Serena's Magic by Heather Graham Read Free Book Online Page B

forgive me. I must be coming down with something. The room was beginning to sway on me.”
    Jerry Kloon interrupted her to assure her that it was he who should apologize; he had made the night a long one. “Go home and get some sleep and take care of yourself. Marc is going to need your help with that ‘ghost’ novel of his.”
    Serena swallowed with relief. Marc had gotten the contract.
    But Marc hadn’t said a word to her. Nor did he as good-byes and thank-yous were exchanged. He didn’t speak until they were in his aging Cutlass and on the highway headed home.
    Then he exploded. “What the hell were you trying to do to me? You know how desperately I needed this contract! Christ, Serena, it was as if you were going out of your way to make the night a disaster! And we can’t all have been lucky enough to have married for money—especially an older spouse kind enough to die quickly—”
    “ Marc !” The sick horror of his anger-spurred accusation snapped her from all other thoughts, and the exclamation she gave him was a sure sign that he had stepped too far, that his words were unforgivable.
    His jaw tightened as he drove; he blinked painfully. “I’m sorry, Serena, I really am. I should never have said that, and believe me, honey, I didn’t mean it. It’s just that I can’t begin to understand you tonight. What is the matter with you?”
    Torn between anger and guilt, Serena bit down on her lip with no reply. Marc decided to give her silence meaning.
    “It was that story about Eleanora, wasn’t it!” he exclaimed exaltedly. “It does bother you. I know, Serena, that you sense things, know things. Don’t you see how you could be helping me? If you gave me the slightest bit of assistance, Serena, we could do wonderful things—”
    “Marc!” Serena hissed out. “Stop it! I mean it! I don’t see things and I don’t sense things and I don’t want my life or my home turned into absurdities! You caused tonight! You know that I don’t believe in ghosts, that I’ve never heard a thing in the Golden Hawk, and you were trying to get me to lie to that man! I won’t do it, Marc—and you’ve gotten your almighty contract! Leave it be!”
    They both fell silent. Serena’s aggravation with him was such that she was beginning to wonder why she felt so terribly guilty.
    Because in his way Marc had been wonderful; he had been an undemanding companion. He had been there over the last year when she needed him, and yet when she calls a stop to his needs, he laughs and tells her a time will come.
    “Oh, Lord,” she moaned suddenly, “do I have a headache.”
    They rode in silence again; then his hand reached out to clutch hers in sympathy. “Serena,” he said finally, softly, “I’m sorry. I realize you’re tired, I realize I tried to twist your hand. Thank you for tonight, and forgive me.”
    She bit down so hard on her lip that she tasted blood.
    “I’m the sorry one, Marc,” she murmured, breathing deeply.
    A wave of trembling seemed to sweep over her, and she ground down on her teeth, turning to him and wondering how she was managing to talk and move so deceitfully. But she was doing just that. She smiled as if all were totally clear between them. “By the way,” she murmured, “who was that man?”
    “What man?” Marc frowned.
    “The one who came to the table to ask about the drinks.”
    “Oh.” Marc shrugged. “I don’t know. Jerry answered him, but then he left, mumbling a thank-you as if he hadn’t even heard.”
    Breathing suddenly became a lot easier, Serena discovered. She lay back in the seat and closed her eyes, unaware that Marc still held her hand. Minutes later they reached the Golden Hawk.
    “You know,” Marc murmured as he walked her to the kitchen door, “I should really move in to work on the book. I’ll be spending half my time here to begin with—it would be much easier.”
    “I’d have nowhere to put you,” Serena replied. “The three rooms are already rented