Part 19 (1/2)
”Then are you going to ask me in?”
”Sorry.” Lord, he felt like a b.u.mbling teenager. No, he decided as he slid the screen open for her, no teenager had ever been this b.u.mbling.
”I'm a little distracted.”
Ana's brows lifted as she surveyed the chaos of pots and bowls. ”So I see. Would you like some help?”
”I think I've got it under control.” He took the bottle she offered, noting that the pale green bottle was etched with symbols and that it carried no label. ”Homemade?”
”Yes, my father makes it. He has-” Her eyes lit with secrets and humor.
”-A magic touch.”
”Brewed in the dungeons of Castle Donovan.”
”As a matter of fact, yes.” She left it at that, and wandered to the stove as he took out some gla.s.ses. ”No Bugs Bunny this time?”
”I'm afraid Bugs met a fatal accident in the dishwasher.” He poured the clear golden wine into the crystal gla.s.ses. ”It wasn't pretty.”
She laughed and lifted her gla.s.s in a toast. ”To neighbors.”
”To neighbors,” he agreed, clinking crystal against crystal. ”If they all looked like you, I'd be a dead man.” He sipped, then lifted a brow. ”Next time we'll have to drink to your father. This is incredible.”
”One of his many hobbies, you might say.”
”What's in it?”
”Apples, honeysuckle, starlight. You can give him your compliments, if you like. He and the rest of my family should be here for All Hallows'
Eve. Halloween.”
”I know what it is. Jessie's torn between being a fairy princess or a rock star. Your parents travel all the way to the States for Halloween?”
”Usually. It's a kind of family tradition.” Unable to resist, she took the lid off the pan and sniffed. ”Well, well, I'm impressed.”
”That was the idea.” Equally unable to resist, he lifted a handful of her hair. ”You know that story I told you the day Daisy knocked you down?
I find myself compelled to write it. So much so that I've put what I was working on aside.”
”It was a lovely story.”
”Normally I could have made it wait. But I need to know why the woman was bound inside the castle all those years. Was it a spell, one of her own making? What was the enchantment that made the man climb the wall to find her?”
”That's for you to decide.”
”No, that's for me to find out.”
”Boone-” She lifted a hand to his, then looked down quickly. ”What have you done to yourself?”
”Just rapped my knuckles.” He flexed his fingers and shrugged. ”Fixing the was.h.i.+ng machine.”
”You should have come over and let me tend to this.” She ran her fingers over the sc.r.a.ped skin, wis.h.i.+ng she was in a position to heal it.
”It's painful.”