“Introductions were made all around, Ryan Mayfair looking as if he’d been born in his Brooks Brothers suit and Michael Curry, being the oldest and rough cut but a very handsome guy in his safari jacket, with his beautiful salt-and-pepper hair and a very easy manner. He had a very Irish look to him with his square face and blue eyes. The lawyer was uncomfortable and Dr. Rowan Mayfair wasn’t exactly at ease either. Dr. Rowan had a high-cheeked, sleek beauty to her with bobbed hair. There was something undeniably frightening about her, though her manner was low-key.

“ ‘Come on, Mona,’ said Dr. Rowan, ‘we’re here to take you home. You gave us a bit of scare slipping out this morning.’

“ ‘I want you to leave me alone!’ Mona said. It was practically a cri de coeur.

“I could scarcely bear the sound of it, and I flew into action without even moving. I held her shoulders. My heart was racing.

“But suddenly Dr. Rowan adopted an ominous face and said, to my complete shock, ‘Michael, take her.’

“Both Ryan Mayfair and Michael Curry moved towards Mona, and Mona screamed, backing up and overturning the chair, and I threw my arms tightly around her. She pivoted in my embrace and buried her face in my chest. She felt like the most fragile and precious little creature that I had ever known or loved, and I intended to fight for her.

“ ‘Come now, gentlemen,’ said Nash in a gentle commanding voice, ‘surely you’re not trying to take this young lady by force! Mrs. McQueen, are you a neutral party in all of this?’

“ ‘Indeed not,’ said Aunt Queen. ‘Jasmine, run get the men.’

“ ‘Wait a minute,’ said Michael Curry, and he made the universal gesture with both his hands for patience. He came on like the sweetest guy in the world. ‘Mona, please stop the theatrics and come home, you know you have to. Mona, I don’t want to be doing this. Nobody does, but you can’t go off like this. Look at it from our point of view.’

“ ‘I’m going to marry her,’ I said. ‘And if you lay a finger on her, I’ll break your face. Oh, I can see you’ve got brawn on your side, plenty of it, but I’m young and I’m meaner than I look, so don’t try me.’

“As for Goblin, he had risen to his feet and I had whispered to him to do nothing. What he could have done I didn’t know, but it frightened me and thrilled me at the same time.

“By now Clem and Allen were running towards the patio. And the security man had come from the front porch to stand by Aunt Queen, his hand on his gun.

“Aunt Queen motioned for Clem and Allen to come on and then stop.