Copper Beach

over and that he lost. The lab book is no longer on the market.”

    “If he’s killed two people to get it, he’s unlikely to stop now. We need to find him.”

    Abby shivered. “I can call Dawson in the morning, tell him what’s going on. Maybe he’ll believe me and cooperate with us to help find the investor.”

    “Yes.”

    Newton dropped his front paws to the floor and trotted to the door.

    “He wants to go out,” Abby said.

    “And then he’ll want to come back in.”

    “It’s the way of all dogs.”

    Sam went to the door and opened it. “Remind me to install a dog door this week.”

    Abby watched Sam and Newton disappear into the darkened hallway.

    Remind me to install a dog door. She smiled. A gentle warmth spread through her. Installing a dog door sounded like a long-term plan, as if Sam was envisioning a future that included her and Newton.

    She listened to the kitchen door open and close. Sam came back to the bedroom alone, got out of his pants and got into bed. He reached for Abby and drew her across his chest.

    “Tonight, in the lab,” he said, “when I heard you coming down the hall and realized that I could not stop you, I think I went a little crazy.”

    She framed his face between her palms and kissed him firmly on the mouth, silencing him. “No, that’s not what happened. You need to remember events correctly. What happened is that, in an emergency, you pulled on psychic energy that you did not know you possessed because you’ve never had to use that much of it before. You broke free of the trance in time. If I had been dumb enough to open that door, I would have been okay, because you clocked Gerald first.”

    He put two fingers over her mouth. “You didn’t let me finish.”

    She sensed his amusement and winced.

    “Sorry,” she said. “So what were you going to say?”

    “That when I went a little crazy trying to break free of the trance, I suddenly realized that I could use the ring to do it.”

    “Really?” She pushed herself up on her elbows and peered at his ring. She could not see it in the shadows, so she jacked up her talent a little and studied the tiny aurora of energy that leaked out of the stone. “You figured out what it can do?”

    “I think it acts as a kind of psychic laser.” Sam raised his hand and examined the ring. “At least that’s what happened tonight. I was able to channel my own energy through it and focus it in a way I’ve never been able to do before. I could feel the currents overwhelming Frye, setting his aura on fire.”

    “You didn’t say anything to your parents tonight about using the ring.”

    “Because I’m still not sure what happened. I’ll talk to Dad in the morning, though. We need to run some experiments.” Sam paused. “Very careful experiments. And I need to contact my brother and sister, warn them that the rings appear to have laserlike properties and that they can be deadly.”

    “Maybe you’ll know more when I break the code on the lab book.”

    “Yes.” Sam thrust his fingers into her hair and wrapped them around the back of her head. “There’s something we need to talk about.”

    “The lab book?”

    “Not the damn lab book. The real reason I was able to pull the extra energy I needed to break the trance tonight was you.”

    “Me? But I was out in the hall.”

    “I knew you were there. And you were running hot. There’s a connection between us, Abby.”

    “I know. It’s weird, isn’t it?”

    “No, it’s love.”

    She froze. Her mouth went dry. “Sam.”

    “I needed some additional power, and I drew it from the link between us.”

    “I realize there’s some kind of psychic vibe going on here. But there might be a very straightforward explanation involving the resonating frequencies of our auras. Or something.”

    He touched the corner of her mouth. “I’m the expert here. If I wanted a para-physics explanation for what’s going on between us, I’d have come up with it. But I don’t need one. I love you. I have from the moment you stepped out of Dixon’s water taxi. It was as if I’d been waiting for you all of my life and you had finally decided to show up.”

    Warmth and wonder sparkled through her. “Oh, Sam.”

    “You were like some fabulous new crystal, glowing with unknown fire and mystery. And you were in danger, and I had so much damn baggage.”

    “Well, to be fair, I had a lot of baggage, too.”

    “I know. Someone was trying to grab