She held her arms out from her sides. “I am of the highland clan MacKeage, and loving me means accepting the magic that rules our science.” She swiped away a tear running down her cheek, her beautiful green eyes locked on his, her vulnerability fully exposed. “So if you still want to spend the rest of your life with me after all you’ve seen today, and can wrap your mind around the notion that it’s only the tip of the iceberg, then I would ask that you let Roger marry us—right now, in this magical place.”
Luke’s legs finally buckled and he dropped to his knees, holding his arms out to her. Camry threw herself at him with a cry of relief, and hugged him so tight he grunted.
“Right now, right here,” he said into her hair. He tilted her head back. “But only because I happen to be insanely in love with you,” he growled, covering her mouth with his.
“Okay, then!” Roger AuClair called out as he walked to them. “Let’s get these vows said before you folks set these poor dogs to blushing!”
Luke forced himself to stop making delicious love to Camry’s mouth and looked up, only to blink at the man dressed in . . . wearing a . . .
Camry covered his gaping mouth with her hand. “Don’t ask, Luke, just accept,” she said, leaning her forehead against his with a giggle. “It’s a drùidh thing.”
“It’ll be a first for me,” Roger said, “but if you two want to give your vows on your knees, I don’t mind none.”
Luke scrambled to his feet, pulling Camry with him and immediately tucking her up against his side as he faced what he could only describe as . . . honest to God, the man looked like a fairytale wizard. Roger AuClair was wearing a black-and-gold spun robe that billowed to the ground, a thick leather belt encrusted with enough jewels to ransom a nation, and a pointed hat that looked an awful lot like the one Mickey Mouse wore in the Disney movie Fantasia—which Luke must have watched a hundred times with Kate.
“Would you folks be wanting the short version, or the really, really long one that will probably run over into my Survivorman show?” Roger asked. He suddenly shot Luke a broad smile. “I see your fancy degrees are worth the paper they’re printed on, Renoir. I’m getting all my channels now.”
“Thank you,” Luke said. “And we’d like the short version, please.”
The old hermit started patting himself down, until his hand suddenly disappeared inside his robe, only to reappear holding a book that had to weigh fifteen pounds if it weighed an ounce. He started leafing through the pages, murmuring to himself.
Luke glanced down at Camry tucked under his arm, and found her smiling up at him. She patted his chest. “Don’t worry, the amusement park will be open all night.”
“I might be old, missy, but I’m not deaf,” Roger muttered, still leafing through his tome. “Okay then,” he said, his voice booming with authority as he launched into a guttural litany that sounded more spat than spoken.
“Excuse me,” Luke interrupted. “That’s not Latin.”
Roger shot him a dark look. “It’s Gaelic.” He looked back down at his book with a heavy sigh. “Now I have to start all over.”
Which he did.
“But how am I supposed to know what I’m vowing?” Luke asked.
Roger stopped in midsputter with a fuming glare aimed at Camry. “Shut him up, missy, or you’re going to find yourself married to a toad.”
Camry bumped Luke’s hip. “Quit interrupting him.”
Luke leaned down to whisper in her ear. “Can he really turn me into a toad?”
Roger sighed heavily again. “You have the whole rest of your lives for her to explain the magic, Renoir. Can we please get this done?” He looked up at the sky, then back at Luke. “My show starts in twenty minutes.”
Luke suddenly realized the sun had set, and it was completely dark out. Except that the three of them seemed to be standing in some sort of glowing light, which appeared to be emanating from Roger. Luke wiped a trembling hand over his face.
The magic that rules our science, Camry had called it.
Whereas he was thinking insanity might be more accurate.
Roger launched into his litany again for what sounded like a sum total of eight or ten sentences, then suddenly stopped and looked at Camry expectantly.
“I do,” she said.
Roger turned his expectant look on Luke.
Oh, what the hell. “I do,” he firmly echoed.
Roger closed his book with a snap. “You may exchange your rings now,” he said with a regal nod.
Luke felt Camry’s shoulders slump. “We don’t have rings,” she said.
“We didn’t exactly plan to get married today,” Luke drawled, giving Camry a bolstering squeeze. “We’ll go straight to a jeweler when we get to Pine Creek.”
“You should wear the rings Fiona gave you,” Roger said. “They’re her wedding present to you. She went to a lot of trouble to find just the right stone to make them.”
“Fiona never gave us any rings,” Camry said.
Roger’s eyebrows lifted into the rim of his pointed hat. “She didn’t? But she said she intended to present them in a container that had very special meaning to both of you. She even showed me the paper she was going to wrap it up in. It was deep blue, covered with glittering gold stars.”
Luke stiffened.
“The transmitter!” Camry said with a gasp. She bolted out of Luke’s embrace and ran toward the tree where he’d thrown it.
“Come on, AuClair,” Luke said, falling in behind the dogs bounding after her. “We need your light.”
Luke immediately got down on his knees beside Camry and started searching the snow. “Don’t worry, we’ll find them,” he assured her, picking up and discarding tiny pieces of metal debris.
“Here! I found one!” Camry cried, holding something up. She suddenly tossed it away. “No, it’s just a rubber O-ring.”
Luke shoved Max out of the way, then snatched something out of Tigger’s mouth. He held it up to the light Roger was emanating. “This could be one of them.” He handed it to Camry. “It seems to be made out of some sort of stone.”
She also held it up to Roger’s light, then looked at Luke. “It’s black-and-white-speckled rock, just like the stone Kate gave you. Where’s your pebble, Luke?”
“In my pocket,” he said, reaching into his pants pocket. Only when he didn’t find it, he reached into his other pocket. When he still didn’t find it, he stood up and started shoving his hands into every pocket he had. He suddenly stilled, looking down at her. “I lost it.”
“No, this is the special rock Kate gave you,” she said, holding it up to him.
Luke took the smooth stone circle from her, which certainly appeared to have been cut from the tiny rock Kate had given him. “But that’s impossible. I distinctly remember it was in my pocket this morning.”
Roger snorted, looking at Camry. “You sure you want to marry a man who doesn’t believe in anything but cold hard facts? The deed’s not fully done, missy; I haven’t given my blessing yet. You can still back out.”
Camry dropped down onto all fours and started searching the snow again. “I’m not backing out,” she muttered. “Luke, help me find your ring. That one must be mine, because it’s too small for your finger.”
By God, he wasn’t backing out, either! He didn’t care if he was losing his mind, as long as he lost it with Camry. Luke got down beside her and resumed searching.
“What I can’t figure out,” Roger said, peering over their shoulders—his light actually helping them—“is how Fiona’s thoughtful gift ended up over here in the first place, all smashed to pieces.”
Luke straightened to his knees, lifting a brow. “Don’t you have some sort of crystal ball you can look into that will tell you?”
Roger shot him a threatening scowl. “From what I hear, women aren’t all that fond of kissing toads.”
Camry grabbed Luke’s sleeve and tugged him back down. “Leave him alone and help me find your ring.”