Chapter Fifteen
“When did you tell him about Maxine?” Luke quietly asked when Roger disappeared inside the cabin.
“I didn’t.”
“Then how did he know what happened to Kate thirteen years ago?” He held the papers toward her. “And this license; how could Fiona have given it to him three weeks ago, before she even met me? Every bit of information on here is correct, right down to my biological father’s name.”
Camry said nothing, staring at the papers in his hand.
Luke lifted her chin to make her look at him. “How can Roger AuClair possibly know so much about us?” he asked, fighting the alarm tightening his gut. “Even your amusement park comment. It’s almost as if he’s been listening to our conversations for the past week.”
Luke suddenly drove his hand into his pocket and pulled out the transmitter. “This,” he growled, holding it up between them. “It’s not a transmitter, it’s some sort of listening device!” He wound his arm back and threw it, watching it shatter into pieces against a tree, then took hold of Camry’s hand and started toward the snowcat. “I can’t explain what’s going on, much less why, but we are getting the hell off this mountain.”
He opened the door and tried to lift her inside, but Camry pulled free and took several steps back.
“Oh, right. The dogs.” He headed toward the cabin.
“No, Luke!” she cried, grabbing his arm and spinning around. “Wait. I can explain,” she said, her eyes searching his. “I-it’s the magic,” she whispered. “I know you don’t believe in anything but cold hard facts,” she rushed on, clutching his arms to follow him when he took a step back. “But the very energy that powers you and meis the exact same energy that powers the universe. From the cradle, I’ve been taught that it’s the magicthat powers life—quietly, benevolently, and . . . and unpretentious in its desire to see each of us reach our full potential.”
She dropped her gaze to his chest. “And I’ve spent my entire adult life running from it.” She looked up, smiling sadly. “Until I woke up one morning to find a handsome, sexy, unassuming rocket scientist in my bed, who didn’t seem to take me anywhere near as seriously as I took myself.”
“I’ve always taken you seriously,” Luke barely managed to say.
She let go of him and hugged herself, her smile turning self-abasing as she shook her head in denial. “I’ve been so full of myself, it’s a wonder my head fits through doors. I’ve blamed all my problems on everyone but myself; my mother wouldn’t collaborate with me, some jerk in France was trying to steal my work, all my sisters were so damned happy I wanted to kick them, and . . .” She reached up and clasped his face in her shaking hands. “And then youmagically appeared. And for the first time in a very long time, I wanted to be damned happy, too. With you.”
She wrapped her arms around his waist and pressed her cheek to his pounding heart. “Over this past week, I found myself falling in love with a man who sees brick walls as opportunities, a belligerent colleague as a challenge, and a grumpy roommate as an intimate partner.”
She tilted her head back to look up at him, and Luke’s knees turned to jelly at the raw, unadulterated truth he saw in her tear-filled eyes.
“I want to spend forever with you, Luke, seeing life the way you see it. I didn’t need a few hours to consider your proposal; I only needed the courage to admit to myself that I love you so much, my heart hurts when I think about a future that doesn’t include you. I’ve never felt this alive, Luke. Normally that would scare the hell out of me, but youmake me brave.”
She covered his mouth with her fingers when he tried to speak. “There’s more,” she whispered. “A-and it’s important that you hear it from me.” She stepped out of his arms—making Luke’s knees nearly buckle—and squared her shoulders on a shuddering breath. “Roger AuClair’s eyes look familiar to you because they’re the mirror image of my father’s eyes, and mine, and those of every other MacKeage born since the beginning of time. Only Winter has blue eyes, like my mother. And Fiona.” She gestured toward the cabin. “If I had to guess, I would say Roger is one of my original ancestors, born in a time when the magic was honored instead of held suspect like it is today. Which is why he’s appeared to you—to us—as a harmless old hermit.”
She held her arms out from her sides. “I am of the highland clan MacKeage, and loving me means accepting the magic that rules our science.” She swiped away a tear running down her cheek, her beautiful green eyes locked on his, her vulnerability fully exposed. “So if you still want to spend the rest of your life with me after all you’ve seen today, and can wrap your mind around the notion that it’s only the tip of the iceberg, then I would ask that you let Roger marry us—right now, in this magical place.”
Luke’s legs finally buckled and he dropped to his knees, holding his arms out to her. Camry threw herself at him with a cry of relief, and hugged him so tight he grunted.
“Right now, right here,” he said into her hair. He tilted her head back. “But only because I happen to be insanely in love with you,” he growled, covering her mouth with his.
“Okay, then!” Roger AuClair called out as he walked to them. “Let’s get these vows said before you folks set these poor dogs to blushing!”
Luke forced himself to stop making delicious love to Camry’s mouth and looked up, only to blink at the man dressed in . . . wearing a . . .
Camry covered his gaping mouth with her hand. “Don’t ask, Luke, just accept,” she said, leaning her forehead against his with a giggle. “It’s a drùidh thing.”
“It’ll be a first for me,” Roger said, “but if you two want to give your vows on your knees, I don’t mind none.”
Luke scrambled to his feet, pulling Camry with him and immediately tucking her up against his side as he faced what he could only describe as . . . honest to God, the man looked like a fairytale wizard. Roger AuClair was wearing a black-and-gold spun robe that billowed to the ground, a thick leather belt encrusted with enough jewels to ransom a nation, and a pointed hat that looked an awful lot like the one Mickey Mouse wore in the Disney movie Fantasia—which Luke must have watched a hundred times with Kate.
“Would you folks be wanting the shortversion, or the really, really long one that will probably run over into my Survivormanshow?” Roger asked. He suddenly shot Luke a broad smile. “I see your fancy degrees areworth the paper they’re printed on, Renoir. I’m getting all my channels now.”
“Thank you,” Luke said. “And we’d like the short version, please.”
The old hermit started patting himself down, until his hand suddenly disappeared inside his robe, only to reappear holding a book that had to weigh fifteen pounds if it weighed an ounce. He started leafing through the pages, murmuring to himself.
Luke glanced down at Camry tucked under his arm, and found her smiling up at him. She patted his chest. “Don’t worry, the amusement park will be open all night.”