"I would like to point out that you are the one who kissed me, not vice versa."
He raised one ebony eyebrow. "Really? So that wasn't you trying to suck my tongue out of my head?"
"I kissed you back. I did not initiate the kiss. If your tongue gets sucked out of your head, it's no fault of mine," I said righteously, straightening my shoulders and ordering my knees to stop melting at the memory of the kiss.
Theo walked next to me as I continued up the hill toward the pub, taking my hand again in what was no doubt a precautionary move to keep me from bolting. The fact that escaping him had slid down my top ten lists of things to accomplish in the next half hour was neither here nor there. "I would like to think the responsibility and praise for a kiss lies with both participants, not just one. Will you please stop that? It is getting annoying."
"Stop what?"
He pointed overhead. "Stop raining on me."
Good gravy, the cloud hallucination was back, and it was following me!
I'm not ashamed to say that, for a moment, a wild irrational fear gripped me. "I'm not doing that!" I wailed, then shook my hand free of Theo's and raced up the hill to the safety of the pub.
"Portia—"
The damned cloud followed me the whole way, raining harder and harder with each step, so that when I arrived at the pub, my breath coming in big rasping gasps as I clutched the stitch in my side, I was soaked to the skin.
"Portia, stop!" Theo had been right beside me as I bolted, a look of concern on his face. "You can't outrun it. You have to make it stop."
I spun around, water flying from my sodden hair. "I cannot control the weather!" I yelled.
"Yes, you can." We stood outside the pub in the parking lot, which was thankfully unoccupied at that moment. Theo grasped my forearms and looked me deep in the eyes. "You have the Gift. You do not wish to acknowledge it, but you must in order to control it."
"It's impossible for a person—"
"Don't you have any faith in yourself?" he asked, shaking me slightly.
"Of course I have faith in myself!" My teeth started chattering with cold.
"Then prove it! Prove that no matter what situation you are in, you believe in yourself."
"This is asinine. I can't control the weather!" Overhead, my cloud rumbled ominously, the hairs on my arms standing on end with the feeling of static electricity.
"Yes, you can," Theo yelled over the noise. "You can make it stop, Portia! The power is yours. Will it to go away!"
Rain pelted down on us with such force that it stung my bare skin. I looked around frantically, but there was nowhere to hide from it except the pub itself. "I'll go inside—"
"No! You must learn to deal with this!" Theo said, pulling me back. His fingers tightened on my arms as, around us, three streaks of lightning exploded so close that my skin buzzed with the power. "Make it stop!"
"I can't!"
"You have to believe, Portia. You have to have faith!" he yelled in my face, his voice barely audible over the roar of thunder immediately overhead. My skin tingled, heralding another round of lightning.
"I lost that years ago," I screamed, giving in to the horror and frustration that were roiling inside me. I threw myself into his arms, clinging to his rain-slicked body and wishing I could hide from it all.
"Believe!" he bellowed as lightning danced around us in a circle of blue light. "I know you can do this!"
His heartbeat was as wild as mine, and I knew instinctively that, about this, he was telling the truth. He believed I could stop this freak storm. For a moment, for the time between seconds, I considered the possibility that he was right. What if I could control the weather?
The storm overhead dissipated into nothing.
Theo peeled me off his chest, his black eyes unreadable. "That was very well done," he said slowly. "We'll make a virtue of you yet."
Water dripped down my face, down my soggy clothing, to fall with soft little patting noises at my feet. "I didn't just…no. It's impossible. It can't possibly happen."
He laughed and turned me toward the door of the pub. "Let's have that drink and we can talk about it, all right?"
My legs were shaking so hard Theo thought it wise to help me up the stairs to my room first. "Change into something dry. I'll meet you downstairs in a few minutes."
"You're just as soaked as I am. You'll catch pneumonia or something if you sit around in wet clothes." I wondered why I cared whether or not the man who had tried to kidnap me got sick, but I did, and since I didn't seem to be able to change that, I decided it wasn't worth angsting over. There would be time enough later, when I had life in control again, to worry over the fact that I found my kidnapper incredibly attractive.
"My things are in my car. I'll bring them up here and change." He bent forward, his lips brushing mine for a moment in a caress that promised so much. I clutched the door frame to keep upright. "I'll see you downstairs in a few minutes."
I peeled off my wet clothing, towel dried my hair, which was hanging to my shoulders in limp strings, and hesitated at the wardrobe over what to put on to meet Theo. It was inconceivable that I should be dithering over what to wear to meet a man I had tried to have arrested practically since the moment I'd met him, but dither I did. I selected and discarded a few pairs of pants, finally settling on a long crushed-velvet dress that I'd bought for visits to the theater and any publishing parties Sarah would drag me to. I twisted my hair up into an untidy French twist, wishing that it was a more attractive color than walnut. My hazel eyes peered back at me in the mirror with acknowledgment that they would never inspire anyone to write sonnets.
"You've never found yourself lacking in the looks department until now," I told my reflection with a grimace. "So let's just not go overboard, shall we?"
I tried, I really tried not to care what Theo thought about me, but in the end I broke down and dug out my bag of cosmetics, quickly applying mascara, eye shadow, and lipstick before telling myself I was completely insane.
"Sarah? You there?" I stopped at her door and gave a soft knock, in case she'd gone to bed early.
"Come on in. I'm just making some notes. I've had the most brilliant idea for a book."
I poked my head in through the door. "You OK?"
She looked up from her laptop, her face distracted. "Of course I am. Did you see Theo?"
His kiss still burned my lips. I licked them, tasting once again his masculine, woodsy taste, my nether regions throbbing heavily. "Yeah, I saw him. I'm…this is going to sound silly, but I've agreed to have a drink with him. Downstairs, in full view of everyone, I'd like to add."
"Silly?" Sarah wrinkled her nose at me. "Why on earth would you having a drink with him be silly?"
"Is the English water affecting your memory or something? Did you forget that we've been trying to have him arrested for assault and kidnapping?"
"You've been trying to have him arrested. I haven't done anything other than try to reason with you. He's your champion, Portia. You need him." Sarah turned back to her laptop and continued to type.
I shook my head, too tired to try to reason with her. "I'll be downstairs if you need me."
"Enjoy yourself for a change. And kiss Theo for me."
I shot her a piercing look, but her face was devoid of emotion, her eyes on the laptop screen as she tapped away.
Theo was waiting for me by the time I arrived at the pub proper. He had claimed a corner table, the one farthest away from the music videos. He had changed into black pants and a silky-looking crimson shirt that set off his dark skin, hair, and eyes. For one wild moment, he reminded me of a stereotypical pirate: deadly, dangerous, and very bad to know.