Upon a Mystic Tide Read Online Free PDF Page B

it. You sounded perfectly snotty, MacGregor, and you know I like snotty about as much as I like nagging.”
    “Facts are facts, honey. Have you forgotten those seventeen possibles she tried pairing me up with?”
    “Not hardly. But she didn’t know then you were there waiting for me.”
    “Point is, she still tried.”
    “Shut up, darling.”
    “Maggie.” He leveled her with a warning look.
    She snorted, not at all intimidated. “All right, MacGregor. So maybe I should have told Bess about Tony.” She rubbed her nose against the side of his neck and whispered close to the shell of his ear. “But you’ve got to admit, we had some—”
    “We had lots of,” he agreed, then kissed her hard. When he lifted his head, he looked dreamy-eyed. “But you’re forgetting a couple of minor details.”
    Maggie lowered her hands from his broad shoulders to his waist, then looped her arms around him and scooted closer, until they stood belly to thigh. “Like what?”
    “For one, John and Bess are divorcing. As in, they don’t want to be married to each other anymore. And, for another, they’re not divorced yet. Bess isn’t going to get involved with another man while she’s still married to John.”
    “She’s been involved with that yachter.”
    “Miguel Santos?” MacGregor grunted. “Come on, Maggie. Don’t fall for gossip. They’re just friends.”
    Maggie shrugged, then shot a worried look at the painting. “Bess is still crazy about John. She doesn’t say it—she never has. But when I asked if she wanted the divorce, she said it was inevitable. Not that she wanted it. They belong together, MacGregor. I feel it down to my bones. Maybe that’s what Tony’s doing—stopping the divorce.”
    “Maybe. Or maybe it’s not supposed to stop. Maybe Tony’s helping them get through the divorce so they can move on with their lives.”
    It could be they were supposed to divorce. Not everyone who visited Seascape Inn discovered, or rediscovered, love. “Maybe,” she agreed. “But I sure hope not.”
    “Bess has been under a lot of stress. I think you should have warned her about Tony.”
    “I couldn’t.” Maggie backed away then turned from the window.
    “Why not?”
    She sighed her impatience. “Geez, think about it, MacGregor. Bess hasn’t made the connection between Tony and Seascape Inn yet. She believes Tony is telepathic, which doesn’t scare her witless. But she will make the connection. And when she does—aside from trying to convince you I need a long vacation at a quiet sanatorium—how do you figure she’ll react to me advising her to trust a ghost?”

Chapter 2
     
    John Mystic had experienced only three gut-wrenching wants in his whole life: to marry Bess Cameron and build a home where they’d both be content and happy; to find Elise Dupree’s missing daughter, Dixie; and to keep the truth about his parents a secret he took with him to his grave.
    He’d married Bess and built a home. Unfortunately, he’d never once thought it necessary to mention his wants, including keeping her and staying in it. He’d done everything humanly possible, but he hadn’t found Dixie—yet. The painstaking search continued. And he’d kept the secret about his parents, though doing so had demanded he distance himself from his sister, Selena, who had a knack for making people talk. Otherwise, sooner or later, she’d have wheedled it out of him.
    John also had learned a hard lesson. Sometimes, no matter what a man does, no matter how hard he tries, he just can’t win. And too often when he loses, others also pay the price.
    Knowing the secret had cost him his sister. The distance between them had hurt her. It’d hurt him and their uncle, Maximilian Piermont, too. Dixie’s case had cost him his wife. And he, Bess, Elise, and Dixie, all had paid the price, in spades.
    It shouldn’t have happened that way, though John didn’t know how the hell he could have avoided it. He and Bess hadn’t been married