‘‘Then I guess we will, won’t we, Megabyte?’’ He motioned the dog through the door and followed after her. ‘‘By the way, Annie, that newspaper is for you. It’s a special edition of the Big Knob Gazette.’’
‘‘Why, uh, thanks.’’ She reached for the newspaper, but Megabyte didn’t want to give it up.
‘‘Meg, give Annie the newspaper.’’
As Annie tried again, Meg held on more firmly and wagged her tail.
‘‘I think she wants to play tug-of-war,’’ Annie said.
Jeremy sighed. ‘‘I knew I should have practiced this with her a few more times. Meg, this isn’t a game. Give me the newspaper.’’
Meg lumbered out of the way, and her wagging tail knocked the magazines and a bowl of fruit off Annie’s coffee table. Miraculously the bowl didn’t break when it hit the carpet, but peaches and nectarines rolled everywhere.
‘‘God, I’m sorry.’’ Jeremy surveyed the situation and glared at Megabyte. ‘‘This seemed like a good idea at the time.’’
‘‘Maybe you should just tell me what’s in the newspaper. Is it a wedding edition so the family can have a keepsake?’’
‘‘No.’’ Jeremy approached his dog. ‘‘You’re not helping, Meg. Now, give it here.’’ Grabbing the paper, he pulled it forcefully from her mouth, and it partly shredded. Jeremy groaned.
‘‘Here, let me see it.’’ Annie took the paper and unfolded it. ‘‘A little Scotch tape and—’’ Speechless, she stared at the front page of the paper and the headline emblazoned there. WILL YOU MARRY ME? There was a big rip in the word MARRY and dog slobber all over the page, but there was no mistaking Jeremy’s intent.
The paper rattled in her hand as she began to shake. Then she looked up to find Jeremy gazing at her, all his hopes shining in those caring gray eyes.
‘‘I can see this is a shock,’’ he said. ‘‘But I’m prepared to move here. I’ve already talked to Denise Woolrich about selling Click-or-Treat, and I can open the same sort of Internet café in Chicago. Meg’s a big dog, but she doesn’t need much space. We can do the apartment thing here as well as we could in Big Knob.’’
‘‘No.’’ Annie shook her head.
‘‘You won’t marry me?’’
‘‘I won’t have you giving up everything you love to move to Chicago.’’
‘‘Annie, everything I love, everyone I love, isn’t in Big Knob. And if moving here means I have a chance with you, even if you’re not ready to marry me yet, then I’ll do it. I’ll do whatever it takes. I love you.’’
Annie clutched the paper to her chest. ‘‘I won’t let you make that sacrifice.’’
‘‘But I want to.’’
‘‘But you don’t have to.’’ She gazed at him, and joy bubbled inside her as she finally realized what she wanted. ‘‘I’m coming home.’’
‘‘You are? Why?’’
‘‘Because I love you, and I also love Big Knob, and I’ve never been happier than I was that week I spent writing crazy stories about the locals and making sweet love with you.’’
‘‘Oh, Annie.’’
How she cherished his goofy smile and the light in his gentle eyes. She was going to love being married to Jeremy Dunstan.
She laid the paper on the coffee table, and Megabyte immediately snatched it. ‘‘I’m afraid that won’t make much of a souvenir,’’ she said.
‘‘I have a spare.’’
She laughed as she walked toward him. ‘‘I’m not surprised.’’
He drew her into his arms. ‘‘But you were surprised when I showed up, right?’’
‘‘I have to admit, that surprised me.’’
‘‘Good. I don’t want to be predictable.’’ He cupped her face in one hand. ‘‘And if you’re not ready for the marriage thing, then I can wait.’’
‘‘You can?’’
‘‘You bet. Waiting I can manage. Being without you is something I can’t seem to manage at all.’’
‘‘I see.’’ She reached up and took off his glasses. ‘‘Well, you’d better kiss me, Jeremy, because I can’t wait another second, and the answer is yes.’’
Epilogue
Hours later, after Annie and Jeremy had properly celebrated their engaged status in Annie’s bedroom, Jeremy went in search of his jeans.
‘‘Don’t feel obligated to get dressed,’’ Annie said as she admired her husband-to-be from the rear. ‘‘We can order from the Chinese place down the street whenever you’re hungry.’’
‘‘I’m not getting dressed, although I’ll have to eventually so I can walk Meg.’’ He picked up his jeans from the floor and fished something out of the back pocket. ‘‘Dorcas asked me to give you this. She said I should only give it to you if you agreed to marry me, but when you said you would, I went sort of crazy.’’
‘‘And I loved it.’’ Her clothes were old and she hadn’t minded at all that he’d torn them off of her.
‘‘Anyway, I forgot the letter until now.’’ He handed it to her.
She switched on a light next to the bed so she could see better in the late-afternoon gloom. After being stuck in Jeremy’s pocket all day it was wrinkled, but the purple envelope looked very much like Dorcas. The lavender sheet of stationery inside contained loopy handwriting that also fit Dorcas.
Annie held the paper toward the light and read silently.
Dear Annie,
If you’re reading this, then you’ve wisely chosen to marry Jeremy. You two are soul mates, and I’m so pleased that you’ve found each other. You may think we’ve been too interfering, but we were only trying to help.
In that vein, I have another offer. Jeremy says he’s willing to live there, but if you would consider moving back to Big Knob, I can get you a job reporting for Wizardry World, the newspaper serving the entire magical community. In addition to reporting on the dragon and the lake monsters living here, you’ll be able to cover stories involving magical creatures and events all over the world.
Jeremy, of course, can’t know about this, and we can take measures that will assure that he won’t find out. This writing will disappear the moment you’ve read it.
Blessed be,
Dorcas
Annie pretended that she hadn’t finished reading so she’d have a chance to compose herself before she met Jeremy’s gaze. That wouldn’t be easy, because she wanted to jump up and down on the bed. Big Knob also had a dragon? And that was only the beginning! She would be transported all over the world to write amazing stories. And she’d worried about being bored!
‘‘You look pretty happy about that letter,’’ Jeremy said.
‘‘I am.’’ Finally she dared to glance up. ‘‘Dorcas says we are truly soul mates. I guess she should know, since that’s her field.’’
‘‘I didn’t need Dorcas to tell me that.’’ Jeremy sat down next to her on the bed. ‘‘What else did she say?’’
‘‘Mostly that. The soul mate thing. Wishing us well and all that.’’
‘‘Gonna let me read it?’’
‘‘Well, I would, but you know Dorcas and her flair for drama.’’ Annie turned the paper around so he could see it. ‘‘She wrote the letter in disappearing ink.’’
Jeremy shook his head. ‘‘I have to say, that woman’s a little weird.’’
‘‘Yes, but in a good way.’’ A very good way. Thanks to Dorcas, Annie would have a writing career the likes of which she never could have imagined. ‘‘So you knew we were soul mates? When did you decide that?’’
‘‘When I was fourteen.’’ He stretched out on the bed beside her and gathered her close.
‘‘Too bad I didn’t know it, too.’’ She nestled against him and was gratified to discover he was aroused again. ‘‘We could have saved a lot of time.’’
‘‘True.’’ He nuzzled a spot behind her ear. ‘‘So the way I have it figured, we have to make love twice as often because of all that time we lost.’’
‘‘Works for me.’’ Annie brushed h
er mouth over his collarbone as she anticipated another most excellent session between the sheets with her honest-to-goodness soul mate. And next week she’d get to meet a dragon.
Read on for an excerpt from
CASUAL HEX
Coming from Onyx in February 2009
Tied game, bottom of the ninth, bases loaded with the Mariners’ designated hitter at the plate. Seated directly behind home plate between two of the hottest babes in Seattle, Prince Leo sipped his ice-cold brewski and smiled. October, and his favorite team was still in the hunt. Life didn’t get any better than that.
Then his cell phone rang. Worse yet, it was his mother. He could ignore it, let it go to voice mail, claim the ring had been drowned out by the roar of the crowd. But Queen Beryl wouldn’t buy it. Fairy princes, of which he was one, had incredible hearing.
Because of that ability, he’d overheard this morning’s conversation at the palace between his mother and one of her oldest friends, a witch from San Francisco named Isadora Mather. Very odd, that conversation. Unless his mother had been joking, she was having second thoughts about handing over the kingdom to her one and only son. Yeah, she was probably joking.
Still, the discussion had made him briefly consider giving up his primo seats and the company of the Dempsey twins this afternoon so that he could stick around and get the 411 on what he’d thought was a done deal—his becoming king of Atwood in the near future. In the end he’d hadn’t been able to make himself miss the game.
Besides, he had every confidence that he’d end up on the throne. He’d reached the required age, so it was mainly a matter of finding a good coronation date. He’d tried on his late daddy’s crown, a little dusty after sitting around all these years, and it fit just fine. Soon he’d be the big boss in the forested kingdom of Atwood, a misty island at the far reaches of Puget Sound.
True, his mother had the power to deny him that job, but she wouldn’t disinherit her own flesh and blood, even if she was irritated with him these days. So what if he liked to party? Was that a crime? And maybe he hadn’t put much effort into those charitable projects she was so big on, but there would be plenty of time to get serious once he was king.
She’d probably known he was listening and had wanted to give him a little scare when she’d told Isadora that she might pass the crown to a commoner. He didn’t believe for a minute that she’d do such a thing, but just to hedge his bets, he answered the phone.
‘‘Hey,’’ he said. ‘‘Let me call you back after the game.’’
‘‘I’m afraid not.’’ His mother had adopted her imperial tone. ‘‘This is of utmost importance.’’
Leo sighed. ‘‘What’s up?’’ He couldn’t imagine anything of more importance than a game-winning grand slam, which would put the Mariners in the playoffs and cause the very stacked Dempsey twins to leap out of their seats and jump up and down, which would promote major jiggle. He watched the pitch come in.
‘‘The time has come for you to prove yourself worthy of the crown,’’ his mother said.
Swing and a miss. Damn. ‘‘I don’t remember hearing anything about that before.’’ He had to watch what he said. The Dempsey twins thought he was just another sexy guy with excellent moves. When dealing with nonmagical women, he kept his fairy status a secret.
Letting it be known would only cause problems. For one thing, people assumed all magical fairies were tiny. Tiny was an option, one he didn’t use much. At full size, if he suddenly announced he was a fairy, it would be misinterpreted, to say the least.
‘‘You’re hearing about it now,’’ his mother said. ‘‘I have an assignment you must complete first.’’
‘‘This is sounding like Mission: Impossible.’’ Leo winced as the batter missed another fastball.
‘‘You’d better hope it’s not impossible.’’ His mother was obviously in a mood. ‘‘You’re perilously close to losing your birthright.’’
Leo rolled his eyes. Oh, the drama. Meanwhile, the Red Sox catcher called a time-out and loped to the mound to confer with the pitcher. If Leo hoped to finish this phone call before the next pitch, he’d better play along. ‘‘All right. What’s the assignment?’’
‘‘I’m sending you to Big Knob, Indiana, where—’’
‘‘Big Knob?’’ Leo felt the twins’ attention on him and realized he’d said that a little too loudly. He gave them both a lazy smile, as if he’d been referring to himself. ‘‘Oh, yeah. Big Knob.’’ He hoped to hell his mother wasn’t expecting him to deal with George, the juvenile-delinquent dragon living in the woods near that podunk town.
‘‘Your assignment involves a young woman by the name of Gwen Dubois. She owns the local florist shop, Beaucoup Bouquets.’’
Now, that was more like it. A woman. Maybe even a Frenchwoman. ‘‘Is this a rescue situation?’’ He could get into that, especially if she happened to be gorgeous. He didn’t want to have to fight any dragons, but from all reports, George didn’t like to fight. Leo turned his attention to the game as the catcher hunkered down behind the plate.
‘‘It’s sort of a rescue,’’ Queen Beryl said. ‘‘She lacks self-confidence with the opposite sex.’’
Just his luck she’d be ugly. ‘‘And why isn’t she self-confident?’’
‘‘She doesn’t consider herself particularly attractive. ’’
Bingo. ‘‘Mom, I don’t think—’’
‘‘I want you to give her the kind of attention that will change her self-image and make her feel sexy.’’
Leo preferred his women to be sexy from the get-go. ‘‘I’m not really into stuff like that.’’
‘‘Which is exactly why I’m assigning you this task, Leo. You’re to ignore your obsession with external beauty and consider someone else’s feelings for a change. You must prove yourself capable of a selfless act.’’
That hurt. ‘‘I can be selfless.’’
‘‘I’ve seen very little evidence of it. Oh, and when you go, stay out of the Whispering Forest and away from that dragon, George.’’
Earlier Leo had hoped not to be assigned to George, but he hated being told what to do. ‘‘Why?’’
‘‘The dragon is Dorcas and Ambrose Lowell’s project.’’
‘‘Mmm.’’ Leo had heard of the witch and wizard who’d been banned to Big Knob because they’d screwed up some spell or other. Leo was curious about that, too, but not enough to make a trip to some piddly small town. ‘‘There must be some other assignment you can give me.’’
‘‘I’m afraid not. Do you want the crown, or don’t you?’’
He wanted it, and apparently he’d have to jump through hoops to get it. He sighed. ‘‘Yeah, okay. I’ll do it.’’ The pitcher went into his windup. ‘‘When do I have to go?’’
‘‘Next week.’’
With a crack of the bat, the hitter sent the ball over the center-field fence. Leo jumped to his feet and cheered while the Dempsey twins leaped around and bumped into him with their generous assets. Sweet. ‘‘Sorry, Mom!’’ he yelled into the phone. ‘‘Next week is out.’’
‘‘Why?’’
‘‘We’re in the playoffs! We might end up in the World Series! Maybe I could go in late November.’’
‘‘Won’t work. You’ll need plenty of time, and Gwen’s closing the shop in mid-December to spend the holidays in Arizona with her parents.’’
If it hadn’t been for his acute hearing, Leo wouldn’t have picked up on that last sentence. Pandemonium ruled at Safeco Field, and the Dempsey twins became orgasmic in their joy. He looked forward to capitalizing on that in his hotel suite tonight.
‘‘January, then!’’ he shouted into the phone. ‘‘Gotta go, Mom! ’Bye!’’ He snapped the phone shut and shoved aside all thoughts of his assignment. Party time!
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