Cupping his mug with fingers engrained with mud despite his attempts to clean them, Dominic listened intently to Agatha’s latest lecture on the medicinal properties of sage.
“Let’s see if you’ve been paying attention, shall we?” She sounded like a particularly stern junior high-school teacher Dominic had once been taught by. “Which herb family does sage come from?”
“The mint family. I don’t know the Latin name,” Dominic said.
“And which other herbs come from that family?”
“Oregano, lavender, rosemary, thyme and basil,” he recited, happy that he remembered.
“Very good. Now, can you describe sage for me?”
“Gray-green leaves and blue or purple flowers?” He thought he recalled other varieties.
“Yes, the flowers can be white or pink as well, though. What about some uses?”
“There are quite a lot. It has antiseptic and anti-inflammatory properties and it’s supposed to be good for digestive problems.”
“Very good. There’s also been some research into it improving memory and, though this won’t be of much interest to you, it’s good for controlling hot flushes in women of a certain age.”
Dominic chuckled.
“It also tastes damn good in stew!” Agatha got up to stir the pot on the stove.
Dominic relaxed in his chair and gazed around the cozy kitchen. Aggie’s cabin had become a second home to him in recent months. There was something about the old building that felt safe. Crazy really because Aggie rarely locked her doors. The décor was a mishmash of colors and styles that suited Aggie perfectly. Most of the furniture was reclaimed or gifted from people who’d benefited from Aggie’s home remedies. The walls were adorned with tapestry work, delicate watercolors and detailed oils that glowed with jewel-like colors. Bunches of drying herbs hung from hooks above the window.
“I wonder why they ran electricity out here, it’s pretty remote.” Dominic eyed the expensive coffee maker on the kitchen counter. He’d never seen Aggie drink coffee the whole time he’d known her. She was strictly a herbal tea girl.
“My powers of persuasion are world-renowned. Forty years ago there were state grants to connect more remote properties to the grid if you knew where to go. I have a few connections. I like my home comforts. What would I do without my nature documentaries and current affairs programs?”
“You mean soap operas and thrillers, don’t you?” Dominic knew full well that Agatha was addicted to some daily shows. He’d been forced to sit through a couple of them.
Aggie cackled. “You know me too well.”
“I’ve also detected a theme of gratuitous shirtlessness.”
“I’m old, not dead. Besides, I didn’t see you looking away.”
Dominic’s cheeks heated. He hoped the blushing could be put down to the warmth of the open fire.
The light had faded completely and Dominic had started to think about the walk back to his truck. It was far enough to be unpleasant in the cold, and if it rained, it would be downright miserable. He was warm and comfortable so he wasn’t in any rush to venture out. A sharp knocking interrupted his procrastination. The door swung inward with some violence, banging against the wall. A stunning young man, not much older than Dominic, lugging two large paper sacks of groceries, collapsed through the door. Dominic stared in shock. He realized the newcomer must be Aggie’s grandson, Evrain. She’d talked about him a lot and Dominic almost felt like he knew him already, even though they had never met. Her description didn’t do Evrain justice—he was absolutely gorgeous. Dominic’s temperature rose even further. The fact that his cock was swelling rapidly didn’t help. He clamped his gaping mouth shut but couldn’t look away.
“Some help would be nice, or are you just going to sit there and stare?” Evrain snapped.
It took Dominic a few seconds to realize that Evrain had directed the comment at him, and was now glaring at him with the most beautiful dark green eyes Dominic had ever seen. Evrain elbowed the door shut behind him. Belatedly, Dominic pushed his chair back, crossed the kitchen with rapid strides and held out his arms for the bags. Evrain shoved them both into Dominic’s grasp with a sigh of relief.
“That fucking lane gets longer every time I walk down it.” Evrain shrugged off his jacket, slung it around the back of Dominic’s recently vacated seat then sat heavily, claiming the spot for himself.
“Language, Evrain.” Agatha handed him a mug of tea, then bent to receive a kiss on her cheek. “If you want coffee instead, you can grapple with that demonic machine yourself.” She gestured at the shiny chrome coffee maker.
Evrain sipped from his mug. “This is fine, thanks. It’s a chilly evening. I need warming up.” He looked directly at Dominic as he spoke.
“Dominic, allow me to introduce you to my impudent grandson, Evrain Brookes.”
Dominic swallowed. He was dealing with the thoughts of what warming up Evrain might entail. He pushed the bulging shopping bags onto the kitchen counter.
“Nice to meet you.” Dominic didn’t look at Evrain, just muttered the greeting under his breath and edged toward the door. In the presence of this charismatic man, Dominic’s fight or flight instincts lurched toward escape with the subtlety of a stampeding herd of wildebeest. There was no doubt in his mind that Evrain was a predator on the hunt.
“Going so soon?” Evrain smirked and raised a dark eyebrow.
“I should… I mean… I don’t…”
“You’re very welcome to stay for some supper,” Aggie said, rescuing him from his tongue-tied misery and renewing her invitation. “There’s plenty to go round.”
“Thanks, Aggie, but—” He took a steadying breath. “I should be going.” Dominic was halfway out of the door and pulling on his boots in the storm porch before she could stop him. Aggie stood by the stove, hands on hips, ladle in her hand. She glanced from Dominic to Evrain then back again.
“Another time then.” She sounded amused rather than disappointed.
Dominic peered past her and met a very intimidating gaze. Evrain’s strange eyes seemed to pierce his soul.
“Yes, of course. Another time. That would be great.” He pulled the door closed behind him, cutting off Aggie’s response.
“Evrain, you scared him!” Agatha latched the door, which had banged open again after Dominic’s hasty exit. She swiveled toward the table where Evrain was playing thoughtfully with his mug and didn’t seem to hear her. Agatha nodded. She grabbed a candle from the shelf above the stove and deposited it on the table in front of Evrain. “Light it,” she said quietly.
Evrain moved his fingers automatically. The wick ignited with a soft pop and a delicate flame flickered happily.
“I thought as much.” Agatha plopped down on another chair and smiled. “Tell me what you were thinking about when you did that.”
Evrain blinked. “I don’t think that would be such a good idea, Grandma.”
“Don’t be coy. Perhaps I should have asked
who
you were thinking about rather than
what
.”
“I don’t know what you mean,” Evrain replied, his tone stubborn.
“You were thinking about
him
, weren’t you?”
“Who?”
Agatha hissed. “You were thinking about Dominic. Your emotional energy was channeled toward him, allowing you to control your power and light the candle without the usual pyrotechnics. You’re attracted to him, aren’t you?”
“Even if I was, Grandma, I’d hardly confess it to you! And we just met.” Evrain’s pale skin flushed slightly.
“Why not? I know all your secrets. Who was it you first came out to?”
“You, but that doesn’t count since you knew before I did that I was gay.”
“That’s because there’s never been a warlock born who wasn’t.” Agatha rolled her eyes. “You were never going to be the exception to that rule.”
Evrain grinned. “True. But can we get off the extremely uncomfortable topic of my sex life and eat? I’m starving.”
Agatha ladled the stew into big, earthenware bowls. She put them on the table along with a crusty loaf and a carving knife. Evrain immediately sawed off a huge chunk of the bread.
“You baked! I love you.” He slathered the bread with butter and took an enormous bite. He groaned. “So good!”
Agatha took her seat and sampled a small mouthful of the stew. She hummed her appreciation. “This
is
delicious—flavored with herbs that Dominic grew in my garden.”
“It’s excellent.” Evrain didn’t take the bait. “One of your best, in fact.”
“He’s very shy you know. Painfully so. It’s taken me months to get him comfortable here and now you’ve frightened him away.”
Clearly Evrain’s attempt to alter the course of the conversation had not succeeded. “Well, I’ll apologize next time I see him. Not that I did anything wrong. How was I to know he was more skittish than a newborn foal?”
“You use your senses, boy. Or does a pretty face completely destroy your ability to read an expression, to interpret body language?”
Evrain chewed his bread thoughtfully. “He is exceptionally pretty.”
Agatha chuckled. “He’s one of the best-looking boys I’ve ever come across. I could imagine him smiling from the pages of one of those fashion magazines you read, or acting on the television.”
“I don’t read fashions magazines, Grandma. Lifestyle ones occasionally. And if he is as shy as you say, he’d hate it. He probably wouldn’t be able to imagine anything worse than being in the spotlight that way. Celebrity is just shallow nonsense anyway.”
“He is intensely private. He started working on the garden a year ago and I’ve still only managed to squeeze just a few small pieces of personal information out of him.”
“How did you find him, Grandma? You’ve never said.” Evrain fetched the stew pan from the stove and served himself another helping.
“Well, at the time I was looking to rescue the kitchen garden. It has become sadly neglected since your grandfather passed. It was always his thing more than mine. I asked at the plant center in town if they knew of anyone trustworthy, and the manager there gave me Dominic’s name. He started his business when he was just eighteen with a small grant and it flourished just like plants do under his hands. He’s a talented gardener but willing to take on any job, however small or menial, which gives him an advantage over larger local firms. He works long hours, he works hard and he’s scrupulously honest—a rare combination. Once I asked around a few people, it became apparent that he had more work than he could cope with. I didn’t think he’d have time for me at all.”
“So how did you acquire his services? He’s done a huge amount of work on your garden.”
“You noticed!”
“Of course I did. It was like
The Day of the Triffids
out there. I needed a machete to get up the path before he started working on it.”
“Cheeky boy. I asked him to come over and take a look. He showed up one Sunday and fell in love with the place. We agreed a trade-off. I provide the land. He supplies hard labor and puts up with me lecturing him about herb-lore. Anything he grows he can use in his business, once he’s supplied my needs. The herb garden is almost finished and he’s already planted the vegetable patch he’s dug in. I’m hoping for flowers and fruit trees next.”
“He had mud in his hair,” Evrain murmured. “That dark red is so unusual.”
“It needs a cut. He’s been saying so for weeks. The longer it gets, the wavier it becomes. It flops into his eyes then he brushes it away with mucky hands while he’s working. It’s always full of dirt, stalks and leaves.”
“I’ll bet his hands are rough.” Evrain examined his own soft palms. The only callous he had was from holding a pen. “But his skin was the color of fresh cream. How does he manage to avoid getting tan? He just had a light dusting of freckles across the bridge of his nose. I’d have thought the ravages of the weather would have been unavoidable in his job.”
“With his coloring, he burns easily so he wears a hat and plenty of sunscreen. You noticed an awful lot about him from such a short meeting.”
Evrain gave her a sharp look. “How long have you been trying to get us in the same place, Grandma?”
“He has the prettiest blue eyes too. A perfect contrast to his lashes, which are just a shade darker than his hair.”
“Grandma…” Evrain’s voice rumbled low with warning.
“He’s intelligent too, and curious. He may not have had your expensive education, but Dominic has a sharp mind.”
Evrain pushed his chair back and moved to stand behind Agatha. He massaged her shoulders gently, and she moaned with pleasure.
“You’re incorrigible. My own grandmother trying to set me up. Still, I don’t think it’s going to happen. If I were his type, he would have stayed to eat. Is he even gay? Oh my God, you didn’t ask him that, did you?”
“Yes, he’s gay, and how I know is none of your business. Dominic’s an innocent compared to you. I don’t think he knows what he wants yet. It’s up to you to show him what you have to offer.”
Evrain walked across to the fire and stared into the flames. “And what’s that? I doubt a warlock is that high on his list of potential boyfriends.”
“Oh, Evrain. Have a little faith. Court him gently.”
“This is not the 1940s, Grandma.”
“You could learn some manners. Curb that assertiveness. Wine and dine him some. He has an apartment above the diner in town. I promised him some ointment for his back but he left so quickly he forgot to take it. You can take it with you and call on him.”
“Considering that there was barely repressed panic all over his face from one brief meeting, I’m not sure that showing up at his door is going to go down all that well.”
Agatha pressed a small tin into his hand with a knowing smile. “You won’t know until you try, now, will you?”
Chapter Five
Hornbeam Cottage sat on the very edge of Hood River, clinging to the vestiges of civilization while reaching for the wilderness. Dominic could stand in the garden and feel like he had a foot in both camps. He fancied that the structure, built almost entirely from locally sourced natural materials, had its heart firmly fixed in the wild. He may have begun to tame the extensive gardens but around the borders nature constantly fought back. If he looked away, Gaia’s fingers went to work claiming back the fertile soil.