The Pagan Stone by Nora Roberts Read Free Book Online

was Quinn, who’d been like a missing piece of herself, and now Layla sliding smoothly into the slot, to make the three of them a unit.
    With the bacon set aside to drain, Layla turned for a carton of eggs and jolted when she saw Cybil. “God!” On a laugh, she clutched at her heart. “You scared me.”
    “Sorry. You’re up early.”
    “And with a yen for bacon and eggs.” Before Cybil could do it herself, Layla got down a cup and poured coffee. “I made plenty of bacon. I figured you’d be down before I finished, and Fox is always up for a meal.”
    “Hmm,” Cybil said, and dumped milk into the coffee.
    “Anyway, I hope you’re hungry because I seem to have fried up half a pig. And the eggs are fresh from the O’Dell farm. I got the paper.” Layla gestured toward the table. “Why don’t you sit down and have your coffee while I finish this up?”
    Cybil took that first mind-clearing sip. “I’m forced to ask. What are you after, Darnell?”
    “Transparent as Saran Wrap.” With a wince, Layla broke the first egg in the bowl. “There is this little favor, and I’d be bribing Quinn with breakfast if she were here instead of at Cal’s. I have the morning off, and a fistful of paint samples. I was hoping I could talk you and Quinn into going over to the shop with me this morning, helping me decide on my color scheme.”
    Cybil pushed her hair back, drank more coffee. “Here’s a question. Why would you think either of us would let you get away with deciding on the color scheme for your own boutique without us badgering you with our opinion?”
    “Really?”
    “Nobody escapes my opinion, but I’ll be eating bacon and eggs.”
    “Good. Good. It just seems crazy, worrying about paint chips when we’ve got life-and-death issues to worry about.”
    “Color schemes are life-and-death issues.”
    Layla laughed, but shook her head. “We’ve got a demon who wants us dead, coming into full power in about six weeks, and I’m pursuing the wild hare of opening my own business in the town it wants for its personal playground. Meanwhile Fox has to interview and train—or I have to train—my replacement as his office manager while we figure out how to stay alive and destroy ancient evil. And I’m going to ask Fox to marry me.”
    “We can’t stop living because . . . Whoa.” Cybil held up a hand, and waited for her morning-fuzzy brain to clear. “In my journalism classes, that’s what we called burying the lead. Big time.”
    “Is it crazy?”
    “Of course, you never bury the lead.” Since it was there, Cybil reached over and took a slice of bacon. “And yes, of course, marriage is insane—that’s why it’s human.”
    “I don’t mean marriage, I mean asking him. It’s so unlike me.”
    “I would hope so. I’d hate to think you go around proposing to men all willy-nilly.”
    “I always thought when everything was in place, when the time was right, that I’d wait for the man I loved to set the scene, buy the ring, and ask.” Sighing, Layla went back to breaking eggs in the bowl. “ That’s like me—or was. But I don’t care about everything being in place, and how the hell can anybody know, especially us, if the time’s right? And I don’t want to wait.”
    “Go get him, sister.”
    “Would you—I mean under the circumstances?”
    “You’re damn right I would.”
    “I feel . . . Here he comes,” Layla whispered. “Don’t say anything.”
    “Damn, I was planning to blurt it all out, then toss a few handfuls of confetti.”
    “Morning.” Fox sent Cybil a sleepy smile, then turned a dazzling one on Layla. “You’re cooking.”
    “My boss gave me the morning off, so I’ve got time to spare.”
    “Your boss should always give you whatever you need.” He reached in the fridge for his usual Coke. And, popping the top, looked from one woman to the other. “What? What’s going on?”
    “Nothing.” And thinking of his ability to read thoughts and feelings, Layla pointed