Dangerous Magic Read Online Free PDF

door as the bell sounded again.
    “Elissa, you should have had that job! What went wrong?” Dean’s offended tones were balm to her spirit as she glanced at him over her shoulder.
    “I’ll tell you all about it later. Promise me you won’t say anything to make Evelyn or her husband uncomfortable?”
    “Of course not,” he denied instantly. “But…”
    “Later, Dean,” she promised, her hand on the doorknob. “Although there’s really nothing much to say about it.”
    The doorbell began to ring more and more frequently after that as the guests hurried to make the six-thirty deadline. Everyone wanted to be present when Martin Randolph escorted his wife into the room.
    Over and over again Elissa listened to the same dismayed greeting as people bustled in from the wintry Seattle night. “Elissa! I heard about the promotion going to Evelyn. Thought sure you had it!”
    And over and over again, Elissa summoned her most self-mocking smile, made jokes about counting chickens, and urged everyone to forget the matter with a shrug and the assuring words, “Evelyn will do a terrific job.”
    When Evelyn and her new husband arrived, there was something besides dismay in the younger woman’s pretty hazel eyes. There was a kind of nervous wariness which Elissa saw at once and set out to remove with automatic, efficient ease.
    “Evelyn! Congratulations!” she beamed, holding open the door and urging the couple inside. “I know you’re going to do a heck of a job.
    Taggert knew enough to recognize the quality work you did on that quarterly report last month, and I’m very glad for you.” With a casual, congratulatory hug that set everyone who witnessed it at ease, the small tension passed as if it had never existed. No one ever stayed tense long at Elissa’s parties.
    The exception tonight, Elissa reminded herself with satisfaction, would be Wade Taggert, who, if he had an ounce of integrity in his large, hard frame, would be properly tense with the knowledge of his error. Or were wolves ever repentant? That thought occurred to her as she stood temporarily to one side, watching her guests relax and begin to enjoy themselves. She sipped idly at a glass of wine and considered the matter.
    Well, time would tell. It was six-thirty, time for June to walk in and be properly surprised. After that the real countdown would begin for Elissa.
    The turning point of her evening would be the instant she opened the door at seven o’clock and Wade Taggert absorbed the fact that her excuse about the surprise party had been valid.
    The first highlight of the evening went off in a perfectly orchestrated fashion. Dark-haired and attractive, June Randolph entered the room on her equally dark-haired and attractive husband’s arm. Both were in their forties, well-dressed, and clearly in love. The marriage was a second time around for each, and Elissa knew they were committed to making it a success.
    The shouts of surprise and congratulations stormed over the apartment as June stood flushed with pleasure and excitement. Martin Randolph caught Elissa’s eye over his wife’s head and grinned conspiratorially.
    “I told her we were just going to stop by for a drink.” He chuckled, slipping off June’s coat.
    “Good heavens!” June gasped, laughing. “How long have you been planning this?”
    “Almost a month.” Martin smiled, vastly pleased with the success of what he had come to think of as his own idea. Somewhere in the excitement of planning the party the fact that Elissa had given him the notion had slipped his mind. She didn’t mind. There was nothing as nice as watching a man enjoying himself by making his wife happy.
    After that Elissa moved with easy charm through the lively crowd, one eye on the clock as it slowly crawled toward seven. Her sense of anticipation grew in vast leaps as the magic hour approached, and it lent an added fillip of excitement to the evening that was new to her. Soon, she told herself every two