Enchantment (18 page)

“S
eñorita
Perez, I
am going to give you the same advice I give all victims of what I
call object control. Once the amulet is cleansed, destroy it.”

Gray’s mouth flew open. “But it’s important
to me.”

“And that is exactly why it holds power over
you. If you wish to prevent something like this happening again you
should get rid of the amulet.”

“And how do I do that?”

Ortega pushed his glasses up the bridge of
his nose. “Melt it down, place it on a train track. Or throw it in
the ocean—which will serve the double purpose of cleansing the
spell placed over the object. The choice is yours. If you prefer
that I take care of it, bring the amulet on Tuesday.”

Gray stood up, nodding slowly. She did not
want to hand her amulet over to Ortega, but it was the only way to
end this blasted spell. Worse, he expected her to destroy the only
gift she’d received from Raj or any man for that matter.

“S
eñorita
Perez,”
Ortega called out before she reached the door.

Gray turned and faced him.

“I must warn you that the closer you get to
the object of control, the more you will feel the effects of the
spell.”

Gray grimaced. “Meaning I’ll be even more in
love with Adrian than I am now?”

“
Sí.”

Freaking fabulous.

As long as the intensity of the spell didn’t
overwhelm Gray’s ability to cleanse it, it was game on.

* * *

No matter where Gray ended up, she always managed to
find herself inside Charlene’s bedchamber. This one was a great
deal more luxurious than the French boarding school. Thanks to
Hannah, Gray knew exactly where to search after Charlene went out
for lunch and shopping: the penthouse at the Majestic.

Just follow the five stars.

The maids had already been through. The
king-sized bed was neatly made with decorative satin pillows
fluffed up against the headboard. Gray didn’t plan on disturbing
them. She checked the nightstands.

Her first guess—Charlene’s luggage—had been a
bust. She couldn’t imagine why Charlene wouldn’t tuck it away
inside her belongings, but then, it’s not as though Gray knew the
workings of her sister’s mind—twin or not.

The Wicked Witch of Washington. It always
came back down to Charlene.

Hannah ransacked the bathroom while Gray
moved onto the living room desk. Fresh flowers topped the desk.
They were in every blasted room. Must be nice being the heir to a
perfume fortune.

“Why would Charles put a love spell over
you?” Hannah had asked when Gray told her the story over the
phone.

“Because he’s a dick.”

Hannah hadn’t needed further convincing. The
only part Gray left out was that “Charles” was a woman. Some things
were just better left unsaid.

It all made sense now. Charlene making Gray
believe she loved Adrian then waltzing in and telling her about
their kiss. It was the only way to hurt her. Gray would have never
cared if it hadn’t been for the spell. She’d ruined her summer at
Benita’s and now Gray was stuck bunking in a hostel while Charlene
had her own private terrace overlooking the Passeig de
Gràcia
. The miniature orange trees lining the patio
were almost enough to send Gray over the edge.

She plucked one from its branch and stared
over the latticed railing at the surrounding city. The fruit was
probably turning to juice under the pressure of Gray’s hand. If
only it was a meaningful object to Charlene. Gray would hex the
orange and make her sister fall in love with Ryan Phillips. It
would be a fitting payback and take care of the Ryan problem. If
Charlene loved Ryan he’d stop bothering everyone else.

But it was thoughts like this that kept
getting Gray into trouble.

She walked over to the patio couch and took a
seat. Gray began peeling the orange and offered a slice to Hannah
when she joined her outside.

“Any luck?” Hannah asked, taking a piece of
orange.

Gray shook her head. Nor had she felt the
spell intensify when she entered Charlene’s suite. If anything, she
felt more annoyed than lovesick.

“Me neither,” Hannah said with a sigh. She
flopped down on the chair across from Gray. “You should have told
me you were under a spell, Gray.”

Gray dumped the orange peels on the coffee
table. “I wanted to, and then Charles showed up. I’m sorry he got
you involved in this.”

Hannah harrumphed. “We both got screwed. I
reckon I got off easy. At least tell me your wizard was good.”

That wasn’t something Gray felt like
discussing. She popped another orange slice in her mouth.

Hannah’s face lit up suddenly. “Hey, want to
trash the place?”

Gray stared at the orange peels on the table
and shook her head. She reached inside her purse and pulled out
Adrian’s magic wand.

“Um, Gray,” Hannah said. “Unless that wand
really is magical, I don’t think waving it around is going to help
solve any of your problems.”

Gray’s eyes locked with Hannah’s. “Do
something for me, will you, Hannah?” she asked, not listening to
Hannah’s comment. “If I pass out wake me up.”

Gray swung her legs onto the couch and lay
facing the sky. Couldn’t fall if she was already on her back. The
wand sat on the flat of her palm.

Hannah’s brows rose. “Gray?”

Gray closed her eyes and wrapped her fingers
around the wand.

Gray braced herself for the dizziness, but
all she felt were the cushions against her back. The sound from the
traffic below faded. Her lips twitched into a smile of their own
free will. This time she was filled with a sense of excitement and
wonder.

Then she felt herself freefalling again.
Gray’s body twitched as though bracing for impact. The rush ended
suddenly followed by a worse feeling. The bones in her body began
breaking all at once. It wasn’t real, but it felt real. Gray bit
her tongue. All she had to do was let go of the wand to make it
stop, but she wanted to know what happened to Adrian. Gray
tightened her fist around the wand.

“Gray?” Hannah asked in alarm. “Gray!”

She ignored her friend.

Everything within Gray began to split apart.
Tears squeezed through her closed eyelids, flowing down her cheeks.
Or maybe it was blood.

“GRAY!”

The wand was yanked from her hand and with it
the pain.

“Oh my God, you’re bleeding!” Hannah
said.

Gray’s eyes flew open. She dabbed her cheeks
with her fingertips and held her hands in front of her face, but
there was no blood.

Hannah dashed inside and returned with a wad
of tissue. “Here,” she said. “For your nose.”

Gray sat up and held the tissue against her
nose. As soon as she pulled it away she saw that Hannah was
right—the tissue was bloody.

“What the hell was that?” Hannah
demanded.

Gray blew gently into the tissue then wadded
it up in her hand. “Research.”

Hannah tapped her foot on the patio floor.
“What did you find out?”

“Nothing.”

Hannah sighed. She glanced over her shoulder
into the suite. “This whole thing was a bust. We should go.”

Gray twirled the wand in her hand, her brain
turning with it. She stopped. “You go. I’m staying.”

Hannah raised a questioning brow.

“He has it with him,” Gray said softly. “And
I intend to get it back.”

When she looked up, Gray saw the twinkle back
in Hannah’s eye.

The moment Charlene returned to her suite, she
treated Gray’s unexpected appearance like a surprise bouquet,
conjured up for her own personal enjoyment.

Gray was expecting the first words out of
Charlene’s mouth to be “What the hell are you doing here?”

But Charlene’s hazel eyes lit up the moment
she pushed open the door, shopping bags dangling from both hands,
and noticed Gray sitting on the armchair.

“Wait until you see what I got!” She tossed
the bags onto the couch.

Gray had a clear view of Charlene’s tight man
ass as she turned, bent over, and rummaged around in one of the
smaller sleek bags. When Charlene faced Gray again she was wearing
sunglasses that resembled giant goggles with yellow lenses.

“How cool are these?” Charlene asked. Before
Gray could answer, Charlene added, “Fashion designer and film
director Tom Ford wore them on the cover of
Esquire
Spain
.”

They looked ridiculous.

“Well, in that case they’re awesome,” Gray
said.

“Cool, right?” Charlene said, missing Gray’s
sarcasm. She pulled them off and turned back to her bags.

Next she set a plaid hat on top of her head
and draped a striped scarf over her shoulders.

Gray started shaking her head when Charlene
turned, wrapped the scarf across the lower half of her face, and
gave Gray a smoldering look.

Gray froze in place. Her throat went dry. It
was disturbing how hot her sister looked at that moment. She had to
admit she liked Charlene’s fashion tastes much better as a man than
a teenage girl.

Gray cleared her throat. “No doubt everything
looks good on Jean Luc.”

“True,” Charlene said, tilting the hat
slightly askew on her head. She nodded at Gray. “We should go
shopping for you.”

Gray rolled her eyes upward. “No thanks. I
can’t afford the boutiques you’re accustomed to.”

“My treat,” Charlene said cheerfully.

“Pass.”

Charlene pulled a brown leather wallet out of
her back pocket and held it up. “I’ll buy. I’m loaded.” She
chuckled.

“Yeah, no kidding,” Gray said, looking around
the suite then back at the wallet, wondering what else Charlene
might have tucked in her jean pockets. The amulet seemed too chunky
to fit in her jeans, which she wore snug. Big surprise.

A gleeful smile stretched across the face
once belonging to Jean Luc. “You know what else I have? A degree
from the Sorbonne! Do you know what that means, Lee?”

“Gray!”

“It means I just went from being an
eighteen-year-old commoner to Parisian socialite with a trust fund
and college degree.”

Gray grimaced. “Did you just use the word
commoner
?”

“You’re allowed to feel jealous,” Charlene
said with a grin. “I don’t have to go to school or work.” She
winked.

“You’re a man!”

Charlene gave a lazy shrug. “I’ve adjusted.”
She tossed her new hat and scarf onto the pile of bags on the
couch.

Gray got up. Maybe Charlene had stuffed the
amulet inside one of the shopping bags.

“So, what else did you get?” Gray asked,
walking toward the couch.

Charlene stepped in her path. Gray nearly
collided with her tight abs.
This is Charlene. This is my
sister
, Gray told herself when she found her eyes roving the
torso before her for one nanosecond.

Charlene’s eyes were perusing Gray’s body,
too. “You could look sexy if you tried harder, you know? I mean,
remember how I used to dress?”

Gray cringed and took a step backwards.

“Let me buy you some new clothes. It’ll be
fun, and no one knows how to dress that body better than me.”

“Thanks, but no thanks,” Gray said through
clenched teeth.

Charlene made a sound through her lips that
sounded very French. “If you let me, I can have Adrian salivating
at your heels.”

“I don’t want Adrian salivating at my
anything,” Gray shot. She took a breath and watched Charlene
closely for a reaction to her next words. “I broke it off. I don’t
know what I was thinking when I hooked up with Adrian in the first
place. I think I was just homesick or temporarily insane or
something.”

Charlene gave nothing away. In fact, she
clapped her hands. “How perfect! Now you can come back to Paris
with me. You have got to meet Jean Luc’s friends. They are hot. Hot
like the scorching sun.” She fanned herself for emphasis. “I can’t
hook up with any of them, obviously, but you, dear sister, are
going to have a fucking field day.”

Not the reaction Gray was looking for. She
felt suddenly deflated.

“I’m not going to Paris.”

Charlene snorted. “You’re going to stay here
and do what exactly?”

Gray squirmed in her seat. “I don’t know.
Sightsee.”

“Oh please, you’ve already seen the major
attractions, I’m sure. You can’t sightsee forever.” Charlene
paused. “Unless you’ve come into money recently as well.”

Gray glared at her.

“I didn’t think so. Come to Paris. You’ll be
my personal guest.”

“It’s Paris.”

“Come on, let me make up for that little
incident junior year.”

Gray’s hand itched to slap Charlene. “You
mean killing me?”

“How many times do I have to tell you that
wasn’t me?”

“Oh right, everything was masterminded by
Ryan Phillips. How could I forget?” Gray said sarcastically.

“Which reminds me,” Charlene said. “I really
do need to get going. For all I know Ryan is already in Barcelona.
My flight leaves tomorrow evening.” Charlene broke into a wide
grin. “Think about it.”

Gray got out of her seat. She was beginning
to suspect Charlene didn’t have the amulet after all or had taken
any part in the love spell for that matter, which left her back at
square one. “I should be going.”

“Got some sightseeing to do?” Charlene asked,
quirking a brow.

Gray frowned. She bent down for her purse and
headed for the door.

“Promise me you’ll think about it.”

“Bye, Charlene,” Gray called over her
shoulder.

Now what?

Hannah was right. The whole thing was a bust.
The amulet was still missing. Adrian’s wand was as elusive as the
man and only piqued Gray’s curiosity further. Maybe Gray should
have let Charlene take her shopping. At least she would have gotten
a new outfit out of the deal.