Dangerous Gifts by Mary Jo Putney

that.”
    “You’re not ugly,” Leah said vehemently. “Even without faery glamour, you’re the most attractive man I’ve ever known, Duncan. I love the way you look, just as I love your strength and kindness and conversation and a thousand other things about you.”
    A startling thought struck her. If she loved Duncan even though he was not the dashing, Byronic hero who had made half of London swoon, there was a chance that he might love her even though she was not beautiful.
    She took a deep breath, then asked the hardest question of her life. “Do . . . do you think you could care for me even though I am plain?”
    Amazed, he said, “How can you think yourself plain? Though you don’t glitter as you did, you are still enchantingly slim and graceful, with a smile that lights up the room and eyes as warm as winter fire. Beautiful—at least, you are beautiful to me.”
    He cupped her cheek tenderly. “As I told you once before, when we met I felt I had come home,” he said in a husky voice. “Now that we see each other truly, I love you even more than before.”
    Laughing with joy, she went into his arms. How foolish she had been to think that love was only about surfaces, and that no man could love her unless she matched some impossible ideal of perfection. “Duncan, Duncan, I love you so.”
    They came together in a fierce embrace. As Leah raised her face for his kiss, she gave passionate thanks for the miracle of having found the other half of herself.

Chapter Eight
    Raging, Ranulph stalked about the glade until Kamana appeared before him in a blaze of light. Magnificent and terrible, she wore an Indian garment of scarlet silk that brilliantly emphasized her dark, sultry skin and the raven hair that swirled around her.
    “You summoned me, Lord Ranulph?” she said with cool composure.
    He scowled at her. “Time and again you interfered with my pursuit of Leah. Today she rejected me, despite your assurances that she would be mine.” His voice turned to ice. “You influenced her, didn’t you? Perhaps even bespelled her so that she could resist my magic. Why, damn you? What have I done that you take such pleasure in thwarting me?”
    “I never said that Leah would accept you, Ranulph. Only that your destined consort would soon be yours, and that is the truth.” Kamana glided toward him, her figure swaying provocatively and her bare feet scarcely bending the autumn grass. “Why do you think I came halfway around the world? Destiny, my lord.”
    She was taunting him again. Furiously he wrapped his hands around the warm flesh of her throat, wanting to see her fear, wanting her to plead for mercy.
    Kamana laughed at him, her slanting eyes glowing like new-minted coins. “Is the thought of me as your consort that dreadful, Ranulph? I thought our encounter in the park was rather pleasing.”
    “You mocked me then, and you mock me now,” he growled. His fingers tightened until he could feel the hammer beat of her pulse beneath his thumbs. “If we were really destined mates, why not simply say so?”
    “You’re a stubborn creature,” she replied calmly. “All your thoughts and dreams were centered on that mortal child. How would you have reacted if I’d announced that you and I were fated to be together?”
    She was right again, damn her. His hands dropped and he stepped back. “I’d have said I’d sooner mate with a hedgehog than share my life with you,” he growled.
    “You shall find me a much better companion than a hedgehog.” She tossed her head, her silken hair shimmering like an ebony veil. “You cannot fight fate, Ranulph. Come, I have something to show you.”
    Kamana crossed the clearing to where a rivulet of water formed a small pool before trickling away. She waved her hand, and an image of Leah and her young man appeared in the water. They were sitting side by side on a sofa. Townley said something and Leah laughed, turning to rest her forehead against his shoulder as she laid her