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Maeve and Lara were directly in front of hie Beside them stood a rickety easel, complete with multicolored canvas and a haphazardly stationed row of paint jars A big paintbrush, its black tip stained a bright sunrise yellow, lay on the rock beside it, apparently forgotten The painting was a whi of the beach, with scarlet rocks and radiant blue waves and a rainbow of asky above it all

Maeve sat on the craggy lip of rock, her hands in her lap, her hair loose and flowing about her shoulders She saw him instantly, and when she did, a saze moved away from him, turned pointedly to the tide pools below

Even before he turned, Ian knehat he would find, whom he would see He knew it, felt it, and yet he couldn't believe it Very slowly, he followed Maeve's gaze

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She was on the beach below, squatted down on a barnacle-covered rock, her face hidden by a thickan oversized y pants that completely concealed her shape

"Selena" He whispered her na

Al him with their seductive power

Selena pressed a drinking glass over her right eye and tilted forward, plunging her face in the icy water Her hair splayed out around her, floated on the surface of the water, then slowly sank

Ian turned to histo drown"

Maeve peered over the ledge "I don't think so It's only a few inches of water"

Selena cay hair away from her face like some ancient mermaid For a split second, he saw her profile, then the curtain of her hair descended again Sparkling droplets flew behind her in a shihtened veil

She collected an armful of trinkets and shells, then looped a thick, slimy strand of kelp around her neck and turned toward the beach

She splashed through the ice-cold Atlantic water as if it were the sun-drenched Caribbean Sea With one hand, she shoved the tangled brown hair from her face

For the first tiht of a woany-hued hair cascaded over her ar plump, silvery tears down the white lawn of her shirt Her face was a pale oval, doest, most liquid brown eyes Ian had ever seen Her full lips looked ready to smile at any second