Page 2 of Charmed
Introductions over, Jessie settled down to bombard Ana with questions, filtering information about herself through the bright chatter. She’d just had a birthday and was six. She would be starting first grade in her brand-new school on Tuesday. Her favorite color was purple, and she hated lima beans more than anything.
Could Ana show her how to plant flowers? Did her cat have a name? Did she have any little girls? Whynot?
So they sat in the sunshine, a bright pixie of a girl in pink rompers and a woman with garden dirt smearing her shorts and her lightly tanned legs, while Quigley the cat ignored the playful attentions of Daisy the dog.
Ana’s long, wheat-colored hair was tied carelessly back, and the occasional wisp worked free of the band to dance in the wind around her face. She wore no cosmetics. Her fragile, heartbreaking beauty was as natural as her power, a combination of Celtic bones, smoky eyes, the wide, poetically sculptured Donovan mouth—and something more nebulous. Her face was the mirror of a giving heart.
The pup marched over to sniff at the herbs in her rockery. Ana laughed at something Jessica said.
“Jessie!” The voice swept over the hedge of roses, deeply male, and touched with exasperation and concern. “Jessica Alice Sawyer!”
“Uh-oh. He used my whole name.” But Jessie’s eyes were twinkling as she jumped to her feet. There was obviously little fear of reprisals.
“Over here! Daddy, I’m right over here with Ana! Come and see!”
A moment later, there was a man towering over the fairy roses. No gift was needed to detect waves of frustration, relief and annoyance. Ana blinked once, surprised that this rough-and-ready male was the father of the little sprite currently bouncing beside her.
Maybe it was the day or two’s growth of beard that made him look so dangerous, she thought. But she doubted it. Beneath that dusky shadow was a sharp-featured face of planes and angles, a full mouth set in grim lines. Only the eyes were like his daughter’s, a clear, brilliant blue, marred now by an expression of impatience. The sun brought out glints of red in his dark, tousled hair as he dragged a hand through it.
From her perch on the ground, he looked enormous. Athletically fit and disconcertingly strong, in a ripped T-shirt and faded jeans sprung at the seams.
He cast one long, annoyed and unmistakably distrustful glance at Ana before giving his attention to his daughter.
“Jessica. Didn’t I tell you to stay in the yard?”
“I guess.” She smiled winningly. “Daisy and I heard Ana singing, and when we looked, she had this butterfly right on her hand. And she said we could come over. She has a cat, see? And her cousin has horses, and her other cousin has a catanda dog.”
Obviously used to Jessie’s rambling, her father waited it out. “When I tell you to stay in the yard, and then you’re not there, I’m going to worry.”
It was a simple statement, made in even tones. Ana had to respect the fact that the man didn’t have to raise his voice or spout ultimatums to get his point across. She felt every bit as chastened as Jessie.
“I’m sorry, Daddy,” Jessie murmured over a pouting lower lip.
“I should apologize, Mr. Sawyer.” Ana rose to lay a hand on Jessie’s shoulder. After all, it looked as if they were in this together. “I did invite her over, and I was enjoying her company so much that it didn’t occur to me that you wouldn’t be able to see where she was.”
He said nothing for a moment, just stared at her with those water-clear eyes until she had to fight the urge to squirm. When he flicked his gaze down to his daughter again, Ana realized she’d been holding her breath.
“You should take Daisy over and feed her.”
“Okay.” Jessie hauled the reluctant pup into her arms, then stopped when her father inclined his head.
“And thank Mrs….?”
“Miss,” Ana supplied. “Donovan. Anastasia Donovan.”
“Thank Miss Donovan for putting up with you.”
“Thank you for putting up with me, Ana,” Jessie said with singsong politeness, sending Ana a conspirator’s grin. “Can I come back?”
“I hope you will.”
As she stepped through the bushes, Jessie offered her father a sunny smile. “I didn’t mean to make you worry, Daddy. Honest.”
He bent down and tweaked her nose. “Brat.” Ana heard the wealth of love behind the exasperation.
With a giggle, Jessie ran across the yard, the puppy wriggling in her arms. Ana’s smile faded the momentthose cool blue eyes turned back to her.
“She’s an absolutely delightful child,” Ana began, amazed that she had to wipe damp palms on her shorts. “I do apologize for not making certain you knew where she was, but I hope you’ll let her come back to visit me again.”
