Spellbound Falls (30 page)

Olivia touched the thin gold chain encircling her right ankle, then straightened—making Mac jerk again—and pointed at her foot. “When… what… did you put that on me while I was sleeping?” she whispered, feeling her cheeks fill with heat again.

Oh God, he’d given her
jewelry
.

“It’s a token of my affection, for you to remember our night together.”

Olivia snapped her gaze to her foot; as in their first of many nights together or their
only
night together?

Wait; didn’t guys give jewelry to women they were breaking up with?

But they’d just gotten
started
. And she’d had a really, really good time, and she thought Mac had had a really good time, too.

He took hold of her chin and turned her to face him. “It would please me to have you constantly wear it while we are lovers, Olivia. And that way when we’re separated through all the long nights we can’t be together, I’ll know you’re wearing a part of me. Constantly,” he repeated softly.

She slumped against him in relief, canting her right foot back and forth to admire his… token of affection. “Thank you,” she whispered even as she wondered what sort of token she could give him.

“You won’t take it off, then?” he asked, his hand caressing her arm. “It appears to fit perfectly, so it shouldn’t be in your way.”

“But it looks so delicate, I’m afraid it might break,” she said, lifting her foot to admire her ankle. She sat up in surprise. “What’s the stone?” she asked, making him grunt again when she reached down to touch the tiny stone embedded in the clasp. “It’s almost the same blue as your sweater.” She straightened with a smile. “Or as Carolina told Henry, the same color as the ocean surrounding Atlantis.”

He shrugged. “The stone is aquamarine, and you don’t have to worry about the chain breaking. It’s a lot stronger than it looks.” He smiled. “Much like you.”

Gee, maybe he really was a romantic.

And she was glad the stone wasn’t expensive.

“Your sock and pants will keep it hidden if you wish for our affair to remain a secret,” he said, urging her to lean against him again.

She took a deep breath. “Yeah, about that; I think we
should
keep this to ourselves. Not that I think it’s bad or anything,” she rushed to say, straightening again to look at him. “It’s just that I don’t want Sophie getting her hopes up
that our being together will become permanent or anything.” She collapsed back against him with a snort. “And I certainly don’t want her thinking she can sleep with a man she doesn’t intend to marry until she’s old enough to know the difference between love and lust.”

He started rubbing her arm again, and rested his chin on the top of her head—likely to keep her from bouncing around. “Do you know the difference between lust and love, Olivia?”

She patted his big strong naked chest in front of her nose. “Don’t worry, I also keep my word. I won’t throw a dramatic scene when you leave in September.”

His hand stopped. “We’ll just kiss and part ways? And not look back?”

She sat up with her best confident smile. “But I’m keeping the ankle bracelet,” she said, pushing off him and heading to the bathroom. “And the bathrobe. Sylvia can just add it to your bill,” she said over her shoulder.

Only she slumped against the door the moment she closed it, and covered her face with her hands at the realization the romantic fool had completely ruined her when it came to other men. After spending only one night with him, Olivia knew she’d never be satisfied with any man who wasn’t bigger and stronger and sexier than Mac.

Because really, the earth might not have actually moved, but Mac sure as hell had given her sappy old heart a good shaking.

Popping the last of her bagel in her mouth, Olivia dug around in the bag for another one. She set it on the napkin on her lap, then reached for the plastic knife in the container of cream cheese on the dash and began sawing the bagel in half. “I don’t know what that lady’s problem was,” she said after swallowing. “There wasn’t any reason she couldn’t have cut these before she stuck them in the bag like I asked her to. You want another one?”

“Give it to me without the cheese,” Mac said, glancing
over as she brushed the bagel crumbs off her lap. “I’ll eat it like a doughnut.”

Seeing the lake’s west outlet running under the bridge they were crossing, Olivia knew they were about halfway home. She handed Mac a sesame seed bagel, then brushed several crumbs off his beautiful chest—that she now felt rather proprietary of—before she went back to slathering cream cheese on her bagel. This wasn’t exactly the dinner date she’d envisioned, and it was a tad late, but she wouldn’t trade this morning for anything, not even a deep claw-foot bathtub like the one she’d just spent half an hour soaking in.

Olivia decided having an affair with Mac was finally starting to be fun, and she couldn’t wait until they got together again. Which reminded her; “Um, I don’t know how we’re going to get away from our kids, much less Inglenook,” she said, slapping the two halves of her bagel together. “John and Eileen will be back Thursday or Friday, and I haven’t been able to figure out the logistics of having an affair, especially once camp starts back up.”

“Since the beginning of time, lovers have found ways to sneak off together. We’ll just have to be creative,” he said, giving her a wink as he sank his teeth into his bagel.

Olivia shivered, remembering everywhere that mouth had been last night. Honest to God, she hadn’t realized how sensitive the back of her knees were. And the inside of her 
elbows
, for crying out loud. Who knew? She rested her hands on her lap without taking a bite of her bagel, wondering if she couldn’t put Carolina on a permanent retainer as their official babysitter. Like, maybe again tonight.

“I guess sneaking around is supposed to be part of the fun,” she said. “Hey, I know; I’ll just take you on a hike and get us lost for three or four—Ohmigod!” she cried, bracing her hand on the dash when Mac braked to a sudden stop right in the middle of the road. “What
are
they?”

Three monstrous birds several feet tall were standing in the center of the road, their big dark eyes blinking against the harshness of the headlights. Mac shut off the engine with a muttered curse, then immediately turned on the
parking lights, creating a soft yellow glow on their big white bodies.

“Stay put,” he said with a distinct growl in his voice as he opened his door.

Olivia grabbed his arm. “Wait, you can’t just go walking up to them. You’ll scare the poor things. What do you think they are? They look sort of like seagulls, but they’re
huge
. They’re even bigger than turkeys.”

“They’re albatrosses,” he said, gently pulling away from her grasp to get out. He turned back to lean inside, the interior dome light illuminating his seriousness. “Are you going to stay put?”

Oh yeah, he was still miffed that she’d refused to fasten her seat belt this morning. “Maybe you better leave me your cell phone so I can call 911 and report a man being mauled by a gang of albatrosses,” she said, holding out her hand.

He softly closed his door.

Olivia jumped when she heard all the truck doors lock, and then she laughed. “That only works to keep people
out
,” she shouted through the windshield—only to sober when she pushed the unlock button on her door and nothing happened. “You’ve got to be kidding!” she cried, jamming her finger again and again on the stupid button, and then trying the handle before pressing every damn button on the door.

That is, until she realized Mac had reached the birds and was crouched down on his heels in front of them. Was he insane? The albatrosses had long thick beaks that could poke out an eye, and the scruffy-looking things might be scared enough to be dangerous. Where could they have come from? Spellbound was a good hundred and fifty miles from the ocean as the crow flew—or rather as the
albatross
flew.

Did albatrosses even live in the Gulf of Maine? Weren’t they southern birds?

Olivia placed her hand on the horn. She didn’t know any animal that liked sharp, blaring noises, and she intended to blast away if they started attacking Mac. She watched him reach out, and the birds immediately waddled closer, the
largest one shoving its head under Mac’s open hand. The other two immediately crowded the first one out of the way to also be petted, and Olivia slumped back in her seat with a sigh.

Apparently she wasn’t the only one who liked Mac’s touch.

She straightened when she saw him stand up with one of the birds in his arms. “Hit the release button on the dash to open the rear hatch,” he said as he walked past.

Yeah, right, like that was going to work. She hit the button on the dash anyway, and the rear hatch popped open. Olivia grabbed her door handle, but it
still
wouldn’t open, even after she pounded on the stupid release button. “Dammit to hell,” she growled, tossing her bagel on the dash and twisting onto her knees to see him set the giant albatross in the cargo area of the truck.

“Bring me that bathrobe you filched,” he said.

“I can’t bring you the robe because my door’s stuck,” she muttered, crawling over the console into the backseat. “The dealership sold you a lemon.” She grabbed her beautiful plush robe and handed it to him. “Either that or this truck is possessed. Oh, is he hurt?” she asked in a croon, looking at the bird lying on its side, its dark watery eyes blinking at her as Mac examined its feet.

“
She
seems to have worn the bottoms of her feet raw on the pavement.”

“You know it’s a girl?” she asked just as two more heads appeared at the rear of the truck. “How do you know about albatrosses?”

He looked up with a smile. “I know females. Grab those water bottles in the pouch on the back of my seat.” He lifted the two other birds into the truck. “Hand me one of the bottles, then open the other one and give those two a drink.”

“How?” she asked, handing him one of the bottles while eyeing the nearest bird curiously eyeing her. “Do I pour some in my hand and let them slurp it, or do I hold the bottle up and try to pour it directly in their mouths?”

He looked up from the bird’s feet he’d been pouring the
water over. “I don’t know; I’ve never bottle-fed an albatross before. Try both ways and see which works.”

She opened her bottle but then quickly leaned away when the two birds crowded toward her. “Good Lord, their breath is foul,” she said over the soft humming sounds they were making. “Other than what are they doing in Spellbound Falls, a good question might be why were they walking down the road? Why aren’t they flying?”

“I asked what they’re doing here, but they refused to give me a straight answer,” Mac drawled, tucking the bathrobe around the injured bird like a nest. “And I believe they’re walking because this one has grown weak from their long journey north, and her friends refuse to abandon her.”

Olivia poured water into her hand and hesitantly held it under the nearest lethal-looking, rose-pink beak. Only she figured the poor bird didn’t get more than a drop or two in its mouth, as most of the water ran onto the carpet or up her arm. She held the bottle in front of it, only the bottle’s neck was too narrow.

She looked around for something to pour the water into, but apparently Mac was a clean freak. “Wait,” she said, turning around and lying over the console to reach her purse on the floor. She pulled it into the backseat, then dug around inside it, her hand emerging with one of the sleeves of condoms she’d stolen from the cabin—just to give Sylvia something to think about when she discovered only three packets left in the bowl when she cleaned. “What if I pour the water into one of these,” she asked, holding it up for Mac to see, “and they can drink out of it? Their beaks won’t fit in anything else.”

The look Mac gave her was priceless, and she’d swear his cheeks darkened as he glanced at the birds. “Can you not find something else?”

“That wouldn’t be a problem if we were in my van. You got a multitool or saw or something? We could cut off the top of one of the bottles.”

He shook his head. “What about your juice bottle?”

She ripped open the packet with her teeth. “Its neck is
too small. Maybe if you drank coffee like any normal red-blooded male, we’d have a paper mug this morning.”

“I don’t like coffee,” he said tightly, watching her unroll the condom.

“Um, maybe I should double them up,” she said, eyeing the bird eyeing her. Could albatrosses smile? Because she’d swear its beak hadn’t been curved up like that before. “I’m afraid just one will be too thin and it’ll break.”

“It will hold, Olivia,” he hissed. “Just do it.”

Oh yeah, the man was definitely blushing. She carefully started pouring the water in the condom, watching it grow longer and fatter with the weight of the liquid. Only she nearly dropped it when the closest bird let out a deafening squawk followed by a cacophony of chatter from its buddies—followed by Mac’s sudden burst of laughter.