Dark Masterpiece (Serendipity Series 3) (19 page)

“Do you like it?”

She spun to see Traevyn standing in the
doorway. She pointed to the gown. “You got me this?” she
squeaked.

He looked down in a shy gesture. “Seth told
me you weren’t having any luck in Monterey so… I thought I’d
look.”

She frowned. “Seth?”

He nodded. “I called earlier today from the
grocery store to find out what we needed.”

She tried to ignore the
fact that he had just said
what we
needed
like they were a family. “And you
called Seth?”

“Well, I called your cell phone, but Seth
answered. He said you were trying on gowns and having no luck.
There’s a small formalwear store I know of so I thought I’d take a
look.” He shrugged. “If you don’t like it, I can return it.”

“Oh no!” she exclaimed, catching the faint
glimmer of disappointment in his eyes. “No, Traevyn, I love it.
It’s gorgeous. How did you know I love this color?”

He smiled. “You wear turquoise often. And
you use shades of blue and green a lot in your paintings.”

She stared at him in awe. “You pay that much
attention to me?”

He averted his eyes to the floor and
shrugged. The gesture was completely self-conscious, and awkward,
very non-Traevyn.

Evie blushed and looked away in much the
same fashion that Traevyn just had. “Thank you,” she murmured.
“It’s perfect.”

He gave her a soft smile and glanced up at
her. “I hope it fits all right. Seth told me your size, but you can
never be sure.”

She frowned, looking even more perplexed
than before. “Seth knows my size?” She shook her head. “I’m
beginning to realize that he pays more attention than I thought
too.”

Traevyn grinned.

“Well, I’ll pay you back for the dress,” she
stated.

He frowned and waved away the suggestion.

“Come on, it’s your own money anyway.”

“No, it’s a gift. Please, Evie, just take
it.”

She met his eyes and chewed on her bottom
lip. “Thank you, Traevyn. You have impeccable taste.”

He smiled and gave a slight shrug. “This
dress told me to buy it. It just looked like you…like something you
would wear.”

Evie approached him tentatively and laughed
in apparent apprehension. “Well, thank you so much.” She held her
arms out to indicate an embrace. He moved forward and caught her up
in his arms, holding her closer than she had expected. He bent his
head to rest his cheek against the top of her head and, with great
care, ran one hand down the length of her hair.

Evie had only intended it to be a thank you
hug, but as his arms wrapped securely around her, she melted
against him without even thinking. She had wanted her entire life
to be enfolded in the embrace of a beautiful man and, in her
opinion, there was no man more beautiful than Traevyn. She sighed
and tried to memorize the way he felt. He smelled like paint, like
the passion that made him who he was. It was intoxicating.

She started to tremble against her will and
wished she could just stay in his arms forever. She’d always been
such a hopeless romantic and she’d only ever been looked upon as a
“great friend.” She hated it. She hated the fact that this would
probably be the only time she could be close to Traevyn like this.
She hated that she was ninety percent sure that Seth was wrong when
she wanted him so badly to be right. But what could possibly make
this situation different than all the others? Traevyn was so out of
her league. She was just fooling herself to even think she was more
than a passing thought to him.

“Evie?” Traevyn pulled away gently and looked
down at her in concern. “You’re shaking again. What’s wrong?”

She felt the horrible, betraying sting of
tears and shook her head, trying to fight them off as long as
possible. “Nothing, I just…” She wanted to die as one tear
succeeded in trailing down her cheek.

His eyes widened. “Evie…” he murmured. “Why
are you crying?” He reached up and, with tremendous tenderness,
caressed her tear away.

Of course, this only made her want to cry
more. She forced a smile. “Oh, I think I’m just tired, or…hormonal,
or something.” She gave a little laugh.

He smiled and framed her face with his hands.
“Are you sure?” He tucked back a strand of her hair. “Want me to
get you some chocolate?”

She forced a laugh. She couldn’t take it
anymore. He really needed to leave before she lost it. She nodded
emphatically. “I’m fine… Shouldn’t you go check dinner?”

“Oh!” he exclaimed. “Fantastic. It’s probably
on fire. I’ll come back when it’s done.”

She waved away the suggestion for fear he’d
come in when she was blubbering. “I’ll just come down in a
minute.”

He nodded and left the room.

Evie waited until she knew he was down the
staircase and then plopped onto her bed. She cried. She felt like
an idiot, but she didn’t care. “Seth!” she shouted. She must have
sounded very demanding because he rushed into the room within
seconds.

“What is it?” he asked, looking worried.

She stabbed an accusing finger at him. “I
hate you,” she declared.

He raised an eyebrow. “Why?”

“Because you messed me up, that’s why! Look,
Traevyn bought me a dress! Then I said thank you and he hugged me
and I freaked out because of you! I was fine before you insisted
that he liked me, and now I’m all screwed up because this is going
to be just like every other guy I’ve ever liked and I’m going to
end up really, really hurt!” Tears ran tracks down her cheeks, but
she didn’t bother to wipe them. She was entitled to a moment of
girlish weakness once in awhile.

Seth stared at her, then sat down next to
her. “Evie, you didn’t exactly make a whole lot of sense there. Did
he say something to you?”

She shook her head and
sniffed. “No, but there is no way on this planet that
that
man would go for
me. He’s so talented and high class. I’m just ‘fun’ and ‘nice.’
I’ve
always been ‘fun’ and ‘nice.’ Evan
Woods started it in the fourth grade and it was
followed up by every guy I was ever interested in from that
moment on. Lee Harris,
Jeremy Frost, Steve
Jackson, Robert Warner. ‘Oh, you’re a great pal, Evie. I just
don’t
think of you that way.’ ‘You’re a
great friend, Evie.’ ‘I’m sorry, but you’re like a sister to
me.’” She let out a frustrated growl. “I
am
sick
of being
a great friend and a sister! I want
to be
a goddess from Mt. Olympus!” She dissolved into soft sobs, feeling
humiliated,
upset, and in dire need of
something chocolate, even though she had denied Traevyn’s
offer to get her some.

Seth stared in bewildered
silence for a moment, then sighed. “Evie,” he started, “you
are
a great friend and,
well, you are my sister so this whole conversation is kind of
awkward for me, but that’s not really the point.” He sighed again
and shook his head. “Evie, you
are
a goddess from Mt. Olympus and any man who
doesn’t see that is not worth having.”

She looked up at him in surprise. Seth was
not, by nature, a sensitive person. He was, more or less, a typical
guy. The fact that he had just said, not only the nicest thing he’d
ever said to her, but the nicest thing she’d ever heard in her
life, floored her. She gave him a wobbly smile. “Thanks, Seth.”

He grinned and winked at her.

She sighed and rested her head on his
shoulder. “You know, you’re not such a bad brother.”

He chuckled.

Chapter Fifteen

Evie still clung to
Traevyn’s hand as they waited in the airport for Seth to get out of
the bathroom. She’d been holding onto him like a lost little girl
ever since they’d boarded the plane. She hated flying. She hated it
with a passion. She had only ever flown once, but it terrified her.
It didn’t matter that the flight from San Luis Obispo to Phoenix
was relatively short. Flying was still flying. She hated the take
off the most. When the engines revved up and the plane started to
climb, she swore it always sounded like it was going to explode.
She
hated
flying.

Traevyn glanced down at her. She knew she
still must look scared to death even though they had been on firm
ground for ten minutes. He smiled a bit and lifted her hand, which
had been clamped onto his for the past several hours. He gently
pried her fingers away and took her hand between both of his,
rubbing it. “Evie, we’re on land now,” he reminded her. “You’re
alive.”

“I hate flying,” she stated.

“Yes, you’ve made that very clear, but you’re
on ground now. You’re all right.”

She glanced up at him dismally.

He smiled and brought her hand up to kiss
her fingertips.

Evie’s stomach lurched and she looked away.
Why did he have to do that? It only made her have more unrealistic
fantasies that, in turn, made her very sad.

Seth emerged from the bathroom and they all
headed off toward the baggage claim.

“How far is Sedona from Phoenix?” Seth
asked.

“About two hours,” Traevyn replied. “We could
have flown into Sedona, but this was easier. Talis is picking us up
and driving us the rest of the way.”

“Bummer, I would have liked to check out
Phoenix,” Seth said. “They have a great metal scene.”

Evie nudged Seth with her elbow. “Hey, do I
look okay?” she whispered.

He glanced at her. “You look fine. What, did
you decide to go for the other brother now?”

She rolled her eyes. “Gimme a break. I don’t
want to look all frazzled and awful.”

Traevyn started to go ahead of them and Evie
glanced after him. He was heading toward a shorter man with black
hair and two full sleeves of tattoos. She smiled. The man from the
picture. Traevyn’s brother. One of the only people who knew him
completely. The two men embraced and she stood back, watching.

“Hey, Traevyn,” Talis greeted with a wide
grin.

Traevyn smiled. “Hello, little brother.”

Talis pulled back with an almost puzzled
expression. “You look different.” He frowned as if trying to figure
out the change. “You’re…smiling. Like a real smile. Not one of
those forced polite ones you usually give me.”

He looked down and gave a bashful shrug.

Talis raised an eyebrow.
“Okay, now
that
is a gesture I haven’t seen in decades. You’re freaking me
out.”

Traevyn gave his brother a playful scowl and
turned. He held his arm out to indicate Evie and Seth. “This is my
apprentice, Evie Austin. She’s been staying with me for the
summer.”

Evie stepped forward to shake Talis’s hand,
noticing that he had several more ear piercings than he’d had in
his picture and Celtic rings of all patterns adorning most of his
fingers.

“I’m Talis,” he greeted with a warm
smile.

She smiled in return. “It’s good to meet you.
This is my brother, Seth.”

Talis reached out to shake Seth’s hand.

“Dude,” Seth breathed in wonderment. “Check
out all your ink! Where did you get all of that done?”

“I did a lot of it myself,” he explained. “At
least all the stuff below the elbows. My friend did the rest.”

“You’re a tattoo artist?” Seth sounded
awestruck.

He nodded.

“Can you give me one?”

“Seth!” Evie reprimanded. “I’m sure that
would just make Mom and Dad’s day. You coming home with a tattoo.
They’d never trust me with you again.”

Talis chuckled. “All right, let’s get your
luggage and get out of here. I don’t want to hit rush hour. Evie,
after you.” He motioned for her to go first with a graceful sweep
of his arm.

Evie raised her eyebrows in surprise. “I take
it you’re the courteous Whitelaw brother.”

“Don’t let him fool you,” Traevyn remarked,
Shoving his brother out of the way in a playful gesture. “He spends
all his time jousting and sword fighting. He gets paid to be
chivalrous.”

Evie giggled and glanced at Talis again,
interested in his occupation, but too self-conscious at the moment
to voice her curiosity.

They retrieved their luggage and loaded it
into Talis’s car without many delays. In no time they were driving
through the huge city of Phoenix, Arizona. Evie had never seen a
city so stretched out over such a vast area. When they had been
flying in and she had gathered the courage to take a quick peek,
she had been overwhelmed by the sheer enormity of the city. The
landscape also amazed her. As a native of Oregon, she had never
seen the desert. Now, huge saguaro cactus loomed on barren hills
dotted with brush and other, mean-looking cactus with thousands of
sharp, long spines that grew low to the ground. It all seemed very
foreign to her.

“Ever been to Arizona before, Evie?” Talis
called from the front seat.

She glanced toward him and shook her head.
“No, this is a first for me.”

“Well, Sedona is the prettiest place in the
entire state, in my opinion.”

Evie smiled and continued to watch the
strange scenery whiz by.

“There are over fifty art galleries in Sedona
alone,” Traevyn supplied.

That got Evie’s attention and she raised her
eyebrows in surprise. “Are you serious?”

Talis nodded his agreement. “It’s a very
arts oriented community. That’s why I love it there.”

Traevyn sighed. “So, what do you have planned
for us while we’re here?” he asked, leaning his head against his
hand and glancing toward his brother.

Talis grinned. “Well, I have this crazy
friend who lives in Flagstaff. He wanted to go pine needle boarding
in the mountains tomorrow.”

Traevyn frowned. “Pine needle boarding?”