Do You Believe in Magic? Read Online Free PDF

together. And it never hurt to have around a little eye candy, because he certainly was nice to look at. Maybe taking part in this deception wouldn’t be as difficult as she feared.
    Clay took a sip of his coffee while he watched her daintily demolish dessert, a fudgy cake with chocolate mousse icing and raspberry sauce. Thank goodness she didn’t eat like some of those women who barely touched their food and didn’t enjoy what they did swallow. She’d never get along with his family if she had.
    His last thought drifted out of his head as he watched the play of candlelight picking out the golden highlights of her hair, the lick of her lips capturing the last little bit of cake, and her hands cradling the coffee cup. He could easily imagine that hair spread out on his pillow, her tongue tangling with his, her hands on him. Stifling a sigh, he tried with only minimal success to control his body. Think of her intelligence, their common interests, the job they had to do, he told himself.
    Then it was time to leave. They made the drive back to her apartment in a companionable silence, listening to country-and-western on the radio.
    As they walked up to her stairs, Clay could feel Francie becoming tense again, wary of him, probably because he had tucked her arm in his. To distract her, he said, “Don’t be obvious about looking, but I think we’re being watched.”
    “What? Who, where?” She jumped, but he wouldn’t let her get away from him.
    “Tamara. I just saw the curtains move in her apartment.”
    “Oh, good grief. I know she means well, but really!” She dug in her purse for her keys.
    “Invite me in, Francie,” Clay said as he took the keys from her and opened the door. When she looked up at him wide-eyed, he continued with a matter-of-fact tone, “I need to see your computer and show you how to tell if Kevin has been on it.”
    She made a jerky nod and led the way into the apartment. Clay followed, took off his coat, and laid it on a chair.
    Francie put down her purse on a side table and turned to face him. “I really enjoyed myself tonight, Clay. Thank you for dinner.”
    She was nervous, and he almost smiled. It was so nice to know he was having an effect. But when her eyes fell on his lips and her own opened as if waiting for his kiss, the effect was on him, and he had to tell his muscles to relax. Then she clamped her lips back together and defiantly raised her eyes to his. She was certainly not going to let him kiss her.
    Or at least not yet. He only said mildly, “You’re welcome,” and raised his eyebrows. “Your computer?”
    “Oh. This way.” She quickly led the way to the apartment’s second bedroom, which she had converted into a home office.
    “Very nice. Good computer,” Clay said, loosening his tie and glancing around at the filled bookshelves, the comfortable easy chair with ottoman by one window, and the desktop computer by the other. Not as good as his own setup, of course, but certainly adequate.
    Francie sat down at the computer and turned it on. Clay pulled up the extra chair from against the far wall to sit at her side and slightly behind her. His placement put him close enough to catch her scent, a light peachy fragrance, and he felt his nostrils flare. To pull his attention back to the computer took more effort than he wanted to admit, even to himself.
    “The last time Kevin dialed in to Brazos, a program uploaded to this machine.” He showed her how to find and start the little application. The screen immediately filled with characters and symbols.
    “Why, these are the keystrokes and mouse clicks he used, aren’t they?” Francie exclaimed after reading the code for a moment. “This shows exactly how he went about logging on and where he tried to go. Oh, I see what you mean,” she said, scrolling the display down. “He really doesn’t seem to know what he’s doing, does he?”
    “Not that we can tell. Do you see anything to help us?” He sat back to better enjoy