Amaryllis

emphasis on security work. I'd hate to lose the momentum here.'

'If Psynergy, Inc. goes into the security business in a big way, I can guarantee that you'll have one less employee,' Lucas said grimly. 'Amaryllis will be looking for another job. My nerves can't take any more of her investigations.'

'Now, Lucas, don't get excited,' Amaryllis murmured.

'I'm not the one lying in a hospital bed.' Lucas crossed the room, bent down, and kissed her. 'You're the one who's supposed to be resting.' He handed her the flowers. 'How are you feeling?'

'Fine.' She sniffed the yellow rose-orchids. 'In fact, I'm going to get sprung from this joint today.'

'You're sure you're ready to come home?'

'More than ready. I was just suffering from temporary shock and exhaustion. You were the one who took the bullet.'

'Yeah, well, you may not want to rush home,' Lucas said. 'Your uncle called an hour ago. He said that he and your aunt are driving into the city today to find out, and I quote, just what in the five hells is going on.'

Amaryllis grimaced. 'I was afraid of that.'

Byron glanced at Lucas with interest. 'What will happen to Irene Dunley?'

Lucas looked down at Amaryllis. 'The doctor says they're processing paperwork to commit her to a mental institution.'

'No trial?' Clementine was obviously disappointed.

'I doubt it.' Lucas closed his big hand around Amaryllis's fingers. 'Apparently when she realized that her talent had been destroyed, she lost whatever small grasp she still had on her sanity. The emergency room syn- shrink says he's never seen a case quite like it.'

'Because no one's ever heard of a talent being destroyed,' Clementine said. 'All the research indicates that while prisms can burn out temporarily, talents simply lose strength if they get too close to their personal limits. All a talent has to do in order to regain full power is drop back down into his or her working range.'

'I guess Irene proved that there are some hazards for very high-class talents,' Byron said.

Clementine nodded. 'Yep. There's just one thing I'd like to know.'

'What's that?' Lucas asked.

'What kind of talent was Irene Dunley? None of the news accounts mentioned it.'

'I wondered the same thing.' Amaryllis hesitated. 'I know this is going to sound strange, but I have a feeling that Professor Landreth may have told me the truth the day he said that Irene Dunley had a superior talent for organization.'

'We did it together, didn't we?' Amaryllis asked very soberly as Lucas carried her up the waterfall steps and into the airy hall of his big house. 'We destroyed Irene's talent and her sanity.'

'I think it's safe to say that her sanity was almost gone. Don't start blaming yourself for that.' Lucas carried her into the spacious living room and settled her carefully on the sofa. 'But, yes, we did burn out her talent together. You forced her to her limits. I put her over the edge.'

'She was screaming at the end.' Amaryllis shivered. 'I found a way to dampen the flow of her energy. She must have feared that I might be strong enough to sever the link after all. So she kept increasing her own power. When she understood that I wasn't going to bum out, I think that she tried to cut the link herself.'

'But it was too late,' Lucas said. 'She had lost control of her mind and her talent. She aimed that gun straight at your heart. There was no way she could miss you.'

'But you did something, didn't you? What was it?'

'I only needed to hold a focus for a couple of seconds. I can do that on my own.'

'You created an illusion to distract Irene.' Amaryllis searched his face. 'But what was it?'

'I knew I'd only have one chance. I had to come up with something that would really jolt her. Remember the photo of Landreth that hung in Irene's office?'

'You didn't--'

'Yeah.' Lucas sat down on the edge of the sofa and rested his elbows on his thighs. 'I did. I knew what he looked like because of that photo. I created an illusion of him standing next to you, bleeding from a crushed skull.'

'The blood.' Amaryllis shuddered again. 'I saw a river of blood.'

'I probably went a little overboard on the blood. I didn't have time to fine-tune the image. Irene freaked. She aimed the gun at the illusion of Landreth instead of at you. Pulled the trigger. By then, I was on her.' Lucas glanced at his injured arm. 'Unfortunately, the gun went off once more before I got it away from her.'

'No wonder she wouldn't stop screaming. Irene must have thought she'd seen Professor Landreth's ghost.'

'I talked to Rafe Stonebraker last night after the medics finished working on my arm. Told him the whole story. He said to tell you that he's going to bill me for time and expenses.'

Amaryllis was outraged. 'That's ridiculous. There was no missing file for him to discover. Irene created a fake.'

'Stonebraker says that only proves just how good he is at what he does. He couldn't find a missing file because there was no missing file.'

The doorbell chimed, interrupting Amaryllis before she could think of a suitable rebuttal to Rafe Stonebraker's argument.

'The last thing either of us needs is a visitor,' Lucas muttered as he got to his feet. 'I'll get rid of whoever it is.'

Amaryllis listened as he went down the hall to answer the door. The low rumble of masculine voices a moment later aroused her curiosity. She pushed herself off the sofa and trailed after Lucas.

She saw Calvin Rye standing in the open doorway. He nodded politely when he noticed her.

'Miss Lark.'

'Hello, Mr. Rye.'

'I understand you're not feeling well,' Calvin said stiffly. 'I don't intend to stay long.'

Lucas braced one hand against the doorjamb. 'What do you want, Rye?'

Calvin looked at him. 'Dillon tells me he's going to work for Lodestar.'

'Yes.'

'I wanted you to know that I told him he had my approval and my blessing. Beatrice is anxious, naturally, but I've had a long talk with her. I think she understands.'

'That Dillon needs to go off into the world on his own?' Lucas asked.

'That we can trust you to look after him,' Calvin said deliberately. Without waiting for a response, he nodded to Amaryllis again and walked back down the steps.

Lucas closed the door very carefully and turned to look at Amaryllis.

'He knows the truth,' Amaryllis said. 'I could see it in his eyes.'

'The truth about Jackson?'

'Yes. He's probably known it all along deep inside. He was Jackson's father, after all. He would have understood his son's weaknesses better than anyone. But he also knows that he can trust you to keep the family secret.'

Amaryllis awoke sometime after midnight. She felt the familiar, intimate brush of awareness. Lucas was seeking a link. She opened her mind. Out on the psychic plane a prism shimmered into existence.

Glowing, exquisitely controlled power flowed gently through the sparkling crystal. Amaryllis savored the sensation.

'Am I hurting you?' Lucas asked. 'If you're not ready for this, tell me.'

'You're not hurting me.' Amaryllis smiled into the darkness. 'I love you, Lucas.'

Power surged through the prism in a glorious rush of light. Lucas turned on his side and gathered Amaryllis into his arms. 'I wish I had the words to tell you how much I love you.'

'You just said it.' She touched his cheek.

He bent his head to kiss her. Talent flowed, brilliant and beautiful and so powerful that it took Amaryllis's breath.

Lucas raised his head. 'Are you sure you're up to this?'

She pulled his mouth back down to hers. 'I won't break.'