she had no intention of ever returning to the Southwest.
At least the spell had been broken, and she could see the psychic for the fraud she was.
Karrie forced a polite smile, wishing the woman would turn her attention to Madison.
No such luck. If anything, Madam Zora’s interest intensified. After staring at Karrie for another minute, she closed her eyes, amusement lifting her lips as if enjoying a scene playing out in her head.
“What?” Karrie asked in spite of herself.
The woman took her time, making Karrie squirm. When she finally opened her eyes, her wary look had Karrie swallowing hard.
“It will not be an ordinary affair you will be having with this man.”
Madison chuckled and Karrie fought the urge to laugh herself. Madam Zora was so off base. Going back to the desert to have a hot and heavy affair? She thought of her work calendar and how booked she was clear into next year. Not a chance in hell.
“No, my dear. It’s not a joke. I see this quite clearly. Your relationship will be very physical at first,” the psychic continued, her eyes sparkling. “Very sexual, very raw. Primitive,” she whispered in a husky voice.
Karrie shivered and her smile died on her lips. Something about the woman’s voice, the way dark eyes flashed made her words almost plausible.
“You won’t be able to keep your hands off each other, even though you will both try hard to stay apart. But the chemistry between you won’t allow it. Even the desert heat will not diminish your passion.”
“I’m sorry,” Karrie said, ready to turn the focus of the session to her friend. “This is all very fanciful, but there’s definitely no desert heat in my future.”
“So you believe today.”
“I do.”
Madam Zora’s smile made Karrie’s heart beat a little faster. “It will happen sooner than you could possibly know. You will go back to the desert. You will meet this man once more. And you will try very hard to disbelieve your heart.”
“My heart?”
“That, my dear girl, will be the only thing you can truly count on. Remember these words.”
“I will.”
Madam Zora chuckled softly. “Yes, I know. Although you’ll try to deny it, but there are strong forces at work here.”
Karrie nodded as if she were serious, then decided to move things along. “I don’t mean to change the subject, but do you happen to see anything in my future about a new apartment?” Not that she’d believe her.
The psychic sighed, shook her head, making the gold hoops dance in the candlelight. “I’m sorry, there will be no new apartment.”
Karrie glanced quickly at Madison, then her gaze went back to the charlatan in front of her. “No?”
“But it will not matter.”
“Okay then,” Karrie said. “Thank you for the wonderful session. I know Madison is anxious to hear what you see in her future.”
Madison made a small choking sound, but Karrie paid it no heed. She’d had enough, and all she wanted now was to have another martini and see if there were any of those hors d’oeuvres left.
1
“YOU ASKED TO SEE ME?” Karrie stood tentatively at Malcolm Sandhill’s office door, waiting for him to look up at her with his ridiculously bushy graying eyebrows.
He frowned briefly at her before returning to leaf through the stack of papers in front of him. “Karrie Albright, from our PR department, right?”
“Yes,” she murmured, annoyed that the vice president of operations didn’t recognize her immediately. Although he really shouldn’t. After all, she was still a peon at Sanax, even though she’d been working there for two years. But the multinational corporation was so huge, and had its finger in so many pies, it was easy to get lost. At least after her boss retired next year and she became manager of the PR department, she’d be one more big rung up the ladder.
“Come in, Ms. Albright. Sit down.” He barely looked up from the piece of paper he studied.
She walked into the room, her gaze immediately drawn to the expansive windows and the awesome view of Central Park. She’d never so much as peeked into the plush corner office before, and she certainly hadn’t been summoned by Mr. Sandhill before today.
A little nervous, she sat on the edge of the brown leather chair and waited for him to say something. There was a scent to the room, despite its size and the immaculate neatness. It reminded her of her favorite bookstore where she often had coffee and read for hours on her days off.
The sound of papers shuffling brought her attention back to the senior vice president across the desk. His gaze narrowed on what she recognized as a company memo and she wondered why his wife didn’t get him to trim his eyebrows. “I understand you’re from Nevada. A town called Searchlight.”
Not something she necessarily liked to think about, but slowly she nodded, her curiosity skyrocketing.
“Our Nevada office has received a request from the University of Nevada Las Vegas to use some Sanax land located about two hours outside of the city near a place called Laughlin. Are you familiar with that area?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Good.” He slid the memo across the desk toward her. “The archeology department wants to establish a dig on our property, and I want to examine the ramifications. I want all the specs on the land—possible uses, value, demographics. Make certain that if anything of significance is uncovered, it won’t hamper any potential revenue.”
It took her a moment to wrap her head around the direction of the conversation. It was so out of left field, but she wasn’t about to show Sandhill she wasn’t quick on the uptake. “I assume the dig is focusing on Paiute artifacts?”
She caught a hint of a smile, which disappeared so fast she might have imagined it. “That’s correct.”
“I see.” Her thoughts turned to her days at the University of Nevada Las Vegas. She’d majored in business but studied archeology for one semester during her junior year because of the hunky teacher.
Although it had been five years since she graduated, she wasn’t likely to forget Dr. Philips…try as she might. She’d made such an ass out of herself. But so did half the other girls in his class, which had been predominately female. He hadn’t so much as flinched at any of the attention. The general consensus was that he had to be gay.
“Ms. Albright?” The sharpness in Sandhill’s tone startled her and she realized she’d drifted.
“I was just wondering,” she said quickly, “what makes them think there are any artifacts of significance left? The area has been pretty well scoured in the past few decades.”
“They admit as much but apparently it’s the digging experience they want for the students. Be that as it may, I don’t want them finding anything that would preclude us from using the land.”
“Which is slated for…?”
This time he did smile, albeit briefly. “Nothing at the moment. I assume you know the history of the corporation?”
Karrie nodded. She’d written tomes on the very subject. Sanax was bought from the heirs of a private owner about seven years ago, and had gone public under the new management. The previous owner had had more money than financial sense. He’d used company profits to buy up all kinds of land on speculation. A small percentage of it had paid off but the rest was just sitting there while branch managers all over the world investigated the profit potential. “So this land is still in limbo.”
“That’s correct, although the preliminary