No, I supposed it wasn’t. Rafe glanced over at me, although briefly because he needed to keep his eyes on the road. “It’s going to be okay,” he said quietly. “I’m here for you. We’ll deal with this whole prima thing together.”
I shot him a grateful smile. Really, this couldn’t be all that easy for Rafe, either. He’d spent most of his life struggling against the future fate had planned for him, and now he was going to have to be the consort of the prima. Our lives would never be completely our own again after this, but he looked singularly untroubled at the moment.
Maybe he was just relieved that he would never have to worry about Simon Escobar again.
We pulled down the long driveway at Oscar’s house. Louisa must have heard the tires on the gravel, because she came running out the front door, her long black hair — loose for once — blowing in the brisk breeze. Rafe had barely stopped before Oscar was out of the Jeep and going to her, taking her in his arms. She held on to him for a long moment, then looked over at Rafe, who rolled down the window.
“It worked, didn’t it?” she asked.
“Yes,” he replied. “Although we had a little unexpected help.”
“‘Help’?” Louisa repeated, a puzzled frown pulling at her brows. “From whom? Did the Montoyas come through for us after all?”
“No, no one like that,” he said. “Oscar can tell you all about it.”
She still looked confused, but she didn’t seem inclined to ask any more questions. Tony opened the door on his side of the Jeep and got out, saying, “Well, it’s been real, but I think next time I’m going to sit out saving the world. That thing is going to give me nightmares for weeks.”
“He’s not a thing,” Cat protested. “He’s the Lord of Chaos — and he helped to save all our butts. Show a little respect.”
“Okay, I’ll show some respect…from a safe distance.”
Cat shook her head at Tony, and he grinned before he closed the door behind him. He went over to say something to Louisa, but I couldn’t hear what it was.
“Well, let’s get back home,” Rafe said. He raised a hand and waved toward Oscar and Louisa, then again to Tony, before he turned the Jeep around and headed up the driveway.
“Which home?” Cat asked. Her tone wasn’t exactly plaintive, but when I glanced in the rearview mirror, I could tell that her expression was troubled. “You’re the prima now, Miranda — you’ll have to come live in the big house.”
Oh, hell. I’d forgotten all about that. Just the very thought of having to live in that elegant mausoleum made me shudder slightly. “Do I have to? I mean, we’re kind of breaking tradition just to have me as your prima. Can’t we break it just a little more?”
To my surprise, Rafe shook his head. “That’s exactly why we should follow this particular tradition. It’s going to be difficult enough for everyone to accept what we’ve done. But at least if they see you living in the prima’s house, they’ll begin to think of you as their clan leader. It will feel like more of a natural transition to them.”
I supposed his logic made sense, even though I really didn’t want to acknowledge it to myself. “We don’t have to move in right away, though, do we?”
He chuckled. “No, of course not. My dad will need someplace to go, although the logical thing to do would be to have him move into my place. That way, he’ll still be close by everything he knows, and the transition won’t be as difficult.”
“And then there’s me,” Cat said. “I suppose I could go with Dad, but I’d rather have something of my own.”
“We’re not kicking you out,” I protested. “You can stay as long as you want. That house is so big, it’s not as though we’d be tripping over each other.”
But she only shook her head. “No, I was only staying there because my mother wouldn’t hear of me moving out on my own when I wasn’t married. Now….” She hesitated for a moment, her big dark eyes sad. “Now I don’t have to worry about that. I can get an apartment or rent a little house or something until I figure out what I really want.”
“Your green place?” Rafe asked. Something about the way he phrased the question made me think he was referring to a conversation he and Cat had had previously, one I hadn’t been privy to.
“Yes,” she said. “It might take me a while to find it, but I know it’s out there, waiting for me.” She shifted, her eyes meeting mine in the rearview mirror. “I told Rafe a while back that what I really wanted was a place of my own someplace green, someplace out in the country. Now I guess I can go look for it, since I don’t have my mother telling me what to do.” A pause, and then she shook her head. “That sounded terrible, didn’t it? Like I was glad my mother was gone.”
“No,” I replied at once. “I don’t think so. I understand.”
My response elicited a relieved smile. “Thanks, Miranda. I think I’m going to like having you as my prima — and my sister-in-law.”
Her words warmed me. Of course I had a sister of my own already, but Emily and I had never been super-close, partly because she’d always been very conscious of her role as prima-in-waiting and the future leader of the McAllister clan. How she’d react to finding out that I was now the prima of the Castillos, I had no idea. First, though, I’d need to call my parents, let them know I was all right, that all of us were all right. I could only imagine how frantic they must have been, not knowing what was happening behind the barrier spell Simon had cast.
Smiling at Cat, I said, “I think I might be able to live through this whole prima thing with you and Rafe to help me out.”
“You won’t just live through it,” Rafe said, his voice ringing with confidence. “You’ll make it a roaring success. I have faith in you.”
He lifted one hand from the steering wheel and reached over to wrap my fingers in his. His touch, the warmth of his skin, gave me so much reassurance, so much confidence that this was all going to be okay. After all, we’d just faced down one of the darkest warlocks the world had ever produced. Everything else would feel like a piece of cake after that.
We dropped Cat off at the house, promising her we’d return for a sit-down with her and Eduardo once we went home and got cleaned up and took a little time to let everything sink in. She waved goodbye before turning to let herself in through the garden gate. I shifted toward Rafe.
“Is she going to be okay?” I asked. “The last thing I want to do is kick her out of her own house.”
“She’s going to be fine,” Rafe replied. “If it weren’t for our mother, she would have been out of there a couple of years ago. Her plan sounds like a good one to me — she’ll find a place here in town to be on her own for a while until she can get herself her little country retreat.”
“Doesn’t she ever want to get married?” Because of course, now that I was married to Rafe, I felt as though everyone should be able to experience something so wonderful.
“Eventually,” he said. “When the right person comes along. He just hasn’t crossed her path yet.”
I supposed I had to be satisfied with that. Right then, I resolved to be nothing like Genoveva Castillo. I wouldn’t tell people what to do, or try to make them get married to someone just because it was a match that would be good for the clan. Cat was only twenty-four; she had all the time in the world. And after spending her whole life under her mother’s thumb, it was probably a good thing for her to have some time on her own before she even thought about settling down.
We pulled into the garage, and Rafe turned off the Jeep. For a second, we both just sat there, neither one of us wanting to move. It was as if we both knew that once we got out of the car, we’d be taking the next step toward our future. At last, though, he put his hand on the door handle and let himself out, and I reluctantly followed suit.
To my surprise, though, he came around the back of the Wrangler and scooped me up in his arms before carrying me into the house. I looked up at him, wondering if he’d just lost his mind, and he grinned down at me.
“Well, I ha
d to carry my new wife over the threshold, didn’t it?”
“Dork,” I said fondly. “Does anyone even do that anymore?”
“I just did.” Relenting, he set me down in the hallway just outside the laundry room. “I wanted to make it official.”
“It is official. We have a piece of paper to prove it and everything.”
“True, but it doesn’t feel quite real.” He took me by the hand, leading me into the kitchen. Once there, he got out a couple of glasses and poured us some water, then handed one of the tumblers to me. I took it from him and drank gratefully. Until that moment, I hadn’t realized how thirsty I was. “And it might not feel real to the rest of the clan.” A pause, and he went on, “You know we’re probably going to have to have a real wedding, just to prove to everyone that we actually are married.”
Somehow I’d known that might be a possibility. “Okay, but hopefully they’ll let us have a little breathing space to prepare. After everything that’s happened over the past week, I don’t think I can jump right into wedding planning.”
“Oh, I’m sure they’ll give you a few days.”
“It had better be more than that.”
He bent and kissed me then, the feel of his lips against mine so warm, so true, so real that I forgot everything else, except that he was my husband and we truly were meant to be together. No matter what we had to face in the days ahead, it would be all right, because we wouldn’t have to do it alone.
When he pulled away, he was smiling.
“What is it?” I asked.
His warm brown eyes caught mine and held. I looked up at him, thrilling at every line and angle of his face, from the high cheekbones to the ironic lift of his eyebrows to the curves of his mouth. “Just that…I spent most of my life trying to figure out how I could get out of marrying you. Now I am married to you, and all I want is to get married again so I can show everyone how proud I am to say that you’re my wife.”
Oh, how I loved him. The words didn’t exist to show how happy I was to be here with him, even though I knew this house would never really be mine. Fate had other plans for me, and I realized I was okay with that.
I tilted my head. “How soon do you think Cat and your father will be expecting us to come over?”
“I don’t know. An hour, maybe. I didn’t really set a time.”
“Good,” I said. “Because we were married today, and I want my wedding night…or at least my wedding afternoon.”
A certain heat entered his eyes. “I think that can be arranged.”
Before I could react, he’d bent and scooped me up again, was taking me upstairs to the bedroom. We would make love again, this time as husband and wife. And sometime in the not-too-distant future, we’d have a real wedding to make the clan happy…and I realized I was just fine with that as well.
After all, that meant we would have a second wedding night. We would go live in the big house, and I would throw open the heavy draperies and let the sunlight in, and I would do my best to become prima to this clan that was now my own, in this land that had once been strange to me and was now my home.
And maybe…just maybe…Isabel Castillo would look down at us and smile, and know that the vision she’d had once upon a time had now come to pass, and all was settled and as it should be, and her clan safe again.
The End
The Witches of Canyon Road series continues with A Canyon Road Christmas.
* * *
Don’t miss out on any of Christine’s new releases — sign up for her newsletter today!
Also by Christine Pope
PROJECT DEMON HUNTERS
(Paranormal Romance)
Unquiet Souls
Unbound Spirits
Unholy Ground
THE WITCHES OF CANYON ROAD
(Paranormal Romance)
Hidden Gifts
Darker Paths
Mysterious Ways
A Canyon Road Christmas
Demon Born
An Ill Wind
Higher Ground (August 2019)
THE WITCHES OF CLEOPATRA HILL*
(Paranormal Romance)
Darkangel
Darknight
Darkmoon
Sympathetic Magic
Protector
Spellbound
A Cleopatra Hill Christmas
Impractical Magic
Strange Magic
The Arrangement
Defender
Bad Blood
Deep Magic
Darktide
Books 1-3 and Books 4-6 of this series are also available in two separate omnibus editions at special boxed set prices. Chronicles of Cleopatra Hill includes the series’ two “back in time” novellas, Bad Blood and The Arrangement.
Or get the entire series in one enormous, specially priced boxed set! (Not available on Amazon.)
THE DJINN WARS
(Paranormal Romance)
Chosen
Taken
Fallen
Broken
Forsaken
Forbidden
Awoken
Illuminated
Stolen
Forgotten
Driven
Unspoken (June 2019)
Books 1-3 and Books 4-6 of this series are also available in two separate omnibus editions at special boxed set prices!
THE WATCHERS TRILOGY*
(Paranormal Romance)
Falling Dark
Dead of Night
Rising Dawn
The Watchers Trilogy is also available in a specially priced boxed set!
THE SEDONA FILES*
(Paranormal Romance)
Bad Vibrations
Desert Hearts
Angel Fire
Star Crossed
Falling Angels
Enemy Mine
Get the first three books of this series in an omnibus edition, or read the complete six-book series in one super-low-priced boxed set!
TALES OF THE LATTER KINGDOMS
(Fantasy Romance)
All Fall Down
Dragon Rose
Binding Spell
Ashes of Roses
One Thousand Nights
Threads of Gold
The Wolf of Harrow Hall
Moon Dance
The Song of the Thrush
Books 1-3 and Books 4-6 of this series are also available in two separate omnibus editions at special boxed set prices.
THE GAIAN CONSORTIUM SERIES*
(Science Fiction Romance)
Beast (free prequel novella)
Blood Will Tell
Breath of Life
The Gaia Gambit
The Mandala Maneuver
The Titan Trap
The Zhore Deception
The Refugee Ruse
Books 1-3 of this series are also available in an omnibus edition at a special boxed set price!
STANDALONE TITLES
Hearts on Fire
Sympathy for the Devil
Taking Dictation
Night Music
Golden Heart
* Indicates a completed series
About the Author
USA Today bestselling author Christine Pope has been writing stories ever since she commandeered her family’s Smith-Corona typewriter back in grade school. Her work includes paranormal romance, fantasy romance, and science fiction/space opera romance. She makes her home in Sedona, Arizona.
Don’t miss out on any of Christine’s new releases — sign up for her newsletter today!
Christine Pope on the Web:
www.christinepope.com
-ms-filter: grayscale(100%); filter: grayscale(100%); " class="sharethis-inline-share-buttons">share
The Witches of Canyon Road, Books 1-3 Page 75