THE RISK OF LOVE AND MAGIC (37 page)

The judge tried to look stern, but one corner of her mouth lifted. “It’s a good thing these boys are finally marrying. They’d all end up in jail otherwise. And don’t think I was kidding you—you really ought to be on stage with that voice of yours. I’ll talk to you later.”

“I thought you were the sensible Oswin,” Helena said, strolling toward the library. “Don’t disappoint me.”

“It’s me, ma’am. I’m the one in trouble.” Nadine hurried to keep up with her long strides. “Magnus keeps pulling me out. I have felons on my family tree, not judges.”

Magnus made a rude noise. “That’s the general’s family tree, not yours. Just ask Grandmother Ling.”

“Well, then, I was raised with felons. I don’t think like a judge,” Nadine retorted. “After what I’ve been through, I have a need to be perfectly honest.”

“Honesty has its shortcomings.” The judge entered Oz’s library and closed the door after them. “Now, what is this all about that it couldn’t wait until a better time?”

Nadine explained. Magnus and Helena listened.

“And this school . . . It’s special because?” Helena finally asked, unerringly hitting the crux of the problem.

Nadine bit her lip, trying to think of some way a staid, east coast matron with a legal mind might accept the inexplicable. Unperturbed, Magnus leaned his hip against the library table, crossed his arms, and left the problem to her. That miraculously cleared her head.

“Have you met Mikala?” Nadine asked. “Have you had time to talk to Dorrie and her brother? How well do you really know Pippa?”

The judge frowned. With her immaculate salt-and-pepper coiffeur and designer suit, she could fit into any corporate boardroom. “I’ve not had time to really talk to anyone except Philippa. Why?”

“Because it makes it really hard to explain why the school is special unless you understand the children’s difficulties. I can
tell
you, but you won’t understand.” Frustrated, Nadine tried to think of an example that might convince a no-nonsense legal type. It wasn’t as if she was about to read a judge’s mind.

“This doesn’t go beyond this room,” Magnus intervened with a warning. “Pippa has reason to believe she can kill people with her voice. We’ve seen and heard her do things that are implausible in the world as we know it. This is the reason she doesn’t sing in public anymore. She tried to commit suicide at one point. She’s been in mental institutions.”

Nadine glanced at him in surprise. Pippa had seemed immensely sane and grounded to her. Magnus stayed focused on his aunt.

“Dorrie’s mother was murdered for her ability to manipulate what Dorrie calls chi energy,” he continued. “Dorrie insists she killed Nadine’s step-uncle with her ability to manipulate chi. I’ve
seen
her knock down grown men with nothing but a small rock and a mean look. Talk to Grandmother Ling if you don’t believe me. I’m an engineer and know what Nadine tells me she can do is scientifically impossible. Yet she does it anyway. She found Mikala with her mind, by talking to her without need of phones or computers.”

“I can see that you believe this,” Helena said slowly. “Even if I accept what you say, what does this have to do with the school?”

Magnus turned to Nadine, leaving the floor open for her again. She loved his trust in her abilities.

“The children attending that school exhibit similar odd abilities,” Nadine said carefully, finding her way. “It’s impossible to explain how difficult it is for a mind-reader to fit into a general population. For one thing, people who scream their thoughts produce pounding migraines. And children are never quiet.”

Nadine gestured at the door. “I’m having difficulty dealing with the wonderful crowd of guests out there. They’re all highly intelligent, fascinating people, but one is terrified she’s pregnant. Another has a bet on a ball game and is impatient to find a TV. Most of them are just thinking about the buffet or sex or they’re picturing how to hang tin cans on Conan’s car. If I’m having difficulty coping with this jumble at a party where I don’t really have to do anything, just think what it does to a child who is trying to learn her alphabet and pay attention to a teacher.”

“You just described Jo-lynn and George with the pregnancy and gambling,” Helena said with a sniff. “Not that I believe you actually read their simple minds, but I understand what you’re saying to some extent. The children in this school are more sensitive than others, the kind of children that are often bullied and misunderstood. Is that close enough?”

“Yes, if that’s the description it takes to make you understand,” Nadine agreed.

“So you want to keep the school open, but if you do, you’re likely to be sued for fraud or by parents whose children were terrified by your stepfather’s depredations?”

“Simply put, yes.” Nadine clenched her hands together, realizing how desperately she wanted this. “My stepbrothers want to close the school and remove any possibility of further suit. Mostly, I think they want me to give them control of the estate as soon as possible.”

“I have no jurisdiction here,” Helena reminded her. “I’ll need to talk with your estate lawyer and then with local authorities. If I’m right, there may be a way for you to set up the school anew, taking it outside the estate. Will that work for you?”

“If I can find financing,” Nadine said cautiously. “Right now, Jo-jo’s wealth is supporting it. I can’t imagine tuition covers the cost.”

“That will be your job, then,” Helena said. “Let’s return to the reception before they cut the cake.”

Magnus squeezed Nadine’s hand and kissed her forehead. “Courage. We’ll do it.”

He made her feel as if she could do anything. Holding his hand helped clear her head, though, so she wasn’t about to let him go.

Under the twinkle lights around the pool, the band played a sexy salsa number and the crowd danced.

Magnus thought his heart might thud right out of his chest as Nadine swung her hips and swept back her flirty skirt and stepped in time to his every gesture. She moved with him as if she were part of him—or read his mind.

She’d taken off the hated suit jacket. The cleavage revealed had him sweating despite the cool night air. He discarded his tux jacket, cummerbund, and tie. He spun her around just so he could bring those lush curves back into his arms again. Her hips rocked against his before she stepped back. Her eyes taunted him, laughingly, and he felt as if he’d been jolted with a thousand volts.

And then she flicked her gaze to the side, and Magnus realized they’d cleared the floor. Everyone had stepped aside to let them dance.

“Damn,” he breathed into her ear, dipping her in one last move as the song reached its end. “I want you to myself, not as a spectacle for these clowns.”

“I’ve never been a spectacle before— Oh, wait, yeah, the aluminum foil hat and Tweety-bird, but I meant a
good
spectacle. I kind of enjoyed this.” She leaned against him as he escorted her to the darkest corner of the garden.

Magnus touched the healing cut on her temple. “People should make good spectacles of themselves more often, I guess. I just don’t like sharing.”

She laughed softly. “We’ll see how long it takes before I wear out your patience. Until then, the crowd is breaking up. Conan and Dorrie are off to their butler-assisted hide-out. Do we need to slip away?”

Magnus closed his arms around her and swayed with the slow song the band struck up. Friends and family spilled out on the dance floor. Oz and Pippa had taken over center place. He smiled at their professional moves, and contented himself with the way Nadine melted into him.

“Yeah, let’s call it a day to remember. How’s your head?” He led her from the dance floor, down the garden path.

“Better. The music and you seem to block out the low roar. It’s like having constant traffic in my head sometimes. I don’t think I’ll do well in a busy environment,” she said sadly.

“It’s the reason you clung to the safety of computers for so long, understood. I’m glad I can help, although I’m not sure what I’m doing right.”

“You exist,” she said with a happy sigh. “If you need scientific explanations, let the psychologist explain your Zorro complex. Maybe the answer is there.”

He chuckled. “Okay, no explanations, but you’re still young and have lots of time to explore options.”

He just prayed those options continued to include him. He didn’t know how people formed long term relationships, but he wanted what Oz and Conan had.

He knew how to work for what he wanted. And he wanted Nadine.

She had his shirt studs out by the time they reached the bottom of the hill. He yanked off her silk top the instant the studio door closed behind them. Nadine made love with the same uninhibited fervor with which she danced. He didn’t have to restrain his needs—she encouraged them.

“For someone who turned herself into a machine, you sure know how to make a man feel wanted,” Magnus declared, throwing her onto the bed.

Nadine yanked his shirt from his half-fastened trousers. “Once you take the top off the boiling pot, you get steam,” she reminded him. “Just think of me as steam expanding your horizons like a hot air balloon.”

He laughed. Her lack of restraint was what he’d been missing all these years. With utter fascination, Magnus stripped her of her finery. She pushed him over and climbed on top of him, claiming dominance. Her mouth was a sin in itself, teasing, taunting, caressing, and sucking until he had no choice but to flip her on her back and drive into her with a teenager’s lack of finesse. And she laughed with the joy of the climax they reached.

He could handle her tears as long as he knew he’d eventually be rewarded with her laughter. Tucking her against his side, feeling her breathe, he accepted that he hadn’t been whole until now.

He loved La Loca. Which made him as crazy as she was. He was good with that.

***

The next morning, with the house empty of most guests, Magnus left Nadine in his Aunt Helena’s competent hands.

He knew he was asking for worse heartbreak than he’d already suffered. He was perfectly aware that Nadine was young and restless and not ready to settle down. She thought she loved him, but she didn’t know what love was.

He wasn’t entirely certain he did, either, but he knew how he felt, and losing her wasn’t part of the equation. And he’d finally figured out what he had to do to show her what she meant to him.

So he called the sheriff, located Chang Adams, and drove his souped-up Camaro out of the mountains and into the desert to Palm Springs. The car’s wireless computer—enhanced by Conan’s devious software—had identified and hacked the general’s security system before it reached the main gate.

The gates swung open, and he drove up to the front entry without being stopped. Or blown up. Perhaps Chang had dismantled any incendiary devices. The Camaro’s systems didn’t detect explosives.

Parking the Camaro at the bottom of the stairs, Magnus took the steps two at a time. The grandiose carved front doors looked old enough to have once adorned one of the state’s original monasteries.

He could have unlocked the door and walked in, but he was trying to be polite. He rang the bell.

A startled Chang opened the portal. “How the hell did you get in here?”

Magnus pushed inside and studied the empty foyer to verify he didn’t have machine guns aimed at him. “Magic,” he said. “I told you I was coming. You live here alone?”

“My father fired most of the servants over the last months. I fired the rest. I want people I can trust. Is Nadine dissolving that school? I’ve had to hire someone to handle the damned reporters.” Knowing what Magnus wanted, Chang led the way deeper into the mansion.

“She won’t dissolve the school unless forced,” Magnus told him as they took stairs down to the basement. “She’ll take it out of your name, though. You might want to pay her to expedite it. She says she and her sister inherit nothing except what she’ll earn in executor’s fees. That’s a thankless job.”

“There isn’t much cash. My father was a risk taker who invested everything he earned in his various enterprises. I’ll sell off the businesses I’m not interested in, but his debts nearly equal his assets. Have her tell me how much she needs—just understand it better not be much.” Chang unlocked a metal door.

“My family will help out,” Magnus promised, now that he was getting what he wanted—respect for Nadine. “Someone with a head for numbers will run a budget and let you know. Nadine needs help, not bullying, keep that in mind. But as I told you, I’m here for a different purpose.” Magnus stoically studied the room to which he’d been led.

“Yeah, books. Help yourself.” Chang made a sweeping gesture to indicate the floor-to-ceiling metal shelves of the musty storage room. “The man was obsessive. He collected these, but I don’t think I ever saw him read one.”

“I’m betting your mother is the one who collected them. He was finding them for her.” Magnus walked around the perimeter, examining old hand-written ledgers with no titles, more recent spiral bound notebooks, computer disks, and all the variations in between

“I’ve looked,” Chang admitted. “My mother didn’t write any of these. Some of them are in Latin. They’re almost all handwritten, except these.” He pointed at a collection of three-ring binders. “They’ve been printed on a computer from old CDs.”

Magnus removed one of the binders and smiled. “
The Journals of Alicia Ives Malcolm
—Nadine’s mother?”

“Probably.” Chang shrugged. “I was out of the house by the time he married Nadine’s mother.”

“Do you want to keep any of them?” Magnus took down the rest of the blue binders with the computer documents and popped the CDs into his jacket pocket.

“I’ll probably have to sell this place, so no, I don’t need a collection of old diaries. If Nadine wants them, they’re hers.” Chang crossed his arms and looked defensive.

“I’ll call someone to box them up. Once Nadine sees these, she’ll probably do anything you ask. But give the school the money anyway. Your family owes her more than you’ll ever be able to repay.” Magnus found a box in a corner and stacked his valuable prizes inside.

“You can’t prove that,” Chang replied.