Earth Enchanted (17 page)

“I don’t like you living with a man, Olivia, especially an American you barely now. It’s unseemly.”

She didn’t miss the censure in her twin’s voice.

“It isn’t the way you think. You make it sound like I’m having a wild torrid affair with a stranger.” At least she wasn’t yet, but she didn’t know what the rest of the day would hold. Jack wasn’t a stranger anymore. She figured if you knew all someone’s secrets, their routine, eating habits, the brand of underwear they wore and toothpaste they used, they couldn’t possibly be a stranger in any sense of the word. Still, she couldn’t tell him why she was really there, not without worrying everyone crazy. “Ah, and you’d be the expert on that, wouldn’t you?” She wasn’t sure what she could tell him. Maybe it would be better to let him go on thinking that way.

“I’m a grown man, so what I do is my own business. It’s fine and grand for a man to be…choosy, though you might call a woman less polite names.”

Liv sighed heavily. “He’s an author, and he’s shown an interest in Irish legends.” She spun the lie without qualm as easily as she would have a story. “We’ve decided to do a collective work. It’s easier to get it done here is all.” Who knew? It could be true.

“Hmm. Well. That’s blarney. You have feelings for him and if you think I can’t see at least emotions in your head from here, you’re wrong. You would tell me if something was wrong. Wouldn’t you? Then again I’d probably know in any case.”

“Yes, I would.” That lie was a little harder to swallow. She was never less than truthful to her brother. “He has a huge house and it’s more like having the run of a fancy hotel than a residence. Really, Skye, you worry too much.” She was sorry for the lie but the less he knew, the safer he’d be. If he knew the kind of trouble she was in, he’d hop onto the first plane he could find and make sure he was right in the middle of it all, in front of her.

“Everything is fine.” Yet another bold-faced lie. That was the trouble with them. Tell one and it automatically grew to twenty. “Tell Ma I’ll be home soon. Tell her I’m working.”

“I will, but you are lying about the rest. We love and miss you, Liv. Come home soon.”

Her voice broke as she choked back tears that wanted to flow. She missed home. She missed her mother so bad she thought she would die from it.

“I miss you both and love you as well. Goodbye, Skye.” She clicked off the phone before he could say anymore. Then she sat on the bed and simply cried. It was easy to be strong when you had no handy leaning post, but hearing the concern in her brother’s voice had sent her into wails. All the events culminated into a crying jag.

Lord, help me! Tell me what to do!
I want to be home away from all of this! I want Ryan to be safe and happy. I’m so scared. I want my mother more than ever right now. I want to be able to tell her that I’m in love for the first and only real time in my life. I already know that I’m going to have to live without him.

I want to stay here with him
. She rocked herself, but found no comfort in the motion. How had everything gotten so crazy?
I want him to be my lover, but I want him to love me first.
How can I settle for less than that? Is that so wrong?
She reasoned with herself. Not only to say the words, but mean them.
There’s nothing I can do.
She was in a state of confusion, but sometimes a good cry can fix a lot of things. She’d made up her mind. She was tired of waiting for what she thought she’d never have. She would take all he was willing to give, and hold it close when he was gone. It would have to be enough, and maybe it was all she could ask for.

Chapter 14

Jack rapped on her door. “Liv? Not bad news from home, I hope?” He saw she’d been crying. He hated tears, especially female bucket tears. He shuddered inwardly. Those were the kind that went on forever and you couldn’t do anything to stop them. They made him feel like slime. He watched her suck them in and gave her major points for it.

“No, just a bit of a chat with Skye. He’s worried for me, as well he should be. I didn’t tell him anything, but I lied to him and somehow that feels worse. He just knows something is wrong. It’s that fey thing again. I really hate when he’s right.”

He sat beside her on the bed and turned her head to his shoulder. He could do this much for her. Offer a shoulder to cry on, even if he wouldn’t offer Liv his heart.

“Maybe you should reconsider that thing about psychics. It’s okay.”

“Don’t leave me, Jack. I’m usually so strong, but it’s hard to be when everything starts falling down on you.” Liv leaned into the shoulder he offered.

“I know. We all need someone to lean on every now and then.”

“Even you?” Her wispy smile mocked him.

“Apparently so. Do you miss it so very much? Home, I mean, and your family?”

“Yes, I do, but I think it will feel like I’m leaving part of me behind.”
Leaving part of her behind?
It finally hit him. Jack didn’t feel his heart quake and fall, and he wouldn’t have admitted it if he had. She was leaving as soon as it was safe.
Liv
would be gone. He was going to
lose
her
. He was glad he was sitting. His legs turned to jelly with fear at the thought of being without her. The grief of this new separation was already ripping at him. It would be as hard for him to let her go, as it would be for her to leave. What did that mean? He’d never loved anyone like he had Sissy, and maybe that was the point. That love had been quiet and constant like an old river that follows it path endlessly over time.

Could it be that this was supposed to be different? Was it meant to be flash and fire, hot enough to burn a lifetime without dying? If Liv died tomorrow, what would it do to him? Dead. He’d be dead inside with no hope of ever coming back. She had changed him, just by being. Slowly she was healing the hurt and scars of what he had lost. He tipped her chin up until her eyes met his. They shimmered, but it didn’t matter. He could see himself lost, trapped in her eyes. Love slammed into him with such force he couldn’t stop it and marveled that he had no desire to. Part of him was terrified at the thought of having someone this close to him again. The rest of him dived joyously headfirst off the cliff and fell. He opened his heart and let Liv inside. “I love you, Olivia.”

For a minute neither said anything. Only the pounding rain could be heard as it rapped on the windows. It washed away the rest of the world and closed them in. “What? What did you say?” she stammered in reply.

“I said I’m in love with you, Liv.”

She could only stare at him.

“I don’t want you to go. I don’t think I could stand it. Stay.”

She knew she couldn’t, but she would for as long as she could.

Both of them jumped apart when they heard the doorbell chime. His eyes went from dreamy to wary in a blink. They weren’t expecting anyone.

“I’ll see who it is. Stay here.” He stalked out of the room.

Jack cursed whoever was on the other side of the heavy wooden door.
You finally make up your mind to tell a woman you love her and then you can’t get five minutes of peace to do something about it
. Temper leading and a scowl on his face, he opened the door. Instantly the frown was gone, a grin in its place at the sight of the man who stood there.

“Jack, I was in town and thought I’d drop by.” Devin strode in out of the rain, like he owned the world, including everything in it, and looked around.

“It’s been awhile. Come on in. Can I get you something?”

“Nah, can’t stay long, but I wanted to see how you’ve been.” Devin grinned. “You look well.”

Jack laughed at that. Annoyance at being interrupted was gone and forgotten now.

“You wouldn’t say that if you’d seen me a month ago.”

“Liv, don’t you ever listen? He could have been the killer and you come waltzing in.”

“I got tired of waiting. And who would you be to be telling me what to do in any case?” she answered.

Jack took her hand and introduced her. “Liv, I want you to meet an old friend of mine, Devin Medlock. Devin, Olivia Corrigan, the woman I’m wildly in love with.”

Devin rose and crossed the room, moving with the fluidity and stealth of a lion, comfortable in a world he knew he owned. His hair was the color of dark mahogany with red and gold running through it like fire. “I have to say it’s a pleasure to meet Jack’s new lady. We’ve been friends for a long time, since before he was married.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Medlock.”

Jack noted his friend took Liv’s hand, but held it between his, instead of politely shaking it.

“Devin. I knew Serena and I’d like it if we could be friends as well. Jack was just a lowly beat cop when he busted me, a misunderstanding of course, though how I could be taken for a thief I’ll never know.”

Jack laughed full-bodied at the memory.

“Devin is in security. He was sort of testing a new system, the hard way.” Devin laughed right along with him, but his eyes stayed the same, sober and calculating.

* * * *

The front door clicked shut as she listened to Jack mutter codes while he set the alarms. Devin gave her the creeps. She suppressed a shudder, remembering how he’d taken her hand. Oh, he seemed nice enough—though he was a definite flirt—but there was something off about Devin Medlock. Still he was Jack’s friend and being rude without cause wasn’t in her nature. How had Devin gotten past the gate without being buzzed in? Liv thought about it for a moment and decided she probably didn’t want to know.

She glanced up at the clock on the mantle. Nine, so late? It didn’t seem like it should be that late. She was exhausted from fighting with herself, the tears, from keeping the mental conversation with Devin going. She really should head upstairs. If Jack wanted to go a round with her, they could fight in the morning. She just didn’t have the energy right now. The den was dark and cozy and the rain still fell in sheets. One minute she had been staring at the clock, the next she was asleep on the sofa.

* * * *

Jack smiled when he opened her bedroom door. She’d made herself at home. Little pieces of her were everywhere here. Her laptop sat on the desk. He understood that it was a lifeline to Liv. Her mind would starve without the ability to create her worlds. Cosmetic bottles of all forms and fashions were lined up like soldiers on the vanity. She didn’t need them, was beautiful without them, but if she wanted to play with paints, why did he care?

So much of what was his blended with what was hers and that in itself gave him an odd little thrill. She’d picked flowers from his garden and set them in little glass bottles she’d bought initially as souvenirs. Candles were in abundance, not for the romance of them, but for the love of them. Lord, the woman loved candles. Different kinds, different scents and sizes were scattered everywhere. He picked up the little blue one off her nightstand, and smelled blueberry pie. Jack opened the drawer and found the matches he kept there for emergencies. His hands shook so badly he had to strike it three times before he could light the candle. Maybe he was taking too much for granted, but he went ahead and lit them all around the room. The scent of them intoxicated. He wanted her bathed in that soft light and nothing more.

For a moment he just stood in the center of the room and absorbed. The storm had kicked up a notch. Rain lashed the windows while lightning lit up the sky. It would remind her of home. An ache stabbed at his heart. He didn’t want to think of Liv in Ireland, out of his arms, out of his life, not tonight. He wanted nothing between them, not work, or murdering jewel thieves, and especially not Sissy. Jack turned down the bed and plumped up the pillows. She’d said it had to matter for both of them and it would. As an afterthought, he plucked three white roses out of the vase on the dresser and stripped two of their petals. Strewing them on the pillows, he took the third with him to wake Liv.

He twirled the rose as he walked down the stairs and was as nervous as a teenager. Could love do that to a man? He double checked the locks one more time and used the security camera to note the police car still outside the gate. He flipped off the porch light and made his way back to her through the dark by memory. She looked like a fairy princess, asleep under a spell, so fragile and pale in the moonlight.
You’re not though, Liv, fragile is the last word I’d use to describe you.
You have a heart of gold and a will of steel. You’d go to the wall for your family, for anyone you loved, and you love me. I’m amazed that you could or would and I’m awed that you can see the worst of me and love me anyway. I’ve never known anyone like you, and I know I never will again
. “I love you, Liv, and its time I showed you how much.”

Jack looked down on her one more time. She astonished him. She’d simply taken it all in stride. Less than a month before she had been a stranger to him. Now she had traveled to a foreign country, been shot at, found out her brother was an informant with the FBI and involved with some very dangerous men who liked to steal important diamonds. God, Liv was right. It really did sound like a soap opera. She had a price on her head and she trusted him to protect her. He would not have asked for his badge back, but for her. He wanted to keep her safe and he wanted to find his wife’s killer. Would he finally be able to bury Serena with the past? He hoped he could do both without hurting Liv or himself.