CHAPTER 28

Liam spun, then stood blinking in the bright light of a sun he hadn’t seen with human eyes in centuries.

“I thought you were moon cursed,” Edward said.

“I thought I was, too.”

Kris took Liam’s hand again. For the first time, his wasn’t noticeably cooler than hers. This time their skin temperature was the same.

She peered at their linked fingers. “What happened?”

“I dinnae know.”

Kris turned to Mandenauer. “Ever hear of anything like this?”

“Curses can be broken.” His already-wrinkled brow wrinkled even more. “Usually the one who cast the curse is needed in order to remove it.”

“What if they’re dead?”

“You raise them.”

“Raise them,” Kris repeated. “Huh?”

“Voodoo. Magic.”

“Maybe Jamaica—” Kris began.

“No,” Liam interrupted. “I forbid her to break her vow for me. And she’s hurt, weak. She couldnae.”

Mandenauer pulled out a cell phone and pressed a single button. Someone on the other end must have answered, because he began to speak without benefit of “hello.” “Have you found another way to break a curse beyond having it removed by the one who originated it?”

He listened, then shut the phone without benefit of “good-bye.” “According to my expert on curses, some can be removed by wiping out the line that did the cursing.” He turned to address Liam. “In other words, every ancestor of the witch that cursed you must die.”

Liam grimaced and said, “I wouldnae,” at the same time Kris murmured, “Uh-oh.”

Edward brought up the gun again.

“I would never take another life to ease my own,” Liam insisted before Kris could speak.

“Dougal,” Kris managed, both fear and hope in her eyes. “He said he was the last of his line.”

“Convenient,” Mandenauer murmured.

Liam ignored him. “How could they all be gone?”

“They must be.” Kris lifted her chin to the eastern sky. “You’re you.”

Liam studied his hands, his arms, his legs, as if he expected them still to disappear as he morphed into a seal-skinned lake monster. “I dinnae understand.”

“There is much in this world that is not understood.” Mandenauer put up the gun. “Which is why I find it so remarkable.” He actually winked at Kris. “I may never leave.”

“Is this permanent?” Liam asked.

“I have never known a curse to skip a day,” the old man observed. “Have you?”

“No, sir.”

“You’re mortal now,” Mandenauer said. “Be careful. It takes some getting used to.”

Edward turned and strolled toward the trees. As soon as he walked into their shadows, he seemed to disappear.

Liam stared at the sky. He couldn’t seem to get enough of the sight of the sun.

“I love you,” she murmured, then waited for Liam to repeat that her love wasn’t real. Except she knew the truth.

Love was love. If you felt it, it existed, no matter how the emotion had come about.

He lowered his gaze, and her heart took one large thump, then began to whirl. He gathered her into his arms, and he kissed her, his lips now as warm as his hands. And while she’d liked their chill, she discovered she enjoyed the warmth just as much.

His eyes, too, were different. Certainly they still held sadness, a few shadows, and probably always would, but they were brighter, lighter. They seemed to look forward instead of forever back, and his next words proved it.

“Marry me.” Not a question, more of a command.

“You believe I love you?”

“I do.”

“What changed your mind?”

He indicated the sun with a jerk of his chin. “Ye still feel the same way about me now as ye did when the sun slept?”

“Exactly.”

“That I’m standing here on two legs in its light means I’m no longer Nessie, nor the kelpie that seduced. Any spell ye may have been under is broken. I’m a man. And a man cannae make someone love.”

“No, he can’t,” she agreed.

“Then ye’ll marry me?”

“I’ll think about it.”

Confusion flickered over his beautiful face. “I thought ye loved me.”

“I do. But, Liam—” She took a breath, let it out slow and long. “Where will we live? What will we do? How—?”

“Not now,” he interrupted. “I’ll spend a lifetime”—wonder spread over his face—“an actual lifetime, making amends for what I once did. But for now—” He kissed her again, putting a stop to every question but one. “Will ye let me make love t’ ye in the sun?”

Later, after they’d run laughing across the road, carrying pieces of their clothing, pulling grass out of places grass should not be, Kris lay in bed with her head on Liam’s shoulder.

“I’m glad you’re you,” she said. “But kind of sorry about Nessie. The tourist trade will take a nasty hit.”

“I doubt it.”

Kris drew back so she could see his face; there’d been something in his voice.…

“I never said I was the only thing down there.”