Seized By Seduction. Brenda Jackson
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had hurt her. “I’ve gotten over him, Haywood. It wasn’t easy, but I did.” What she said was true. She’d taken a year off college just to get herself together. That time spent on Glendale Shores had been just what she’d needed. Located off the South Carolina coast, Glendale Shores was one of the most beautiful of the Sea Islands and had been in her family for generations.
“Are you sure?”
Randi glanced over at her sister. “I’m positive.”
Haywood didn’t say anything for a minute. Then she said, “I’m glad, because according to Zach, he’s married. Larry mentioned to Zach that he’s attending that big bash at the Kennedy Center this weekend with his wife. Since you have plans to go as well, there’s a chance you might see them there.”
Randi drew in a deep breath and felt...nothing. Not even that painful ache in her heart that it had seemed would take forever to go away. But it was finally gone. Who would have thought she would actually feel zilch upon hearing the man she once loved so deeply had committed his life to someone else?
“Randi?”
She heard the worry in her sister’s voice and glanced over at her. “I heard you, Haywood. So Larry’s married. I’m happy for him. Truly I am. And it wouldn’t bother me in the least if I saw him.”
She paused a minute, then added, “I got over Larry. I now understand that not all men could handle a girlfriend having psychic abilities. I shouldn’t have expected Larry to be different.”
“Well, I did,” Haywood said with indignation. “He claimed he loved you.”
Yes, he had claimed that, and when I needed him to be supportive and understanding, he’d been neither. In fact, he was a total ass. “Well, like I said, I’m over Larry, and no one has to be afraid to mention him around me or freak out at the thought we might run into each other someplace whenever I’m in DC.”
“I’m glad to hear that, Randi. I know getting over Larry was not easy for you. But I’m still concerned, because you haven’t dated much since your breakup with him, and it’s been close to four years.”
Reaching up, Randi adjusted her sunglasses. Had it been that long? “I date.”
“I didn’t say you hadn’t dated at all. I said you don’t date much. There’s a difference.”
“I date enough. Criminal cases take up a lot of my time, Haywood. You know that.” After college she’d gone to work for the FBI as a behavioral analyst. She’d found the position too restricting because she couldn’t assist other law enforcement agencies. That’s when she’d made the decision to freelance. In between job assignments, she used her time writing books on psychic criminology that were being used at the FBI Training Center at Quantico. And on occasion, she would teach classes there, as well.
“Speaking of cases, you haven’t said much about the last one you worked. The one in Charlottesville,” Haywood cut into her thoughts to say.
Randi shrugged. “Wasn’t more to tell. All the details were blasted on television and in the newspapers.” It had been crazy when a mobster who’d been found guilty had put a hit out on everyone in the courtroom the day of his sentencing. Close to ten people had been assassinated before it all ended.
“The media gave you a lot of credit.”
“They shouldn’t have. It was a team effort.”
“Yes, and with all the cases you’ve helped solve, you’d think people’s skepticism of an investigative psychic’s abilities would have lessened.”
Randi was well aware that most people didn’t believe or accept the possibility that some individuals were born with psychic gifts. Over the years she’d gotten used to closed-minded people. “It’s not always easy to have an open mind to the unknown...especially when it contradicts what you think you know or believe,” she said in defense of the doubters. She would admit that in the beginning, she’d had a hard time accepting people’s attitudes about that. Now she mainly ignored them.
“Why do I get the feeling that there’s something you’re not telling me about that case in Charlottesville?”
Randi started to speak, to deny there was anything she wasn’t telling her sister, but she knew there was no point. Her sister could read her like a book. “I saw him.”
Haywood had pulled her SUV into the parking lot of one of their favorite dress shops. She brought the car to a stop, cut the ignition and turned to Randi. “You saw whom?”
When Randi felt a part of her breath backing up in her lungs, she let out a whoosh; otherwise, what she was about to say would overwhelm her. It practically did whenever she thought about it. “While in Charlottesville, I saw the man Gramma Mattie told me in my dream that I would one day meet.”
As Randi expected, Haywood was quiet for a minute, allowing what she’d said to sink in. Then her sister lifted her brow, stared at her with that thoughtful expression she could wear so well and asked, “You saw him?”
The corner of Randi’s mouth lifted into a smile. “Yes. And it happened pretty much like the dream said it would.”
In actuality, it had been a vision instead of a dream, but she’d told everyone it had been a dream so they wouldn’t ask too many questions about the experience. It had happened during that year she’d spent on Glendale Shores while getting over her breakup with Larry. Her deceased great-grandmother, who’d also been blessed with psychic powers, had come to her in a vision. Gramma Mattie had told her Larry was never meant to be her mate, and there was a man chosen just for her.
Her great-grandmother further said that Randi would know him when she saw him. Although no physical description of him was given, it was revealed that the first time she saw him, he would be wearing all black, and when their gazes locked, she would feel the connection.
And she had.
“I don’t understand, Randi. If you met him, then why isn’t he here with you? Why haven’t you introduced him to us?”
Randi smiled, hearing the excitement in Haywood’s voice. “Mainly because I haven’t officially met him myself. I saw him one night at the crime scene, and he saw me. Something passed between us just the way Gramma Mattie said it would. I’m sure he thinks it was nothing more than sexual attraction.”
“And you didn’t say anything to him?”
“No. It was the same night the assassin was killed, and everyone’s attention was focused on what had happened. Two people had come close to losing their lives that night in a fire. Besides, according to Gramma Mattie, he has to make the first overture. The only reason I know his name is that I overheard someone call out to him.”
Randi didn’t say anything for a moment. Then she added, “And another thing, the most important thing Gramma Mattie said, was that I have to earn his love, and he has to earn mine.”
“How?” Haywood asked.
Randi answered thoughtfully, “I don’t know. But what I do know is that if one of us fails, then we both lose out on love. There’s not anyone else out there for either of us. If not together, then we will live apart and forever alone.”
RANDI LOVED ATTENDING galas at the Kennedy Center, especially when they were honoring a well-known humanitarian who deserved the award. Since her parents were still out of the country, she was attending with Trey and Haywood and her godbrother and her cousin, Zach and Anna. It was a dressy affair, and she’d enjoyed going shopping to buy what she thought was the perfect outfit.
She glanced around, remembering the first time she’d come here. It was with her parents and paternal grandparents when the Kennedy Center had honored the Performing Arts. She’d been eight at the time and had been starstruck,