Eight hours later - after an excruciating wait at O’Hare that he roundly deserved for changing his flight schedule - he was scooping up his garment bag at Pearson and jingling his keys as he headed for the Honda.

Home.

And Lilith.

Mitch couldn’t get there fast enough.

 

* * *

 

The house was quiet when Mitch unlocked the kitchen door, although the light was still on in the kitchen. It smelled like paint and there was a can of flat ceiling latex open on the counter. The radio was on at a low volume, some sixties ballad echoing softly through the house. Cooley yawned and stretched before getting up to wander across the kitchen to greet Mitch, tail wagging sleepily.

Mitch scratched the dog’s ears with a grin. “Some killer watchdog,” he teased. “You didn’t even wake up until I was in the house.”

He put the lid on the paint while Cooley took a pause outside. Mitch locked the kitchen door, turned out the light and left his bags in the hall. He heard the wolfhound collapse under the kitchen table as he climbed the stairs.

The smell of paint was stronger up here, though the windows were all open. He looked in first on Jen and smiled when he found her smiling in her sleep. D’Artagnan, surprisingly, was curled on the end of Jen’s bed. He lifted his head and treated Mitch to a cold glare as Mitch entered the room.

“It’s okay, tiger,” Mitch whispered, biting back a smile at the cat’s protectiveness. “I’m just going to say hello.”

D’Artagnan, unconvinced, kept a wary eye on him all the same.

Mitch noticed Bun was abandoned on the other side of the room for the first time since they had moved in. It was a good sign, but Mitch scooped up the stuffed toy and tucked it into the bed beside his daughter just in case.

Her room seemed slightly different, even in the moonlight. Mitch realized that it had been painted, although he couldn’t clearly discern the new colors. There was a wallpaper border about waist high around the room. Plump unicorns pranced through rainbows upon it, daisies scattering to all sides.

The room felt different, too, Mitch noticed, and it was more than the paint and the border and the sheer curtains wafting in the cool evening breeze.

Jen’s room felt safe. As secure as a little cocoon. Mitch shook his head, knowing full well who was responsible and wondering whether she would blame it on another spell.

That made his smile widen. Lilith’s magic was more than welcome around here.

Mitch kissed Jen’s temple, D’Artagnan only dropping his chin to his paws after Mitch left the room.

Mitch silently continued to Jason’s room. The little boy was snuggled deep beneath his duvet, his fair hair tousled. It had been painted in here too, some shade that seemed to glow faintly. The room seemed cleaner and brighter, Jason’s indestructible furniture in primary colors looked right at home. There was a book on his desk that Mitch hadn’t noticed before. Insects A - Z.

He opened the flap and found an inscription in an elegant feminine hand. From the library of Lilith Romano.

“Lilith lent it to me,” Jason confessed quietly, his voice thick with sleep. Mitch looked down to find his son’s eyes open. “There were bugs in the garden like lights. Lilith said they were fairies, but when I caught one, it was a bug.” He yawned.

“Lilith let you catch a bug?”

“Only for a minute so I could see. Then we looked in her book for its picture. It’s a firefly, not a fairy.”

Jason snuggled deeper as Mitch sat on the side of his bed. “And what did Lilith say about that?”

Jason smiled sleepily. “That fairies don’t like to be caught and that it changed just to fool me. She said they’re like that.”

Mitch grinned and hunkered down beside his son. “But the book doesn’t say anything about fairies?”

Jason shook his head. “Nope. I think she made it up, just for Jen. Like the radio.” His eyes drifted closed.

“The radio?”

“In the kitchen. Lilith left it on at night when she painted, so Jen would know she was there.”

Mitch’s heart warmed at Lilith’s concern. No wonder Jen was sleeping so contentedly. Mitch brushed the hair back from Jason’s brow as the boy’s breathing deepened. “Sleep well,” he whispered. “It looks as though you’ve all been busy.”

“Mostly Lilith,” Jason murmured then he rolled to his back and smiled. His eyes opened slightly, the serious gleam there catching Mitch’s attention. “I like her, Dad.” He smiled and pointed past Mitch’s head. “And she gave us the stars.”

Mitch followed his son’s finger to find the ceiling covered with luminescent stars. There were even a couple of planets glowing softly in the darkness, the sight of them and Jason’s choice of words making Mitch smile.

Lilith giving his children the stars. Mitch liked the sound of that. And he liked very much the kind of magic a certain witch was spreading around his house. She harmed no one and she certainly made a lot of people happy.

Mitch could live with that.

In fact, he really wanted to.

He kissed an already dozing Jason and crossed the hall to his own room. The lady who had haunted Mitch’s own dreams was curled up on his bed, her feet bare, her hair loosened like a dark cloud behind her. Mitch’s heart skipped at just the sight of her there and he hesitated on the threshold, not want this moment to end too quickly.

He could stand here and imagine that he really came home to Lilith, that she really was waiting for him, that they really were making a household together. As long as he stood here, he could imagine that she would awaken with a smile and beckon him to bed, that she would curl against him and whisper to him of what had happened in his absence. That he could tell her everything he had learned, everything that troubled him. That they could make love slowly and thoroughly, that they together could make the marriage Mitch had always wanted to have.

It was there, standing in the doorway of his own bedroom, watching a beautiful woman sleep, that Mitch Davison realized that he was in love.

And he was in love with the most unlikely woman of all. A winsome witch who believed only in things she couldn’t see, an imaginative and delightful woman who spread fairy dust throughout his house, a generous and giving soul who asked for nothing but his love in return.

He was ready to give it to her. Because Mitch loved Lilith, as he had never imagined he would love a woman.

For a long time, Mitch had believed that he would never find love, that he would never take a chance again, that it just hadn’t been worth it. But Lilith had challenged his preconceptions, she had made Mitch rethink all those conclusions that he thought were set in concrete for all time.

Now, Mitch couldn’t imagine his life without her. He couldn’t imagine his heart not doing this goofy little jump every time she smiled at him, or her image popping up in his mind unexpectedly. To not hear that low voice again, or hear the tinkle of her laughter, or see her dark eyes dance was completely unthinkable.

Mitch felt as though he had always loved Lilith, though he smiled at that echo of her own conviction. She was starting to infect his nice, orderly thinking with her crazy ideas.

And oddly enough, he didn’t mind in the least.

Mitch stepped into the room, not intending to wake her, but Lilith stirred as though she had been waiting for him. Her eyes opened slowly, her gaze fixed on him and she smiled so warmly that Mitch tingled from head to toe.

“You’re home!” she murmured, with a delight that made Mitch’s heart do that goofy jump. “I thought you weren’t coming back until tomorrow,” she whispered, her pleasure at his change of plans undisguised.

It felt damned good to be missed.

“Couldn’t stay away,” Mitch admitted huskily. “You’ve been busy.”

Lilith stretched, her toes pointing, then curling contentedly. She nestled into his pillow and smiled sleepily. “I wanted to surprise you. I would have finished the ceilings by tomorrow.”

“Well, now you’ll have to deal with inexperienced help underfoot.” When Lilith chuckled, Mitch came and sat on the edge of the bed, unable to resist the urge to brush her hair back over her shoulder. “And you have surprised me,” he said gently. “Both kids’ rooms done already is a pretty impressive feat. Especially with them around.”

Lilith smiled. “All you need is a little creativity.”

Mitch smiled back. “No magic?”

Lilith wrinkled her nose, her gaze warm. “It can’t hurt.”

Her hair was as soft as silk beneath his hand. Mitch run his fingers over it, the dark tendrils curling around his fingers as though they would snare his hand in their softness. He didn’t want this moment to end. “So, what colors are they? I couldn’t see in the darkness.”

“Mmm, mauve and aqua and mint, nice safe colors for Jen. A sea-washed haven for her. And a crisp yellow for our intrepid explorer.” Mitch caught his breath at the easy way she said “our” but Lilith didn’t notice. “You’ll be amazed how much bigger and brighter the house looks, just with the ceilings repainted.”

Lilith nestled closer, her hand landing on his. Her fingers were warm and soft, Mitch turned his hand over and held hers tight.

“What are you going to do in here?” he asked, mostly because he didn’t want her to stop talking. She could do anything she wanted with his bedroom, as far as Mitch was concerned.

Lilith smiled. “True blue,” she confessed as she met his gaze warmly. “And maybe some silvery stardust to keep things interesting.”

Mitch grinned. “I like the stars in the kids’ rooms.”

Lilith rolled to her back and stretched. “Jason had to have planets too, but I refused to lay them out according to the star map enclosed.”

“You’ll never live that down.”

“I know,” Lilith sighed and squeezed Mitch’s fingers. “Maybe you can fix them for him.”

Mitch really liked her implication that they were in this together. Lilith eased back, making room for another on the mattress without slipping free of his hand. She smiled, her voice dropped low. “Get naked and come to bed, Mitch. I want to touch you and know you’re really home.”

The invitation was everything Mitch could have hoped for. He certainly didn’t need a second request. He peeled off his shirt and dropped his trousers, leaving them in a pile with his socks and shoes. Down to his Jockeys, he slipped between the sheets with a sigh of contentment and reached for Lilith.

But she hooked a finger in the elastic of his briefs.

“Everything,” she insisted, the mischievous twinkle in her eye making Mitch’s heart pound.

“I thought it was too late.”

Definitely too late for talking,” Lilith confirmed, then winked.

There was no doubt what she meant.

Mitch’s mouth went dry. “You’re sure?”

Her smile broadened. “I missed you. Besides, you’re the one who had to make up your mind,” she teased. “Are you sure?”

Mitch was.

Without a doubt.

But things still weren’t simple.

He frowned. “Lilith, I wasn’t planning this. I don’t have any condoms.”

She seemed untroubled by this confession. “So?”

Mitch might have shed a lot of assumptions, but he hadn’t lost all his practicality. He knew he was as clean as a whistle, but he didn’t want Lilith worrying about anything later.

“Lilith, it’s the nineties. Aren’t you worried about little biological souvenirs?”

She laughed then and tapped a fingertip on the end of his nose. “The only man I’ve ever been with, one way or the other, is you. And we didn’t have any condoms those other times either.”

There really was no arguing with her on that. And she had been supremely unconcerned so far, even though they had done it without protection once.

Of course, there was one other issue, but Mitch wasn’t going to raise that question again. In fact, he couldn’t think of anything more wonderful than Lilith conceiving his child. She’d be a terrific mother.

And he’d have another point in his favor when he proposed.

Let the lovemaking begin.

Mitch stripped off his Jockeys and cast them across the room with a flourish. He grinned at Lilith’s whistle of admiration, then flicked a finger at the sleeve of her dress. “And what about you?” he challenged softly.

Without a word, Lilith sat up, then got to her feet. She held his gaze while she unbuttoned her dress with theatrical leisure, bared one shoulder as though dancing to a band only she could hear, then covered it up and playfully bared the other.

“Tease,” Mitch charged and Lilith laughed.

“You’re the one determined to take things slowly.” She turned her back on him and shook her shoulders so her dress fell down her back. She tipped back her head and laughed at Mitch when he made a great show of trying to see some flesh behind the curtain of her hair.

When she spun back to face him, her dress was back on her shoulders but open the whole way down the front. Mitch glimpsed her matching lingerie, the smooth creaminess of her belly. Her legs flashed and he realized he’d never seen them before.

“You always wear dresses.”

“It’s my Rom roots showing,” she admitted with a smile and an ease that surprised him. “We’d rather show our breasts than our knees.”

With that, she flicked back her hair and wriggled the dress off her shoulders. The dress fell around her ankles in a floral swirl, then Lilith stepped out of it, like Botticelli’s Aphrodite stepping off her seashell.

Mitch’s mouth went dry. Her skin glowed like sun-kissed sandalwood in the pale light. She was smooth and curved like a goddess. She was wearing a feminine froth of a brassiere, the openwork of the white lace contrasting with the golden hue of her skin. Lilith’s curves were achingly feminine. In those lace-edged panties, she was a sight infinitely better than any skinny model in a lingerie catalog.

When Lilith knelt on the bed beside him and reached to unfasten her bra, Mitch captured her hands in his.

“Let me,” he whispered. Her eyes shone as she lifted her hands away, and Mitch ended up with her breasts cupped in his palms. They fit perfectly – as though she had been made for him to love. Or maybe the other way around. Kismet. Mitch grinned at the whimsy of that thought.

“What?” she asked.

“Perfect fit.” He arched a brow and met her gaze. “Must be destiny.”

Lilith smiled in turn, her lips brushing against his. “Kismet indeed,” she whispered. Her perfume swallowed Mitch like a cloud.

His thumbs slid across her nipples and despite the gossamer layer of silk covering them, Lilith gasped at his touch. Mitch felt her nipples bead, then he bent and kissed her lips more thoroughly. Lilith sighed and leaned against him, as warm and as welcoming as she always was in his thoughts.

Mitch closed his eyes and tasted her skin, inhaled her scent. He let his hands run over her curves, let his lips trail across her collar bone, down her throat, across those full breasts. He bracketed her waist with his hands and suckled her through the bra. She cried out and clutched his hair.

Mitch eased Lilith back onto the bed and let his questing lips move lower. He traced the length of each rib with his kisses; he twisted his tongue into her navel; he reveled in the love thundering through him. He wanted to savor this woman. He wanted to pleasure her. He wanted to wipe everything out of her universe except his own tough.

He wanted to do to her what she so readily did to him.

Mitch pulled down her panties with his teeth, his hands roving endlessly over her, his tongue making her cry out with delight. He cast off her underwear and cupped her buttocks in his hands. He set to work coaxing her response with his tongue. Lilith moaned; she twisted; she writhed; she whispered his name; she arched her back off the bed.

And she was wetter than wet. Mitch thought he would explode at the evidence of her arousal. He gave her no respite, though. He teased until she shivered and then he teased some more. He wanted this to be a night to remember. Lilith reached for him, but he caught her hands and interlaced their fingers.

Lilith gasped. Mitch could almost feel the heat rising beneath her skin. His own erection was enormous, made more so with every hint of her rising passion. She came with a cry of victory, her back arched high, and he thought he couldn’t last.

When she mumbled in contentment, Mitch slid up the length of her, nibbling her flesh all the way and making her shiver anew. Their fingers were still entwined when he braced himself above her. Her breathing was rapid and her eyes shone.

“Okay?”

“Wonderful.” Lilith’s smile made Mitch’s heart clench, then expand. He bent and captured her lips with his. They kissed hungrily, lingeringly. He felt her desire building to a simmer once again. Without breaking their kiss, she wrapped her legs around Mitch in silent demand. Mitch eased himself into her, his own eyes closing at the way her warmth closed securely around him.

Again, a perfect fit.

“Kismet,” he whispered against the perfumed softness of her throat. Lilith’s low laughter fanned his ear.

And then, she rolled her hips beneath him.

Mitch caught his breath at the surge of desire that fired through him. His blood pounded in his ears. Lilith smiled and did it again. Mitch braced himself on his elbows, then moved within her with slow deliberation. Lilith’s hands locked on his shoulders and she writhed beneath him so beguilingly that he knew he wouldn’t last.

He couldn’t last.

But this wouldn’t be the only time. They had decided to make love, and they were going to make love until they couldn’t make love any more. Lilith was going to know what she did to Mitch; she was going to understand how much he cared for her. Mitch didn’t care whether it took all night or all year.

Or even all of his life.

He moved with powerful strokes, aware of only the woman gasping beneath him. Mitch slipped his hand between them and his thumb found the spot he sought. Lilith shivered, then made a little cry of pleasure. He bent and swallowed the sound, kissing her, touching her, filling her.

Again, the sight of her rising passion drove him on to greater and greater heights. Lilith’s ripe lips parted. She writhed in the dark tangle of her hair. Her fingers gripped his shoulders. The softness of that lacy brassiere brushed against Mitch’s chest.

Suddenly, Lilith’s eyes widened and she cried out in pleasure. Mitch barely saw the flush race over her skin before his own orgasm thundered through him. For an incredible moment, time stretched out to infinity and Mitch touched the stars.

Slowly, Mitch tumbled into the arms of his equally exhausted lady. He ran his fingertip along the edge of her bra and smiled when she shivered. “We didn’t even finish the job,” he mused, sliding his finger beneath the elastic strap.

Lilith curled up against his side, all softness and femininity, her legs tangled up around his. “Next time,” she whispered, her eyes alight.

Mitch grinned at the prospect. He enfolded her in his arms and rolled to his back, more than content with his situation. Opening his heart to this woman had changed more than his perspectives – it had changed Mitch himself.

He was a new man, and he liked that just fine.

“I love you, Lilith,” he whispered, his eyes drifting closed before he saw her answering smile.

He was asleep by the time she stretched and kissed his brow.

He never did see her take off that bra. When he awakened hours later, it was gone, although its absence was no impediment to their making love a second time.

Or even the time after that.

 

* * *

 

14

Temperance

 

Lilith awakened when the first ray of sunlight poked through the bedroom window. She sighed and snuggled closer to Mitch’s warmth, then wrinkled her nose at the earthy aroma they emanated.

Something had to be done.

Lilith gave Mitch a friendly poke. “Wake up,” she whispered urgently. “We need to have a shower.”

Mitch opened one eye and smiled lazily, a decidedly amorous gleam in that gold eye. “I like a woman who isn’t afraid to say what she wants,” he teased, then kissed her leisurely.

Lilith sighed with contentment. The man was thorough, she would willingly give him that.

And just about anything else he wanted from her. Lilith was tired in all the right places, and filled with a certainty that they had only just begun to explore something truly wonderful.

But despite the gleam in Mitch’s eye, another bout wasn’t exactly what she meant. “The kids will be awake soon,” she whispered when he lifted his lips from hers.

But Mitch rolled over and pulled Lilith purposefully against his side. He nuzzled her neck enough to make her toes curl. “I don’t care if they find us together,” he mumbled, then kissed that tingly spot right under Lilith’s ear.

His words made a little glow launch around her heart. His kiss made numerous other - equally good - things happen.

“No, not that,” she protested weakly. Mitch kissed her neck, his fingers sliding around her breast. “And not that!” she added breathlessly.

Mitch lifted his head and met her gaze. “Then what?”

Lilith sniffed and grimaced again. “It just smells a bit earthy in here, if you know what I mean.”

Mitch deliberately sniffed in turn and made a comical face. “Phew! What’s been going on in this bed?” He grinned, then bounded from the bed. Lilith only had a moment to admire Mitch’s muscled legs and bare butt, before he pivoted and scooped her into his arms. In a heartbeat, he was headed for the bathroom. “I did mention that I have a weakness for clever women, didn’t I?”

Lilith tapped him on the shoulder. “You only get to have a weakness for one woman now.”

Mitch grinned, obviously untroubled by that. “Fair enough. As long as we’re both playing by the same rules.”

“Of course.”

Mitch kicked the bathroom door shut behind them, pulling Lilith close and landing a bone-melting kiss on her. When she was certain she couldn’t even stand up on her own, he lifted his head.

The twinkle in his eye should have warned her.

But Lilith found herself dumped into the shower before she could protest. Mitch turned on the water, she sputtered, but he turned back to lock the door.

“We don’t any little eyes or cold noses investigating,” he confided as he climbed into the tub beside her. After the initial cold spurt, the hot water had come and the shower was becoming quite cozy.

Intent shone in Mitch’s eyes, one glance further south confirming exactly what he had in mind. His hands roved over her, starting little fires everywhere they touched.

“Now, then,” Mitch purred as he backed Lilith into the tile wall. His chest hair tickled against her breasts, the warmth of his smile made Lilith’s heart pound in anticipation. He quirked one chestnut brow. “How about some good clean fun?”

Lilith had only a moment to laugh before Mitch’s lips closed demandingly over hers. He caught her around the waist, his hands nearly encircling her, and lifted her so that her toes dangled off the ground. He imprisoned her against the wall and Lilith couldn’t imagine a better place to be. The water drummed down on his shoulders and Lilith closed her eyes with contentment.

Mitch loved her.

She loved him, they were together. That was the only thing Lilith had ever wanted and she had it right in her hands. Her heart sang and she knew she would treasure Mitch’s whispered confession for the rest of her days.

She ran her toes up the back of his legs, giggling when he growled. Lilith locked her knees around his waist, more than ready to repeat their earlier activities. Mitch’s hands slid lower and he cupped her buttocks, a very wicked gleam lighting the amber of her eyes.

“Why don’t you put your feet on the edge of the tub?” he suggested. Mitch gripped her cheeks tighter when Lilith followed his suggestion. “And don’t worry,” he breathed against her neck. “I’m not going to let you fall.” His erection pressed against her softness, his lips moved in her ear.

And Lilith knew right then and there that they were going to run the hot water tank dry.

 

* * *

 

“Daddy’s home!” Jen exploded into the bedroom and bounced on the bed with delight, just half an hour after the shower to end all showers.

“You’re still asleep, naked lady,” Mitch mumbled in Lilith’s ear. Then he sat up with a gasp of surprise for Jen’s benefit, acting as though he had just awakened. Lilith followed orders and feigned sleep. Jason was right behind Jen and the mattress was soon bouncing with a different kind of excitement than it had the night before.

Lilith had to wonder what kind of person they thought she was, expecting her to slumber right through this kind of ruckus. That made her smile even more.

To Lilith’s relief, no one seemed surprised to find her curled up in bed with Mitch. She snuggled lower, hiding her bare shoulders beneath the sheet.

“Shhhh!” he said loud enough to wake the dead. “Lilith’s still sleeping.” Lilith bit back a chuckle. The children shushed each other so loudly that Lilith nearly blew her cover. Whispers abounded, then the mattress moved as they eased from the bed.

To Lilith’s astonishment, she earned two surreptitious and slightly sticky kisses. She only barely hid her surprise, and had to bite her lip when Mitch whispered in her ear. “Hmmm, I had no idea you could be so sneaky,” he teased, then kissed her lightly. “I’m going to have to watch my step.”

Lilith knew he saw her unwilling smile.

Down in the kitchen, Cooley barked, obviously feeling left out of things.

“Daddy, you have to see!” Jen dragged Mitch off to see his room, her explanation filled with a tangled story of Lilith’s Monster Repellant. He then admired Jason’s room, suggesting a bookshelf for all of the books that were being acquired.

“Did you have fun?” Mitch asked in the hall. A chorus of assent answered his question and Lilith smiled against her pillow.

“Lillit scared away the monsters for good,” Jen announced.

“Did she? And she painted the house too.”

“And she sang with me,” Jen contributed solemnly.

“We found some tadpoles in the creek and they had legs already,” Jason contributed. “We’re going to go back today to see how much they’ve grown.”

“Wow,” Mitch mused. “It sounds as though Lilith worked pretty hard.” He dropped his voice to that loud whisper that Lilith was almost certainly supposed to hear. “Maybe we should make her breakfast.”

“We could make pancakes!” Jason suggested.

“And fruit salad with lots of grapes.”

Mitch chuckled. “Whose favorite food is this supposed to be?” he asked and Lilith guessed the answer to that. “What do you think Lilith would like?”

“Pancakes!”

“And fruit salad with lots of grapes.”

Lilith couldn’t stop her laughter. She tried to muffle it in the pillow and was glad to hear Mitch’s chuckle echo more loudly at the same time.

“All right, I give up,” he confessed. “Pancakes and fruit salad it is.”

Jen squealed, Jason cheered, Cooley barked with determination.

“Shhhhhh!” Mitch counseled and they all did. “Be vewy vewy quiet,” he added in quite a good imitation of Elmer Fudd. “We are huntin’ bweakfast.”

Jason mimicked the cartoon character’s distinctive laugh and the sound of their giggles moved toward the stairs.

“Gee,” Mitch said with sudden loudness. “I really hope Lilith sleeps long enough that we have time to finish making our surprise.”

Lilith rolled to her back and grinned, knowing full well that she was supposed to hear that. She stretched and considered the ceiling. It looked much better white, even it did still need another coat to cover that horrible green completely. The room looked cleaner and brighter already and Lilith couldn’t wait to finish transforming this house.

It was challenge of the first order. Hers hadn’t been nearly so bad when she moved in. Lilith wiggled her toes in the sheets, quite content to linger and daydream about paint and carpet and perfect furniture for each corner.

Lilith had no doubt that Mitch would loudly wonder where she was when it was time for her to make an appearance.

Lilith surveyed the room, trying to decide what particular shade of blue would be rich but not too dark. The corner of a piece of paper hung out of the top closed drawer of Mitch’s dresser. She had noticed it the other day and meant to stuff it back in. If anything else, it was hanging out further than Lilith remembered.

It was only thing in the room that looked sloppy, besides the rumpled bed. Sometime during the night, Mitch had even hung up his trousers.

Lilith’s lips quirked with the realization that she was getting a man who was already trained.

She eyed the piece of paper, unable to decide why that dangling corner bothered her as much as it did. Lilith wasn’t that much of a neat freak, after all.

She looked away and tried to forget it, but when she looked back, it seemed to be hanging out even further. It seemed to be wiggling at her, daring her to come and stuff it back into the drawer before it fell right on the floor.

That was enough!

Lilith rolled out of bed and crossed the room. She pulled open the drawer, meaning to just stuff the paper further in, but it fluttered to the floor. And when she bent to pick it up, the first few words jumped out at her.

Lilith hadn’t meant to read it, she certainly didn’t intend to pry. But why did Mitch have a list of psychologists in his drawer? And why was this doctor specializing in emotional trauma circled?

Lilith sat down on the edge of the bed with a thump. Was Jen more scarred by Janice’s departure than Mitch had already admitted?

What could she do to help?

 

* * *

 

Mitch was in a rip-roaring good mood. In fact, he couldn’t remember feeling so incredible in the morning, or having such anticipation of the day ahead.

Hell, of the life ahead.

He popped his favorite cartoon tape into the VCR and set to work dicing fruit as Michigan Frog was discovered in a box outside a construction site. He didn’t mind the kids watching cartoons but one morning with Jason in front of the television had convinced Mitch that you never knew what kids were going to see these days. Warner Brothers’ work hadn’t hurt Mitch any, so he’d gone out and bought a posse of tapes.

They were the only things the kids were allowed to watch on their own, although there were no complaints. Jen and Jason loved Bugs Bunny and all the other characters, even though they practically had the tapes memorized.

Jason ran to turn up the volume, then came back to perch on a stool and wash fruit.

“Wash it really well,” Mitch counseled.

“Can you say fat-soluble pesticides?” Jason parroted Mitch’s usual advice, clearly without any understanding of what it meant. They said it again using Sylvester the cat’s characteristic lisp and laughed together at their own silliness.

Mitch scooped up Jen and perched her on the counter, giving her a job, too. She picked the green grapes off their stems once they were clean and made more than a few of them disappear.

Cooley waited, eternally patient, for something to fall.

And when the frog started to sing, they all knew the words. Both kids kicked their feet in a rendition of the frog’s dancing and they belted out the tune, two sopranos and a baritone.

Mitch tossed a grape into the air and caught it in his mouth. The kids immediately had to try this, too, and Cooley soon had more grapes than even he wanted.

In the midst of all this, Lilith cleared her throat from the doorway. Mitch spun and grinned at her, catching a grape with a flourish.

It was only then that Mitch noticed that Lilith wasn’t smiling. She turned a piece of paper in her hands, a worried frown drawing her brows together. A question lurked in her eyes and Mitch looked again to the paper she held.

When Mitch recognized it, he had a very bad feeling.

Damage control time.

“Can you peel this orange?” Mitch said almost absently to Jason, then crossed the room with quick strides. “Let’s talk in the other room,” he suggested, capturing Lilith’s elbow in one smooth move and turning her away from the children.

Mitch knew he had to talk fast if he was going to save this situation.

Let alone his butt.

Too bad he didn’t have a clue how to start.

“Mitch, why do you have this list of psychologists? And this trauma specialist?” Lilith’s concern was obvious. “Is it Jen? Is she more upset than you told me?”

“No, not Jen.” Mitch swallowed, hating that words chose this moment to desert him.

“Who, then?” She clutched his arm. “Not Jason?”

“No, Lilith, no.” Mitch frowned. “Lilith, it’s not for the kids.”

“Andrea?”

“No, Andrea’s about the most well-adjusted person I’ve ever met.”

Lilith eyed him. “Has something happened to you?”

“No.” Mitch shoved a hand through his hair, knowing that at this rate, she was going to get to the truth before he could come up with a reasonable explanation.

Lilith drew back slightly and frowned. “I don’t understand, then.”

There was no easy way to say this. Mitch took a deep breath and just plunged in. “Lilith, I researched the list for you.”

His words seemed to stun her. “Me? But why?”

“Well, yeah. You see, when you told me about the whole Gypsy thing and being an outcast and your true lover leaving you, I thought the story might be a way of dealing with a trauma in your life.”

Lilith straightened, her expression puzzled. “The trauma in my life was seeing you killed.” Her tone told Mitch that he was on shaky ground. He caught her shoulders in his hands, unable to quell a sense that she was poised to flee. He tried to explain himself.

Fast.

“But you do know, Lilith, that people don’t live for six hundred years? It just isn’t possible – in fact, you mentioned as much yourself.”

“I told you I was immortal…”

Mitch spoke gently. “Lilith, there aren’t any immortals and we both know that.” He looked deeply into her eyes and saw disbelief dawn there in the same moment that she gasped. “Now, it doesn’t matter…”

“It certainly does matter,” she interrupted and pulled out of his grip. “You think I liked to you!”

But Mitch was still trying to save the situation. His words came fast and low, his tone as gentle ass he could make it. “Not exactly a lie, Lilith. I think you’re trying to protect yourself, that the mind does incredible things to deal with trauma, but…”

Lilith backed away, her eyes snapping angrily. “You don’t believe me! You think I lied to you.”

“Well…” Mitch couldn’t think of a good way to explain himself nearly fast enough.

“You think I made it all up!” Lilith spun and marched to the other side of the room, pivoting only at the window.

Then she stared at him, consideration bright in her eyes. “But wait – if you don’t believe me, then how could you have remembered anything about being Sebastian? If you remembered, you’d know I was telling the truth.”

“I never said I remembered!”

Lilith strode across the room, determination in her every step. She waved a finger under Mitch’s nose. “You said you didn’t remember nearly enough. I remember that quite clearly.”

He had said that, although Mitch couldn’t exactly remembered why it had seemed like a good idea at the time. He looked at his feet and frowned when no ready explanation came to his lips.

“You implied,” Lilith continued coldly, “that you remembered something and that you wanted to remember more.”

Mitch heaved a sigh. ‘Lilith, I’m sorry. I made a mistake. I was concerned for Andrea.”

“So you deceived me.” Lilith’s eyes flashed. “You pretended that you did remember something when you didn’t. And you think the fact that you believed I was a criminal preying on other people makes that all right!”

“Lilith, I was just trying to help…”

But Lilith poked a finger hard into Mitch’s chest. There was a dangerous glint in her eyes. “I don’t need to be helped. I don’t need to be fixed.” Her voice rose slightly and Mitch realized she was very, very angry.

So, maybe he hadn’t handled this too well. If only she would give him more time to explain. “But Lilith, I wasn’t going to give you the list. I don’t care whether you ever sort all that out.”

She sniffed, clearly unimpressed. “How gracious of you to accept damaged goods.” She pointed her finger at him again. “But there’s not a single thing wrong with me, Mitch Davison, except that I’m different from you. I’m starting to think that’s an awfully good thing!”

“Lilith! Can we just talk about this?”

“There’s nothing to talk about. If you really loved me, you’d accept me as I am. You wouldn’t conclude that I was crazy. You’d believe what I told and you wouldn’t mislead me.”

“But Lilith…”

“Mitch, this hasn’t been easy.” Lilith drew in a sharp breath and straightened to her full height. “You’ve fought me and destiny every step of the way here. I understand that things haven’t always been easy for you, and I’ve tried to be understanding, but I’m tired of doing all the work.’ She fixed him with a look. “Do you remember being Sebastian or not?”

Mitch sighed, but held her gaze. “No.”

Lilith’s lips tightened and she turned away.

“But I love you. I never lied about that.”

Lilith looked Mitch right in the eye. “That doesn’t give you the right to hurt me,” she said softly. “And it doesn’t give you the right to assume you know best.” Lilith licked her lips, then words fell quickly. “You’ve got to do some thinking. You’ve got to make some choices, and you’ve got to come to terms with the truth – even if it doesn’t meet your expectations.”

And with that, she walked out of his house.

Mitch blinked. He couldn’t believe she was just leaving.

He couldn’t believe that no one had thrown dishes, or had a showy tantrum or made enormous demands. There had been no ultimatum.

Lilith just asked for his faith, told him what she wanted from him and walked away, leaving him time to think about it. She’d been angry, but she hadn’t taken it too far.

He already agreed with her.

The situation was so completely different from how things had been with Janice that Mitch was momentarily stunned.

By the time he acknowledged how different Lilith was, she was gone.

But Mitch couldn’t let this argument end here. He couldn’t let Lilith walk out of his life. She was right – he would have called his kids on the carpet for even an almost-lie like the one he had made.

Mitch had to apologize. He had to fix this. He told the kids he’d be back in two and raced out the back door. Mitch leapt through the gate, catching a glimpse of Lilith’s skirts from her front porch.

“Lilith! Wait!” Mitch raced down the path between the two houses, vaulted onto her porch, and tried the door.

It was already closed and locked.

Mitch rang the bell, but no one answered. It didn’t take him long to realize that Lilith wasn’t going to answer anytime soon.

Screwed up again, Davison, Mitch congratulated himself. He shoved his hands into his pockets and glared at the door, not yet ready to take no for an answer.

He might not be a star at relationships, but he was damn well going to try to give this his best shot before he gave up trying. There had to be a way to work through all their various hurts and misconceptions and get back to the place where they had spent the night.

Mitch wasn’t afraid to work for it.

 

* * *

 

15

The Devil

 

Lilith came home at lightning speed, ripped open her front door and slammed it shut behind her, still seething. She heard Mitch behind her but was too disappointed to face him now.

How could he have misled her?

And how dare he not believe their story? It was such a stunning breach of faith that Lilith wouldn’t have believed it possible, if she hadn’t heard the truth from Mitch’s own lips.

He thought she was traumatized and making up stories! She wanted to fling her hands toward the sky and scream. Men! Lilith was so irked with Mitch that she wouldn’t have been surprised to find smoke curling out of her ears.

What she did find was an unfamiliar man lounging in her living room, toying with her tarot cards.

Lilith froze in the hall and stared. She had locked the door, she knew it. How had he gotten in here? And why was he sitting so calmly in her living room? The intruder had dark hair and dark eyes and dressed with a flamboyance that made her Gift whisper in the back of her mind.

Before Lilith could summon a word, he looked up and grinned. “Lilith!” Her heart hammered that he knew her name. “Took you long enough, baby. How about a kiss for an old friend?”

And he flicked a card from his fingertips to land on the floor at her feet.

It was The Fool, from Lilith’s old deck.

“Sebastian,” she whispered, barely daring to believe. Lilith sank into a chair, so shocked that she was certain her legs wouldn’t continue to support her.

“The very same,” he confirmed and grinned, clearing enjoying her surprise. “Miss me?”

Lilith stared at him and fought against the truth. Her destined lover was the man sitting right in front of her.

Not the one banging on her door, demanding admission.

Uh oh.

 

* * *

 

16

The Falling Tower

 

Suddenly Mitch’s confusion made a whole lot more sense to Lilith. Because Mitch wasn’t her destiny, after all. Lilith exhaled weakly and tried to wrap her mind around the concept.

No wonder Mitch had been so stunned when she jumped on him. He hadn’t understood the import of their entwined fates, because their fates weren’t entwined.

Lilith’s destiny was sitting right in front of her, grinning smugly. There was something about Sebastian’s smile that made Lilith want to slap it right off his face, and she certainly didn’t like being called ‘baby’ by anyone.

Surely they had just gotten off on the wrong foot.

Lilith glanced from Sebastian to the door Mitch was knocking on and knew there was no point in delaying the inevitable. However disappointing the truth might be, Lilith knew she couldn’t challenge destiny.

It simply wasn’t done.

She had to tell Mitch the truth.

Lilith opened the door just as Mitch let loose an eloquent stream of cursing. He stopped as soon as he saw her, his eyes widened and he lifted his hands in a plea for truce.

“Lilith! Just give me five minutes to explain...”

“You don’t have to explain,” Lilith said flatly. She ran a hand over her brow, feeling suddenly very tired. She couldn’t help it - finding her destined lover wasn’t as wonderful as anticipated, since it meant giving up Mitch. “There’s nothing to explain. I was wrong about everything. I know it now. Good-bye, Mitch. I’m sorry that you got tangled up in all of this.”

Mitch’s eyes narrowed. “Excuse me?”

“I’m sorry.” Lilith didn’t know what else to say.

Mitch frowned. He looked to his house, then back to Lilith, uncertainty in his eyes. “Did I miss something here? Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t we just spend an awesome night, not to mention make a very promising start to the morning? Aren’t we making up from an argument?”

“No, Mitch.” Lilith heard the defeat in her tone. “We’re ending whatever we had begun.”

Oh, she had his attention now. “What?”

“We aren’t destined to be together, after all.” Lilith tried to shut the door and turn away, the whole conversation making her want to cry.

But Mitch’s eyes flashed gold and his hand snapped up to stop the progress of the door. “What the hell do you mean? Okay, okay, I was wrong, but come on, Lilith, give me a chance!”

Lilith shook her head despondently, wishing she could give him a different answer than the one she had to give. “It’s no good, Mitch.”

Mitch folded his arms across his chest, planted his feet in her foyer and looked about as ready to move as the Rock of Gibraltar. “What exactly changed in the last five seconds?” he demanded, his voice dangerously low. “Give me one good reason why I should walk out this door.”

“Everything has changed.”

“We had a misunderstanding,” Mitch insisted stubbornly. “It changes nothing.”

“No, you just don’t understand.” Once Lilith realized that she wasn’t going to get by with a quick explanation, she stepped back and gestured to the foyer. “Come in and you’ll see. You have a right to know the truth.”

Mitch’s lips tightened. “I can’t leave the kids. Why don’t you come back and have breakfast?”

“Because what you have to see is right here,” Lilith said softly. She managed a half-smile for him. “This won’t take long. Soon you’ll see exactly what I mean.”

“Lilith,” Mitch said her name softly and hesitated, his gaze lingering on her as though he would find the truth in her eyes. Lilith averted her gaze, not wanting him to see the misery surging through her, not wanting him to guess that she wasn’t finding it easy to do the right thing.

Because Lilith knew that they didn’t have a choice.

Mitch made a frustrated noise in his throat, then strode further into the house. There was purpose in his step and a part of Lilith was pleased that he was not ready to surrender their relationship.

Even if she didn’t dare savor to that thrill for long.

Without a word, Lilith gestured toward the living room. Mitch evidently thought she was inviting him to sit down and headed immediately in that direction, looking as though he was preparing to argue a court case.

One that he had no intention of losing.

But Mitch froze on the threshold of the room and stared, in an unconscious echo of Lilith’s return home just moments before.

“Who the hell are you?” he demanded of the man Lilith knew was lounging there. “And what are you doing in Lilith’s house?”

Sebastian smiled wolfishly just as Lilith entered the room behind Mitch. “I’m Sebastian, come to claim my one true love.”

“What’s he talking about?” Mitch turned and frowned at Lilith. “I thought I was Sebastian?”

“So did I,” Lilith conceded. She shrugged sadly and tried to hide her tears from Mitch’s perceptive eye. “I guess we were both wrong.”

But Mitch shoved a hand through his hair impatiently and scowled at the newcomer. “How long has this guy been here? Has he been bothering you all weekend?”

“Bothering her?” Sebastian swept to his feet. “I’ve returned to my destined love because she summoned me.” His eyes flashed. “And it seems that I’ve arrived just in time!”

“Don’t worry, Sebastian, Mitch always does the right thing.”

Mitch swiveled to meet her gaze. “Which would be what?”

“Leaving,” Lilith said simply, then laid a hand on Mitch’s arm, wishing she could make this easier for him.

Never mind easier for herself.

“Go home, Mitch,” she urged gently. “Go home to your kids.”

But Mitch’s eyes flashed. “You can’t be serious about ending this?”

“We don’t have a choice.”

“The hell we don’t!” Mitch gripped her shoulders when Lilith didn’t say anything more, as though he wanted to give her a shake. Instead, his voice dropped low. “Lilith, listen to what you’re saying! I’m sorry, I made a mistake, but let’s talk about it. There’s something good growing between us, don’t just throw it away.”

But Lilith knew better. She dropped her voice and looked into Mitch’s eyes, even managed a smile though her heart was aching. “Mitch, you don’t understand...”

He spun away from her, clearly seeing that he was making no progress. “No! I don’t!” Mitch retorted in frustration, then gestured angrily at Sebastian. “This guy just shows up and that’s good enough for you? You had, what, one night together some six hundred years ago? What about us? What about the time we’ve spent together? What about last night?” Mitch’s gaze clung to hers, all amber intensity, and he didn’t have to give voice to his real question.

What about his confession of love?

Lilith knew it hadn’t been easy for Mitch to let himself care about her, but maybe that was all part of some divine plan. Maybe she was hurting now so that he could go on to find his one true love. Maybe he had to hurt to learn to love again. Lilith didn’t know and right now she didn’t much care.

But she had to do what was right. There was no point in trying to cheat Dame Fortune.

Because the Fates could be vengeful.

“Mitch, we can’t fight destiny...”

“Why the hell not?” Mitch leaned closer, his gaze dangerously compelling. “What happened to you, Lilith? What happened to fighting for what you wanted, what happened to not surrendering regardless of the odds? It isn’t like you to just let something go, particularly something very special.”

Mitch took a deep breath and slid his thumbs across her shoulders. She shivered despite herself, unable to keep herself from responding when a smile tugged at his lips and his voice dropped low. “Lilith, it isn’t like you to ignore magick.”

Lilith’s heart skipped a beat as she stared wordlessly back at him. Mitch’s determination, as well as his acknowledgement of the magic between them, made Lilith want to throw her arms around his neck and surrender.

But she didn’t. Instead, she took a deep breath and looked into his eyes.

But the light was wrong. It was too dim in the room to see whether anyone lurked in the depths of Mitch’s eyes or not, though Lilith’s Gift whispered to her of the truth.

They weren’t a perfect lovematch, at least not anymore. She didn’t have to see to know. Sebastian’s return had changed everything.

Lilith knew that the future is a constantly changing array of possibilities, a world of options that changes with every choice that each person makes. It didn’t make her feel any better that somehow her choices, or Mitch’s choices, had led to a fork in the path they walked together, a fork that would compel them each to walk in different directions.

But Lilith couldn’t summon the words to explain all of that before Sebastian unfolded himself like a large version of D’Artagnan and strolled across the floor. He halted right in front of Mitch, and poked a finger in that man’s chest.

“Beat it, pal. We’ve got destiny on our side.” Sebastian smiled coldly. “And three is a crowd.”

“Lilith?” Mitch made one last appeal.

“I’m sorry, Mitch.” Lilith swallowed, the words not tasting good in her mouth. “This is how it has to be.”

Mitch swore, pivoted and stalked out the door.

And Lilith felt suddenly as though she had lost everything that had ever mattered to her, even knowing that her destined lover had returned to her embrace.

Surely, she and Sebastian had just gotten off on the wrong foot. Surely, once they were alone together, the passion that had united them once would flicker to life again.

Surely, Lilith couldn’t have made as big of a mistake as she felt quite definitely she had.

 

* * *

 

Mitch couldn’t believe it. He was furious with Lilith for refusing to see the truth. For a woman who talked about destiny and love all the time, she was really missing the road signs on this one.

He loved her. And Mitch knew she loved him.

He wished he could say something that would convince her of the truth. But Mitch had laid out his best arguments, to no discernible effect. And he knew that Lilith wasn’t easily persuaded to abandon whatever whimsy she took to heart.

Maybe she hadn’t taken him as close to heart as Mitch had thought.

That thought stung, but Mitch knew better. He’d been following his gut instincts long enough to know a reliable lead when he found one. Lilith was the woman for him, Mitch knew it in every fiber of his being.

All he had to do was convince her of the truth. It was hard to walk away from her, doubly hard to leave her in the company of the wretch who had kept her waiting for so long, but Mitch knew an argument that couldn’t be won when he saw one.

And he wasn’t going to persuade Lilith of anything today.

Mitch took a deep breath as he reached his own back porch, and fought to compose himself. He’d need answers for the kids, reasons for Lilith’s quick departure and for her inevitable absence.

Because she wasn’t going to be out of his life for long. No way. Mitch had taken one look at this Sebastian and recognized a man of Kurt’s ilk. Sebastian wasn’t the man for Lilith.

Mitch was.

She’d see the truth soon enough. The guy had some hold on her, that link in the past, but Lilith would see her way through that. This was something she had to work through, like his reassessment of his former marriage. Mitch respected Lilith’s intellect and knew she’d make the right choice. And when she did, Mitch would be waiting.

He didn’t care how long it took.

And then Mitch would start wooing Lilith in earnest. After all, the lady had appointed Mitch her champion and that was a role he took pretty seriously. It was a role he was damn good at.

It was a role he was going to surrender without a fight.

 

* * *

 

Lilith sat down weakly in the closest chair and stared at Sebastian, unable to get things into any kind of order in her mind. The strange thing was that the sight of Sebastian did absolutely nothing to her pulse rate.

In fact, the man before her didn’t appear to be her type at all. He looked very slick and more than a little unreliable. He didn’t even look the way Sebastian had looked all those years ago. And there was a decided absence of magick in the air since Mitch had left. If Sebastian hadn’t known about the card, Lilith would have thought he was a complete stranger.

She still felt as though he was.

Of course, nearly six hundred years was a long time. People grew in their own ways. It wouldn’t be easy to just pick up where they left off.

And destiny really was on her side this time. Lilith pushed the sight of Mitch’s hurt out of her thoughts, deliberately stomped down on the ache of her own heart, and focused on the issue at hand.

As reunions went, this one hadn’t been particularly celebratory so far. Maybe she could get them back on the right track.

“So, you are Sebastian.” Lilith said deliberately, as though stating his name would make everything make sense.

It didn’t. His name didn’t even linger deliciously on her tongue the way it had for many centuries.

Lilith frowned and told herself not to fight things she couldn’t change.

“Yeah, that’s me.” Sebastian grinned and preened, clearly expecting Lilith to admire his physique. He did have the build of a legendary Latin lover, bedroom eyes, golden skin and ruffled dark hair.

But the sight of him did absolutely nothing for Lilith.

“A little upgrade, you know,” Sebastian confided. “I wanted a slicker package this time, something with some serious style.” He flashed a very white smile. “Like it?”

Lilith swallowed, not having it in her to lie and knowing he wouldn’t appreciate the truth. “How did you get in here?”

Sebastian’s smile broadened. “I hate to be the one to tell you this, baby, but you’ve got a seriously inferior grade of lock on your door. It was like picking my teeth.”

Lilith swallowed her gasp of outrage. “You broke into my house?”

“I didn’t break anything,” he retorted. “I’m a pro!”

Her destined love was a professional criminal. Lilith pressed her fingertips to her temples. This was getting better and better.

What had she done to deserve such a fate?

“I thought you would have shown up sooner,” she commented quietly. “Where have you been?”

“All over the place,” Sebastian confessed with a vague wave of his hand. “Spreading the wealth, you know. I’ve got to tell you that I’ve had action in this life, like you wouldn’t believe. Yet there are women everywhere who haven’t yet made my acquaintance.” He examined his nails with a smile. “I do what I can to set things to rights.”

“What?” His confession brought Lilith to attention with a snap. “You’ve been with other women?”

“Hundreds of them, baby.” Sebastian smiled and shrugged. “Maybe even thousands. Over the years, I’ve lost count.”

Lilith sputtered in her indignation. “But you’re supposed to be my one true love!”

Sebastian rolled his eyes. “Women and the stuff they come up with,” he mumbled, then smiled engagingly once more. “Sure, Lilith baby, whatever you think is fair.”

Lilith leaned forward in her chair. “Don’t you think we’re destined lovers?”

Sebastian shrugged. “Well, that’s what the crowd said when the interrupted a truly great seduction about a week back.” His eyes gleamed. “I was on the Riviera, you know, in this great little hotel, all the amenities, if you know what I mean. And I had met this blonde with hooters out to tomorrow…”

“What crowd?” Lilith shook her head. “What are you talking about?”

Sebastian blinked as he sought the element of his story that had caught Lilith’s interest – it took him a moment because it wasn’t the element that interested him. “The crowd? Oh, yeah, this whole party bust into my room.” He snapped his fingers. “Just like they came out of nowhere. It was weird, truly weird. I never did figure out how they got in, and that is my area of specialty.”

Lilith’s mouth went dry. Her Gift sparkled like starlight and gave her a definite nudge in the direction of a conclusion. “Who were they?” she asked, suspecting that she already knew the answer.

“Some council, they said. Pretty hoity-toity name, I don’t remember, but they had some really fancy tricks.”

“The Grand Consulting Council of Immortals,” Lilith whispered reverently, awed that they had taken an interest in her plight.

“Could have been.” Sebastian shook a finger at her, more than ready to get back to his story. “Now, this blonde was wearing a bikini, or actually not wearing it…”

But Lilith wasn’t interested in the blonde. “What did they say to you?”

“Huh? Oh, that I had some obligation from a past life or something equally weird. Freaked out the blonde, which didn’t thrill me particularly, I have to say. After she took off, they laid a lot of goofy doom and gloom on the table. I didn’t know what they went going on about until one of them touched my forehead. I suddenly remembered all these past lives. It was pretty bizarre.”

“So you didn’t remember anything before that?” Lilith asked, wondering why she didn’t find that very reassuring.

“No, but then, it was all right there. Just to make matters more strange, they insisted that I had to come here, that you were waiting.” Sebastian leaned closer, no doubt turning what was his best smile on Lilith. “If I’d known you were such a looker, baby, I wouldn’t have argued as much as I did.”

A sick feeling coiled in Lilith’s stomach. “You mean you didn’t want to come?”

“Naw! I mean I remembered the other time, but it was hardly anything to chase after, no offense. You were just a skinny kid, not bad looking, but that blonde had you beat hands down. And you couldn’t touch her in terms of experience.” His lips quirked in a smile. “Nothing personal, baby, but I’ve got to look out for number one.”

Lilith forced her words past the lump in her throat, knowing she had to have everything absolutely clear. “So, you do remember being Sebastian before?”

“Well, now, yeah.” He shrugged. “Kind of a gruesome way to go, but that’s life. At least I got to come back a few dozen times. And since those council types visited me, I can remember all those babes!” He winked confidently. “Pretty neat that my name is the same this time, don’t you think? Just like destiny or something.”

He grinned.

He’d reincarnated dozens of times, yet he hadn’t come looking for her. He’d been too busy “spreading the wealth”, as it was.

Lilith didn’t like this at all.

She folded her hands together carefully and held Sebastian’s gaze. “Tell me – if you hadn’t been arrested all those years ago, would you really have come back to me?”

He smiled coolly and Lilith knew the truth.

No. He’d never cared for her. He’d only wanted to seduce her. Her uncle had been right – and Lilith had been foolish enough to believe otherwise for much longer than she should have.

Her blood ran cold at the realization that this man was still her destined companion for the rest of her days.

“But see, baby, there’s wasn’t a lot of chance of my coming back, anyway.”

Lilith blinked, almost having forgotten where they were. “What do you mean?”

“Well, I was caught red-handed, as they say.” Sebastian tapped his temple. “I remember it all now.”

Red-handed? Horror rose in Lilith as she saw the truth in his eyes. “You did kill that widow!”

Sebastian shrugged. “Hey, it was an accident. I didn’t mean to kill her, but you know, she liked it a bit rough.” He winked. “If you know what I mean. Things got a little out of control that night.” He shrugged again, supremely unconcerned. “Happens.”

Lilith could barely choke back her anger. It was bad enough that Sebastian had taken her virginity, made her all sorts of promises, then gone to another woman’s bed. But he had killed that widow and still didn’t feel a pang of remorse.

He was worse than pond scum.

She had been an idiot to believe his lies.

The worst part was that she had pined for this pathetic excuse for a man for almost six centuries. Mitch, now there was a man worth pining for.

But he wasn’t the man destined for her.

Lilith decided right then and there that destiny sucked.

“Hey, Lilith, baby, you look like you could use some cheering up.” Sebastian leaned closer, his eyes gleaming. “And I’ve got just the medicine you need. What do you say to a healthy doze of Sebastian for breakfast?”

“No!” Lilith bounded to her feet.

Sebastian’s eyes flashed before he smiled with smooth charm. “Hey, you called me. I sure wouldn’t have come to this city all on my own. There’s nothing going here.” His eyes narrowed. “Besides, I heard that you said you were going to make it worth my while.”

It didn’t help that he was exactly right.

But Lilith still didn’t want to keep her word. She eased toward the door, intending to slide out the door. But Sebastian lunged to his feet to stop her.

Lilith fled, ripping down the hall and to lock herself in the kitchen. Sebastian’s footsteps echoed behind. Lilith closed her eyes tightly and chanted a spell to make the lock hold, her heart nearly stopping when Sebastian jiggled the knob forcefully.

The knob stopped moving and Lilith took a wary step back.

“You can’t resist my charm forever, Lilith baby,” Sebastian whispered through the keyhole. “After all, it’s destiny.”

But Lilith was already hauling her cauldron toward the stove, determined to conjure up an eviction spell. She had been such a fool. Somehow there had to be a way to make things come right.

Lilith flicked on the radio so she wouldn’t have to hear Sebastian breathing on the other side of the door. She was encouraged to hear Gladys Knight singing about her lover taking the midnight train to Georgia. With every “he’s leaving” that the Pips echoed, Lilith tossed another pinch into the pot.

She couldn’t conjure quickly enough.

 

* * *

 

Sebastian could have broken the lock. He was sure he could have picked it, but clearly Lilith needed a moment to think. Women were like that. But they always came around.

Besides, a little pause in the action wasn’t such a bad idea.

Because this wasn’t the way Sebastian had envisioned this deal. Not at all. Nobody had said anything about fighting off competition. Of course, that council hadn’t been prepared to listen much to Sebastian’s point of view, but he’d been sure that there was a little bit of something curvy in this deal for him.

And that it – she - would be easy pickings.

Clearly, though, Lilith was holding out on him. And she was going to keep doing so. Since that was completely contrary to her passionate response of several centuries ago, Sebastian guessed that the fault lay outside of her nature.

It was that guy net door. He’d been playing in Sebastian’s pond while Sebastian was otherwise occupied. It wasn’t pertinent that Sebastian had had no intention of seeking out Lilith before the council intervened.

He was here now- an entire ocean away from civilization as he knew it – and if nothing else, Sebastian wanted what he had come all this way to get.

He was owed.

He’d give Lilith time to calm down, then come back and win her over with a healthy measure of his undeniable charm. Sebastian grinned to himself.

She’d forget that jerk next door in nothing flat.

Sebastian slipped out of the house with a whistle on his lips, confident that no matter how Lilith tried to barricade against his return, he could get back into that house.

Guaranteed.

 

* * *

 

17

The Star

 

Andrea couldn’t hide from the fact that she was disappointed. Eight days into her cruise and she still hadn’t met anyone even remotely interesting.

Could Lilith have been wrong?

The worst thing about that would be that it would prove Mitch’s skepticism right.

She hated proving Mitch right - mostly because it happened too often.

Andrea sighed and took her new swirly blue dress from the tiny closet. She held it up to herself and smiled for her reflection. Tonight was the night Andrea was to sit at the captain’s table, although she really wasn’t excited about the prospect.

She was tired of old women and men who couldn’t dance, honeymooners staring into each other’s eyes and children bored to death after days at sea. She was tired of bingo and skeet-shooting and buffets that only seemed to be cleared to make way for another lavish meal. She didn’t want to sunbathe anymore, or learn to play shuffleboard, or be marched through an island village in a convoy of tourists. She didn’t even want to languish on an endless beach.

Andrea wanted to dance. She flicked the hem of the skirt and considered the prospect of having her toes trodden upon yet again. She hadn’t seen a single man on this ship who seemed to have a talent for dancing, much less one as interesting as Lilith had promised.

And Andrea had had a good look. She pouted at the possibility that Lilith was mistaken, the reflected gesture reminding her so much of Jen that she laughed aloud.

That made Andrea feel better. She’d do some shopping for the kids tomorrow - as though they needed more souvenirs of her trip than she had already acquired. Watching Mitch growl about them getting spoiled would mitigate the disappointment of seeing him proven right again.

Andrea chuckled to herself at the prospect. “If you don’t play, you can’t win,” she informed her mirror image sternly and hung the dress on the bathroom door with purpose. Andrea hadn’t gotten this far in life by sitting in a corner and feeling sorry for herself, and she wasn’t going to start now.

And she was going to go out with a bang. Partner or no partner, tonight, Andrea was going to dance - and dammit, she was going to sparkle.

 

* * *

 

Andrea swept into the dining room with every bit of her usual style and grace. She smiled at the maitre d’ and accepted his arm, her chin held high as she was led to her seat. It was a perfect evening for romance: the chandeliers glittered like starlight and the band was playing marvelous music. The crystal tinkled, there was a low murmur of conversation.

Despite herself, Andrea felt her anticipation rise. She was reminded of nights spent dancing to big band music at Casa Loma with her second husband - well, not actually with him. Walter had always escorted her, then sat with a drink and watched others twirl Andrea around the floor. Walter knew she loved to dance and had been quite philosophical about his own inabilities.

The memory made Andrea smile.

She thought then of her first husband, Bernard, and the way he compelled the younger partners in his law firm to waltz with her at least once at every Christmas party. Those were parties! Glittering fêtes at the Park Plaza or the Royal York, either hotel more than competent at elegant little canapés and conjuring the perfect festive mood.

Like the one tonight.

Andrea took her seat and thought of Nate. Now, there was a man who had stolen the key to her heart and never surrendered it again. He had been the only one who wouldn’t encourage others to dance with her, a regular old bear when it came to keeping Andrea by his side. She had loved him so much, she just didn’t mind. On a night like this, he would have ordered champagne, commandeered a table in the corner, and bent his attention on making her laugh.

Yes, Nate had been a wonderful man.

Andrea blinked back her tears and smiled at her dinner companions as they exchanged introductions. Directly opposite her was a very handsome man of about her age, one who Andrea had not seen about the ship as yet. His green eyes twinkled, seeming to hint at a joke only he could discern. An equally handsome wife sat at his side, turning her wedding band around and around her finger as she leaned against her husband and whispered anxiously in his ear.

A pair of elderly sisters from Paducah sat beside them, a besotted young couple beside the sisters stirred themselves long enough to confess that they had just been married on the last island. A retired librarian named Ethel, whom Andrea had already met and whose wry jokes she quite enjoyed, slid into the seat beside Andrea with a smile.

“Lovely, isn’t it?” Ethel asked.

“Wonderful,” Andrea agreed, consciously masking her disappointment.

Because the Captain himself greeted them all from behind his chair, his presence finishing the seating. Ethel had already confided that the Captain was happily married, that his wife would be joining him for the next circuit of the cruise.

Andrea stared at her salad plate and recalled Lilith’s assertion that she would not immediately recognize her soul mate, that he would seem unavailable. Well, barring the possibility that Ethel was hiding her true sexual identity, or that the Captain had a liking for women twice his age and was prepared to risk his wife’s opinions on the matter, or that the handsome wife would suddenly drown in her lobster bisque, it didn’t appear that Andrea’s destined lover had troubled to show.

Well, Ethel was good company.

Andrea turned to the friend she had already made on this trip and - quite deliberately, very defiantly - sparkled.

Andrea was in the act of declining another waltz with a man who seemed to have a rare gift for stepping hard on her toes, when a smooth British accent interjected.

“Perhaps I might have the honor of this dance?”

Andrea turned to find the man from her table with the sparkling green eyes. “Nigel Farnsworth,” he reminded her, with a slow smile. “I’ve made it my personal duty to dance with every lovely lady from our table this evening. Would you indulge me?”

Andrea’s gaze flicked back to the table. “Your wife won’t mind?”

Nigel’s lips quirked. “She might if I had one, but I don’t.”

Andrea frowned. “But you were sitting - “

“With my sister. Widowed a year ago and moping ever since.” He glanced back to the table himself and the twinkle faltered. “I was hoping this cruise might cheer her a bit, but so far, no luck. She’s spent most of the cruise sulking in the cabin and insisting I remain with her.” He looked back to Andrea, his expression rueful. “I had no idea the cabins would be quite so small.”

Andrea giggled despite herself. “You’ve managed to escape.”

“And only just.” Nigel smiled, his eyes twinkled and Andrea’s heart skipped a beat. “One must make the most of one’s opportunities. Shall we?”

“Of course,” Andrea said and took his hand. The band struck up a waltz and Nigel swung Andrea out onto the floor with the grace of a man who had been dancing from the cradle.

Andrea sighed with delight. “You can dance,” she murmured.

Nigel chuckled. “Let me guess - your toes thank me.”

Andrea smiled at him. “Every single one of them is charmed.”

Not to mention a good part of the rest of Andrea. He was a devastatingly good dancer, guiding her effortlessly through the throng of inexperienced dancers, leaving the perfect distance between them, moving so gracefully and so in tune with Andrea that she felt as though they’d been dancing together forever.

And he wore a very sexy cologne.

“I must confess,” Nigel murmured moments later ‘that I’ve been shamelessly eavesdropping on your conversation with your friend.” His voice dropped low, his accent making Andrea’s bones melt. “You must tell me where the most intriguing woman on this ship has managed to hide for an entire week.”

Andrea laughed at his compliment. “Not in my cabin.”

“Nor in mine, clearly.” The corner of Nigel’s lips tweaked. “It seems I missed more than the shuffleboard tournament.”

Andrea looked into the twinkle of his very green eyes and couldn’t quit catch her breath.

Everything froze around her as she studied Nigel’s smile and realized belatedly that everything was just as Lilith had said. Andrea hadn’t guessed that Nigel was available, although she had noticed him immediately. And he could dance, there was no doubt about that. She liked the glint of humor in his eyes. She liked how trim he was. She liked the stylish cut of his tux and the tang of his cologne. She liked that he was worried about his sister.

And she liked that he had finally put his foot down.

Andrea stared up at Nigel and her heart seemed to have stopped beating. It suddenly felt as if someone had tied a great big ribbon around her heart and knotted it tight.

It felt as though, one more time, a man had stolen the key to her heart while she wasn’t watching. There was a glint of determination in those green eyes and Andrea knew with complete certainty that Nigel wouldn’t surrender that key without a fight.

She liked that just fine.

The music changed and Andrea arched a brow at her partner. “Dare I hope that you can tango?” she asked, fully certain of what the answer would be.

Nigel feigned an aristocratic scoff. “What man of substance cannot?” Then he winked, flicked Andrea into a perfect spin, and they were off.

They merengued and they waltzed and they polkaed until Andrea was sure there were holes in the soles of her shoes. They laughed and they talked and they didn’t even notice that nearly everyone was wandering off to bed.

Because they danced some more.

When the band finally called it quits in the wee hours of the morning, Andrea peeled off her shoes and Nigel cast off his jacket. He snagged a bottle of champagne from the maître d’ along with a pair of flutes and they laughed as they escaped into the moonlight like naughty children. The bubbles were delectable, the conversation was lively and his puns were horrible.

When the sun painted the horizon pink, Nigel and Andrea were still slow-dancing barefoot on the upper deck. The tingle of champagne bubbles lingered on their tongues, and Nigel hummed “The Blue Danube” into her ear. As she watched the last star fade into the morning sky, Andrea knew there was nowhere else she wanted to be.

And that was before Nigel kissed her.

 

* * *

 

18

The Moon

 

Lilith leaned against the hall door to listen.

Nothing.

She turned the key carefully and eased open the door to the foyer, half expecting Sebastian to pounce on her.

Still nothing.

She strained her ears and couldn’t hear a thing.

“Sebastian?” Lilith waited and called again. She could feel the house breathing all around her, hear distant sounds of children playing outside.

But no hint of her unwelcome guest. She couldn’t even sense his presence, and she had before, as soon as she stepped into the house.

Could Sebastian have left, without imbibing of her special brew?

That would be almost too good to be true. Lilith picked up The Fool card from the floor and peered into the living room. Relief surged through her at that room’s emptiness. She ran upstairs, checking every corner, but already certain what she would find.

He was gone.

For now. Lilith wasn’t about to believe that he had abandoned her for good, not as easily as this.

And there was no telling when he would come back. Lilith stepped into the living room and made to put the card back in its place, chiding herself for being so unwelcoming to her destined lover. Sebastian must have some good qualities.

It looked as though she was going to have lots of time to find them. Lilith grimaced, then froze when she noticed how many of the cards had turned over during her stay at Mitch’s house.

The Death card was the last one she had seen turned up, and much to Lilith’s relief, they had clearly moved beyond that point. She pulled up a chair and stared at the cards, hoping for a guiding light of some kind.

Temperance was the card after Death, the woman on the card in the act of mixing water and wine, of combining two vastly different elements to create something new. Temperance didn’t always herald the creation of something good, Lilith knew. There were many different issues to be balanced when this card appeared, volatile elements to be combined, and the result could tip either to wine or vinegar.

That made her think of the argument she and Mitch had had this morning. There was more to that story, Lilith guessed, but things certainly hadn’t fallen from their lips in any sort of coherent manner. Hurt was like that - it tipped the scales in favor of misunderstanding.

Lilith pursed her lips and eyed the next card, not even interested in touching it. The Devil. She could make a pretty good guess whose arrival that card heralded. And it was a card that indicated physical temptation, an all too evident reminder of how all of this had started so many years ago.

The Falling Tower was the following card and Lilith wrinkled her nose at the sight of it. All of her preconceptions certainly had come tumbling down this morning - a bolt from the blue, just like the lightning bolt on the card, had struck right at the foundations of everything Lilith believed. The house of cards that was her conviction that she and Mitch belonged together had tumbled, not to mention that their entire relationship lay in ruins.

A more apt card to describe this day could not have been found in the deck.

The Star was next, a card of destiny fulfilled, of finding a guiding light, of hanging your hat on a moonbeam and sliding into happiness. Lilith couldn’t figure out what the heck that had to do with anything.

Was that what she was supposed to do with Sebastian? Was his return that ray of moonlight? Although Lilith might once have expected as much, Sebastian’s return to her life - and Mitch’s departure from it - had left her feeling less than enthused about the match. Eternal happiness seemed rather an unlikely prospect, given what she had already learned about Sebastian.

A thief and a womanizer. Maybe this was the lesson of her life - to learn how to love anyone, or how to discriminate between suitable loves.

Lilith half-wished she’d died and gone the cockroach route to atone for her sins instead.

Finally, the Moon was faced up. It was a portent of a crisis of faith, which was something Lilith could really relate to right now. The Moon was a card that hinted at the need to feel your way forward through the darkness, to find the true path with insufficient light.

Well, it was true that Lilith didn’t know what to do. She knew that you couldn’t fight destiny; she knew that the right choice was to cleave her path to Sebastian’s.

But she didn’t like him. Not at all. And she liked what he had done even less. She folded her arms across her chest, sat back and stared at the cards. Lilith’s intuition - solidly within the realm of the Moon, she realized suddenly - urged her to reconcile with Mitch.

But the very thought of defying destiny made Lilith dread the consequences. This wasn’t paltry stuff. She knew the Fates couldn’t be challenged, for if they were, they took a toll of their own invention.

The truth was that Lilith wouldn’t be afraid of paying any price herself. She was pretty sure the Fates would know that.

Which meant that Dame Fortune would take her toll for Lilith’s crime in the one place that would hurt Lilith the most. And Lilith knew where her vulnerability lay in all of this - it lay where she had entrusted her heart.

Lilith feared for Mitch.

The simple fact was that she loved him, regardless of what the cards or his eyes or even destiny had to say about it all. She didn’t want to see him hurt, or his fortune turn to the worst, or anything at all to happen to those darling children.

No doubt about it - as much as Lilith would have liked otherwise, indulging her own desire to be with Mitch couldn’t lead anywhere good.

Lilith was just going to have to get over it.

She couldn’t help it if that prospect was less than inviting.

 

* * *

 

It was very early the following morning when a faint sound awakened Lilith. She had fallen asleep on the sofa, both waiting for and dreading the return of Sebastian. Lilith was momentarily disoriented to find herself still in the living room. She just had enough time to wonder what had awakened her, before the answer landed square on top of her.

Sebastian!

He landed with deadly accuracy, his weight knocking the breath out of her as he pinned her to the sofa. Sebastian snatched at her wrists when Lilith started to fight him and kissed her hard. He stank of cigarette smoke, his touch was rough and unwelcome.

“Hey, baby, I’m home,” he rumbled in her ear, loosing a stench of beer. The faint undertone of Shalimar clung to him and Lilith had a very good idea how Sebastian had wiled away the hours he was away.

She fought him, but he wasn’t going to take no for an answer.

“Easy, baby, you know you want me.” Sebastian grabbed Lilith’s wrists and leaned his full weight on top of her. She was captured and cornered, and she didn’t like it one bit.

Lilith decided in that moment that she’d live out her life alone - however long it might prove to be - rather than put up with having this man underfoot.

Or overtop.

He landed a wet kiss on her, clamping his lips down hard when Lilith tried to turn away. Sebastian slipped his tongue between her teeth and a repulsed Lilith bit it hard. At the same moment, she drove her knee up into his crotch.

Sebastian yowled, Lilith shoved his weight off of her, knowing that she only succeeded in tumbling him to the floor because he was shocked.

Lilith bounced to her feet and wiped Sebastian’s saliva from her lips with disgust. She wanted to scrub every inch of herself to get rid of his filthy touch.

But first she had to get rid of him. Her wrists still hurt from Sebastian’s cruel grip on them and she knew she’d be bruised.

She’d be lucky to have no greater scars.

Sebastian rolled into a ball on the floor and howled, a response that might have been comical if Lilith hadn’t been so mad.

“My tongue! I think you took the end off it!” He glared at her. “It’s your loss, baby. This tongue is worth its weight in gold.”

Lilith spat at him and backed away. Sebastian’s eye flashed, he leapt to his feet and he lunged after her. He was bigger than her, he was stronger, he was drunk, and he was mad.

And he wanted one thing from her that Lilith didn’t want to give.

There was only one thing she could do to defend herself quickly. Before she could change her mind, Lilith called down a hex. Sebastian snatched at her as she started to chant, his handsome features contorted by a menacing snarl.

Lilith danced back, and she sang out the last line of the curse. She felt the power coil within her, she felt the heat of it seeking a direction. Sebastian swore and jumped as Lilith pointed her finger directly at him.

No sooner had the last word crossed her lips than Sebastian froze.

Lilith sank against the doorframe in relief, hearing her heart race. Her hands were shaking.

Just in time.

Sebastian was locked in the act of leaping after her. His hands were outstretched, his fingers distended, and Lilith knew that in another heartbeat, they would have been locked around her neck. His features were dark with fury, and his nostrils were even slightly flared.

And he wasn’t breathing. Lilith listened carefully just to make sure. He wasn’t dead. He was just …stopped. He wasn’t hurt or even uncomfortable.

Sebastian was simply stuck in one second of his life.

Lilith liked him much better this way.

She exhaled shakily once she knew for sure that her spell had worked. Although he was hardly the most tasteful sculpture she’d ever seen, in this state, Sebastian was no threat to her.

At least for the moment.

But Lilith still didn’t know what she was going to do. The hex would last for maybe a day. She couldn’t put this spell on Sebastian indefinitely and she knew he wasn’t going to be a good sport about this incident when he was back to his usual self.

She didn’t even want to look at him.

Lilith hated casting hexes. They were unpredictable, and could easily defy her mandate of harming none. She didn’t think she had had a choice, though. It had been her own safety or the hex.

Happens. She heard Sebastian’s dismissal of the widow’s fate in her thoughts and shivered.

No. She hadn’t had a choice.

Lilith tried to think of what repercussions could come from her casting a hex. Although technically, she hadn’t harmed Sebastian, he was mightily inconvenienced. The Rule of Three did say that all a witch cast out into the world would come back upon her threefold.

It was a fairly serious motivational tool. Lilith had a habit of doing only good – her first curse, even for the sake of saving herself, left her very uncertain of the ultimate result.

Would she be trapped similarly for three hours, in exchange for every hour Sebastian spent this way? Or would the Fates toy with her another way? Would they twist the hex into something else entirely?

Before Lilith could think any further, the doorbell rang.

 

* * *

 

19

The Sun

 

Mitch had had enough.

A day and a night hadn’t improved his mood over Lilith taking on this Sebastian guy and he figured he’d already given her plenty of time to think things over. There was no way he was going to get anything done at work today with this hanging over his head. Mitch bit the bullet, shoved his pride into cold storage, left the kids sleeping and took a chance.

To hell with how early it was. He went and rang Lilith’s bell.

She answered really quickly, the shadows underneath her eyes encouraging Mitch that he hadn’t been the only one to miss a night’s sleep over this. Relief washed over her features when she found him on her doorstep. Mitch’s heart skipped a beat at this sign that he had done the right thing.

“Lilith, we have to talk,” was all he managed to say before Lilith grabbed his hand and hauled him into her foyer. It put Mitch in mind of their first meeting, an encounter he wouldn’t mind replaying if it could all end more happily.

But Lilith clearly had other things in mind today.

“Look!” she urged and pointed him toward her living room.

Mitch peeked into the room, and jumped in shock to find himself about to be attacked.

Then, he realized that Sebastian wasn’t moving.

In fact, Sebastian didn’t look like he could move.

It was as though he was frozen. Curious despite himself, Mitch wandered into the living room and circled Sebastian. He even touched the man’s clawing hand and found the skin still warm.

The hair rose on the back of Mitch’s neck. Sebastian didn’t even blink, but Mitch had the distinct sense that his rival was in there.

And bloody mad about the whole thing.

Mitch stepped back and glanced at Lilith, suddenly having a very clear idea how Sebastian had gotten this way. It seemed that Mitch’s ideas about spells were doomed to follow the same path as his certainty about magic.

He cleared his throat, and decided that wasn’t so bad.

It was only then that he noticed how Lilith hung back in the foyer, her hesitation decidedly uncharacteristic.

Mitch frowned. “What exactly happened here?”

Lilith bit her lip, her gaze flicking to Sebastian with uncharacteristic nervousness. “He jumped me,” she confessed quietly.

What? Mitch saw suddenly that there were bruises already forming around Lilith’s wrists. He stepped closer and took Lilith’s hand, examining at the marks with a frown. An anger rose within him, a fury that any man could treat any woman with such disrespect, that this man had abused this woman this way.

“He was gone all night, he must have been drinking.” Lilith’s words fell hastily. “I fell asleep on the sofa and he seemed to think I wanted something he had.”

Mitch met her gaze. “Did he hurt you?”

Lilith’s tears welled, then she shook her head and blinked them away. “He frightened me,” she admitted, then glanced at the motionless Sebastian as though she didn’t trust him to stay put. Lilith took a deep breath. “I’ve never cursed anyone before.”

Mitch took a long look at Sebastian’s pose, at the fury in his expression, and slipped one arm around Lilith’s shoulders. “You didn’t have a choice,” he said softly, pleased when she turned into his embrace.

Mitch held Lilith closer when he felt her trembling, his gaze running over her would-be attacker. He would not think about what this excuse for a man had wanted to do to her.

“I wish every woman could cast a spell like this one.”

Lilith looked up at him questioningly. “I thought you didn’t believe in spells.”

Mitch smiled crookedly. “So, you’ve convinced me.”

But Lilith didn’t smile. She eyed Sebastian from the haven of Mitch’s embrace and frowned. “It won’t last a day.”

“Then, what are we going to do before that day is up?” Mitch asked.

Lilith blinked. “We?”

“Yes, we.” Mitch was resolute. “Lilith, I meant everything I said yesterday. I love you and I think you love me. We make a hell of a team and I’m not prepared to let it all go just because this jerk showed up.”

Lilith frowned and avoided his gaze, her move feeding Mitch’s certainty that she was less certain of her path than she would have liked to be. He bent his will on persuading her to his side. “You can’t spend your life with this guy, and you can’t keep hexing him like this.”

“No,” Lilith admitted.

“Lilith,” Mitch said softly, tipping her chin with a fingertip so that she met his gaze. Her eyes were wide and dark, wondrous eyes that Mitch could willingly gaze into for the rest of his days. “I love you,” he insisted, “and I don’t intend to stop.”

Her smile was fleeting, her frown returning when she glanced again at Sebastian. “But he’s my destined lover.”

There was less certainty in her tone than there had been originally and Mitch dared to be encouraged.

But he’d have to argue on her terms.

“Says who? You’re the one who saw all sorts of meaning in my buying the house next to you. Don’t you think that events - not to mention a dog and a cat - have conspired to throw you and I together? Who’s to say that’s not destiny?”

Lilith nibbled her bottom lip. “But, Mitch, it doesn’t count. My destiny was sealed before I met you. We can’t defy destiny.”

“Why not?”

“Because we can’t.” Lilith’s lips set stubbornly.

Mitch gripped her shoulders, sensing that the tide had turned against him again. “Why the hell not? We just do it, we just get rid of this loser - we’ll FedEx him to Kashmir, if we have to - then we’ll live happily ever after. It’s not that complicated!”

But Lilith shook her head. “No, it doesn’t work like that.” Something flickered in the depths of her gaze when she looked up at him and Mitch thought it might be fear. He caught at her chin, but Lilith danced out of his grip, refusing to look into his eyes.

“What are you afraid of?” Mitch demanded. “What can go wrong? What do you know that you aren’t telling me?”

Lilith’s lips tightened, then she folded her arms across her chest, and she looked hard at Mitch. “Why do I get the impression that you’re not going to leave without an answer?”

Mitch grinned. “Because I’m not.” He sobered, his gaze locking with hers. “There are things,” he said softly, “that are worth fighting for, and this is one of them.”

Lilith held his gaze for what might have been an eternity and Mitch could almost hear the wheels turning in her mind.

Then the defiance melted out of the set of her shoulders. “Challenging destiny comes with a price,” she said softly.

“What kind of price?”

“I don’t know.” Lilith licked her lips as though choosing her words carefully. “I’m not afraid of paying any toll the Fates charge. I’m afraid that they’ll hold me responsible, if you and I decided to challenge their edict, because I should have known better. I’m afraid that they’ll bring misfortune down upon you to teach me a lesson.”

Lilith was refusing Mitch to ensure his own future. He was humbled by her concern – even though he was certain it was misguided. He stepped back to her side.

“But Lilith,” he argued with quiet conviction, “if we’re together, we can face anything the Fates toss our way. I don’t want to be lucky if it means being without you.”

Tears welled in her eyes as Mitch continued. “Be with me, Lilith, and we’ll surmount any obstacle before us.”

“I love you,” Lilith confessed. “I love you in a way I never imagined I could love anyone. I was wrong about Sebastian. I saw what I wanted to see in him instead of what was really there.”

Mitch smiled. “Been there, done that,” he acknowledged. “It’s not fatal. Besides, I’m starting to think that the only people who never make mistakes are people who never take chances.” Mitch offered Lilith his hand and his voice dropped to an urgent whisper. “Let’s take an chance on happiness, Lilith.”

And Lilith smiled fully, for the first time since Sebastian had arrived. Her eyes glowed as she took Mitch’s hand. “There’s no gamble between us,” she declared, “just in what the Fates cast our way.”

“Absolutely,” Mitch agreed as he pulled her into his embrace. “Now, do I get a kiss to celebrate this happy ending?”

Lilith just had time to slide her arms around Mitch’s neck before there was a thunderclap loud enough to pop an eardrum.

It seemed to come from the living room.

They both jumped at the sound and turned as one. Mitch had no doubt that he wasn’t the only one suspecting that Sebastian had broken free.

But Sebastian remained exactly as he had been.

It was the assembled multitude behind him that made Mitch’s eyes widen. Clearly the room had been magically enhanced to hold this entire auditorium of guests. More than one steely gaze returned Mitch’s glance and he had a very definite sense that the mood of the crowd was that of disapproval.

Their happy ending suddenly seemed far from assured.

“The Grand Consulting Council of Immortals,” Lilith whispered in wonder.

Mitch looked to her in mingled confusion and alarm. “What?”

Lilith met his gaze, her own expression troubled. ‘Sort of a supreme court for destiny,” she said ruefully. “It looks as though we’ve already attracted attention.”

 

* * *

 

20

Judgment

 

The Grand Council chambers hadn’t changed much in the past few centuries. It was still a circular and massive auditorium, with tiers of seating for its membership.

It had been here that Lilith was granted the elixir, beneath the watchful eye of several thousand council members, each outfitted in their finest. They were a varied group, including Merlinesque old wizards with their long grey beards and glinting eyes, witchy old hags who cackled when they laughed, the lithesome young beauties with ancient eyes.

There were shamen of every persuasion and shapeshifters who could not be relied upon to remain still, let alone the same, for the duration of a single session. There were fauns and fairies, leprechauns and nymphs, the stuff of mortal legends in the flesh. Unicorns and centaurs, griffins and dragons - in general, all manner of mythical beasts crowded the hall.

The less predictable immortals included pens that always seemed to go missing, single socks that found escape through the dryer vents throughout the world, washers that had abandoned the screws they had been made to fit, and thumbtacks that dropped, rolled and were never seen again. Much more sentient than mortals believed, these creatures had escaped what they saw as the slavery of the material world, crept through wormholes in the space/time continuum and earned their immortality through tests as arduous as Lilith’s own had been.

Mitch had been right - there were a lot of immortals. They just stuck to their own kind.

The floor of the chambers still took Lilith’s breath away - the brilliant lapis lazuli inlaid with golden zodiac signs so beautifully wrought that she didn’t want to step on it at all. The ceiling arched high, so much like a starlit sky that she still couldn’t tell where it ended, if indeed it did.

For the chambers had been constructed in a dimension beyond the three of usual human perception, or even the fourth suspected by many mathematicians. Lilith had heard rumors that it was firmly lodged in the seventh dimension, but could not say for certain.

Physics had never been her strong suit.

One thing was clear - the way to the council was obscured to all except those who were specifically summoned.

The presence of Lilith’s living room table, her tarot cards still laid out as she had left them, showed the link to the world she knew best. And Sebastian, of course, had apparently been summoned as well, although he was still frozen in that pose.

An older woman leaned over Lilith’s table, a bright floral shawl wrapped over her hair, her bony finger poking at the cards. Lilith saw that the cycle was nearly complete, The Sun having turned face up after The Moon.

The Sun, which hinted at refuge after facing adversity. The Sun which told of finding a haven, a garden, a place of repose. The card told that the journey was nearing its end and hinted that all would go well.

The Sun could only signify Mitch’s determination that they should be together, whatever the odds.

But Lilith knew what the next card was and it was no small obstacle. As though hearing her thoughts, the elderly woman picked up the next card and deliberately turned it over, snapping it against the table.

Judgment.

Lilith’s mouth went dry. Then, the crone looked up, letting Lilith see her face for the first time, and smiled knowingly.

“Dritta!” Lilith exclaimed with delight.

The older woman chuckled and shook a finger at Lilith. “You did not think I would abandon you?” she demanded archly. “Child of my child, holder of the Gift, I could not let you wander alone.”

Her gaze slipped over Mitch, no doubt noting the way he held Lilith’s hand, then lingered upon Sebastian. Dritta’s lips were drawn into a stern line when she looked at Lilith again. “Even if you have made some unconventional choices.”

Dritta spun in a flurry of skirts and held up her hands to the council. “I called this meeting for the sake of my own grandchild,” she declared. “It is a breach of our code, I know it well, but blood calls.”

“What of this one?” demanded a shaman garbed in bone and hide. He stood up to open the discussion and pointed to Sebastian. “He was her destined lover; he pledged to her on the gallows that he would return.”

Lilith had no chance to respond before a pale green fairy sparkled on the back of her seat, determined to have her say. “And she swore to love him forever,” she squeaked.

It was hard to argue your case in a court like this one, where anyone could voice a concern and everyone could hear your resulting thoughts. Lilith had found it chaotic the last time she was here - and then the council members had already been fairly unanimous about her winning the sip of the elixir.

This time, they were so unsettled that they made her head hurt.

“She summoned him,” intoned a greybeard with obvious disapproval. “That is no small thing.”

The council members stirred at this, a ripple of anxiety rolled through their ranks. Lilith knew she didn’t imagine that their gazes turned sharper.

She lifted her chin. “I summoned my lover true,” Lilith corrected, lifting the hand that was still entangled with Mitch’s. She smiled just for him, hoping this exhibition didn’t challenge his newfound faith in things beyond the material world. “And he came.”

“You didn’t keep your word!” cried a mauve unicorn.

“Not for lack of trying!” Mitch retorted with his usual loyalty. He pointed to Sebastian. “Lilith waited almost six centuries for this jerk. And he had no intention of keeping his word!”

Chatter broke out in the seating and more than one argument could be heard as everyone had their say. Dritta lifted her hands in a bid for silence, then whistled sharply when she didn’t get it.

The council members settled restlessly.

“Lilith has made choices I would not have condoned, but her intentions are pure.”

“She has to pay a price!” demanded the greybeard.

“She has already lost her immortality,” snapped Dritta, raising her hands when they started to mutter again. “Lilith meant no harm; she did no harm; she made a mistake, but found love all the same. Who among you can say whether this was a grand scheme to help these two find each other?” She straightened and eyed the assembly. “Why else would the elixir fail her now? It’s never happened before!”

The arguments erupted again and grew more heated.

“She believed herself that Sebastian was her destined lover!” squeaked the fairy.

“But I was wrong!” Lilith cried. “How many times has he reincarnated? He never returned to me, not even once.”

“So, you hexed him for vengeance?” demanded the greybeard who clearly thought little of Lilith’s case.

“I hexed him to keep him from raping me.” Lilith folded her arms as the council clicked their tongues.

“It’s true, I was watching,” affirmed one.

“And he was with three other women during the night.”

There was a lot of tsk-tsking in the group.

“Hardly a lover true.”

“Hardly a man worth waiting for.”

It seemed that every member turned simultaneously to examine Mitch. He straightened behind Lilith, his grip sure on her hand, and she welcomed his strength of conviction.

“He loves her.”

“She loves him.”

“He defends her.”

“He believes in magick, now, too.” That was greeted with a murmur of pleasure.

Dritta smiled approvingly at Lilith and Mitch, a wealth of affection in her eyes. “And he was willing to defy us just to have her by his side. That is a love worthy of indulgence.”

Approval swept through the ranks and Lilith dared to feel encouraged.

“I ask you only to bless their match,” Dritta continued, her tone turning authoritative once more. “And to forgo any retaliation for defying destiny, given the extenuating circumstances in this case.”

She gave Sebastian a dark glance. “Even I was wrong about that one.”

The council nodded, they closed their eyes. Dritta closed her fist and Lilith held her breath. She gripped Mitch’s hand tightly, knowing that whichever way the vote went, there could not be another.

“What’s happening?” he asked in an undertone.

“They’re voting. Their thoughts will conjure a ball in Dritta’s hand that shows the majority.” Lilith met Mitch’s concerned gaze. “White is the one we want.”

“Is there any appeal?” he asked, ever the practical one.

Lilith shook her head. “The council stands by their decisions, for all eternity.”

Mitch frowned, heaved a sigh and frowned. “I don’t suppose you could come up with a little spell?”

“Not here. We’ve already done all the magick we can do.”

In that moment, Dritta turned, her clenched fist held high. “It is done,” she declared, then faced Lilith and Mitch. Lilith held her breath, Mitch’s fingers tightened over hers.

When Dritta slowly opened her hand, the result of the vote was cradled in her palm.

It was a white ball.

Lilith gasped with delight, then pivoted to fling her arms around Mitch’s neck. “They said yes!” she cried and Mitch swung her into his arms, laughing as he caught her against him. He kissed Lilith on the end of the nose, then put her down and inclined his head to both Dritta and the council.

“I thank you all for this,” he said simply. “But we still have one problem.” And Mitch indicated the frozen Sebastian.

“The spell won’t last long,” murmured Dritta. “It fades even now.”

“We’ll have to decide what to do with him.”

“Definitely a penance is due.” The greybeard seemed to think everyone should pay for something.

An elegant young witch slipped out of her seat and crossed the floor, circling Sebastian as she gave him a thorough appraisal. “But he has a certain roguish appeal,” she conceded with a wicked smile. “I could make something of him.”

“More toads,” murmured the greybeard wearily.

The witch fired a glance across the hall so hot that it flashed like a laser. It bore right into the arm of the greybeard’s seat. He flinched as steam rose from the resulting hole. The greybeard took a deep breath and seemed to grow in place, but Dritta lifted her hands.

“Enough of your bickering! Save your thunderbolts for later.” The wizard slumped reluctantly, muttering audibly to his neighbor that Dritta was not being fair.

The witch tossed her hair and patted Sebastian’s rump proprietarily. “I’ll take him.”

“Not yet,” Dritta insisted. “He must pay for his failure to keep his word before he becomes your toy.” She pursed her lips. “He must learn about love, because that is what he disrespected the most.”

Mitch cleared his throat and all gazes turned to him. “If you don’t mind the input of a mortal, I have an idea.”

Dritta’s eyes gleamed, and the council members leaned forward. “Tell us!” they cried.

Mitch did, his idea so brilliant that Lilith couldn’t stop her laughter. It was just too perfect – and passed council approval with ease.

A vivid blue brew was bubbling and ready when Dritta finally snapped her fingers under Sebastian’s nose. He blinked, flexed his muscles, and relaxed his posture. He looked around, then rolled his eyes and groaned.

“Oh, no,” he muttered. “Not again.”

“Oh, yes,” Dritta declared and gripped the back of his neck. The lovely young witch sidled up beside Sebastian and gave him a thorough kiss. When she stepped back, he tried to follow her, but Dritta’s grip prevented that.

“Hurry back,” the witch purred, then lifted the blue potion.

Sebastian’s nose twitched. He seemed to guess what she intended to do with the noxious-looking liquid. He tried to retreat, but Dritta held him firmly in place. He grimaced when he got a whiff of the brew, but the witch pinched his nose shut.

She tipped the long vial, and Sebastian struggled furiously.

He held his breath.

He closed his eyes.

He took a sip.

And he disappeared in a blinding flash of orange light.

 

* * *

 

Kurt nearly drove his truck into the ditch when this guy just appeared in the passenger seat beside him.

Okay, it was early. He’d been out drinking the night before and had spent most of the night entangled in some redhead’s legs. He hadn’t had that much sleep.

But this tall, foreign-looking guy in macho leather definitely hadn’t been invited into Kurt’s truck.

And his sudden appearance nearly made Kurt swerve off the highway. “Jesus Christ!”

The man shook his head, then grabbed the wheel to steady it. “No,” he said tightly. “You’ve got me confused with someone else.”

Kurt was still rattled. ‘How did you get in here? I’m doing a hundred and twenty clicks!”

“Get used to it,” the man said grimly.

“Get the hell out of my truck!”

The man shook his head. “Won’t help. You’re stuck with me, Kurt MacEwen, although neither one of us has to like it.”

That this guy knew his name was even more creepy. What had he been drinking? “What the hell are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about love.”

“No offense, but you’re hardly my type.” Kurt looked the intruder in the eye. “I’m a straight shooter, all the way.”

“You and me both,” the man agreed with a sudden smile. “But then, they said we’d think exactly the same.”

“They?”

“The people who sent me here. Don’t even ask for details. You won’t believe the story.” The man straightened. “Hell, I didn’t believe until I saw them myself.”

A wacko. He had a wacko in his truck. The day was just getting better and better. “So, do you always see people that other people can’t see?” Kurt demanded skeptically as he took his exit. “Or do you just hear them?”

To his surprise, the intruder snatched at his collar and once again nearly compelled him off the road. “Listen,” the man hissed. “I’ve got a job to do here and I don’t want to do it any more than you want to be a part of it. But no one’s giving us a choice.” He gave Kurt’s collar a shake, then released him, sitting back in his seat like a big ruffled cat. “You want to get rid of me – you just get the job done.”

“What job?” The light at the end of the ramp had turned green and somebody was honking behind him, but Kurt didn’t drive on. He was staring at this guy, unable to shake the sense that this was really important.

The guy’s lips tweaked as though he had just thought of a private joke. “You’ve got to learn to fall in love. You’ve got to make a commitment to one woman for the rest of your life.”

“Yeah, right.” Kurt snorted and stepped on the gas. “You’re wasting your time, man. That’s never going to happen.”

“Oh, I say it will,” the man murmured silkily. “Because I don’t get out of this until you do just that, and I’m not feeling inclined to take no for an answer.”

But Kurt had had enough. He pulled over to the curb, slammed the truck into park, leaned across the guy, and opened the door. “Get your ass out of my truck.”

But the man smiled coldly and showed no intention of moving. He was a big guy, tall and lean, probably even stronger than he looked. And there was a determination in his eyes that made even Kurt think twice about crossing him.

Kurt, after all, was a lover, not a fighter.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” the intruder said smoothly. “You see, I’m going to find you, no matter where you go.” He calmly recited Kurt’s address and phone number, and Kurt felt a sudden chill. “And don’t worry, I can outsmart any lock. The fact is, if I’m not in a good mood about things, well, you might not like the results.”

“You’re threatening me!”

“No, I’m promising you. I want this done, and I want it done soon. If you’re going to buck me on it, well” – the man’s cold smile broadened – “I might get vengeful.” He poked a finger in Kurt’s chest.

Kurt sat back in his seat with a thump. He shoved a hand through his hair and looked sidelong at his companion. “So, you just show up in my truck, threaten me, and insist you’re going to plant yourself in my life…unless I fall in love?”

“That would be it.” The man closed the door and offered Kurt his hand. “Sebastian. I suggest we keep this short and simple.”

Kurt shook his hand, not certain what else to do. “I just have to fall in love with a woman to get rid of you.”

“Exactly.”

Kurt pursed his lips. “I hate to be the one to break this to you, but you don’t’ just pick some babe up off the street and fall in love with her. Or maybe you would, I don’t know, but it’s not my style.”

“Your style is get in and get out, I know that,” Sebastian snapped. “And there’s no need to worry about the woman in question.” He pulled a slip of paper out of his pocket. “I just happen to have Isabel’s name and address right here.”

“What?”

“Just drive,” Sebastian instructed. “I understand this Isabel thinks about men in the same way we think about women. It could be quite interesting. She could be quite interesting.” He smiled again. “I just might give you a run for your money.”

Kurt floored it and the truck leapt back into the stream of traffic. He was always ready for a challenge.

“She’d better be cute,” he said grimly.

“On the contrary,” Sebastian countered with poorly concealed amusement. “You’d better hope that she thinks you’re cute.” He stretched his legs, looking long and lean and very masculine, then smiled that smug smile that made Kurt want to deck him.

That settled it. Kurt was going to beat this bastard at his own game, one way or the other.

Even if he had to fall in love with some Isabel to do it.

 

* * *

 

As soon as Sebastian was gone, Dritta led Mitch and Lilith before the council. They turned to face each other, right hand clasping right, left clasping left, the crossing of their arms making the same figure eight that Lilith had made with her cards.

The mark of infinity, the sign of a timeless love circling back over and over again. This was her destiny; this was her fate; this was the man she’d find time and again. Lilith smiled into Mitch’s eyes as they pledged their love to each other before a multitude of witnesses.

“And now,” Dritta said, “you may kiss the bride.”

Mitch did exactly that.

When Lilith opened her eyes, they were standing alone in her living room. Although there was no sign of Sebastian, the sky was the same hue of early-morning gray.

It was as though they had never been gone at all.

Except that there was an envelope on the mantle that hadn’t been there before. Lilith crossed the room, and tore open the envelope, smiling when she saw its contents.

It was the last card of the higher arcane.

“Mitch, they’ve given us The World!”

He grinned and strode in pursuit, taking the card from her hands and flicking it back on to her table. “No,” Mitch said, his eyes bright and his voice low. “They’re telling us that we already have it.”

And this time, without an audience, he really kissed her.

Lilith was only too happy to kiss him back.

 

* * *

 

21

The World

 

New Year’s Eve

 

It was going to be a beautiful wedding.

Andrea had clearly spared no expense on the black tie fête planned to mark her fourth taking of marital vows. Nigel, to his credit, insisted that this would be Andrea’s last trip to the altar and Lilith loved how the older woman giggled at that.

In fact, they were quite the couple, obviously completely taken with each other and bent on making each other happy. Nigel was a perfect gentleman, dapper and diplomatic, always ready with a word to make everyone smile. He could dance like a dream and Andrea just glowed in his presence. This shipboard romance showed no signs of limping back to port.

Even Mitch conceded that he couldn’t have picked a better man for Andrea himself.

To the astonishment of everyone - except Mitch and Lilith - Kurt and the intern Isabel from Mitch’s paper had become a devoted couple. They were so smitten with each other that Andrea had invited them to the wedding, making more than one comment about Kurt finally finding his match. There were rumors of a ring being in the offing for Valentine’s Day.

Jen would be the only flower girl for her Nana’s wedding, a role that delighted her no end. Lilith had picked up the rose petals after three practice sessions, then declared enough was enough and stored the basket high. Jason had marched up and down the living room with the lacey pillow for the rings until Lilith pronounced his pacing was right, although he had yet to be trusted with the jewelry itself. Mitch had the rings in safekeeping.

Jen looked like a little angel in her pink taffeta dress. There were clusters of silk ribbon roses in myriad shades of pink stitched along the bodice, chosen to match the real flowers ordered for the wedding. A lace-edged petticoat held out the full skirt and Jen was so smitten with that frilly petticoat that she willingly showed it to anyone.

Mitch had rolled his eyes the first time Jen did this and called it a bad omen of the future.

Jason was less thrilled with his miniature tuxedo with its emerald jacquard vest. He made a great show of sticking out his tongue as though he were asphyxiating when Mitch knotted the tie. They both looked cute as could be, though, and ought to be able to stay that way at least until the end of the ceremony.

The wind was sending snowflakes against the windows and the children were downstairs, when Mitch’s reflection loomed behind Lilith’s own in their bedroom mirror. He was perfectly turned out in his tux, his wavy hair combed to some sort of order, a smile curving his firm lips.

Lilith’s heart made the little flutter at the sight of Mitch that she sincerely hoped would never stop. “Need help with that zipper?” he asked, and Lilith nodded mutely. The black and white of his tux complemented the deep ruby red of her evening dress, the garnet rose on Mitch’s lapel marking them as a couple.

Lilith liked that.

“You’ll outshine the bride,” Mitch teased in a low voice, taking his time with the zipper, then running a leisurely fingertip across her bare shoulders. His golden eyes gleamed when Lilith caught her breath, the warmth of his fingertip meandered down her spine. “Have I mentioned that this is a very sexy dress, Mrs. Davison?”

“About forty times,” Lilith admitted with a smile. “Today.”

“Then, let’s make it forty-one,” Mitch breathed. “I like your hair up - it leaves lots of neck free for nibbling.” He caught her shoulders in the strength of his hands and as Lilith watched in the mirror, bent to kiss her nape.

His breath and the gentleness of his touch made Lilith shiver, but she straightened deliberately. “If you’re going to do that all night, I’ll have to wear a jacket.”

“Mmm, then I’ll have to behave,” Mitch murmured, showing no immediate intention of doing so. His hands slid around her waist, his kisses ambled closer to her earlobe. Lilith was trapped between his hips and the dresser and didn’t really want to escape. “Is it all right with you if I fantasize about the matron of honor during the ceremonies?”

Lilith laughed. “Fair enough. I’ll be thinking about taking off the best man’s tux.”

Mitch’s eyes glinted with mischief as he met her gaze in the mirror. “With your teeth?”

Lilith pivoted in his embrace and looped her arms around his neck. “It could be arranged,” she whispered, then stretched to kiss him.

Mitch was every bit as delicious as he had been that very first time. Lilith loved the taste of him and the smell of him; she loved going to sleep in his arms and waking up with their legs tangled together. She liked living together and laughing together, cooking together and raising the kids together. They had sold her house, Lilith more than ready for the challenge of rescuing another, and Mitch good naturedly lugged paint and stripped ancient wallpaper at her command.

Maybe one day they’d have more children, or maybe that wasn’t destined to be. Lilith didn’t care. She was happy and she knew from the light in his eyes that Mitch was happy, too.

It was more than enough. All that good stuff, Mitch had once called it - and this certainly was good.

Long moments later, Mitch lifted his head and stepped away. “Ready?”

“This is as good as it gets,” Lilith said with a smile. She touched up her lipstick and dropped it into her evening bag, then turned to find that Mitch had conjured a small blue gift box tied with a white satin ribbon.

“Maybe you need just one more thing,” he suggested softly.

Lilith looked from the box to him. “What’s that?”

Mitch shrugged. “You’ll have to open it to find out.”

Clearly he wasn’t going to give her any hints. Curious, Lilith accepted the box and untied the ribbon. She opened the lid to find two matched gold rings - one big, one smaller - nestled in the deep blue velvet lining.

“They look like wedding rings, old ones.” Lilith looked questioningly to Mitch, who stepped closer.

With gentle fingers, he lifted the pair of rings from the box and his smile faded. “They were my parents’ rings,” he admitted, his voice unusually husky. “Andrea gave them to me the other day.”

“She must have thought you’d want them as a memento,” Lilith suggested, not expecting Mitch to look up so quickly.

“I do,” he affirmed, then lifted the smaller one between his finger and thumb. “But I don’t want to tuck this box away somewhere, as though they’re just more things to store.” Mitch took a deep breath and Lilith knew whatever he was going to say was important to him. “And I thought that this might be the perfect night to show them to you.”

“Since we’re going to a wedding?” Lilith asked with a smile.

“Exactly.” Mitch returned her smile, then frowned down at the ring he was rolling between his finger and thumb. “I’d like these to be our wedding rings, Lilith,” he said quietly. “I’m not superstitious, but I think it would be good luck.”

Mitch glanced up, his expression somber, a question lurking in his eyes. “Lilith, would you wear my mother’s ring?”

Lilith saw the memory of his parents’ love shining in those golden eyes, as well as that tiny reflection of herself waving back. “Are you sure? They’re quite precious to have. I wouldn’t want them to be damaged.”

Mitch nodded firmly. “They’d be pleased, both that we’ve found each other and that we’re wearing their rings. And they’re already broken in.”

Lilith could only smile. “You sound as though you don’t think your parents know about us.”

Mitch’s gaze flicked to hers, then his lips curved in a slow smile. “Maybe they do,” he conceded, clearly liking that possibility.

Lilith put her hand on his. “I’d be honored to wear your mother’s ring, Mitch. Andrea told me that they had a wonderful marriage.”

“A love for all time,” Mitch said as he slipped the smaller ring onto her finger and Lilith wasn’t sure whether that was an agreement or a pledge.

It suited her either way.

When the ring was at the base of Lilith’s finger, Mitch looked into her eyes. “Perfect fit,” he mused.

Lilith picked up the other ring and slid it onto Mitch’s ring finger. It also fit as though it had been made for him. She stretched up to brush her lips across his.

“Kismet,” she whispered, her heart singing when Mitch kissed her soundly.

Because that was exactly what it was.

 

* * *

 

If you enjoyed LOVE POTION #9 and you post a review online, you could win a free book from Claire!

 

Each month, Claire hosts a contest in appreciation of readers who post reviews. Please visit her blog and choose Reviewers’ Contest from the category sidebar for more details.

 

http://www.delacroix.net/blog

 

* * *

 

Ready for more time travel romance?

Please read on for a taste of THE MOONSTONE,

now available in new digital and print editions.

 

* * *

 

THE MOONSTONE ©1999, 2011 Claire Delacroix, Inc.

 

 

North Britain - September 1390

 

Sir Niall of Malloy was not in a good mood.

’Twas the kind of rainy winter morning that made his knee ache in memory of a battle wound he would prefer to forget. His belly growled in mighty protest of the fact that he had not had even the time the break his fast before he had been summoned. ’Twas only made worse by the reason why he had been summoned so early this morn.

Because Niall sorely disliked executing prisoners.

He particularly disliked executing women prisoners.

But that was precisely what he had to do this morn. At least, he had to go to down to that miserable pit of a dungeon and accompany some poor misbegotten soul to her demise. There were finer ways for a man to start his day, Niall was certain.

Indeed, ’twas in moments like these that he found the employ of the archbishop particularly onerous. Of late, there were just too many days beginning like this one. Niall had a difficult time believing that the hearts of so many men and women in this corner of the land were rotted with evil.

Indeed, he was heartily skeptical that witchcraft had any truth to it at all. As much as he hated to even consider such a traitorous thought, Niall believed his patron was dead wrong. Sorcery was the stuff of tall tales alone.

Yet ’twas the plain truth that a scarred old warrior like himself had few other options for earning his keep. Niall was not more than eight and twenty, though his soul felt shriveled beyond all since his injury.

How he missed being in command of his own fate!

Those days, however, were gone for good. The cold in the nether regions of the castle brought the ache in his knee to a bellow, which was fitting enough for his circumstance. Niall limped along the old stone corridor grumpily, hating that he was no less fettered than the many prisoners moaning within their damp cells.

’Twas no consolation that the old hag who was to die was likely more uncomfortable than he. Niall’s heart twisted in a most unsoldierly fashion at the task before him.

One bad fall and he had gotten soft.

Niall could not have said why he felt particularly troubled by the women condemned by the archbishop’s court to die, for he was quite certain that he had been completely spared his comrades’ weakness for the fair sex. Either that, or his trying sister had cured him of any such inclinations.

Women were, after all, a powerful amount of trouble.

Niall growled and crumpled the parchment beneath his tabard, a telling reminder of that truth if ever there was one. ’Twas a letter he had received this very morn from Majella and his mood soured yet more at the recollection of its contents.

One would think after seven children, Majella would have the wits to know how she had come by them. Or to at least consider the unholy cost of supporting them before she parted her thighs once more.

But thinking had naught to do with the life of his sister. It never had. She was a creature of passion and impulse, though so warm and charming that even Niall could forgive her many sins. Twice widowed, Majella and her brood would be virtually penniless - were it not for her brother’s consistent support.

’Twas a support he felt he owed Majella’s children, for there were no others forming a line to fulfill the duty. And ’twas not the fault of the children that they had no father.

’Twas also a support that depended upon Niall continuing to do the archbishop’s will. Even when he did not agree with it. He ground his teeth and did not trouble to hide his foul mood when he entered the guard’s antechamber.

“Number seven,” Odo declared without even glancing up from his ledger. The half-eaten round of bread resting beside Odo’s book prompted Niall’s innards to complain once more at their neglect.

Perhaps after this deed was done...

But Niall knew he would have no taste for a meal by the time he had looked into the eyes of a condemned woman. Sooner begun, sooner finished, he reminded himself. Niall retrieved the appropriate church key and stalked down the hall.

“Oho, and mind yourself, Niall.” Odo called after him, with a cheer that was far from welcome. “Do not be letting our witch cast a spell upon you! The archbishop intends to watch this one twitch in the wind himself.”

Niall grimaced at the choice of some folk in entertainment as he made his way down the fitfully lit corridor. Scrawny hands reached through grated openings in the cell doors, voices called in supplication. He swore he could hear the rats scuttling across the floor, and somewhere in the distance, something vile dripped with sickening regularity.

How Niall loathed this place.

How he loathed being dispatched to the dark for even a moment. He expected that most of these troubled souls did not even understand what they had done amiss, nor even how much time had passed since they stepped into these clammy shadows.

Niall suspected that few of them cared any longer.

He turned the key in the heavy lock upon the door of the seventh cell with purpose, anxious to return to the sunlight. He would not think upon the numbers here who would never feel that warmth again. He would not feel guilty that he did not share their fate.

At the sound of the key grating in the lock, the prisoner within the cell gasped. ’Twas typical enough. Niall nudged open the door, the hinges creaked bitterly at the movement, and the woman seated within glanced up and smiled.

Smiled.

Niall gaped, his boots suddenly rooted to the spot. He had not expected a condemned witch to be quite so young.

Nor indeed, quite so cheerful.

“Good morning,” she said in a most friendly manner. A delightful dimple deepened in her left cheek. “I had begun to despair that anyone would come at all.”

She was anxious to be put to a gruesome death?

The witch’s clean but simple garb was markedly at odds with the filth of her surroundings. Her face glowed with good health, though her skin was fair, her auburn locks were gathered with a ribbon tied in a pert bow. She stood and smoothed her skirt, the move revealing that she was both tall and graciously made.

Niall stared. She seemed a perfectly normal, if uncommonly pretty, woman.

“I had understood that I would be summoned at the dawn, and as you might well imagine, I slept nary a wink last night, thinking all the while of this morning.” A merry twinkle danced in the warm hazel of her eyes.

Niall’s arrival was never greeted with such pleasure and he was momentarily uncertain of how to proceed.

“I simply could not wait and must say that I am most pleased that you have finally arrived. I cannot wait to begin. Shall we go?”

Niall blinked, but her smile did not waver.

“Oh! Where are my manners? Why, I am Viviane and so very pleased to make your acquaintance.”

This was no social moment! The last thing Niall wanted was to befriend a woman on her way to the executioner’s block.

But she stepped forward, her smile unwavering. “You do have a name?” she asked with no small measure of charm.

Clearly, this woman did not understand the fullness of her fate.

“My name matters naught,” Niall said gruffly, disliking that he should be the one to grant her the sorry news. “If you would turn about, I must bind your hands behind you.”

That should remind her of the trouble she faced this morn.

But she simply smiled and complied, as though there was naught strange about the request. She crossed her wrists behind her waist and Niall found himself unwilling to even touch the roughened rope to such creamy softness.

But he did.

If not too tightly.

“Of course, your name matters!” she chided as Niall scowled and knotted. “How on earth could I possibly have a conversation with you unless we are introduced?”

The omission did not seem to be interfering too mightily with that, Niall thought, but he refrained from saying as much.

“Truly! What would I call you? What would I say? There is absolutely no reason for this to be unpleasant..”

“Unpleasant?” Niall echoed, incredulity breaking his usual reserve. “You do understand that you are to die this morn?”

She glanced over her shoulder to him, her full lips quirking with mischief. “Of course, I understand that that is what people believe is going to happen, but I know that things will not come to such a dire end.”

Niall eyed her dubiously. “’Tis true then, that you believe you are a witch? You mean to enchant your way free of these proceedings?”

Her laughter pealed like a bell in the tiny chamber, the merry sound nearly enough to make Niall smile along with her. “Of course not!” She shook her head as though he was the one possessed of whimsy. “What a foolish thought. There is no such thing as witchery. ’Tis perfectly obvious that this is no more than a horrible misunderstanding and as soon as I have the chance to address the archbishop, all will be set in order.”

She smiled into Niall’s eyes and his heart took an unruly - and uncharacteristic - leap. Indeed, his mouth went dry.

When had he last glimpsed a woman so fair of face?

And when had such a woman smiled for him alone? Niall could not even remember.

It helped little that she made such good sense.

“Do not fear for my life, sir,” the lady murmured and wrinkled her nose playfully. “I do not mean to die this day.”

Niall was so disoriented by his own response to her smile, that his mood turned even more surly. “You may not have a choice,” he growled, then urged her toward the door.

“Oh, you take this far too seriously,” she charged, stepping delicately around a puddle of some nameless substance on the stone floor of the corridor. “My mother always declared that I had uncommon fortune...”

“’Twould seem to be less than that in this moment.”

“But that is only because details interfere and will be resolved in short order. That is why I could not wait for you to come, so we might begin.” Viviane leaned closer, her tone dropping confidentially. “Waiting has never been my strongest gift, I must confess.”

Niall harrumphed, uncertain why he felt so compelled to try to make her understand the full horror she faced. “You need not wait much longer for anything, from all signs.”

The lady mimicked his manner with a wink. “Such dire warnings! You, sir knight, are truly too glum for your own good. There is no point in fearing the worst until ’tis before you own eyes. That was what my mother always said.”

“’Twill be before your own eyes soon enough.” Niall trudged along the fitfully lit corridor, feeling even older in contrast to his companion’s light footfall.

Indeed, she nigh skipped. “Ah, but you do not know that I was born under a blue moon.”

Niall snorted at such suspicious nonsense. “And that will save you from death?”

The lady tossed her braid over her shoulder, apparently untroubled by his skepticism. “’Twill save me from any trouble that be might be sent my way. My mother said as much and my mother knew more than most.”

Something about her conviction caught Niall’s attention. “What do you mean?” he demanded suspiciously. “Did she believe herself a witch, as well?”

That laugh echoed again, the sound spreading a little sunshine in the dank corridor.

Niall completely forgot to limp.

“Of course not! You are a man looking for witches at every turn, sir!”

Niall’s ears burned at the charge, but he strode on stoically.

“She had the Sight,” his companion confessed as though there was naught preposterous about that. “She could see into the beyond like no one I have ever seen before.” The lady’s tone turned surprisingly wistful. “’Tis a rare gift and one that ensured we ate more often than we might have otherwise.”

Niall urged his charge forward, not liking how she suddenly turned silent. ’Twas evidently uncharacteristic and he had a strange urge to restore her good cheer.

For however short a time she might have left.

“She is dead, then?” Niall asked, realizing after the words left his lips that ’twas not the most uplifting question he might have concocted.

“Aye.” She smiled sadly for him, the smile not reaching her eyes. “She is.”

But the lady said no more and her shoulders sagged slightly. Niall’s footsteps echoed too loudly in the silent corridor as they walked. ’Twas only the fact that she was to die that troubled him, he knew it well.

“Mind your head here,” Niall instructed, touching her shoulder so that she did not bump her forehead on a low doorway. To his delight and surprise, she smiled at him once more.

“You are so very kind,” she said in a low voice that made something melt within Niall’s gut. “’Tis uncommon in a man so handsomely wrought as you.”

“Hardly that,” he retorted briskly, hating anew his role in all of this, refusing to take pleasure in her compliment. “Down this way.”

Viviane stepped lightly along the way indicated, her footsteps whispering against the stone. “My mother sent me here, you know.” His ward tilted her chin proudly as though she feared Niall would challenge her word. “That is how I know that no ill can come to me here.”

“That is scanty guarantee.”

“And what kind of a mother would send her child to their demise?” the lady demanded brightly. She slanted a sharp glance in Niall’s direction. “Would your mother have sent you into any place that might have proven a threat to your welfare?”

“Nay,” Niall was forced to concede, recalling all too well his mother’s distress when he learned to handle a broadsword.

“You see?” she said triumphantly. “’Tis more than clear that no mother could do as much, mine being no exception. Nay, she sent me here for my own safety and protection, and I have only good faith that ’twill be so.”

Niall thought it tactless to observe that even a mother could be wrong. “Your mother sent you to the archbishop?”

“Aye.”

Niall could not help but raise a skeptical brow. “Then it seems her gift of Sight was somewhat limited.”

His companion’s eyes flashed in a most intriguing way as she spun to face him. “Surely you do not doubt her gift?”

Niall was certain that his one level glance supplied all the answer necessary. He thought ’twould be churlish to further draw the line between Viviane’s assertions and her current situation.

The lady tossed her hair. “You must never have witnessed such wonders,” she declared. “It cannot be your fault that you do not believe in the most obvious things, for you seem a most sensible man to me.”

Before Niall could consider what to say to that, Viviane cleared her throat. “You see, my mother told me, on her deathbed, that I should come here if ever I was to want for anything. And I must tell you, that matters have not gone well since her demise.”

“Have you no siblings?” Niall was surprised to find himself curious, no less that he asked a question without intending to any such thing.

’Twas foolhardy to become interested in those sentenced to die.

Though he most certainly was not interested in Viviane.

“Not a one. ’Twas just my mother and I, all these years.” A frown momentarily marred the lady’s brow. “She told me the tales, and truly, I would have had no trade without her.”

“You have a trade?”

“Aye!” The lady lifted her chin. “I copy manuscripts and sell them in the markets.”

“’Tis a labor of monks.”

Her expression turned arch. “But they do not inscribe the more interesting tales, the ones which people truly desire to read again and again.” Despite himself, Niall looked to her in curiosity. “I copy romances, those tales of quests and knights and ladies fair, of bold deeds and fearsome dragons.”

“And you earn your keep with that?”

Her delight faded and Niall felt a cur. “I did, for a while. But times are less than good and even those who admire my work have little to spare. I have traveled much since my mother’s death, visiting all the familiar towns again, but to no avail.” She shrugged. “In truth, the details matter little. Finally, I had no choice but to take my mother’s advice, and so here I am!”

She granted Niall an unexpected smile so sunny it warmed him to his toes. “As soon as the archbishop hears tell of this, I am certain that all will be set to rights.” She nodded with a confidence Niall found hard to match.

He frowned as he tried to follow her explanation. “Why should the archbishop provide for you?”

But the lady only smiled more broadly at the question. Her expression was wondrously feminine and launched a queer sensation around Niall’s heart. Indeed, it seemed to beat overfast. And he could not haul his gaze away from hers, at least until he saw the gemstone swinging from the chain around her neck.

’Twas a moonstone, its milkiness containing an ethereal sliver of blue blue light. A more superstitious man would have named it a witching stone. Niall had heard tell of such things, though he had never given credence to those tales.

This stone, though, was odd. It seemed to glow from within and just the sight of it made Niall deeply uneasy. There was something unnatural about its very blueness, as though a sliver of the moon had been trapped inside it. Niall tore his gaze away, finding the task more difficult than it should have been.

A kernel of dread took up residence in his gut, though he could not account for its presence. Niall was afraid of no odd stone! He knew as well as he knew his own name that there was no such thing as magic. Indeed, Niall found himself unduly disappointed by the sign that this woman was as mad as he had originally feared.

A quick glance to the stone she proudly wore sent a most uncharacteristic shiver down Niall’s spine, however, and he scowled at the illogic of his response.

Magic was a whimsy for fools. The woman addled his wits. Too late, Niall recalled that Odo had warned him against this one’s copious charms.

“And that would be your witching stone,” he asked with all the skepticism he could summon.

His companion rolled her eyes. “What nonsense! I told you already that I am not a witch! I am but a woman, admittedly in a bit of a muddle, but ’tis a muddle that will come clear quickly enough. I have absolutely no doubt.”

And strangely enough, a goodly part of Niall wanted to believe her.

His gaze fell on the pendant once more, that uneasiness raising gooseflesh over his skin. Viviane followed his gaze and smiled as she toyed with the jewel.

“’Twas a gift from my father, on my birth,” she confessed, then flashed that disconcerting smile towards the knight once more. “My mother said he captured the blue of the moon within the stone just for me. Is that not a most wondrous tale? It could almost make up the difference for never having knowing him.” She shrugged again. “But ’tis a token of good fortune, if naught else, and never have I been parted from it.”

She was a whimsical one, that much was for certain. And dangerously beguiling. Niall harrumphed, thinking it poor timing to question her illusions.

“My mother told me once that if ever I had a wish to be made, I could wish upon this stone from my sire’s hand and all would come right for me.” The dimple danced engagingly when Niall dared to glance her way. “Is that not a wondrous gift?”

Niall could not keep his lips from twisting wryly. “One might think your current circumstance would well suit such an appeal.”

But Viviane laughed merrily again, the sound making Niall think of a brook splashing through an emerald glade. He was becoming overly fanciful, there could be little doubt of that.

“There is no need to waste its power. Indeed, I have only to tell my tale to the archbishop,” she insisted. “There is naught to worry about, for once I have had my hearing...”

In that moment, they reached the threshold of the prisoner’s gate to the courtyard. Niall caught a glimpse of the archbishop, his hands braced on the arms of the high seat, his expression grimly exultant, the black and red of his garb a striking sight. Thousands gathered in the courtyard, pennants snapped against the azure sky, the smell of smoke was in the air.

The sunlight glistened off the executioner’s gruesome arsenal, arrayed for public view, and Niall found a lump rising in his throat.

Then the crowd caught a glimpse of the prisoner and roared for blood.

Viviane jumped back against Niall in alarm. She breathed quickly, her gaze dancing over the sliver of view accorded to them from here.

And when she turned to Niall, her smile was banished. A fearful light claimed her eyes and the tint of roses that had colored her cheeks faded to naught. There was no longer any merriment to be found in her hazel eyes.

“He does not mean to hear me,” she whispered, as though she could not believe it.

Niall could not lie to her in this moment. He shook his head heavily, wishing he could tell her otherwise. “Nay.”

“They said he would give me a final audience,” she said wildly. “They said I would have a chance to plea my case. They said...” Viviane’s eyes filled with helpless tears and she stared up at Niall, searching his visage for the truth.

He did not have the heart to keep it from her. He held her gaze and let her see the truth in his own.

“They lied to me,” she whispered hoarsely.

Niall looked to his toes, wishing he could tear the archbishop’s insignia from his back and run. ’Twas always thus, but usually the prisoners were either deserving of their fate or driven mad by their time in the dungeons. Niall cleared his throat, knowing that this time the archbishop had erred.

Not only was this woman no witch, but Viviane was too delightfully alive to die this day. Indeed, the sparkle of her company had briefly made Niall forget how his knee ached, how far his life had fallen from his own dreams.

Yet there was naught he could do about the matter. Niall hated the powerlessness of his situation, such marked contrast to what his life had been before. His task it was to fulfill his duty, no more than that.

Yet, against every rule he knew, against every pledge of loyalty he had sworn, Niall hesitated to lead the woman out into the screaming throng of people. ’Twould be an ugly confrontation, it always was, rotten fruit and vulgar language taking the air. ’Twas a humiliating way to die and one this woman far from deserved.

He liked her, regardless of the addled state of her convictions.

Viviane bit her lip and blinked back her tears, glancing once through the doorway before impaling Niall with a luminous glance. “Could I wish upon my father’s stone? Would it trouble you overmuch?” Her words faltered and she seemed suddenly very young. She did not stand so tall now that her optimism had deserted her. “I...I might never have the chance again.”

She most certainly would not. And Niall could not see what damage it would do to indulge her. ’Twould only take a heartbeat and the archbishop need never know.

But he could not risk untying her hands, lest someone unexpectedly appear. Without a word, Niall reached for her chain, noting how heavy his hands looked against the finely worked silver, against the flawless cream of her throat.

There was no time to seek a clasp, he simply took the chain within his hands and lifted it over her head. Her glossy hair caressed his hands like the finest silk, the faint scent of her reminding him of sunshine in dancing meadows of wildflowers. Niall slipped the gem into the waiting cradle of her slender fingers and his mouth went dry as their hands brushed in the transaction.

She took a deep breath and tipped her head back, squared her shoulders and squeezed her eyes closed. Her pose was a curious blend of vulnerability and strength that tore at Niall’s hardened heart and for an impetuous moment, he wished he might have had the opportunity to know more of this Viviane.

“I wish,” she said softly but with passion. “I wish that I were as far away from here as ever a person could be.”

And no one could have been more surprised than Sir Niall of Malloy when the lady shimmered right before his eyes, shimmered with the same strange blue light as was trapped in the gemstone. A flash blinded him and he heard a tinkle as he instinctively closed his eyes.

When Niall looked a mere heartbeat later, there was naught before him but a single moonstone, tangled in its silver chain, lying on the floor before him.

And the crowd beyond, baying for the spectacle of execution.

The knight spun but there was no one behind him, not a sound in the corridor. Niall bent to retrieve the glowing pendant, a shiver dancing over his flesh when he touched the fragile chain. The odd sensation made him draw his fingers briefly away, for ’twas unnatural beyond all else.

’Twas witchery.

Against all odds.

’Twas then Niall knew that he had been wrong. He cautiously picked up the pendant and considered anew its eerie light. There were such creatures as witches for he had just seen the truth of it. Niall had been not only in the company of one, but had been lulled into granting her the chance for freedom.

’Twas clear that he had made a grievous error in doubting his patron’s knowledge.

Niall lifted his head and surveyed the roaring crowd, inadvertently catching a glimpse of the archbishop’s impatient expression. The sight made his blood run cold, his hand closing instinctively over the wicked gem.

’Twas equally clear that this particular mistake would cost him dearly.

 

* * *

 

Claire Delacroix sold her first romance novel in 1992 – that book, The Romance of the Rose, was published by Harlequin Historicals in 1993. Since then, she has published more than forty romances, including historical romances, contemporary romances, time travel romances, fantasy romances and paranormal romances. She has also written under the name Claire Cross. The Beauty by Claire Delacroix, part of her successful Bride Quest series, was her first novel to land on the New York Times list of Bestselling books. In 2009, she was the writer in residence at the Toronto Public Library, the first time they have hosted a residency focused on the romance genre.

 

Recently, Claire has published a future-set urban fantasy romance trilogy (post-nuclear, pre-Apocalyptic, featuring fallen angel heroes). She currently writes the Dragonfire series of contemporary paranormal romances which feature dragon shape shifter heroes, as well as a linked YA series called the Dragon Diaries. Both dragon series are published under the name, Deborah Cooke.

 

In May 2012, Claire will publish a new medieval romance. The Renegade’s Heart is the first book in a new series, The True Love Brides, which is linked to The Jewels of Kinfairlie series. Visit her website for more details.

 

Learn more about her books at her websites:

www.delacroix.net

www.deborahcooke.com

 

Or visit her blog, Alive & Knitting at:

www.delacroix.net/blog

 

You can keep up with her news with the monthly newsletter on her Yahoo listserve:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/chestwick

 

As well as on her Facebook FanPage:

www.facebook.com/AuthorClaireDelacroix

 

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Books by Claire Delacroix

 

Time Travel Romances:

ONCE UPON A KISS

THE LAST HIGHLANDER

LOVE POTION #9

THE MOONSTONE

 

Medieval Romances:

 

Harlequin Historicals:

ROMANCE OF THE ROSE

HONEYED LIES

UNICORN BRIDE

THE SORCERESS

ROARKE’S FOLLY

PEARL BEYOND PRICE

THE MAGICIAN’S QUEST

UNICORN VENGEANCE

MY LADY’S CHAMPION

ENCHANTED

MY LADY’S DESIRE

 

The Bride Quest:

THE PRINCESS

THE DAMSEL

THE HEIRESS

THE COUNTESS

THE BEAUTY

THE TEMPTRESS

 

The Rogues of Ravensmuir:

THE ROGUE

THE SCOUNDREL

THE WARRIOR

 

The Jewels of Kinfairlie:

THE BEAUTY BRIDE

THE ROSE RED BRIDE

THE SNOW WHITE BRIDE

“The Ballad of Rosamunde”

 

Future-set Paranormal Romances:

The Prometheus Project:

FALLEN

GUARDIAN

REBEL

 

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