She nodded. He took her hand and helped her to her feet.
Albert returned with Mayfield, an amiable man in his fifties, married with several kids. While she hadn’t done much more than say good morning to him a few times and pay him compliments on his work, she knew from overheard conversations he was dedicated, devoted to his job, and took great personal pride in the rose garden. Featured in magazines like Southern Living and Florida Gardener, he had cultivated a show-stopping collection of rare heirlooms. Carefully framed copies of the articles hung, prominently displayed, in the living room.
Matthias made small talk with him for a moment then walked behind Anastazia and put his hands on her shoulders. Being the polite man he was, Mayfield turned to face them.
She felt Matthias’ breath on her neck, his lips nearly touching her ear. She gulped, trying to ignore the nearly painful pleasure churning deep in her belly from his touch.
“Look into his eyes,” he whispered.
She forced herself to do it, ignoring the dangerous roll her stomach took. The gardener’s grey-blue eyes widened and fixed on hers.
“Dig a swimming pool,” Matthias whispered.
“Dig a swimming pool,” she repeated. That’s a good parrot. Polly want a cracker?
She felt Matthias’ fingers tighten slightly on her shoulders and knew he was trying not to laugh. At least one of them thought this was funny.
The gardener bobbed his head up and down. “Yes, ma’am. Wherever you want it.”
“Dig up the roses. Put it there,” Matthias breathed in her ear.
“Matthias—” His fingers tightened on her shoulders, not painfully, but she swallowed hard. “Dig up the roses. Put it there.”
The gardener nodded again, smiling, eager. “I’ll get started on it right away, ma’am.”
She gasped, knowing he wasn’t kidding. She turned to Hawthorne. “Matthias, no.”
“Mayfield, it’s a great morning, isn’t it?” Matthias stepped from behind Anastazia, and the gardener’s eyes clouded for a moment, confusion apparent.
“Uh, yes, sir, it is.”
“The roses are absolutely beautiful. I wanted to tell you that. Keep up the good work. You have my full confidence, and if there’s anything you need, don’t hesitate to ask myself or Albert or Tim.”
The gardener still looked puzzled. “Uh, yes, sir. Thank you. I, uh—”
Matthias moved in front of Anastazia, blocking Mayfield’s view of her. “Sleep.”
The gardener’s eyes dropped shut. His chin hit his chest. She didn’t know how he stayed upright.
“You did that on purpose,” she hissed. “You’ve hypnotized him before.”
Matthias turned to her. “No, I haven’t. You did it. You don’t often look people in the eye, do you?”
She stepped away. She’d done this? She looked at Albert and Robertson. Albert looked shocked and amazed. She didn’t think it was possible to shock him.
Of course she didn’t look people in the eye. They always seemed to lose their train of thought. Not to mention it just wasn’t comfortable for her, like she could see into their souls. Robertson had always taught her not to be rude, that it was rude to look people directly in the eye, especially when asking for something. To never, ever stare and ask for something.
“Anastazia,” Matthias said, “you have no idea how powerful you are. He would slit his own throat right now if you asked him to.” He turned to Mayfield. “Forget about the pool. That conversation never happened. You came in to answer her questions about the roses, and we had a quick chat. You’re doing an excellent job. We’re very happy with the work you do here. Wake up.”
Mayfield’s eyes snapped open and he smiled. “Thank you, sir. I enjoy working here.”
“Thanks for talking with us. I know you’re busy.”
“Anytime, Mr. Hawthorne. Ms. Proctor.” He shook hands with them and left.
Anastazia collapsed in a chair and tried to process her shock. “I did that?”
“I don’t know if you have all the gifts, but that is one of them.” Matthias stood in front of her. “Apparently you are very strong, considering you have no training. I don’t have a complete workup of your lineage. For all I know, your father’s family might be of the line, too. I haven’t been able to find anything beyond his grandparents because the records were destroyed by a fire during IRA bombings. From what I’ve heard about his…habits, he was also very persuasive.”
She looked at Robertson. “You teased me about my puppy dog eyes when I was a kid.”
Robertson smiled. “Your mother was exceptionally talented, although she didn’t know it. Why do you think people ran to do what she wanted?”
“You always told me not to look people in the eyes unless it was someone I wanted to be very close to and trusted. Or you or my parents.”
“And because I’ve known you since you were little, I’ve managed to build some immunity to it. Although no doubt, now that you know about your powers, if you wanted, you most likely could break through and take me over.”
“Son of a bitch.” She stood up and paced.
“Yes, Anastazia,” Matthias said. “You are very powerful.”
She turned on him. “Then why the hell doesn’t it work on you?”
Matthias grinned. “That’s not exactly accurate. Fortunately for me, you didn’t know it was among your many charms, and you haven’t had time to train. And after you saved me the other night—”
“I inoculated you.” She couldn’t stand the smarmy smile on his face.
“I wouldn’t put it like—”
She slapped him and stormed upstairs.
Robertson moved to stop her, but Matthias shook his head as he rubbed his stinging cheek. “No, let her go, Tim. I deserved it.”
Taz locked the bedroom door behind her. What kind of hell was she in? This must be a dream, a coma. She’d been in an accident and was hallucinating in a hospital bed.
She didn’t know who to trust. How could she trust Matthias? He had an agenda, and she didn’t know how to separate fact from fiction.
Yeah, he was cute—he was a hunk. Under different circumstances she’d give her left tit to be in his bed every night. But she couldn’t trust his motivations. She lay on the bed and closed her eyes.
Damn them all!
She wanted to be mad at Robertson and couldn’t. He was family. She wasn’t just a job to him—he really cared about her. Now with the truth out, the fact that he didn’t seem to have any family of his own made sense. He’d done his best to help her, prepared her as much as he could without revealing anything. At any time, she instinctively knew, he would have laid down his life for her, out of love and loyalty.
Taz returned downstairs after calming down. She found the three men sitting at the kitchen table. She slid into a chair on the other end, away from them.
“I’m sorry I slapped you,” she mumbled to Matthias.
He nodded. “I did warn you your emotions might run out of control.”
She studied her fingernails. “You ain’t kidding.” She took a deep breath and glanced down the table at the men. “Any ideas what happened?”
“I still don’t know who’s behind this,” Matthias said. “We need to get out of town. I already have a planned business trip to Yellowstone.”
“You do?”
“I originally wasn’t going to take you, but now I have to.”
Another surge of rage washed over her. “Cut the reluctant bullshit. Why don’t you just admit the reason you hired me was to work your way into my pants? Last night proves you can. Quit playing around and get it over with.”