Free Spellbinder by C. C. Hunter Page A

Candy when we got back and she said they hadn’t left.”
    Burnett looked back at Miranda. “Are you sure?”
    Miranda saw the images again in her mind then she refocused on Burnett. “Yeah. I’m positive.”
    “You’re accusing Sandy and Candy of doing this?” Tabitha asked, her tone jam-packed with sarcasm.
    “I didn’t accuse them of anything. I said I saw them there.”
    “Well, I didn’t see them.” Sienna dropped back on the love seat and crossed her arms over her chest. A tiny smile appeared in her eyes as if she got pleasure from disagreeing with Miranda.
    “Did you see them?” Sienna asked Tabitha.
    “No,” Tabitha said, but with a lot less animosity. Who knew Sienna was a bigger bitch than Tabitha?
    “You?” Sienna pointed the question to Kylie. “Did you see the twins?”
    “No, but I wasn’t looking for them.” Anger flashed in Kylie’s eyes. “But if Miranda says she saw them, she did.” There was something deep and protective in her friend’s voice. Sienna ignored it.
    Tabitha looked at Shawn. “I suppose you were too busy admiring Miranda to have seen them.”
    Shawn’s frown came on fast. “I was sent to watch out for her.”
    “Like you don’t have a thing for her,” Tabitha said. “I saw how you stared at her at the competition, and how you fawned over her when she passed out. Even tonight, you’re looking at her like she’s a piece of candy and you’re a diabetic.”
    “My feelings for Ms. Kane outside of this case are none of your business.” His tone demanded her respect.
    “And I’m not candy,” Miranda spit out without thinking. Then she wanted to shrink into the sofa cushions. Were Shawn’s feelings for her that noticeable? As crazy as it sounded, it made her both uncomfortable and … happy. Then, in a twitch of a pinky, she realized she hadn’t thought about Perry in the last few hours. Did that mean anything? Had she come all the way to Paris to finally accept his decision—to give their relationship space? Oh, that sucked on so many levels.
    And that insight brought on a couple of even more contradicting emotions: relief and guilt.
    Relief that she was finally moving in the right direction—meaning emotionally moving away from Perry—and guilt because … because she was emotionally moving away from Perry. How could she shift away from him when she loved him? Was it because down deep she still held a thing for Shawn?
    Burnett stood up and looked at Shawn and Kylie. “You two hold down the fort here. I think I’ll have a little chat with the twins.” He started out, but turned and looked back, his gaze shifting to Miranda and then to Sienna and Tabitha. “I hope I don’t have to remind you three that you can’t leave here. We escaped this incident without having to ship anyone’s body back to the U.S., let’s not give whoever is doing this another shot at it.”
    “But you just said that Tabitha was the intended victim,” Sienna said.
    “For that attempt,” Burnett said. “He’s already killed two of the girls who were high contenders to make this round of the contest. From where I stand, it appears you are all intended victims. And until I know differently, you will do as I say. Like it or not!”
    He left in a flash, a cloud of anxiety lingering in his wake.
    A cloud that brought on silence. A silence shattered by the ringing of Miranda’s phone. She reached for the cell, hoping it would be her dad, but nope.
    She looked at Kylie and whispered, “Oh, crap. It’s my mom. If I tell her what happened, she’s gonna freak.”
    *   *   *
    Her mom hadn’t freaked, probably because Miranda hadn’t told her. Well, she’d told her a little, but downplayed the whole thing to make it sound like nothing more than a little inconvenience. And a little attempted murder.
    “Seriously, it was just a few misbehaving vampires.” Miranda stood, wanting to find a private place to chat. Before she got away, Kylie reached over and squeezed her