Do You Believe in Magic? Read Online Free PDF Page A

equilibrium was going to be harder than she thought. His caress had sent a bolt of heat following his fingertips, and her fingers still tingled from his kiss. She took a sip of her ice water to cool off. It didn’t help.
    Clay just grinned as he watched her efforts to distance herself. The waiter’s arrival with the wine and the appetizer interrupted the need to reply to her request. Which he had no intention of honoring. He had been in a state of semi-arousal since she walked into the living room in her apartment. Now he felt himself responding even more as her eyelids lowered and her eyes grew smoky again. Playing out this charade with her was going to be a combination of pleasure and pain, he could tell already.
    It’s no charade , he heard a voice in his head say with utter conviction. The certainty of the statement stampeded through his body and settled in his bones, causing him to catch his breath. Where had the notion come from? No matter, he dismissed the thought to study the way the candlelight showed her luminous skin to great advantage, and he smiled again in appreciation. Yes, there was definitely more to this “mouse” than met the eye.
    As he gazed at her, he wondered what had happened in the past to turn her off men. To make her hide under those awful outfits and glasses. It had to have been something like a bad relationship to cause such a beautiful woman to disguise herself as she did. He did not doubt he would discover the reasons, even without his sister’s witchy abilities to draw the truth out of anyone.
    But now it was time to settle down and get to know Francie. They had to work together amicably if they were going to catch Brenner. She seemed to be trying to be pleasant. He would be the same. After the waiter left, he asked typical get-to-know-you questions about her family.
    She answered readily enough and relaxed as they munched on the fried calamari. “I’m an only child. My parents were older, in their late thirties when I was born. Daddy’s a middle manager in accounting for a company in Dallas, and Mother is a secretary for a lawyer. What about yours? Besides Daria, I mean.”
    “Dad’s also an accounting type, a consultant. I don’t know how we ended up with three consultants in the family. Maybe it’s in the genes, because none of us likes taking orders or being in a managerial structure. My younger sister Gloriana’s a botany prof at UT. She and Mother own a plant nursery and herb farm not far from Austin. They’re in the midst of planning a restaurant and cooking school on the property. I’ll have to take you up there sometime.”
    She didn’t seem to notice the implications of his last statement, but asked instead, “How did you get involved with computers?”
    That led them into a discussion of their mutual interest, stories of disasters, comical encounters with programmers, complaints about department heads who expected miracles from their computers, the Internet, and the computer industry in general.
    By dessert, Francie was astonished to realize she was totally beguiled, thoroughly relaxed, and enjoying herself immensely. Clay had surprised her, by listening to and commenting carefully on what she said, by having many of the same interests as she—classical and country music, beaches, science fiction, and more—and by demonstrating a self-deprecating and slightly off-balance sense of humor similar to her own. The man was simply downright fun to talk to.
    Furthermore, and most important, his appeal was not forced or phony. She’d become an expert of sorts over the past few years and could spot phoniness across the proverbial crowded room. Even Tamara agreed about Francie’s ability, although it had not stopped the redhead from hooking up with underhanded, two-faced Kevin, something Francie still could not understand.
    She shrugged to herself. One way or another, Kevin wouldn’t be around much longer. As for Clay, if this dinner was any indication, they could work