The Magic Touch Read Online Free PDF Page A

it
because he was developing an unpleasant suspicion about who was
responsible and was determined not to give her the satisfaction of
victory. She thought she could drive him away with her magic
tricks, did she? Thought she could make his work life so miserable
he’d want to quit?
    He could almost feel her now, breathing over
his shoulder, watching his fingers tapping at the keyboard as she
planned her next attack.
    It came shortly before quitting time. He was
minding his own business, typing away at his computer, eyes glued
to the screen, when he heard a sharp squeal behind him. Suddenly
something heavy clonked him across the back of the head.
    “Ow!” He ducked, narrowly avoiding another
blow as a plastic clipboard was swung toward him like a club.
“Anne, what are you doing?”
    Slithering to the floor and ducking low to
take shelter behind his chair, he peered cautiously up at the
attractive brunette towering over him. He’d never gotten along with
Mr. Dolhouser’s female assistant, but it wasn’t like her to bring
the feud to blows.
    She didn’t look sorry as she stood before
him, arms followed across the front of her white blouse. “Serves
you right, Daniel,” she snapped. “What do you mean pinching my
bottom like that? You just wait until I tell Mr. Dolhouser.”
    Danny clutched his throbbing skull. “What do
you mean ‘pinching’? I don’t know what you’re babbling about.”
    But he did. Horribly, he did. He murmured
into the thin air around him. “You’ve gone too far this time.”
    If Ambrielle was floating around him
somewhere, invisible, she gave no indication she heard.
    But Anne did and she glowered at him. “No,
it’s you who’ve gone too far, Daniel. There are laws against
harassing women in the workplace.”
    “Anne, please, just let me explain.”
    But she had already whirled and was stalking
off toward Mr. Dolhouser’s office, angrily swinging her clipboard
as she went. That was probably just as well, since Danny couldn’t
imagine what sort of explanation he would’ve given anyway that
wouldn’t leave him looking like a lunatic.
    He scrambled after Anne with the unpleasant
feeling whatever was coming wasn’t going to end well.
     
    * * *
     
    And end well, it didn’t. Danny’s emotions
were mixed as he rode the elevator down to the first floor of the
office building, carrying a cardboard box full of all his personal
effects. He was still on fire with embarrassment after the awkward
confrontation in Mr. Dolhouser’s office. Having all his coworkers
looking on as security escorted him to his cubicle to collect his
things was a silent and humiliating affair.
    Now it felt weird, knowing he’d never set
foot on this elevator again. For the past five years it had taken
him to and from his doom in that tight little cubicle in that
stuffy little office. He couldn’t deny he felt a slight twinge of
relief at the knowledge he would never see this hated place or any
of these people again. But the bad feelings outweighed the good.
He’d been fired, something that had never happened to him before.
He’d been falsely accused, humiliated, and chewed out by his boss.
He faced unemployment and a possible lawsuit. All because some
godmother had decided to meddle.
    As he crossed the parking lot and loaded the
box into the passenger seat of his car, he didn’t even glance
across the street toward the park. Nevertheless, he had no doubt
she was out there somewhere, watching.

Chapter Seven
     
     
    “Sexual harassment?” Danny stood in the
doorway to the apartment, staring at the fairy woman in disbelief.
Unperturbed by his deadly glare or by the happy little Brutus
skipping around her feet, she bustled around the kitchen, scarcely
even glancing up from her work. A cookbook lay open on the counter
and a light dusting of flour coated Ambrielle’s hands. She had
ditched her previous clothing yet again for a more casual outfit of
a pink blouse and denim capris. A polka-dotted apron covered