When she reached the shadow, she recognized the woman, Danielle. Only half real, she cast a beseeching look at Dusty, then almost in a whisper said, “Please. Once more.”
Suddenly Dusty felt the woman’s touch, felt her shadow presence flow over her own body, the merging of the spirit and flesh, and suddenly Danielle was gone. Yet she wasn’t. For as Dusty turned, she felt the sudden acceleration of her own heartbeat.
Another voice spoke through Dusty’s lips. “I knew you’d come back, Nick. I’ve waited for so long, my darling. Please kiss me.”
Nick looked around, confused. He couldn’t explain the fire, or the bed, or the strange manifestation he’d witnessed. The woman he was seeing was Dusty and yet she wasn’t.
“Dusty, what’s wrong? What’s happening?” Nick crossed the wood floor, stumbling on his injured leg, the hollow sound of his footsteps vanishing as he reached her side.
Dusty looked up at the dark, serious face she’d yearned to see, the real flesh-and-blood man she wanted. For a moment the scar on his face seemed fresh, red, puckered. She was seeing him the way he was when he’d been badly injured. “You came back. I’ve been so lonely, Nick. Why didn’t you come back?”
“I did, Dusty. Everything is all right, finally. Because of you.”
The fire blazed up and the door slowly closed.
Dusty’s beautiful face turned soft with yearning. Her lips parted and her head tilted back, inviting him to reach them. Nick felt as if they were caught up in some kind of dreamlike spell. None of it made any sense. But from the moment this woman had come into his life, she’d touched it with magic.
She’d called him Merlin. Merlin the magician, who cast spells and created illusions.
Ilusions of love. Nick finally knew what it meant to love, to want to give, to need someone, to believe in tomorrow. What happened next was beyond his control. He’d opened the door and stepped through. Now it was time he stopped questioning his miracle. He lowered his head to touch the lips he’d hungered for.
He swept her into his arms and walked toward the bed, collapsing across it with such need that where and who they were fell away. His clothes were gone, as was her costume. He ripped the net from her hair and let the silver strands fall free across the scarlet spread.
“I love you,” he said as he planted kisses on her face and neck. “I didn’t know what love was until I met you. I didn’t know it could be so powerful, so strong, so safe.”
“I know,” she whispered, pressing herself eagerly against him. “I’ve waited for you and this. I came here to love you, only you, for always.”
And then he was inside her, feeling the velvet heat of her tighten around him, caressing with spasms of fire. She was moaning, whispering little words of love, of promise. He could only hold on and let the heat build until they shattered into a thousand pieces of stardust.
“Is this real?” he asked.
“It’s as real as we want it to be,” she said, and pulled him closer. “We’ll never let go now that we’ve found each other again.”
“Never,” he said, and felt a smoky swirl of images begin around him, of Dusty’s face, of the plantation. An eerie sound of sweet music began to emanate from the veil of smoke. And the room disappeared as they moved together once more.
“Ah, Merlin, you create such beautiful magic.”
TWELVE
The morning sun threw spears of gold through the window and across Nick’s bed, brushing his face with harsh stripes of light and dark.
Dusty raised herself up and studied the dangerous beauty of the man who’d turned her world bright and new. She couldn’t keep herself from touching him, from placing her lips against his and claiming a first kiss of a new morning, of their future.
When his arms slipped around her, she moved willingly over him, marveling once more in the feel of their bodies touching.
“Hello, magic man,” she said, giving in to the strong urge to kiss him. “Why did you leave me without saying anything?”
“I knew that if I didn’t go right then, without ever coming back to the house, I might not have gone through with it.”
“With what? Where have you been?”
“My memory returned. I’m a doctor again.”
“Oh, Nick, I’m so proud. But I don’t understand why you couldn’t share your hapiness with me.”
“It wasn’t that,” he said. “Bill, my associate at the hospital, had asked me to assist in a very delicate piece of surgery. I couldn’t trust myself. I was afraid I’d fail, and it was too important—to us. I needed to study, to review the procedure, to prepare.”
“I understand that. Like an undercover operation. You have to concentrate all your energies on your plan, without outside interference. How did it go?”
“We did it, Dusty. We removed a tumor from a fetus without ever separating it from the mother’s womb. And the baby lived. I didn’t save my child, but I helped save the life of another unborn child. It was a miracle.”
“Of course you did,” she said softly, and kissed him again. “I told you that a wizard always makes miracles. You made one last night.”
“Last night?” He opened his eyes and took a quick look around the room in which he’d spent the last months. It was exactly as it ought to be.
“What are you looking for?”
“I wanted to be sure where we are. After the dream I had last night, I’m not sure I can even trust my eyes.”
“The dream? But last night we … we were …”
Then she didn’t know. The last thing she remembered was the stairs. “You were there, weren’t you, in the darkness while I was telling the story?”
“Yes, I slipped in when the lights went out.”
“And afterward, we went up the stairs, to the room with the scarlet spread. Don’t you remember?”
Nick frowned. “I’m not sure I understand what I’m remembering. What was real and what was in the dream? You’ve bewitched me, wildcat.”
Dusty laid her head against his chest, listening for the rapid beat of his heart. “Now I’m not sure. Was it a dream, Nick? I don’t think so.”
“You really don’t believe that we made love up there in that locked room, do you?”
“I don’t know,” she answered, “but something happened. Danielle was there. I’m sure. She was waiting for her husband, as she had been for over a hundred years. She was waiting for you, Nicholas.”
“Me?”
“She thought so. And you came back to her. Don’t you see? The waiting for her is over. She—they can be together forever, just like us.”
“I like the sound of that us part,” he said, nuzzling her throat and moving his fingertips across her back.
“Together. We’ll stay right here, in Hattie’s house—unless you’d rather move back to your house?” She lifted her head and looked at him, waiting for a reply.
“That was never my house. I’ll sell it and donate the money to—”
“The ART Station, for their school program. Nick, I went with the teacher, and I learned what she does. It’s a remarkable thing, watching those children learn about beauty and how to create it.”
“Yes,” Nick agreed, “I think Hattie would have liked your taking part in the program.”
“And you’ll go back to practicing medicine?” Dusty asked.
“I’ve already told Bill that I was coming back. Except this time we’re going to work on perfecting laser surgery on infants. I won’t make as much money as I did in private practice, but if we can make it work, the rewards will be enormous.”
The door suddenly slammed. Dusty looked around. “What was that?”
“I think Siggy was announcing his departure.”
“My ghost?”
Nick didn’t elaborate. Someday he’d explain to Dusty about the odd man in the out-of-date black coat, but not now. For now, he just wanted to be with Dusty, touch her, feel the fire surge to life within.
He could tell from the heavy look in Dusty’s ey
es that she was having a hard time keeping her mind on the conversation. Nick wasn’t doing any better. The forward-moving part of his body was keeping pace with his plans for the future on an accelerated level.
“Your ghost, or at least one of them,” Nick replied, and gave himself over to an example of total involvement. He didn’t want to think that Sigmund Freud and Hattie had been watching. Then he decided that he didn’t care. Besides, knowing Hattie, she probalby brought Dr. Freud back for very personal reasons.
Later as they ate strawberries and Critter cereal, Nick voiced the thought that had been nudging at his mind since he’d waked.
“Dusty, I have to run over to the plantation this morning. I won’t be long. Would you mind?”
“I would. I just got you back and I’m not letting you out of my sight. I’ll go with you. What are we going to do?”
“Just walk the tour route and make sure that nothing is left out of order. The caretaker will get his nose out of joint if he has to make any repairs after us.”
“Well, let’s get to it. I have a couple of things I have to take care of myself.”
Nick stood, planted a kiss behind Dusty’s ear that threatened their immediate departure, then gave a sigh of regret and placed their cereal bowls in the sink.
A short time later they arrived at the park, parked the car at the gate, and entered the plantation acreage.
Dusty was content to meander along, holding Nick’s hand, enjoying the clear blue sky and the warm autumn morning. He stopped here and there, examining a fence post or a barn door. They finally reached the house, entering from the lower level on the side.
As they climbed the steps to the first floor, Dusty took Nick’s hand, holding it tightly. “The house feels different,” she said. “Can you tell?”
“I’m not sure. It’s quiet and it’s cool.”
They walked past the stairs leading up and stopped at the entrance to the drawing room.
“It’s at peace. Look at the portrait, Nick. It’s changed.”
Nick unhooked the rope and walked into the room, studying the painting.
“You’re right. Her hair seems darker and her eyes—”
“They don’t follow you anymore. Oh, Nick. It’s true. She’s gone. Danielle isn’t here anymore.”
Nick nodded. He understood that feeling of peace. Once they’d finished the baby’s surgery and its heart had remained strong, he’d felt that quiet serenity. He was willing to concede that miracles could happen. Later, when the mother had opened her eyes and whispered, “Thank you,” he’d been certain.
“I don’t begin to understand any of this,” he said, “but I believe something good happened here.”
As they turned away from the room, they were facing the stairs leading up. Dusty didn’t hesitate. She started to climb them.
“Are you sure you want to go up there?” he asked. “Sometimes it’s better not to know.”
At the top of the stairs she stopped, leaned down, and picked up something from the floor. “You’re right,” she said softly. “Some things are best left untouched.”
She tucked the object she’d found in her pocket and turned back to the man who had brought sunlight and stardust back into her life.
“Let’s go, Merlin, and make some more magic of our own.”
It was the next week when Dusty and Nick lay in bed looking out at the night sky that the ghost box fell off the dressing table where it had been for several days.
Dusty rose and picked it up again. The box wouldn’t stay in one place. She finally decided that, as the instructions had warned, Siggy was unhappy, and he was making his feelings known.
Siggy, Hattie, and Dusty. They all had something to do, and Dusty was just putting her chore off. Nick was back at the hospital. Dusty had begun accompanying the art teacher every day. But that wasn’t enough. The time had come to make her own commitment to their future.
“What’s wrong?” Nick asked, pulling himself up to the head of the bed and watching her. “I know you, wildcat, and something’s bothering you.”
“Yes. I have to go back to Florida, Nick, to clear my name.”
He’d been expecting something, but now that it had come he wasn’t prepared for her leaving.
“Nick, you’ve conquered your demons. You’ve filled the black places in your mind with stardust, but I’m still carrying around my past.”
“You know you weren’t guilty of any crime and, trust me, darling, nobody else cares. If you don’t want to go back, don’t.”
She didn’t know how to tell him, for she hadn’t quite worked it out herself. But her life was still messed up. By letting things stand, she would always feel that she didn’t deserve Nick. But she couldn’t put it into words, resorting instead to the kind of smart remark he might expect.
“You know me,” she quipped, “I’m good at leaving.”
That he hadn’t expected. Neither had their resident ghosts. This time the box sailed off the bureau, barely missing Dusty’s head.
“Fine. I’ll give you three months,” Hattie’s voice cut through the silence. “I’ll even go with you.”
Dusty turned toward Nick. “Did you hear that?”
“I heard. I saw. If that box had been a couple of inches to the left, I would have felt it. And you’re not good at leaving, not anymore. Look at you, standing there in the buff like some siren tempting me into becoming a love slave. Your feet are glued to the floor.”
He knew he was grinning. He wondered what Bill would say if Nick told him that he lived with a spirit in a haunted house, then decided that Bill would probably believe it.
“Oh, Nick,” she said, moving back into his arms. “Staying would be easy. I don’t want to go. I want to be here with you and be loved forever, but I can’t, not yet.”
“Then I’ll go with you,” Nick said. “After all, you can use the help of a wizard.”
“No, I have to do this on my own. Besides, Hattie will come along.”
Nick groaned. “I always thought ghosts had to stay in one place, that they were tied to their past. How come our resident spook is mobile?”
“I think she’s tied to us. Wherever we go, she goes. Besides, I’ll make it easy. I’ll take the box.” She grinned. “I figure I have at least a four-month supply of ghost food left.”
“I thought your tag said a year.”
“That was for one. My box seems to be home for two.”
Nick laughed. “Hattie Lanier and Dr. Freud, do you suppose …?”
As it turned out, Dusty didn’t have to stay in Florida long. The men who’d framed her had since decided that it had been so easy, they’d expand their acitvities to accepting bribes for turning a blind eye to drug dealers.
They might have gone on forever, except they stole evidence from the crime storage room and covered their latest act by framing a federal agent who was working undercover in the police department. One of the guilty officers agreed to turn state’s evidence against the others, and the ring of crooked cops came crashing down.
Officials were skeptical about their informant’s strange story that he was visited by the Ghost of Crimes Past—an odd-looking man in a black suit—and the Ghost of Crimes Present—a woman in a red dress. After the informant explained that the ghosts urged him to clear Dusty O’Brian, the Chief of Police advised him to forget the ghosts and simply tell what happened. The truth was readily accepted by those officers who never believed that Dusty was guilty.
The prosecutor quickly asked the judge to clear Dusty’s record of any wrongdoing and reinstate her to the force with full pay for the time she’d spent in jail.
Dusty turned down the chance to return to her job and donated her salary to the benevolent organization whose funds she’d been accused of embezzling.
For the first time in more than two years, Dusty O’Brain was a free woman, free to follow her heart. She took the next flight back to Nick.
Inside her carry-on, Dusty had carefully cushioned the shiny black gho
st box, securing it with underwear and cosmetics so that it wouldn’t bounce around. Away from the sensual overtones that constantly jammed her normal thinking processes, she’d made up her mind what she and Nick had to do.
Hattie had said it best long ago. The best way to get rid of the dark spaces is to fill them with stardust.
Dusty was nervous. Although Nick had told her that he loved her, returning to their little house was a risk. Suppose he’d changed his mind? Suppose he’d decided that they weren’t really suited? Suppose he …?
“Suppose you get us home and find out before you go asking for trouble. Watch it Siggy, get your elbow out of my back.”
Dusty looked quickly at the other travelers, wondering if they’d heard Hattie’s voice. The man on the left was dozing, and the one on the right was reading a magazine. Apparently she was the only one who’d heard the voice.
Silently she admonished her secret companions, and they remained silent the rest of the way. From the airport she caught the transit system train to the closest stop to the Station, then took a taxi to the house.
The empty house.
There was no way Nick could have known when she’d arrive, since she hadn’t told him that she was coming home. After arranging the ghost box on the table in the parlor, she went upstairs, her heart in her throat until she comfirmed that his clothing ws still in his closet.
Once she knew he hadn’t gone, she hurried to unpack and plan how she would greet him with her news. Nothing in her closet was right. Nothing was romantic enough. Nothing said, “I’m yours, take me.”
It was back to Hattie’s costume room. She found a rack of satin caftans with flowing sleeves and mandarin collars. A black one was large enough to fit Nick. Perfect, she thought, and laid it out, then chose a deep purple robe cut low across the shoulders for herself.
At some point in her career, Hattie had either acted in Camelot, or she’d played out her fantasy of having her own personal wizard. All Dusty needed now was something for her hair, something glittery.
She began rummaging through a trunk that she hadn’t opened before. Inside she found a jewelry box filled with combs, pins, and necklaces. A spray of gems interspersed with glitter was perfect. Long dangling gold-and-amethyst earrings completed the look. As she replaced the top tray she caught sight of a familiar piece of jewelry, a delicate broach made of gold and pearls.
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