Beside a Dreamswept Sea (10 page)

Why had he kissed her? And why did she wish he’d go on kissing her—doing the job right? And why in the world did he seem so familiar? They’d never met; a corpse couldn’t forget a man who looked like him. And from the quickening pace of her heartbeat and the number of times she’d foolishly blushed in the past few minutes, Cally Tate knew for fact she was certainly no corpse.

She traced her lips with her fingertips. After what happened with Gregory, she’d never expected to feel like a desirable woman again. But in the simple act of pinning a yellow carnation to her blouse, Bryce Richards had made her feel desirable—and more. And, though she’d longed for that feeling many times, it’d been a while since she’d dared to admit it to herself. Didn’t it just figure that she’d admit it now, when she wasn’t sure she had the courage to risk feeling anything for any man?

Desirable? Her?

“You are a love-starved fool.” Cally clenched her fists at her sides. How could she do this? Let herself forget so quickly, so easily, the lessons she’d spent fourteen years learning? Forgetting was dangerous. It invited pain.

She jerked the end of her scarf. Tugged it loose from her neck, then shook it out. More pain she did
not
need.

So why hadn’t she had any? Maybe she liked kids in small doses, but lacked interest in a steady diet of them. Or maybe she couldn’t have any. One day, maybe Bryce would have the right to ask her about that, too.

Cally stepped back out into the hallway, then gasped. “Bryce? Is that you?”

“Shh, the kids are sleeping.” He whispered loudly enough for her to hear, but hopefully not so loudly that he awakened the kids. His knee still ached like the devil, and he just didn’t know if he could go another round of chasing them before resting it.

“Sorry.” Cally walked toward him, then stopped near where his cane leaned against the wall. “What are you doing out here?”

“Hmm.” He looked up at her. “Well, I could say I just enjoy sitting on hardwood floors in the middle of the night, but I somehow doubt you’d believe that.”

“Would you?”

“No.”

She propped a shoulder against the wall, then crossed her arms over her chest. “Well?”

“I’m listening for Suzie.”

Cally’s hair swung forward. She pushed it back from her cheek and a wrinkle creased the skin between her brows. Clearly worried. “Is she sick?”

“No.” In a sense she was sick, but not in the way Cally meant, and he couldn’t let her worry without some explanation. Bryce tilted his head until the shadow falling across his jaw shielded his eyes. “She has bad dreams, Cally.”

His tone begged for company; he knew it and still couldn’t stop himself from revealing it to her. It wasn’t pity he wanted, but company and compassion. Someone to share his troubles with, someone to just . . . listen.

John Mystic had been right. Bryce inwardly sighed. He needed a wife.

A pang of guilt shot through his chest. Disloyalty to Meriam. For the children, he told himself. Meriam was gone and she wasn’t coming back. He needed a wife to help him with the children.

Cally grunted. “I have bad dreams, too, but these days mine happen when I’m awake.”

Should he ask her to share her troubles with him? Probably not. They were nearly strangers. Well, he knew more about her than she did about him, and he had kissed her. Though he still had no idea why he’d done that. It’d just seemed right. At least, it had at the time. He’d have to tell her he was Gregory’s attorney soon. Not telling her reeked of being dishonest and, in her marriage to Gregory Tate, God knew the woman had had a bellyful of lies. She deserved better. More. But Bryce really did need to talk, and she might not find that need at all appealing once he told her about Gregory. Would waiting a little longer do any more damage? What could talking hurt? They’d just be two adults commiserating over their troubles. And, after a comment like her last one, it appeared she needed someone to talk with, too. “I’m sorry.” He patted the floor beside him. “Pull up a plank and let’s swap war stories.”

Smelling the perfume he was coming to love, he watched her sit down beside him, then fold her long legs up underneath her, nearly brushing their shoulders. “You really don’t want to hear it,” she said. “Besides, I’m sick of hearing myself moan and groan. I’d rather you explain why you’re out here in the hall instead of curled up in the chair in Suzie’s room.”

“I told her she wouldn’t dream here. If I sleep in her room—”

“Ah, mixed signals. Telling her she’ll be fine, but showing her she won’t be.”

“Right.” He nodded. “But I need to be close, just in case.”

“And if she should call out and you’re in your room, you’re scared you won’t hear her.”

“Exactly.” The woman was quick; he’d give her that.

“What are Suzie’s bad dreams about?”

Effective shift of topic. Now he couldn’t ask without seeming intrusive—which he felt sure had been Cally’s intention. “She’s drowning,” he admitted. “It’s the same dream all the time. Every night—except last night—for two years.”

Cally frowned and smoothed a delicate hand over her robe-clad thigh. “That’s a long time to suffer through the same nightmare.”

“Yes, it is.” He sighed, letting her see his frustration. “I’ve tried everything, Cally. Her mother died two years ago—that’s when the dream started.”

“Maybe she needs professional help. Grief is so hard on kids.”

“She’s getting it. Has been for eons. Hell, Cally, I’ve tried everything I know to do, but . . .” A knot swelled in his throat, and he fell silent.

“Nothing seems to work.” Cally slumped against the wall and lifted her chin, then shut her eyes. “Kid or adult, losing someone you love hurts—in ways you understand, and in ones you don’t.”

She hadn’t wanted the divorce. The truth slammed into Bryce, and for some totally ridiculous reason, he suffered a twinge of jealousy. That it was directed at Dr. Gregory Tate didn’t do Bryce’s ego any good. It made him kind of sick. But the mysterious Mrs. Tate didn’t seem so mysterious now. Just lonely. And hurting. And hauntingly beautiful.

He turned his head against the wall and looked at her, getting a whiff of her subtle perfume. An unusual floral. He couldn’t peg it, though he liked it. “Yes, it does. When my wife, Meriam, died, I thought I’d die, too. I really believe the only reason I didn’t was because of the kids.”

“You’re lucky to have them.”

She was alone. How much harder that must have made the divorce for her. But maybe she hadn’t wanted kids of her own. “Yes, I am.” Might as well get the air cleared now. This dishonesty rankled. She’d gotten plenty of that from Gregory Tate, and Bryce would rather be damned than be jealous of a liar and cheat
and
emulate one. “You weren’t so lucky.”

“No.” She looked away. “No, I wasn’t.”

Bryce covered her hand with his on her lap. “Cally, I’m sorry about the divorce. And I’m sorry about Gregory marrying Joleen the day after it.” Good God, of course. Gregory and another woman. Cally avoiding mirrors. The bastard had destroyed her self-esteem.

She looked stunned. “How did you know about Joleen?”

Now she’d hate him. The first woman he’d felt so much as a flicker of interest in since Meriam, and she’d hate his guts. “I was Gregory’s attorney, Cally.”

For a long moment, she just stared at him. When the shock left her eyes and the truth settled on her shoulders, she seemed to relax. “I should have known your name, but I . . . avoided anything to do with the divorce.” She dropped her gaze to his sleeve. “Thanks for telling me.”

“I should have told you earlier.” He lowered his gaze, unable to hold hers. “But I was enjoying your company.”

“I understand.” From her tone, she really did. “It’s odd that we both wound up here, isn’t it?”

“Yes, it is.” Did she realize his hand still covered hers? He should move it, but feeling a woman’s skin again helped to ease a bit of the aloneness from him. It’d been so long; he wasn’t ready to give that up. Not yet. “From what I hear about Seascape Inn, though, a lot of odd things happen here.”

“Really?” She stiffened her fingers, bent them backward, interlacing them with his.

His heart rate sped. Evidently she too needed the reassurance of another human being’s touch. He nodded. “My friends T.J. and Maggie MacGregor met here last winter—around this same time. He was, um, landlocked here.”

“Landlocked?” Her eyes stretched wide.

“Shhh! The kids.” Bryce reminded her to drop her voice. “Every time T.J. tried to leave Seascape lands, he blacked out.”

“Good grief. Why?”

“I don’t know, and he won’t say. All I know is that he stayed here over nine months.”

“Well, what happened so he could leave?”

Bryce grinned. “Maggie Wright came.”

“And?”

“T.J. married her. They’re expecting their first baby soon—right around Thanksgiving.”

“Goodness.” Cally smiled. “But there had to be another reason he couldn’t leave here, don’t you think?”

Bryce shrugged. “What I think isn’t as important as what T.J. and Maggie think.”

“Which is?”

“That he couldn’t leave until Maggie arrived. Meeting was their destiny.”

“Ah.” Cally stretched her legs out in front of her and crossed them at her ankles. “The romantic version.”

Clearly, the romantic version didn’t impress Cally. “The truth as they see it,” Bryce corrected her. “There are other cases, too.”

She let out a groan. “Surely you’re not swallowing all that stuff.”

“It’s true, Cally.” He leaned toward her and whispered low. “John Mystic, a client of mine—well, he’s a friend, too—came up here. He and his wife, Bess, were getting a divorce. Everyone had given up on them reconciling—even Selena, John’s sister, and she’s more tenacious than a pit bull. They’d been separated for a long time, but they came to Seascape and found it again.”

“It?” Cally, too, whispered, and lifted a questioning brow.

“The magic.”

“What magic?”

“The magic of Seascape Inn.” When she blinked her confusion, he added, “Love, Cally. They found love.”

“Oh, Bryce. That’s absurd. How can a house, for crying out loud, hold the magic of love?”

“I didn’t say it wasn’t absurd, or that it was logical or reasonable. Only that it was true.” He straightened his tie, knotted at his throat. “Honest, Cally, John and Bess were a final decree from divorce. I was his lawyer, and I know that for fact. They came up here separately and—bam—they fell in love all over again. If you knew them, you’d say it was magic, all right.”