Love Potion #9 (9 page)

Mitch gave her his best smile, immensely relieved that she had accepted his apology. “I'd kind of like to have a garden. Grow some vegetables that aren't doused in pesticides, you know?” Lilith nodded easy agreement. “But I don't know how to start.”

“I'd be glad to help.” They shared a smile so warm that it curled Mitch's toes.

Then Lilith waved a hand at the fence. “But why bother to fix the fence now? You could just leave it down until the weekend.”

Mitch granted his dog a significant glance. “We'll all sleep better with a fence around him.” He dared to meet the lady's gaze again. “I'll pay for the whole thing, so don't worry about that.”

“Mitch! That's not fair.”

“It sure is.” Mitch cleared his throat, unwilling to name the precise reason he felt so guilty. “Look, Lilith, we haven't started out on the right foot here.” He couldn't hold her gaze, so frowned and stared at the nail in his hand. “I, uh, I'm not proud of how I behaved yesterday. I usually have more self-control.”

She took a step closer, the curve of her shoulder in his peripheral vision. Mitch didn't look up.

“Do you regret what happened?” she asked, her voice low and sweet.

Mitch closed his eyes, certain the temperature in the yard had just doubled.

Maybe trebled.

But he couldn't lie to Lilith. He'd never guessed that sex could be so hot and impetuous. He'd never imagined that he could want a woman so desperately - or that a woman could want him the same way. Just thinking about it made his shorts tight again.

But that didn't mean he could accept his own behavior. Mitch forced himself to meet her gaze steadily. “No,” he admitted. “But that doesn't change anything. We're probably going to be neighbors for a while and I want to make this right. I
want
to do this, Lilith. Let me.”

She bit her lip and seemed suddenly very young. A flush rose over her cheeks, a feminine blush that made everything inside Mitch go tight. She looked away and he took advantage of the opportunity to study the soft sweep of her jaw line, the lush thickness of her ebony lashes. She then impaled him with a bright glance, those lips quirking in a smile once more.

“I shouldn't let you,” she said quietly, a mischievous glint in her eye. “But it's just too tempting. That would be really nice, Mitch.”

His name sounded impossibly exotic on her tongue. Mitch felt his neck heat, but told himself it was just the sun. “To have a new fence?” he asked as evenly as he could manage. He lined up another nail, fully expecting her agreement.

She grinned mischievously. “Well, that too. I was thinking about having a handsome man toiling in the yard,” she teased. Mitch nearly missed the nail when her fingertips fluttered unexpectedly against his shoulder. “Promise me,” she whispered wickedly “that you won't wear a shirt this weekend either.”

Mitch caught his breath in surprise, Lilith laughed, then she stepped away as Jason reappeared, lugging a pair of pails. Her feet flashed under the hem of her skirt, the bare soles slightly dirty.

She had called him handsome.

Mitch concentrated on hammering that nail home, telling himself her comment just didn't matter. It didn't matter that she really wanted him, it didn't matter that she was so sweet and helpful, it didn't matter that her eyes twinkled in a way that made him want to stare into them forever.

Lilith was a New Age nut, after all.

Although it was awfully hard to remember that right now.

“Well, consider it done,” Mitch concluded in his most businesslike voice, unwilling to examine why he wanted to snare Lilith's attention again. “If you want it different from the last one, just say the word. Taller, shorter, lattice on top, whatever.”

“Whatever you want to do.” She laughed over her shoulder. “You know better what will stop that freight train special of yours.”

Mitch grimaced. “Sinking the posts into concrete for a start.”

“Are you sure you should start this weekend? You have so much to do at your place.”

Mitch arched a skeptical brow and feigned astonishment. “Is it that obvious?”

Lilith laughed aloud, the hearty sound coaxing Mitch's own grin. “Uh huh.”

“Well, it'll wait. Righting wrongs is always first on the agenda.” Mitch picked up the next section of fence and set it into position. He looked around for his assistant, but Jason appeared to have found the toad. The boy was hunkered down, the pots abandoned, his concentration fixed on a dark shadow.

Mitch looked at Lilith. “Would you mind holding that for a minute? I've just got to get a couple of nails and I seem to have lost my helper.” He inclined his head toward Jason and Lilith smiled.

She gripped the fence where he told her, their hands brushing in the transaction. Mitch tingled, knowing he didn't imagine the luscious scent of her perfume.

Or the sweet undertone that had to be the scent of Lilith's own skin. Mitch was well aware of her gaze following him as he bent over.

He really, really hoped he didn't have plumber's butt.

“We're
nothing
compared to toads,” Lilith commented drily just as Mitch got a pair of nails between his teeth. He nearly spit them in the grass as her unexpected comment, and glanced back to find her grinning.

His heart skipped a beat. Mitch let himself forget for the moment that Lilith was bananas. Instead, he stood beside her, nailing the fence into place, and let himself enjoy the moment. The thing was, Mitch had a weakness for funny, clever, sexy women and it wasn't nearly often enough that one crossed his path.

Even one who was convinced that she was a real, live witch.

The section of fence stood on its own and Mitch was trying to think of something clever to say when Jen's howl from the kitchen effectively ended the moment.

“Daddy!”

And there was nothing else in Mitch's world. He dropped his hammer and bounded to the porch at one glimpse of Jen's tear-streaked face. Even Andrea looked alarmed, as well as incapable of settling her tiny stricken charge.

Mitch scooped Jen into his arms, Bun and all, and bounced her on his hip as he murmured to her. “It's okay, I'm right here.” Jen's plump arms locked around his neck and she sobbed as though her heart had been ripped in two. Her fair hair curled against Mitch's chin like soft down, her weeping made him cringe.

“It's okay, we're all right here. See? There's nothing to worry about.” Mitch sat on the step and cuddled his daughter close, intent on consoling her. He should never have left her sleeping. He should have guessed that she would be frightened. Jen was always afraid of being left alone, left behind, and Mitch knew exactly why.

Knowing it was all his fault never made him feel any better.

“We were right here,” Jason said with five-year-old scorn. Jen ignored him as she sniffled and peeked, taking silent inventory of everyone in attendance. Mitch gently stroked her blond curls back from her brow. Meanwhile, Andrea skillfully steered the little boy over to the buckets he had dropped and the fallen plants, leaving Mitch to make everything better.

As usual. Fortunately he'd gotten pretty good at it.

“See? Everything's just fine.” Mitch tickled Jen under the chin. She squirmed and wiped her tears with Bun's blue ear. “Guess what I did this morning?”

Jen flicked a glance at him and sniffed.

Mitch took that tiny hint of curiosity as encouragement. “I made fruit salad,” he tapped the end of her nose, “just for you.”

Jen's eyes lit up at the mention of one of her favorite foods – and the only one Mitch approved of – but she pursed her lips. Negotiation was a good sign, to Mitch's way of thinking. “With grapes?”

“Extra grapes,” Mitch confirmed.

Her little lips tightened as she considered him. “
Green
grapes?”

Mitch smiled, knowing how she loved the green ones. “Lots of them.” He tickled her tummy. “Didn't I say it was special for you?”

The little girl's expression turned coy in a way that made Mitch dread the day she would become a teenager. Jen tapped Bun on Mitch's shoulder. “Can I have some? Now? And Bun too?” She granted her daddy the gift of a smile.

“Well, I don't know,” Mitch teased. “I thought you were going to sleep in this morning.”

“Woody the Woodpecker woke me up,” Jen confided cheerfully, then tapped her finger on Mitch's chest. “Bang, bang, bang.”

Mitch mimicked the cartoon character's laugh and Jen giggled right on cue. He grinned with relief. “That's not the first time I've heard that complaint this morning,” he said, then stood, intending to share the joke with Lilith.

But Lilith was gone. The screen door to her kitchen swung slowly, but there was absolutely no sign of the lady.

Mitch was honest enough with himself to admit that he was disappointed.

 

* * *

 

Lilith had never experienced such a sense of being desperately alone. But when Mitch scooped up his daughter, his features drawn with concern, and the little girl clung to him for solace, Lilith had fully understood, perhaps for the first time, just how alone she was.

Immortal and alone. Lilith was effectively frozen in time, locked forever in the moment when the elixir slid through her veins. She would always be thirty-three years old.

Lilith stood still while time swirled around her.

For the first time, Lilith didn't think that was such a good thing. She had lived in solitude for almost six centuries. Even D'Artagnan was a recent concession. There had just been her plants and countless houses and thousands upon thousands of strangers with secrets of love hidden in their eyes. They went on to find their lovers true, to have children, to grow old in the circle of their love.

But Lilith stayed alone. Always alone. The sight of Mitch and his daughter had made that point painfully clear.

It had made Lilith suddenly want to cry.

So she had run, as much from the sight of the closeness of Mitch's family as from her realization. But inside her house lurked the memory of the Empress card she had drawn this very morning.

The
pregnant
Empress who governed fertility and parenthood.

Lilith saw the card lying on her nightstand, and she dropped to her bed and wept. It was not exactly a reminder she needed right now. Lilith thought about little babies and faded assumptions that she would rock untold numbers of her own children in her arms.

Because Lilith could never have a child of her own – her monthly cycles had ceased when she drank the potion. That naïve expectation – now destined to remain unfulfilled – left Lilith feeling barren and empty, cold despite the heat. She cried, certain her womb had shriveled like an old piece of fruit.

Even though she had never let herself cry since she had walked away from the
Rom kumpania
.

It must be the weather that was finally getting to her. Or the anticipation of having Sebastian on the periphery of her life again.

But Mitch had his own children. Although she hadn't expected them, maybe Lilith could live vicariously. She certainly had enjoyed her first encounter with Jason.

That made her feel better. Lilith sniffed and wiped away her foolish tears, determined to put this unwanted emotion behind her. She wrapped her arms around herself and paced. Lilith certainly had never been bothered by any of this before.

But no matter how fast she walked, Lilith just couldn't erase the image of Mitch's daughter's tears from her mind. Even that tiny girl had someone to turn to when everything seemed wrong.

Lilith had only herself and she would have only herself until Mitch remembered their entwined destiny. It had been that way for so long that she had almost forgotten life could be any other way.

Almost, but not quite.

 

* * *

 

Lilith jumped hours later when there was a rap on her kitchen door.

“Hellooooooo!” Someone called from the back porch and Lilith recognized Andrea's voice with relief. She was more than ready for a bit of company.

Lilith stepped quickly through the kitchen and summoned a smile. “Hello, Andrea. Come on in!”

Andrea did as she was bidden, her gaze quickly trailing over Lilith's spotless red-and-white kitchen. “Oh, this is lovely! We'll have to show Mitch – he's been muttering about potential and cursing realtors all day long.” Her eyes twinkled. “I honestly don't think the man knows where to start.”

Lilith's smile broadened. “You have to have a vision of what you want the house to be.”

“Well!” Andrea heaved a sigh and glanced over the kitchen once more. “You clearly have an eye for such things.”

Lilith warmed to the older woman, not because of her praise but simply because she said what she thought. “I enjoy it.”

Andrea smiled. “I can tell.”

Lilith bit her lip in sudden recollection and had to ask. “Is your granddaughter all right? She seemed quite upset this morning.”

Andrea sobered immediately. “Oh, Jen. She's such a sweetie but she really doesn't handle change well at all. Mitch worries so much about her.”

Lilith's heart contracted for both father and daughter. “What about her mother?”

Andrea snorted. “There's a story and a half there, that's for certain.” She dropped her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “Mitch has sworn that he'll hunt me down and hurt me if I ever breathe a word of what happened to anyone. Unfortunately” – she winked, a disclaimer if ever there was one – “I believe him.”

“Surely it can't be that bad.”

Andrea waved off the comment. “Mitch just doesn't want those two little angels ever to hear anything bad about their mom. I can't blame him for a little over-protectiveness.” Andrea shrugged and a wicked twinkle glinted in her eye. “Even if there isn't much good to say about her.”