Over Hexed

by Vicki Lewis Thompson

  His long legs ate up the space between them and he grasped her arm. ‘‘Take my glasses.’’

  God help her. The jolt of excitement when he’d touched her had destroyed all her vows to stay away from him. She’d wanted him to haul her back upstairs and kiss her until they both went crazy.

  He didn’t pull her close, much to her traitorous body’s disappointment. Instead he released her and held out those ugly glasses.

  She glanced back at him. He was fuzzy, but she could tell he was frowning at her.

  He shook them at her. ‘‘Take the glasses, damn it.’’

  ‘‘Why would you want to help me?’’

  ‘‘I don’t want to help you get the property, but I don’t want to see you get hurt because you can’t see your nose in front of your face.’’ He sounded angry. ‘‘And don’t deny it. You almost fell down the stairs.’’

  ‘‘Are you sure you don’t need them anymore?’’

  ‘‘Apparently not. I thought it was a temporary thing, and sure enough, it is.’’

  ‘‘Then I’ll borrow them for a little while.’’ She took the glasses and put them on. His image snapped into focus and he looked mouthwateringly good to her. From this angle his chin looked strong and masculine and his hair fell in a gentle wave over his forehead. His frown of irritation didn’t detract one bit from those magnetic green eyes.

  Then his frown began to disappear, and his eyes sparkled with laughter.

  ‘‘What?’’ She dipped her head and the glasses slid down her nose. Naturally they were too big.

  ‘‘Those glasses on you. They’re—’’

  ‘‘Funny-looking.’’ She could imagine. And that was good, because the weirder she looked, the less likely he’d want to kiss her again. She pushed them firmly in place.

  ‘‘I was going to say cute. Prim.’’ The laughter faded and something hotter crept into his expression. His gaze grew more intense. ‘‘Maggie.’’ His voice was hoarse with frustration.

  Longing bloomed within her, a kind of deep ache that she hadn’t felt in ages. She swallowed.

  ‘‘Get going,’’ he murmured.

  ‘‘Right.’’ Tearing herself away, she held the glasses against the bridge of her nose as she ran down the stairs. She didn’t look back.

  Sean braced his hands against the railing and watched her go. The joke was on him. He’d finally found a woman he craved beyond reason, and all she wanted to do was run away.

  Once she was out the door and he heard her car start, he relaxed his grip on the railing. He’d always loved this feature of the house. Being able to creep out of bed at night and spy on the grown-ups having a party on the main floor was a kid’s dream.

  He realized now that his father hadn’t been able to afford the liquor and the food, but he’d been the kind of guy who would put off paying the electric bill so he could throw a party and invite most of the town. Sean wondered if anyone remembered those parties.

  He’d never forget them. Such happy things, those parties. Watching them take place from upstairs, he’d imagined that his parents had the world by the tail. He’d believed in his father right up to the moment they’d been kicked out of this house and his dad had left town, never to be heard from again.

  Sean sighed and pushed away from the railing. He wanted this house back, damn it. Maggie made it sound as if this property was her only hope for saving her job, but he couldn’t accept that. There had to be other locations she could choose that weren’t either state land or marshy, and he’d do what he could to help her find one.

  In the meantime, he had to cover his ass. Unclipping his cell from his belt, he speed dialed Jeremy. ‘‘Hey, bud, I hear you’re headed back into town.’’

  ‘‘I’m about ten minutes away,’’ Jeremy said. ‘‘You got a problem, or are you just eager to have me deliver your cup?’’

  ‘‘A problem.’’ Sean wandered back into the bedroom and gazed out the French doors. A rainbow arched over Big Knob, giving a glow to the rock and the trees below, a mixture of pine, oak and sycamore. Anyone who believed those woods were haunted had never seen it like this, looking almost magical.

  ‘‘What can I do for you?’’ Jeremy asked.

  ‘‘I was wondering . . . is there any way you can stall off fixing Denise’s computer?’’

  ‘‘Why?’’

  ‘‘Thanks to Denise, there’s someone in town trying to buy the property I’m after. They want to build a SaveALot there.’’

  Jeremy whistled under his breath. ‘‘That’s big stuff. I can’t imagine a SaveALot in Big Knob.’’

  ‘‘Me, either, and I especially don’t want the old house destroyed so they can put up a store.’’ As he watched, the rainbow lost some of its brilliance.

  ‘‘I’m sure not.’’

  ‘‘Denise has finally tracked down the property’s owner, and once her computer is fixed, she’ll be able to get that info and give it to the SaveALot rep.’’

  ‘‘I see.’’ Jeremy paused. ‘‘Denise really must be pissed at you to do something like this.’’

  ‘‘I guess. Anyway, if you could stall until tomorrow, maybe I can come up with an alternate location for Maggie.’’

  ‘‘Who’s Maggie?’’

  ‘‘The SaveALot rep.’’

  Jeremy began to laugh. ‘‘Are you shittin’ me? The rep’s a woman? Is she terminally ugly?’’

  ‘‘No.’’

  ‘‘Older than Edith Mae Hoogstraten?’’

  ‘‘No.’’

  ‘‘Then what’s the deal, buddy? Turn on that famous Madigan charm. Problem solved.’’

  Sean thought about explaining his unfortunate transformation, but decided against it. His eyesight was better already, so the other effects might be fading, too. Jeremy probably wouldn’t even notice, and Sean would rather not have to confess that he’d done something so ridiculous.

  ‘‘I sort of tried that,’’ he said. ‘‘But she’s really focused on getting this property. You know the type— it’s all about the promotion.’’ The rainbow grew fuzzy. The tree branches became less distinct, too.

  ‘‘I don’t know the type,’’ Jeremy said. ‘‘Not too many like that around here. And I’ve never met the woman you couldn’t have on a silver platter.’’

  ‘‘That’s because you haven’t met Maggie Grady. She’s tough as nails.’’ He blinked, trying to clear his vision. ‘‘So can you stall the repair for me?’’

  Jeremy cleared his throat. ‘‘You know I’d do most anything for you, buddy. But you’re asking me to lie to my customer. That goes against the grain.’’

  Desperation curled in Sean’s gut. ‘‘I’m not asking for much time. Just the rest of this afternoon, so I can scout out some other locations.’’ How he’d accomplish that, plus build a sex bench for the Lowells and keep Calvin Gilmore happy was anybody’s guess. But he had to try. If Maggie got her information this afternoon, she’d do her best to contact the owner today.

  Whoever that person was, they couldn’t care much about Big Knob or they’d have put in an appearance before now. They might think the place had little or no value. Sean had been counting on that to keep the price in a range he could afford.

  But once the owner found out a big company like SaveALot wanted the land, Sean wouldn’t have a prayer of getting it. He needed to keep the owner and Maggie far, far apart. Jeremy was his only hope.

  ‘‘I wish I could, Sean.’’ Jeremy sounded unhappy.

  ‘‘But you can’t.’’ Sean ran a hand through his hair, which seemed coarser than the last time he’d touched it.

  ‘‘It doesn’t feel right.’’

  ‘‘Okay, I understand.’’

  ‘‘I hope so. Listen, if there’s anything else I can do . . . I’ll be glad to talk to this Maggie person and tell her how much the house means to you.’’

  ‘‘That’s okay. She knows.’’ And he didn’t want Jeremy, or any other guy, getting into deep conversations with Maggie. ‘‘One other thing, though
.’’

  ‘‘What’s that?’’

  ‘‘She’s pretty hot, so I wouldn’t blame you for asking her out.’’

  ‘‘And you don’t want me to,’’ Jeremy said.

  The words tasted like sawdust in his mouth. He’d never had to ask this of any man before. ‘‘I’d count it as a favor if you wouldn’t hit on her or anything.’’

  ‘‘Wow, I never thought I’d see the day.’’

  Sean winced. Here it came. Jeremy was going to rub it in, and Sean couldn’t blame him. Jeremy wasn’t the smoothest guy in the world, and he’d struggled to get dates, while Sean had been awash in women. It must have been tough to put up with that all these years.

  Jeremy chuckled. ‘‘I can’t believe it. Sean Madigan is worried about a computer geek like me.’’

  ‘‘It’s not that I’m worried, exactly.’’ But he was. Without his normal looks he was extremely worried.

  ‘‘Yeah, you are, and forgive me if I savor it for a minute. But I won’t horn in on whatever you have planned.’’ He laughed. ‘‘As if I could.’’

  Sean ran his hand through his hair again, which seemed to have grown longer in some places just in the past few minutes. ‘‘You might be surprised. Anyway, see you later, buddy.’’ Sean closed his phone and glanced around the bedroom. Was it his imagination, or was everything in here sort of fuzzy?

  Surely his eyesight wasn’t going bad again. One way to tell for sure. He walked over to pick up the empty wine bottle. Earlier he’d been able to read the label just fine.

  He stared at the label and could barely make out the Mystic Winery part of it, which was in big type. Shitfire. The smaller print was out of the question.

  He carried the bottle over to the French doors, where the light was better. The lettering was still blurred. Damn! What was in those blasted herbs that his eyesight would fade in and out? That could be dangerous!

  So here he was, stuck with the same situation he hadn’t wanted Maggie to have, forced to drive back into town without being able to see past his nose. At least he knew the road and could almost drive it blindfolded. Almost.

  He couldn’t very well ask Maggie to give his glasses back, so he had to make it over to see Dorcas and Ambrose without running into anything or anybody. They had to fix this. They had to have some antidote he could take.

  Maybe it would be crude. Maybe they’d have to substitute something for one of the herbs they didn’t have time to order. But they should have backup plans if they were as professional as they’d seemed. Unfortunately he had a bad feeling that they weren’t.

  Chapter 12

  Maggie repaired her makeup before she walked into Denise’s office, but there wasn’t much she could do about the glasses. She might be able to get away without them for part of the time, but eventually she’d have to read something on the computer screen and the glasses would need to come out. Might as well wear them into the office and hope Denise wouldn’t notice they were exactly like Sean’s.

  No such luck.

  Denise turned from the filing cabinet and caught sight of Maggie. ‘‘Those look exactly like Sean’s glasses!’’

  ‘‘They are his glasses.’’

  Denise shoved the filing cabinet drawer closed with a hollow clank. ‘‘Really.’’

  ‘‘Clumsy me, I managed to break mine. His temporary eye problem seems to have gone away, and these are close enough to my prescription, so he loaned them to me.’’

  Irritation tightened Denise’s expression. ‘‘How handy that he was nearby when you broke yours.’’ She flipped open the file in her hand and studied it, as if she had no more interest in the matter.

  Maggie didn’t buy Denise’s disinterest. ‘‘It was handy.’’ She chose her words carefully and hoped she wasn’t blushing. ‘‘I decided to meet him out at the old house. He knows more about the property than anyone, things like the stress points, the best way to approach taking it down.’’ She had no clue what she was talking about. Was stress points even the right term to use?

  Denise walked over and sat at her desk. ‘‘Makes sense, I guess, although I can’t imagine Sean pointing out the best route for the bulldozer to take.’’ She sat rigidly in the chair. She obviously wasn’t happy that Maggie had been spending time with Sean.

  Maggie decided to address the problem in case it could cause complications later. She didn’t need any more than the ones she’d already created. ‘‘Go ahead and tell me to mind my own business if you want, but did you two, uh, date or anything?’’

  Denise’s laugh sounded forced. ‘‘Heavens no. He’s too young for me. We were just friends.’’

  ‘‘But you’re not friends anymore?’’

  ‘‘Not really. He didn’t appreciate my efforts on his behalf, so who needs that kind of friend?’’ Denise tried to sound casual, but there was nothing casual about the hot anger in her dark eyes.

  ‘‘I understand.’’

  ‘‘If you must know, he was more interested in getting into my pants than having me handle his business needs.’’

  ‘‘Oh. That’s not good.’’ Now Maggie didn’t know what—or whom—to believe. The women in the Bob and Weave had complained because they couldn’t have more sex with Sean, but Denise was saying she’d had to fend him off. Then there was Maggie’s own experience today. She didn’t dare think about those hot moments for fear her expression would give her away.

  ‘‘I wasn’t about to become another notch on his tool belt.’’ Denise pierced Maggie with a look. ‘‘And if you’re smart, you won’t, either.’’

  Maggie was saved from having to respond by a tall, lanky man coming through the door with a metal briefcase in one hand. He wore wire-rimmed glasses, jeans, running shoes and a faded navy sweatshirt with MIT on the front. His dark hair was short but still managed to look unruly.

  ‘‘Hey, Jeremy.’’ Denise smiled at him. ‘‘My savior.’’

  The praise seemed to make him uneasy. ‘‘No guarantees, Denise.’’

  ‘‘When it comes to computers, you’re a god and you know it. Jeremy, I’d like you to meet my client, Maggie Grady, from Houston. Maggie, this is Jeremy Dunstan, the smartest man in Big Knob.’’

  This time Jeremy blushed. ‘‘Hey, cut it out. You’re going to jinx me.’’

  ‘‘Not possible.’’ Denise turned to Maggie. ‘‘This guy thinks like a computer. If it’s fixable, he’ll fix it.’’

  ‘‘That’s good.’’ Maggie couldn’t imagine anything she’d rather have right now than a working computer and an e-mail revealing the contact point for the property’s owner.

  ‘‘Nice to meet you, Maggie.’’ Jeremy shook her hand.

  She might be getting paranoid, but she thought he studied her with more than idle curiosity. ‘‘Has Denise told you why I’m here?’’ she asked.

  ‘‘Denise didn’t tell me, but I have heard that you want to put up a SaveALot in Big Knob.’’ His tone was carefully neutral.

  ‘‘That’s right.’’ Either word was getting around or Sean had talked to Jeremy. ‘‘And I sure hope you can fix Denise’s computer.’’

  Jeremy smiled at her. ‘‘I’ll do my best.’’

  Sean couldn’t believe it. He’d sideswiped Edith Mae Hoogstraten’s vintage Buick. He’d tried to be so careful. Edith Mae had been stopped in the middle of the street, ready to make her turn into the parking area in front of the Hob Knob, and Sean had thought he could go on by her without a problem.

  He hadn’t seen the pothole until the last minute, and then he’d overcorrected. He leaped out of the truck and ran around to make sure Edith Mae was okay.

  She climbed out of her old car and stomped toward him. He couldn’t see her all that well except to notice that the funny little cylinder of a hat she always wore was tipped sideways and she was shaking her fist. She wasn’t very big, barely over five feet, but she still scared the shit out of him.

  ‘‘Sean Madigan, you hooligan! You hit my car!’’

  ‘‘I know. I’m s
orry, Edith Mae. I miscalculated.’’ From the corner of his eye he could see the curiosity seekers arriving. Francine and Sylvia from the Bob and Weave showed up, along with Clem Loudermilk’s wife, Clara. Clara wore a purple plastic cape with a towel tucked around her neck. The cape cantilevered out at almost a ninety-degree angle, thanks to Clem’s patented cleavage bra. Clara’s hair was wrapped in tinfoil and she held Bud, the killer Chihuahua, in her arms.

  Heather came out of the hardware store, and Madeline hurried over from the Hob Knob, still clutching her order pad.

  ‘‘Is anybody hurt?’’ Madeline called out.

  ‘‘I’m perfectly fine.’’ Edith Mae marched around to the passenger side of the car where Sean’s truck had scraped it. ‘‘It’s my car that’s been violated! Only fifteen hundred and sixty-three miles on it, and not a scratch, until this irresponsible hoodlum ran into me.’’

  ‘‘I’ll pay to have it fixed.’’ Sean wished the pothole beside him would open up and swallow him.

  ‘‘Bah! It’ll never be the same.’’ Edith Mae glared at Sean. ‘‘And look at you! You’ve let yourself go to rack and ruin. You used to be such a handsome young man. Now you look like the devil, and you’re driving recklessly and running into innocent people.’’

  Heather sidled up next to him. ‘‘You do look a little rough around the edges, Sean,’’ she said. ‘‘When was the last time you had a haircut?’’

  ‘‘Last week,’’ said Walt, the town’s only barber, who walked out to the street, carrying his scissors. ‘‘What’ve you been doing, boy, using that Rograin on yourself?’’

  ‘‘Just a bad hair day.’’ Sean tried to toss it off with one of his winning smiles, but he could sense the reaction to him was totally different from what it would have been twenty-four hours ago. Yesterday he would have been able to charm Edith Mae out of being upset. He could have made the rest of the onlookers laugh at the joke. Today they all seemed to be out for blood.

  He was almost glad he couldn’t see very well, especially when he glanced around and noticed, on the fringes of the crowd, Maggie’s red ringlets. She was blurry, but after what had happened recently between them, he would recognize her anywhere, even blurry. Then again, if he had been able to see, this wouldn’t have happened in the first place.