Page 102 of Sweetwater and the Witch

Ravenna swung her legs off the lounger and sat up. She put her own glass aside.

“I know,” she said. “I realize you gave the pen to Harriet because you had given up on finding someone to love at Ottoway Matchmakers, but—”

“No,” he said. “I gave the pen to Harriet because I was pretty sure she would sense that it was meant for you. I hoped that eventually you would get the message and rez the Valentine to send the message it was designed to send. Instead you used it as a distress signal. Don’t get me wrong. I was thrilled to get the signal tonight, because it meant you were still alive. But at the same time, I knew I couldn’t take it as a sign that you loved me.”

She caught her breath. “I do love you, Ethan.”

He stretched out a hand and brushed his fingers against her cheek. “I fell in love with you the first time I walked into your office. I knew I wanted to marry you.”

Dazed, she stared at him. “What?”

“I said, I knew I wanted to marry you. You didn’t make it easy for me. I had to walk through the fires of hell before I could get a date with you.”

“Excuse me? The fires of hell?”

“Nine lousy dates before I could land a fake date. Definitely hell.”

Her professional pride kicked in. “Those nine dates were good matches. I worked hard to find them in our database.”

“I don’t care how hard you worked. I was never interested in any of them.”

“According to the after-action reports, you didn’t give any of those very nice women a chance.”

“I tried to be polite, but I admit I was impatient, because I knew I was wasting my time.”

“If you didn’t like the matches I selected, why didn’t you ask for another matchmaker?”

“You’re missing the point here, Ravenna. I went out on nine boring dates because it took me that long to figure out how to get a date with you.”

She spread her hands wide. “You could have simply asked me out on a date.”

“That was the one thing I couldn’t do. You would have said it was unprofessional for matchmakers to date their clients.”

“It is unprofessional. And it isn’t smart for matchmakers to try to find their own matches.”

“You made those things very clear,” Ethan said. “Naturally I was a desperate man. That was when I got the bright idea of asking you to assess my dating techniques. I couldn’t believe my luck when you asked me to escort you on a fake date to your grandparents’ anniversary celebration. Everything seemed to be falling into place. And then my brilliant plan went to green hell thanks to Louise Lace, Taggert Spooner, and Vortex.”

She smiled. “In hindsight, there were a few complications.”

“The situation continued to stagger along until that night in the gazebo at Silver Lake. Talk about a real bonding experience.”

“One might even say transcendent.”

“One might, if one were a wellness spa guru instead of an engineer. But all you seemed to want was an affair. Still, I figured I could work with that. Then we almost got killed and had to spend a night in Nightmare Cave and things got even more complicated. For a while there it was just one snafu after another.”

“I’m not so sure about that.” Ravenna tried for somber and serious, but inside she was flying. “Our time in Nightmare Cave was definitely another bonding experience.”

“We need to stop bonding like that. I don’t know about you, but I am ready for a normal relationship.”

She leaned forward and put her arms around his neck. “Speaking as a professional matchmaker, I don’t think there is any such thing, and who wants normal, anyway? I’d much rather have what we have, whatever that is. I love you. I have from the beginning. It just took me a while to realize it.”

“Ravenna.”

He didn’t just say her name; he breathed it as if it were oxygen.

“I told myself it was physical attraction,” she said. “I told myself I was a professional and that I shouldn’t get distracted. I reminded myself that matchmakers are notoriously bad at finding their own matches, that I couldn’t trust my own judgment. I was not interested in a flirtation or an affair. I was committed to finding a forever husband. But after the trip to Silver Lake I realized I wanted to be with you and that maybe you wanted to be with me, not just for an affair but forever. I hoped maybe you just needed time.”

“I told myself you were the one who needed time.” He rose and drew her to her feet. “I would have signed up for a Covenant Marriage with you that first day at Ottoway, and I can prove it.”

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