Action, isn't he?'
'Yeah.' Lucas activated the ignition system. 'He may be weird, but if anyone can find your missing file, he can.'
Amaryllis shuddered. 'Are all of your friends off-the-scale talents?'
Lucas gave her a strange sidelong glance as he pulled away from the curb. 'What makes you think Stonebraker is a talent?'
'I could feel the power in him.' Amaryllis paused. 'The same way I could feel it in Nick Chastain. They're both as strong as you, aren't they?'
'Probably.' Lucas shrugged. 'But neither of them has any interest in getting tested, and neither has ever met a prism who could work with them at the full range of their power.'
'I'm not surprised. No reputable prism would work with an untested talent.'
'Picky, picky, picky.'
Chapter 15
'Amaryllis, my dear, I hear today is the big day.' Gracie Proud paused in the doorway of Amaryllis's office. 'Clementine tells me you've got an appointment at four for your marriage agency interview.'
Amaryllis looked up from the notes she was making for a client's final bill. She managed a wan smile. She liked Gracie, but so did everyone. Gracie was one of those warm and charming individuals people gravitated toward instinctively.
She was Clementine's opposite in many ways, tastefully fashionable where Clementine was defiantly outrageous in her choice of clothes and hairstyle; soft-spoken where Clementine was loud and brusque; even- tempered where Clementine was inclined to jump to conclusions or fly off the handle.
Today Gracie was dressed in one of her trademark pastel business suits that fit her elegant figure like a glove. Her dainty high-heeled shoes and stockings were carefully toned to match the pale blue jacket and skirt. Clementine had once told Amaryllis that Gracie had all her suits made by a tailor in New Portland.
'Hi, Gracie.' Amaryllis put down her pen. 'Yes, this is the day.'
Gracie raised her finely drawn brows. 'You don't appear to be too thrilled about the whole thing.'
'To tell you the truth. I'm a little nervous.'
'Don't worry, everyone is. I practically had an anxiety attack right there in the counselor's office on the day of my interview.' Gracie smiled reminiscently. 'Of course, that was nothing compared to my reaction when the agency introduced me to Clementine and told me it would be a perfect match. I very nearly had heart failure on that occasion.'
'What's this?' Clementine loomed in the doorway be- hind Gracie. 'For crying out loud, don't terrorize her, Gracie. She's already a nervous wreck.'
'I was about to point out that the agencies generally do an excellent job,' Gracie said smoothly. 'Certainly much better than most people could manage on their own. Just look at you and me.'
Clementine grinned. 'Yep, here we are, about to celebrate fifteen years of happy camping. It's a sure bet that you and I would never have gotten together without the aid of a good matchmaking agency. Left to my own devices, I would have run a mile the first time I saw you. I'll never forget that ridiculous little pink suit you wore that day.'
Gracie gave Amaryllis a reassuring look. 'Clementine and I are walking testimonials to the fact that occasionally opposites do attract, and the syn-shrinks at the agencies are shrewd enough to figure it out. When's your appointment?'
'In half an hour.' Amaryllis glanced at Clementine and then switched her attention back to Gracie. 'Any last words of advice?'
'Yes, as a matter of fact, I have,' Gracie said. 'Don't try to fake it. The counselors are all trained syn-psych talents working with strong prisms. They'll be able to tell immediately if you're trying to make yourself look like something other than what you really are.'
'There's a time and a place for cheating,' Clementine said cheerfully, 'but this interview ain't it, kid. Your whole future is at stake.'
The bottom fell out of Amaryllis's stomach. She jumped to her feet and headed for the door. 'Excuse me, I have to get to the restroom. I think I'm going to be sick.'
'Well, now, Mr. Trent, that takes care of the portion of the interview that covers your attitudes toward vacations and hobbies.' Hobart Batt glanced up briefly as he turned the page. His eyes sparkled behind the lenses of his round glasses. Hobart obviously loved his work.
The counselor was a small, dapper man who apparently had a penchant for vividly patterned vests and heavy gold jewelry. The prism who was focusing for him this afternoon was an older woman who sat quietly nearby.
During the grueling interview, Lucas occasionally felt the erratic twinges of awareness which told him that Hobart was focusing his syn-psych talent.
Without Amaryllis to construct a prism and hold the focus for him, there was no way for Lucas to tell just how much Hobart was relying on his psychic skills. Lucas didn't care. He was not in a good mood. He felt trapped. He could almost see the door of a large cage slowly closing on him.
'Let's go on to the section that details your feelings about sex, shall we?' Hobart asked brightly.
'Sex?' Lucas stared at Hobart. 'What about it?'
'Do you enjoy extensive foreplay or do you prefer to engage in the sexual act with a minimal amount of the preliminaries? In other words, would you call yourself a touchy-feely sort of person?'
Lucas glanced at the prism. 'Do we have to discuss this in great detail?'
'Don't mind Mrs. Drake,' Hobart said. 'She's been through hundreds of these interviews. Now, about fore- play.'
Lucas thought about the indescribable intimacy of the focus link that he experienced with Amaryllis. Sex would never be as good again without it.
'Foreplay's okay,' Lucas said.
Amaryllis watched with morbid fascination as the syn-psych counselor turned the page.
'Now, that takes care of vacations and hobbies.' Mrs. Reeton, a pleasant, competent woman in her early forties, looked at Amaryllis. 'Let's proceed to the section on sexual attitudes.'
Amaryllis blushed and glanced at the prism seated next to Mrs. Reeton. 'Is this part necessary?'
'Don't be shy, Amaryllis, we're all professionals here.' Mrs. Reeton gave her a reassuring smile. 'And I assure you that sex is a very important part of marriage. Do you enjoy extensive foreplay?'
'Foreplay?' Amaryllis thought about the deeply sensual feelings that flowed through her whenever she was with Lucas. She cleared her throat and avoided the prism's serene gaze. 'Yes, I think foreplay is very important.'
Hobart Batt turned to the next page with a crisp movement of his beringed hand. 'Do you agree or disagree with the following statement, 'Marriage is forever but the occasional affair is an acceptable diversion, so long as it is handled discreetly and does not embarrass the family.' '
Lucas remembered the cold emptiness he had felt when he had realized that Dora had gone to another man. 'Disagree. Strongly disagree.'
Mrs. Reeton waited, pen poised, for Amaryllis's response to the question she had just asked.
Amaryllis thought about the parents she had never known. She recalled a photo she had once seen of a laughing, green-eyed man named Matthew Bailey. He had gotten her mother pregnant although he was not free to marry. Another image followed on the heels of the first, a picture of her mother, Eugenia, carefree and careless at eighteen. They were both locked in Amaryllis's memory, the two people whose affair had produced repercussions that had haunted two families for years.
A sudden sharp pain made Amaryllis glance down. She saw that she had made a fist with one hand. She was sinking her nails into her palm.
