Meadow's Keep (The Gatekeepers Series) (35 page)

As she
grabbed the door lever the feeling of caution and tension and caring coursed through her. Eryk? Still musing on the sensations, she grabbed his gym bag and released the strap just as quickly. Damn. She was going to have to get a handle on all these sensations flooding through her. Concentrating on calm—on herself, she grabbed both her bag and his and headed back inside.

Eryk waited at the top of the sta
irs, backlit by the light coming from the rooms behind him. The green of his eyes almost pulsed.

“You okay?”
She asked as she came toward the stairs.

“Yeah. Just every damn thing I touch freaks me out.”

“Me, too.” She didn’t go into detail. She trod up the stairs and handed him his bag.

Eryk walked to the bathroom and stopped at the door. “
You might want to let Bask know he needs to budget in a new shower for the owners.”

“What are you talking about?” Jasmine walked up behind him.

He pointed to the shower. She stepped around him. “Oh, no,” she moaned. The glass walls of the shower stall had tiny star-shaped pings randomly splattered throughout. She stepped over and touched the outside. It was smooth. However, on the inside, each starburst was a tiny chip with cracks radiating outward.

When she turned to him,
her eyes were wide, resembling the overlarge black eyes of a surprised kitten. “You want me to tell Bask.”

He tried to keep his expression solemn, but watching her, found it impossible.
Obviously, this wasn’t the time to start teasing her. He leaned over and kissed her on the forehead. “Don’t worry. I’ll take care of it. I helped break it, after all.”

“Thanks. I can’t believe we did that.”
When her phone vibrated in her pocket, she stepped around him and, with one look back at the cracked shower, moved to the room she’d originally had. She had to get out of the clothes she’d worn for two days. She began stripping as she talked.

“Teresa,” she said into the
phone and pulled on fresh jeans, wrangling the sweater over her head and quickly thrusting her arm and the phone through a sleeve. “I meant to call you. Just so much has happened.” That sounded lame even to her own ears. Teresa had to be going through hell, yet the voice that responded seemed calm and composed.

“Bask called me. He indicated you were exhibiting signs of psyc
hoscopic abilities.”

“
Is that psychometry?” Jasmine asked.

“Toke
n-object reading…whatever you want to call it. Maybe I can help.”

“
You—?”

“It’s been a long time. Running a B & B
with it would have driven me nuts. I’ve learned to, sort of, disable it.”

“I never knew.
I sure could use the ability to disable it right about now,” Jasmine laughed into the phone. “Between me and Eryk—” she said and stopped, realizing how much she was giving away.

“You’re mated
, then,” Teresa commented, saying it quietly as a statement rather than a question. Silence followed.

Jasmine closed her eyes.
There was no going back. She felt tears well in her eyes and tried not to let it show in her voice. “We don’t know what happened,” she defended. “We had dinner. I was suddenly tired and went on up to bed.
In my own room
,” She emphasized. “I swear I was asleep before my head hit the pillow. I woke up in Eryk’s room. The deed was done. I swear to you, I don’t remember…,” she hesitated. “I thought I was dreaming.”

“Are you okay now?”

“Other than the fact that, if we get within two feet of one another, we can’t seem to control ourselves, we’re just dandy,” she said, the sarcasm belying her anxiety.

Teresa
tried to ignore the anguish she heard. “What did you have for dinner?”

“What?”
That was not the question Jasmine expected. “I don’t know. Jarred spaghetti sauce,” she finished fastening her jeans, holding the cell phone against her shoulder. “Actually, it was pretty good once he finished doctoring it.”

“Jasmine, I want you to go in the kitchen and tell me everything he put in th
at sauce,” Teresa commanded.

“Sure, but I don’t understand.” Eryk stepped out of his room as she
stepped onto the landing. A charcoal gray sweater topped a pair of black jeans that hugs his lean hips. Jasmine tried to ignore the fact that she’d actually salivated and had to swallow. “Teresa needs to know what you put in the sauce.”

When he came up behind her, Jasmine felt
her body quake and her heart thump. She spun on the steps and held up her hand. He stopped two steps up. “Just stay back,” she whispered in a hiss.

“What?” Teresa asked.

“Nothing.”

When they got to the bottom of the stairs, Eryk moved around her
and led the way into the kitchen. Dawn was breaking through the windows, giving a faint trail of light across the island. He assembled the ingredients, adding the packaging for the mushrooms and pasta from the trash. He stepped back and leaned against the sink counter, at least five feet from her.

Jasmine moved to the island
, picked each item up in turn, rattling off the list. “A jar of Ragu sauce, traditional. Oregano, garlic, dehydrated onion, parsley, marjoram, sage, thyme, dried mushrooms, canola oil, truffle oil, Barilla thin spaghetti—”

“Stop
,” Teresa snapped. “Did you say truffle oil?”

Jasmine reached over and picked up the small bottle. “Yeah. I think he used that with
the canola to reconstitute the mushrooms.” She glanced at Eryk who nodded.

“That’s it.”

“What’s it? What are you talking about?” Jasmine put the phone on speaker, to which Eryk tapped his ear. She hit the speaker button again.

“Oh, God
,” Teresa murmured, then said louder, “It’s the truffle oil.”

“I only used a small amount,” Eryk said stepping forward. As he neared, Jasmine narrowed her eyes
‘til he rolled his and stepped back.

“
It doesn’t matter. Descendants are allergic to truffles. The glutamic acid, a natural ingredient in truffles, changes in the descendant’s unique system. Although the amino acid is found in many other things, when it’s truffles, descendants react—big time. Combine that with truffles replicating a male pheromone, which is why you became the aggressor, and, well, it’s history repeating itself.” Jasmine could hear Teresa’s sigh. “I’m so sorry.”

Jasmine was trying to get her mind around what she’d just heard
—she’d basically attacked Eryk. That seemed to be the gist of it. All because of a damn mushroom. And Teresa was apologizing.

“Drink water. And coffee. The water will flush it out of his system. And for some reason the caffeine will…how shall I say this…dampen the effect.”

Eryk began scrounging around for coffee and found some beans in the freezer. He filled two large glasses with water and set Jasmine’s on the island, carefully stepping back to fix the coffee. But not before Jasmine saw the smile and the glint in his eye. Oh, yeah, she was going to have trouble living this down. And, since they were pretty much bonded for life—it was going to be one long humiliation. With that thought gnawing at her gut, she asked, “What do you mean about history repeating itself?”

There was only a second of hesitation, but Jasmine sensed there was a lot of turmoil on the other end of the line. “
Truffles are the reason Bill and I….”

Anger rose in Jasmine’s throat. “And you didn’t bother to say anything. Does Bask know about this? Why in the hell isn’t there some sort of “Descendants
’ Handbook?” She stopped and took a second to collect herself.

“Truffles are so rare,
we didn’t think anyone else….”

“Hey, it would have been simple—like ‘Don’t eat mushrooms!’” Jasmine regretted the words the moment they left her mouth.
She heard the hitch in her cousin’s voice and said, “I’m sorry.”

“No,” Teresa said, “it’s all right. I should have said something. Well…it’s just that…with you not showing any traits…
.”

Jasmine closed her eyes. They’d thought her aberrant.
Moreover, she was, just not in the way they’d expected. She saw Eryk take a step toward her, concern in his eyes. She felt him before he even moved and shook her head slightly. He stopped, but reached out and put another glass of water in front of her, along with a cup of black coffee.

Remembering Bill, Jasmine said, “Teresa, you don’t have to go on. If this is too painful….”

“No.
Just give me a second.”

She
imagined Teresa wiping her eyes with the lace-edged handkerchief she kept tucked in her waistband. Jasmine didn’t even know when that had started, but Teresa always had a beautiful hand embellished handkerchief on her. Guests would see it and send her one as a thank-you gift. She had accrued quite a collection. Normally, it was just an ornament.

“I’m okay now. As you know, when I was young, I was rather enamored of Mike Yancy.”

“The three of you were the talk of the town for years…,” Jasmine said without thinking. She suddenly regretted reminding her of the rumors that had circulated when Bill had suddenly shown back up in town after having been gone for years. It astounded everyone that suddenly she and Bill were together and Mike had been pushed aside.

“Yes, I suppose we were. Bill and I
had been close as children. When he went away, I was torn apart. I lost one of my best friends and yet I knew the only way he would fulfill his dreams was to leave. He became one of the top chefs in Europe. When he returned, and he really hadn’t meant to stay, he brought with him some very rare truffles. They’d never bothered him. One night he fixed me a gourmet dinner, using them as a garnish. To make a long story short, the next morning I woke in his bed. The deed had been done.” Her voice was softened by sadness.

“
He didn’t know?”

“No one did.”

“Oh, Teresa, I am so sorry.” Jasmine realized for the first time that Teresa and Bill hadn’t been a love match. No wonder Dr. Yancy stayed away.

“Don’t be. I had a good life with Bill. The one I felt sorry for was Mike. It was difficult for him. He was just starting out with the Abbott Foundation,
a position he took because of me. Anyway, the only reason I know what happened is because of Mike. He did years of research. Even looked for an antidote.” Teresa’s voice had almost a forlorn quality. “I’m so sorry, Jasmine. He never did find one.” There was a finality to her statement.

Jasmine glanced over at Eryk, who was on his third glass of water and smiled. Maybe it was the truffle oil, maybe it was the descendant match-mate compulsion, but her heart
felt warm and loving as she watched him, not laden with the sadness she expected.

He turned and caught her smiling. “What? She said I needed to get it out of my system.” His eyes widened. “I think that’s about to happen.” He set down the glass and left the kitchen
at her chuckle.

“What’s so funny?” Teresa asked.

“Eryk just fled the room after his third glass of water.”

Teresa’s
slight laugh sounded good. Having heard her so forlorn had tore at Jasmine’s heart. She’d always been the upbeat one. She had a way about her. People loved being around her. People listened to her. Jasmine always suspected that was her gift, a sort of compulsion. That’s why she was Ruthorford’s so-called Mayor. Teresa’s tone was lighter when she spoke. “You know, you and Eryk had chemistry from the get-go. Don’t let this get you down. Things could work out for the best, you know."

It was just like Teresa to look for the silver lining.
Jasmine watched Eryk step back into the kitchen and her mind flashed back to the shower. “You know, you could be right, Teresa. Now, tell me about the psychometry.”

“Oh, yes. Well, I don’t know if you
and Eryk are stronger together or separate. I never had anyone other than myself to work with. You touch an object and wait. The most recent contact someone has had with the object, the stronger the impression. Mostly, I feel emotions. I’ve heard some people will get visions. I never did. If it’s muddled or very faint, the person hasn’t touched it in a long time or was weak, like from an illness.”

“How long?” Jasmine interjected.

“Can’t really tell. Depends on the strength of the individual. Tell me what you’ve got.”

Jasmine relayed what had happened in the bathroom, sitting on the tub, including the fact that Eryk had come running
when he felt the emotions coming from her, without touching either her or the tub. She also mentioned the door, the car and the bags.

“Well, Eryk’s feeling
what you feel is the match-mate connection getting stronger. But the fact that he was feeling what you were honing in on makes me believe that together you might be able to get visions. The car is a good example of length of time. That handle had been touched by many, but Eryk’s impression was the strongest and the most current. The door knob, I guess was someone who’d left there recently, even if it appears no one has been there. Trust your gut. Physical appearances can be deceiving. Our descendants’ instincts are spot-on.” She waited before continuing. “I hope I was of some help.”