did she say when you told her?"
As Sam paced his office, Mac lifted his hands. "That it has surrounded her all her life, but is just being more blatant about it now."
"Yeah, I can just hear her saying that. When we were - before I left the island, we talked about it a couple of times. She'd read up on it more than I had at that point. That's probably still true. The woman can absorb a book before most of us get to chapter two. She was so confident about it all. Good would overcome evil as long as good was strong and faithful."
"She's both of those. What I didn't tell her was that my readings picked up several different - let's call
them fingerprints - on her side of the line. I'm assuming they'd be yours."
"Just because she doesn't want my protection doesn't mean she isn't going to get it."
"Whatever you're doing, keep it up."
Sam wandered to the window, looked out on the new terrace across the street. She had taken in the tables she'd put out for the weekend, and the crew was setting the slate in place. "How did she look today?"
"Spectacular."
"You should see her when she uses real power." Then he glanced back at Mac. "But I suppose you have."
"Late last winter - a call to the four elements. It took me half a day to come to my senses. I wonder if she uses the Wiccan equivalent of a dimmer switch on that face of hers for the everyday."
"No. The power punches it up, as if it wasn't enough already. Beauty like that blinds a man, muddles the brain. I've asked myself if it's that that pulls me to her."
"I can't answer that."
"I can now. I've loved her all my life. Before I knew what love meant, after I tried to redefine it. It's a nasty blow to finally understand that now, when she doesn't love me. Or won't."
He turned back, eased a hip onto the edge of his desk. "All right, scientifically speaking - or theoretically, academically, whatever you like - is my being here - no, loving her now - putting her at greater risk?"
"Your feelings don't count." As soon as he said it, Mac winced. "I didn't mean that the way it sounded."
"I get it. It's her feelings that tip the scale, one way or the other. In that case, I'm going to assume that trying to rekindle her feelings, or change them, won't hurt her. If you think otherwise, I'll hold off on that until after September."
"I can't tell you."
"Then I'm going with the gut. If nothing else, I intend to be as close to her as I can when it comes to the sticking point. Even the circle can use a guard dog."
He called her that night, at home, just as she was settling in with a book and a glass of wine.
"I hope I'm not catching you at a bad time."
"No." Mia pursed her lips as she studied the play of light and liquid in her glass. "Thank you for the flowers. They're lovely."
"I'm glad you liked them. I am sorry we argued yesterday. That I took my mood out on you."
"Accepted."
"Good. Then I hope you'll have dinner with me. We can call it a business meeting, to discuss the details of Caroline's tour stop. Would tomorrow night suit your schedule?"
So pleasant, she thought. So smooth. That was when you had to watch him most carefully. "Yes, I suppose."
"I'll pick you up, then, say seven-thirty?"
"There's no need. I can easily walk across the street."
"I had somewhere else in mind and you usually take the late afternoon and evening off on Tuesdays. No point in you changing your routine just for this. I'll pick you up. We'll keep it casual."
She'd nearly asked for specifics before she decided he wanted her to. "Casual's just fine. I'll see you tomorrow."
She hung up, went back to her book. But found it hard to concentrate. The day before, she thought, they'd raked up the past with all its wounds and bitterness. Had she trapped him by being so blindly in love, so sure of her own feelings and so confident of his? Could he have been so selfish, so cold, that he had cast her aside rather than share his own mind and heart, rather than give her a chance to understand?
How foolish and shortsighted of both of them, she thought now.
Still, blame, excuses, reasons, none of that changed what had happened. None of