a Touch of Intrigue (14 page)

“What piece calls to you?” she asked.

They all did. How would I ever choose? “White. There’s something about the frosty glass and the white strap.” I selected a bracelet and wrapped the leather braid around my wrist. It was right. So very right.

The artist leaned over the table and took my wrist. “Let me. The cord fits around like so, and the glass is wrapped in silver. They’re all my original designs.”

I held my arm to the sun. Beams of light danced into the glass, then cascaded out in a rainbow of energy. Whirling, I grabbed Pierce’s hand. “It’s perfect.”

He grinned, all male, and confident as hell. “Like me?”

“Yeah. Like you.” There was no point in backtracking, not when I’d just told him he was perfect.

He reached around me, inspected the display, selected several items, and handed them to the artist with a wad of cash. “We’ll take these.”

“And this.” I pointed to my arm. No way was the bracelet leaving my arm.

Pierce grunted. The happy one. “That one, too, please.”

I didn’t argue. I wanted every damn piece of jewelry on the table, but that would be…conspicuous. “Do you have a website?”

The artist nodded, handing Pierce his change. “Yes. It’s listed on my card. Here, let me wrap those—”

He slipped the jewelry in his pocket. “Not necessary. Thanks.”

Within seconds he’d led me away from the tent and the crowd.

Panic shot through me. “What’s wrong?”

His head turned right, then left, canvassing the area. “Not sure.”

Against all common sense, I rested my fingertips on the back of his left hand. “Trade time. I’ll use your vision, you use my touch.”

He stiffened, but didn’t move away. I closed my eyes and scanned the space around us. “No weapons in sight. No one appears to be threatening.” I looked at him, eyes open. “What do you want to touch?”

“Already did. Jewelry. Touching the glass was—”

“Like being submerged in the ocean. Could you feel the currents, taste the salt?”

He licked his lips. “Yeah. Not my way of working yet. The danger I’m sensing is from home. We need to go, Everly.”

My heart thudded with deep joy. “You called it home.”

His grunt was a combination of amazement and agreement.

I nudged him. “I’m learning to understand your grunts, you know. Soon you won’t be able to hide behind them.”

“I’m teaching you.” I sensed the grin behind his words.

“Seriously? How can you possibly do that?”

My man was all sweet arrogance. “Deliberately. Now get a move on.”

I shut up, put some oomph in my step, and fondled the sea glass gracing my wrist. Some things were best left to simmer in the back of my mind, especially when it came to Tynan Pierce, and besides, the sea glass held my attention. When I stroked the surface, it…sang. Vibrations poured into me, and I shook out my hands in confusion. What the hell?

Pierce’s hand closed around my wrist, covering the bracelet, and he practically dragged me toward the car. His touch broke whatever communication I shared with the sea glass, so I matched his pace. “You’re really concerned?”

“No. But we need to hustle.”

It was a slow traffic day, so we made the trip back to Manoa in record time—to find a delivery truck waiting for us. Pierce broke into a jog, and hurried to meet the driver. They did the obligatory manly hug-backslap routine, unloaded the truck within minutes.

I watched. There was something special about the interaction between them, and curiosity aside, whatever history they shared, I wasn’t meant to be a part of it. That realization is what kept me standing comfortably on the sidelines while they unloaded the boxes and stacked them inside the maze.

When everything was unloaded, Pierce waved his friend off, and watched the truck until it disappeared, then turned toward me. “Didn’t introduce you—”

“I didn’t belong. It’s okay. Is that the stuff you ordered for our security system?”

“Yes. I’ll be working on it all afternoon. Had him stop at your condo, pick up some clothes for you.” He looked down the empty road. “His brother was one of the men who didn’t…” Tynan choked up.

I slid my arms around his waist and held on. “I trust you, Tynan Ailill Pierce. I’m here if you want to talk, but I’m fine if you don’t want to share anything about it. Ever.”

His arms tightened around me. “Thanks.”

“And thank you for thinking of bringing me clothes. I think it’ll be a while before I can leave here.”

We stood there for the longest time, just being. Sharing. “It’s like our bones have melted together,” I whispered against his chest.

He brushed my hair aside and kissed my neck. “I couldn’t love, didn’t know how, until you were ready for me.”

Bits and pieces of our clothing were left in the maze as we made our way toward the house, but Pierce led me away from the front door. He picked me up, carried me to our natural pool, and slowly lowered me into the water. Every nerve tingled with anticipation. “I need you. Now.”

There were no more words. Just the intense joining of our bodies, our souls…and the quiet murmur of the sea glass on my wrist.

THIRTEEN

WE SPOONED IN THE AFTERGLOW
of sweet sex, and soaked in the peace surrounding the pool behind our home. It was our special paradise, and one I appreciated as a place for healing my spirit. I fingered my new sea glass bracelet, enjoying the bright hum of energy nestled in its core. “Thank you for my sea glass gifts. I want to go find your cargoes so I can play with my new jewelry, besides we were so rushed when you bought them, I didn’t see which ones you chose. Did you know I hate waiting for surprises?”

“You’re welcome. I snagged the ones that belonged to you.”

I bopped his chest with the back of my head. “That’s not helping my curiosity.” I rubbed my thumb over the flat surface of the weathered glass. “The energy in this single piece is so phenomenal, I can only guess how wild it would be if I wore all of the ones you bought for me at the same time.” I stretched my neck back, and kissed Tynan’s chin. “Seriously, thank you. Now that I’ve found these treasures, I can’t imaging being without them, or even taking them off. The man with the artist, looked like her husband, maybe, but that doesn’t matter. He said something about her never taking her necklace off. I get that. These bracelets will always be a link to you, Tynan, especially if you have to go away they’ll—”

“Not going away.” He lifted me, stood me on the rocks lining the pool, and then climbed out and joined me. “Want to find some clothes?”

He stood there, muscles glistening with moisture, and wearing nothing but a satisfied smile. Hell no, I didn’t want to find any clothes. “Later.” I grabbed his hand, and dragged him to our screened porch to have my wicked way with him.

He didn’t resist.

WE WOKE WELL OVER AN
hour later, and only then because Pierce’s phone was buzzing with annoying frequency. He snagged it off the floor, glanced at the screen. “Tail wind. Need to get started on the security system. Want it vetted before my parents get here.”

And I needed to explore my mother’s living laboratory, but not quite yet. “About my presents…?”

Pierce ruffled my hair. “Getting them now.”

I grabbed a quick shower and dressed in clean cargoes and a long-sleeved, white t-shirt. No telling what I’d have to dig into out in the garden.

Pierce was lounging in the bedroom doorway when I left the bathroom. “Long sleeves? Hot out there.”

“Yeah, but who knows how those plants will affect me. I think I should be very careful until I get a handle on how Mom created her formula.”

He handed me three bracelets. “Parents will be here before midnight.”

I’d heard what he said, really I had, but the bracelets cradled in my palms were sending amazing chills through me. Good ones. I managed to give Pierce a nod. “These are…there are no words.” I glanced at him. “Did you feel anything when you were holding them?”

“When they touched my fingers, yeah.” He shifted away from the door, and stared at the leather and sea glass curled in my hands. “I see the patterns. Beautiful.”

“It’s the blood bonding, isn’t it?” I closed my eyes and looked at them through ‘Tynan’s senses.’ “I can see the internal patterns in the glass when I tap into your gifts. You’re right. So beautiful, and so complex. It’s amazing that we can share this. I’m so damn grateful we shared our life force that way.”

He shrugged. “It was a permanent commitment. And yeah, it’s good. You going to wear those?”

Every one of the bracelets was technically created with white sea glass, but there were slight variations in color when I held them to the light. A touch of blue or green, and if I used Pierce-vision I could see the energetic network at the core of the glass. “There’s a wild circular pattern embedded in each piece of glass that has every color of the rainbow in it.”

He flicked a strand of hair off my face. “Elementary school science class.”

“Yeah, but it’s mind-boggling to actually
see
it.” There was no way I could leave any of the bracelets at home. “I’m wearing all of them.”

He squinted at me. “All four?”

I had no doubt. “Yes, I need them to be close to me.”

He took them, one at a time from my hands, and fastened them around my wrists. “Should I be jealous?” Mischief laced his words.

It was an obviously ridiculous question, so I wrapped my arms around his neck and pulled him into a wild kiss. When I stepped back, he tweaked a stray curl that had escaped my scrunchie during our lip lock. I winked at him. “Your kisses make even my hair lose control.”

Spinning on his heel, Pierce made his way to the front door with me tagging along one step behind. “Keep your phone on, Belisama,” he said, holding the door open for me.

“Of course. And I have my .380.” I patted my right cargo pocket. “I’ll be fine.”

We jogged across the porch and down the front steps together, then parted—Tynan moving at a fast clip through the perimeter maze, and me, well, I wandered toward the internal maze, in no hurry to reach my mother’s living lab. Yeah, I wanted to destroy the toxin, and the need to attack the problem burned deep in my gut, but doubt held me back.
What if I couldn’t do it? What if… Stupid, Everly. What ifs never helped any situation, and you’re the only person who has any chance to nullify Loyria Gray’s formula. The. Only. Person.

I took my time navigating my mother’s maze, and found subtle differences in the twists and turns that didn’t match the sequence my grandfather used. I’d explored two of his mazes in finite detail. Both of them were planted for the sole purpose of protection. The maze surrounding the garden was more than that. There were clues as to how the DNA was structured, and if I could learn to read the sequence, I might be able to alter it in the plants my mother had used to create her formula. There was just one problem with that. Even with Pierce’s gift of ESP vision, I couldn’t see what I needed to do. And that left me only my fingers as a guide.

Skimming my hands over the plants in the maze taught me one thing: my mother was a genius. I gained a new respect for her abilities, especially considering she hadn’t been born with screwed up genes like I was. My fingers might be an abomination of sorts, but damn they worked well. Mom had been handicapped with normalcy, and she still managed to design a formula that with a tweak of the inherent properties could be lethal, an antidote to lethal, or simply healing. That was bloody genius. Now if I could just live up to her standards…

It had taken me over an hour to navigate the maze, and I was parched by the time I reached the garden. I guzzled one-third of my water, capped it, and stuffed it back in my pocket. I was a long way from the house, and it would be stupid to run out of water before I’d started working with the plants.

I hunkered down at each of the four sides of the garden plot, examined the different specimens with my ESP fingers turned on high, and backed it up with Pierce-vision. Four specific plants formed a definite pattern within the typical Hawaiian foliage. Breakthrough!

Bending over one of the sprouts, I closed my eyes and rubbed my fingers over the leaves. Images flooded my internal screen. I dropped the leaf, and keeping my fingers to myself, rewound the images. I studied each frame individually. Most of them showed my mother’s hands selectively picking a leaf or two. She chose the deepest green leaves from the plant I’d touched, nipped them off close to the stalk, and then soaked them in a tray filled with clear liquid. Mom didn’t wear gloves, and her fingertips were immersed in the liquid, so each plant alone probably wasn’t harmful to humans. But when they were combined…

I repeated the same sequence for each of the other three plants. My mother’s process was exactly the same no matter which type of leaf she was working with. That made things easier. But it was a long way from a slam-dunk.

Clouds brewed overhead, signaling it was late afternoon and I was about to be doused in the daily rainstorm. Damn, but I’d hung around too long, and now I didn’t have time to make it home before the storm broke. A tree was my best bet to stay reasonably dry. The storms didn’t last long and usually didn’t involve lightning, so I’d be safe nestled under the dense canopy. I scanned the area, picked the most likely tree to offer protection, and headed toward the far side of the garden. I climbed onto a low branch, sat astride, and leaned my back against the trunk. It was a long way from an easy chair, but comfortable enough that I could sit and enjoy the storm before I made my way home. I worked my phone out of my pocket and sent Pierce a quick text.
Lost track of time. Waiting out the rain under the canopy of friendly tree. Home soon. Love you.