"Then you keep them and the strings that come with them."
"I don't have to accept them on your terms."
"You don't have any choice. And I'd appreciate it if you'd stop whining. Whining women are extremely annoying."
"I'll whine as much as 5 like. Pregnant women are entitled to whine." As a snappy come-back, that lacked something, but Verity was unable to think of anything else. She definitely did not intend to return the earrings. Jonas could put all the imaginary strings he liked on his gift. She didn't have to accept them along with the jewelry.
"That's one of the things I like about you, sweetheart. You always go down fighting."
"Don't push your luck, Quarrel."
"It's not luck I'm pushing. It's you."
Forty minutes after leaving the marina, Jonas docked the launch in the cove below the villa. The squall line from the approaching storm dogged their heels as he and Verity climbed the path to the old fortress.
Doug Warwick met them at the door.
"Glad you made it in ahead of the storm," he said as he took the packages out of Verity's arms.
"Otherwise you would have been stranded in town until tomorrow. I'd rather not lose any more time than necessary this week. Find out anything interesting from your contacts?"
Much to Verity's relief, Jonas did not take noticeable offense at Doug's comment about wasting time.
"Just straightened out a few details," he replied easily, his eyes on Verity. "How are things going here?"
"I think acute boredom is setting in." Doug grimaced. "I wish to hell Elyssa hadn't invited Crump, Spencer, and Yarwood. We've ail been stuck inside since yesterday because of the rain, and I think we're starting to get on each other's nerves. Spencer keeps trying to bait Yarwood, and Yarwood and Elyssa seem to be feuding. Crump just reads articles about herbal remedies or wanders around the halls.
I think that guy's a little strange, if you want to know the truth. He makes me nervous. I'll be glad when this week is over. What's the next phase of the big treasure hunt?"
"The west wing, I think," Jonas said, slipping into his academic voice as he discoursed on Leonardo da Vinci's influence on Milanese architecture and described how traces of it could be seen in the west wing of the villa.
"I didn't know that Leonardo da Vinci actually built anything," Verity interrupted in surprise.
Jonas glared at her with fine academic condescension, "As far as we know, he didn't. But he did a series of theoretical drawings that influenced Bramante and others."
"Oh, I see." Chastened by his authoritative tone, Verity started toward the stairs. When she glanced back over her shoulder she saw a suspicious glint of amused satisfaction in Jonas's eyes. The man was not above using the academic put-down when he wanted to dominate a situation, Verity discovered.
The upstairs bedroom was chilly, like every other room in the drafty old villa, but at least it had an adjacent bathroom. Verity fiddled with the small heater, dried her damp hair, and changed her clothes.
She was thinking about going downstairs to give Maggie Frampton a hand with dinner when someone knocked on the door.
She opened the door and found Elyssa Warwick smiling serenely. Verity forced herself to smile back.
"Hello, Elyssa. What can I do for you?"
"Jonas and Doug and the others have gone off to explore the west wing. I thought it might be a good time for the two of us to have a little talk. Something very important has happened."
Verity stifled a pang of uneasiness. "What do you want to talk about, Elyssa?"
"May I come in?" Elyssa walked into the bedroom without waiting for an invitation. She was wearing a pair of white wool slacks and a white sweater. Her silvery blond hair shone in the Sight, and the small bells on her ankles tinkled merrily. Verity felt like a slob in her jeans and plaid shirt.
"Please sit down." Verity couldn't think of anything else to say under the circumstances. Elyssa was the client, after all. "Now then, what can I do for you?"
Elyssa sat near the window. She put her palms together and held them just below her br**sts, giving Verity a look of deep understanding. "This is going to be difficult for you, Verity, but I feel you will understand. I would like to talk to you about Jonas."
Verity's sense of uneasiness grew. "What about him?"
Elyssa looked out the window, apparently gathering her thoughts. When she looked back at Verity, her eyes were very large and full of either a deep, ageless wisdom or fake confidence. The two expressions looked a lot alike.
"I have explained to you that I am becoming a channeler for an ancient temple priestess named Saranantha."
"Right." Verity tried to keep an upbeat, positive tone.
"My contact with Saranantha has grown stronger lately. Today she appeared to me in a vision and told me exactly what she wishes me to do. i am to fulfill a great destiny, Verity. I am to be the mother of a brilliant, psychically talented child."
In spite of her feelings toward the woman, Verity felt a burst of sisterly kinship. "You're pregnant?"
"Not yet."
"I see." Her sense of sisterly kinship died a quick death. Verity tried another tactic, "just exactly what sort of work did this Saranantha do? What are the duties of a temple priestess? I've herd some pretty risque stories about ancient temple ladies."
"Saranantha was a priestess of love."
"Somehow I had a feeling that might have been her, uh, calling."
Elyssa explained gently, "She was an exalted priestess who served a very important goddess. It was Saranantha's task to receive the love offerings of men who came to beg favors from the goddess… "
"In other words, she slept with every Tom, Dick, or Harry who showed up at the temple with the right amount of cash?" Verity interpreted.
"You mock me. But I am prepared for that. It is the fate of a channeler to deal with skepticism and mockery. But today Saranantha revealed the deep truth about my relationship with her. It will change my entire life, Verity."
"What is this deep truth?"
"I am her, and she is me." Elyssa's eyes brimmed with emotion. "You see, I was Saranantha in a past life.
And now she has come to tell me that I must fulfill the same destiny in this lifetime that I fulfilled in my previous life in Utilan."
"She wants you to become a prostitute? I've got news for you, Elyssa. That may have been a viable career option twenty thousand years ago, but today it's considered a dead-end job. No pension plan, no sick leave, and extremely limited opportunities for advancement."