Barely Bewitched (4 page)

Chapter 4

I pedaled hard. “The current’s pulling us, Merc!” I whispered fiercely. We spun and I couldn’t control it. I reversed my pedal ing, and my legs burned. I knew I should’ve spent more time on that darn exercise bike at Georgia’s.

“You jump and save yourself!” I said.

Mercutio hopped on the back, then leapt onto Bryn’s dock. I bit my lip, terribly scared. Something jarred the boat, which jerked sideways, ramming into the side of Bryn’s boat. Water sloshed in, wetting my feet and pant legs. I ignored the shock of the cold water and looked over to the dock.

Mercutio stood on the end, next to the metal hook used to anchor boats. He’d managed to loop the twine from the back of the paddleboat around the hook. Merc held it with his teeth and used his paws to flatten the line to the dock to help secure it.

“How the heck?” I sputtered, pulling on the rope hand-overhand, dragging myself closer until I could hop onto the dock. I took the twine and secured it, then squatted next to Mercutio and kissed the top of his head.

“You’re the smartest baby cat I ever heard of. If you decide you want to be famous, just say the word. You could headline in Las Vegas, I swear.”

All of the sudden a bunch more lights came on. I looked over to where the paddleboat was banging up against Bryn’s more expensive one.

“You think he heard us crash or you think he’s got the dock rigged with security sensors?”

Merc stuck his tongue out rhythmically like he was tasting the air. He swatted the space in front of him and hissed softly.

“Or I guess he might have a protective ward around the property.”

I heard a dog barking.

“Uh-oh. Angus! Quick, Merc!” I said, scooping him up. Angus, Bryn’s full-grown rottweiler, had once attacked Mercutio. Merc still had the stitches from that fight. I just hate bullies.

“Angus is chained,” Bryn said, stepping into the light from between a pair of oaks.

“Oh, good.” I took a deep breath to steady myself and set Merc down. “Hey there.”

“Hey, yourself. You’re trespassing.”

I widened my eyes. “You want me to go?”

Bryn didn’t answer that. Instead, he strode over to me until he was too close. “You know, I’m a little tired of hearing that you’re never going to see me again, only to have you turn up when you need something,” he said.

I wrinkled my nose and hoped my face wasn’t too flushed with embarrassment, since he did have a point. “Who says I need something?” I said, trying to seem innocent.

His gaze flicked to the stolen paddleboat, then back to me. He arched a brow.

“Well, actually . . .” I said.

He leaned closer. I smelled sandalwood and spices, and his power made my lips tingle.

“At your house, when Sutton showed up . . .” He shook his head. “I don’t like being dismissed.” Our mouths were almost touching. “You need to decide whether you and I are friends or not.”

“It’s not up to me,” I said, exasperated.

I tilted my head, still feeling a current of power crackling between us. His uneven breaths were minty against my mouth. I needed to back away, but the chemistry between us was harder to resist than a chocolate éclair.

“Tamara,” he whispered as his hands tangled in my hair. He held me still while his mouth covered mine.

I heard the rushing of the waterfall and tasted honey and magic. I slid my arms around him, my fingertips pressing the muscles of his back.

With my eyes closed, I barely registered the flash of light that signaled Edie’s arrival. “You’re turning into quite the biscuit,” her disapproving voice said.

I jerked back from Bryn, leaving us both gasping for breath. He reached for me, but I batted his hand away in a classic Mercutio move.

“We’re not alone,” I said.

Bryn’s gaze swiveled to Edie, and he said to her, “Ah, the family ghost, I presume. So that’s what you look like, as stunning as all the Trask women.”

“Can you see me, candylegger?” Edie moved closer, taking my spot.

“Only just,” he said, catching his breath. “What’s a candylegger?”

“A popular man about town, like you. With a useless but compelling kind of charm.”

“Are you the one trying to keep Tamara and me apart? I can feel that this is fated, you know.”

“Is that so? Are you star-crossed lovers kept apart by your selfish relations? A little old to play Romeo, aren’t you?” she said and paused, looking him up and down. Then her voice turned as hard as the beads on her fancy dresses. “Before the year is out, she’ll call you warlock,” she hissed and sent a shiver up my spine.

“That is—” He paused. “Where did she go?” he asked, though she was still right in front of him. She leaned forward and pressed her phantom lips to his. He coughed and stepped back, blinking. “She’s still here.”

“Yes.”

He looked at me. “I can’t see her anymore.”

I glanced at Edie. She toyed with the double strand of jawbreaker-sized pearls that hung from her neck. “He saw me with your power . . . from the kiss. When it faded, I did, too. He’s not supposed to see me.”

“I don’t know what you meant,” I said to her. “Why would I call him a warlock? Because he’ll use dark magic?”

Bryn folded his arms across his chest and clenched his jaw, clearly not happy about being shut out of the conversation.

“No.” She clucked her tongue. “Any witch or wizard can use white or dark magic. The true meaning of warlock is old. It comes from our history. Warlock means traitor, one who betrays his own kind.”

“Well?” he asked. “What has she accused me of?”

“Nothing specific. She just doesn’t trust you.”

“The feeling’s mutual. Vagrant spirits that interfere with the living are troublesome at best, and dangerous at worst. The latter seems to be the case here.”

Edie stared at him. “He wants to wield the McKenna power through you, but he can’t have it. Isn’t that right, Tammy?”

I glanced at Bryn and wondered if and how he would earn the term
warlock
. I realized, too, that it was the second time I’d heard someone called by that title in the same day. I looked back to Edie. “There’s a man in town. Incendio Maldaron. Jordan, the other wizard with him, called him a warlock. Jordan didn’t say it like it was a bad thing. He said it like Incendio was a star running back who just scored the game-winning touchdown.”

“Maldaron is here?” Bryn asked sharply.

Edie tilted her head. “I know that name. How do I know it?”

I nodded at Bryn. “He’s my second instructor.”

“The Conclave would never send Incendio Maldaron to teach spells to a novice. It would be like sending a death-row inmate to teach kindergartners how to fill squirt guns.”

“What do you mean?”

“Since John Barrett took over, the Conclave has been using Maldaron as an enforcer . . . to punish or exterminate wizards who become dangerous. But, based on the things he’s done over the years, Maldaron himself should be at the top of a hit list.”

“Why? What’s he done?”

“Assault. Probably murder, but he’s never been convicted. Witnesses tend to disappear.”

“Why would the Conclave hire him, then?”

Bryn smiled grimly. “He’s effective at what he does.”

I frowned. I’m no politician, but putting a killer on the payroll just didn’t seem right. I guessed maybe the CIA did things like that, but the wizards’ government shouldn’t need to. They have magic on their side.

Mercutio meowed and sprung out from the dock. He landed on the paddleboat and stood looking upriver for a moment, then turned to see if we were paying attention.

“Your cat senses something,” Bryn said.

“Merc knows Incendio Maldaron. Incendio says Mercutio belongs to him. It’s why I came tonight. Merc doesn’t like him. I wanted you to keep him here, to hide him until Incendio leaves town.”

Edie snapped her fingers. “I remember now. ‘Where there’s smoke there’s Ince.’ That’s what his friends used to say.” She twirled her pearls at me. “Back in 1989, when Melanie had an affair with him.”

“What!” I said with a gasp. My aunt Mel and a scary biker warlock?

“What?” Bryn asked, leaning forward. I held up a finger so I could listen to Edie, who continued unperturbed.

“Yes, she wrote to us from Mexico City, where she met him.” Edie smiled. “He got very angry when she broke things off. He made threats, and I suspect he followed through on some of them, although she never said. Melanie always was too good at keeping secrets. You know what though? If you’re worried about him, you should wear the earrings, the Colombian emeralds. Twin stones found together, set in white gold and cooled in white water. Melanie had someone famous help her do the protection spell.” Edie paused. “She wore them every day for over a year. They were too flashy for day wear, and people around here made comments, but better to be overdressed than burned alive.”

Edie dropped her pearls against her shimmering gown. “Finally Maldaron moved. To Spain I think. And with the ocean between them, she felt safe enough to put the emeralds away. She won’t mind your wearing them.”

I slapped a hand over my mouth, and Edie looked sharply at me.

“Heaven’s sake, those weren’t part of the jewelry you pawned, were they? The ones from the false-bottomed drawer?”

I felt ill. I guess it showed because she sighed.

“Don’t panic,” Edie said. Easy for her to say; she was already dead. “You may not need them. It’s been twenty years. Perhaps he’s mellowed with age.”

I thought of his bad-to-the-bone look and put a hand to my head. I doubted he’d mellowed too much, but he was supposed to be my teacher. He’d been sent over on official business. So maybe I was safe.

“Let me go and check things out,” she said as she faded to a pale green mist, then a faint orb of light that disappeared.

I turned to Bryn. “She’s gone. I’m sorry I ignored you, but she had some really important stuff to say.” My hands were shaky, so I clasped them together.

“Such as?”

“Can we talk about it in your house? My feet are wet, and it’s kind of cold out here.” I had to stall. I didn’t know how much I should tell him about our family. He was on the forbidden list. Plus, now Edie had come forth with the alarming premonition about Bryn betraying me, just when I needed his help. With Georgia busy with her in-laws and Zach thinking I’d gone ’round the bend, I was running out of people I could count on. I sighed, trying to think positive. It was only October. We had two whole months before the year ended. Maybe Bryn wouldn’t betray me until December.

Chapter 5

Bryn opened the back door to a big sunroom. Except for there being no sun, it was real nice. He turned on an overheard light, and I sat down on a tan-and-white-striped cushioned chair. I grabbed a small dark blue quilt that was thrown over the back of the seat next to me. As I spread it across my legs, I realized the squares had pictures of the constellations.
Perfect for nighttime.

I glanced to a large wood and leather trunk sitting in front of a small couch. There were several fancy books stacked on top of it and a couple notebooks. I noticed a dirty dish and fork on a side table and a shiny coffeepot with a platinum-rimmed cup and saucer.

“Were you working out here?”

He nodded.

“You sure work long hours,” I said, my eyes fixed on a thick binder that read
Yale Law
on the spine.

“Sometimes.”

“I sort of know how that is. Some recipes have to be done over a couple days. Great pastry chefs have to be in the kitchen late. When I got to apprentice at Lampis, I used to be there ’til two or three in the morning sometimes.”

“Lampis has excellent pastries. I’ve had dinner there often when I’m in the city. It’s an impressive credit for your resume. Why were you working at Cookie’s bakery if you trained at Lampis?”

I shrugged, feeling my cheeks pink up. The head pastry chef at Lampis had wanted to know the same thing. He’d been mad as a hornet when I told him I was leaving to go back to Duvall. “I missed home.” My gaze darted around the room, avoiding his eyes for a moment. “And you’re one to talk. What are you doing in Duvall, Mr. Yale Law?”

He smiled. “This town has plenty to offer.”

“Like a big magic tor?”

“There’s that, too,” he said, fixing me with one of those looks that could spark a forest fire.

I cleared my throat. “I came over for a couple of reasons besides dropping off Mercutio. I need to know if there’s a spell to erase someone’s memory for a specific conversation,” I said, thinking I’d like to blot out my telling Zach I was a witch.

“Depends. Do you care if you erase other things? Random memories?”

Hmm. I wouldn’t mind erasing all those dumb football facts he obsesses about.
Who needed to remember every starting Super Bowl quarterback for the past forty years? Most of it happened before we were born. But what if I accidentally erased our first date or his brothers’ weddings or something important? Couldn’t risk that. “Yeah, I care. I’d need to be real accurate. I just want to erase a fifteen—or so—minute conversation. I can figure out the exact time if I need to.”

“No,” Bryn said with a short laugh. “The mind isn’t like a VHS tape. There’s no guarantee that you’d only erase the memories from that specific a period of time.”

Darn.
“All right.”

“Are you going to tell me what happened tonight? I thought you were going to the Sutton family barbeque.”

“Yeah, change of plans. Now it turns out I’ve got to meet with those wizards for drinks. Earlier, Jordan didn’t give me any details about the challenge, just that I’d need to use magic from the four elements to get through it. Does that narrow it down?”

“Not really.”

I sighed.

“But don’t worry,” he said. “You can give me the details of the things they’re teaching you. That will give me some idea. And I’ll see what I can find out through other channels.”

I looked at him closely. “What other channels?”

He smiled. “Barrett hasn’t been in charge long enough to replace everyone at the upper levels of WAM—the World Association of Magic,” he added. “I’ve still got some friends there.”

Spies! Hurray!
“That’s great. Do you think they’ll be able to find out before the day of the challenge?”

“That’s the idea, but we’ll see. Barrett’s fairly paranoid. Normally, a simple challenge for a beginning witch wouldn’t be the kind of thing that the president would be involved in at all. But since you know me, it’s different.”

“Why?”

“I’m not Barrett’s favorite person,” he said mildly.

“Why not?”

“Whenever he tries to grab too much power, I’m one of the people who stands in his way. Eleven times so far, I’ve done the research and prepared the briefs to oppose new policies he’s tried to push through. Four times, when the vote was going to be close, I’ve gone to give the arguments in person.”

“And you always win.”

“Most of the time,” he said with a nod.

“He must be pretty mad at you.”

Bryn grinned. “He’s never sent me a Happy Equinox card, so that’s the conclusion I’d draw.”

I sighed. “And you had to break the magic laws to help me with the werewolves. I bet that’s not a good position for you to be in. I’m real sorry about that.”

He shrugged.

“And here I am dragging you in again.” I frowned. “It’s just I don’t know what else to do with Mercutio. I can’t see most folks in town handling him. I mean, he’s great. But he can get a little wild with the furniture.” Of course, nobody I knew had more expensive stuff than Bryn. I glanced around. Maybe Merc could roam the grounds and stay in the sunroom mostly.

“Mercutio can stay here, or he could stay with you. Maldaron has no claim on a cat like him. Animals of power are free to choose their own company. It’s against the law to keep one against its will.”

“Well, maybe so, but I can’t really go up against Incendio, big-time fire warlock, can I? Especially since I need to learn some stuff he’s supposed to teach me. Hey—” I cocked my head. “You said they wouldn’t have sent Incendio here just to teach me spells. Do you think they sent him as a warning to you? So you’d stay out of things?”

“As a matter of fact, that’s exactly what I think.”

I shivered. It was dangerous for Bryn, but he was going to help me anyway. I didn’t want to think about how much I already owed him, and I hoped he wasn’t keeping track either.

“I take it that you came down the river so no one would see you drive up to the front gate? That was good thinking.”

“Yeah, but I won’t be able to battle that current to get back upstream tonight. I was thinking that you could take me in your car with the tinted windows and drop me off at my car when we’re done here.”

He nodded.

“Thanks for helping me, Bryn.” I clasped my hands and took a deep breath. “I do need one more thing.”

“You have my undivided attention, as is often the case,” he said, catching me in that dark blue gaze of his.

“I wish you wouldn’t look at me like that. I’m trying to be good, and you’re always making me think about being anything but.”

“Glad to hear it.”

I sighed heavily, and he grinned.

“You know, things are only difficult because you fight your attraction,” he said.

“Right, they’d be so easy if I had an all-out affair with you. Then our lives would be simple as meringue.”

“Some trouble is worth it.”

Probably
. “So the thing I need from you is a strong protection spell. The spellbook I’ve got has one, but it calls for ingredients I don’t have.” Like medieval armor and knight’s blood.

“I’m not supposed to provide you with spells. We’ve talked about the reasons.”

“But when Incendio realizes that I took off with Mercutio, he might want revenge. How am I going to survive if one of the guys that’s supposed to be teaching me is actually gunning for me?”

Bryn glanced up at the ceiling, thinking.

“I bet you’ve got lots of spellbooks,” I continued. “You don’t have to give me a spell from your best books. I’ll take anything that you think will work.”

He looked back at me for a moment and then got up and went to the stack on the trunk. He murmured something and waved his hand over them. The air shimmered and some of the covers changed. A few were still regular law books, but some had titles like
Conclave Precedent Rulings 1910-Present
and
World Association of Magic: Amendments
.

I shuffled over to the books, hoping to see a spellbook in the pile, but there wasn’t one.

“You know what I’m working on out here?”

“What?”

“My appeal of the Conclave’s decision to ban us from associating with each other. The only way a protection spell would even have a chance of blocking the magic of a Class Eight warlock would be if I reinforced it with my power. If I do that, they’ll be able to prove I’ve ignored their ruling. It would give Barrett excellent ammunition against me.”

I chewed on my lip, shifting my weight on the balls of my feet.

“If I were convinced that Maldaron was sent here to hurt you, I’d risk it. But he’s bound by the Conclave’s decisions, too, and they claim they’ve sent him to teach you. I would rather not break the law unless it’s a definite matter of life and death, because breaking the law could be a matter of life and death for me. Barrett’s made a motion to have my class raised to six because of the spell I cast on the wolves last week. If he succeeds and then I’m determined to have gone rogue by breaking the judgment from the recent hearing, the Conclave could send enforcers to eliminate me. And conveniently for Barrett, Incendio’s already here.”

“I remember Astrid saying at the witch’s meeting that she thought you were more powerful than your level. Did you purposely pretend to be weaker than you are?”

“A Class Four wizard can break rules and not end up with a death sentence. The more power someone has, the more dangerous it is if he uses it without regard to the law, so there are harsher punishments.”

“What class are you really?”

“If I told you, they could demand that you testify to what I’ve admitted.”

“I wouldn’t snitch,” I said indignantly.

“Not willingly.”

“Oh.” What would they use? Truth spells? Torture? I wrinkled my nose and frowned. “I hate politics.”

“It’s the way of the worlds, I’m afraid. The key is to know how to work the system.”

“Which I’m sure you do. Lawyers know the best loopholes, right?” I said, making him chuckle. “All right, so I’ll try not to ask you for help until you win your appeal. Could you do me a favor, then, and win soon?”

“Of course. You know I live to grant you favors.” He smiled to soften the blow of his teasing.

“Yeah, and it sure is sweet of you,” I said with my own brand of sugar-laced sarcasm.

“I want something in return,” he said, leaning close. Our eyes locked, and the attraction sizzled between us.

“A raspberry torte?”

“Something sweeter,” he whispered, his lips brushing mine.

One kiss seemed a small price to pay, considering that all his furniture would have to be reupholstered by the time Mercutio moved out. And considering that kissing Bryn was only about as terrible as winning the lottery, I closed my eyes.

His mouth was velvety soft as he drew my tongue into it. My toes curled and warmth swallowed me. Pretty soon, my whole body tingled, and I decided that it would be real comfortable to make love on one of the thick-cushioned chaises. That was about the time I knew I was in over my head . . . again.

I stumbled backward, pulling free of him and landing on a chair behind me. I gripped a cushion and concentrated on catching my breath. His blazing blue eyes sparkled, and he grinned, a little breathless, too.

“Tell me the truth. Have you ever felt anything remotely like that with anyone else?” he asked.

“Southern ladies don’t kiss and tell.” Except to their best girlfriends, their hairdressers, and sometimes their mommas. Definitely not to forbidden wizards who would use the information against them. “So I really need to be going. I’ve got to meet up with those teachers of mine.”

“Why don’t you come back here tonight? Mercutio will be calmer if you do, and it’ll give us a chance to talk.”

A chance to talk and a chance to kiss our way right into a big, fat, forbidden affair. “I’ll see. One other thing.”

“Yes?”

“I’ll take the job of catering the party, and I’d really appreciate it if you could advance me the money. I’m nearly broke, and it looks like I won’t have time for getting my old job back this week. I don’t want the check for the mortgage payment to bounce.”

Bryn pulled out his wallet and counted out a thousand dollars. Jiminy Crickets. His walking-around money was more than I’d ever had in my bank account.

Our fingers touched as he passed me the money, and that spark was there, like a flash of lightning in the distance. He reached for my hand, but I pulled it away and put both arms behind my back.

“It’s not a good idea. We’re like clothes that have been too long in the dryer. I don’t want any static-cling shocks, you know?”

“That’s where we differ. I like our static cling and the shocks that go with it.”

Yep, he was charming, all right. I smiled, then clamped my teeth together before I could take a bite out of one his candy legs. “C’mon, let’s go.” I nodded toward the door, anxious to get away. In some ways, I felt like I was way safer with Mr. Flamethrower and his threatening-me-with-death-if-I-didn’t-play-along English sidekick. Sure, I knew I couldn’t trust them either, but at least when I was with them, I could trust myself.