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Claire took a seat at the table, stroking the soft velvet with her fingertips, and listened to Madam Rosalee’s call to Fiona.
“Yes, something very important, my dear. Your very life could depend on it.” She ended the call and placed her phone on the shelf next to the small table. “Fiona will be here just after noon. Are you ready?”
“As ready as I’ll ever be.” Claire folded her hands on the table and gave Madam Rosalee a tight, polite smile.
“Have you ever had a tarot reading before?”
“No.”
“Your name?” Madam Rosalee settled her massive girth into the winged-back chair across from her.
“Claire.” She glanced over her shoulder at the window. Had Mike expected her to come outside once she’d convinced Madam Rosalee to set up the meeting with Fiona?
As if she’d summoned him with one of Madam Rosalee’s charms, Mike burst through the door of the shop, sending the little bell into a tizzy.
His arrival didn’t disturb Madam Rosalee at all, maybe so she could make the claim that she’d expected him to show up all along.
She lifted an eyebrow. “Are you with Claire?”
“Yeah, what’s going on?” He dropped a hand to Claire’s shoulder. “I was worried about you.”
Madame Rosalee nodded. “Could you please turn around the sign at the door and lock it?”
“Claire?” He put pressure on her shoulder.
“Madam Rosalee’s payment for luring Fiona over here is a tarot reading for me.”
“Is that okay with you?”
She patted his hand still resting on her shoulder. “It’s a tarot reading, Mike. Go switch the sign at the door and lock it.”
“I’m not going anywhere.” He stepped back and locked the door while flipping the sign over to read Closed to the outside world.
“Nobody’s asking you to, Mike, as long as you sit quietly during the reading.” Madam Rosalee handled a deck of tarot cards, the heavy rings flashing on her fleshy hands.
Mike shrugged at Claire and took a seat in the corner of the room.
Madam Rosalee turned over a row of cards in the middle of the table, tapping them, changing their position, crossing one over another.
The colorful figures and symbols meant nothing to Claire, but the atmosphere in the room grew heavy with anticipation.
After several minutes Madam Rosalee finally spoke. “You are in danger, but we’d already established that.”
Mike shifted forward in his seat, and Claire threw a glance his way.
Claire cleared her throat. “Is the danger imminent or vague?”
“It’s imminent.”
“Avoidable?”
“It’s avoidable as long as you aren’t alone. On your own, the black sword of death hangs over your head.”
Claire rolled her shoulders. That made sense for anyone.
“Love,” Madame Rosalee said as she tapped a card, “and death. The two are linked for you and have been for some time.”
Claire covered her mouth with one hand. “That was true in the past. Is it true in the future?”
“Just as in the past, in the future and for all time, if love is strong enough, it can vanquish the danger.”
Madam Rosalee droned on about money and family, but nothing she said could replace the uneasiness in the pit of Claire’s stomach.
Love? Mike didn’t love her. They’d had a connection and some great sex, but that didn’t equal love—at least not a love great enough to vanquish the evil they faced.
Madame Rosalee gathered her cards and pushed up from her chair. “I’ll be in the back to give you some time to talk to Fiona.”
The disappearance of her large presence seemed to suck the life and the drama out of the room.
Mike got up and stretched. “Pretty generic stuff, huh?”
“Yes, yes, of course.”
“Why did she want to tell your fortune?” He peered out the curtains at the front window and unlocked the door.
“I’m not sure. As soon as I walked in, she sensed the danger of my aura.”
He turned and grabbed her around the waist. “As soon as I saw you, I sensed the sexiness of your aura.” He nuzzled her neck.
Leaning back in his arms, she rubbed her knuckles across the black stubble on his head. Annoyance niggled at the edges of her mind. Madam Rosalee had just been telling her how love could stave off the danger, and all Mike could think about was sex.
