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It was all a ht In relationships And soress on the rehab and was pleased that the as proceeding on schedule

He knew son There had been a tian Enterprises and building his own hotel He&039;d taken son and had even spent a su as a laborer on a construction crew

That had given hie, an elementary skill, and a healthy respect for manual labor

But his plans to build his own had faded as every design he atteick Inn

Why replicate what already was?

Once he&039;d realized he wanted the hotel, the rest was a y It had been iick Inn was the single fah inheritance in any case, but had Thaddeus Logan realized it had becoed to nudge it out of reach, thereby pressuring his son and heir to take more personal interest in other areas of the faled at the end of a very long, very thorny stick during his father&039;s lifetime It was, Sam kne his father operated He was not a arnered results and never concerned itself with affection Despite that, Sa to perch like a vulture on a tree branch, waiting for his own father to die before he claimed what he wanted

For nearly six years, he had held his desire for the hotel close to the vest He&039;d worked, he&039;d learned, and whenever he&039;d ed to carve out roo a few profitable offshoots to Logan Enterprises

In the end it had co hi the cost

Historically, the Logans were staunch believers in the adage that nothing coht, it was their own trust funds So he had paid fair market value for his father&039;s share of the hotel Sam didn&039;t count the cost, not when he had what he wanted

He was going to try not to count the cost with Mia

He intended to be patient - within reason He would, of course, be canny But he had yet, he was forced to ady

His direct approach - Honey, I&039;m home! - hadn&039;t worked And why he&039;d been brainless enough to think it would was currently beyond him Let&039;s kiss andhi He wanted her safe He wanted his island secure And he wanted her back The idea that he ht not be able to have all three didn&039;t sit ith hi up a disaster three hundred years in the nored

Mac hadn&039;tat the Todds&039; the other night But Sained he had discussed it - or would - with Mia in private In the end, rejecting hi doithout a fight went against nature

Sostrategy, he thought, and scanned the parlor area of the currently ereen moire silk and the ork sanded down to its natural oak and varnished golden

Thinking, he wandered through the bedroom and to a doorhere a second bedroom had been sacrificed to expand the bath and the master closet space The fixtures had yet to be installed, but he&039;d selected the generous jet tub hilass on theribbon of counters

He&039;d used warranite and copper Luxurious amenities in old-fashioned apothecary jars

A blend of tradition, co, he mused, that appealed to Mia Business, steady profit, and exquisite service He smiled to himself as he took his cell phone out of his pocket Then just as quickly replaced it A personal call wasn&039;t the way to conduct some business discussions

He headed down to his office to tell his assistant to get Ms Devlin on the phone

H e puzzled her The boy she&039;d thought she kneell had beco pieces A business dinner? Miaup the phone At her convenience She frowned at the receiver she&039;d just replaced And he&039;d sounded as if he , over dinner at the hotel, to discuss a proposal he hoped would be of benefit to both of their establishments

Just what did the ree to the h not to be available the sae her schedule to fit hi It wouldn&039;t hurt to see if there was anything she should be ready for She took a ball of crystal from her shelf and set it at the center of her desk

With her hands cupped around it, she focused her an to warht that seelobe Visions swirled into the mists, and into her eyes

She saw herself as she had been, young - so young - lying naked in the cave, wrapped only in Sam&039;s arms

"Not yesterday," she whispered "But tomorrow Clear the future froarden, lush with suht white moon As she looked, the air in her office was perfumed with the vanilla scent of heliotrope, the spice of dianthus She hite, a long flow of it, to echo the moon

He stood with her in that ocean of flowers and held out a hand In his palht that beat like a pulse

He was sht and color exploded over their heads As it streamed down, she felt the thrill, the utter joy that the wolass felt It swelled inside her own heart, like a song

And in a flash, she was alone on the cliffs while a stor arrows of it Her island was enveloped by a fetid fog The chill of it reached out to where she stood in her quiet office and iced her bones

Out of the dark, the black wolf leaped His jaere still snapping at her throat as they fell toward the raging sea

"Enough" She passed a hand over the globe, and it was only a pretty glass ball

She replaced it, and sat Her hands were steady, her breathing even She had always known that looking into whather own death Or worse, the death of a loved one It was the price that power demanded The Craft didn&039;t ask for blood, but still it squeezed the heart to a throbbing bruise at tiht, which would it be for her? Love or death? Or, by taking the first, would she ensure the second?

She would see She&039;d learned ht as she turned back to her co she knew You did what you could to protect, to respect, taking the joys and the sorrows Then, in the end, you accepted your destiny

"I thought you said it wasn&039;t a date"

Mia secured the back of her earring "It&039;s not a date It&039;s a business dinner"

Lulu sniffed Loudly "If it&039;s a business dinner what&039;re you doing wearing that dress?"

Mia picked up her second earring, let it dangle in her fingers a moment "Because I like this dress"

She&039;d known it was a oing ho wrong with the little, very little, black dress

"Woman puts on a dress like that because she wants a man to think about what&039;s under it"

Mia merely fluttered her lashes "Do tell"

"And don&039;t you get sood hen you need one"

"Lu, I&039; less sense than you had when you were"

A long-suffering sigh wouldn&039;t work Pointing out that she hadn&039;t asked would only lead to an argu wole

She turned "I&039;ve finished o out and play?"

Lulu&039;s lips twitched, but she h "Never had to nag you to clean your room I used to worry because you were too da an"

"You figure squeezing yourself into that dress and showing half your boobs is handling hilanced down Her boobs, in her opinion, were nicely, even elegantly, displayed As were her legs, clear up tounderwear?"

"Oh, for God&039;s sake" Mia yanked the black jacket off the padded hanger

"I asked you a question"

Searching for patience, Mia put on the jacket Its he the sexy little dress into a sexy little suit "I find that an odd question co from a former flower child You probably didn&039;t even own any underwear from1963 to1972 "

"Did so I had a very pretty pair of tie-dyed panties for special occasions"

Undone, Mia leaned back on the seat and chuckled "Oh, Lu What an ie that creates in my feverish little brain Just what sort of special occasion called for tie-dyed panties?"

"Don&039;t change the subject, and answer the question"

"Well, I don&039;t own anything quite that festive, but I&039; underwear - after a fashion So if I&039;m in an accident, I&039;m safe"

"I&039;m not worried about an accident I&039;, Mia leaned down, cupped Lulu&039;s homely face in her hands She hadn&039;t had to search for patience after all, she realized She&039;d only had to remember love

"You don&039;t have to worry at all I promise"

"My job is to worry," Luluto have a lovely dinner, find out just what business it is Sa hi for hi for him I loved him"

Lulu&039;s shoulders drooped "Oh, honey" She lifted a hand, fussed with Mia&039;s hair "I wish he&039;d stayed in goddamn New York City"

"Well, he didn&039;t I don&039;t knohat I&039; now is just left over from what I felt then, or if it&039;s because of now, or all the years between Shouldn&039;t I find out?"

"Being you, you have to But I wish you&039;d kick his ass first"

Mia turned, slipped on a haold necklace that dripped a slim column of pearls between her breasts "If this dress doesn&039;t kick his ass, I don&039;t knoill"

Lulu curled her lip, angled her head "Maybe you&039;re not so stupid"

"I learned from the best" Mia colored her lips in murderous red, shook back her wild cloud of hair,

turned "So, how do I look?"

"Like a ht she timed it perfectly as well At precisely seven, she strolled into the lobby of the Magick Inn The young desk clerk glanced over, goggled, then dropped the sheaf of papers in his hand Pleased, she shot him a killer s room There was a es Sa of pride

The standard white tablecloths had been replaced by rich ht contrast The old clear glass vases had been re hite lilies forlassware had a heavy, alraced with a sh cutouts in the shapes of stars and crescent moons

For the first time in her memory, the roo, she stepped in And experienced a fast, hard jolt

There on the as a life-size painting of three woht sky, looked down at her froold They were robed in white, and the folds of those robes, the tendrils of their hair, seemed to move in an unseen wind She saw Nell&039;s blue eyes, Ripley&039;s green ones And her own face

"Like it?" Sam said from behind her

She sed so that her voice would be clear "It&039;s stunning"

"I had it coo It just arrived today"

"It&039;s beautiful work The models"