Books by Nora Roberts

by Roberts, Nora

  By nine, she’d made considerable progress, and stopped to make her first phone call. She needed to see her lawyer at the first opportunity and make a few adjustments to her will.

  She told herself she wasn’t being fatalistic, just practical.

  From her satchel she took some of the personal papers she’d brought from home. Her partnership agreement with Nell in Three Sisters Catering was in order. But she intended to leave Ripley her share, should anything happen.

  She thought Nell would appreciate that.

  As the will stood now, the bookstore went outright to Lulu, but she’d decided to change that and designate a percentage to Nell. Lulu, she had no doubt, would approve.

  And she intended to start a small trust fund for her sisters’ children, including the deed for the yellow cottage. It was something she would do in any case.

  She would leave her library to Mac, as he would make the best use of it. For Zack there was her star collection, and her great-grandfather’s watch.

  It was the sort of thing one left to a brother.

  She would leave the house to Sam. She could trust him to preserve it, to see that her garden was tended. And to guard the heart of the island.

  She put the papers in her bottom drawer, locked it. She didn’t intend for any of these arrangements to be necessary anytime soon. But she strongly believed in being prepared.

  She gathered up the printouts, took them downstairs to fill the orders. And she got on with the day, and her life.

  “Something is just not right.”

  “Yeah,” Ripley agreed. “There are too many people on the beach, and half of them are idiots.”

  “Seriously, Ripley. I’m really worried about Mia. We only have a couple of days before the full moon.”

  “I know what day of the month it is. Look at that guy there, on the Mickey Mouse towel. Frying like a fish in a pan. Bet he’s from Indiana or someplace and hasn’t seen a beach before. Give me a minute here.”

  She marched across the sand, nudged the brilliantly pink man with her toe. Nell waited, shifting from foot to foot while Ripley launched into her lecture, pointed skyward, leaned down and poked a finger in the man’s shoulder, as if testing doneness.

  As she marched back, the man dug out sunscreen and began slathering it on.

  “My public service for the week. Now, about Mia—”

  “She’s too calm. She’s breezing along like it’s business as usual. She came to the book club meeting last night. She’s in there right now checking inventory. We’re doing the biggest spell I’ve ever done in a matter of days, and she just pats me on the head and tells me it’ll be fine.”

  “She’s always had ice water for blood. What’s new?”

  “Ripley.”

  “All right, all right.” With a huff of breath, Ripley marched along the seawall to finish her beach patrol. “I’m worried, too. Satisfied? And if I wasn’t, Mac’s twitchy enough for both of us. He’s buried himself in research, spends hours making notes. He thinks Mia has something going on that she’s not telling us.”

  “So do I.”

  “That makes three of us. I don’t know what the hell we’re supposed to do about it.”

  “Zack and I have talked about it. We could confront her. All of us, at one time.”

  “What, like an intervention? Come on. You couldn’t crack that woman with a sledgehammer. I wish I didn’t like that about her.”

  “I had another idea. I thought that between the two of us, we could . . . well, if we were linked, we could get through this shield she’s thrown up and see what she’s thinking.”

  “You’re talking about prying into her private thoughts, against her express wishes?”

  “Yes. Forget I said it. It’s rude and intrusive and sneaky.”

  “Yeah, that’s why I like it. Great idea. I can take an hour . . .” She checked her watch. “Right now. Your place is closer.”

  Twenty minutes later, Ripley lay back on the floor of Nell’s living room, panting and sweating. “God! She is such a bitch. You’ve got to admire that.”

  “It’s like trying to cut through concrete with a toothpick.” Nell swiped her forearm over her brow. “It shouldn’t be this hard.”

  “She figured we might try it. She was ready for us. Man, she is good. And she’s got something to hide.” Ripley wiped her damp palms on her slacks. “Now I’m seriously worried. Let’s tap Sam.”

  “We can’t. Whatever she’s protecting probably has to do with him. It wouldn’t be right. Ripley, she loves him.”

  Staring at the ceiling, Ripley tapped her fingers over her stomach. “If that’s her choice—”

  “She hasn’t made her choice. At least that she’s letting on. She loves him, but as far as I can tell, it isn’t making her happy.”

  “She never could be simple. You know what I think? I think she’s going to go for it during the banishment spell. A double whammy. She’s already made her decision, Nell. She doesn’t do anything spur of the moment.”

  “Ripley, she said our babies would be safe.”

  “That’s right.”

  “She never said she would be.”

  Sam loosened his tie as he watched Mac circle the outside of the cottage with one of his handheld gadgets. Every so often, Mac would detour, crouch, mutter.

  “He puts on a real show, doesn’t he?” At Sam’s side, Ripley rocked back on her heels. “Since Mac’s big production, he’s been doing this check at our place, and at Lulu’s, twice a day.”

  “What’s all this about, Rip?” Sam had come straight from one meeting into what appeared to be another. Zack and Nell were due any minute. “Why are we doing whatever it is we’re going to be doing without Mia?”

  “This is Mac’s deal. I’ve only got pieces of it.” She cocked her head as Mac started back toward them. “Okay, Dr. Booke, what’s the story?”

  “You keep this place tight,” he said to Sam. “Good job.”

  “Thanks, Doc. Now what the hell is this about?”

  “Let’s wait for the others. I’ve got to get some stuff out of the car. Is Mia expecting you anytime soon?”

  “I don’t punch a time clock.” Noting the easy humor that passed between his friends at the statement, Sam set his teeth. “Look, she’ll be on her way home shortly. Lulu, who must’ve passed stubbornness on to Mia through osmosis, has moved back to her own place. I don’t like Mia being alone for long.”

  “We’ll get you off to play house,” Ripley began, then saw the icy temper on Sam’s face. “Hey, hey. Easy, Sam. We’re on the same team, remember?”

  “It’s hot out here.” With that, Sam turned and strode into the house.

  “Edgy,” Ripley said as he passed.

  “Who isn’t? Here come Nell and Zack. Let’s get started.”

  Within ten minutes, Sam found his little cottage taken over. Nell, obviously anticipating the state of his supplies, had brought cookies and a cooler of iced tea. She managed to set it all up like a party even as Mac spread his notes and books over the table.

  “Nell, would you sit down?” Zack tugged her toward a chair. “Get the kid off his feet for five minutes.”

  “Hey, I’ve got double.” Ripley boosted herself onto the kitchen counter, snagged a cookie. “So, I’ll start. Nell and I decided to do a little spying yesterday—”

  “It wasn’t spying.”

  “It would’ve been,” Ripley said, “if we’d pulled it off. But we couldn’t. Mia’s totally blocked. She’s got herself locked up like a vault.”

  “And you think this is news?” Sam asked.

  “She’s got something going on in that prissy brain of hers that she doesn’t want anyone to know,” Ripley continued. “It’s irritating, but more, it’s got us worried.”

  “She’s worked out what she’s going to do.”

  “I think you’re right about that,” Mac said to Sam. “The other night when we were together, she said something about knowing all the aspects, the interpretations. It
got me thinking. On the surface, it’s pretty cut and dried. Her task, let’s call it, deals with love. Love without boundaries. We can take that to mean she’s meant to love that way, or to let go, freely, of an attachment that restricted her. Sorry,” he added.

  “We’ve been through this before.”

  “Yeah, but what seems cut and dried rarely is. The first sister, her counterpart, trapped the man she loved. You take a silkie’s pelt, you bind him to the land and to you. They had a life together, a family. But his feelings for her were a result of magic, not free will. When he found his pelt, he reverted, left her.”

  “He couldn’t stay,” Sam put in.

  “No argument. Now, a possible interpretation is that Mia is required to find a love without boundaries. One that comes to her without qualification or magic. That just is what it is.”

  “I’m in love with her. I’ve told her.”

  “She has to believe you.” Zack laid a hand on Sam’s shoulder. “And either accept or let you go.”

  “But that’s not the only interpretation. You need to follow along here.” Mac picked up one of the old books, opened it to a section he had marked.

  “This is a history of the island, written in the early seventeen hundreds, that used documents I’ve never seen. If Mia has those documents, you didn’t get them from the library.”

  “She wouldn’t keep them there.” Worry clouded Sam’s gaze. “She’d probably have them in her tower.”

  “I’d like to see them, but for our purposes, this is enough. It goes into the legend in some detail,” Mac continued. “I’m going to hit the highlights.”

  He adjusted his glasses, skimmed down the yellowed page. “ ‘By magic it was formed, by magic it will thrive or perish. So the choices of the circle deem life or death, one times three. Blood of their blood, hand of their hand. The three who live must face the dark, each to her own.

  “ ‘And Air must find her courage. To turn from what would destroy her or to stand against it.’ You did both,” Mac said to Nell. “ ‘When she will see herself, give herself for what she loves, the circle is unbroken. So Earth will seek her justice, without blade or lance. To shed no blood but her own in defense of what she is, and all she loves.’ ”

  Ripley turned her hand palm up and studied the thin scar that slashed across it. “I guess we pulled that one off.”

  “You had a choice.” Mac turned to her. “More of a choice than we’d realized. ‘And when her justice is meted with compassion, the circle is unbroken. Thus Fire must look into her heart, open it and leave it bare. To see love with no boundaries and offer for what she holds dear, life. When her heart is free, the circle is unbroken. The power of the Three will join, will hold. Four elements rise and end the Dark.’ ”

  “Sacrifice? Her life?” Sam surged forward. “She can sacrifice her life?”

  “Hang on.” Zack clamped his hands on Sam’s shoulders. “Is that how you’re reading this, Mac?”

  “You could interpret this that any one of them could have given her life, for the others. For us. For courage, for justice, for love. This book came out of Mia’s library, so it’s an option she’s aware of. The question is, is it one she would consider?”

  “Yes.” Pale now, Nell looked at Ripley. “We all would have.”

  Ripley nodded. “If she thinks it’s the only way. But she wouldn’t.” Uneasy, she pushed herself off the counter. “She would pit her power against anyone or anything.”

  “It’s not enough.” Sam fisted his hands as if he could clamp the fury and fear inside them. “Not close to enough. I’m not standing back while she considers dying to save a few square miles of dirt. We’re going to put a stop to this.”

  “You know better.” As her nerves built, Ripley yanked off her cap. “You can’t stop what’s been in motion for centuries. I tried, and it ran right over me.”

  “Your life’s not on the line, is it?”

  If she’d seen only anger, she might have snapped back at him. But she saw fear as well. “What do you say we both take it out on Mia after this is done?”

  “Deal.” He gave her shoulders a squeeze, then dropped his hands. “There’s no point in confronting her about this: We won’t budge her. Dragging her bodily off the island won’t change anything. The last step has to be taken, and it’s best that it be taken here. It’s meant to be taken here. With all of us.”

  “Center of power,” Mac agreed. “Her center, her circle. Her power’s the most refined, and it’s the strongest. But that leads me to conclude that what’s going to come against her will build its power to match.”

  “There are more of us now,” Nell pointed out. She reached out a hand for her husband’s, laid the other on her belly. “Linked, our energy is formidable.”

  “There are other sources of power.” Sam nodded as the idea formed. “We use them. All of them.”

  His mind was clear, his thoughts controlled when he walked into the house on the cliff. Mia wasn’t the only one who could block.

  He found her in the garden, calmly sipping a glass of wine while a butterfly fluttered in the palm of her outstretched hand.

  “Now that’s a picture,” he said as he kissed the top of her head, then sat across from her. “How was your day?”

  She said nothing for a moment, studied his face, sipped her wine. What was inside her yearned under the steel of her will. “Busy, productive. Yours?”

  “The same. Some kid stuck his head through the iron pickets on one of the balconies. He took it pretty well, but his mother screamed the roof off and wanted us to cut through. As there was no way I was damaging a centuries-old rail, I was about to flick him free with a quick spell. The housekeeper beat me to it. Slathered his head with baby oil and popped him out like a cork.”

  She smiled, and was obliging enough to hand him her wine for a sip. But her eyes were watchful, wary. “I imagine he enjoyed the entire thing. Sam, I noticed some of my books are missing from the library.”

  “Mmm?” He held out a finger so the butterfly on her palm flew gracefully to him, perched. “You said I could use the library.”

  “Where are the books?”

  He passed the wine and the butterfly back to her. “I spent some time looking through some of them, thinking I might find some fresh angle on this whole business.”

  “Oh.” A chill shivered around her heart. “And?”

  “Never claimed to be a scholar,” he said with a shrug. “I mentioned it to Mac in passing, and he asked if he could borrow them. I didn’t think you’d mind.”

  “I’d prefer that the books stay in the house.”

  “Oh. Well, I’ll get them back. You know, sitting out here with you like this feels . . . perfect. And every time I look at you, my heart rolls over in my chest. That feels perfect, too. I love you, Mia.”

  Her lashes lowered. “I should do something about dinner.”

  When she rose, he took her hand. “I’ll help you.” He kept his fingers linked with hers as he got to his feet. “There’s no need for you to do all the work.”

  Don’t touch me, she thought. Not yet. Not now. “I’m better . . . in the kitchen, by myself.”

  “Make room,” he suggested. “I’m not going anywhere.”

  Twenty

  He had something on his mind, Mia was sure of it. He was too damn pleasant, attentive, considerate. If she hadn’t known better, she might have wondered if someone had put a good-nature spell on him.

  As ridiculous as it was, even to herself, she preferred him with his edge on. At least then she knew what to expect.

  Still she didn’t have the time to dig below the surface, couldn’t risk him digging below hers. And had she the time, she couldn’t spare the energy. She was stockpiling power like blue-chip stocks.

  She was resolved, she was prepared, and she was as confident as she could manage. When nerves trickled in, she used them. When doubts crept close, she swept them aside.

  On the day of the full moon, she rose at dawn. She’d
wanted, almost painfully wanted, to roll over into Sam, and his warmth. Just to have his arms come around her as they sometimes did in sleep. They’d done nothing but sleep together, in the most innocent sense, since the night in the cottage.

  He hadn’t questioned her on this, nor had he tried to seduce her. The fact that she found his cooperation mildly insulting only caused her to become annoyed with herself.

  It had been she who, more than once, had nearly turned to him in the night, when her mind was soft with dreams and her body aching with needs.

  But on this most vital of mornings, she left him sleeping and stood on her cliffs. Here she gathered fire from the rising sun, and strength from the crashing sea.

  Arms spread, she drank power, and gave thanks for the gift.

  When she turned, she saw him on the bedroom balcony, watching her. Their gazes locked, and held. Light sparked between them. With her hair blowing in the wind, she walked back to the house, and ignored the black-edged fog crawling along the edges of her world.

  She went to the bookstore for her own peace of mind. It was something she’d built through sweat and dreams. Despite her broken arm, Lulu was back to manning the counter. Since there’d been no stopping her, Mia hadn’t bother to argue.

  And she had to admit, the work—and the visits from neighbors and friends—seemed to keep Lulu in good spirits.

  Still, Mia had hoped she would ease back to work rather than leaping.

  Because business was unusually brisk, she didn’t have the opportunity she’d wanted to spend time with Lulu—to fuss over her without seeming to fuss. But it seemed that every second person who lived on the island found a reason to stop in and spend time with her.

  By noon the café was jammed, and she couldn’t pass by without someone calling her over for a word.

  To escape long enough to catch her breath, Mia slipped into the kitchen, snagged a bottle of water from the refrigerator.

  “Hester Birmingham just told me Ben and Jerry’s ice cream is on special this week.”

  “Two of my favorite men,” Nell responded as she built a grilled chicken and Brie sandwich to go with the soup special.