Page 36 of Diagnosis Attraction

Harold scanned the new site, noting that Dr. Delano had treated a woman patient with amnesia. One of the nurses on the unit had volunteered to take Jane Doe home and gotten shot to death in her own kitchen. By Delano and the woman? Or by someone else?

That was an interesting question and one that gave Harold pause. His men had gotten caught in the crossfire when Bransonhad kidnapped Swift from the fortified plantation of her fiancé, John Reynard, just before the wedding ceremony.

Now here were two more products of the clinic, involved in a dangerous situation. Harold was tempted to send someone up to Baltimore to investigate, but perhaps it was prudent to stay away from the couple. Maybe it was best to keep tabs on developments and make a decision at a later time.

Yet it was hard to simply drop the chance for another experiment. He thought back over what had happened at the Reynard estate. Was there some way to protect yourself from Delano and the woman—to prevent what had happened before?

Elizabeth turned to Matt. “Let me try to do the focusing.”

“Because you still have a lot of memory gaps, and you want to be effective at something?”

“You read me so well.”

“We already know you’re effective at cooking.”

“I’m not going to batter our enemies with a soufflé.”

“You can make a soufflé?”

She considered the question. “Maybe not. I think I’m into more prosaic dishes—like last night’s dinner.”

The statement stopped her. “A lot has happened since last night,” she murmured.

“Yes. And I also think we’re stalling about trying out our powers.”

“Right.”

Cutting off the extraneous conversation, she looked at the rock she’d picked, thinking of a laser beam.

Or maybe lightning. And I’ll try to lend a power assist.

She narrowed her eyes, concentrating—trying to do something that she had no idea how to accomplish.

Matt moved behind her, pressing close and clasping his hands around her waist, making himself part of her.

She could feel theenergy flowing between them, gathering strength. It was a wonderful sensation if she could only figure out how to use it.

Raising her hand, she stretched it toward the rock, imagining beams of power coming out of her fingers.

And suddenly, to her surprise, there was a flash of light that streaked out toward the rock. Lightning crawled across the surface, and the water around it crackled and boiled.

She heard Matt make a strangled exclamation.

“You didn’t think we could do it,” she accused, “and you hid that from me.”

“You think it was the wrong thing to do?” he challenged.

“No. I might not have tried if I’d known you were waffling.”

“Right.” He stroked his hand along her arm. “Hiding our thoughts is another skill we need to practice.”

“Um, hum.”For a whole lot of reasons, she thought, and knew he’d caught the silent comment.

She turned back to the rock, focusing on delivering another blast. This time it was easier, and the damage was more severe. She saw small chips of stone fly up into the air and land in the water. But she noticed that Matt’s earlier observation was right. Blasting something took energy.

“Let’s switch roles,” she suggested.

He agreed, and they changed places, with her behind him, clasping his waist and peeking around him to watch the rock. At the same time, she tried to send him the kind of energy that he’d sent her.

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