by Jayne Castle
"Yes." Amaryllis raised her chin, the better to look down her nose at him. "I would have thought it would have been extremely uncomfortable, but they appeared to enjoy it."
"I take it you've never done it on a desk?"
The last remnants of Amaryllis's charitable inclinations dissolved. "I'm glad you find it amusing. I certainly didn't."
Lucas's expression relaxed. "I'll give you the same advice you just gave me. Don't beat yourself up about it. It wasn't your fault that you fell for the wrong guy."
"I felt like such a fool," she whispered.
"Well, at least you weren't downright stupid about it." Lucas paused. "Unlike me, you didn't think you were so smart you could just skip a marriage agency altogether."
Amaryllis stared at him. "You mean you didn't use an agency when you got married the first time?"
"Hell, no." His mouth curved faintly. "I was an islander. I knew how to take care of myself. I'd been running a successful company since I was twenty-four. I could find jelly-ice in the heart of the jungle. I was rich and getting richer. I figured I could choose my "own wife without any help from the experts."
"What happened?"
Lucas looked away for a brief moment. When his eyes met hers again they were unreadable. "The same thing the experts say usually happens when people choose their own spouses. I screwed up big time."
"That is so sad. Were you very much in love?"
"Sure." Lucas gave her a laconic look. "People who run off to get married always think they're in love, don't they? Why else would they run off?"
"I don't know." Amaryllis looked down at her hands. "My parents ran off together shortly after I was born. But they didn't get married. They couldn't. My father already had a wife."
Understanding lit Lucas's eyes. "I see."
"They were both killed in a storm on the way to the Western Islands. I was with my aunt at the time. Everyone thinks my parents intended to start over under a new name and send for me when they found work."
"I'm sorry." Lucas hesitated. "So you were left . . . alone?"
She smiled wanly. "You may as well use the right word. I was illegitimate. One of the things that attracted me to Gifford was that he didn't seem to care about the fact that I was a bastard. Some people do, you know."
"Yeah. I know."
"But to answer your question, no, I wasn't alone. My mother's people took me in."
"Your aunt and uncle?"
"Yes. And the rest of the Larks, too. They were all kind and loving. I couldn't have asked for a better family."
"What about your father's people?"
Amaryllis poured herself another cup of coff-tea. "They prefer to pretend that I don't exist."
"Figures."
A short silence descended. It lasted just long enough for Amaryllis to again regret having invited Lucas in for coff-tea. What on St. Helens had gotten into her, she wondered. She had just told a virtual stranger some of her most deeply held secrets. Not all of them, but more than enough. She had turned into a blathering idiot. And all because she'd felt sorry for a client.
It was time she went back to behaving in a more professional manner.
She glanced pointedly at the clock. "It's getting late."
"So it is." Lucas got to his feet with a surprising show of reluctance. "I'll be on my way. Thanks for the coff-tea."
"You're welcome."
He smiled wryly. "And the sympathy."
Amaryllis softened. "I know it must have been a difficult evening for you."
"I've had worse." He scooped his jacket off the stool and started for the door.
Amaryllis trailed after him. "Lucas, there's something I wanted to ask you."
He turned around with unexpected swiftness. "Yeah?"
"That other talent you detected tonight," she began slowly.
Something that could have been disappointment flashed in his eyes. The next instant it was gone. "What about him?"
"When I sensed him through you, I realized that he was very powerful. But I couldn't identify the type of talent he was focusing. I've never come in contact with any psychic energy of that nature. It was very subtle but very strong."
"He was good," Lucas agreed without much interest.
"Well, you're the great detector," she challenged. "Could you tell what sort of psychic power the person was focusing?"
Lucas looked amused. "You didn't realize who the talent was?"
"No."
"I can't be absolutely certain, but given the situation, I'd stake next year's profits that it was Madison Sheffield."
"Sheffield." Amaryllis was astounded. "Senator Sheffield?"
"The next governor of our fair city-state, or so everyone claims. I guess you could say he was working the room."
"Are you serious?"
Lucas eyed her thoughtfully. "You really didn't understand what was going on, did you?"
"No, I did not. When I work with a talent, I can sense what he or she senses. You have the ability to detect other talents, so naturally I picked up the other talent in the room at the same time you did. As I told you, I also picked up the echoes of the other prism."
"You said the prism's style of working felt familiar."
"It was. I would swear that whoever it was trained at the same place I did, the Department of Focus Studies at the university. I could feel Professor Landreth's influence."
"Who is Landreth?"
"He was the head of the department for years."
"The name sounds familiar."
"Probably because of the newspaper articles that were written about him after he was killed in a hiking accident last month. It was a terrible tragedy."
Lucas nodded. "I remember something about it now."
"He was a brilliant man." Amaryllis spoke forcefully because Lucas did not seem overly impressed with just who and what Professor Jonathan Landreth had been. "He contributed enormously to our understanding of the focus link and how it works. More importantly, he wrote the Code of Focus Ethics. His death was a great loss to the profession and to research."
"Uh huh."
"It was a great personal loss for me, as well." Amaryllis's teeth clamped together again. "He was my mentor. I admired him enormously. I miss him."
"I'm sorry." Lucas looked as if he didn't know what else to say. "Well, I should be on my way."
"Wait, you didn't tell me what sort of talent Senator Sheffield was focusing."
"From what little I got before he burned out his prism, I'd say that he was generating pure bat-snake oil and charm. In other words, charisma."
"Charisma?" Amaryllis repeated, uncomprehending.
"It's a politician's stock-in-trade."
"But charisma is not a psychic power."
"What would you call it?"
"I don't know." Amaryllis waved one hand in a small, vague gesture. "A personality trait or something, I suppose. But not a psychic talent."
"Power is power." A smile came and went at the edge of Lucas's mouth. "Regardless of whether or not it's been documented and studied by the experts."
Amaryllis pursed her lips. "I'm not sure about this. I don't think that it would be ethical to focus charisma, assuming it's a form of psychic energy. Especially if the talent was a politician."
"Don't worry about it. It's not your problem. So what if the guy was focusing with an intent to convince people to vote for him and to donate to his campaign fund? That's what politics is all about."
Amaryllis was not mollified. "But if charisma can be focused for those purposes, it would be an act of deliberate misrepresentation or fraud or something."
Lucas looked amused. "Welcome to the real world, lady."
She scowled. "Doesn't it bother you that a very high-class talent in Sheffield's position is using his abilities to con people?"
"He's a politician, Amaryllis."
"But he was using an academically trained prism to focus."
"So what? I used one tonight, too."
"But Sheffield's
prism should know better than to become involved in an unethical use of talent. Professor Landreth drilled the Code of Focus Ethics into all his students."
"No kidding."
"There are standards in my profession," Amaryllis snapped. "And the prism who was working with Sheffield tonight may have violated them."
Lucas propped one shoulder against the wall and studied her with an expression of reluctant fascination. "I have some advice for you, Amaryllis. Nobody likes a self-appointed conscience."
"Spoken like a talent with a classic case of prism envy." Amaryllis reached past him to yank open the door. "Good night, Mr. Trent. Rest assured, your bill will be in the mail first thing in the morning."
Lucas didn't move and the door stayed closed. "You asked me a professional question. Mind if I ask you one?"
Amaryllis watched him with deep suspicion. "What is it?"
"Was it good for you, too?"
"What?" she whispered.
He appeared to be satisfied with her stunned expression. "So, it wasn't all happening on my end. I wondered about that. I told you, I haven't had a lot of experience with the focus link, and I didn't know if getting sexually aroused was a common side effect or if it was relatively rare."
Amaryllis was nearly speechless. She knew she was blushing from the top of her head straight down to the soles of her feet. "I assure you, I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Just tell me how long I can expect the effects to last."
"Effects?" she repeated weakly.
"Yeah. Effects. How long will this overpowering urge to take you to bed last?"
"Mr. Trent, please."
"Will it disappear by morning? It's kind of distracting."
Amaryllis swallowed and then took refuge once more beneath the mantle of professionalism. "I don't know how long the feeling lasts. I have never heard of any link producing sensations of the sort you're complaining about. Furthermore—"
"I'm not exactly complaining."
"Well, that's what it sounds like to me."
"Maybe kissing you would work off a few of the side effects." Lucas tossed aside his jacket and reached for her.
"Mr. Trent. You're a client."
"Yeah, I know." He wrapped her in his arms and pulled her against his chest. "Don't worry, I always pay my bills."
"That's not the point."
Amaryllis flattened her palms against his broad shoulders. She barely had time to notice that his gleaming gray eyes were as impenetrable as the dark fog that she had imagined coalescing beneath her kitchen cabinets.
His mouth came down on hers.
Chapter 5
Lucas knew that kissing Amaryllis was the act of a desperate man. He had told himself that taking her into his arms would be the quickest way to shatter the illusion of sexual desire that had held him in thrall all evening. He knew more about the nature of illusions than most people, he had assured himself. Hell, he was an expert. He knew one when he saw it.
But the reality of Amaryllis's sweet, warm, incredibly sexy mouth did not have the therapeutic effect he had anticipated. Her lips actually trembled. A shiver went through her, sending shock waves through him.
The evidence of her response sent Lucas straight over the edge. He had a mental image of a jungle canyon full of exotic flowers, and then he was falling straight into the mass of petals. The hot, heady fragrance of desire inundated his senses.
"Lucas." Amaryllis gave a soft, delicious cry and threw her arms around his neck. "Lucas."
She wanted him. The knowledge was dazzling. She wanted him just as badly as he wanted her. At least this was a case of mutual sexual synergy. The link had definitely worked both ways.
He tightened his grip on her slender body until he could feel her high, firm breasts crushed against his chest. The weightless scarves of the flutter dress were no barrier to his hands. He groaned as he traced the graceful line of her spine down to the curve of her elegantly rounded buttocks.
Amaryllis shivered in his grasp. She clung to him.
Lucas tore his mouth free from hers. "So much for working off the side effects." He scooped her up in his arms and started toward the closed door of what had to be a bedroom.
Amaryllis clutched at his shoulders as he carried her down the hall. She looked up at him from beneath half-closed lashes. Her eyes were so deep he was sure he would drown.
Somehow he got the door open without dropping her. Two more strides through the shadows brought him to the bed. Moonlight from the window revealed a prim, white bedspread.
Lucas turned and fell backward across the bed. He pulled Amaryllis down on top of him. She sprawled on his chest amid a flurry of silken scarves.
"I've never heard of anything like this happening," Amaryllis gasped. "Honestly."
"It's okay, it's okay." He caught her face between his hands and kissed her heavily. "Don't worry about it."
"Yes, but—" She broke off and began to kiss him wildly. His mouth, his jaw, his ear. Her fingers dug fiercely into his shoulders.
Euphoria roared through Lucas. No woman had ever attacked him with such gratifying enthusiasm. He rolled Amaryllis onto her back. The pins fell from her hair. Lucas wrapped one fist in the soft tresses. It was too dark to see the color of Amaryllis's eyes, but there was no mistaking the sheen of excitement in them.
He wedged one leg between her knees. The heat of her thighs threatened to burn through the fabric of his trousers. He covered her mouth with his own and fumbled with the scarves of the dress.
It took forever to get one breast free, but the feel of Amaryllis's tight nipple more than compensated for the effort. Lucas scraped his palm lightly over the delicate bud and then hesitated, afraid to bruise her with his big, calloused hands.
"It's all right." She gripped the fabric of his shirt. "I won't break."
Lucas uttered a thick, hoarse sound that was half groan and half laughter. It was the second time that evening that she had assured him that she wouldn't break under his touch.
"That's good to know," he said.
He bent his head and reverently took her nipple into his mouth. Amaryllis made a soft, wordless sound and clenched her fingers in his hair.
He slid his knee higher between her legs. The scarves fluttered anxiously for a moment and then parted with only token protest. He reached down and cupped the heated center of her warm body. His hand closed over panties that were already damp.
Amaryllis went rigid beneath him. Her eyes widened in the moonlight.
"You're as ready as I am," he breathed, awed by her response. He inhaled deeply, entranced by the searingly erotic, utterly feminine fragrance that drifted through the shadowed room. "It's definitely not an illusion."
"Illusion?"
"I figured that whatever it was that got me into this condition during the focus link was some kind of artificial stimulation," he confided. "An illusion. But when I realized that you had felt it, too, I decided it didn't much matter what had caused it. I don't know about you, but this is real enough for me."
"Wait a second. You're making love to me because you were sexually aroused by the link?"
"I don't think the reason matters much now." He began to probe beneath the edge of her underwear.
"Wait. Stop." She released her grip on his hair and grabbed his arms. "Stop it right now. This has gone far enough."
"What are you talking about?" He kissed the curve of her throat.
"You heard me." She shoved imperiously at his shoulders.
Lucas blinked, dazed by the sudden turn of events. He realized that she was trying to push him aside. "Amaryllis, what's wrong?"
"Get off me."
It dawned on him that mentioning the link had been a serious mistake. "Take it easy. I didn't mean that I was making love to you just because of what happened this evening. Amaryllis, listen to me."
"Off."
Reluctantly, he eased himself onto one elbow, freeing her. "Just listen for a moment, will you? I'm sorry if I offended you."
"I'm the one who should apologize," she said crisply. "I don't know what got into me."
"You?"
"I'm the professional here." She crawled to the edge of the bed, slid her legs over the side, and stood. "You're just the client."
"Just the client." Lucas propped his head on his hand and watched her in the shadows.
"As a qualified and certified professional prism, it's my duty to adhere to the Code of Focus Ethics. I should never have allowed you to kiss me. It was completely out of line. You're a client, for heaven's sake."
"Actually, I think of myself more as a man than as a client."
"Well, it's my responsibility to think of you as a client, nothing more and nothing less. It was obvious that you experienced some unfortunate side effects from tonight's link."
"I wouldn't call the side effects unfortunate. Just a little unusual."
"As a trained professional, I ought to have made allowances for the fact that the focus did not proceed in the normal manner." Amaryllis buried her face in her hands. "I can't believe that I allowed you to carry me in here and ... and . . ." She dropped her hands to her sides. "I behaved in a thoroughly unprofessional manner."
"Must be tough trying to live up to your professional code of ethics all the time."
"It has never been particularly difficult until tonight."
"I'll try to take some comfort from that." Lucas exhaled slowly and sat up on the edge of the bed.
Amaryllis scurried to the bedroom door. She dithered a moment. Lucas realized that she was trying to decide whether or not to turn on the light. She apparently concluded it would not be a good move. She edged out into the hall and turned to wait for him.
"Please hurry." Amaryllis folded her arms beneath her breasts. "It's quite late. I have to go into work early tomorrow morning."
"Yeah, sure." Frustrated desire clawed at his insides as he watched the way the hall light made her amber hair glow. "You want to get my bill in the mail."
"Lucas—"
"I'm going, I'm going."
He made his way down the hall with stoic determination. His jacket was lying on the floor, right where he had dropped it a short while earlier. He scooped it up and slung it over his shoulder.
Amaryllis hurried after him. "I really do apologize for my unprofessional and ethically questionable behavior, Lucas. I don't know how I could have been so irresponsible."