'Sweet mother of reason, you bought off the police?' I asked Theo. 'I can't imagine how much it must have cost you to do the hologram of the floor, but to buy off police—that's just wrong in so many ways, I can't begin to name them!'
The policeman looked at me with suddenly wary eyes. 'Are you quite yourself, madam?'
'She's fine,' Theo said, taking me by the arm and gently pulling me to the door. 'Just a little overset. I'll see that she gets back to her hotel.'
'You're kidnapping me again, aren't you?' I asked him as he opened the door and all but shoved me through it. 'You're kidnapping me right in front of a policeman, but because he's part of your horrible scheme, he's not going to stop you.'
Theo sighed and gently pushed me through the door. 'You need a drink.'
'That's the first thing you've said that makes any sense,' I agreed, looking around quickly for the best route for my escape. It was just starting to get dark, the little town in the middle of the busy hour when everyone was hurrying to the shops, then home. I shivered a little, rubbing my arms as a gust of wind hit me. It was raining slightly, more of a drizzle than a rain, but it was enough to chill me. I didn't relish running the mile through the damp night to the pub, especially with Theo on my tail, but I had no choice.
My escape plan was squelched when Theo grabbed my hand and held it in a no-nonsense grip as he started up the sidewalk. 'Don't even think about it. We need to talk, you and I. And we could both use a drink. We'll take my car—'
'Over my dead body,' I answered, digging in my heels and coming to an abrupt halt.
He eyed me for a moment. 'As tempting as that offer is, I need you alive. We will walk if it makes you feel any better.' So saying, he started up the hill to where the pub sat at the crown.
'Infinitely. Release my hand.'
'No.'
We marched along in silence for a few minutes, Theo looking straight ahead with a grim expression on his face, me desperately trying to catch the eye of townsfolk.
'Excuse me, could you help me? I'm being kidnapped.' The man to whom I spoke glanced at Theo and hurried on his way.
I spotted a lady with her arms full of groceries. 'Pardon me, but could you possibly help me? This large man next to me is kidnapping me.'
'Oooh,' the woman said, her eyes lighting up as she gave Theo the once-over. 'He can kidnap me any day.'
Theo snorted and continued to haul me up the road.
'Help—' I started to scream, feeling I had nothing left to lose.
Before I got more than the H out of my mouth, Theo jerked me toward him, both his arms coming around me in a steely grip. His black eyes flashed with irritation, the last thing I saw for a few seconds as his mouth descended on mine in a bruising kiss that drove everything from my mind.
I would like to think that I'm a rational, relatively intelligent, down-to-earth sort of person, who doesn't get rattled when a handsome man plants his lips on hers. I'd like to think that, in that sort of a situation, I would handle myself with aplomb and dignity. I would like to think that, but the sad reality was that the second Theo stopped trying to shut me up by swallowing my yells for help, and started really kissing me, I was a goner.
Oh, the analytical part of my mind had quite a pleasant time examining the mechanics of the kiss. It noted that once his lips softened against mine, my breath started coming in short little gasps that had me parting my own lips. It understood that the act of his hands, sweeping down my arms, around to my back, and finally down to my butt, where they pulled me up against his body, were responsible for a sensation that left me feeling as if my entire body was tingling. It noticed that when his tongue touched mine, my knees seemed to be unable to support my weight, and deep within me, sensitive areas started to throb with an almost primal need. It made no judgment when I started kissing him back, sliding my fingers through his hair as I twined my tongue around his. It didn't even care when people walking by us giggled at the sight we made, kissing like crazy on the sidewalk.
But when Theo managed to retrieve his tongue and lips from where I was nipping at them, the analytical part of my mind pointed out that I had just been necking with a man who only the day before had kidnapped and assaulted me.
Oddly enough, that seemed to fade into unimportance in the face of what must surely be the world's best kisser.
'Sweet mother earth,' I swore when he stepped back, releasing me.
'What was that?' I asked, ignoring the giggles of three teenaged girls as they skirted us.
'A kiss. I think.' Theo looked just as disconcerted by the experience as I felt. His expression changed to one of annoyance, though. He looked upward for a moment, then frowned at me. 'Stop that.'
'I would like to point out that you are the one who kissed me, not vice versa.'
He raised one ebony eyebrow. 'Really? So that wasn't you trying to suck my tongue out of my head?'
'I kissed you back. I did not initiate the kiss. If your tongue gets sucked out of your head, it's no fault of mine,' I said righteously, straightening my shoulders and ordering my knees to stop melting at the memory of the kiss.
Theo walked next to me as I continued up the hill toward the pub, taking my hand again in what was no doubt a precautionary move to keep me from bolting. The fact that escaping him had slid down my top ten lists of things to accomplish in the next half hour was neither here nor there. 'I would like to think the responsibility and praise for a kiss lies with both participants, not just one. Will you please stop that? It is getting annoying.'
'Stop what?'
He pointed overhead. 'Stop raining on me.'
Good gravy, the cloud hallucination was back, and it was following me!
I'm not ashamed to say that, for a moment, a wild irrational fear gripped me. 'I'm not doing that!' I wailed, then shook my hand free of Theo's and raced up the hill to the safety of the pub.
'Portia—'
The damned cloud followed me the whole way, raining harder and harder with each step, so that when I arrived at the pub, my breath coming in big rasping gasps as I clutched the stitch in my side, I was soaked to the skin.
'Portia, stop!' Theo had been right beside me as I bolted, a look of concern on his face. 'You can't outrun it. You have to make it stop.'
I spun around, water flying from my sodden hair. 'I cannot control the weather!' I yelled.
'Yes, you can.' We stood outside the pub in the parking lot, which was thankfully unoccupied at that moment. Theo grasped my forearms and looked me deep in the eyes. 'You have the Gift. You do not wish to acknowledge it, but you must in order to control it.'
'It's impossible for a person—'
'Don't you have any faith in yourself?' he asked, shaking me slightly.
'Of course I have faith in myself!' My teeth started chattering with cold.
'Then prove it! Prove that no matter what situation you are in, you believe in yourself.'
'This is asinine. I can't control the weather!' Overhead, my cloud rumbled ominously, the hairs on my arms standing on end with the feeling of static electricity.
'Yes, you can,' Theo yelled over the noise. 'You can make it stop, Portia! The power is yours. Will it to go away!'
Rain pelted down on us with such force that it stung my bare skin. I looked around frantically, but there was nowhere to hide from it except the pub itself. 'I'll go inside—'
'No! You must learn to deal with this!' Theo said, pulling me back. His fingers tightened on my arms as,
