An Ill Wind Read online

  Their belongings didn’t fare as well, since the owner of the Airbnb was highly annoyed that they’d left their luggage behind. When Tony offered to pay him to ship everything back, he said he didn’t have time to deal with it, and that his cleaning crew would take anything they’d left and consider it a tip.

  “Darn,” Cassandra said, looking a little dejected. “I really liked those earrings I bought in Tijuana.”

  “I’m sorry,” Tony replied, but she only shook her head.

  “It’s all right. It’s not your fault. I’m sure I can find something like them.”

  Right then, Tony vowed to track down a similar pair if it was the last thing he did. He remembered how those silver and coral earrings had danced as he held her at that salsa club in Tijuana, gleaming beneath the lush waves of her burnished copper hair. That was the night they’d made love for the first time, and she shouldn’t have to suffer such a loss just because the owner of the Airbnb was a jackass.

  He didn’t say anything, though, because he guessed Cassandra would only protest that he didn’t need to buy her anything. It would be a surprise.

  After that, it was a simple enough procedure to book them a pair of airline tickets to San Diego, and to let his parents know he was leaving to retrieve his car and would be back in a couple of days. They took this information in stride, because of course he had to get the Fiat back, and it made sense for Cassandra to go with him so he could take her home on the return trip. Whether either of his parents picked up on his connection to her, Tony wasn’t sure; while his mother seemed much better, he could tell she still would need a little more time to get completely back to normal, and his father of course was preoccupied with his wife’s health and probably didn’t have a thought to spare for his son’s love life.

  The flight to San Diego was completely uneventful, and because they got to the airport a little before three in the afternoon, they decided to get in the car and go ahead and drive to Tucson.

  “It’s only a little over five hours, after all,” she pointed out. “We’ll get there after dark, but we can have a late dinner and crash at my condo afterward.”

  “Sounds like a plan,” he said, although he wondered if she was eager to keep their momentum going so she could get him on the road early the next day and go back to her life. Ever since they’d left Santa Fe, she’d been brisk and friendly and businesslike, and he couldn’t tell if she was still processing everything that had happened, or whether she’d decided that she’d really made a mistake with him and wanted to get this over with as quickly as possible.

  The weather was mild enough that they drove with the top down for part of the way. Tony enjoyed being able to indulge himself in such a fashion, even though it was early November — and especially because a cold, dreary rain had started to fall just as they left the airport in Albuquerque. The thought of returning to Santa Fe wasn’t all that appealing, but what the hell else was he supposed to do?

  They cruised into Tucson around eight-fifteen, with Cassandra giving him directions to her condo on the southwest edge of town. He had to park in one of the visitor spaces, since of course she didn’t have the remote for her garage with her, but they didn’t have a lot of luggage to carry.

  The “condo” was really a two-story townhouse in a complex of other townhouses, done in a sort of mishmash of Southwestern and Tuscan styles that really shouldn’t have worked but somehow did. It was spotlessly clean and a lot more professionally decorated than he’d expected the home of a barely twenty-one-year-old to be, but when he made a careful remark along those lines, Cassandra just laughed.

  “I bought it furnished. Total turn-key. So I shouldn’t get credit for any of that.”

  He reflected that that was one way to go. Since he didn’t exactly know how to respond, he just said, “Well, that sounds like an easy, low-stress way to handle it.”

  “It was.” She’d just set her purse down on the round oak table in the dining area, and now tilted her head at him. “Speaking of easy, would you rather just order in? There’s a really good Mexican place that’ll deliver up to nine o’clock.”

  “Sounds perfect,” he replied. And it did. He was tired after the drive, even though it had felt good to be behind the wheel of his beloved convertible again. Also, maybe it was a good sign that Cassandra didn’t want to go out. Usually, confidences were more easily shared in a private space like this, rather than out at a noisy restaurant.

  She pulled up the menu on her phone, and they made their choices and called in the order. After that was done, she went to the pantry and came back out with a bottle of Tempranillo. “The one and only bottle in the house,” she told him as she set it down on the table. “It got left here during my housewarming party, and since I wasn’t that much of a wine drinker, it’s been sitting in there ever since.”

  Wine sounded even better than the Mexican food they’d just ordered. “Do you have an opener?”

  “Of course I do,” she said, her tone mock-severe. Then she seemed to relent and added, “But only because someone gave me one at the party.”

  She fetched it from one of the drawers and handed it to him. Tony could see why it had been a present — the opener was really nice one, with wood and turquoise inlays. He opened the bottle while she got a pair of glasses — also a housewarming present, he guessed — and brought them over to the table. After he filled the glasses, he gave one to her.

  “To journey’s end,” he said, raising his drink.

  To his surprise, she didn’t respond right away, but only stood there in silence for a moment, watching him. “Is it, though?” she asked quietly. “I mean, you still have a ways to go.”

  Disappointment stabbed through him, but he made himself say, tone casual, “Well, true, but not until tomorrow.”

  Cassandra pulled in a breath. Still cradling her glass of wine in both hands…and not really looking at him…she said, “What if you didn’t go?”

  He blinked. “Excuse me?”

  Her eyes were like shimmering green glass, but he couldn’t quite read what was in them. “What if you…stayed?” she said. “Here with me?”

  Was she asking what he thought she was asking? He put down his glass of wine without tasting it and stared at her.

  Apparently misreading his silence, she went on quickly, “Never mind. I just thought….”

  Well, he needed to clear that up right away. He went to her and took the glass of wine from her hands, then pulled her close and kissed her, kissed her long and hard so she’d know exactly how he felt. “Cassandra Sandoval, I would love to move in with you…if that’s what you were asking.”

  She let out a breathy laugh and held on to his hands tight, gazing up into his face. “I think it was. I mean, I know it’s kind of crazy. You have that big beautiful house in Santa Fe — ”

  “Which is haunted,” he cut in.

  “Still….”

  Tony thought of how the desert air had felt as they walked to her condo from the car. Yes, it had cooled with the coming of night, but it still had been mild and gentle, not harsh and cold the way it would have been back in Santa Fe at this time of year. He remembered walking down the bright streets of Tijuana with her at his side, her arms bare and beautiful in the sunshine. That was what he wanted, he realized — Cassandra, and warm, sunny days that weren’t just a memory, but a life he was living every single day.

  “I’ll give my sister Ava the house,” he said. “She’ll be graduating from UNM in less than six months anyway, and I know she’d love to have her own place rather than go back to live with our parents.”

  “You’d just…give her the house?” Cassandra responded, looking a little stunned.

  Tony couldn’t really blame her. He was feeling a little surprised himself, startled at how quickly he’d made a decision about something that had been a major part of his life for the last five years. But he knew it was the right decision. Already he felt lighter, as if his body and spirit recognized that he’d come to the place wh
ere he was supposed to be.

  To the woman he was supposed to be with.

  “Yes,” he said. “The whole way over here, I kept thinking about how I didn’t want to go back to Santa Fe. Now I know why. Because some part of me knew that my home was with you.”

  She still didn’t look entirely convinced, or maybe she just wanted to make sure she presented all her arguments up front so they wouldn’t be an issue later. “Here in Tucson. A town you hardly know.”

  “True,” he replied, and couldn’t quite help grinning down at her. “But that’s okay. You’ll show it to me, won’t you?”

  “Of course.” Cassandra went up on her tiptoes and kissed him again before adding, “That’s not the only thing I’d like to show you.”

  “Oh, really?”

  She opened her mouth to reply, but the doorbell rang. Looking crestfallen, she said, “Oops…I forgot about the food we ordered.”

  “It’s all right,” he told her.

  Cassandra lifted an eyebrow at him, her gaze questioning.

  He added, “We have the rest of our lives, after all.”

  The Witches of Canyon Road series continues with Ava’s story in Higher Ground.

  Also by Christine Pope

  PROJECT DEMON HUNTERS

  (Paranormal Romance)

  Unquiet Souls

  Unbound Spirits

  Unholy Ground

  THE WITCHES OF CANYON ROAD

  (Paranormal Romance)

  Hidden Gifts

  Darker Paths

  Mysterious Ways

  A Canyon Road Christmas

  Demon Born

  An Ill Wind

  Higher Ground

  THE WITCHES OF CLEOPATRA HILL*

  (Paranormal Romance)

  Darkangel

  Darknight

  Darkmoon

  Sympathetic Magic

  Protector

  Spellbound

  A Cleopatra Hill Christmas

  Impractical Magic

  Strange Magic

  The Arrangement

  Defender

  Bad Blood

  Deep Magic

  Darktide

  Books 1-3 and Books 4-6 of this series are also available in two separate omnibus editions at special boxed set prices. Chronicles of Cleopatra Hill includes the series’ two “back in time” novellas, Bad Blood and The Arrangement.

  Or get the entire series in one enormous, specially priced boxed set! (Not available on Amazon.)

  THE DJINN WARS

  (Paranormal Romance)

  Chosen

  Taken

  Fallen

  Broken

  Forsaken

  Forbidden

  Awoken

  Illuminated

  Stolen

  Forgotten

  Driven

  Unspoken (June 2019)

  Books 1-3 and Books 4-6 of this series are also available in two separate omnibus editions at special boxed set prices!

  THE WATCHERS TRILOGY*

  (Paranormal Romance)

  Falling Dark

  Dead of Night

  Rising Dawn

  The Watchers Trilogy is also available in a specially priced boxed set!

  THE SEDONA FILES*

  (Paranormal Romance)

  Bad Vibrations

  Desert Hearts

  Angel Fire

  Star Crossed

  Falling Angels

  Enemy Mine

  Get the first three books of this series in an omnibus edition, or read the complete six-book series in one super-low-priced boxed set!

  TALES OF THE LATTER KINGDOMS

  (Fantasy Romance)

  All Fall Down

  Dragon Rose

  Binding Spell

  Ashes of Roses

  One Thousand Nights

  Threads of Gold

  The Wolf of Harrow Hall

  Moon Dance

  The Song of the Thrush

  Books 1-3 and Books 4-6 of this series are also available in two separate omnibus editions at special boxed set prices.

  THE GAIAN CONSORTIUM SERIES*

  (Science Fiction Romance)

  Beast (free prequel novella)

  Blood Will Tell

  Breath of Life

  The Gaia Gambit

  The Mandala Maneuver

  The Titan Trap

  The Zhore Deception

  The Refugee Ruse

  Books 1-3 of this series are also available in an omnibus edition at a special boxed set price!

  STANDALONE TITLES

  Hearts on Fire

  Sympathy for the Devil

  Taking Dictation

  Night Music

  Golden Heart

  * Indicates a completed series

  About the Author

  USA Today bestselling author Christine Pope has been writing stories ever since she commandeered her family’s Smith-Corona typewriter back in grade school. Her work includes paranormal romance, fantasy romance, and science fiction/space opera romance. She makes her home in Arizona.

  Don’t miss out on any of Christine’s new releases — sign up for her newsletter today!

  Christine Pope on the Web:

  www.christinepope.com