He brushed his lips over her forehead. “Honestly, I leave you for a few minutes and you go tripping over the furniture.”
“I…I’m clumsy like that.”
“Obviously.”
“Also…” she hesitated. “Catherine pushed me when she found out why we were here.”
A surge of anger moved through him. “I’ll kill her.”
She smiled. “Funny.”
“Where is she now?”
“I’m sure she’s around. Help me up.”
He got to his feet and pulled Amanda up to a standing position.
“You’re sure you’re okay?” he asked.
“I think so.” Amanda swallowed. “I…I had a vision. A major one.”
“While you were knocked out or before?”
“During. I thought it was a dream, but it was too vivid. I saw Catherine’s wedding day. And the aunt who enchanted the clock in the first place—I saw her, too. I actually got into her head.”
He looked amazed by this, but there was no doubt in his expression of what she was telling him. “And?”
“And it wasn’t to be cruel. It was to try to help her niece, whom she felt was making the wrong choice by marrying her husband.”
“The one who killed her?”
“Yes.”
“I’d say she made the wrong choice.”
“Yeah.” She sucked in a deep breath. “And Nathan was there, too. He was her butler. They wanted each other desperately but they wouldn’t give in to their feelings. That’s why Rose gave them a little…push.” Something else came into her mind then, a stray thought from Jacob. “You saw him? Nathan?”
He raised an eyebrow. “I can’t say that I’ll miss you being able to poke around in my head at your leisure.”
“I can’t help it when you’re this close to me.” So close she could feel the heat from his body. It was very distracting.
“Yeah, I see dead people.” He grinned. “I’ve always wanted to say that. Anyhow, he let me see him because he wanted to talk to me. He and I have a lot in common, actually.”
“Really? Like what?”
“Like the fact we’re both crazy about crazy women.”
She chewed her bottom lip. “Definitely sounds like a curse, doesn’t it?”
His grin faded at the edges. “Right. Well, he’s giving two thumbs up to the exorcism. He’s ready for it to be over.”
“That makes one of them.”
“Catherine isn’t keen on getting obliterated?” he asked, wryly. “How odd.”
“She kind of freaked, actually. Thus the pushing.”
“So she’s giving you a hard time. Doesn’t mean we hold off. We go through with the exorcism as planned, right?”
She pressed her lips together.
He studied her. “You’re not having second thoughts, are you?”
“No, of course not. It’s just…they’re kind of like us in a way, aren’t they?”
“You see that, too?”
She nodded. “Both trapped by magic.”
“Trapped,” he repeated, and his voice had turned cold again. “Right. Well, I think I’ve personally had just about enough of that magic. I’m not going to wait until the exorcism is over. I’m going to take care of the clock now.”
She was surprised. “Now?”
“What, you wanted to wait? For what? It’s not going to change anything.”
“No, but—”
He shook his head, his expression sad. “I’m in love with you, Amanda.”
He’d said it out loud. It was one thing to hear it in his thoughts…and even then it had been slightly uncertain. This? This was decisive. He loved her.
“Jacob—” she began, not knowing exactly how to respond to that.
“I don’t think getting rid of that clock is going to make any damn difference to anyone but you. So that’s what I’m going to do.”
He turned away and stormed out of the room.
She could hear his thoughts echoing in her mind, a little harsher than what he’d said out loud.
I’m going to tear it apart and then burn it. If she wants this over, then it’ll be over. I can’t take it anymore.
She stood in the drawing room alone for a few moments as the certainty of his decision washed over her.
He was going to destroy the clock. Burn it. Break the spell.
It’s what she’d been telling herself she wanted since this began. The only thing tying her to Mystic Ridge and keeping her from a new, normal life was this strange and intense passion she felt for Jacob.