Though her knees had jellied, she strode forward. “So, what’s the joke?”

“Just enjoying each other’s company.” Mia wrapped her arm around Mac’s, sent him a slow, warm look from under her lashes.

Ripley just shook her head. “Get the goofy grin off your face, Booke. She does it on purpose. What is it about you and men, Mia? You get within two feet of one, and his IQ drops below his belt.”

“Just one of my many talents. Don’t look so flustered, handsome.” She rose to her toes to kiss Mac’s cheek. “She knows I never poach.”

“Then stop teasing him. He’s starting to sweat.”

“I like him.” Deliberately Mia cuddled against Mac’s side. “He’s so cute.”

“Is there any way I can enter this conversation,” Mac wondered, “without sounding like a moron?”

“No. But I think we’re done now.” Ripley hooked her thumbs in her jacket pockets. “How’s your head?”

“Nothing a bottle of aspirin won’t cure.” When he reached up to probe gingerly at the knot, Mia asked,

“Did you hurt yourself? Let me see.” She was a great deal more gentle than Ripley had been, but just as firm. After she took a look, she hissed out a breath. “You might have had some compassion,” Mia snapped at Ripley.

“It’s just a scratch.”

“It’s seeping blood, swollen and painful. None of which is necessary. Sit,” she ordered Mac and gestured at a tumble of rocks.

“Really, it’s nothing. Don’t worry about it. I’m always banging into something.”

“Sit.” Mia all but shoved him down, then drew a small bag out of her pocket. “I have. . . a connection to the cave,” she said as she took some cayenne out of her bag. “And so a connection to this. Be still.”

She stroked her fingers over the cut. He felt a gathering of heat, a focus of the pain. Before he could speak, she was chanting quietly.

“With herb and touch and thought to heal, this wound under my care to seal. From illness and pain let him now be free. As I will, so mote it be. There, now.” She bent over, touched her lips to the unmarked top of his head. “Better?”

“Yes.” He blew out a long breath. The ache, the throbbing had vanished before she’d finished her chant.

“I’ve seen cayenne work on minor cuts, but not like that. Not instantly.”

“The herb’s a kind of backup. Now be more careful with that handsome head of yours. Friday night, then?”

“I’m looking forward to it.”

“Wait.” Ripley held up a hand. “What?”

“I thought it only fair that I make it up to Mac for damaging his equipment. I’ve invited him up on Friday to observe a ritual.”

Ripley was speechless for a moment, then she grabbed Mia’s arm. “Can I talk to you?”

“Of course. Why don’t you walk me to my car?” Mia sent Mac an easy smile. “Friday, after sunset. You know the way.”

“Obviously you’ve lost your mind,” Ripley began as she accompanied Mia across the shale. “Since when do you perform for an audience?”

“He’s a scientist.”

“All the more. Listen. . .” Ripley broke off as they started up the rise to the road. “Okay, listen,” she started again. “I know you’re probably a little shaken up right now, and not thinking straight.”

“I’m fine, but I appreciate your concern.”

“Fine, my ass.” Ripley took three long strides away, three long strides back. Waved her arms. “Why don’t you sell tickets?”

“He’s not a gawker, Ripley, and you know it. He’s an intelligent man with an open mind. I trust him.”

Mia angled her head, and those witch-smoke eyes were both amused and puzzled. “I’m surprised you don’t.”

“It’s not a matter of trust.” But she rolled her shoulders as though she felt a twinge. “Just take some time, think it through before you do something you can’t take back.”

“He’s part of it,” Mia said quietly. “You already know that. I feel something for him. Not sexual,” she added. “But intimate, nonetheless. A warmth without heat. If there’d been heat, I’d have acted on it. He wasn’t for me.”

She said the last pointedly. “What you feel for him is different, and it unsettles you. If it was just sexual attraction, you’d have had sex with him.”

“How do you know I haven’t?” When Mia merely smiled, Ripley cursed. “And this has nothing to do with anything.”

“It has all to do with everything. You’ll make your own choices, in your own time. I’m going to ask Nell to join us, if she’d like.” Mia opened the car door as Ripley stood and steamed. “You’re welcome, of course.”

“If I wanted to join the circus, I’d have learned how to juggle.”

“Your choice, as I said.” She climbed in, then lowered her window. “He’s an exceptional man, Ripley. I envy you.”

That statement had Ripley’s mouth dropping open as Mia drove away.

Mac was packing up when Ripley came back. He’d gotten all he believed he was going to get that day, but he intended to return when the atmosphere wasn’t quite so volatile. In any case, he needed to do some repairs and needed to settle himself as well. When Ripley’s shadow crossed the opening of the cave, he tucked his Palmcorder into its bag. “You tried to talk her out of meeting with me.”

“That’s right.”

“Is that how you refrain from interfering in my work?”

“This is different.”

“Why don’t you give me your definition of interference?”

“Okay, you’re pissed off. I’m sorry, but I’m not going to keep my mouth shut when someone I . . .

someone I know makes a decision because she’s whacked out emotionally. It isn’t fair.”

“You think I’d take advantage of whatever it is that upset her?”

“Wouldn’t you?”

He was quiet for a moment, then shrugged. “I don’t know. She has several days to change her mind.”

“She made the deal, she’ll keep it. That’s how she works.”