A Witch's Tale Read Online Free PDF Page B

earned his reward.
    “You were at the courthouse this morning, weren’t you?” she asked, holding his gaze with eyes that demanded nothing but the truth. “Since I know you’re not from around here, may I assume you’re a reporter?”
    He would have given anything to deny his profession, but he realized he could never lie to this woman. “Yes,” he answered on a sigh. “And now, knowing that, I suppose you won’t want to have anything to do with me, right?”
    She gazed out to sea for a moment before turning to answer him. Looking directly into his eyes, she replied, “No, not really. If you had lied to me, then I’d have told you to get lost. But you were honest and I trust you.”
    “Trust me? You’ve got to be kidding! Let me give you one piece of advice, my little witch. Never, but never , trust a reporter, no matter what he tells you. We’re sharks, every one of us.”
    She turned those penetrating eyes on him once again, pinning him with their power. He felt as if she could see into the very depths of his soul.
    “I’m sure that’s true of most of the others, but it’s not true of you.”
    Cursing, he turned his face from her. A muscle at the edge of his jaw twitched as he tightened his emotions against her. She really was a witch, he thought angrily. He hadn’t cared what anyone thought of him for longer than he could remember. Now, using trust as a surgeon would use a sca lpel , she had forced him to recognize painful emotions churning deep within himself , emotions he had been certain he’d destroyed years ago.
    “I’m not what you think I am,” he said through clenched teeth, directing his gaze far out to sea. H e couldn’t bear to see the look of disgust in her eyes what would surely replace the trusting expression he found so appealing, yet so fr u strating, when she learned the truth about him.
    “No, you aren’t what you think you are,” she rebuked him gently.
    His eyes met her steady gaze. “And just what do you mean by that?”
    “I mean that you see yourself as someone wh o doesn’t care about anyone but himself. But that’s not true. I know it’s not true.” She spoke the words softly but with conviction.
    “Did anyone ever tell you you’re nuts?”
    “Not nuts - psychic,” The edges of her lips lifted ever so slightly, as if she knew he would treat her words as a joke, but she had spoken them in total candor.
    He blew out a gust of air from lungs tight with emotion. “Psychic, huh? I suppose that’s another ‘witch’ thing?”
    Her soft chuckle worked as a soothing balm to his troubled soul. “No, it’s not another ‘witch’ thing. It’s just something I was born with. As a matter of fact, I think it came from my father’s side of the family. And as far as I know, no one from his side of the family practiced witchcraft. But, according to my mother, several of his ancestors were reported to have had ‘the gift’, as they called it.”
    “You are a very strange woman, Cassie Adams. Next you’ll be telling me you can read minds.”
    “Only sometimes.” She burst out laughing at the expression on his face. “Believe me, it’s more of a nuisance than anything else. ”
    “You mean to tell me you know everyt h ing I’ve been thinking? ”
    “No! Not everything … ” her voice trailed off, saying more than her words.
    “Next I suppose you’re going to tell me that you can just plug into anybody’s thoughts anytime you want.”
    “No, thank goodness. Most people’s thoughts are dreadful l y dull. Some people’s mi nds are completely closed to me, Sheriff Whi t a ker ’s , for one. And then there are others who fairly spew their thoughts at me. I think o f some people as ‘loud thinkers ’ . Unfortunately, they usually fall into the dull cate gory.”
    “And which class d o I fit into? He wasn’t sure whether he would rather have a closed mind or be one of those people Cassie classified as boring , loud thinkers.
    “Actually, you are in a class