She looked at him, then. Really looked. He stood next to the clock that ticked away the minutes toward midnight—it was currently eleven-thirty. The clock that Rose Embry had enchanted a hundred years ago to help her niece find true love.
And suddenly, as Amanda looked at Jacob Caine, she saw the truth, as well. It made her gasp and tears welled in her eyes.
The very next moment, a bolt of lightning-hot pain went through Amanda’s brain and her knees buckled. Jacob caught her, his brows furrowed and drawn together.
“Did you feel that?” Amanda asked weakly.
“I swear, this spell is going to make my head explode.”
“Mine, too.”
“Pain’s gone. Are you okay?”
She nodded. She was okay but the concerned expression Jacob gave her was almost worth more agony. He’d probably felt exactly the same amount of pain as she had, but his first concern was with her well-being.
“What was that?” he asked. “More magic?”
“I think so.”
“You can let go of me now,” she said.
“Sorry.” He released her again. “What can I say? Hard to keep my hands to myself. I do wish right now that you were wearing panties. Or possibly a chastity belt of some kind.”
“I will be sending you a bill for new lingerie.”
His attention was focused on her lips. “Maybe…maybe I was hasty in my decision. I guess there’s no reason for us to chop up the clock tonight. We’re not on a deadline, are we?”
“No deadline,” she agreed. “Other than my moving three hundred miles away from town tomorrow.”
He frowned. “I keep forgetting that little fact.”
“That makes one of us.”
He gave her a small smile. “So what does this mean? How can we possibly make this mutually acceptable curse work for us? Weekend booty calls? I mean, I’m not ruling those out, but I would like something a little more meaningful. Does that make me less of a macho guy to admit that?”
She smiled. He hadn’t figured it out yet, had he?
She closed her eyes and tried to listen in on his thoughts but there was only silence now.
The spell had been broken.
It had been broken the moment she realized the truth—she loved Jacob, and that love was real. The clock’s enchantment had helped draw back the layers of protection they’d had over their hearts and egos until they couldn’t resist what they both already knew down deep.
She’d never hated him. Not from the very first moment they met.
She’d hated how he’d made her feel with an ill-placed mention of her despised nickname, Amanda the Strange. But he hadn’t meant anything cruel by it. She’d stayed away from him as much as she could because the strong feelings she’d had for him from the very beginning—that love at first sight—had never faded. It had scared her so she’d buried it down deep.
Way deep.
No wonder his dating history had upset her. She’d been insanely jealous.
She loved him. This self-proclaimed, card-carrying psychic freak. And he loved her in return.
The clock knew it. The clock hadn’t taken a simple no for an answer.
Stupid enchanted clock.
She gave it an amused glare as she silently thanked a witch from a hundred years ago.
They would have remained “cursed” until the day Amanda admitted and accepted that her love for Jacob was the real thing. She honestly didn’t know if destroying the clock would have changed a damn thing.
The fact that the spell had been broken with only her thoughts made her realize that Jacob’s feelings for her were the real thing, as well.
“Amanda,” Jacob said, frowning. “You have the strangest look on your face. Are you absolutely sure you’re not possessed?”
She drew him to her and she kissed him again. Just a soft one, a brush of her lips against his. “Almost positive.”
“Maybe you have a concussion. You did bang your head really hard earlier. Actually, that would explain how you’re acting right now.”
“Shh.” She kissed him again, and though his body was tense, he didn’t resist.
At least, not for a while. Then he stepped back from her, his eyes haunted. “I don’t know what you want from me.”
She smiled. “I just want you.”
“I suppose that could easily be arranged.” He glanced at the bed and she followed his line of sight.
“An excellent idea, but I have something I need to take care of first,” she said.
“The ghosts?”
She nodded.
“Nathan really wants it to be over. Hell, maybe I’ll want it to be over in a hundred years.” He gave her a tense smile. “We’ll have to wait and see.”
She took his hand. “Come on. I need your help. Just follow my lead and play along, okay?”
“Okay.” He frowned. He had no idea what she was about to do.
The thought made it even more exciting for her.
CHAPTER 16
Jacob could use a drink. A big one. Normally he knew what to expect from Amanda. Over the last four days he felt as if he’d gotten to know her very well. She was cold and analytical—kind of like a really hot Vulcan—but at the moment, she was acting so strangely and unpredictably.
She seemed oddly exuberant about the exorcism she was about to perform. It seemed like something one should do with respect or reverence for the spirits who were about to be drop-kicked into the next dimension. He didn’t know much about exorcisms, admittedly, but he did know they weren’t pleasant—for the exorcist or the exorcized.