Gift of Fire

Jonas, I’ve been so scared.” Joyous relief flared in her beautiful eyes.
    “Hey, I’m here, sweetheart. Take it easy.”
    She threw herself across him, gathering him into her arms as best she could. “I was so worried. We’ve all been worried. You’ve been unconscious for hours. What’s the matter with you?”
    “Nothing’s the matter, as far as I know.” Her cheeks were wet. She had been crying over him, he realized in wonder. He felt her soft breasts pleasantly pressed against his chest and realized for the first time that he was lying on a bed. He put an arm around Verity, twisting his fingers in her fiery curls. Then he found himself staring at her hair and remembering another source of fire. His hand clenched abruptly. “Verity?” he got out in a husky voice.
    She lifted her head, smiling her most dazzling smile of relief and welcome. She dashed a hand across her eyes to wipe away the tears. “You’re sure you’re okay?”
    He stared into her anxious face. “I’m all right. But what about you?”
    “I’m fine if you forget the fact that you’ve just given me the biggest scare of my life.” She sat up on the edge of the bed. “Honestly, Jonas, how could you just pass out on me like that? Do you have any idea how hard it was to drag you down that corridor? I had to get a sheet and roll you onto it before I could even budge you. The sheet is ruined, naturally.”
    “Naturally.” He just kept staring at her, bemused but content for the moment.
    “Then, after I made sure you were alive, I had to go back to that awful room and drag Preston out on another sheet. He was unconscious too, and he weighed a ton. My arms are still sore. I feel like I’ve been doing pushups for days.”
    “Yarwood’s alive?” Jonas struggled to make sense of the running commentary.
    “Barely. Oliver says he thinks he’ll live. Yarwood and poor Maggie are both in the hospital. Doug took them over to the main island a couple of hours ago. He should be back soon and he’ll probably be bringing the police with him. It’s all a huge mess.”
    Jonas opened his mouth to ask another question but before he could get the words out a familiar face loomed into view.
    “Welcome back, Quarrel,” Oliver Crump said. “We weren’t sure where you’d gone. Doug thought we should send you to the hospital with the others, but Verity and I decided against that.”
    “We didn’t think a doctor would have any more idea of how to treat you than we did,” Verity said bluntly. “We couldn’t even figure out how to explain the situation to a doctor. So we kept you here while Doug took the others away. Oliver has been working the crystal.” She held up a shard of glittering lemon-colored crystal.
    “From what Verity told me, I figured that crystals had caused the problem in the first place,” Oliver explained. “Probably some complicated side effect of the tuning process. She couldn’t really explain what had happened in that room, but I figured that logically speaking, crystal could be used to undo the damage. But can you imagine trying to get that concept across to an emergency room physician?”
    “Suckers would have locked you and Verity in padded cells while they stuck needles into me.” Jonas groaned and tentatively massaged his temples. He had a headache, but that seemed a small price to pay, all things considered. “Thanks for making the executive decision to keep me here. I hate emergency rooms. Those places are full of germs. Take a risk every time you go in one.”
    Verity’s brows drew together in a firm line. “Are you sure you feel all right?”
    He gave her his most effective sympathy-getting smile, the one that implied he was suffering nobly. Verity usually fell for it. “Head hurts a little, but that’s about it.”
    “Oh, poor Jonas.” Verity leaned forward and began gently to massage his temples.
    She smelled good as she leaned over him—a little feminine sweat mixed with the wonderfully familiar fragrance that was hers, and hers alone. Jonas inhaled deeply. “How’s Maggie?”
    “She was coming around as we loaded her into the launch,” Crump said. “Elyssa is going to be all right, by the way. She woke up last night and remembered who had pushed her.”
    “You’ll never believe this, Jonas, but Maggie was the one who pushed Elyssa off that cliff,” Verity said.
    “Maggie pushed her?” Jonas was startled. Then it started to make sense. “Because of the plans to sell the