He shrugged, looking a little uncomfortable. ‘Oh, I don’t know. I can see witches dancing here, I guess. Right at the edge of the world, with the full moon rising over this big rock.’
She found she could actually smile. ‘Did you know you’re standing in a stone circle?’
He literally jumped back. ‘Here?’
She walked in through the southernmost portal and lifted her face to the sky, just like always. ‘Legend has it that about three hundred years ago witches used to dance here during the full moon.’
He stared at her. ‘You’re lying.’
‘Nope. Lots of magic here. You must have felt it.’
That made him look spooked. ‘Not at all. I’m a researcher. I imagined it. I’m always doing things like that.’
Or he heard the old voices, just as she did. When she wasn’t crouched in the grass nibbling clover, that is. She spent a lot of time on this mountain in fur.
‘It’s time to talk,’ she said.
He refused to face her. If she’d tried to pull the scam he had, she wouldn’t have faced her, either. Still, she couldn’t believe how sad she was. Just more proof that she had no business fantasizing, she guessed.
Danny deliberately walked outside the circle and eased down against the big oak that shaded it. ‘Come into my office,’ he said, arms on bent knees.
Dee was sure she should say no. She needed to protect herself from this man, after all.
No she didn’t. Xan was coming for them. By tomorrow night, she’d be gone from Salem’s Fork. How much could Danny James hurt her in twenty-four hours? More than he had, anyway. So she eased herself down to the ground, close enough to him to feel the heat from his body in the cool evening air.
‘I’m glad you left your hair down,’ Danny said, as Dee stretched out her legs and tugged her skirt over her knees. ‘With your hair down, I can imagine you dancing up here with the old girls. Come to think of it, that might be fun. Full moon’s coming in a day or two. Why don’t we come back up and dance?’
Beltane, ancient holiday of fertility. Just the idea sent a waterfall of shivers through her. If there was anybody she wished she could have danced for on the night of Beltane, it would have been Danny James. Especially considering what traditionally came next. Literally.
‘My Aunt Xan,’ she said out to the deepening cobalt of dusk. ‘How did you find her?’
But Danny just shook his head, slipping his arm around her shoulder. ‘Not yet,’ he demurred, resting his head atop hers. ‘Let’s just enjoy the night for a bit first, huh?’
Damn him. He fit so comfortably. He sounded so reasonable. She had no business trusting him, especially considering the fact that just his touch was setting off more electricity than Mare in the throes of her power. But it was so beautiful up here. So spiritual in a way no modern church leader would comprehend. There was power and grace and bone-deep joy here, where the witches had danced. It had always been her spot. Now, she’d never think of it again without feeling Danny James’s cheek resting against her hair.
‘Actually,’ he said after a few minutes of companionable silence, ‘Xantippe found me.’
Dee closed her eyes, stricken. Then Xan had sent him. Could there be any way on earth to separate them in her mind now?
He lifted his head. His arm stayed where it was. ‘I had… um, just gotten the assignment,’ he said, ‘and had spent time doing the primary research. I contacted your parents’ organization, and a few of their old employees. Who wouldn’t talk, thank you very much. Whatever else your parents did, they inspired loyalty.’
‘I know. And Xan?’
‘Said that she’d heard about me from one of them. Wanted me to get the story right, and thought the best place to start would be with you three.’
‘You never met her?’
‘I’d planned on going to Santa Fe from here. That’s where she is.’
It still sounded plausible. And she told you how to find us.’
He shrugged. ‘She said you’d probably go by Murphy,
O’Brien, or Ortiz, and that it should be easy to find a Deirdre, Elizabeth, and Moira in the same place.’ She thought he smiled. ‘It wasn’t, but I managed.’
‘Have you talked to her since you found us?’
‘Just to tell her I had. She asked me to call her after I talk to you.’
‘Where?’
‘Her cell phone. In Santa Fe.’
But Xan wasn’t in Santa Fe. Dee didn’t know how she knew that, but she did. Xan had used Danny as a stalking horse. And just like twice before, she was now coming for them.
‘And exactly why would you name your bike after her, Danny? Bikes are very personal. They’re… they’re…’
‘Sexual substitutes?’ He fingered the loose curls by her temple. ‘I guess it was the sound of her voice. Throaty and sexy, like a bike engine. Just a whisper, so you had to really listen closely, ya know?’
Dee pulled away from his fingers, but she didn’t get up. ‘Yeah. I know.’
She wondered just what it was Xan had whispered. There was no way she wouldn’t have known how sexy Danny James was.
‘Xantippe said that there’s a breach between you she’s been trying to heal,’ Danny said. ‘She sounded upset.’
Dee’s laugh was hoarse. ‘She doesn’t want to heal anything. And she’s not upset.’
‘Then what is she?’
No, this she couldn’t deal with sitting down. Climbing to her feet, she walked to the edge of the circle, where violets clotted the grass and the sky seemed endless. Beyond the cliff, the river reflected a sporadic moon, and the town faded into geometric shadows. It was what she was painting right now.
Dee pulled in a deep breath. How to explain Xan to this seemingly normal, wholesome man? She’s Maleficent and
Marilyn Monroe. She’s a carnivore masquerading as a flower. She’s every man’s fantasy and every woman’s nightmare. Corrupt, clever, and concupiscent. Xan feeds off people like a vampire, and gets them to smile as she does it.
But if Danny James was telling the truth, he’d never understand.
‘Xan is the person who orchestrated my parents’ downfall,’ Dee finally said, shoving her hands in her pockets. ‘My father wasn’t the one who created that donation program they all skimmed off of. It was Xan. My father wasn’t that clever. Xan made a fortune nobody ever traced and conveniently disappeared about a month before the feds arrived with the warrants.’ Then reappeared just in time to murder her own sister.
‘You’re sure?’
She smiled out into the night. ‘Oh, yes. I’m sure.’
She heard Danny climb to his feet and approach. She didn’t turn away from the view. The evening star had just winked on and she made her instinctive wish. Let us be safe. Danny came to stand right behind her and laid his hands on her shoulders.
‘I’m sorry,’ he said. ‘I didn’t know.’