she felt Dane had bumped into her tonight for a reason. And she never ignored intuition. So she’d follow his lead, and see where they both landed. She was willing to follow.
Browsing over her jewelry tray on the vanity, she selected the rose quartz pendant and pulled it on over her head. “For the heart.”
She skipped down the stairs and picked up her lemonade from the newel post at the base of the steps, and then sailed into the humid warmth of the conservatory, which she kept verdant and healthy with the help of earth elementals. Hopefully, they would remain out of sight tonight. They didn’t normally show themselves around anyone but her and her witch friends, but she would cross her fingers for an uneventful evening in the summery haven nonetheless.
Dane had settled onto the emerald sofa, head tilted back and eyes closed. He seemed to be taking it all in. With dark curls spilling over his forehead and his powerful hands clasped loosely across his lap, he looked like a dozing faun king amid the wilds. Powerful, virile and of the earth. Eryss felt compelled to lean over and kiss him. Taste the sweet lemonade on his lips and breathe in his solid, masculine presence.
But he hadn’t kissed her at the dance, so she didn’t want to leap too quickly. Not until he gave her some sign he was interested in more than chatting.
“So, is it summery enough for you?” she asked as she sat next to him. The lush grass floor was the product of a spell that she didn’t have to tell him about. She loved feeling it tickling her toes.
“It is. How do you do this? In the middle of winter? I get the thick glass and the heating system, though I couldn’t find a source for the heater. And some plants are very hardy in cooler climes, but the grass? Are there heat coils beneath the sod? It’s frozen out there. There must be some means to heat the ground. Otherwise, it’s not scientifically—”
“Science has nothing to do with it, Dane. It’s magic. And if I told you how it worked it wouldn’t be magic anymore. So don’t question it. Deal?”
“I don’t believe in magic.”
“I’m sorry for you. So much in life is a direct result of magic and unexplainable phenomena.”
“It’s my job to explain such phenomena. Everything has a reason and a source. Down to the very atom. I should probably tell you what I really do.”
“What? You’re not a scientist?”
“Oh, I’m a scientist. But for the past few years I’ve been, well, you might call me a debunker. I disprove paranormal phenomena and other items associated with myth and legend.”
“Seriously? Like a myth buster?”
“Yes, exactly.”
“How does a guy happen on to a job like that?” Now a little uncomfortable knowing she sat next to not only a scientist, but one who went out of his way to prove people of her sort a myth, she turned to face him, tucking up her legs and propping an elbow on the back of the sofa. “Was there an ad in the paper?”
He chuckled. Oh man, the guy’s laughter. It hit Eryss in all the feels.
“No,” he said. “I was recruited. It’s important that the public gets the right information about the things that tend to grow fantastical roots with remarkable speed via popular culture and social media. Human brains have a hive mentality, and if someone says a vampire exists it doesn’t take long for the rest to agree. Thus.” He splayed a hand before his chest. “The calm in the storm.”
“You?”
“Me. I’m doing what I love. Using science every day. And really, I can’t let the world sit back and actually believe in vampires, can I?”
“Fantasy is good for the soul,” she suggested.
Though she did agree with his purpose, if not his actual work. Vampires and witches? The fewer people who believed in them, the safer and easier it was for them to exist among the humans. “So you’ve debunked vampires?”
“On more than one occasion. I live in Santa Cruz, but my work frequently lures me to San Francisco. That city is oddly rife with murders staged to look as if a vampire did it. You would be surprised the lengths some go to get the teeth impressions just right. But they always drain too much blood from the body. If a vampire did exist, he could not exsanguinate an entire body in such a short time. I’m sorry. This is a morbid subject.”
“No, I’m interested in what you do. Does your being here in Minnesota have to do with your job? Should I be keeping one eye over my shoulder in fear of vampires?”
“You should not. And I’m here on a personal project, actually. Although it is also related to my work. I work in the Weapons division and am charged with debunking weapons of historical interest that have a legend of magic attached to them.”
“So, like Excalibur?”
“Yes, but I believe that legendary weapon was last seen tossed in a lake.”
“Not so. I’m pretty sure the lady living in the lake handed it to King Arthur.”
“Right. Because it’s entirely possible for a woman to exist in a lake. Mermaids are theoretically implausible. She may have been called the Lady of the Lake, but not because she actually lived in one. Of course, it doesn’t matter. The Arthurian Chronicles are fiction.”
“Wow. You haven’t a fantastical bone in your body. Did your mother never read you faery tales when you were little?”
“No, she read me the table of elements and notes from her psychology papers.”
Eryss gaped at Dane. He didn’t catch her shock as he sipped the lemonade. Poor guy. But she didn’t want to get into a deep conversation about childhood traumas and lack of fantasy play. The night outside the windows was gray, illuminated by the snowy ground and nearby forest. The air inside was fresh as summer, and all she wanted to do was touch his hair and...kiss him.
“It’s a good thing our pasts do not define us,” she said, even as she inwardly kicked herself for saying it. She, the woman who was obsessed with finding the lost lover from her previous lives.
“Indeed. But my past is what brings me to Minnesota. I’m after a weapon once owned by my father. It’s got some paranormal legend attached to it, which could make it an item of interest to the company I work for, but that’s not the important thing.”
“It was your father’s,” she stated.
“Indeed. He died when I was three.” Dane shook his head and ran his fingers through his hair. And Eryss sighed inwardly as the glossy black strands swept over his ear. “Enough talk about what I do and why I’m here. I want to enjoy summer!”
Now he turned an absolutely delicious smile on her. He set the glass down in the grass and turned his body toward her. He set his shoulders back and spread his arms across the sofa back and arm. He was open to her, beckoning without words.
And if that wasn’t an invitation, Eryss was losing her wiles. She moved in for a kiss. His stubble brushed her cheek and the heat of him surrounded her, sending a shiver of delight across her skin. The tang of lemons sweetened her lips, and she inhaled mint as if it were his pheromones.
He’d rolled his sleeves up to his elbows and she glided her fingers up his arm, rough with dark hair and the map lines of thick veins. So masculine. She turned into him and he paused the kiss. His eyes held her, bewitched. “Is this all right?”
“Yes. Why wouldn’t it be?”
“I’m feeling a little out of my element. As if I’m stumbling here.”
“Really?” And here she’d thought the invitation overwhelming. “You’re doing fine.”
“Not with the kiss. I mean, this feels too good to be true, Eryss. We just met an hour ago and now here I am, kissing you beneath real candlelight on a sofa set amid an enchanted garden. It’s sort of blowing my mind.”
“I