Finder's Keeper (31 page)

“She’s a puzzle wrapped in an enigma and all that shit. The watch? We’d like it back.”

“Of course you would. Marvelous enchantment on it. So cleverly wrought.” Prometheus cocked his head like a raptor considering his lunch. “I don’t suppose you’d believe me if I said I only borrowed it so I could unlock the secret behind the enchantment and duplicate it for the lovelorn of the rest of the world. Altruistic purposes only. That’s right up the Karmic Consultants alley, isn’t it?”

“Duplicating it for profit, no doubt.”

“A man has to make a living. Or do you only employ your psychic gifts for charity fundraisers?” His long fingers flicked out and for a moment there was a tantalizing flash of gold between them, vanishing and reappearing in a dizzying sleight-of-hand. “Capitalist do-gooders. How does that work exactly? I admit I find the concept of the Karmic Consultants intriguing. Hopelessly naive, but intriguing. It’s much the same as what I do—helping people with paranormal maladies for profit—but your boss has built her business on virtue which seems to contradict itself nicely.”

As he spoke, his fingers continued to weave patterns in the air and the gold—Mia’s watch—continued to tease them with flickers of its presence in his deft hands.

“The watch,” Chase prompted, his palm out flat.

Prometheus seemed not to hear. “I tried to hire Karma once. Did you know that? But she refused to work with someone whose ethics are as, shall we say,
gray
as mine. Pity.” He made a fist and Mia heard the soft clink of metal on metal in his grip. “I’ll give you the watch.”

Relief sent dopamine rushing through her blood. “Thank—”

“Don’t thank me yet. Nothing is free in this world.”

“You
stole
it,” Chase snapped. “Mia is the rightful owner.”

“Ah, but possession is nine-tenths of the law and all that. How will you prove to a court that the one you hold is not the real watch? Do you think a judge will be impressed by your psychic talents? Come on, bargain with me. I’ll give you a good deal.”

Mia heard a clicking sound and realized it was Chase grinding his teeth. “What do you want?”

“Just a favor.” Prometheus’s fingers began to dance again, taunting them with glimpses of the watch. “One little favor. From Karma.”

Chase shook his head. “I can’t speak for her.”

“Take it.” Prometheus flung out his hand.

The watch flew at them so abruptly Chase dropped the fake and half-ducked to catch it with both hands before it could break his nose.

“One favor owed. Those are the terms.”

Chase shook his head. “I didn’t agree to that.”

Prometheus smiled his Cheshire cat smile. “But you took the watch.” He turned and headed to the back of the shop without looking back. “Tell your boss I’ll be expecting her call. I’m not a good man to keep waiting. Who knows what kind of mischief I’ll get into?”

The curtain rustled shut behind him, but Mia didn’t fool herself that he wasn’t still watching. The man was a spider, toying with the flies who’d flown into his web, and her animal hindbrain told her to get the hell out before the web ensnared them forever.

Chase apparently had the same idea, grabbing her hand again and all but dragging her out onto the sidewalk. He kept pulling until they reached her car and he more or less shoved her into the driver’s seat, rushing around the hood and sliding in the passenger side.

Mia glanced at the clock as the car came to life. One hour and eleven minutes. Factoring in driving time, they should make it. Barely. She held out her hand. “Let me put it on.”

“Karma’s, first,” Chase said, his voice sharp and commanding. “We have to make sure he didn’t put a curse on it before it goes anywhere near your neck.”

Mia put her foot down on the accelerator and drove, trying to ignore how sexy Chase was when he was in take-charge mode.

“Mia, how exquisite to see you.” Karma met them at the door to her office, once again looking as flawless as ever in unwrinkled turquoise silk, as if the thought of being tired or impatient had never crossed her mind, let alone colored her behavior as it had with him last night.

Chase bore the slightly smug smile she directed at him with good grace, since he figured he deserved it. After she had gushed over Mia to her satisfaction, she stepped back and clasped her hands in front of her. “I take it this isn’t a social visit.”

“Afraid not.” He’d never seen Karma have a social visit. It seemed strange to think that she might have a social life.

He took the watch, which he’d wrapped in a napkin from Mia’s glovebox to avoid touching its surface any more than necessary, out of his pocket and handed it to her, quickly bringing her up to speed on the situation. She betrayed no reaction, taking it all in calmly, save an almost imperceptible flinch when he mentioned Prometheus’s name the first time.

She gingerly unwrapped the watch, careful not to touch the metal. Chase didn’t see anything unusual about it, but Karma must have. She glowered at the innocent gold disc. “He put
something
on it. Doesn’t look like a curse though…” Karma trailed off, muttering to herself as she rounded her desk and sat, bending over the watch until her nose almost touched it.

Chase caught Mia’s hand. It was icy as ever and he tugged her against his side, gently chaffing her chilly fingers.

“Could he have deactivated the love charm?” Mia asked, speaking low so as to avoid disturbing Karma’s concentration.

“I haven’t a clue,” he admitted. “I don’t know enough about that sort of magic to know if that’s even possible.”

“If he did…”

“If he did, we’ll just have to find another nineteenth-century Italian gypsy woman to recharm it. Karma probably has half a dozen of them on speed dial.” He raised her hand to his mouth and brushed a kiss across her knuckles. “No worrying.”

An electrical zap sounded, loud enough to carry across the room to them, and Karma jerked back, swearing.

“Karma?” Chase started toward her, Mia at his side, but Karma waved them back.

“I’m fine. It was nothing. Just a little hello from Prometheus.”

“Is the watch…?” Mia trailed off, squeezing the circulation from his fingers with her grip on his hand.

“That was the only booby-trap on it and it was designed for me. He must have suspected you would bring it to me.” She muttered something unflattering about Prometheus’s ancestry under her breath then went on, scooping up the watch in her bare hands without incurring another shock, “I can’t be one hundred percent certain, but I believe the charm is still intact.”

Mia closed her eyes with a groaned, “Oh, thank God.”

Karma rounded the desk and handed Mia the watch. “Wear it and good luck.” Her eyes flicked to Chase as she said it, as if Mia was going to need the luck to handle him. He kept his mouth shut for once.

Until they were at the door and the devil prompted him to ask, “Are you going to give Prometheus his favor?”
Or shove it up his ass?

Karma’s mouth tightened and murder entered her eyes. “I don’t honor bargains with thieves.”

Chase hustled Mia out into the parking lot, leaving Karma to plot vengeance against the warlock.

“Who is he?” Mia asked, clutching the watch to her chest though she seemed to have no awareness of it in her hand.

“Prometheus? An innocent shopkeeper or a devious, unscrupulous warlock, depending who you ask.”

“He’s like a spider.”

Chase tipped his head. “Not a bad analogy. What eats spiders? Lizards? I never saw Karma as terribly lizard-like. More of a puppeteer. Or an idle god. She has that omniscient thing going for her.”

“Should we be worried? Do you think he’ll come after us if she doesn’t give him the favor?”

“I don’t think he’ll stir himself for mere mortals like you and I. If he goes after anyone, it’ll be Karma. But in that fight, my money is on her.”

“I don’t know…” Mia muttered something that sounded like “black-hole eyes”.

Chase didn’t want her musing about any man’s eyes but his. He covered the hand holding the watch with his. “You wouldn’t be asking about Prometheus because you’re afraid to put this on, would you?”

Chapter Thirty-Four

The Burden of Proof

Mia hadn’t been conscious of clutching the watch until Chase’s hand closed over hers and warm static tingles suddenly radiated from the surface. It
knew
him. Mia’s heart lifted with optimism, but her head wasn’t quite ready to give up the fight. Thirty-four years of habitual behavior didn’t give up so easily.

“Why are you so eager for me to wear it?”

“Because I know I’m The One and the watch is going to tell you so.”

His arrogance was annoyingly adorable. “Just because a piece of metal likes you, doesn’t mean you’re The One.”

“Of course it does. You, me, faith and the watch—the ingredients of a long and happy life.”

She glowered at him. “Did my mother tell you to say that?”

He grinned. “I think it was Nonna—or Zia Anna, I still can’t tell them apart—but I couldn’t agree with her more.”

“That’s such bullshit. When the watch seemed to be pointing toward Peter you told me not to believe in it. Now you say it’s all we need?”

“That watch was a fake.”

“You didn’t know that!”

“But I knew it was wrong.”

“That’s ridiculous. You can’t just discard whichever piece of evidence doesn’t support your argument. It isn’t scientific.”

“I’m not a scientist. I’m a fool in love. We’re allowed to rig the rules however we want to get the girl.”

He was smiling as he kissed her. The curve of his lips against hers made the watch’s tingles shoot from her palm to her lips and back again in a closed circuit of lust that was too warm and comforting for the name.

Lifting his head, he plucked the watch out of her loosened grip and gently turned her by her shoulders. The warm, tingly weight of the watch settled against her breastbone as he gently brushed aside the hairs escaping from her bun and fastened the clasp at the nape of her neck.

She’d expected her doubts to evaporate under a tide of certainty but nothing changed. The watch continued to radiate promising tingles but nothing more. She supposed she shouldn’t be surprised. This was her love life after all and emotion never could stand up to the burden of proof. It took faith—something she’d never had until Chase, and something she had a feeling she would never have again without him.

She turned in his arms, studying his face—his gorgeous genetic anomaly of a symmetrical face—for any trace of doubt, of the fear that had crippled him less than twenty-four hours ago.

“I love you,” she said, the words as sharp and aggressive as machine-gun fire. “And I want to get married. Right away. And have babies. While my eggs are viable. Does that scare you?” She was testing, pushing, prodding for weakness in his affections, trying to send him running. Better now than later. Now would be bad enough. Later was unthinkable.

Chase didn’t bolt. He laughed. “Do you have a schedule in mind? Because I should probably have a copy of it.” He dug into the front pocket of his jeans and pulled out a small circle of gold with a microscopic diamond. “I’ve been carrying this around all day. It was my mother’s. My parents couldn’t afford much when he bought it for her, but she refused to let him replace it when they got more money.”

A lump formed in her throat. The ring was perfect—small enough that it wouldn’t catch on things around the lab, but still powerfully significant because of its meaning to Chase. Like dark matter, visible only through the gravitational effect it had on objects around it.

His smile was gently teasing as he held the ring out to her. “I’ll sweep you off your feet, Mia, but you’ve gotta give me the chance.”

Damn. That was her one chance to be a romantic and get a sappy proposal and she’d screwed it up. Wasn’t that just typical? “Pretend I didn’t say anything,” she said, trying to wipe away the mistake. “Pretend I’m a patient girl who is normal and waits for you to propose whenever you want to because it’s more romantic that way.”

Chase stepped closer and rested his forehead against hers, his blue eyes sparkling. “I don’t want to pretend any of that. I just want you. Impatience, science addiction and all.”

The kiss was electric. Exciting. It shouldn’t have been. Now that the thrill of the chase was over and they knew they were going to end up together, it should have been boring, run-of-the-mill, but her toes curled and her heart pounded and she realized she would never get bored of this man’s lips.
Or his hands…or his apparatus.

When he finally raised his head, Mia let go only because they were in the middle of a parking lot and if things went on much longer they were going to get a citation for indecent exposure.

There was a perfectly good bed at her house. Unfortunately, it would have to wait. They had a party to get to. Just as soon as she collected her puppy and turned down a proposal.

“You realize this means you’re a Corregianni now. You have to come to the anniversary party with me and you’ll never have a peaceful, relaxing, quiet holiday again.”

“Mia, darling, you’ve already got me. No need to tempt me with your family.”

“It was a threat, not a temptation.”

He shrugged, opening the car door for her. “One woman’s threat is another man’s happily-ever-after.” He rounded the hood and climbed in beside her, leaning over to grab a quick kiss. “Be nice to me and I might let you scan my brain later.”

She grinned against his mouth. “Define ‘nice’.”

Chase leaned back to put his seat belt on. “I see a long future of trading sexual favors for scientific experiments.”

“You could just volunteer. Out of the goodness of your heart.”

He laughed. “Where’s the fun in that?”

Mia grinned. He had a point. And for a woman who’d never used the word
fun
to describe her life before, the foreseeable future looked pretty damn good.

She’d still win the Nobel Prize, but on the way, her life would be filled with joy and laughter and a steady supply of charming bullshit.

It didn’t get better than that.