Page 52 of Where the Roses Bloom

He frowned up toward the sky. “Pretty overcast, darlin’.”

“Then maybe I’m just…weird.”

A smile ghosted over his face. “I don’t think that’s even remotely in question.”

I laughed softly, but it didn’t change the fact that my heart was still racing. Rhett reached over to cup the back of my neckwith his warm, calloused hand, resting his forehead against mine.

“I feel like I’ve been here before,” I admitted. “But…that’s not possible. I’d never even heard of Willow Grove before this month.”

He didn’t pull away, just let his thumb move in slow circles at the back of my neck. “You know…not long ago I would’ve said this was superstition, but Hazel always said places remember, even if people don’t.”

I wanted to laugh it off—to say something rational, something that made sense. But I’d never felt this, whatever this was.

All I could think about was the flash of that figure’s eyes—my eyes—and the weight in my bones.

I turned the bottle over in my hand, frowning at the weight of it. The seal was cracked, the glass smudged, the contents strange and old.

“What kind of spell do you think it was?” Rhett asked.

“A love spell,” I said—but slower this time, not as certain. The words came out before I could stop them, but even as I said it, doubt flickered through me. “At least…it feels that way. But I don’t know. I don’t know who left it, or why. Could’ve been Isadora. Could’ve been Hazel. Could’ve been someone else entirely.”

Rhett shifted, resting his arms on his knees.

“You think it has anything to do with the curse?”

I hesitated. “Maybe. Or maybe it’s something that got tangled up in it over time. Maybe it was meant to stop it, or…maybe it was meant for something else, and we’re just caught in the middle of it now.”

He raked a hand through his hair, watching me.

“And you think we’re supposed to finish it?”

“I don’t know what I think,” I admitted, my heart pounding. “But whatever this is…it’s working on us right now. I can feel it. And I don’t want the land to keep remembering all the pain and loss. I want it to remember love.”

I shifted closer, my fingers trembling where they clutched the bottle.

“Make love to me,” I whispered.

He stared at me, startled. “You…what?”

“I want you to make love to me, Rhett,” I said. “Right here. Right now.”

“Are you serious?”

I nodded, though I felt the uncertainty flicker through me even as I did. “The land’s carried so much grief. Let’s give it something else to hold.”

Rhett stared at me. For a second, I thought he was going to say no.

But then he leaned forward, cupped my face with both hands, and kissed me.

CHAPTER 18

Rhett

Before now,I never would have even spent the night in this clearing.

But now…now, I was kissing the woman I loved at the foot of the Witch Tree, and I intended on making love to her right here and now.

The moss was damp under my knees, the air thick with the scent of rain and roses. Willow’s hands were in my hair, her mouth open against mine, face slanted, lips soft and hungry. Her breath hitched as I deepened the kiss, my hands sliding down to her hips.