She looked up at him, dazed.
“I meant to tell you that I love you,” she said. “Too late now, though. You’re not really here, are you?”
“I’m here, Virginia.”
“Oh, that’s right,” she said, remembering. “You told me that you would walk through hell to save me.”
“Yes.”
He reached down, scooped her up into his arms and ran for the door.
The mirrored chamber exploded around them.
A short time later Owen stood with Nick, Tony, Matt and Mrs. Crofton in the shadows of a small park. With the exception of Virginia, who was sound asleep in Owen’s arms, they all watched the big house burn. Flames roared from every window. Black smoke billowed into the night.
“Both bodies are inside the house?” Owen asked, mentally tying up loose ends.
“Yes,” Nick said. “It will look like they died in the blaze.”
“I didn’t know paranormal fire could start a normal fire,” Tony said. He sounded awed.
“There is no hard-and-fast line on the spectrum between the normal and the paranormal,” Nick said. “How many times have I explained to you that it’s a continuum? Get enough energy going in one section and it will affect the currents in the neighboring regions.”
Matt grinned. “Thanks, as always, for the lecture, Uncle Nick.”
“Huh,” Nick muttered. “All I can say is Miss Dean must have set free a lot of very hot glasslight tonight.”
“I don’t know anything about this spectrum you’re all talking about,” Mrs. Crofton declared, “but I must admit that Miss Dean is a most unusual employer. My life has become a good deal more exciting since I entered her service.”
“She’ll fit in nicely with the Sweetwater family,” Owen said.
“I see.” Mrs. Crofton nodded in a knowing manner. “I had a feeling that might be the way of things.”
Owen looked at her. “Plenty of room for you, as well, Mrs. Crofton.”
“Is there, now?” Mrs. Crofton said softly.
“Recent evidence to the contrary, we’re actually a very normal family,” Nick said.
“Is that so?” Mrs. Crofton said.
“Assuming you can overlook our talents and the sort of work that we do,” Tony added.
“Miss Dean says you hunt monsters,” Mrs. Crofton said.
“You might call it the family business,” Owen said.
“Would I get to do more of the sort of inquiries that I did this afternoon?” Mrs. Crofton asked.
“If you like,” Owen said. “Sweetwaters are happy to take all the help we can get, so long as it comes from within the family.”
“My inquiry today left me sleeping in a glass coffin.”
“Perhaps you won’t want to continue with a career as an inquiry agent,” Owen said. “Understandable. There are other positions available.”
“Might have been a different outcome if I’d been properly armed,” Mrs. Crofton said. “A pistol in my handbag, for example, would have been useful.”
“That won’t be a problem in the future,” Owen said.
FORTY-FOUR
Virginia opened her eyes and saw Owen standing at the window, looking out into the moonlit night. The sleeves of his shirt were rolled up on his forearms. His collar was open. He had one hand braced against the sill. The silver light limned his face in shadows and mysteries.
“Owen,” she said softly.
He turned and walked to the bed. His eyes heated.
“How are you feeling?” he asked.
Tentatively she heightened her senses. There was no need to focus. One knew when one’s talent was functioning properly, just as one knew if one’s hearing or eyesight or sense of touch was working. She felt the familiar tingle of awareness.
“I feel fine,” she said. “What of Mrs. Crofton?”
“She has concluded that she has a talent for the private inquiry business, but she insists on being properly armed the next time she goes off to track down persons of interest in a case.”
“I told you at the start of this affair that she is an excellent housekeeper and that I was very lucky to have her.”
“So you did. She seems to think that she is fortunate in her employer, as well.”
“Hardly. I very nearly got her killed today.”
Owen leaned over the bed, palms flattened on either side of her shoulders. “I’m the one responsible for what happened today. I put you both at risk.”
“I was already at risk, if you will recall. That is why you came to me in the first place. You wanted to keep me safe.”
“I failed.”
“Here is what I know, Owen Sweetwater. If you had not come looking for me that night that I went to the Hollister mansion, I would likely never have made it out of that terrible place alive. The girl we found there would have died as well.”
“Virginia—”
“If you had not convinced me that I was in grave danger, and if you had not allowed me to participate in the investigation, I would not have been prepared for what happened tonight. The lock pick you gave me helped save Mrs. Crofton and me. By the time I had finished dealing with Alcina Norgate, I was so exhausted I would not have been able to escape the flames. But you carried me out of that storm of energy and fire. All in all, I would say that you took very good care of me.”
“However that may be, I swear I will do an infinitely better job of taking care of you in the future.”
She touched his hard jaw. “Will you?”
“I have no choice,” he said. “Last night when I carried you out of that chamber you said you loved me.”
“Yes.”
“I realized I had never told you that I love you. I have loved you since I watched you give the reading in Lady Pomeroy’s drawing room. I will always love you.”
A sensation of radiant joy rushed through her. Mercilessly, she crushed it with an act of will.
“You don’t have to romance me,” she said. “I understand that what you believe we have is some sort of psychical bond. But it is enough. For now.”
He leaned down and kissed her forehead. When he raised his head, his eyes burned. “For a man like me, there is no difference between the psychical bond and the bond of love. It is all one and the same.”
She searched his face in the shadows. “How can you know that?”
“Sweetwaters take this kind of thing very seriously. It is part of our talent. Trust me, I am certain.”
“You must realize that I will not be the mistress of a married man. I will not live in the shadows as my mother did.”
“Has some married man asked you to be his mistress?” Owen’s eyes glittered with dark laughter. “If so, give me his name and I will see to it that he disappears.”
“I am serious.”
“You insult me gravely if you think that I am the kind of man who would keep a lover on the side while I married another woman and fathered children by her. I realize that may be common in society, but we do not do that sort of thing in the Sweetwater family.” He smiled a quick, wicked smile. “Our ladies do not condone the
