She went into the living room and set the glasses down on the coffee table. No way was she going to sit next to him on the couch, so she settled herself into the accent chair and picked up a wine glass.
Colin did so as well, although he didn’t drink, only held the glass cradled between his hands. What nice fingers he had, strong and yet sensitive. She recalled then how good those fingers had felt as they drifted over her skin, and did her best to fight back an extremely unwelcome shiver of arousal.
“I know this is asking a lot, barging in on you like this,” he said. “And I’m not going to make excuses for myself.”
“Good.”
He looked slightly put off by the interruption, but then pulled in a breath and continued. “You were right back then — I was a sorry lying ass. I should have told you the truth right up front.”
“But you didn’t because I was just so damn amazing.” Was that her voice, so cold, so sarcastic? The hurt and shock of discovering what he’d done seemed fresh all over again, and she clenched her hands on her jean-clad knees.
“Yes, you are,” he said quietly. “I’d dug myself in deep and didn’t know how to get out. If you need me to tell you every single day from here on out how much I fucked up, I will — if it means I get to see you every day. Because I was wrong. I knew it at the time and didn’t do anything about it, and I’ll say it again now because I don’t want to lose you, Jenny. I was wrong. You have every right to be angry with me, but please — please give me a second chance. I swear I’ll never lie to you again.”
He looked so worried, so strained, and yet there was still that spark of hope in his eyes, because he was here talking to her, and she hadn’t thrown him out yet. No, she realized that moment had long passed. If she had really meant to tell him to go to hell, then she should have done so the second she locked eyes with him through the gallery’s door.
“I am angry with you,” she said, and his shoulders slumped slightly, although he didn’t look away, didn’t try to break their eye contact. “But I’ll give you a chance to put your money where your mouth is. Do you really believe that I’m a witch, that I’m from a family of witches?”
“Yes,” he replied without hesitation. He didn’t even blink.
“Why? Because you think you saw a ghost, or because I was able to see into your mind?”
“Both those things. And —” He hesitated then, as if wrestling with some inner dilemma. His next words came out in a rush. “And also because I went and talked to Tomas Aguirre, and he told me that there were many families like yours, all with their various abilities.”
At the name of the man who’d helped murder her sister, Jenny went cold, the blood in her veins turning to antifreeze. With a shaking hand, she set down her untouched glass of wine. “You what?”
A muscle in Colin’s jaw tightened, but he didn’t try to avoid the question. “I wanted to talk to him because I figured he would be a good outside source who could corroborate what I’d already seen and experienced. And he did. He said he was once a warlock, but that your prima burned his powers right out of him. Is that true?”
“Yes.” Jenny could hear her own voice shake, so she swallowed and fought to regain her composure before she spoke again. “The Aguirres and Matías Escobar were dabbling in the very blackest of magic, magic they fueled by taking my sister’s blood. That kind of magic has been outlawed for centuries. So Angela — our prima, or head witch — and her husband Connor joined their own talents and used them to take away the magical powers the three warlocks had been born with. That way, they couldn’t hurt anyone ever again.”
“And they could be locked up in a civilian prison and not cause any more trouble.”
Surprise flickered in her, and she raised an eyebrow. “‘Civilian’? Tomas Aguirre teach you that?”
“He used the phrase, and I remembered how you almost said it once or twice and then caught yourself.”
She probably had; it was sometimes hard to watch what you said when you were around non-magical people. And really, although she couldn’t deny the lies Colin had told her, she had to admit that she hadn’t been exactly truthful with him, either. For an entirely different reason, of course, and one that no one in her clan could fault her for. Still, she and Colin had both come to one another under false pretenses.
A tremor went through her, and she retrieved her wine and took a large swallow. Colin did the same, although he showed more restraint in how much wine he drank. “It sounds like Mr. Aguirre was very chatty,” she said dryly.
Colin’s shoulders lifted. Voice thoughtful, he replied, “Actually, he was. And….” The words drifted off, and she could see the way his mouth tightened, as if he’d thought better of what he was about to say.
“And what?” she asked. “If he told you something about — about Roslyn, then I deserve to know.”
“You’re right.” His eyes were clear and sober and very sad. “You do deserve to know. It doesn’t change what he did, but…I think Tomas regrets how things turned out. I think he wanted to save her, but didn’t have the strength of will to go up against Escobar.”
Jenny’s throat tightened. You will not cry, she told herself. You will not cry. Not now.
“Most people didn’t,” she said, her voice hardly a whisper. It was about all she could manage right then. “That was the problem. That was his power. Caitlin somehow managed to get away, and Alex had his own defenses, but…Roslyn didn’t. Danica didn’t. And it sounds like Tomas didn’t, either.” Which made it all the more horrible. It was so much easier to think of Tomas Aguirre as a monster who’d happily participated in the murder of her sister. Jenny didn’t want to see him as someone who’d also been coerced by Matías Escobar.
Damn it. There went a tear, followed by another. She reached up to wipe them away quickly before Colin could see, but she wasn’t fast enough. A frown pulled at his brows, and then, before she could move or react, he was coming over to her, lifting her from the chair where she sat so he could put his arms around her, hold her close. He didn’t try to kiss her. He didn’t even say anything. But it was enough that he was there, his body strong and reassuring against hers, his heartbeat calm and steady, telling her that he was with her, that he would always be there for her…if she let him.
A little sob caught at her throat, and she choked it back. She needed to be able to speak then. She had to tell him — had to —
But he beat her to it. “I love you, Jenny McAllister,” he said, his breath warm against the crown of her head. “Please tell me that you’ll let me love you.”
“Yes,” she said. “I want you to love me. I want to be with you. I love — ”
The last word was smothered by his mouth as he kissed her, his lips so warm, so strong, so aching with need. She couldn’t fight this anymore, couldn’t tell herself that it was stupid or wrong. It couldn’t be wrong, not when everything in the universe was telling her that he was the only person who could ever make her feel this way.
At last their mouths broke apart, but his arms remained around her, as if he knew that she needed the reassurance of his touch. And because she was unable to stop herself, she said, voice breathless, “But how can we make this work? You’re in Tucson — ”
“I’m here,” he cut in with absolutely no hesitation. “I want to be with you here. I’ll work in the gallery with you. I’ll flip burgers. I don’t care, as long as we’re together here.”
Laughter bubbled out of her, coming from a spring that she’d thought had long ago gone dry. “I don’t think you need to make quite that much of a sacrifice. I heard the Verde Valley Independent was hiring. I’m sure they’d love to take on an ace reporter like you.”
“Even better,” Colin said, right before he bent to kiss her again.
The world spun around, but that was all right, because she was standing there with him, knowing he would always be there for her, solid and safe and true.
Then she heard him say, “My God,” and she had to lift her head to s
ee what had made that note of awe enter his voice.
Standing on the other side of the living room was Roslyn, Roslyn as Jenny always tried to remember her, beautiful and pink-cheeked and bright, with her dark gold hair falling down her back. Not the wasted husk that was all Matías Escobar had left behind after he was done with her. Jenny’s talent — or curse — had acted up in a moment of stress, picking those horrible images from her parents’ minds, from the day when they’d had to go and identify their daughter’s body. Now the person standing before her was not the nightmare vision that Jenny had spent many months trying to erase from her memories, but her laughing golden-voiced sister.
“R-Roslyn?” she managed. Was she seeing things? She must be. But no, Colin had made that shocked exclamation, which meant he must have seen her, too.
Roslyn smiled and spread out a hand. Mystified, Jenny looked to see where she was gesturing. There, in the open doorway that led to the bedroom, stood Maisie. She smiled as well, although there was a certain impishness to the way her mouth lifted that was noticeably absent from the beatific-looking Roslyn.
“I told you I was doin’ a favor for someone,” Maisie said. “It’s hard for her to be here long, as this ain’t her plane, or some such. But she wanted to drop in so you could see she was all right. And she wanted to make sure you was all right, too.” She hesitated, sending an inquiring glance toward Jenny and Colin. A laughing glint entered her blue eyes as she saw the way the two of them stood hand in hand. “Well, I suppose you are all right, after all.”
Jenny glanced up at Colin, saw the loving glow in his eyes, and felt the way his fingers tightened on hers. And then she looked at the ghost of her sister — but was she a ghost, really? She seemed far too full of life to be dead. And perhaps she wasn’t, not really. She had only moved on from this plane, had left this world to fulfill her destiny elsewhere.
“Yes,” Jenny said, smiling at her sister, and seeing how Colin smiled as well. “I am all right.
“We all are.”
The End
* * *
The Witches of Cleopatra Hill series will continue in Strange Magic, due out in mid-October 2016.
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The Arizona Witch Clans
This list does contain some minor spoilers for earlier books in the series. Married names are indicated with parentheses.
The McAllisters (Jerome, Arizona, and the Verde Valley)
Angela McAllister (Wilcox) – prima, or head witch, of the McAllister clan
Rachel McAllister – Angela’s aunt
Bryce McAllister – one of the McAllister clan’s elders
Allegra Moss – one of the McAllister clan’s elders
Margot Emory (Wilcox) – formerly one of the McAllister clan’s elders, now married to Lucas Wilcox
Sylvia Emory – Margot’s mother
Ruby Lynch – former prima of the McAllister clan
Henry Lynch – son of Ruby McAllister and Patrick Lynch
Tobias Miller – fiancé of Rachel McAllister
Sonya McAllister – Angela’s mother, deceased
Boyd Willis – a McAllister warlock
Micah Landon -- an absentminded artist
Floyd Barnett –lives above the store next to Rachel’s
Rosemary McAllister – lives on the other side of Rachel’s store above the tea shop
Susan Callery -- an artist with a studio in the same building as Tobias’ flat
Efraim Willendale -- runs the post office
Wyatt McAllister -- owns a B&B on Paradise Street
Dora McAllister – Great-Aunt Ruby’s caretaker
Jocelyn Riggs -- the clan’s strongest medium
Kirby McAllister – a cousin of Angela’s and one of her “caretakers”
Tricia McAllister -- the new clan elder after Margot Emory steps down
Richard McAllister – Tricia’s husband
Caitlin McAllister (Trujillo) – daughter of Tricia and Richard; a seer
Michael McAllister – Caitlin’s older brother, a chef
Roslyn McAllister -- Caitlin’s first cousin; youngest sister of Jenny and Adam
Marcus McAllister -- Tricia McAllister’s older brother, Marcus, father of Jenny, Adam, and Roslyn
Lysette McAllister – Marcus’ wife and mother of Jenny, Adam, and Roslyn; a civilian (non-witch)
Jenny McAllister – eldest daughter of Marcus and Lysette McAllister
Adam McAllister – only son of Marcus and Lysette McAllister
Roslyn McAllister – youngest daughter of Marcus and Lysette McAllister
* * *
The Wilcox Clan (Flagstaff, Arizona, and the northern third of the state)
Connor Wilcox – primus (head warlock) of the Wilcox clan
Damon Wilcox – former primus of the Wilcoxes, now deceased
Lucas Wilcox – a cousin of Connor’s, now married to Margot Emory
Mason Wilcox (McAllister – Connor’s cousin and a friend of Angela’s; now married to Adam McAllister
Danica Wilcox – Mason’s younger sister
Joseph Wilcox – Mason and Danica’s father
Olivia Wilcox – Mason and Danica’s mother
Andre Begonie – Angela McAllister’s father
Marie Wilcox (Begonie) – a cousin of Connor’s, the Wilcox clan’s seer
Eleanor Garnett – the clan’s healer
Darrell Wilcox – a Wilcox warlock gifted with heating the area around him
In the 1880s:
Jeremiah Wilcox – the Wilcox clan’s primus
Nizhoni – Jeremiah’s second wife, a woman of the Navajo
Jacob Wilcox – Jeremiah and Nizhoni’s son
Samuel Wilcox – Jeremiah’s brother
Edmund Wilcox – Jeremiah’s brother
Nathan Wilcox – Jeremiah’s brother
Emma Garnett – Jeremiah’s only sister; children are Louis, Susan, Marcus, and Jeffrey
Aaron Garnett – Emma’s husband
Grace Wilcox – Samuel’s wife; five children are Benjamin, Addie, Esther, Clay, and Dorothy
Lida Wilcox – Edmund’s wife; their three children are Kathleen, Annabelle, and Wyatt
Jennie Wilcox – Nathan’s wife; their four children are Oliver, Calvin, Levi, and Victor
* * *
The de la Paz clan (Phoenix, Arizona; Tucson, Arizona; and the southern third of the state)
Maya de la Paz -- prima of the de la Paz clan up through Protector
Alex Trujillo -- Maya’s grandson
Diego Trujillo -- Alex’s older brother
Alicia Trujillo – Alex and Diego’s little sister
Letty Trujillo – Diego’s wife
Luz Trujillo – Alex and Diego’s mother and Maya’s daughter; prima of the de la Paz clan after the end of Protector
David Trujillo – Luz’s husband and father of Alex, Diego, and Alicia
Valentina de la Paz – the de la Paz clan’s healer in the Tucson area
Alba de la Paz -- the healer in the Phoenix area
Zoe Sandoval – the de la Paz clan’s prima-in-waiting
Zander Sandoval – Zoe’s little brother
Luis Sandoval – father of Zoe and Zander
Andrea Sandoval – mother of Zoe and Zander, Alex Trujillo’s aunt (Luz and Andrea are sisters)
Luis de la Paz – Alex’s cousin; works at the family’s store
Jack Sandoval -- Luis Sandoval’s brother; a detective with the Scottsdale P.D.
Miguel de la Paz -- a private detective
Oscar de la Paz -- with the Tucson P.D.
If You Enjoyed This Book…
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Also by Christine Pope
THE WITCHES OF CLEOPATRA HILL
(Paranormal Romance)
Darkangel
Darknight
Darkmoon
Sympathetic Magic
Protector
Spellbound
A Cleopatra Hill Christmas
The first three books of this series are also available in an omnibus edition at a special low price!
* * *
THE DJINN WARS
(Paranormal Romance)
Chosen
Taken
Fallen
Broken
* * *
THE SEDONA FILES
(Paranormal Romance)
Bad Vibrations
Desert Hearts
Angel Fire
Star Crossed
Falling Angels
The first three books of this series are also available in an omnibus edition at a special low price!
* * *
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
* * *
THE GAIAN CONSORTIUM SERIES
(Science Fiction Romance)
Breath of Life
Blood Will Tell
The Gaia Gambit
The Mandala Maneuver
The Titan Trap
The Zhore Deception
About the Author
Christine Pope has been writing stories ever since she commandeered her family’s Smith-Corona typewriter back in the sixth grade. Her work includes paranormal romance, fantasy romance, and science fiction/space opera romance. She fell under the Land of Enchantment’s spell while researching her Djinn Wars series and now makes her home in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
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Christine Pope on the Web:
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