Amaryllis (31 page)

“See if you can find an invitation to one of Sheffield's receptions, will you? I'd really like to observe him in the act of using his talent for an extended period of time.”

“You'd need a detector for that,” Lucas said.

“Luckily I know one.”

“Now listen here, Amaryllis, if you think that I'm going to waste an evening eating tough turk-chick that tastes as if its been fried in jelly-ice, you can think again. Furthermore—”

“Sorry, I've got to run.” Amaryllis hung up the phone before Lucas could explode in her ear.

“… And it is those values, ladies and gentlemen, the values of our founders, to which we must return.” Madison Sheffield braced both hands on the podium and gazed out at the audience with the expression of a man of vision. “We must reject those who would weaken the very fiber of our moral structure. We must protect our young people from the influence of sleazy syn-sex clubs. To that end, I wish to announce that I have launched an investigation into those unsavory businesses. That is only one small example of what I plan to do. With your help, I am prepared to lead us forward into the future.”

Thundering applause filled the room. Amaryllis, seated next to Lucas at a table near the front, clapped politely. She had been waiting impatiently for three days for this event. She glanced around at the faces of those sitting nearby.

“He doesn't need to focus charisma,” she whispered to
Lucas. “Just look at these people. He's saying exactly what they want to hear.”

“I have a hunch he saves the charisma punch for the one-on-one hard sell situations.” Lucas did not bother to join in the applause.

Amaryllis watched Sheffield leave the podium to join a strikingly beautiful young woman at the head table. “I'll bet that's his prism for the evening.”

“She's new. That's not the one he burned out at the museum reception,” Lucas said. “But there's some similarity.”

“Same color hair and same bra size,” Amaryllis muttered.

“Now that you mention it—”

“He's pretending that they're all agency dates. Very clever.”

The announcer returned to the podium. He smiled triumphantly at the crowd as the clapping slowly subsided. When the room was again silent, he leaned toward the microphone.

“Ladies and gentlemen, thank you all for coming here tonight. The gubernatorial elections are less than three months away. We must not lose the momentum we have going for us. We must hold true to our course. Remember, voting the Founders' Values ticket is the only way to secure our future.”

Another round of vigorous applause heralded the end of the event. People began to leave the hall. Amaryllis glanced around uneasily.

“I thought you said we would have a chance to see Sheffield in action,” she said to Lucas.

“We will.” Lucas rose from his chair and reached down to take her arm. “I've got an invitation to a private reception that's scheduled to follow this speech. Only those who look like good targets for hard-core arm-twisting were asked to attend. I think it's safe to assume that Sheffield will be working that room.”

Amaryllis smiled with satisfaction. “Great work, Lucas. I knew I could count on you, partner.”

“Stop me if I look like I'm about to reach for my checkbook.”

Half an hour later Amaryllis found herself standing next to Lucas in a chamber filled with a small, select crowd of the city's more prosperous denizens. She held a glass of fizzy green wine in her hand and created a prism for Lucas with her mind.

A few seconds of seeking. Brief sense of vulnerability.

Link.

Energy poured through the prism.

Sheffield was definitely working the room. With the aid of Lucas's talent and a steady focus, it was easy to “see” the waves of energy Sheffield was directing. Every time he stopped to shake hands and chat with one of the guests, he focused.

An aura of unlimited strength, great trustworthiness, and resolute determination flowed from Sheffield in tangible energy fields. The unwitting victim of the focus responded as if by magic. He or she suddenly glowed with enthusiasm and excitement. People nearly tripped over their own feet in their hurry to write out checks to the campaign fund.

There was no doubt but that the lovely woman on Sheffield's arm was working as his prism. Amaryllis could feel the familiar undercurrents of Landreth's style filtered through Gifford's technique.

“Get ready,” Lucas murmured as Sheffield moved across the room. “I think we're the next targets.”

Amaryllis readied a polite smile as Sheffield and his companion came to a halt in front of them. She was still holding the focus for Lucas when Sheffield turned the full force of his talent on him.

The impact was stunning. The Senator's charisma was breathtaking at close quarters. In spite of the fact that she had been expecting it and knew exactly how he was doing it, Amaryllis was shaken by Sheffield's power.

No question about it, Sheffield was a born leader. Exactly the sort of man that the city-state of New Seattle needed at this time in history. He was a man of extraordinary vision.

“Nice to see you here tonight, Trent.” Sheffield's eyes conveyed his extraordinary pleasure in Lucas's presence.
The senator was both humble and proud to have drawn such an important businessman to this gathering. “Lodestar Exploration has done a lot for New Seattle, and I want you to know that if the people of this city-state put me in the governor's chair, companies such as Lodestar will have a strong voice in my administration.”

Sheffield continued to chat. Companies such as Lodestar would flourish with Sheffield in office. Men such as Lucas Trent would receive the respect they deserved. They would be able to influence the decisions that impacted their operations. Taxes and regulations would be rolled back. Government would work to help business, not restrain it.

Amaryllis realized that Lucas, as the main target of the focus, was getting an even heftier dose of the powerful, quasi-hypnotic charm, than she was.

Without warning, the flow of Lucas's detector-talent through the prism altered slightly. Amaryllis wondered what was happening. She watched the crisp, clear patterns of light soften and diffuse into a jumbled wall of meaningless energy.

Sheffield continued to talk about his plans for New Seattle, but his voice no longer sounded so wonderfully warm. His charm faded. Amaryllis realized that she was not quite so ready to believe everything he said. His hair, which had looked so right a moment ago, appeared too slick for her taste now. His eyes held a cool, calculating quality and his smile looked artificial.

Out on the psychic plane, Amaryllis watched Lucas's wall of energy shimmer and pulse in a random fashion. She suddenly realized that he was using his talent to block Sheffield's energy.

Sheffield leaned closer, as if confiding in Lucas. “I want you to know that as the next governor of this city-state, I intend to form a business advisory council. I'd be honored if you would accept a position as the head of that council, Trent. You would have my full attention whenever you felt it necessary.”

“I appreciate your confidence,” Lucas said.

Sheffield's smile remained in place, but his gaze grew more intense. The woman with him began to look uneasy.

“I can't think of anyone better suited to the job than you, Trent.”

“I'm a little busy at the moment.”

Sheffield appeared to realize that he was not having his customary effect. Amaryllis saw Lucas's energy barrier shimmer beneath a renewed onslaught of focused charm. Sheffield was strong. Very, very strong.

The woman standing next to Sheffield put her fingertips to her forehead, as though she had developed a splitting headache.

Lucas fought Sheffield's psychic power by easing more energy through the prism that Amaryllis had created. She held the focus for him. The waves of hypnotic charisma receded.

A battle was being waged on the psychic plane. It was a silent skirmish between two very powerful talents. This sort of thing was supposed to be impossible. It was like something out of one of Orchid Adams's novels.

Sheffield's jaw clenched visibly. He took a step closer to Lucas. The attractive woman at his side looked haunted now. Perspiration dampened the hair at her temples. Amaryllis knew she was struggling to hold Sheffield's focus.

There was a surge of energy and then, with astonishing suddenness, it was all over. The silent warfare ceased. The last remnants of Sheffield's enthralling charm vanished in a heartbeat.

Sheffield, sweat glistening on his brow, nodded abruptly to Lucas and moved off to talk to someone else. The woman with him trailed unhappily in his wake.

“He burned out his prism,” Amaryllis whispered.

“No wonder he's never submitted to testing and certification. He's strong.”

“Stronger than you are, do you think?”

“Maybe. Who knows?” Lucas smiled faintly. “All the power in the world won't do him any good unless he finds himself a prism who can handle his talent.”

Lucas awoke very suddenly right after midnight, the dream still vivid in his mind. In the nightmarish images he had been running through the wild, thick jungles of the Western Islands, searching desperately for Amaryllis. She was lost somewhere in the impenetrable foliage. He had to find her.

He opened his eyes and gazed into the dark shadows of Amaryllis's bedroom. Adrenaline still pounded through his veins. He was damp with perspiration.

He reached for Amaryllis, found her, cradled her close against him. Even now, wide awake as he was, a part of him was still afraid that she would disappear, just as she had in his dream.

Amaryllis stirred in his arms.

“Lucas? Is something wrong?”

“Hobart Batt, my counselor at Synergistic Connections, called today. He gave me an appointment for the personal interview. Two days from now. At four in the afternoon.”

“What a coincidence.” Amaryllis sat up slowly and wrapped her arms around her knees. Her eyes were dark and mysterious in the moonlight. “I got a call from my counselor, too. Mrs. Reeton made my interview appointment
for Friday also. Clementine said I could take the afternoon off from work.”

It was all happening too fast, Lucas thought. In the beginning he had signed on with Synergistic Connections because the company had a reputation for efficiency as well as for working with high-class talents. But the matchmaking firm was proving to be too efficient for his taste.

“It will take the agency a while to find some suitable candidates for us,” Lucas said. “Everyone knows class-nine talents and full-spectrum prisms are difficult to match.”

“It might take weeks or even months,” Amaryllis said on a hopeful note.

But eventually the agencies would find a man for her, Lucas thought. He had another painful vision of Amaryllis's future. In this one she lay in bed, waiting for the faceless stranger who was her husband. It was worse than any nightmare.

“Lucas?”

Desperation gripped him. He was cold. Ice cold. He needed Amaryllis's warmth or he would surely freeze to death.

Lucas reached for her, pulling her down beside him, easing her onto her back. Wordlessly she raised her arms to enfold him. He sprawled on top of her with rough urgency. He sought her mouth, found it, claimed it.

His hand went to her soft breast. He felt the nipple tighten at his touch. She gripped his shoulders as though she would never let him go. Her legs parted for him, wrapped around his waist.

He moved his hand lower and splayed his fingers across her belly. The tensed muscles beneath the silken skin signaled her readiness, as did the warm dampness between her legs. He drove himself slowly into her, hungry for the welcoming heat.

She was tight and hot and slick. She seemed as desperate for him as he was for her. The response should have banished the ghosts of his dream, but it did not. It only served to make them all the more vivid.

He was going to lose her.

In a last, despairing effort to drive the visions from his
head, Lucas silently groped for the mind link. She was waiting for him there on the psychic plane.

There was a flicker of vertigo and then he saw the prism. It was a strong, brilliant crystal construct created from Amaryllis's psychic energy. Lucas poured energy through it in a torrent. He made no effort to focus the bands of light. Instead, he allowed them to dance and shimmer in endless, rippling waves.

The ebb and flow of energy pulsed with the rhythm of the lovemaking, building swiftly in intensity. Lucas could feel Amaryllis in every part of himself, mind and body. For this moment in time they knew each other in every sense of the word.

The startling intimacy of the link meshed with the physical intimacy of their passionate embrace. The combined power of both psychic and sensual energy succeeded at last in driving out the icy chill that had invaded Lucas's bones.

But even as he gave himself over to his shuddering climax, Lucas knew the joy was very temporary.