“No, you look legitimately tired.” She folded her arms across her chest. “Did something happen?”
A lie, one telling her everything was absolutely fine, was on the tip of his tongue. He thought better of it. There was no room in their lives for lies. “Jackie was waiting for me downstairs when I got back.”
“Is something wrong?” Hannah was instantly alert. “The lift isn’t broken again, is it?”
“The lift is absolutely fine,” he reassured her. “You don’t have to worry about the lift.”
“But?”
“But ... Jackie is worried.” They were building a relationship built on trust. They’d both been screwed once before thanks to lies. He had no intention of allowing it to happen again.
“Is it Bettina?” Hannah made a face. “She seems to be rubbing absolutely everybody the wrong way.”
“Bettina is a concern, but she wasn’t Jackie’s primary concern today. She’s going to be an issue at some point. We all realize that. For right now, we’re on the same side so there’s no reason to fret about her.”
“Then why do you look worried?”
“Because Jackie seems concerned about you, not Bettina.”
Whatever Hannah was expecting, that wasn’t it. Her mouth dropped open as realization washed over her. “What?” Her voice was a high-pitched squeak. “What are you saying?”
Cooper wanted to take it back, but it was too late. It would also be detrimental to their relationship if he tried to cover his tracks after the fact. Still, he didn’t want to hurt her. That’s not who he was. “Your powers are intense, baby.” He reached over and snagged her hand before she could walk away. “You are a miracle in more ways than one. You’re my miracle, of course, but you’re miraculous to almost everybody who understands what you can do.
“The thing that happened with the lift today, the fact that you fixed that situation and barely broke a sweat, it has a few people freaking out,” he continued. “I’m sorry if that upsets you. Jackie will learn to deal, though.”
Hannah was silent for a beat and then she slowly pulled her hand away from him. “You’re saying that people are frightened of me.”
Cooper hesitated. “People are frightened for you,” he corrected. “Your magic makes you a target for Bettina and Amelia. They both want what you have, and that makes life dangerous for you right now.”
“But that’s not why you’re so worked up,” Hannah insisted. “You’re upset because Jackie voiced concern that I was turning into a dark witch or something.”
Cooper immediately started shaking his head. “She never said that.”
“She insinuated it, though.”
He licked his lips and then nodded. “You have to understand that she saw Astra’s fall from grace up close and personal. Astra hurt everybody when she pulled what she pulled. She hurt Abigail most of all, and everybody loved Abigail and took it personally.
“You’re not Astra, which is something I reminded her,” he continued. “I can see your heart every time I look at you. I know you’re a good person. You don’t have an ounce of Astra in you.”
“She obviously thinks differently.” Hannah dragged a hand through her hair as she padded to the window and looked out. She could see the light on above the brothel but there was no movement in front of the windows. “Maybe I should go.”
“Absolutely not.” Cooper was at her side in a split-second and he forced her to meet his gaze by tapping on her chin and drawing her eyes to him. “This is your home. You belong here. More importantly, this place belongs to you.”
“But if everyone else will be safer without me ... .” She didn’t finish the statement. She didn’t have to. Cooper understood what she was getting at.
“Baby, what you said right there, that’s the reason that everybody realizes you’re different than Astra. She would never volunteer to leave for the good of everyone else.”
“You just told me that everybody doesn’t believe I’m different from Astra,” Hannah reminded him. “Jackie thinks I’m the same.”
“She doesn’t think that. She’s afraid. That magical show you put on this afternoon ... it blew us all away. This is hard for Jackie, but not for the reasons you think. Heck, it’s not hard because of the reasons she thinks.
“Jackie has always been the top witch when it comes to Casper Creek,” he continued. “Even when Abigail was here, Jackie was still stronger. Astra threw things into chaos. She was stronger than Jackie. The coven together was strong enough to expel Astra, though.
“Then you arrived.” He offered her a rueful smile. “You showed up and everything was ... different. You were magical and didn’t realize it. For Jackie, that meant she was still top witch. The rate that you’re growing, though, means that Jackie won’t be top witch for long. She doesn’t want to accept that.”
Hannah ran the notion through her head. “I think it’s more than jealousy,” she said finally. “I think it’s genuine fear.”
“If it is, the error is on her.”
“I’m afraid of myself.” It was hard for her to get the words out, but she felt immediately better when she did. “Sometimes the magic is so powerful when it runs through me that I can barely breathe. What if she’s right and I do turn out like Astra?”
“No.” He pulled her to him, wrapping her tight. “You don’t have it in you. You’re a good person. Heck, you’re the best person I’ve ever met. You can’t turn out like Astra. Do you want to know why?”
“Because you say so?”
He let loose a hollow chuckle. “No, because that’s not who you are. You don’t embrace the darkness. Everything about you is light.”
She pulled back far enough to stare into his eyes. “That’s kind of corny.”
“That doesn’t make it any less true.”
“No, but ... .” She pressed her lips together, her mind busy as she tried to sort things out. “How did you leave things with Jackie?”
“She’s worried but believes in you.” That was a bit of an exaggeration, Cooper realized, but he didn’t feel bad about bolstering Hannah’s confidence.
“How does she really feel?”
Cooper made a growling noise deep in his throat. “She mentioned that you refuse to sit through lessons. She said that your power is growing so fast that we have to make sure that you don’t get overwhelmed. She also pointed out that Bettina and Amelia might be a threat to you when they fully accept that you won’t give them what they want.”
Hannah slowly nodded in agreement. “Well, she has multiple points.”
“You’re a good girl.”
She pinned him with a cute smile. “I’ll be a good girl later. As for the other stuff, she’s not wrong. I need to be careful. I need to think before I react occasionally. If what I managed to do today frightens people, then I need to take that into consideration before I do anything like it again.”
On that point they couldn’t agree. Cooper vehemently shook his head. “Your instincts haven’t failed you yet. Do not start fighting them now. Always do what they tell you to do.”
“What if they’re wrong, though?”
“Then we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. They haven’t been wrong so far and I don’t think they’re going to suddenly turn on you. Stick with your instincts. I don’t care what Jackie says.”
Hannah chewed on her bottom lip for a moment and then nodded. “Okay, but if the others continue to be frightened of me, then we’re going to have to come up with a different way to deal with it. I don’t want people to be afraid.”
“We’ll deal with it then if it becomes a problem, which I don’t happen to believe it will,” he promised, grabbing her hands and bringing them to his lips to kiss them. “We’ll do it together.”
She managed a smile. “You really are the schmaltz king when you want to be.”
“I am,” he agreed. “Do you want to be my queen?”
“For tonight? Absolutely.”
Forever, he silently corrected. He wan
ted her to be with him forever. Now was not time to broach that subject, though, no matter how certain he was on the topic. “Then we need to get some food in you. Running a kingdom takes energy ... and I got chocolate cake.”
She laughed. “You know the way to my heart.”
He poked her side. “And don’t you forget it.”
14
Fourteen
Hannah’s dreams were a mixture of darkness and light. They started out as nightmares, the people she’d come to love in Casper Creek looking at her as if she was a monster. Then Cooper arrived and stood shoulder to shoulder with her and things shifted quickly. The others, who only moments before had been glaring at her, embraced her as one of their own. Things turned warm, fragrant, and bright.
Then she woke up.
“Hey, baby.” Cooper pressed a kiss to her forehead as her eyes opened. “How did you sleep?”
Hannah took a moment to stretch and yawn. She was often a slow starter, although she did like being up early in the morning. “I’m good.” She returned his smile. “You don’t have to worry about me.”
“You say that on a constant loop. I’m not going to stop worrying about you.”
“I guess that means I can worry about you, huh? I mean ... fair is fair.” She rolled quickly, positioning herself so she was on top of Cooper and he had no choice but to hold still if he didn’t want to knock her off.
“I’m fine,” he reassured her. “Whatever happened yesterday ... it was nothing. I’m completely hearty and hale.”
Her forehead creased. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“It means that I’m strong enough to flex for you later if you’re a good girl.”
His playful nature made her laugh. Despite his bold words, though, she could see wisps of doubt flitting through the depths of his eyes.
“I’ll be a good girl,” she promised, pressing a kiss to the corner of his mouth. “I wish we had time for a preview, but we need to get your stuff out of the saloon before breakfast.”
“Oh, right.” He nodded in agreement as he stroked her hair. It was wild after a night of rolling around followed by a bout of heavy sleep. “I guess that means we should get up.”
“I guess so.”
Neither of them made a move to toss off the covers and leave their warm haven.
“How about we do this for ten minutes and then get up?” He held her tight.
She laughed, some of the dream dregs evaporating. “I think I can manage that.”
“I think we both can.”
BOONE AND LINDSEY WERE IN THE saloon when Hannah and Cooper started down the stairs. They slowed their pace at the sound of raised voices. It sounded as if father and daughter were in the middle of a fight.
“I don’t see why I have to keep coming out here,” Lindsey complained. “I’m old enough to stay at home without adult supervision.”
Boone, ever calm, didn’t lose his temper. Instead, he was a paragon of patience ... mostly. “On a normal day, I wouldn’t have a problem with you staying at home alone. This isn’t a normal day, though.”
Lindsey was having none of it. “Why not? None of this has anything to do with me.”
“Angel was in our house. That means Bettina knows about us.”
“She doesn’t care about us.”
“She might not,” Boone conceded. “That demon attacked me, though. He meant for me to die. That indicates to me that we could be targets.”
“Why would I be a target? There’s nothing special about me. I’m not a witch like Hannah, or pretty like her. The demon won’t care about me.”
Hannah and Cooper exchanged worried looks. It was obvious that Lindsey was having a tough time dealing with the realities of the current environment she found herself living in.
“First off, you’re the prettiest girl in the world,” Boone countered. “You always have been.”
“You have to say that because you’re my dad.”
“No, it’s true.” Boone’s tone was measured. “Secondly, we don’t know what the demon wants.”
“He wants Hannah. That’s why he showed her the dream to draw her to you. You wouldn’t have been attacked if it weren’t for her.”
Hannah’s stomach constricted. She wanted to argue with Lindsey, defend herself, but she didn’t necessarily disagree. She was at the center of the mayhem wreaking havoc on the Boone family. It was likely Boone and Lindsey wouldn’t have a care in the world if it weren’t for her.
As if reading her mind, Cooper moved his hand to her back and started rubbing. He didn’t say anything — it wasn’t necessary — but he looked as upset as Hannah felt.
“This is not Hannah’s fault,” Boone argued. “She’s innocent in this.”
“Oh, really?” Lindsey sounded as if she was about to cry. “If it weren’t for her, we wouldn’t have taken Angel in. If it weren’t for her, Angel wouldn’t have been out here that day. If it weren’t for her, Angel would still be Angel.”
“You don’t know that,” Boone snapped, allowing his annoyance to get a foothold. “Those witches — Bettina and her sister — caused the accident that hurt Angel and her parents in the first place. Bettina wanted Angel because she was a descendant of her father.”
“She wanted Hannah for that reason, too. Why didn’t she take over Hannah? I’ll tell you why, it’s because she thinks Hannah is just like her and wants to pair up with her. Two witches are better than one in a fight, right? That means Hannah is an evil witch.”
“It does not. Hannah is a good girl.”
“You only think that because you’re hot for her. Admit it. You like all that blond hair and those long legs.”
Cooper sucked in a breath. He recognized that Lindsey was lashing out because she was upset and didn’t know how to control her emotions. He didn’t, however, appreciate what the girl was insinuating. Not for Boone or Hannah.
“I think of Hannah like a daughter,” Boone argued. “I don’t look at her any differently than I do you.”
“Oh, please.” Lindsey’s voice cracked. “You think she’s hot, just like Cooper. It used to be that he paid attention to me. Now he only cares about Hannah. I’m sick of it.”
“Have you ever considered that we’re all sick of you?” Boone shot back.
“Excuse me?” Lindsey turned shrill. “I haven’t done anything. I’m the good one and yet I get nothing out of my visits here. Cooper says hi and that’s it. He doesn’t want to hang out with me.”
“Oh, get over yourself.” Boone was practically seething he was so angry. “You’re a child … and not his child. It’s not Cooper’s job to shower you with attention.”
“He only cares about Hannah.”
“He’s worried about Hannah, and he has a right to be. He loves her. They’re living together now. He doesn’t have to explain himself to you.”
“You always take his side ... and her side. Heck, you take everybody else’s side. You never take my side.”
“I am on your side, young lady! That doesn’t mean I’m going to let you walk all over me, especially when I recognize that you’re acting like a spoiled brat.”
“I’m telling the truth. You just don’t want to hear it.”
“No, you’re acting like you did when you were twelve,” Boone countered. “That’s the absolute worst age and I’d hoped you’d outgrown it. Obviously not, though.”
“You just don’t want to see Hannah for the bad person she is because she saved you. If it weren’t for her, though, you wouldn’t have needed saving in the first place.”
“If it weren’t for her a lot of bad things would’ve happened in this town,” Boone argued. “You have no idea how much she’s given of herself to protect others. As for Cooper, he’s an adult. You never had a chance with him.
“Now, I indulged your crush on him when you were younger because I thought it was cute,” he continued. “Cooper cannot stop living his life to make you happy, though.”
“All he cares about is Hannah,” Lindse
y insisted. “It’s not fair.”
“Life isn’t fair. Quite frankly, Cooper and Hannah are a perfect match. They belong together, whether you want to admit it or not. You need to let it go. Cooper doesn’t deserve unhappiness just because you’re jealous.”
There was a beat of silence and then Lindsey made a huffing sound. “I am not jealous.”
Boone refused to back down. “That’s exactly what you are. You need to get a grip. You were never going to have a chance with Cooper. Hannah hasn’t stolen anything from you.”
The conversation had gone on too long, Cooper realized. It was rude to keep listening. Retreat also wasn’t an option. Instead, he squeezed Hannah’s elbow and then edged around her to descend the remaining steps.
If the situation hadn’t been so serious, he would’ve laughed at the horrified expression on Lindsey’s face. Instead, he folded his arms over his chest and regarded her with a disappointed look. “Hello, Lindsey.”
The teenager swallowed hard. “I ... um ... hello.”
“I take it you heard that,” Boone said. He didn’t look unhappy at the prospect.
“I did.” Cooper bobbed his head. “I think it’s time Lindsey and I had a talk.”
“I don’t want to talk,” Lindsey snapped. “That’s all anybody wants to do these days. I’m over talking.”
“Well, you don’t have a choice in the matter.” Cooper gently nudged Lindsey toward a table, casting a worried expression toward the stairwell in case Hannah decided to emerge. She did not. “You’re being rude,” he announced once Lindsey was seated, her arms folded across her chest and her lower lip puffed out. “Hannah has been nothing but kind to you since she arrived.”
“She’s the reason all of this is happening,” Lindsey insisted. “She’s ... bad.”
“No, you’re acting poorly, and I’m sick of it.” Cooper was officially at the end of his rope. “There’s no reason for you to treat Hannah this way. I don’t like it. She’s dealing with a lot, too. She feels a truckload of guilt over what happened to Angel.”
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