabel grinned. “Might as well learn from the best.”

Mitch took the compliment in stride, knowing an investigative reporter was only as good as his latest scoop. “Have a look through the files and see if you can find anything about cons done by fortune tellers. Maybe in teams. And whenever there’s a woman involved, try to get me a description.”

Isabel whistled. “Sounds like a juicy lead. We gonna bust somebody?”

Mitch shrugged, striving to look more casual than he felt about this. “You never know. You can only follow them up.”

“Okay. I’ll see what I can get.”

“Thanks.” Mitch nodded, then headed into the meeting, scalding his lip on the coffee. It wasn’t even worth it, the stuff tasted so bad. All the same, he felt a grim satisfaction with both his idea and Isabel’s agreement to help.

Because cons weren’t the only ones who could retrieve information and use it to their own advantage. A harmless wacko next door was one thing – but a scam being run on his stepmother by that neighbor was quite another. Mitch was markedly less well disposed to his beguiling neighbor. By the end of the day, he was certain he’d have the goods on Lilith Romano.

Or whoever she really was.

 

* * *

 

By Monday afternoon, Lilith knew she had a serious problem.

She hadn’t thought much of it when a trio of cable repairmen came to her door that morning, insisting that they had to have access to her yard to fix the main line. She didn’t have cable herself, but she knew the line ran across the end of the backyard, along with the telephone wires.

It had been a bit strange that the trio had lingered on the porch grinning goofily at her, especially after she told them where the gate was.

Even after she shut the door, they still stood there.

And when they turned up in the backyard, they seemed to spend a lot more time looking for her than fixing the cable line. One waved so hard when he glimpsed her in the kitchen that he nearly fell off his ladder.

Lilith decided they had just been compelled to sit through a seminar on improving customer relations or some nonsense and didn’t think too much more about it.

Monday lunch brought the paperboy, whom Lilith hadn’t even known still came to collect personally. And she didn’t even have the paper delivered – she bought it at the corner every day. An earnest twelve-year-old, he stood in her foyer and gaped at her like a fish out of water.

It was more than a bit uncomfortable, especially as the boy stammered and flushed and couldn’t manage to tell her why he was there.

Then he comped her for a month of newspapers, blushed scarlet, and ran.

Lilith watched him go in puzzlement. She checked her blouse and her skirt but found nothing odd about what she was wearing. Everything was done up as it should be, the foyer was orderly and there was no obvious indication of what could have made the boy respond that way.

Maybe it was something in the wind. Or the stars. Lilith checked her charts, but there was nothing adverse there.

She might have forgotten it all, if cranky Mr. Lewison next door hadn’t gone out of his way to be friendly when she was leaving to run errands. He even gave Lilith a bloom from his prize Austen rose, the one he guarded jealously from the most fleeting glance of admiration. He bowed, before her astonished eyes, and surrendered the rose with a romantic flourish.

“Beauty to beauty,” he declared gallantly.

Lilith put the rose in water and wondered if Mr. Lewison had gone back to drinking gin for breakfast again.

The boy at the grocery store insisted on carrying her box of acquisitions all the way to the house, flatly refusing a tip. He just grinned and said carrying her groceries was enough of a bonus for him.

Lilith was starting to think that things were definitely odd by the time she rode her ancient bike down to the occult bookstore for her afternoon session of readings. A startling number of car accidents seemed to occur right behind her.

She supposed the roads were getting really dangerous.

But she had never noticed so many men idling around, apparently with nothing better to do than whistle appreciatively at women on bicycles.

At least, not until she got to the bookstore. Oddly enough, there was a whole line of people waiting for her to read their cards. That was a bit disconcerting. Usually there were one or two anxious older women, or a few giggling teenage girls, but Lilith had never been confronted by fifty men who looked like they probably had real jobs.

Fifty men with their tongues hanging out.

She frowned and entered the bookstore, just as the first two started a shoving match as to who was actually at the front of the line. The argument quickly escalated into a fist fight, even though the proprietor – a reedy man of the gentle, daisies-in-guns variety – tried desperately to intervene.

One last punch resolved the matter and the loser went down. As Lilith watched in astonishment, the victor clutched his bloody nose and lunged into the chair opposite Lilith, a very familiar gleam in his eye.

“Hey, baby, what’s your sign?” he murmured, a wolfish grin at his own cleverness curving over his lips. “Maybe you and me could, like, make a love connection.”

And Lilith suddenly understood. These men were all in lust.

For her.

And it was all because of her spell.

She sat back in her chair and regarded the line of agitated men with dawning horror, the lines she had chanted trailing through her mind.

 

“Lover true, come to me,

Through the air or across the sea;

Once we loved through the night with style –

Come back NOW! I’ll make it worth your while.”

 

Oops.

Lilith checked the state of all the pants she could see and swallowed hard. Oops, oops, oops. She had concocted a love potion, drunk it, and flat out forgotten to make it specific to Mitch.

These men: the paperboy, the cable guys, the grocery clerk, they all hoped to seduce her. They were all expecting her to make it worth their while.

They didn’t even know why they were attracted to her – they were just like dogs following a bitch in heat.

And Lilith had done this to herself. Just like the song said.

She really had made Love Potion Number Nine was apparently irresistible to the male gender as a result.

Yet the one man at whom the spell was supposed to be targeted seemed to be immune. Didn’t that just figure? It was too bad, because Lilith could have used a staunch defender of her honor. She wasn’t entirely sure she could escape this bookstore unscathed otherwise.

It was doubly annoying to realize that defending a woman’s honor was probably something Mitch Davison did quite well.

 

* * *

 

Mitch wasn’t in the best mood of his life. There seemed to be a lot of that going around. No doubt about it – when the facts didn’t come up the way he expected them to, the journalist in Mitch got cranky.

He climbed out of the subway station to the street and swung his briefcase into his other hand. Sweat trickled down his back as he trudged up his street.

He noted ruefully that his house was readily identifiable. Not only was it the worst-maintained dump on the block, the fastidiously kept house directly past it made the contrast unavoidable.

Lilith’s house. Mitch growled at the unwelcome reminder of the woman who was tormenting him. Not only had Isabel come up with a big fat zip on con teams in her foray through the files today, but they had discovered that Lilith Romano didn’t actually exist. Mitch had double-checked everything himself. But there it was.

It was as though she had never been.

Mitch smelled a story. But without anything in the files, he didn’t know where he’d find a lead.

Because people had to exist. They had to have social insurance numbers, they had to have immigration papers, they had to have bank accounts and various other numbers assigned to them.

Except Lilith didn’t.

Oh, she had bought the house ten years before all right, paid cash, which said something about the financial power of fortune telling that Mitch had never considered before. She had used a bogus social insurance number on the transaction, but it didn’t trace anywhere.

And before that property title, there was no record of Lilith Romance anywhere at all. She hadn’t been born here, she hadn’t immigrated here, she hadn’t ever been to the hospital, or passed a driver’s license test. She hadn’t had a run-in with the cops, she hadn’t filed a complaint with anybody anywhere.

She didn’t have a bank account. She didn’t have a phone. She didn’t answer surveys or buy investments or get on mailing lists. Somebody paid her property taxes in cash.

As far as Mitch could discern, she didn’t even pay income tax. That was a hell of a trick and one he wouldn’t mind learning himself. He eyed the winking neon sign in her window and resolved to check the business registry.

But Mitch was quite certain he wouldn’t find anything there either. He grimaced, pushed his way through the crowd of men on the sidewalk, and made his way up his own walkway.

The big question was why Lilith didn’t exist. Because people didn’t ‘disappear’ by accident. No, Lilith had spent a lot of moment making sure she couldn’t be found.

And honest people didn’t need to do that.

Mitch wasn’t going to consider that finding indications of Lilith’s nefarious intent was at the root of his bad mood. He wasn’t going to admit on any level that he’d been hoping that a little research would prove him overprotective and maybe even wrong.

He couldn’t be grumpy just because that hadn’t happened. After all, Mitch didn’t like being wrong, so being pleased by being proven wrong would have made no logical sense.

Mitch opened the front door and called as cheerful a greeting as he could manage. He had a policy of not bringing work – or its emotional fallout – home.

Jen squealed as she ran down the hall, the faithful Bun in tow, and threw herself into his arms. Mitch grinned and swung her high, very glad to see her giggling again.

“Daddy, we went swimming again. And we went to the store and Nana bought blue Jell-O and…”

Mitch shook his head with mock solemnity. “They don’t make blue Jell-O.”

“They do! Daddy, they do! We had some. It’s boo-berry.”

Mitch bounced his daughter on his hip and he headed for the kitchen, her litany of news running in one ear and out the other. Cooley nudged his knee, demanding his ears be scratched, his jowls dripping water.

Jason proudly displayed a mayonnaise jar. Its lid had been punctured, no doubt with one of Mitch’s better screwdrivers.

“I caught a cicada,” he declared and Mitch bent to squint into the jumble of grass.

“It’s a big one.”

Jen bounced Bun on her dad’s shoulder. “Nana made stir-fry and we helped and it took forever!”

Mitch looked up at that incredible bit of news. “Nana made a stir-fry?”

Jen and Jason nodded in unison.

Something was up. Mitch slanted a glance to Andrea who stirred honest-to-goodness vegetables a little too quickly to be entirely innocent.

What had happened while he was at work? Mitch wasn’t sure he wanted to know, the very presence of a healthy dinner hinting that it was something really bad.

Jen unwittingly spilled the beans. “And Daddy, Nana is going on a boat! A big white boat like on television!”

Mitch straightened. Andrea cast a tentative smile over her shoulder and stirred more quickly.

“Are you?” he asked, a decided frost in his tone.

His stepmother tossed her hair. “Love is in the gentle Caribbean breezes, Mitch,” she said. “I told you I was going.”

Mitch put Jen down as his temper came to a simmer. “I thought we had decided about this.”

“We did.” Andrea plunked a jug of grape Kool-Aid on the table with so much defiance that it sloshed high. “We just decided differently.”

Mitch kept his mouth shut while he counted to three.

It didn’t help a whole lot.

But then, Andrea didn’t know the whole story. Mitch cleared his throat and frowned. “Look, Andrea, I found out some stuff today. Someone” – he punctuated that word with a heavy glance – “has spent a lot of money to make sure she doesn’t have a paper trail. It’s like she doesn’t exist…”

Andrea dropped the spoon and spun in horror. “You snooped!”

“I did what I do best,” Mitch retorted. “And I did it for you.”

“Ha!” Andrea snatched up her wooden spoon and stirred with vigor. “You did it to prove that you were right. What is it with men? Why do you all have to be right, all the time, even when you’re wrong?”

“Andrea, what I found is not the mark of an honest citizen…”

“Oh, Mitch, give it a rest!” the older woman snapped. She threw the spoon into the skillet and turned a frustrated look on him. “I’m going on the cruise, and that’s that. Just let it go.”

“You should cancel it,” Mitch argued stubbornly. “Go on a cruise, any cruise, anywhere, just not that one. Book another.”

“It’s nonrefundable,” Andrea enunciated carefully. She banged a couple of pots. “And I’m glad. Now, sit down, the chicken’s getting cold.”

But Mitch wasn’t ready to let this go just yet.

Clearly, he wasn’t going to get through to Andrea now. She had that come-hell-or-high-water look that he knew better than to fight.

The argument had moved next door.

Because if Andrea was going to rely on Lilith’s advice, then Lilith had to be persuaded to abandon this con game.

Mitch knew he was the very man for the job.

“You go ahead,” he said. “I’ll be right back.”

Andrea glanced up, no doubt hearing the resolve in his tone, but Mitch didn’t care. He strode down the hall, kicked open the storm door and stalked toward his neighbor’s porch.

It was only then that he noticed the collection of men and boys lingering on the sidewalk in front of Lilith’s house. There was even a cable television repair crew, their truck parked illegally, all three of them staring at Lilith’s house as though they couldn’t look away. Mitch followed their gazes but couldn’t see anything that would prompt such an expression of moonstruck wonder.

Mitch scowled and pushed his way through the small crowd, heading decisively for Lilith’s porch.

A lanky man stepped suddenly into Mitch’s path, holding a massive box of chocolates. ‘Are you going to talk to Lilith?” he whispered with obvious awe.

“Yeah. Why?” Mitch knew he didn’t imagine the wonder that swept through the ranks in the wake of his simple agreement.

The man’s voice trembled when he spoke. “Then could you give this to her? Please?” He licked his lips nervously, his gaze darting to Lilith’s door and back to Mitch, his words tumbling forth. “It’s for today, at the bookstore. I hope she’ll understand that it wasn’t my fault, that I feel just awful about everything. I hope, I hope, I hope she isn’t mad at me.”

Before Mitch could make sense of that, the man pressed the box insistently into Mitch’s hands. To keep it from falling, Mitch ended up taking it.

And the man darted away.

“But wait!” Mitch called. “You should take this to her yourself! Make your own apology!” But the man was running down the street as though the hounds of hell were after him.

It had to be the biggest damn box of chocolates Mitch had ever seen. And here he had thought that they only packaged them like this at Valentine’s Day. The smell of warm chocolate wafted through the cardboard and Mitch’s belly growled.

A teenage boy stepped forward then, offering a pink envelope, his expression hopeful. “It’s a card for her. Chicks like cards, don’t they? Don’t they?”

Mitch didn’t know what to say, his experience in such matters fairly limited and not particularly successful. “I guess.”

Mitch’s acceptance of this token seemed to turn him into the official envoy. He didn’t know what else to do. He certainly wasn’t expecting to get loaded up, but that was what happened. Every guy there had something for Lilith, some affectionate gift or another, and Mitch ended up carrying them all.

It was really weird.

Mitch wasn’t quite sure what to do to make them stop. He almost forgot that he was angry at Lilith, because the situation was so strange. The men and boys stepped back in turn as their tokens were entrusted to Mitch, their expressions hesitant and hopeful.

And horny.

Oh, yeah, Mitch knew that look. Been there, done that. He frowned not liking his role. He considered the chocolates, perfume, stuffed toys and balloons and thought about the yearning they represented. Before he could figure out what exactly to say, a throat was cleared.

Mitch looked up into the rheumy old eyes of the man who must be Lilith’s other neighbor. That man offered a bouquet of roses, evidently cut from the plants surrounding his house. His gnarled hand shook as he handed the flowers over the short hedge.

“These, too,” he said hoarsely. “Tell her Joe sends them.” He smiled, as if the expression was unfamiliar. “Joe next door. It’s good just to know that they’ll be close to her.”

There was definitely something wrong with the drinking water in this neighborhood. Mitch would have to start buying the bottled stuff for the kids.

All the same, he couldn’t bring himself to be rude. He juggled his load and made his way to the door, more than aware of his expectant audience. Before he rang the bell, Mitch reminded himself why he had come.

Right. He was mad. Lilith was a crook, or at least she hid her trail like one, and he was convinced that she was trying to swindle Andrea. Mitch wasn’t going to let his stepmother get ripped off. Since he couldn’t change Andrea’s mind, he intended to persuade Lilith to find other prey.

That was it. Mitch took a deep breath as he rang the bell and tried to look forbidding. It was pretty hard to summon indignation with an armload of romantic gifts, but Mitch did his best.

He rang the bell again, then again, then knocked on the door. Lilith might have hidden herself away from the world, but she wasn’t hidden from him. Nope, Mitch was on to her, he smelled a story and his instincts were never wrong.

They were going to get this straightened out right now.

 

* * *

 

5

The Pope

 

“I’m coming!” Lilith called as the doorbell rang and rang and rang. The person was even knocking at the door, as if she could miss all that noise!

What could be so important? Lilith was rattled, having escaped the bookstore by a narrow margin and come home to find a growing legion on men on the sidewalk.

But everything was wrong in the stars for a counter-spell. So, Lilith had barricaded herself in the house to wait it out. She distrusted the fact that her bell rang now.

It was probably one of Those Men.

Well, Lilith was ready to tell them what she thought of their behavior. She’d been trapped in her house long enough and was done with it. Yes! She would give them a piece of her mind - and if they were looking to win her affections, that would finish that!

“Well? Where’s the fire?” Lilith demanded as she hauled open the door, then her mouth fell open in shock.

Because it seemed that Mitch wasn’t as immune to her spell as he’d insisted, after all. Gifts of a most romantic sort cascaded from his arms, he even clutched roses. He looked mildly startled by her greeting, but Lilith was delighted.

He remembered!

That alone made every trial of the day fade out of Lilith’s mind. Everything was finally falling into place. Lilith lunged out the door and cast herself into Mitch’s arms.

Actually, she landed in the midst of his packages and Mitch couldn’t do much about it. Lilith didn’t care. She landed a seriously yummy kiss on Mitch and embraced him with all the ardor she’d been saving just for him.

He made a little growl of protest, but much less than he had the first time, and maybe only because he was going to drop that great big box of chocolates. They’d probably cost a fortune, but Lilith didn’t care about the box. She wasn’t much for chocolate anyhow.

There was another kind of sweet treat she had in mind.

The box fell, the chocolates rolled, Lilith framed Mitch’s face with her hands and kissed him harder.

Mitch swore under her breath, shivered, and nearly lost his balance. Then he abruptly dropped everything else and caught Lilith up against him. His hands cradled the back of her waist possessively and he pulled her right to her toes. His lips slanted across hers with purpose and Lilith’s heart began to thunder.

He remembered!

This time would be even better than the last. Lilith joyously pressed her breasts against Mitch’s chest and took a deep breath of the warm masculine scent of him. She twined her fingers into the thickness of his hair and ran one bare toe up the back of his leg. He was so strong, so muscled, so perfectly delicious.

And he was really back.

Lilith rolled her tongue between his teeth and Mitch groaned. She felt the evidence that their thinking was as one in this and arched herself against him. Mitch gripped the back of her waist even tighter, he plundered her mouth with his. Sunlight danced in Lilith’s veins, she rolled her belly against his raging erection.

This was more like it! She had known that her one true love would be irresistible when he put his mind to seduction.

But just when everything seemed to be going exactly right for a change, Mitch suddenly gripped Lilith’s shoulders in his hands. He pushed her away from him, a steely glint of determination in his amber eyes.

“Not again,” he declared, his voice so low and gritty that it made Lilith tremble in anticipation. “Not like that again.”

Lilith blinked in alarm before she understood. No. Not on the porch. Or even in the foyer. Of course not. The house presented myriad, more private options.

What a marvel of practicality her man was!

Lilith snared Mitch’s collar and dragged him into the house. “Don’t worry. We can be very creative. Where should we start? In the living room? The bedroom? The kitchen?”

He frowned and planted his feet resolutely against the floor. “No. That’s not what I mean.”

Lilith was puzzled by his change of attitude. “You want to do it on the porch?”

At that suggestion, Mitch looked decidedly agitated. “No!”

“In the foyer again?”

Mitch looked at the carpet and swallowed, obviously remembering their first passionate encounter. When he looked back to her, the heat smoldering in his eyes made Lilith’s heart skip a beat. “Yes,” he said silkily, and reached out one hand to her before he suddenly checked his response.

“Wait a minute, wait a minute!” Mitch shook his head as though he was remembering something, or trying to shake something loose. “No!” He took a step back. “This isn’t what’s supposed to be happening here. This isn’t why I came!”

“It isn’t?” Lilith knew her confusion showed. “But I thought everything was going according to plan.”

Mitch impaled her with a bright glance. “Not my plan.” He shoved an hand through his hair and eyed Lilith with obvious exasperation. “What do you do to me, anyhow? How do you manage to make me forget the point, just like that?” He snapped his fingers, not looking too pleased about the situation.

But Lilith laughed. The answer was so perfectly obvious. “We’re destined to be together,” she said easily. “Of course, we have a powerful effect on each other.”

“Destiny,” Mitch muttered. “And here I thought you were going to blame it on a spell.”

Lilith smiled. “Well, maybe that didn’t hurt.”

Mitch took a deep and deliberate breath, then granted her a quelling glance. “Whatever it is, I wish you’d stop.”

Lilith blinked in surprise. “You do?” Then she smiled again, seeing his teasing for what it was. “You could have fooled me,” she purred, backing Mitch into the wall as she closed in for another kiss.

But Lilith never connected.

Mitch stepped quickly away, leaving her in mid-pucker. “Lilith!” He flung out his hands. “This has to stop! And it has to stop right now!”

“You’re the one who came bearing romantic gifts,” she felt compelled to observe.

But Mitch jabbed a finger toward the debris on the porch. “That stuff isn’t from me, so don’t go leaping to conclusions. I didn’t come to bring it either.” Lilith watched him, mystified as to what was his problem. He certainly was wound up. “It’s from them, so your gratitude is misplaced.”

Lilith looked to find that the army of men camped out in front of her house had grown. She winced. “Oh, no. I was hoping they were gone.”

“Well, they’re not.” Mitch sounded quite disgruntled about the whole thing, and rightly so, to Lilith’s way of thinking. “And they made me into their official envoy since I was coming here anyway.”

Lilith felt her lips quirk at this admission. Suddenly everything made perfect sense. Trust Mitch to be worried about only taking credit where it was due! So, he had remembered and come to tell her so, but he didn’t want her misunderstanding the source of these gifts. Her certainly had developed some noble traits in his character over the centuries.

She tried not to tease him, but she couldn’t resist. He was so serious about doing the Right Thing.

“And you only accept kisses that you think you’ve earned?” Lilith heard the laughter lurking in her voice, but Mitch didn’t smile. Lilith was undeterred. “So, do I have to wait until you bring me something to give you another kiss?” She playfully ran a fingertip up his bare forearm. “Or should we think of some other ways for you to earn a kiss?”

This time her lips brushed against his before Mitch caught his breath and took another step away.

“You’ve got to stop doing that!”

“Why?”

“Well, just because.” Mitch lifted a hand as though he would wipe away her kiss, but his fingers lingered against his lips. Lilith liked when he looked disheveled, surprised and slightly uncertain of himself. It was very sexy to know that she could rattle this man’s cage.

Because he definitely rattled hers.

Mitch’s gaze slid to meet Lilith’s, then his eyes narrowed. “”Do you do that to everybody who comes to your door?”

Lilith laughed. “So, that was what was bothering him! “No, of course not.” She wrinkled her nose. “Just you.” She walked her fingers up his chest and smiled at him. “I only have one absolutely perfect soulmate, after all.”

Mitch’s eyes flashed golden, a markedly good sign to Lilith’s way of thinking, before he cleared his throat. She leaned closer, but he gripped her shoulders and stared into her eyes. “I don’t really think we’re talking about the same thing here,” he began, but Lilith wasn’t interested in any further disclaimer.

This was silly. Mitch had remembered and that was no small thing. It called for a celebration! And Lilith was more than ready to get down to the business of celebrating.

Their future could begin right now.

“The reason I came…” Mitch would have continued but Lilith landed a fingertip firmly against his lips. He swallowed and stared at her, as though he was helpless to step away.

“Enough talk,” Lilith whispered. “This calls for a celebration and I can think of the perfect one.” Mitch’s eyes flashed as Lilith pressed herself against him. She replaced her fingertip with her lips and felt Mitch shiver right to the core.

Oh, yes, they could try out every single room in the house tonight. Their reunion was a little later than she had expected, but better late than never. Lilith’s heart sang. Mitch was so much more than she remembered him being as Sebastian. Now that he had remembered, well, Lilith wanted to share everything that had happened in the many years they’d been apart. She lifter her lips from his and felt his heartbeat under her fingertips.

It was racing just as fast as her own.

“We just have to talk,” she assured him with a slow smile.

But Mitch took a deep breath, gripped her shoulders and set her an arm’s length away from himself. The distance he had put between them seemed to restore his solemnity.

“Oh, yeah,” he said grimly. “We sure do.”

“No doubt he had lots of things to share with her, too. Lilith danced down the hall to the kitchen and beckoned to Mitch.

“Let’s have a glass of wine and toast the moment first.” Lilith snatched up a bottle of Valpolicella and twisted the corkscrew into the cork. She’d waited so long for this! “The celebrating could take all night.”

“Funny,” Mitch commented, his footsteps falling heavily in the hall behind her. “I don’t think it’s going to take very long at all.”

There was a resolve lurking in his tone that made Lilith pause in the act of tugging out the cork. For a man who had just found his one true love, Mitch didn’t sound very excited.

Something wasn’t right.

Lilith pivoted and studied Mitch for a long moment, noticing only now the tightness of his lips and the determination in every line of his figure.

Her heart fluttered. He looked very male amidst the bright cheerfulness of her kitchen, maybe because men seldom entered it.

And, Lilith realized, Mitch looked very annoyed.

But that wasn’t how he should be looking right now.

What was going on? Lilith bit her lip. Mitch certainly didn’t look smitten, or even very pleased to be welcomed into the haven of her kitchen. Belatedly, she realized that he had said that he didn’t think they were talking about the same thing.

Uh oh.

Lilith cleared her throat. “What exactly is going on?”

Mitch’s brows rose and he folded his arms across his chest, the move making him fill her doorframe. “That would be my question.” He cocked a brow. “What in the hell are you trying to pull?”

Lilith felt suddenly that the conversation had taken a sharp left without signaling. She looked down at the bottle of wine and knew he wasn’t referring to the cork. In fact, she had a funny feeling that there might not be anything to celebrate after all.

Lilith put the bottle deliberately back on the counter and straightened. She tried to keep her disappointment out of her voice. “Are you saying that you don’t remember being Sebastian, being with me? Isn’t that why you’re here?”

Mitch regarded her for a long moment, and when he answered, his tone had turned gentle. “I don’t remember that, Lilith. I’ve told you before, we’ve never met.”

Lilith spun and put the length of the kitchen between them, unable to halt the unruly tide of emotion within her. Only in the face of disappointment did she realize how much she had been hoping…

But that didn’t matter. Mitch didn’t remember.

Which left the question of why he had come.

Lilith took a deep breath and spun to face him again. He hadn’t moved, although his gaze was locked upon her. His eyes glowed, the way old amber did in sunlight, and Lilith was certain that she was the complete focus of his attention. “Then why did you come here tonight?”

“I want to know who you are.”

“But you know that already!”

“Nope. Mitch shook his head. “I know what you told me, but other than that, there’s no hint that you even exist.”

Lilith frowned, not understanding this assertion at all. “Of course I exist. I’m standing right here.”

Mitch’s brows rose and fell. “Correction: there’s no sign that anyone named Lilith Romano exists. No birth record, no immigration record, no marriage record, no telephone bill or bank accounts.” Mitch surveyed her, his eyes bright with intelligence. “Where did you come from, Lilith? Who are you, really?”

Lilith had been very careful over the years to make sure she didn’t arouse any suspicion wherever she lived. She was never going to be chased out of a village again for being different – and immortals were fundamentally different from everyone else.

It wasn’t very reassuring to find doubt glistening in the eyes of her beloved. She had a definite sense that mysteries didn’t survive long once they’d attracted Mitch’s attention.

Lilith took an unwilling step backwards, fear rising once more in her chest. She fought to keep her voice level, even as her heart pounded in recollection of running from gadje flames.

“I’m Lilith Romano,” she said, her words falling in haste. “I don’t have a bank account because I don’t want one. Same for the phone. I don’t know what those other records even are.”

Mitch shook his head. “That can’t be the truth.”

“Of course it is!”

“You must have spent a lot of money becoming invisible, Lilith,” Mitch explained, his voice low with conviction. “It wouldn’t matter, except that I want to know who’s sending my stepmother on a specific cruise. Mostly I want to know why.”

“Why?” Lilith frowned. “But you know that Andrea’s going on that cruise to meet her one true love.”

Mitch settled into the doorframe, looking markedly less certain of that. His gaze was relentlessly steady. “Understand that I don’t want her to be disappointed.”

Lilith’s confusion melted away at this sign of Mitch’s concern. He was being protective of Andrea, a regular old bear, just as that woman had said he would be. He really did take responsibility for everyone around him.

Lilith smiled in mingled relief and admiration. “But you don’t need to worry about this, Mitch. She’s going to meet the man of her dreams and be perfectly happy.”

“Lilith, that doesn’t make any sense.” Mitch didn’t look reassured. “How could you possibly know such a thing?”

“I do tell fortunes for a living, you know.”

“And I sniff out swindles for mine.”

Lilith’s smile disappeared with a snap. She bounded across the kitchen in her indignation. No one, but no one, insulted the merit of her Gift. It was real!

“I’m not swindling anyone! How could you even think such a thing?”

“Lilith, how could I think otherwise? Nothing else makes sense. No one can read the future…”

“I can read the future!” Lilith poked herself in the chest. “I have a precious Gift! And I told Andrea what I saw in her future.”

Mitch didn’t even blink. “How could you know such a thing?”

“She brought it with her. It’s right there in her eyes for anyone who cares to look.”

“Right.” Mitch’s skepticism was clear. “Isn’t it odd that you’re the only one who can see it there? Come on, Lilith, tell me the truth.”

“I am telling the truth! Look at this!” Lilith snatched up dozens of wedding invitations when Mitch looked unimpressed – the haul of the previous week – and tossed them at him. “I send people to meet their one true love all the time. It’s what I do!”

Mitch caught the cards, then turned them over in his hands, no doubt reading all the grateful messages scrawled inside. He read them, one after the other, and his expression grew more drawn.

Lilith had hoped to persuade him, but instead she saw a sadness dawn in his eyes. When Mitch eventually spoke, his words came low and flat, as though he was disappointed in her. “You really fool them, don’t you?” He glanced up suddenly and Lilith was shaken by the disillusionment she saw in his eyes. “I was hoping that you’d prove me wrong, Lilith.”

“You are wrong!”

Mitch shook his head and fingered the cards. “You really get them hooked. How long until your associated pull the rug out from under your starstruck victims?”

“Mitch!” Lilith gasped. “They’re not victims! They’re happy!”

Mitch grimaced and handed her back the cards. “For how long?”

“Forever. Love is forever.”

“Read that book and saw that movie.” Mitch shook his head and looked away. “That wasn’t the ending I recall.”

An awkward silence descended in the kitchen and Lilith wished she knew what had happened in his marriage to so disillusion him.

“I help people,” she maintained quietly, not knowing how to persuade him of her good intentions if he couldn’t believe in her Gift. “I really do.”

Mitch smiled wryly and heaved a sigh. “I guess I’m wasting everyone’s time here.” He turned to leave, obviously thinking little good of Lilith.

She shouldn’t have been surprised. The Emperor only believed in the tangible, after all.

Lilith felt sick.

“No, Mitch, wait. Please, let me try to explain.” Lilith had to try one last time. “I can look into people’s eyes and see their one true love. I can tell them where to find their soulmate. It’s not logical, it’s not sensible, but it’s what I do. I can’t even explain it myself. It’s the Gift that was entrusted to me. It’s my responsibility to use it.”

Mitch paused in her hallway and glanced over his shoulder. He must have seen something that persuaded him to give her another chance, because he suddenly pivoted.

“All right.” Mitch braced his hands on his hips. Lilith instinctively distrusted the challenge she heard in his tone. “Prove it. Go ahead and look. Tell me where to find my own true love.”

It was a brilliant idea. This would convince him! Lilith immediately looked into Mitch’s eyes. She looked hard.

Then, she looked again, just to make sure.

But there was absolutely nothing lurking in the deep gold of his eyes.

It couldn’t be. Lilith’s heart pounded. She looked one last time into Mitch’s eyes, studied him carefully, then took a slow step backward.

Something wasn’t right.

“There’s nothing there,” she admitted softly.

“See?” Mitch shrugged, his manner less triumphant than Lilith might have expected.

She didn’t know what else to say, didn’t know what to do other than watch him go.

But Mitch paused on the front threshold, suddenly very still. His head was bowed and he didn’t look back. “Lilith, I’d like you to tell Andrea not to go on the cruise.”

Lilith was appalled by the very suggestion. “Mitch, I can’t do that! She’ll miss a chance for love. Don’t you want her to be happy?”

His lips tightened as he turned to confront her. “Of course I do.” His eyes glittered. “And I don’t want anyone taking advantage of her. That’s why I’m here.”

Their gazes held for a charged moment and Lilith saw that she hadn’t come close to convincing him of anything. She didn’t know how to change his mind.

She didn’t know how to make him remember.

Lilith felt suddenly very small and very alone. She folded her arms round herself and held her ground. “I’m not taking advantage of her.”

“A very wise choice,” Mitch murmured.

And with that, he was gone.

Lilith looked down at the invitations scattered on the counter and shook her head in bewilderment. Why couldn’t Mitch just believe in love, like everyone else did?

Why wasn’t there any portent of love in his eyes?

A lump rose in Lilith’s throat at the prospect of Mitch not even having a true love. She’d never seen anything like that before. How could it be so?

Andrea’s earlier assertions rang in Lilith’s ears once more. She stared unseeingly at the invitations with their gold script and pearly roses, promised of fidelity and eternal love. Mitch had had these once: he must have believed once that he would be as happy as these couples were destined to be.

Lilith wondered what kind of a woman could destroy those idealist convictions so very quickly. She wondered what kind of woman would leave two little children alone.

Lilith had a feeling it was the same kind of woman who could steal a man’s heart away and leave a cold hollow in its place. Obviously, Mitch didn’t believe in love because he had loved his wife, and she had treated him badly.

Meeting her true love again wasn’t working out the way Lilith had imagined it. Lilith sighed and fingered the cards, noticing only now that her hands were shaking. She had never anticipated that finding Sebastian again would prove to be so difficult. Lilith wasn’t one to give up easily.

She’d think of something.

Maybe Mitch would change his mind when Andrea found her love on the cruise. Maybe time would melt the frost around his heart. Maybe then, something would change in his eyes.

Maybe.

Or maybe not. Lilith’s fingers trembled. Because either way, one thing couldn’t be denied.

Lilith Romano was not lurking in Mitch Davison’s eyes. And even knowing that the decisions of every passing moment affected the course of the future didn’t make that news less troubling.

Not in the least.

 

* * *

 

It wasn’t supposed to be this way.

But then, that seemed to be becoming Mitch’s theme song. He wasn’t supposed to prove his instincts right and then feel like garbage. But he had and he did.

Mitch wasn’t supposed to charge into battle to defend someone he cared about, win the battle, then wish he’d lost. He wasn’t supposed to forget every logical thought in his mind when he looked into his neighbor’s dark eyes, especially when he knew all sorts of suspicious things about her.

But he had.

At least, he didn’t have to like it.

Mitch ate cold chicken stir-fry with stoic resolve and ignored Andrea’s worried frown. He smiled at Jen’s nonsensical stories and answered Jason’s endless questions about how everything worked, but Mitch’s heart wasn’t really in it.

His heart was still next door.

He wasn’t supposed to have lost control again. He wasn’t supposed to have kissed Lilith as though his life defended on it. She wasn’t supposed to taste so good. She wasn’t supposed to be the most attractive and delightful woman he’d ever met. She wasn’t supposed to make him want to believe all sorts of wacky nonsense.

She wasn’t supposed to tangle him up inside and make him feel as though he was sliding into quicksand, with no chance of resisting her charms.

He wasn’t supposed to wonder why he was resisting at all. His hormones were supposed to be in cold storage, not running the show.

They certainly shouldn’t have been interfering with his thinking, much less his ability to get the job done. Mitch’s gut told him that Lilith was a fraud, his mind told him there was something fishy about the business next door, but his heart – and heart that hadn’t had much to say for a good long time – told him to get his sorry butt back next door and apologize to the lady.

Because his heart had never been a very trustworthy judge of anything, Mitch decided to sleep on its advice.

And double-check those files in the morning. Mitch was going to get to the bottom of this, and Lilith’s allure wasn’t going to shake a seasoned reporter like him off the trail.

It sounded like a good strategy, but Mitch’s heart – in league with his hormones – kept him awake all night long in the sticky August heat. It was as though, having finally found its voice, his heart intended to be heard.

Or that it intended to make Mitch realize that in his concern for right and wrong, he’d just made a big mistake.

 

* * *

 

Lilith didn’t imagine the flash of bright blue in her garden Tuesday morning. She groaned silently and pulled open the kitchen door, half expecting to find one of Those Men in her yard, trying to peep through the window.

But it was Jason who spun guiltily at the sound of the door opening. He was wearing a bright blue t-shirt. He clasped his hands behind his back and bit his lip, clearly certain he’d been caught at some crime. He was more fait than Mitch, though he had his father’s eyes. He would be a handsome boy when he grew up, Lilith acknowledged.

“Well, hello,” she said.

“I was looking for Ralph,” the boy admitted hopefully.

Lilith smiled. “I didn’t see him yesterday because I was out, but maybe he’ll come today. He usually comes in the morning.”

The little boy’s eyes lit up. “Like right now?”

“Pretty much.” She smiled as he scanned the garden anxiously. “Does your nana know you’re here?”

Jason shook his head. “She thinks I’m playing in our yard.” He grimaced comically. “But you have better bugs.”

“Well, I don’t mind you coming to see them, as long as everyone at your house knows where you are.” Lilith indicated the gate. “Go tell your nana, then let’s see if we can find Balthasar.”

“Who’s Balthasar?”

“The praying mantis. He likes it around the compost for some reason. He’ll sit on your finger if you’re still because he likes how warm it is.”

“Cool!”

And the little boy ran for the gate as fast as his legs could carry him. Lilith smiled, more than looking forward to sharing her knowledge of her garden.

Especially with such a curious pupil.

 

* * *

 

In the end, Ralph did come, delighting Jason once more as he sipped nectar from a flower the boy held. Balthasar sat on Jason’s finger for an eternity, before finally bounding away. They explored the toad’s favorite hiding places and found him lurking in a damp back corner.

Lilith invited Jason to give the toad a name and, inexplicably, the toad became Millie.

It was a wonderful morning. They laughed together and watched dragonflies and bumblebees. They tied the tops of the hollyhocks together and made a teepee which seemed to have flowers for walls. Monarch butterflies came when the phlox released their heady perfume in the late morning and Jason watched wide-eyed as they sipped nectar in their turn.

When Andrea called for lunch, Jason folded his hands in front of himself and stood before Lilith. Lilith bit back her smile as he politely and formally thanked her for letting him see her garden and her bugs. He looked like a miniature version of Mitch, solemnly doing what he knew was right.

Abruptly, Jason was five years old again, running for the gate and calling for his nana, all boundless enthusiasm, dirty fingers and scraped knees.

Lilith watched him go, thinking all the while that Mitch was a very, very lucky man. Her doorbell rang and she reluctantly abandoned her sunny garden.

It was Andrea, bouncing Jen on her hip.

“Oh, Jason just went home, around the back.”

“He’ll be fine for a moment.” The older woman glanced quickly toward Mitch’s house. “That’s not exactly why I’m here. I’m sorry to bother you, dear, I know you’re busy, but I was wondering whether you could do me a little favor.”

“Certainly.”

Andrea grinned. “Don’t agree too quickly, Lilith! I’m usually the one to leap before I look.”

Lilith smiled in turn, then sobered at Andrea’s next words.

“It’s about the cruise. I forgot that I promised to watch the children on the weekend that’s right in the middle. Mitch is going to a conference and if I don’t find someone else, then I’ll have to cancel.”

Oh.

Lilith looked at Jen. The little girl smiled tentatively, just as D’Artagnan wound his way out to the porch.

Her shyness was immediately banished.

“Kitty!” Jen squealed. “Nana! I want to pet the kitty!”

She squirmed and reached out. Lilith winced, expecting nothing good from her cranky live-in companion. The cat stiffened predictably, but then haughtily sniffed the little girl’s outstretched hand. Lilith prepared to intervene, but he sat back on his haunches, like a king prepared to receive his subjects.

He gave Jen a look that Lilith called the Ol’ Fish Eye, which was the closest he came to tolerance of humans, and Lilith breathed a sigh of relief.

“It’s okay,” she confirmed, then lowered her voice to Jen as if confiding a secret. “Pet him behind his ears. He likes that.”

Jen edged closer, her eyes shining. The cat visibly braced himself, but the little girl was surprisingly gentle when she reached out her hand. D’Artagnan averted his gaze as though unaware of her presence, though his ears moved tellingly. She patted him carefully, hitting his special spot, and the cat leaned into her touch as though powerless to do anything else.

And he purred.

Jen was enchanted. She hunkered down to lavish attention upon the cat, whispering little stories to him as he purred like an outboard motor.

Andrea smiled, then leaned closer. “Lilith, you’re the only one who understands how important this trip is. I couldn’t help noticing how good you were with Jason this morning. Do you think you might be able to manage the children for those few days?”

Watch Mitch’s children? After their last encounter, Lilith couldn’t imagine that he’d take well to the idea.

But on the other hand, the only way for Lilith to get herself into Mitch’s eyes where she rightly belonged was to work her way into his life. Things had to be set to rights and Lilith knew she was the woman for the job.

After all, she and Mitch were destined to be together. Fortunately, Lilith wasn’t one to be shy about taking chances. And winning her own true love back again was a prize well worth putting herself on the line. She was going to make Mitch remember and acknowledge their entwined destiny if it was the last thing she did.

Love, after all, was worth fighting for.

But before she spoke, Lilith’s gaze fell on the little girl. She remembered Jen’s upset of the other morning and her aversion to change. “Andrea, I don’t even know Jen…”

Andrea waved dismissively. “It’s not for almost three weeks!”

Lilith dropped her voice. “Doesn’t she get frightened when she’s alone?”

“Sometimes, but Lilith, I’ll make sure they both get to know you well enough that there won’t be any problems. And she’ll be settled into the house by then. Please?” She smiled. “So the course of true love can run smooth?”

Lilith looked at Jen and considered. She just couldn’t say no. She couldn’t make Andrea miss this cruise. Lilith knew how happy this new love was going to make Andrea.

And if Andrea thought there was time for both children to get used to her, she must be right.

Mitch would come around.

“I’ll do it.”

“Thank you! You won’t regret this, dear!” Andrea squeezed Lilith’s hand, then kissed her suddenly on the cheek. Then she straightened and offered her granddaughter a hand. “Come on, Jen. Jason is waiting for his lunch.”

The little girl shook her head. “I’ll stay with the kitty.”

It was as good a time as any to start forging familiarity.

Lilith squatted down beside Jen and scratched D’Artagnan’s ears too, well aware that Jen watched her. “His name is D’Artagnan,” she confided quietly, immensely relieved that the cat tolerated this attention. “And you can come to see him anytime you like.”

“Dartaggin.” Jen smiled and Lilith didn’t have the heart to correct her. The cat looked mildly insulted by this variant of his name. “Nana! I can come pet the kitty!”

Her noisy delight, or perhaps her mispronunciation of his name, seemed to persuade the cat that it was time to leave. He leapt to the windowsill and proceeded to clean himself, as though unaware that they all watched him.

Andrea captured the little girl’s hand when she might have given chase. “Isn’t that nice of Lilith. Now, let’s leave the kitty alone for a few moments and have lunch. You thank Lilith.”

Jen grinned and waved to Lilith, before turning her attention to the stairs. “Thank you, Lillit.”

The mangling of her own name made Lilith smile. “You’re welcome, Jen.”

Two kids for a weekend. Oh, she would be running!

Lilith grinned at the prospect. She felt suddenly much younger than her six hundred years or so. D’Artagnan bounded past her and stalked into the house, his tail straight as though he was proud of his own role in this.

He might come to regret it, if Jen chased him for the whole weekend. In fact, they both might sleep well after a few days with two children underfoot.

Lilith could hardly wait.

 

* * *

 

It seemed that every day of the week was hotter than the day before. The mercury inched higher and Mitch’s temper wore thinner. He couldn’t stop thinking about Lilith. He blamed it on guilt over his less-than-chivalrous behavior.

Just to make matters worse, Mitch wasn’t sleeping at night. He blamed that on the heat. He deliberately ignored the cluster of men on the sidewalk in front of Lilith’s house, refused to so much as glance in the direction of her house.

Mitch settled Jen and Jason into a friendly day care at the end of the street by midweek and waved Andrea on her way home that same morning. He walked the children home every night, and unpacked with merciless persistence after they were in bed. One night, he drove over to the lumberyard to get materials for the fence. He bent his not-inconsiderable will on getting Andrea to change her mind – without any noticeable signs of success.

And he thought about Lilith every moment of every day.

He noticed that Lilith had cleaned up her garden so that it didn’t look so bad. He found himself listening closely to Jason’s stories about Balthasar, the praying mantis near Lilith’s compost, and was startled to feel envious of his son for the chance to enjoy Lilith’s company.

Mitch tore apart the files at the office, and found nothing more about his neighbor than he had the first time. He looked again and again, he tried to dig deeper, but without success. Even Isabel was starting to think he had lost it.

On Thursday night, as Mitch lay staring at the duo-green ceiling, he resolved to spend any Christmas bonus on installing air-conditioning before the next summer. It was not only the heat keeping him awake, though. Mitch wasn’t going to admit – even to himself – that he was thinking of Lilith’s soft curves tangled in her sheets not that far away.

It was a matter of principle, though, that kept Mitch from Lilith’s door – as much as a conviction that she would land another one of those kisses on him and his control would melt like butter in the sun.

She probably used that technique all the time. No wonder it worked so damn well.

Mitch hated that hew as even susceptible.

Because it was wrong to swindle people. Criminal. The issue was perfectly simple and clear. Mitch was right and he knew it.

So why did being apart from Lilith feel so wrong? She was nuts, or a manipulative con artist, or a witch, or some combination platter of the above.

But Mitch wanted her in ways he had never wanted a woman before. It was more than her luscious kisses. It was that mischievous twinkle in her eye, her cleverness, the way she surprised him, the way she kept him guessing. Mitch wanted to know more about Lilith, and what he wanted to know wasn’t going to be lurking in any dusty office files or government databases.

Mitch was starting to wonder about his own sanity. Because the fact was, even knowing everything he knew, he was really looking forward to the possibility of crossing paths with Lilith this weekend.

Accidentally, of course.

It made absolutely no sense. And – remarkably – it had nothing to do with being right or being wrong. Mitch would be rebuilding a fence on the property line. It was only natural that they would see each other, that Lilith might come out to see his progress or make a suggestion.

The prospect of seeing her again was enough to make Mitch anxious for Saturday morning to begin. He told himself that his anticipation was a natural part of his quest for the truth about Andrea’s cruise.

But even Mitch noticed that the thought lacked a ring of truth. He scowled at the ceiling as the clock struck three and he faced an uncomfortable reality.

What he was looking forward to was, plain and simple, a glimpse of Lilith’s smile. Just the acknowledgment tightened everything within him. Mitch’s hormones were winning the field, despite his perfectly reasonable suspicions.

It wasn’t like him to lose his professional detachment when he chased a story. It wasn’t like him to lose track of the point. It wasn’t like him to be…beguiled.

Maybe Lilith had cast a spell on him.

The idea was so troubling that it ensured Mitch couldn’t sleep at all.

 

* * *

 

6

The Lovers

 

By Saturday morning, Lilith was done with it.

She had had more than enough of Those Men mooning around in front of her porch and she wasn’t going to take it any more. She had been hoping that time would do its thing on wearing down the spell, but no such luck. The calendar was wrong for her spell, but it didn’t matter. Lilith couldn’t wait any longer.

Besides, she had a sneaking feeling that their presence was affecting the reestablishment of her relationship with Mitch. And that simply wouldn’t do.

Lilith put her cauldron on the stove and set to work. An unbeguiling spell took a lot of concentration. It was a delicate balance to persuade a smitten man to simply not to love a woman anymore, at least without pushing the man into actively disliking or even hating the woman in question.

Do whatsoever you will but harm none. The old oath was tough to hold in this circumstance. Lilith was determined not to mess up.

She peeked through the front curtains and counted Those Men. If anything, their ranks had increased over the week. Lilith might have been pleased to have concocted such an effective potion - at least, if it had worked as it was supposed to.

She would not think about Mitch or the argument they had had the other night. And she certainly wouldn’t think any more about him having no one lurking in his eyes - let alone what she could do about it.

Lilith had lain awake enough nights over that already.

She was going to fix all of that, first things first.

Lilith frowned and considered the problem at hand. A potion gone wrong should definitely be countered with another potion, although Lilith winced as she guesstimated the quantity of elixir she would need.

This concocting could take all day.

And it would clean out her supplies.

But there was no choice. She had to make this come right. In fact, righting this unexpected wrinkle in her magick could put her back in Mitch’s eyes where she belonged. You never knew. At that promising thought, Lilith pushed up her sleeves and went to work.

With luck, by late afternoon, she’d be able to offer Those Men a quenchingly cool “herbal drink”. And then, provided they each only had a precise measure, one of Lilith’s troubles would be solved. She turned on the radio and grinned as the chorus of The Supremes’ “Where Did Our Love Go?” filled the kitchen.

In that moment, Lilith decided she liked the oldies station after all. She danced barefoot across the cool tiles and opened her cupboards with purpose, as her cauldron came to a boil.

She even sang along.

 

* * *

 

Saturday went better than expected. Not only did Kurt declare Mitch’s house basically sound, he set to work with a vengeance that Mitch found hard to match. Cooley and both kids defied expectation by staying out of the drying concrete in the fence postholes.

In fact, they all played so amiably together that Mitch tried not to look surprised. The fence took shape with surprising speed and Mitch could have called the day a great success.

Except for one critical detail. Lilith didn’t make an appearance. Mitch peeled off his shirt in the afternoon sun and couldn’t help thinking of her comment.

Instead, it was Andrea who appeared, lugging a great big box emblazoned with the logo of a fancy clothier. It looked as though she’d been indulging herself again.

Mitch smiled and shook his head indulgently, nodding to his stepmother. The kids called delighted greetings, while Andrea waved to the two men. “Hello, Kurt! How are you?”

“Great, Andrea.” Kurt paused to rub a hand over his perspiration-drenched brow and grinned his most charming grin. He whistled low at the sight of her and Andrea preened playfully. “How do you manage to look younger every time I see you?” he demanded.

Andrea shook a finger at Kurt and laughed. “And how do you get smoother and smoother every time I see you? Still breaking all those hearts?”

“As many as I can.”

“And not getting any younger while you’re at it.” Andrea sniffed disapprovingly. “What you need is a nice steady girlfriend.”

“Bah! A man needs variety. I’m a dyed-in-the-wool bachelor, Andrea, and don’t even imagine that I’ll change. Gonna die with my boots on.” Kurt winked devilishly at Mitch, then nailed a board in place. “You’ll never catch me committing to one flavor of ice cream for the rest of my life.”

“Ice cream!” Jen echoed, picking up on a key word with her characteristic selective hearing. “Who has ice cream?”

“Are we having ice cream?” Jason asked, poking his head out from behind the massive thistle that had claimed the back corner of the yard.

Mitch rolled his eyes good-naturedly. “Now, see what you’ve started?”

Kurt chuckled, then began to whistle as he worked.

“Ice cream in a minute,” Andrea declared.

“Funny,” Mitch mused as though he hadn’t already guessed what Andrea had brought. “We don’t even have any ice cream.”

Jen pouted, Jason sniffed and went back to his current investigation.

But Andrea grinned. “Now, how did I know that? You know, I just happened to bring a gallon of my favorite double chocolate chip. It jumped right into my basket at the quickie mart.”

Both kids cheered and Mitch shook his head. He pointed his hammer at Andrea. “Then, this afternoon, you can scrape them off the ceiling with a spatula,” he informed his unrepentant stepmother. “It would serve you right for filling them up with refined sugar.”

Andrea stuck out her tongue, then waved the big box. “First, you all have to be suitably dazzled by what I bought!” She hauled out an armload of blue chiffon and held it up to herself, swirling on the steps. It was a great color for her and Mitch had a sinking feeling that he knew exactly why she had bought the dress.

His smile disappeared in record time.

“Nana, let me see!” Jen launched herself across the yard, muddy fingers outstretched for this feminine delight, but Andrea whisked the dress out of harm’s way in the nick of time.

“It’s for Nana’s trip,” she said sweetly. “For dancing.” And she punctuated that last word with a glance at Mitch.

Though he’d fought the good fight, Mitch was smart enough to know that he had lost this one - big time. No doubt Andrea would come to him to do damage control - and knowing himself, Mitch knew he wouldn’t even have the heart to say he’d told her so.

He tried not to growl. “Nobody says you’ll find anyone who can dance well enough for you.”

Andrea snorted. “Lilith says and Lilith knows.”

At the sound of a woman’s name - any woman’s name - Kurt looked up with interest. “Lilith? Who’s Lilith?” He nudged Mitch hard and grinned. “Got a new girlfriend I can steal?”

“You should have stolen the last one,” Andrea commented dryly.

“Hey!” Mitch shook a finger at her.

Andrea rolled her eyes then held up a hand in surrender. “Okay, I know, I know. That topic’s off limits.”

Mitch checked but the kids weren’t listening.

“Where’s the ice cream, Nana?” Jen asked as Jason listened avidly for the answer.

“Lilith’s just our neighbor,” he said firmly, concentrating on hamming a nail home.

“Lilith is the most lovely person,” Andrea confirmed.

“Lillit has a kitty,” Jen contributed.

“And really neat bugs,” Jason amended.

“And she tells fortunes for a living!” Andrea concluded. “She can tell you how to find your one true love.” References apparently completed, Andrea herded the children toward the kitchen. “Now, who wants ice cream?”

The clamor was enough to deafen anyone unprepared for it. Cooley barked and bounded after the trio, pressing his nose hopefully against the screen door when Andrea firmly shut him out.

The dog whimpered, to no avail.

“A fortune-teller? No kidding.” Kurt glanced to Mitch and Mitch saw a familiar gleam in his buddy’s eye. “The ditzy ones are a lot less trouble. This Lilith have a true love of her own?”

“She’s single,” Mitch supplied tersely, not at all liking the smile that curved Kurt’s lips. It suddenly seemed like a critical error to have forgotten Kurt’s seducing ways. “Look, Kurt, leave her alone. She’s a nut anyway.”

“What do you mean?”

Mitch instinctively decided to make things sound worse than they were. He would not consider why. “I mean she thinks she’s a six hundred year old witch and that she casts spells on people that work. Nutty as a fruitcake.” Mitch rolled his eyes, trying to convey the ridiculousness of that.

But Kurt was unpersuaded. “A witch!” Kurt eyed Lilith’s house pointedly. “Wow. That would be something different.” He slanted a glance at Mitch. “What do you think it’s like? Being with a witch? You think it’s freaky?”

It really mattered to Mitch that he keep Kurt from going next door. “Isn’t there an old story that witches make things shrivel and fall off?” he asked idly as he hammered home a nail.

“Things?”

Mitch looked Kurt dead in the eye. “One particular thing.”

Kurt whistled, his speculative gaze drifting back to Lilith’s house. “Yeah, but what would you know about it? You’re too much the family man, ol’ buddy.”

Mitch concentrated on hammering that nail and ignored the heat on the back of his neck. Sunburn. Plain and simple.

Kurt exhaled through his teeth, his attention fixed again on Lilith’s house. “I think that a little witchy action might be just what the doctor ordered today.”

“What?” Panic rolled through Mitch. “Look, Kurt, leave it be. She’s my neighbor, after all!”

“Yeah, so. I’m not expected you to do the mogambo with her.”

That sunburn was hotter than hot. Mitch tried to sound as grim as he could, though why he imagined he’d win this battle, he didn’t know. “Kurt, don’t. It would be more than awkward. She’s just a fortune-teller...”

“What’s she look like?”

Mitch might have lied - his own astonishment over that uncharacteristic urge was the only reason the words didn’t jump out in time - but Lilith chose that moment to make an appearance on her back step. She let her cat out, glanced up and granted Mitch a warm smile.

His heart thumped in a way he was quite sure it wasn’t supposed to. And he couldn’t catch his breath. She was every bit as gorgeous as Mitch recalled, her smile ever bit as breathtaking as he remembered. Maybe even more so.

She really made it hard to keep all the dastardly things he knew about her straight in his mind, never mind the way she took advantage of people. That sweet slow smile made it hard to believe that she was a master criminal who had somehow ensured that her identity had been erased from all files. Maybe it was those dark eyes with that twinkle lurking in their depths that did Mitch in.

Mitch was surprised to realize that he didn’t really care. He just wanted to smile back at Lilith all day long.

But the lady had other ideas. She waved and ducked back inside, her cat curled into a watchful ball on the back step. In fact, she was already back in the house by the time Kurt whistled in admiration.

“Wow! You didn’t tell me she was gorgeous!”

“Well...”

“Trying to keep her for yourself, huh? Can’t say I blame you.” Kurt put his hammer down and scooped up his t-shirt. “But hey, I’m on to you now. Open field. All’s fair in love and war, right?”

“Wait a minute! Where are you going? It’s too early to quit.” Mitch gestured impatiently to the nearly finished fence. “Let’s get finished. We’re almost done.”

Kurt sighed theatrically and put a hand over his heart. “But I suddenly feel this burning desire to have my fortune told.” And with a wink, Kurt swaggered through the gate and headed for Lilith’s front porch.

Mitch had to stop Kurt from going in there! “But she’s an opportunist!” he called.

Kurt’s grin flashed in the shadows between the houses. “And you don’t think I am?” he joked.

Mitch hated with newfound passion that Kurt was both so classically good-looking and so successful in pursuing women. The guy looked like some kind of love god! And he spread his affections around as though he had invented sex.

If Lilith pounced on Kurt the way she had pounced on Mitch, the pair of them wouldn’t come up for air until Tuesday.

And that bothered Mitch a whole lot more than he knew it should.

“But she’s a witch!” he hissed, making the only other protest he could think of.

“Hey, I’ll let you know if anything falls off!” Kurt chuckled, then vaulted onto Lilith’s porch without a backward glance.

No, this wasn’t how things were supposed to go. Not at all. It wasn’t in Mitch’s script - and he sure as hell didn’t like the revision.

His hormones had plenty to say about it, but Mitch deliberately listened to his logic. Maybe he was right about Lilith’s interest in Andrea’s money, maybe he was wrong. Maybe there was some other explanation for her not being in any of the files she should have been in.

Either way, he wasn’t going to find out the truth by his usual means. Conventional research had yielded a big fat zero.

But Mitch was by no means out of options. The sudden idea that popped into his head was just too good to ignore. He put aside his own hammer and scooped up his t-shirt, tugging it quickly over his head. Of course, he was only doing this for Andrea’s good, and for the sake of uncovering a story, maybe of exposing a fraud.

But as Mitch stalked down the alley between the houses, he wasn’t thinking about any of those things. He was thinking of stopping Kurt from making Lilith another notch in his well-adorned bedpost.

It didn’t make any damn sense to worry about protecting a woman who seemed to prey on others for a living, but Mitch didn’t have time to think about it too much right now.

He had to do something. And he had to do it now.

And pretending to remember being Sebastian was the best plan Mitch could come up with in such short order. Lilith would certainly buy it, given her consistency with that concept.

Yep. Mitch was going Under Cover to get the truth. He was definitely on familiar ground.

For the moment, at least.

 

* * *

 

Cooley eventually realized that he was alone in the yard. He whimpered and pressed his nose to the screen - nosing it distinctly inward as he watched more than one glop of ice cream drop to the floor uncontested.

He sniffled to general disinterest.

No one was letting him in. Andrea finally glanced his way and shook her head sternly, dishing out more ice cream, all of it tantalizingly out of range.

Cooley’s ears drooped. He turned, then sprawled across the edge of the porch, practically covering its surface, and whimpered when he dropped his nose to his paws. Thoroughly ignored, he looked across his new haunt dejectedly.

A certain grey cat tiptoed across the back fence.

Cooley straightened, his nose twitched.

The cat turned to look at him, then flicked its tail in a silent dare.

“Go ahead,” that tail declared. “Make my day.”

The wolfhound exploded off the porch in a frenzy of barking. He landed hard, but bolted for the back fence. The cat took one look and ran like greased lightning to the neighbor’s yard.

But the fence in between wasn’t done. And Cooley was through the gap in record time.

He was going to get that cat, for once and for all.

 

* * *

 

Lilith almost immediately regretted opening the door. She had only done so because she had seen that it was Mitch’s friend knocking and she wondered whether something was wrong.

Something was wrong - but it was having this amorous wolf in her house when she was alone.

Even D’Artagnan, a fairly indifferent champion at the best of times, was out into the yard. Lilith’s potion for Those Men was cooling in the sink and she was too tired in the wake of concocting it to deal with this challenge.

Because it was clear that this man intended to launch a full assault, frontal or otherwise.

“Hi! I’m Kurt, Mitch’s friend. We’re working next door, you know.” He folded his arms across his chest and flexed a few muscles Lilith couldn’t name. His eyes twinkled in what was doubtless his interpretation of an engaging way. “Mitch tells me you read fortunes.”

Lilith retreated from the hungry gleam in Kurt’s eye and found herself in the foyer. He shut the door and smiled at her in a way that made her feel like the Special of the Day.

And that Kurt hadn’t eaten in a while.

Because from one glimpse, it was more than clear that Mitch’s friend thought he was Goddess’ gift to women everywhere. He was blond and tanned, his physique an obvious result of countless hours spent in the gym. His hair was boyishly ruffled to perfection and Lilith was certain he took longer to get ready for anything than any six women she could name.

“I do, but not today. I’m sorry.” Lilith smiled with pert professionalism. She waved her hand as though she was a bit dotty and said the first silly thing that hopped into her head. “Venus in Taurus, you know. My crystals are out at the cleansers. Not a good time.” She reached to open the door to toss this man out, but he unexpectedly captured her hand.

“Hey, I’m just looking for a little inside scoop, you know?” He winked, in no doubt of his own allure. “Maybe you could help me out. You know, point me in the direction of Grand Amour.”

Lilith took one look into Kurt’s eyes, an instinctive reaction to his request, and wasn’t surprised in the least by what she found. None other that Kurt himself smiled winningly back at her and she smiled slightly at this confirmation that the man could never love anyone as much as he loved himself.

Unfortunately, Kurt took that tiny smile as encouragement.

“Or maybe we could just chat for a couple of minutes, you and me,” he mumbled in a confidentially low tone. “Maybe over a quiet dinner somewhere.” Kurt smiled what Lilith knew he considered his winning smile and ran his thumb over the back of her hand.

And Lilith suddenly had a very good idea.

It was the best opportunity she was likely to have, after all.

“You must be terribly thirsty,” Lilith said with feigned concern. “You two have been working so hard out there.” Kurt flexed his muscles once more, no doubt to impress her with his masculinity. “How about some iced tea?”

His face brightened. “Hey, that would be great.”

“It’s herbal, so it might taste a bit odd,” Lilith said airily and headed for the kitchen. She wasn’t surprised when Kurt followed hot on her heels. She whispered a silent entreaty that her potion would work, because otherwise she didn’t know how she’d get rid of him.

And that could mean serious trouble.

Lilith refused to think about that. Once an optimist, always an optimist. The potion would work. She ladled ice into a glass and tried to sound casual. “I try to avoid caffeine, so I drink a lot of herbal brews instead.”

“Oh, yeah. You gotta watch that stuff.” He frowned at her cauldron. “That’s some kind of pot you’ve got there.”

“Oh!” Lilith smiled and lied as fast as she could. “Family piece, you know. Good luck.”

Kurt harumphed, his gaze fixed assessingly on her as he sipped. He grimaced and Lilith cursed the taste of the stuff. She hadn’t thought of that! She should have put some honey in it.

Because if Kurt didn’t drink it, the potion couldn’t work. And if the potion didn’t work, well, Lilith didn’t want to think too much about evicting him from her house by herself.

He was big, really big. A good eight inches taller than Lilith, even though she was tall. He clearly worked out, a lot, and might have a good eighty pounds on her.

When Kurt fingered the glass and hesitated after drinking only the barest sip, Lilith did the only thing she could under the circumstances. She stepped closer and opened her eyes wide in what she hoped was a hopeful expression.

“Do you like it? It’s my own very special mixture.” She pouted as though her teeny tiny heart would be fatally wounded by any rejection of her tea. “You wouldn’t hurt my feelings by not liking it, would you?”

“Of course, I like it.” Kurt smiled a slow sensual smile of intent, kept his gaze fixed on her and pointedly drained his glass.

When he set it deliberately on the counter, Lilith caught her breath and prayed.

 

* * *

 

Mitch didn’t trust the way Lilith’s door was closed tight. He knew she was home, he knew Kurt was in there, and it wasn’t a good sign that the heavy wooden door was closed on such a hot day.

Nope, Mitch did not have a good feeling about this. Remembering how quickly Lilith had gotten into his shorts was not reassuring in the least. He spared a glance for the vigilant crew on the sidewalk, frowned, then knocked.

To Mitch’s astonishment, he heard running footsteps. Lilith opened the door almost immediately.

To his further amazement, she didn’t look as though he had interrupted anything. Her dress didn’t appear in the least bit rumpled and she seemed safely unravished.

It was then he noticed that those incredible eyes glowed with pleasure. Mitch nearly dropped his teeth when he realized it was because she was glad to see him.

And Kurt, Mr. Seduction Central, was already here.

Or was he?

“Hi. I uh, I just thought I’d check up on Kurt,” Mitch managed to say. “Is he here?”

Lilith grimaced and Mitch almost laughed at the expression on her face when she nodded. She met his gaze and her smile dawned like a sunrise, her voice low and warm. “I’m so glad you stopped by. I’m not sure I can get rid of him!”

Mitch barely had time to feel good about her certainty he would help her before Lilith hauled him into her foyer. She linked her arm deliberately through his as she turned around, making the two of them seem like a team.

Mitch could smell that damned perfume of hers again. The tangle of her hair was soft against his upper arm and he felt his blood start to boil. He struggled to keep his mind on the reason why he had come and pretty much failed.

It was then he noticed that Kurt was standing in the doorway to Lilith’s kitchen, looking a little dazed. Kurt squinted at Lilith, then shook his head, then eyed her again. He leaned in the doorframe as though his balance was off.

Either that or he was drunk. But there hadn’t been nearly enough elapsed time for that.

What had happened? A cold hand clenched Mitch’s gut and he wondered whether he had been too slow in following his buddy. Certainly, Lilith’s linking arms with him seemed to hint at presenting a united front, and one against his old pal.

Had Kurt already come on to her?

Had she decked him or broken something over his head? It took that much to get Kurt’s attention sometimes when he was fixed on doing something.

Like seducing a beautiful woman.

“Hey, is he bothering you?” Mitch asked in a low voice.

“Not any more.” Lilith shook her head, then flicked a warm glance to Mitch.

And he felt a sense of relief that seemed decidedly inappropriate given the circumstances. Or at least, given the identity of the lady so determinedly pressing the soft curve of her breast against his arm.

Mitch cleared his throat deliberately. “Hey, Kurt, are you making trouble with the ladies again?”

“Me?” Kurt straightened with a grimace and shook his head once more. He reached back and fingered a glass on the kitchen countertop as though it confused him, too. He really was in bad shape. He even sounded groggy. “Nah. Just had a little iced tea and am heading on my way.”

Kurt lumbered right past Lilith without so much as a glance in her direction. Mitch couldn’t understand that, but he could almost feel the laughter bubbling up inside Lilith.

On the threshold, Kurt frowned, rubbed his forehead and looked at Lilith as though he couldn’t quite see her straight. He squinted, then rubbed his temples. “Hey Mitch, I’m just going to finish that fence, then I’ll be on my way. See you next Saturday?”

Mitch glanced sidelong at the lady beside him. She was biting back a smile. It seemed she had somehow persuaded Kurt to abandon his pursuit.

Which was saying something. Kurt was nothing if not determined when he was, as he called it, ‘on the hunt’.

Mitch cleared his throat and frowned. “I thought you were staying for dinner.”

“Nope. A man’s got to run wild on a Saturday night.” Kurt winked with a vestige of his characteristic nonchalance and Mitch was slightly reassured. Then he swaggered out the door. Kurt waved, without so much as another peek at Lilith, and strolled between the houses, his whistle carrying back to Mitch’s ears.

Kurt seemed to be all right, Lilith seemed to be all right, but something strange was definitely going on.

Mitch looked at the lady and reassured himself that she was every bit as lovely as she always had been. That wasn’t the problem. But the devilish twinkle that was dancing in her eyes hinted that she knew more than she was telling. “What exactly happened here?”

Lilith grinned. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, he came waltzing over here determined to seduce you. It’s not like Kurt to just walk away.”

Lilith fought to look innocent and didn’t even come close to pulling it off. “Maybe I told him I wasn’t interested.”

Mitch rolled his eyes. “That wouldn’t have made any difference. Kurt always says he likes a challenge.”

“Well, maybe I was too much of a challenge for him,” she declared.

“Color me skeptical,” Mitch murmured. “I don’t think there’s a beautiful woman alive who’s too much of a challenge for Kurt.

Lilith smiled sunnily. “Well, thank you.”

Mitch felt the back of his neck heat again as he realized what he had said. “Well, you know...”

“Shh!” Her fingertips landed against his lips. “Don’t spoil a compliment with an explanation,” she whispered. Lilith’s eyes danced and she wrinkled her nose playfully before her smile flashed once more. “Maybe I just cast a spell on him.”

And Mitch chuckled. He couldn’t help it. The glow in Lilith’s eyes and the softness of her fingertips against his skin made Mitch wonder why the hell he was worried about Kurt. The guy could take care of himself.

And besides, wasn’t he glad that Kurt hadn’t hit on Lilith with any success?

“Let’s talk about something much more interesting,” Lilith whispered. She leaned against Mitch’s chest, her curvy lips well within range. “Why did you leap in to protect me from his wiles?”

Mitch tried to shrug off the question. “Kurt doesn’t treat women well. I wouldn’t want him to hurt you or anyone else.”

Lilith smiled. “You’d champion me, even though you’re worried I’m trying to con Andrea?”

She had him there. Despite himself, Mitch felt an admiration for the lady’s clear thinking. She was doing better than he was, come to think of it.

And maybe that was why Mitch found it a lot harder to use his cover story than he had expected. Or maybe it was just that strange sense that she could read his thoughts.

Either way, Mitch didn’t say exactly what he had planned to say.

“Maybe I was wrong,” he admitted softly.

Lilith’s eyes widened with delight and she stretched to her toes, as though so anxious to hear his words that she had to be closer to his lips. Her eyes were wide and bright with anticipation. “Do you remember, then?” she asked breathlessly.

Mitch’s heart began to pound in his ears. He stared down into Lilith’s eyes and knew what she was hoping his answer would be. And he knew what he should say, at least if he was going to follow his plan of “going inside” to get the real story.

But there was something about this woman that made Mitch loathe to lie to her. It had seemed like such a good idea, but now, when he stood before her, Mitch couldn’t summon that lie to his lips.

“I’d like to,” was the best he could do.

Much to Mitch’s own surprise, as soon as he uttered the words, he knew they were true. In this moment, in this place, he wanted to remember that this woman and he had once been together, had once been in love, had once trusted each other completely.

It was crazy and it made no sense at all, but for once in his life, Mitch didn’t care. Standing in Lilith’s foyer, with her almost in his arms, being with her seemed to be the only thing that did make sense.

And when she looked deeply into his eyes, then flushed slightly and smiled, Mitch knew she was the most irresistible woman he’d ever met.

He didn’t want her to ask him any more questions. He didn’t want to lie to her. He just wanted to get past this moment. He told himself that it was for lack of any better options that he gave in to temptation.

Mitch captured Lilith’s fingers in his hand and pressed a kiss into her palm. She caught her breath, their gazes locked, then slowly, feeling like a fish being towed in on a lure, Mitch bent and touched her lips with his. He felt the barest twinge of guilt before Lilith cast her arms around his neck with undisguised delight.

And once she started kissing him back, well, anything other than the taste of her just seemed a petty technicality. Mitch braced his feet against the floor, leaned back against the wall, and gathered the lady into his arms with purpose.

Her kiss was so sweet, so warm and welcoming, so downright wonderful that Mitch very quickly forgot everything else but Lilith. He didn’t care about getting to the bottom of a story, he didn’t care about the truth, he didn’t even care how Lilith managed to evade every kind of record-keeping there was.

He only cared that she kissed like a goddess. Mitch might have taken a wrong turn at Albuquerque, but he wasn’t going to stop and ask for directions now.

Unfortunately, the moment wasn’t destined to last long at all.

 

* * *

 

Lilith was so relieved that she barely noticed the agitated barking from the backyard. She abandoned herself to Mitch’s kiss with a vengeance. Something had happened, something had broken free inside him.

Because when he admitted he’d like to remember, Lilith had found a teeny tiny mirror image of herself waving back from the depths of his eyes.

Whatever obstacle had stood between them was banished and Lilith wasn’t holding anything back.

Everything was going to be fine.

The volume of the barking grew louder. Mitch lifted his head, muttered a curse that told Lilith just whose dog was responsible, then gave her a crooked smile.

“He is a great dog, really, and not usually so noisy.”

Lilith shrugged, but a very feline yowl echoed from the back of the house before she could admit her own cat’s almost certain role in this. “D’Artagnan!”

“Cooley!” Mitch muttered.

They turned as one for the kitchen just as the cat rocketed through his cat door and flung himself into the kitchen. It seemed every hair of fur D’Artagnan had was standing on end as he skated down the expanse of tile. Cooley barked from the yard, Lilith heard the dog’s nails on the porch. Through the kitchen window, she saw a huge shadow lunge against the back door.

“Oh no!” Mitch seemed to know what was going to happen right before it did.

Right after it was too late to do anything about it.

Even knowing it was too late, he still ran. The door creaked, the dog barked, and with a resounding screech, the screen surrendered to Cooley’s weight and popped from its frame. Cooley landed in the kitchen with a thump, amidst a tangled pile of screen. He was on his feet in a heartbeat, his gaze fixed on D’Artagnan. He growled and fought for traction on the tile.

“Cooley, sit!” Mitch raced the length of the room, bellowing in a most authoritative tone, but the dog was oblivious to anything other than his prey.

Cooley’s nose quivered, his ears stood up, his bark resonated through the house when D’Artagnan leapt to the counter.

Lilith knew that things were going to rapidly get worse.

“No!” Mitch dove for the dog’s collar but he didn’t have a chance.

“No!” Lilith cried when the cat raced down the countertop. It was so disgusting when he did that! All her little pots and canisters wobbled dangerously, several teetered and broke.

But to Lilith’s horror, it got a lot worse. The dog leapt and made it up onto the counter, as well. Everything scattered in the wake of a decidedly flawed landing. Chaos reigned briefly, both Lilith and Mitch shouted to no avail.

Until Cooley reached the sink.

The dog froze, sniffed, and appeared to forget all about the cat. He hunkered down and proceeded to vacuum up Lilith’s potion.

“Cooley! No!” Lilith cried. D’Artagnan quietly slid out the door and headed for safety in some dog-proof zone.

“Cooley! Off!” Mitch roared.

The dog evidently knew he’d be challenged on this, because he gulped the contents of the pot with record speed. His gaze tracked how close the two humans were, his tongue moved like it was jet-powered.

It was Lilith that reached him first and half of the liquid was gone.

“Cooley, no!” Lilith repeated as she drew near the dog. She reached out her hand to grab the cauldron.

But the wolfhound lifted his head and snarled at her.

Lilith snatched back her hand. “I thought you said he seldom bit.”

“My mistake.” Mitch groaned. “This is just getting better and better,” he muttered under his breath.

But Lilith suddenly guessed what the problem was. She took a step closer, just to be sure, and the dog showed her his teeth.

Lilith was delighted. Her potion did work! She hadn’t been positive when Kurt left whether the change in his manner was due to Mitch’s presence or her “tea”.

Now there could be no doubt.

“That’s it!” Mitch bellowed. “Cooley! Down! Out!”

The dog straightened suddenly, as though surprised at what he had done, then turned a mortified expression on his master.

“Get off that counter and out of this house,” Mitch told the beast grimly. “Right now.”

The dog had the wits to do as he was told. Or at least, if he didn’t literally understand the command, he knew he was in trouble and would be better off elsewhere.

Cooley almost fell off the counter, he was so busy trying to keep a low profile, and skulked to the back door. Mitch opened what was left of the door and pointed imperiously to his own yard.

“You know where to go,” he informed the dog, who returned guiltily to his corner of exile from the week before.

Mitch exhaled slowly, winced at the damage to the door, then turned toward Lilith. It seemed he couldn’t look her in the eye.

“Looks like I owe you another apology,” he said quietly. He nudged the remains of the screen with his toe and Lilith knew it would never go back in place. In fact, the door had bent beneath the dog’s weight and didn’t even shut right anymore. Mitch swung it back and forth, eying the damage with a wince. “And a new storm door, too.”

Lilith folded her arms across her chest, secretly too delighted that her potion was effective to worry very much about the door. She knew Mitch would do the right thing, and she didn’t really care very much about the door.

Everything, after all, was right back on track between them and that made Lilith feel all bubbly inside.

What she did care about was how upset Mitch was about his dog’s deeds.

“I had no idea dogs were so expensive,” she mused, keeping her tone deliberately light. Mitch’s head snapped up and he blinked at her smile as though he didn’t know quite what to do about it.

“I should have cast that spell years ago.” Lilith grinned outright and leaned one hip against the counter. “Just think of all the home repairs I would have all done. I could have been living in the lap of luxury all this time.”

Mitch grinned despite himself, then sobered. “It’s really not funny,” he insisted solemnly.

Lilith sobered in turn. “No, of course not. I was very attached to that ancient, warped and extremely well-painted storm door. I could have gotten, oh, a dollar in a garage sale for it. On a good day.” She scowled with mock ferocity. “No. Losing it is not funny at all.”

Their eyes met.

Their lips twitched.

They chuckled.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen a cat move so fast,” Mitch said under his breath.

Lilith laughed. “Did you see D’Artagnan’s fur?”

Mitch snorted. “He looked like he’d caught the wrong end of an electrical wire.”

“Or fell into the dryer without fabric softener.”

Mitch leaned against the wall and chuckled. The smile tugging his lips made Lilith want to jump on him again. The light of concern that invaded his warm gaze was icing on the cake. “You think he’s all right?”

“Insulted horribly, I’m sure, but that’s hardly lethal.” Lilith held a hand to her lips as she remembered something else. “And the look on Cooley’s face when he was trying to drain that pot before we reached him. It was priceless!”

Mitch grinned. “Even though he knew he would dead meat for it. Talk about stubborn! That must be something you’ve cooked up there.”

Lilith smiled. “Oh, it’s a wicked brew. You know, a witch always has to have a little something on the boil.”

The words seemed to erase any trace of humor in Mitch’s expression. He frowned thoughtfully at the door, his gaze trailing to the repentant dog. When he spoke, his words were low with conviction. “Lilith, my dog growled at you. That’s not funny.” His frown deepened. “It’s really not like him to do something like that.”

But Lilith didn’t want Mitch blaming the dog. “Maybe it wasn’t his fault.”

“What do you mean? Of course it was. He’s smart enough to know what he’s doing.” Mitch’s lips drew to a taut line and he cast a glance over the fence. “And he’s trained well enough to know better than that.”

“It’s not his fault.” Lilith shook her head and pointed to the half-empty pot in her sink. “No joke, that is a magickal brew, Mitch. Cooley drank half of a potion intended for forty men. It’s no wonder it had such an effect on him.”

Mitch folded his arms across his chest. One chestnut brow arched high. “Another love potion?”

Lilith laughed. “No, a love antidote.”

Mitch didn’t smile. “I don’t understand.”

Lilith was more than ready to explain. After all, there was no reason to keep secrets from her one true love. “It’s for those men out there. You see, they were caught up in the web of the love spell I cast for you. It seems to have worked really well on them, for whatever that’s worth, but I just can’t have them standing out there forever.”

Mitch’s expression was blank and Lilith had no doubt that was deliberate. She just couldn’t guess why.

But then, it was going to take time for them to learn all of each other’s secrets. Lilith was more than prepared to make the investment.

“So, you mixed up an antidote,” he said casually.

“Well, what else could I do? At least we know it works.”

Mitch shook his head. “We don’t know anything of the kind.”

“Of course we do. I gave some to Kurt and he changed his mind about pursuing me.”

Mitch peered at the green contents of the pot. “Kurt drank this willingly?”

Lilith smiled. “I told him it was my own special brew.” She fluttered her eyelashes tellingly and Mitch shook his head.

His eyes twinkled, then eyed the concoction dubiously. “It is amazing what he’ll do. Will it hurt him?”

“No.” Lilith tapped a fingertip on Mitch’s arm. “Of course, if I had known you were coming to save me,” she murmured, “I wouldn’t have had to even give him any.”

“I wasn’t...” Mitch started to protest, then fell silent. He frowned, looked at Lilith, then turned his attention back on the cauldron.

The back of his neck got red. Lilith smiled, liking very much that Mitch was hesitant to name his own noble urges. Actions were the proof of good intent, after all, not just words.

“Kurt’s a good guy, but he has kind of a one track mind,” he said gruffly.

“It’s okay,” Lilith whispered and sidled up beside him. “Feel free to come to my rescue any time you like.”

Mitch’s eyes flashed, but Lilith reached past him for the cauldron. He stepped back as she hefted it over to the stove.

His tone was considering when he finally spoke. “And you’re saying this potion is why Cooley growled at you?”

“Of course! It’s clearly not in his nature. Kurt and Cooley - that’s proof enough for me.” Lilith gave Mitch a stern glance. “Two points do make a line, you know, at least last I heard. Honestly, Mitch, you just have to think these things through logically to see what perfect sense they make. It’s not hard.”

Mitch blinked and didn’t seem to have much to say about that.

Lilith frowned at the pot, intent on getting things back on schedule. “Maybe if I pick out the dog hairs and bring it back up to a boil, it will still be okay.”

Mitch grimaced comically. “After Cooley’s had his jowls in it? Remind me never to eat at this restaurant.”

Lilith threw back her head and laughed at his teasing. “You don’t have to drink it! Besides I don’t have enough ingredients to make up another batch.” She considered the pot and decided. “It’s just going to have to do.”

Lilith turned on the element, then glanced pointedly to Mitch. “So, will you pour for the first hour or should I?”

 

* * *

 

7

The Chariot

 

If anyone had told Mitch two weeks before that he would be offering a green brew in mismatched bone china cups and saucers to an unlikely gathering of men on the sidewalk in front of his new neighbor’s house, he wouldn’t have believed it.

And even a few minutes before, he wouldn’t have believed that those same men would have willingly drunk Lilith’s brew. The stuff had a wicked smell, even after she ladled a big glob of honey into it.

But it seemed that just her endorsement was enough to have all those star-struck men sipping like obedient puppies. They lifted their pinkies in the air as they held the delicate cups, their gazes locked on Lilith as though they couldn’t bear to look anywhere else.

Mitch certainly didn’t imagine that the “potion” would work, even after Cooley’s and Kurt’s responses. He wasn’t nearly as ready as Lilith to draw a line between those points.

But he was curious. The mark of a good journalist, Mitch told himself, refusing to acknowledge that he had any interest in seeing these guys move along.

He watched them drink, not a word from any of them, and felt as though he had stepped into a foreign film with incomprehensible sub-titles. The scary thing was that this wasn’t the first Truly Weird thing Mitch had witnessed since he moved. Or even, the first Truly Weird thing he had done in Lilith’s company.

He tried not to think about that.

He tried not to think about Lilith’s new certainty that he was her champion, much less the warm feeling that gave him inside.

He tried not to think about the way she kissed him, or the scent of her perfume, or even to notice the contrast of her bare feet against the grass.

He really tried not to be charmed by a woman who chided him for not using good solid logic to make conclusions, even if her assumptions were a bit out of this world.

And most of all, Mitch tried not to worry about any of these men responding to Lilith’s potion the way Cooley supposedly had. Lilith had refused to hear anything about the possibility, but Mitch watched them sip dutifully and wondered.

Of course, what Mitch should have been doing was trying to find out about Lilith’s nefarious schemes. He should have been ferreting out the truth about Andrea’s cruise. He should have been focused and diligent and concentrating on the job he had made his own.

But instead, after the men had drained their teacups, he stood with Lilith, holding the empty tray and his breath. And Mitch watched as, one at a time, they each got that look of confusion, as though they had just awakened from a long dream and weren’t quite sure where they were.

They looked at Lilith.

In obvious uncertainty, they looked at Mitch, the house, each other, then back at Lilith again. They looked down to the cups in the hands, then at Lilith one more time. Several checked their watches, one looked at the sky as though unable to fathom where the hours had gone. The cable guys frowned at the parking tickets clustered on the windshield of their truck.

Then without a single word, the men turned and left as one.

They dumped their cups back on Mitch’s tray, studiously avoided his gaze, and stepped away without a backward glance. It was incomprehensible, it was illogical, it was whimsical.

But it seemed that Lilith’s potion was working.

And even more oddly, Mitch couldn’t quell his relief when the last of them rubbed his brow and wandered away. When Lilith hooted with delight and threw herself into his arms, Mitch decided it would be rude to not catch her.

And even more rude to not kiss her.

Although he suspected that he invited her for dinner for an entirely different reason than he should, Mitch did it anyway. And even though his heart took that strange double-skip when Lilith accepted the invitation, he knew that couldn’t mean anything at all.

It wouldn’t have been logical, after all.

 

* * *

 

When Mitch ushered Lilith into the house and announced with no small measure of triumph that she was staying for dinner, Andrea was certain she couldn’t have planned things better herself. Mitch didn’t look nearly as grim as he had recently, which could only be a good sign. And Lilith was flushed like a girl in love.

Perfect.

“About time you showed up,” Andrea chided, having no intention of revealing how much this development pleased her. “Dinner’s going to be burned to a crisp.”

“Cooley had an altercation with Lilith’s storm door,” Mitch supplied amiably.

Lilith’s eyes twinkled. “The door lost.”

Andrea smiled. She could just imagine. And from the look of these two, there were no hard feelings over the matter.

“Lillit, where’s your kitty?” Jen demanded, her fair brow tight with concern. “Is he all alone?”

“No, Jen, he’s okay.” Lilith crouched down beside the little girl and shared that smile. “He’s just asleep.”

“In the furthest corner of the attic,” Mitch muttered. “It’ll probably be days before he -“ Mitch paused and looked at Jen “- uh, before he wakes up.”

Jen bit her lip with consternation. “Is Dartaggin sick?”

“No, no.” Lilith shook her head. She seemed to exude a soothing calm and Andrea noted with approval that Jen was not immune to its effect. The little girl visibly relaxed. “He’s just tired.” Lilith’s lips quirked as though she couldn’t stop them. “He had a busy, busy day.”

“Lots of running around,” Mitch contributed. The pair looked at each other for the first time since they had walked in the door and started to chuckle.

Andrea didn’t understand why and she didn’t much care. It was good to see Mitch smiling in a woman’s company again.

The timer went off and Andrea flicked on the oven light, trying to discern without opening the door whether the frozen french fries were cooked or not.

“Well, my bug is sick,” Jason piped up.

Lilith immediately looked as though this was the mightiest problem confronting the free world. Andrea smiled to herself, then decided to leave those fries just a few minutes longer. She hated when they were mushy inside.

“Oh, what’s wrong with him?”

“I dunno.” Jason entrusted Lilith with his mayonnaise jar and they peered through the fogged glass together. “He hasn’t moved much since I caught him.”

“Mmm. Do you know what kind of bug it is?”

“A cicada. His name is Bob.”

“Bob the Cicada?” Lilith echoed.

Mitch cleared his throat suddenly and Andrea caught the glint in his eye. “Bob,” he mouthed silently as he came to Andrea’s side, then shook his head as he bit back his laughter. Andrea was very relieved to see his eyes sparkle like that. Mitch reached into the fridge for the hamburger patties. “Is the grill on?”

“Yes, it’s ready,” Andrea confided. “So are the fries, just about.”

“Fries?” Mitch grimaced. “What happened to salad?”

“Oh, we won’t waste your nice salad. Now, shoo. And hurry up.” Andrea flicked her hands and Mitch shooed, both of them content to leave the kids talking to Lilith.

“There’s Bob!” Jen cried.

Jason tapped a finger on the jar. “See? Right there.”

Lilith frowned with concern. “He’s awfully still, Jason.”

“What’s the matter with him?”

Lilith pursed her lips in thought. “Do you know what cicadas do when they’re happy?”

Jason shrugged, Jen watched Lilith with wide eyes.

“Well, they’re not so different from us,” Lilith confided and dropped to sit cross-legged on the floor between the children. “They like to sing.”

Jason shook his head, daddy’s little skeptic. “Bugs don’t sing!”

“Not really. But they can rub their wings together and make a sound that we call singing. Crickets do it, too.”

“I thought that was when they wanted to find a lady cricket and make babies.”

“See? Just like us.” Lilith smiled. “People sing when they’re courting, too. And they court when they’re happy. Has Bob been singing?”

“No.” Jason was solemn.

“Then, maybe, he isn’t very happy.”

“But why not? I put lots of grass and stuff in the jar for him!”

“Maybe it’s too hot. Or maybe he just doesn’t like being stuck in the jar.” Lilith made a face. “Do you like when you have to stay in your room?”

“No.”

“It’s kind of the same, isn’t it?”

Jason shuffled his feet as he considered that.

Mitch strode back into the kitchen and put the dirty plate in the sink. “Five minutes a side.”

“Can’t I have mine rare?” Andrea asked.

One look from Mitch answered her question. “You do remember our microscopic friend E. coli bacteria? And that article I did about all those people who were so sick last summer?”

Andrea rolled her eyes and soundly cursed little invisible things that took the fun out of life. But Mitch had already begun listening intently to Lilith’s conversation with Jason.

“But if I let Bob go,” Jason reasoned carefully, a tiny version of his father chasing down a solution, “then I won’t be able to look at him anymore.”

Lilith smiled sadly. “If you don’t let him go, Bob will stay sad. He might get so sad that he dies.” Jason frowned, but Lilith leaned closer to him. “You know, a long time ago, I knew a very wise woman and she told me a magic rule that just might help you decide what to do.”

Jason immediately brightened. “What kind of magic rule?”

“Is it a secret?” Jen asked in a hushed voice.

Lilith smiled. “Kind of a secret,” she acknowledged. “It’s a rule to make sure you live a good life. Do whatsoever you will, but harm none.”

Jason’s brow furrowed. “What does that mean?”

“It means that you can do whatever you want as long as it doesn’t hurt anybody else.”

That sounded like fine thinking to Andrea. In fact, it sounded like a variant of Mitch’s own code of ethics. She slanted a glance to her stepson and found his gaze fixed on their neighbor. He looked a bit surprised by Lilith’s rule.

It was about time the man had a surprise or two!

“Is this hurting Bob?” Jason asked, his little brow furrowed.

Lilith looked at the jar and wrinkled her nose. “What do you think?”

Jason bit his lip as he considered the matter. “Maybe I should let Bob go.”

Lilith watched him carefully. “It’s up to you.”

Jason’s face brightened. “Maybe I’ll be able to hear Bob sing again if I let him go.”

Lilith smiled. “Maybe.” Andrea admired how she exerted no pressure on Jason, just expressed her point of view and let him make up his own mind.

Which Jason quickly did. He took his jar back from Lilith and marched purposefully for the back door. “Come on, Bob,” he said, as though Bob had much choice in the matter. “It’s time to let you go. Maybe you can sing and find a wife. Then, you can bring lots of baby cicadas to see us.”

“Will Bob fly out of the jar?” Jen asked in excitement.

Lilith shrugged. “Let’s go see.”

They followed Jason, hand in hand, Bun dragging behind. Mitch blinked and shook his head. A gasp of delight from the back porch a moment later revealed that Bob had, in fact, taken flight. The children began to chatter, Lilith’s low laughter underscoring their tones.

“It’s amazing,” Mitch murmured. “Jen never takes to anyone that fast.”

Andrea swung the spatula at him and decided not to push her luck by talking about kismet. “I told you she was a nice girl,” she hissed. “Even your kids can see the truth.” She pretended to chase Mitch across the kitchen. “Now, go get those burgers before we starve!”

He grinned and bowed low. “Yes, ma’am. Right away, ma’am.”

Andrea rolled her eyes as he ducked out to the porch and the kids clamored for his attention. She reached for the oven mitts and eyed the french fries again. They were never as good this way as when they were deep-fried, but she supposed it didn’t hurt to compromise with Mitch.

Once in a while.

Then, Andrea’s lips curved with the realization that there was one teensy detail about her trip she had forgotten to tell Mitch.

Well, this was as good a time as any.

She marched to the back door and peered through the screen. “Mitch?”

“Uh huh.” He barely looked up from the grill. Andrea could hear the children chattering away to Lilith from further down the yard. They were speculating on whether one of the cicadas currently singing could be Bob. Lilith’s manner with them confirmed Andrea’s suspicions that her plan was a good one.

“There’s something I should tell you, about the cruise.” That got her stepson’s attention, as Andrea had thought it would. She smiled broadly when his head snapped up. “Don’t fret, worry-wart. It’s just that the weekend in the middle of my cruise is the same weekend that you have that conference in Kansas City.”

An expression of exasperation just had time to work its way across Mitch’s features before Andrea continued. “But you promised...”

“I know, I know, and I’ve solved it, so you have nothing to be concerned about.” Andrea gave Mitch a smile that was supposed to be reassuring.

But Mitch treated Andrea to one of Those Looks. “Why doesn’t that inspire great confidence in me?” he asked wryly. “I suppose it’s too much to hope you’ve bitten the bullet and cancelled?”

“What a thought!” Andrea rolled her eyes. “Of course not! Lilith is going to watch the kids that weekend.”

“Lilith!” Mitch’s lips tightened, he glanced over his shoulder to the silhouette of the lady in question, then leaned closer to Andrea. His voice was low, his gaze bored right through the screen mesh to lock with hers.

“Didn’t it occur to you that we might be imposing? This woman is just our neighbor, Andrea. We’ve only known her for a week, Cooley keeps trashing her house. Did you ever think that she might not want to be swept into our chaotic household?”

Andrea hadn’t. She frowned. “But she said she’d be delighted...”

“What else was she going to say?” Mitch demanded in frustration. “Andrea, I think you’ve really put Lilith on the spot here. It’s not fair.”

Andrea smiled slowly as she realized just what Mitch was doing. She folded her arms across her chest and leaned against the counter to eye him.

“What?” he asked impatiently. “Is it so bizarre to not want to impose on people?”

“No, but it is bizarre that you’re suddenly worried about protecting Lilith from the rest of us,” Andrea retorted, not bothering to disguise her triumph. “I thought she was supposed to be the one with the evil plans for me.”

Mitch tellingly looked away. “I don’t really know what’s going on,” he said gruffly.

“Uh huh. But funny thing is, you’re not worried about leaving those two little ones in her care.”

Mitch inhaled sharply and fired a bright glance at his stepmother.

Andrea grinned, then tapped him on the screen between them. “I think you like her,” she whispered knowingly. “And I think that’s a very good thing. It’s about time you put the past where it belongs.”

Mitch covered his surprise quickly, but not quickly enough that Andrea didn’t see it. He snorted, as though indifferent to Andrea’s claim, although that lady knew better. “Right. I think you’ve got love on the brain, Andrea. You’re only seeing what you want to see.”

“And what are you seeing, eligible single father of two?”

Mitch’s lips twisted wryly. “I’m seeing a woman’s life seriously affected by our moving in here and probably being changed against her will. A woman who’s probably too nice to argue about it.”

“Ha! See? You do like her. That’s the only reason you care about imposing on her.”

Mitch flashed his Death Glare but he was wasting it on Andrea. She didn’t even flinch.

“I care about imposing on anyone,” he insisted. “Do unto others and all that jazz.”

Andrea let her skepticism show.

Mitch shook the barbeque spatula at her. “And I’m going to talk to her about this tonight. If you can’t watch the kids, I’ll find someone else, or I’ll cancel my conference.”

“I thought you couldn’t do that.”

“It would not be a good career move.” Mitch headed back to the grill again, his expression grim when he glanced back at Andrea. “But you’ve got to have principles, and you’ve got to live by them.”

Andrea couldn’t think of a thing to say to that, so she just grinned back at Mitch. She could always count on Mitch to do the right thing and to take the high road, no matter what the cost to himself. As much as his career meant to him, it was nothing compared to those kids.

Before she could think any further than that, the new smoke alarm started to screech.

Mitch looked back through the storm door and lifted one brow. “Is that the french fry timer?” he teased and Andrea wished she had something to throw at him.

But then he’d have two storm doors to fix, and the man had more than enough on his plate these days.

 

* * *

 

Andrea had hauled her dress box out to a taxi after dinner and waved madly as she went on her way. Mitch had asked Lilith whether they could talk after he put the kids to bed, and she quite contentedly sat on the back porch waiting for him.

Jen and Jason had given her unexpected goodnight hugs before they were herded upstairs, the sweetness of their trust tugging at Lilith’s heartstrings. She stared at the sky, listening to the rumble of Mitch’s voice between childish squeals and giggles, splashes and noisy kisses. Lilith was well aware of the wolfhound keeping a vigilant eye on her from the far corner of the yard, but she’d figure out how to solve that problem later.

For now, she savored the twinge of the twilight capturing the azure of the sky and the silence descending in the house behind her. It was still hot, still clear, and she watched the first stars appear.

She heard Mitch’s footsteps in the kitchen but didn’t turn around, smiling to herself as he came to her, once more, in the twilight.

“Could I interest you in some sangria?” he asked. “House brew?”

Lilith cast that smile over her shoulder. “That sounds nice.”

A moment later, Mitch joined her, two glasses filled with ice in one hand and a pitcher filled with red wine and bobbing fruit in the other. He sat down beside Lilith on the top step, stretching out his long, tanned legs and leaning his back against the pillar of the porch.

Lilith accepted a glass, he poured, and they clinked glasses. “To new fences,” Mitch said.

“And good neighbors,” Lilith added. They shared a smile and Lilith sipped. The sangria was cool and fruity, rich on her tongue. “It’s lovely. Very refreshing.”

“Hmmm. Just the thing after a day of chasing dogs and kids.” Mitch swirled the drink around his tongue, then nodded approval.

They sipped in companionable silence for several relaxing moments. Lilith was quite certain there was nowhere else she’d rather be. The faint calls of parents summoning children carried through the air, there was a murmur of conversation and the clink of glasses in the distance, the cicadas were singing.

Maybe even Bob joined the chorus.

Slowly, indigo claimed the sky, the smear of orange over the opposite rooftops fading to darkness with every passing moment.

“Did you get enough to eat for dinner?” Mitch asked.

Lilith glanced to him. “Of course. Why?”

He shrugged. “Well, I didn’t know you were a vegetarian and burgers were kind of the main deal.”

“The salad was great,” Lilith said graciously. “And I haven’t had french fries in a long time.”

Mitch shook his head. “I try to keep them infrequent around here, too.” He narrowed his eyes with mock suspicion. “But there are subversive elements at work.”

Lilith laughed lightly, then Mitch’s gaze suddenly sharpened. She had a distinct sense that his next words would be important and braced herself for a tough question.

“So, why did you become a vegetarian?”

Lilith blinked. It was a pretty pedestrian question to have him be so interested in her answer. “When I pledged to that witch’s creed.”

Mitch frowned into his glass. “The ‘harm none’ one?”

Lilith nodded and smiled. “After all, becoming burgers isn’t a really good experience for the cow.”

“No, I guess not.” His expression turned thoughtful. “How do you make sure your nutrition is adequate?”

“It’s a different kind of cooking, certainly, but after a while, you get used to pairing your proteins. It’s really not hard.” Lilith sipped her sangria. “If you’re interested in eating less meat, I can give you some recipes.”

Mitch’s slow smile made her heart pick up its pace. “You’ve been very helpful, you know, and very nice.”

Lilith felt herself flush. “Just being neighborly.”

Mitch’s gaze never wavered from hers. “I don’t see too many other neighbors offering to help with gardens or teach vegetarian cooking...”

“Or mend my back door.”

Mitch chuckled. “There was a prime mover there.”

They glanced as one to the wolfhound, the glimmer of his eyes barely visible in the shadows. Lilith heard his license tags jingle as he lifted his head.

“I’d forgive and forget, but I don’t want a repeat of what he did this afternoon,” Mitch said softly.

“I really don’t think it was his fault.”

“Either way, I don’t care for the change.” Mitch flicked a glance to Lilith’s storm door, just the top of it visible over the new fence, and winced. “One job down, six million to go. I’ll measure your door tomorrow - maybe we’ll be lucky and the hardware store will stock the size.”

“You don’t have to fix it right away.”

Mitch nodded. “You can’t be without it in this heat. You won’t have any circulation in your house. Besides, it’s only right.”

Lilith smiled at him, not remembering this facet of his character but liking it very much. “You’re quite concerned with doing what’s right, aren’t you?”

Mitch seemed slightly surprised by her question. “Well, sure. I mean, the alternative isn’t very attractive, is it?”

Lilith laughed lightly at the truth of that. It was so good to be sitting with him like this, just talking, just enjoying each other’s company. “No, I suppose not.”

Mitch turned his glass in his hands and frowned as though he was looking for the right words. “Look, Lilith, Andrea told me that she asked you to watch the kids. It’s nice of you to agree, but...”

Lilith straightened. “You don’t want me to watch them?”

Mitch glanced up, his gaze bright. “I don’t want you to feel obligated to do anything you don’t want to do. I mean, you must have plans. I’m sure Andrea didn’t bother to ask.”

Lilith shook her head. “No plans. Just fortune-telling and I can always turn off the sign.”

“Well, I don’t want you to feel that you have to do this, just because you were asked.” He smiled ruefully. “Andrea is a freight train in her own way, sometimes. I can find someone else, or cancel my trip.”

Lilith put her hand on Mitch’s and savored the heat of his skin beneath her own. He flicked a very gold glance at her, then looked down at her hand upon his. “But I don’t mind,” Lilith insisted. She leaned slightly closer. “Although it sounds as though you do.”

Mitch stared at her hand resting on his for a long moment. Slowly, his turned over, as though he couldn’t stop it from doing so, and his fingers closed warmly over her own. Lilith’s heart skipped a beat, then another when she looked up and found Mitch’s concerned gaze fixed on her.

It had been a long time since anyone worried about Lilith.

“It seems very unfair to you,” he admitted quietly.

“I don’t think so.”

Mitch shook his head ruefully. “Lilith, they’re at the age when they’re into everything. I swear that when one goes one way, the other goes in the opposite direction just to keep me on my toes.”

Lilith smiled. “It sounds like fun.”

Mitch looked at her with mock sternness. “Aha, the certainty of the uninitiated.”

Lilith knew he was trying to make her laugh. All the same, the unwitting reminder that she was without children of her own made her smile fade to nothing. She frowned and looked across the yard, fighting the return of that lonely ache.

Mitch eased closer, his voice low with concern. He squeezed her fingers. “Hey, did I hit a sore point? I’m sorry.”

Lilith forced a smile and glanced to him, not expecting to be snared by the concern shining in his eyes. “I always wanted kids,” she confessed quietly.

Mitch winced. “Oh, I am sorry. I didn’t mean it that way. It’s really just luck of the draw, isn’t it?”

“I think it takes a little more than luck,” Lilith said softly.

Mitch took a sip of his drink, his gaze assessing. Lilith had the sense that she didn’t have to tell him she couldn’t have kids, that he already understood. He smiled wryly and gave her fingers a little squeeze. “Fair enough, but these things still don’t always work out according to plan.”

Lilith stared at their entangled fingers and dared to ask the question. “Is that what happened to you?”

Mitch frowned at the garden, his thumb slowly moving across the back of Lilith’s hand in an unconscious caress. She didn’t say anything, just let him work through whatever he was thinking.

From the crease in his brow, she guessed that whatever Mitch was remembering hadn’t been pleasant.

Mitch straightened suddenly, as though he had just realized she was waiting for an answer. He looked suddenly down at Lilith’s hand, then carefully extracted his fingers from hers. He folded his hands resolutely around his glass and forced a smile that didn’t reach his eyes.

“Yes, I guess it did.” He looked ready to change the subject, but Lilith wanted to know more.

“What was your plan?”

Mitch froze for a moment, then he shrugged with a nonchalance she knew was feigned. “Oh, I wanted all that old-fashioned stuff. Kids and a house and a dog, summer vacations up north and the occasional visit to Disneyland.” He seemed to be looking for an answer in the depths of his sangria. “Cooking together and sitting on the porch, laughing and making love for a lifetime. All that good stuff. Nothing particularly earth-shattering.”

When Mitch’s words halted, Lilith understood he hadn’t found much of that in his marriage. The divorce wasn’t his fault alone - Lilith knew it as well as she knew that Mitch blamed himself thoroughly. It took two to tango, two to make a marriage and two to break it.

Maybe divorce was what happened when people weren’t destined to be together. Lilith was suddenly very glad that she knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that Mitch was the man for her. She now understood the reluctance she had already seen in him. On some level, he recognized Lilith and couldn’t fight his instinctive attraction. But on another, his ex-wife had left him cautious of pursuing women and relationships.

Lilith couldn’t blame Mitch for a little healthy caution. What she had to do was win his trust and prompt his memory further. Just the fact that they were sitting like this had to be a sign of progress.

Never mind that he had invited her into his home.

Lilith deliberately guided the conversation back to more neutral territory. “I’d really like to watch the children that weekend. Jason and I have had a lot of fun in the garden. They’re such sweet children...”

Mitch straightened and forced a teasing smile. “Don’t be fooled. They’re not nearly perfect.”

Lilith smiled and nodded. “I know, I know, but they’re good kids, Mitch. You should be proud of them. The only thing that worried me is that Jen might be afraid.”

Mitch’s gaze clung to Lilith’s for a heady moment, then he smiled warmly, as though he wanted to reassure her. “Jen’s very selective with her hugs. It’s quite an honor that you’ve already had one.” He leaned closer, his expression solemn. “But, Lilith, are you sure about this?”

“You have no idea how much I’m looking forward to being needed,” Lilith confessed. It was supposed to be a joke, but her breath caught tellingly. She glanced at Mitch and knew he hadn’t missed the inadvertent sign of how much this meant to her.

Lilith bit her lip, feeling that a little more explanation was necessary. She tried to keep her tone light. “You know, I’ve been alone for so long. Five and a half centuries. Even D’Artagnan doesn’t need me - if I forgot to feed him, he’d just go somewhere else to bum a meal.”

The silence stretched between them, although Lilith wasn’t sure what exactly prompted Mitch’s quiet. She wondered whether she had spoiled the mood by confessing a vulnerability and wished she could take the words back.

Then Mitch leaned closer, his eyes gleaming. “Hey,” he said quietly, the thread of humor in his voice telling Lilith that he was going to try to make her smile.

Her heart warmed at the sign of his concern.

“Are you trying to give me a run for my money on this worrying front?” Mitch winked. “You ought to know that you’re taking on a champ.”

It worked.

Lilith grinned. “I know.” Mitch was a champion and in more ways than he even guessed. And he would be hers for all eternity.

The very thought made Lilith’s smile broaden.

Mitch eyed the pitcher. “Do you want some more of this sangria? It’s a pretty wicked batch, if I do say so myself.”

Lilith chuckled. “A regular witch’s brew.”

Mitch joined her laughter. “Takes one to know one?”

Lilith nodded, then sobered. “I’ll take good care of them.”

Mitch frowned. His gaze flicked away, then met Lilith’s again. “Yes, I know,” he said quietly, as though surprised by his own conviction in that. He studied Lilith’s features as though he sought the key to some puzzle there, then reached for the pitcher.

“This stuff just seems to evaporate,” he murmured with a wink, then topped up their glasses.

“It’s very, very warm tonight,” Lilith concurred solemnly.

“So, why don’t you prompt my memory a bit? Mitch said with a casualness that didn’t quite ring true. He flicked an intent glance Lilith’s way. “Why don’t you tell me how we met?”

Lilith felt a little surge of disappointment. “You still don’t remember?”

Mitch looked away. “Not enough.”

Clearly he was embarrassed by his own inability to recall all the important details. But Lilith was more than happy to help this man remember.

She wrapped her arms around her knees. In her mind’s eye, the events of all those centuries ago were as clear as if they had only just occurred.

Maybe if she gave her memories voice, a word or an image would prompt Mitch’s memory. And there was no reason to keep all her secrets safely locked away any longer. Mitch was her love returned to her; Mitch she could trust with her life and her history.

“I was born among the Rom,” Lilith began softly, well aware of how intently Mitch listened. “That’s what we called ourselves. Others called us Egyptians – later shortened to “Gypsies” – although we never came from Egypt, as far as I knew. We did travel constantly, spending a month here and another there. We were entertainers, fortune-tellers, acrobats, as well as merchants of gold and horses and baskets woven by our men folk.”

“So you are a Gypsy. That’s what Andrea said.”

“I was Rom,” Lilith corrected firmly.

“Not anymore?”

Again Lilith found the denial didn’t come easily to her lips, so she just shook her head. “But I’ll get to that. It was the spring of 1420 – although I knew nothing of dates in those days – when we came to a village in what is now northern Italy. It was there, in the twilight of a spring evening, that I first glimpsed the man who would hold my heart for all time.”

Lilith bit back her smile of recollection. “He was unlike any man I had ever seen before, his hair not black but the shade of ripe chestnuts, his eyes not dark but as fiery as the sun. And in that twilight, he was chopping wood in the forest near where we made our camp. He heard me running – a remarkable thing for a gadgo – “

“A what?”

“Gadjo. A man not of the Rom,” Lilith explained softly. “It is said that the Rom move as silently as the wind through the grass, and I was held to be more quiet than most.” She shook her head, still marveling at the truth of it. “But he heard me.”

Lilith turned and looked deeply into Mitch’s eyes, golden eyes like sunlight snared in a bottomless pond. “You heard me, when you were Sebastian. It was just the first sign of many that we were destined to be together.”

If Mitch looked slightly discomfited by this, Lilith didn’t notice. She looked back to the changing sky and hugged her knees closer.

“It was a wonderful summer, a year when everything seemed possible to me, a year of unspeakable magick. I was twenty-one years of age, well past the age when the Rom would have seen me wed, but I knew there was something special in my future. And I was indulged because I had the Gift.”

“What gift?”

“The one I told you about. I could always see the future, I could see what would come to pass, with greater clarity than anyone else within our kumpania. There were those who said it was because I was born on the night of a blue moon, those who insisted it was the kiss of a goddess on my brow, but old Dritta said it was my mother’s talent that coursed through my veins. She said it was passed from mother to daughter.”

Lilith paused. It felt so good to be able to share these precious memories. It felt so good to have Mitch/Sebastian back by her side, with the unexpected bonus that he was even more wonderful than she remembered.

“You sound fond of this Dritta.”

Lilith smiled in reminiscence. “She was a total tyrant. Some said she was my grandmother – I never knew the truth.”

“Didn’t your mother tell you?”

Lilith sobered and shook her head. “My mother died when I was an infant. I don’t remember her. But Dritta took me in as her own. She always said she only did it because she could discern the power of my Gift. Dritta was a true shuvani.” The Rom word fell easily from Lilith’s tongue.

“What’s that?”

“A wise woman, maybe a sorceress. It doesn’t translate perfectly well.” Lilith considered that for a moment and realized suddenly how much Rom had crossed her lips since Mitch had moved in next door to her. It was strange, but she shrugged it off as coincidence.

“At any rate, she had a rare ability to see beyond this world, through the veil to the possibilities of the future. Dritta taught me to read the cards, and to read customers, too.”

“I don’t understand.” Mitch’s voice sharpened in his interest. “What do you mean by reading customers?”

Lilith glanced at him. “Most people come to have their fortune told for a reason, although there are some, particularly now, who indulge their curiosity regularly. In those days, though, it was risky to visit the Rom – you could be charged with heresy and burned.”

Lilith paused, then decided to state the worst. It might prompt Mitch’s memory, although she had made it a matter of principle not to recall the events of a certain night.

“You could be hanged for consorting with heretics.” She spoke deliberately, then looked at him.

Mitch didn’t say anything. He held her gaze without blinking and she wondered whether her words had awakened an uneasy recollection.

She swallowed the lump in her throat that that short sentence had prompted and pulled her mind away from the darkness of that night’s memories. She never dwelt upon that.

Lilith forced herself to continue in an even tone. “So, those who came, usually had a good reason to come. And an astute observer like Dritta could often guess the reason before a word was uttered.”

“That doesn’t sound very honest.”

“On the contrary, it saves a lot of time. The reading has a focus, a focus derived from the seeker as surely as the lay of the cards themselves. Keen observation makes for better readings.” Lilith smiled. “And greater customer satisfaction” She looked steadily at Mitch. “When your presence is barely tolerated by the locals, it’s wise to ensure that they have no complaints about services rendered.”

Mitch lifted one brow. “What kind of observations? Give me an example.”

Lilith frowned. These were secrets whispered to her by Dritta and not to be readily shared, even to someone she knew she could trust more than herself.

But the time for hugging all her secrets to herself was passed. She could share a few.

“Generalizations, really. Young women often consult a fortune-teller about love. Either they have an affection for someone they know casually, or they want to know what the future will bring in terms of love or marriage. Older married women often come because they believe their husband is unfaithful and they don’t know who else to ask for advice.”

“In case they’re wrong,” Mitch contributed. “In a small community, that kind of accusation could have made a lot of trouble.”

“Exactly. One wants to be certain, or reassured that such suspicions are foolish.” Lilith shrugged. “Married women also come because they haven’t conceived children, or sons.”

“And men?”

“Younger men can come for much the same reason as younger women, or they may be concerned about their trade and financial future. Older men, particularly established ones, only come to fortune-tellers when they have a secret.”

“A mistress?”

“Or shady business dealings, or something from the past that they fear could return to jeopardize their position in the community. An illegitimate child, a forsaken fiancée, a deal made in the shadows. There must be a good deal at stake for a man of influence and prestige to risk being seen visiting a fortune-teller.”

“Sounds like a study of human nature.”

“I suppose it is in a way.” Lilith shrugged. “And there are the obvious signs, of course, Missing wedding bands that have left their mark indicated unfaithfulness. People who play nervously with their wedding band have come about marital problems. That sort of thing.” Lilith smiled at Mitch. “It’s become much more complicated in these days than once it was.”

“You make it sound so innocuous.”

“It is! These observations don’t change what I see – they just confirm which part of what I see the seeker most wants to know about.” Lilith flicked a playful glance at her companion. “I guess they’d call it target marketing now.”

Mitch shook his head. They sipped sangria in silence and she watched him, loving the play of shadows on his features. He glanced up suddenly, and their gazes collided and held. The warmth of an unstated compliment shone in his eyes and made Lilith’s heart pound.

She felt admired and respected beneath his gaze, feminine yet appreciated for far more than her appearance. He really listened to her. He had become so much more over the time they’d been apart.

Lilith loved Mitch’s protectiveness; she loved his sense of duty; she loved that he did what was right regardless of the price. She loved how he adored his kids; she loved how he talked and listened to her; she loved he frowned when he was reasoning things through.

Lilith realized that she loved Mitch with an intensity that she had never felt when she loved him as Sebastian. She decided right then and there that Mitch’s ideas about “all that old-fashioned stuff” sounded like the perfect way to spend the rest of her life. In fact, she would give anything to begin as soon as possible.

Remarkably enough, her Gift gave her no inkling of how much Mitch would ask from her in a moment’s time. He would ask for no less than the tale of the most painful night of her life.

And Lilith would give it to him, willingly paying the postage due on that glorious future. She wouldn’t consider how it might shred her heart to step into that abyss, to explore painful memories that she had declared off-limits for nearly six centuries.

She would do as he asked quite simply because she loved him.

 

* * *

 

8

Justice

 

She was doing it to him again.

But this time, Lilith wasn’t seducing Mitch with her eyes or her perfume or even her kisses. It was her clear thinking, her understanding of human nature, the flash of compassion in her eyes when she spoke of troubled people coming for advice that prompted his admiration. Her low voice with its exotic accent made him want to listen to her all night long.

She could lull him to sleep with that voice, dispatch him on a journey from which he would never return. It was so low and musical, so rich and evocative. When she lingered over a word, or saw humor in some small thing, Mitch had to fight the sense that she truly had experienced the better part of six centuries.

Lilith was unlike anyone he had ever known.

And the fact that she made good sense was no small thing to a man who prized reason as Mitch did. The acknowledgement that there were other factors at play besides her so-called gift for seeing the future was an interesting one. That Lilith clung tenaciously to a faith in her ability, even conceding as much as she had, was doubly intriguing.

On this night, when the conversation flowed so readily between them, Mitch could smell the truth he sought, lingering just out of reach.

“So what happened that summer in 1420?” he invited conversationally as he topped up their sangria. “Remind me.”

Lilith froze.

Then she carefully set down her glass and took a deep breath. “I’ve never spoken of the end,” she said so evenly that Mitch knew she was trying to veil her feelings. “I don’t even think about it, as a rule.”

If she had wanted to prompt Mitch’s curiosity, Lilith had just done a really good job. “Why not?”

She glanced across the yard, frowned, then shook her head. “I suppose, like all tales, there is good and bad in it,” she murmured. “It is the extremes that make it so painful.”

And then she fell silent so long that Mitch was sure he had crossed an invisible line.

“I don’t mean to pry,” he said quietly. “Let’s talk about something else.”

“No.” Lilith shook her head with unexpected resolve. She turned to meet his gaze and studied him for a moment. “You really don’t remember that night?”

Mitch shook his head.

“Then you have a right to know,” she concluded crisply.

Lilith turned away before Mitch could say anything. “My first glimpse of you wasn’t the last, by any means.” She smiled with sudden mischievousness and shook a finger at Mitch. “You surprised me quite often, in fact, and you gadjo types shouldn’t be able to do that.”

“Maybe I was a sorcerer myself.” Mitch grinned. She had spooked him for a minute there, but this didn’t sound so bad. The edge of skepticism in his next words was surprisingly slight. “Or was it just another sign of destiny?”

“Destiny,” Lilith said with conviction. “We knew each other from first sight and your actions showed that our minds were as one. I’d find flowers on the path in front of me in the forest - flowers obviously left for me - and no sign of anyone until I heard your whistling in the distance. And there were ribbons left in pretty bundles on the path I took to town, always in colors that I particularly liked. You knew instinctively how to woo me because we were destined to be soulmates.”

Lilith smiled and wrapped her arms around her knees again. Her delighted expression and pose made her look young and trusting. Mitch relaxed against the post and enjoyed the luxury of watching her. “There was a great sense of anticipation in me that summer, that something wonderful was about to happen, and each gift made it feel closer and closer. It was very romantic of you.”

Lilith cast a smile at Mitch, but he anticipated her move and examined the bottom of his glass instead of holding her gaze. He felt a funny pang of jealousy, hearing how terrific this Sebastian guy had been, how deliberate he had been about cultivating Lilith’s attention.

It must just be his conscience tweaking him. After all, it was one thing for Mitch to let Lilith think he was some other guy, at least for the purpose of seeing Andrea safe, but quite another to accept credit for anything that guy had done.

To his relief, Lilith seemed to take his silence as a sign of modesty, for she soon continued on. “At any rate, one August twilight, you came to have your fortune read.” Her eyes shone as though they were filled with stardust. “I can still see you stepping into our camp, so proud and strong, so determined that only I could read for you. Our gazes met and held across the fire - in that moment, it was as though there was a tangible realization of all the great forces that linked us together.”

Mitch didn’t have the heart to question her assertion. It would have interrupted the flow of her story, after all, and he knew how irritating it was when people did that to him.

“A cord snapped tight between us,” Lilith whispered, her ripe lips curved in a smile of recollection. “I know the others felt it too. I couldn’t have stayed away from you. There was nowhere else to be but by your side. I remember coming to you and taking your hand, I remember leading you to my tent without a single word, pulling back the flap and secreting we two inside.”

Mitch had a sudden definite sense that he really didn’t want to know what had happened. He didn’t want to think about Lilith pouncing on another guy, even if she thought that guy was him, even if she thought it had all happened some six hundred years ago.

Lilith leaned closer, her fingertips landed on his arm and Mitch opened his mouth to confess his deception right that minute.

But Lilith’s intent whisper cut off whatever he might have said. “Do you remember anything of that evening? Do you remember the shadows, that clung like velvet to the corners inside the tent?”

Her hand slid up his arm, her fingertips danced along the line of his jaw like butterflies. She was so close, her eyes flashed with a thousand recollections, her perfume surrounded him.

She was making him forget everything else in the world except her. Again. Lilith traced the line of his lips with one fingertip and Mitch didn’t even think he could feel any other part of his body.

Well, maybe one.

He stared into her dark, dark eyes, he thought about love antidotes, he thought about love spells, and he wondered.

“Do you remember the flickering gold of the oil lamp, the distant singing of the kumpania, the wind whistling through the trees overhead?” Lilith whispered, her lips a fingers-breadth from his own. Mitch was transfixed. He couldn’t have moved away to save his life. “I swore the very starlight shone through the roof of the tent as we sat together, I thought your flesh glowed with its own light.”

Mitch stared. Lilith was so persuasive. She couldn’t be pretending this, no one could act this well. He looked again into those eyes, but there wasn’t a glimmer of doubt in their magnificent depths. Lilith was clearly convinced that everything she told him not only had happened, but that it had happened to her.

And to him.

In the blink of an eye, Mitch’s entire universe did a one-eighty. Her conviction was the key to the solution. Mitch felt as though he’d been hit in the head with a two-by-four. Lilith believed this mumbo jumbo with all her heart and soul.

Which explained everything.

He’d been bothered since dinner over that creed she had told Jason she followed. Because harming no one didn’t mesh very well with running cons as a business. Mitch couldn’t imagine that a woman who believed cicadas shouldn’t die in mayonnaise jars could really hurt anything or anyone. Which hadn’t made a lick of sense until this very minute, because Mitch had already noticed that Lilith was nothing if not consistent.

But Lilith could reconcile her creed of hurting no one with her profession if she wasn’t a con artist.

It was so simple that Mitch wanted to smack himself. Lilith wasn’t a crook - she was just a flake who believed she could see the future and remember the distant past.

It was a bit scary how very reassuring Mitch found that particular conclusion.

Because he did. The surge of relief that rolled through him had the irresistible force of a tsunami. He didn’t have to brace himself against Lilith’s allure. Andrea wasn’t at any kind of risk. Mitch didn’t have to protect his family from her, he didn’t have to deny his instinctive attraction to her.

Mitch had been wrong. And for once, he was very, very glad about that. In the wake of that realization, the barriers he had hastily erected against Lilith tumbled like dominos. The most intriguing woman who had ever waltzed through Mitch’s life might be a little bit muddled up, but she was very much available.

And Mitch was delighted at the news.

Lilith seemed markedly less delighted. In fact, she seemed quite concerned. Belatedly, Mitch realized that he hadn’t been following everything she said.

She looked upset.

Lilith’s voice quivered slightly as she reached up and framed his face in her hands. Mitch’s heart started to two-step at the press of her fingertips against his skin. She was close enough that he could see each thick eyelash, close enough to kiss.

“Do you remember shuffling the cards?” she asked, her voice wavering slightly.

He couldn’t lie to her.

Especially now. Mitch shook his head.

Disappointment flitted across her brow. Lilith glanced down, giving Mitch the chance to study her elegant profile as she dropped her hand and traced the length of his fingers with her fingertip. Her hair spilled over his arm and Mitch felt heat spread over his skin from her touch.

“The cards looked so fragile in your hands,” she murmured. “I can still see how nimbly you shuffled them although you said you had never done the like. I can still see you separating the Fool from the deck like a conjuror, still hear your laughter, still see you shake your head.” She swallowed. “It is as though it happened only moments ago, not hundreds of years ago.”

Lilith looked up at Mitch with wide eyes. She was very serious. His mouth went dry as he wondered where this story was going - obviously it was very important to her, whether it was true or not.

“And I have never forgotten what you said.” Lilith paused, then whispered something in a foreign tongue.

Mitch shook his head in incomprehension. “What does it mean?”

Lilith held his gaze. “I came for love,” she murmured, “but had hoped for a different answer than this.”

Love. That was at the root of all of this.

Maybe Lilith’s worst crime was convincing those who came to visit her that they were lovable, that there was a lovematch out there somewhere for each and every one of them. Maybe Lilith’s faith was all they needed to have the confidence to not only find love but to believe in it themselves.

As flaws went, that wasn’t a bad one.

Maybe it was time that Mitch believed a little bit more in love than he had for the last couple of years.

“I asked you not to go,” Lilith confessed in a heated whisper. “You asked why you should stay. Do you remember my response?”

Mitch shook his head slowly, glad he could be honest about that.

Lilith licked her lips, she edged closer, she lifted one hand to his jaw. Mitch couldn’t find it within himself to move away, to remove her hand, to tell her that he really wasn’t this Sebastian guy.

“There was only one answer I could give,” she murmured. Her gaze flicked to his, Mitch’s heart skipped a beat in anticipation, then Lilith reached to brush her lips across his.

It was a tentative and cautious embrace, as sweet as a young girl’s first offering, as different as the first kiss Lilith had given Mitch as night and day. Mitch tasted Lilith’s vulnerability, and knew he couldn’t take advantage of her dismay.