Page 9

9

Marc had been worried that he might have to fight his way through the thunderstorm while driving back to his hotel, but it looked as if it had veered north rather than heading due west, so it turned out to be a non-issue. All the same, he couldn’t help thanking the storm.

If it hadn’t poured down on them at Bellamy’s place, would they have even kissed?

He honestly couldn’t say for sure. Oh, the attraction had been there…getting stronger by the moment, as far as he’d been able to tell…but without that outer impetus, they might have waited a day or two more.

Maybe.

And when he got inside his room, he found he was far too keyed up to go to sleep right away, so instead he got out his laptop, connected to the hotel’s wifi, and poked around on the Airbnb website, hoping he could find something in West Sedona so he wouldn’t be too far away from Bellamy.

Sure enough, there was a fun little house in a neighborhood only about five minutes from Sedona Vines. He’d known there probably wouldn’t be anything in the area where the house she was caretaking was located, just because they were all big multimillion-dollar homes in that neighborhood and not the sort of thing people would generally offer on a vacation rental site.

But the place he’d found was definitely close enough, so he went ahead and booked it for the next two weeks. Maybe that was being ambitious, but his next commission didn’t start until the twenty-seventh, so he figured he had plenty of time.

Plenty of time to spend with Bellamy.

And when those two weeks were up?

Well, he supposed he’d figure that out when the time came.

For now, though, he thought he’d just play it by ear and hope for the best.

With the rain gone, Bellamy went back out to the courtyard and looked up at the sky. The moon sailed overhead, a little plumper than it had been the day before, and she let out a breath, allowing herself to relax into the afterglow of her goodnight kiss with Marc. She’d walked him to the door, and they’d stood in the foyer for a long moment, each of them understanding that this night needed to end…even as neither of them had wanted to say goodbye.

But they’d already made plans to have brunch at Enchantment Resort in Boynton Canyon before they headed over to Page Springs to visit the wineries there. Luckily, they would all be open, so she wouldn’t have to worry about that.

No, the harder part would be deciding which ones they’d have to skip. If they went and did a wine tasting at all six of them, they’d be positively blotto by the time the afternoon was over.

Well, definitely Angel Hill Cellars, the winery that Connor and Angela owned, and D.A. Ranch, and Page Springs Cellars as well. Their wine was fabulous, and with the way the property backed up to Oak Creek, you really couldn’t pick a prettier spot to hang out and drink a glass of wine and forget about the rest of the world.

She glanced back toward the house and thought of the dream Marc had told her about, of seeing the safe with its precious cargo blocking his way as he tried to go inside.

Had the dream been trying to tell him that protecting the magical artifact might get in the way of their budding romance?

She sure hoped not.

Even though the storm had moved on, the air still felt alive, almost electric. A wild breeze caught her damp hair, and she breathed it in, glad of this chance to let herself absorb what had happened between her and Marc this evening…to let herself think about what it all might mean.

Except….

Were those voices she heard on the wind?

No, she had to be imagining things.

Or maybe someone in one of the properties bordering hers was having a blow-out party.

But what she heard didn’t sound like music or people laughing and talking. No, it was a sort of odd whisper, something that felt as if it was at the very edge of her hearing, a subvocalization that seemed to slide away into nothing the more she tried to focus on it.

Clearly, she was going crazy.

But even as that half-humorous thought slipped through her mind, Bellamy knew she wasn’t nuts. She’d heard something out there, even if she had no idea what it could have been.

Frowning, she went into the house and locked the bifold glass door behind her. Once that was done, she headed over to the panel for the alarm system and turned it on. Maybe it wouldn’t do much to protect her from the strange whispering she’d heard on the wind, but she still felt better after she’d put even that small security measure in place.

No doubt Connor and Angela had done the same thing in their big house up on the hill in Jerome, although she guessed they would also employ subtler ways to make sure their home was protected against whoever had tried to steal the amulet. If that person made a second attempt, Bellamy doubted they’d even be able to set foot on the front walk before the prima and primus knew someone had tried to invade their sanctuary once again.

She wanted to pick up her phone and text Marc, and let him know about those strange whispery voices she thought she’d heard outside, but she told herself she would see him tomorrow anyway. Besides, how much could he even do, other than offer a comforting presence to reassure her she wasn’t as alone as she felt right now?

Not a whole hell of a lot, probably. No, it would be much better to go to bed and lie there and think of how it had felt to have his arms around her, and how wonderful it had been to have his mouth pressed against hers.

Besides, she couldn’t help wondering if he would dream again tonight, a true dream that might help guide them to the person who’d broken into Angela and Connor’s house. If Marc was already in bed, Bellamy knew she would feel guilty about waking him up.

Barring that, if he also reported odd, whispery voices in his dreams, then she’d know for sure she hadn’t been imagining the whole thing.

That seemed to settle the matter. She went down the hallway to the master suite, resolved to get a good night’s sleep no matter what.

However, that didn’t stop her from turning on all the lights as she went.

Marc knew his sleep had been restless, although once he awoke, he couldn’t say exactly why. He didn’t remember any of his dreams, which he hoped was a good thing.

If danger still lurked out there, his gift should have tried to warn him about it.

He hoped.

But even though he didn’t feel quite as ready to face the day as he would have liked, that didn’t stop him from showering early and getting dressed, then packing up his things. The Airbnb he’d rented the night before was empty, and the host had told him he could check in early for a small fee.

He’d paid it gladly, knowing it would be much better to be settled in Sedona before he went to pick up Bellamy for brunch. That was why — after running across the street to the Red Rooster Café to grab a cup of coffee — he was checked out of the hotel and leaving Cottonwood just a little after nine-thirty, which he figured should give him plenty of time.

The nav in his truck guided him right to the address of his new digs, which were located in a quiet neighborhood that backed up to the red rocks and some hiking trails. As he unpacked his clothes and put his toiletries away in the master bath, he wondered if Bellamy was into hiking at all. It sure looked as though there would be plenty of places to explore around here.

She didn’t strike him as the overly pampered type, so maybe he’d broach the subject at brunch. Yes, she’d be back at work after today, but she’d made it sound as if she generally didn’t start her shift until at least noon, which meant they’d still have time to hit the trails early in the morning before the sun got too hot.

Or maybe he shouldn’t get his hopes up. At home in Tucson, he’d gone hiking a lot, also in the early morning before the heat got too brutal. He loved wandering back to the Tanque Verde falls or driving up to Mount Lemmon to get away from the hot weather to a place where he could happily wander in ponderosa pine forests that felt as if they were very far away from the desert city.

Whether Bellamy shared that love?

He supposed he’d find out soon enough.

It was less than a mile from his Airbnb to the ranch where Bellamy was staying; he had to stop at the gate and use the intercom to get her to buzz him in, but soon enough he was rolling down the gravel lane that led to the house, obscurely comforted by all the security measures in place to protect the property. Sure, he supposed someone could jump the split-rail fence that surrounded all five acres, but he’d noticed cameras placed at strategic intervals along the perimeter and guessed that anyone who did such a thing would get captured on the security footage.

Unless, of course, they were a witch or warlock with the power of invisibility, in which case they’d be a lot more difficult to track.

Maybe that wasn’t so implausible a scenario. After all, someone had broken into Angela and Connor’s house in broad daylight, and it didn’t seem as if any of the neighbors had noticed anything strange. His grandmother lived two doors down from the prima and primus, and she hadn’t mentioned seeing any intruders or any people who looked out of place on the quiet street.

Or possibly the would-be thief had the power of teleportation. It was a fairly rare gift, nothing that anyone in the de la Paz clan currently had in their arsenal, but that didn’t mean the person who’d tried to steal the amulet might not possess that talent. After all, it would be a pretty useful type of power to have if you were a magical thief with sticky fingers.

His thoughts chased themselves around and around, and he did his best to tell his brain to shut up as he got out of his truck and walked over to the front entrance. Almost as soon as he rang the doorbell, Bellamy opened the door and smiled at him. Today she wore a pretty embroidered blouse and jeans and sandals that showed off toes glimmering with metallic pink polish.

“Right on time,” she said, and he grinned back at her.

“Well, my Airbnb is pretty close, so I would’ve had to work hard to be late.”

She stepped out of the way and he came inside, feeling cold air swirl around him. The day was sunny and bright, with absolutely no sign of the thunderstorm that had passed through the night before, and he could tell it was going to be another scorcher.

“You’re sure we don’t need reservations for brunch?”

“On a Monday morning? Nope,” she replied, answering her own question. “Besides, it’s not a full-on brunch like we’d get on the weekend, just their normal menu. But I think you’ll like it. Just let me grab my purse.”

He waited in the foyer while she went to fetch her bag, and soon enough, they were climbing into his truck.

“You can just keep going down Dry Creek,” she told him after he’d turned the vehicle around and pointed it back down the lane that led to the main road. “After that, follow the signs — they’ll take us straight to Enchantment.”

Which proved to be the case, since everything was so well marked that Marc knew he could have gotten to their destination without once having to check the nav. They had to slow to a crawl once they were on the resort grounds, thanks to all the “golf cart crossing” signs and the pedestrians making their way to the putting greens that bordered the access road, but still, it was only a quarter after eleven when he pulled into the parking lot for the resort’s main building, which housed its various restaurants.

When he got out of the truck, however, he wasn’t looking at their brunch venue, but instead at the red rock walls that soared up on all sides, so close, it almost felt as if he could reach out and touch them.

“This is…pretty spectacular,” he said, and Bellamy smiled.

“Isn’t it? And the views are even better from the restaurant, since we’ll be up a few levels. Let’s go.”

She slid her hand into his, and he found himself thrilling at her touch. When he’d met her at the house, he’d wondered if he should kiss her, but the moment hadn’t felt quite right.

Now, though, she was holding hands with him as if it was the most natural thing in the world, and once again he found himself marveling a little at how easy things were between them. He hadn’t been this comfortable with people he’d known his entire life, but only a few days around Bellamy McAllister made him feel as if she’d always been a part of his world.

He could only hope that feeling would continue.

As she’d predicted, the restaurant wasn’t hugely busy, so they were shown to a table over by one of the windows without having to wait longer than a couple of minutes. And she’d also been right about the views — the restaurant had been built on an incline, so they were probably a good fifty feet higher here than they’d been in the parking lot, with those stunning red rocks feeling even more immediate now, close enough that he could see all the little divots and hollows and outcroppings that millennia of erosion had left behind.

“No wonder they call it ‘Enchantment,’” he remarked after the hostess had handed them a couple of menus and told them their server would be over in a few minutes.

“It’s one of my favorite spots in Sedona,” Bellamy replied. “If we weren’t going wine tasting after this, I’d say we should sit outside on the patio after brunch and have a drink. But I suppose it’s better if we pace ourselves.”

By which he guessed that she didn’t plan to drink any alcohol with their meal.

And that was fine. To be honest, he was half drunk on the surroundings…and the company…already.

“Good idea,” he agreed, and looked down at the menu.

Bellamy only gave it a cursory glance, seeming to signal she’d eaten here enough in the past that she already knew what she wanted. Everything looked amazing, but since they were going to be hitting the wine tasting rooms after this, Marc thought he should go with the breakfast burrito rather than something lighter so he could lay down a solid base.

“Everything’s great here,” she said, then paused to send a brief glance around the room. Although the hostess had said their waitress would be over shortly, there wasn’t any sign of her yet. Lowering her voice, Bellamy added, “Any dreams last night?”

No wonder she’d made sure they couldn’t be overheard. There were other diners in the restaurant, of course, but no one was seated close enough to them to be able to hear what they were saying.

“Not really,” Marc replied, feeling like something of a failure even though he knew he couldn’t really control when the dreams appeared…or what they might decide to show him. “Why?”

Another hesitation, one that appeared to have been prescient, since a pretty Navajo woman who looked as if she might be in her middle thirties approached their table and asked if they’d like anything to drink. Because he’d already had his coffee that morning, he asked for iced tea, and Bellamy followed suit.

Once their server had departed to fetch their drinks, he sent Bellamy a direct look.

“Did something happen after I left last night?”

Her fingers played with the handle of the fork at her place setting, and then she let out a breath and settled her napkin on her lap.

“I’m not sure.”

He raised an eyebrow, and she spread her hands, looking helpless.

“No, really. It was….”

She stopped again, since the waitress had returned with their iced teas. Then it was time to place their orders, something Marc was glad they’d gotten out of the way, since at least now they probably would have at least ten or fifteen uninterrupted minutes before the food arrived.

A sip of iced tea, and then Bellamy said, “I went outside after you left. Doing that always helps to ground me.”

He couldn’t help smiling. “You needed grounding after our evening together?”

Gray eyes met his, level, unblinking. “What do you think?”

Well, considering he’d felt as if he was on Cloud Nine during the whole drive over to Cottonwood, he supposed he could see why Bellamy had seen the need to come back down to earth.

He helped himself to some iced tea as well. “I don’t want to flatter myself.”

Now she grinned, the tense moment broken. “Maybe you should.”

He chuckled, but since her expression abruptly sobered, he knew she wanted to get back to business.

“Anyway, when I was standing out in the courtyard, I thought I heard something on the wind. It almost sounded like voices.”

That seemed a little odd, but sound could travel in weird ways at night, carried on the desert breeze. “Your neighbors?”

She shook her head. In the bright light from the floor-to-ceiling windows that dominated the space, her loose hair was almost the same ruddy hue as the red rocks surrounding them on all sides.

“That’s what I thought at first, too. But there wasn’t any music, and it sure didn’t sound like people partying. More like whispers, or words spoken so quickly I couldn’t really understand any of them.”

Well, that didn’t sound creepy at all. Even though they were sitting in a restaurant with other people, brightly lit and certainly not sinister in the slightest, he couldn’t quite prevent a chill from running down his spine.

“Has that ever happened before?”

“No,” she said at once. “I’m not a psychic. I’m not supposed to hear words on the wind, or whatever was going on last night.”

She paused there so she could reach for her glass of iced tea and take a sip. Gray eyes met his again, more bleak than ever.

A breath, and then she said, “I’m worried that maybe there was a real reason why all those Wilcox and McAllister witches in the past said we needed to stay away from Sedona.”