Aquamarine by Catherine Mulvany Read Free Book Online

dandruff, and acne, he was an even less prepossessing specimen than his sister.
    “Mind if I tag along?” Teague asked. “I’ve never seen your room. Maybe it’ll give me fresh insights into your personality.”
    “Or Cynthia’s,” Shea said. “She did the decorating.” She felt a prickling of unease. And how did she know that? Had someone mentioned it earlier?
    Glory came bustling back out with the key just then, ready to lead them upstairs, so Shea gave the matter no more thought.
    Kirsten’s room was like a page out of
Country Living
, picture perfect from the framed Wooster Scott primitives clustered on the wall between the dormer windows to the antique spool bed with its red and white patchwork quilt.
    “Whoa. Time warp.” Laughing, Teague grabbed his picture from the bedside table and passed it to Shea. “Mylong hair period, one of many reasons your father hated my guts.”
    Seven years ago, he’d have been what? Twenty-five to Kirsten’s nineteen? The man in the picture looked even younger. More than Teague’s haircut had changed.
    “Where did this come from?” Kevin held up a crystal cluster. It caught the light in a dazzling blue-green flash.
    Fascinated, Shea moved closer to run a finger along one smooth facet. The stone felt warm, and if she hadn’t known better, she’d have sworn it vibrated beneath her fingertip.
    She gazed into the heart of the stone, blinded by a sudden dazzle. A low, throbbing hum filled her ears and something powerful stirred just below the level of conscious thought. Images zigzagged through her brain at lightning speed, too fast to comprehend, too vivid to ignore, in a rushing montage that was there and then gone so fast she might have imagined it. She blinked and jerked her hand away.
    Frowning, Kevin put the crystal back on the night-stand, where he’d found it. “I know I would have noticed if the crystal had been here before.”
    “It’s one of Beelzebub’s treasures. He dragged it in the house a couple months back. I probably should have tossed it out, but the color reminded me of your eyes, Miss Kirsten.” Glory seemed nervous, staring everywhere but at the crystal. Perhaps she was worried that she’d broken one of her mother’s rules or maybe she was just embarrassed at her own temerity in speaking up.
    “Who’s Beelzebub?” Shea asked. If Teague had mentioned that name, she’d have remembered.
    “Mikey’s black Lab,” Kevin explained. “The canine pack rat.”
    Teague picked up the crystal cluster to examine it more closely.
    Shea stared at the stone, afraid to touch it a second time but unable to look away. The carnival Gypsy’s words seemed to echo in her ears.
The secret’s in the stone
.
    What secret? she wondered. Something to do with the way the crystal’s many facets reflected her face over and over again? If she were a fanciful woman, she might almost think there was another Shea trapped inside the crystal, looking out.
    “Kirsten?” Teague touched her shoulder.
    “What?” She tore her gaze away from the myriad reflections of her own frightened expression to focus on his face.
    Worry wrinkled his brow. “Are you all right?” he asked.
    “Fine.” She forced a smile. “A little tired,” she said, though “a little scared” was closer to the truth. She didn’t like the way memories kept surfacing. It wasn’t natural. How could she remember things she’d never known in the first place?

THREE
    Shea looked depressed, despite the fact that her visit with the Raineys had gone like clockwork. “Problem?” Teague asked as they pulled away from the island.
    She frowned. “Why didn’t you tell me you and Kirsten had eloped?”
    “I was afraid you’d start seeing ulterior motives in everything I said or did, and besides, it’s not something I’m especially proud of.”
    “Why? You didn’t marry her for her money, did you?”
    “No.” He was silent for a moment. “It’s a long story, Shea. Sure you want to hear