Page 60 of Deadly Misfortunes

Mr. Landry gave her a hug, and then Rose did. “Text me.”

“I will.” Sascha figured Rose wanted to know the truth about the so-called marriage arrangements.

Gregory took Sascha’s hand and led her to the car. “You can’t go to the fair this weekend, Sascha. Not with this maniac on the loose.”

“For your information, Mr. Landry, I am going, and we’re not engaged to be married. Even if we were, you can’t tell me what to do.”

He opened the car door for her and smiled down at her as she climbed in.

“I can’t believe…,” she started to say. He closed the door, cutting off her speech. She growled in annoyance.

When he sat in the driver’s seat, she said, “Take me home.”

“Sure thing, but there’s this business of getting an engagement ring first.”

“Listen, Gregory, I’m not marrying you.”

He smiled. “Sure you are, but we can hold off on buying the ring. Home, it is then.”

When he headed for his place, she tapped her fingers on the console. “You’re getting really close to having a curse cast on you, Gregory Landry.”

His face split into another Texas-sized grin. “You’re not mad at me, really. Besides, you’re not the usual kind of woman I date. I didn’t think the typical, kneeling-on-one-knee kind of proposal would work with you.”

“You’re right. Nor would groveling in the dirt or any other type of action cause me to accept your offer of marriage.”

“Right.”

She folded her arms in defiance. “You’re the most irritating man I know.”

“Yeah, and you love me too.”

“Listen, if Aunt Meg even learns of this crazy scheme of yours, she’ll have a fit.”

“Why Aunt Meg?”

Sascha stared out the window. “She and Uncle Jimmy raised me. Well, they raised Katrina too. They only had a daughter, Lucy. Kat and my parents don’t have our special abilities. Often, a related family that does will raise the children who have powers.”

“Okay, so I need approval from your Aunt Meg and Uncle Jimmy.”

“No! You are not my soulmate. Not being the proper one for me, I would lose my powers all over again if we made love. We can be friends, nothing more.” She turned to glare at him. “I can’t believe you would tell your mother this hogwash about us getting married. When you have to explain that you made it all up, what will she say? Poor thing. She has her heart set on having grandchildren. What you did…”

He pulled into the circular drive of his home. “The only thing I could do under the circumstances.”

13

Gregory took out his phone and checked the news. He raised his brows when he saw Marvin had been arrested and jailed for DUI and running a red light, then making the police chase him until one did a PIT maneuver and forced him off the road.

Then he thought Sascha might have seen the news on her phone.

“That’s why you’re not my soulmate,” Sascha said, glancing out the window at his French-style mansion. “Okay, I’ll tell you something more about the family. Lucy and her parents fight all the time. Lucy has powers and uses them whenever she pleases, which could cause trouble for the family. When Damon made me lose my abilities, Aunt Meg and Uncle Jimmy vowed to take revenge. Having our abilities and then losing them is like losing your hearing or eyesight. It’s an integral part of who we are.”

“Okay.”

“I loved Damon, and he loved me. I thought because of the way we felt about each other, he was my soulmate, but as soon as we made love, I lost my abilities. I had to fake having my abilities at shows. It was awful. Kat filled in for me. Sometimes Lucy did. It was horrible. So when I got my abilities back⁠—”

“You vowed to never make love with anyone unless you knew for sure that they were your soulmate. But Damon and Lucy aren’t soulmates.”

“No. Her mother said that Damon has to marry her. Lucy will lose her abilities for the five years that they’re married. If they want to stay together after that, they can. If they don’t, they’ll be free to leave each other and start over again, and she’ll regain her powers.”