So, no need to worry about Harry Sebastian and Attridge, she thought, trying to steady her nerves. That leaves the day-blind bastard and his wife.

The roiling fever of her long-festering hatred of Drake Sebastian threatened to overwhelm her. She thought she had taken her revenge. Drake did his best to keep a low profile, but as the president and CEO-in-waiting of Sebastian, Inc., he could not entirely avoid the public eye. Every time she saw a picture of him in the business pages of the newspapers or caught a video showing him at a social event or a fund-raiser, she got a rush of satisfaction.

Drake was condemned to wear the special mirrored sunglasses that were the mark of her vengeance. Every day when he faced a new dawn he was forced to remember her. For Drake, it was always night.

“I told you that you would never forget me,” she said.

A lot of high-rez talents who suffered a catastrophic loss of their para-senses plunged into deep depression. Suicide was not uncommon. So were hallucinogenic drugs. She had anticipated that Drake would self-destruct after she destroyed much of his talent. She had looked forward to watching him spiral down into a bottomless pit of despair.

Instead, he had become the man the business world called the Magician—the brilliant strategist that Sebastian, Inc. relied on to close the deal. The man who was slated to take over the family empire.

Bastard, she thought.

How he had successfully piloted a boat through the bizarre currents around the island and navigated the nightmarish fog was anyone’s guess. The only explanation was sheer luck. But not even luck could explain how Drake and Alice North had survived the night out in the open on the beach, rescued Karen Rosser, and hiked around the coastline all the way to Shadow Bay.

It was as if the universe was conspiring against her.

Nothing had gone right. The only good news was that Drake was trapped in Shadow Bay and cut off from the outside world just like everyone else in the small town.

“Just like I am.” She managed a grim smile. “We’re star-crossed lovers, you and I, Drake. If Rainshadow blows, we will die together. Wouldn’t that be romantic?”

If things went that far south, she would make certain that—come hell or nightmare fog—Drake Sebastian knew that she was the one responsible for his death and the death of everyone else on the island.

But she was far from ready to give up. In some ways, just knowing that Drake was on Rainshadow was energizing. She would find a way out of this situation. Afterward she would destroy the bastard.

No half measures next time.

Chapter 21

DRAKE FELT ALICE SLIDE OUT FROM UNDER HIS ARM AND get to her feet. Energy shivered in the air. He knew that she had jacked up her senses a little.

“Hang on, I’ll light the lantern for you,” he said.

“It’s okay. I’ve got some paranormal night vision thanks to my talent.”

He put on his glasses and hit the lantern button, anyway. A soft glow illuminated the room.

“Thanks,” Alice said.

She disappeared into the bathroom. He heard water run in the sink. The toilet flushed. Alice reappeared wearing a towel wrapped around her body.

He folded one arm behind his head and admired the view of Alice lit with paranormal energy. The towel was not an oversized luxury spa bath sheet. It was a cheap little towel and it did not cover much. That was a good thing, he thought. He immediately got hard.

She scrambled back under the covers. In the process she lost her grip on the front of the towel. It slipped off altogether. When she finally got the sheet pulled up to her chin, she glared at him.

“Don’t you dare laugh at me,” she warned.

“I’m not laughing.”

“You’re smiling.”

“Okay, I may be smiling,” he conceded.

“Hah. I knew it.” She was quiet for a moment. “I hope Houdini is all right.”

“He’ll be fine.” Drake shoved aside the covers, swung his legs over the side of the bed, and got to his feet. “You’re pretty shy for someone who spent the past year on the stage.”

“I don’t go on stage naked.” She fluffed up her thin pillow. “And for your information, I’ve got a right to be shy at this particular moment. I barely know you and here I am in bed with you.”

He was surprised by the flash of irritation that zapped through him.

“Here you are married to me,” he corrected.

“That, too. Boy, this has turned into one strange road trip. My life is starting to remind me of that children’s story Alice in Amberland. You know, the one where the heroine falls down a dust bunny hole and winds up in a sort of alternate universe where everything is weird.”

“You think this situation, you and me here together, is weird? Looks pretty damn straightforward and normal to me. We’re married. We had excellent sex. At least it was excellent from my standpoint.”

To his surprise and further irritation, she gave that some close thought.

“Yes, it was,” she finally agreed, sounding somewhat astonished. “That’s the first time I’ve had an orgasm without the assistance of a small personal appliance.”

“Yeah?”

“You know, you’re right,” she said.

“I am?”

“I’m overreacting. A man and a woman are thrown together in stressful circumstances. They are attracted to each other and they wind up in bed together. It happens.”

“Right,” he growled. “It happens. But you left out the part about the man and the woman getting married.”

He stalked into the bathroom.

When he came back out, he settled down on his side of the bed, very aware of the distance between himself and Alice. He turned off the lantern and took off his glasses.

“Don’t,” he said.

She turned her head on the pillow to look at him. “Don’t what?”

“Don’t try to blame what happened between us on stress.”

There was a small silence.

“I would think that a facts-on-the-ground guy would want explanations for everything,” she said after a moment.

“Some things don’t need explaining.”

“Okay.”

“Some facts are just facts,” he said.

“Right.”

“You said it yourself, the sex was pretty fantastic. That’s a simple, straightforward fact. It doesn’t need any further analysis.”

She put her fingertip on his chest and drew an invisible line straight down to his serious erection. She encircled him with her fingers.

“No more analysis,” she promised.

She started to kiss him, her wet, warm mouth following the path that she had traced with her fingertip.

“Alice,” he whispered. He reached down and tangled his fingers through her hair. “Alice.”

Chapter 22

THE SCRATCHING AT THE DOOR AND A SOFT, MUFFLED chortle brought Drake out of a dream that involved an endless hallway lined with doors. Each time he opened a door he was blinded by a blazing sun. Somewhere in the hall, Zara Tucker laughed.

“Houdini,” Alice mumbled into the pillow. “About time he got home.”

“I’ll let him in,” Drake said.

“Thanks.”

Dawn was approaching. Drake groped for his sunglasses and got them on before he opened his eyes.

He climbed out of bed and opened the door. A single amber lantern glowed at one end of the hall near the stairs. Houdini bustled into the room, chortling a cheerful greeting. He hopped up onto the bed.

“Hey there, pal.” Alice stirred and reached out to pat him. “I was getting worried.”

Houdini submitted briefly to a few pats and then stretched out on his back at the foot of the bed, all six paws in the air. He closed his baby blue eyes.

Drake took off his glasses and went back to the bed. He stood there for a moment, studying the sleeping Houdini.