Page 26 of Sweetwater and the Witch

“I keep telling you, I’m just a humble engineer.”

“Don’t give me that,” Ravenna said. “You know about my talent. It’s only fair for you to tell me about yours.”

He had known this was coming. She had every right to ask the question. He had planned to tell her, but not so soon. The situation, however, had changed dramatically.

He considered his options while he turned off the main drag and drove down the lane that led to the big parking garage behind the casino. He never took the risk of putting the Slider with all its fancy tech in the hands of valet parking.

“In addition to being a pretty good engineer, I come from a long line of hunter talents,” he said.

“I’ve never heard of a hunter talent.”

She sounded deeply suspicious.

“Probably because it’s not one that developed here on Harmony,” he explained. “The Sweetwaters were hunters back on the Old World. It was a handy skill set at one time but modern technology makes it mostly useless.”

“The ability to start fires is not a terribly useful talent in the modern world, either. Also it scares the daylights out of people.”

He smiled, satisfied. “You don’t scare me, Ravenna Chastain.”

“I can see that. What kind of abilities does the hunter talent give you?”

“Fast reflexes. My night vision is excellent. But mostly I’m just very good at figuring out how prey will respond.”

“Prey? Do you hunt wildlife? Because I don’t approve of hunting for sport.”

“There’s no sport in that kind of hunting, not as far as the Sweetwaters are concerned.”

“So what do you hunt, Mr.Sweetwater?”

The conversation was entering dangerous territory. He drove into the garage and parked in a space that was as far away from other vehicles as possible. He shut down the Slider’s powerful engine and turned in theseat to face Ravenna. In the weak glare of the garage lights, her eyes shimmered with mysteries.

“In case you haven’t heard, my family is in the amber mining business these days,” he said evenly.

“Yes, you did mention that on the questionnaire you filled out for my agency. It was about the only blank you filled in properly. The lack of information is probably one of the reasons I wasn’t able to come up with a great match for you. I knew it was going to be a problem.”

“In that case, why did you take me on as a client?”

She gave him a chilly smile. “Figured the Sweetwater name would be enough to market you.”

“Ouch. Okay, I had that coming. Is that the real reason you agreed to a date with me? Because of the Sweetwater name?”

“No, I agreed to this date as a way to keep you from suing Ottoway and because you’re going to escort me to my grandparents’ anniversary party. We have a deal. Now, about my question. If the Sweetwaters don’t hunt animals here on Harmony, can I assume they hunt people?”

“Occasionally.” He realized he was holding his breath. “As a favor to the Guild Council or Arcane. In this case both. This is a surveillance mission, nothing more. Are you okay with that?”

“I think so, yes.”

He allowed himself to breathe again.

“Because you’ve done some profiling work for the FBPI?” he said.

“Yes, and because I’m now in the business of matchmaking. Same skill set. You could say that I’ve got a type of hunter talent, too.”

He smiled. “Something in common.”

“We’re using each other, aren’t we?”

“Yes, but I think we should refrain from judging each other, don’t you?”

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