Read Online Amaryllis by Jayne Castle - Free Book Online Page A

in an intense conversation.
    “They’re over there, near the large display case at the far end of the hall. They’re alone together, and Beech looks serious. Something’s going on right now. Ready?”
    Amaryllis glanced at him in surprise. “You’re strong enough to detect a talent from here?”
    “I can handle this room.” Lucas tightened his hold on her wrist.
    “But where is Beech’s prism?” Amaryllis tried to peer over the heads of the crowd. “I don’t see anyone close to him except Miss Locking.”
    “Who knows? It could be any one of the people within a radius of ten feet of where Beech is standing.” Lucas was impatient to get into the link. “That waiter with the champagne tray, for example. He’s close enough to link.”
    Amaryllis looked doubtful. “Beech would have to be awfully strong to impose a hypnotic suggestion using a prism who’s standing that far away. Something tells me this isn’t going to be very useful, Lucas.”
    “That’s my problem, not yours.”
    “Remember that when it comes time to pay the bill.”
    “I will.” Lucas hesitated, feeling unexpectedly awkward now that the moment was at hand. “Look, I haven’t had a whole lot of experience with this kind of thing. There aren’t a lot of trained prisms out in the islands. I’ll probably be clumsy by your standards.”
    “Don’t worry about it,” she said softly. “I’ve worked with a lot of amateurs.”
    Lucas gritted his teeth. “Thanks.”
    “I didn’t mean to offend you.”
    “Forget it.” He could feel the heat in his face, but he forced himself to ignore his own embarrassment. There was no way to explain to Amaryllis just why he had so little finesse. It wasn’t easy focusing a portion of his talent through a prism while he simultaneously exerted a tremendous effort to conceal the full extent of his abilities from the person who held the focus.
    Slowly, carefully, Lucas eased into the link. He braced himself for the short moment of disorientation that always preceded the connection. He opened his mind cautiously, a little at a time, groping for the focus.
    And suddenly it was there on the psychic plane, a glittering crystal prism. Strong and clear and ready for him. It bore almost no resemblance at all to the weak, cloudy prisms he had used in the past.
    It was beautiful. Incredibly, indescribably beautiful. It was perfect.
    Before he could fully admire the prism, he almost staggered beneath a wholly unexpected wave of deep sexual desire. He wanted Amaryllis . He needed her as he had never needed anything before in his life. He was shatteringly aware of her in a psychic sense. It seemed to Lucas that he was drowning in the very essence of Amaryllis’s femininity.
    Something was very, very wrong.
    He was getting an erection. Shocked, Lucas released the link as though it were made of fire. Out on the psychic plane, the wonderful prism winked out of existence.
    It wasn’t supposed to be like this. True, he had only used prisms in a limited manner in the past, but he had read a lot about the phenomenon. He knew that his previous experiences were typical, even if he had been clumsy and even if he had only worked with weaker prisms.
    The link between a talent and a prism was by nature an impersonal one. He had never heard of a case in which there were sexual overtones in the act of holding a focus. People said if you blindfolded a talent, it was impossible for the talent to tell if he or she was working with a man or a woman.
    “Lucas?” Amaryllis sounded breathless. “Is anything wrong?”
    “No.” He wondered if she had felt anything. Maybe it was just him. Damned hormones.
    Lucas fought for control. He was the Iceman. He exhaled halfway and fumbled again with the delicate link. Slowly, carefully he took hold of it.
    It was as though he used his big, calloused hands to grapple with a strand of silk spun from fine crystal. He was terrified of ripping the fragile thread to shreds.
    “It’s okay,”