Do You Believe in Magic?

“Bravo, Ms. Macela, you have a hit on your hands and this should be an award-winning year for you! This author is a voice that can not be denied—her first published paranormal novel is distinctly defined, with refreshingly sharp nuances! . . . This is a phenomenal paranormal story that you must read! This comes with the highest recommendation from the reviewer.
IT IS A PERFECT FIVE HEARTS
—the story screams more sequels and this reviewer can not wait to get her hands on those!”

—The Romance Studio

“. . . Ann Macela has crafted an enjoyable, magical romance with an uniquely fresh premise and interesting characters.”

—Affaire de Coeur

FOUR AND A HALF HEARTS!

“THE OLDEST KIND OF MAGIC, Ms. Macela’s debut novel, was an absolute delight to read. From the moment the reader starts this gem it is almost impossible to set it aside.”

—Love Romances

DEDICATION:

To my critique group: Mary Jane, Rita, Victoria, Laura, Sherry, Noirin, and Jan. This book would not have been as good as it is without your generous help, astute critique, and unflagging support.

Published 2007 by Medallion Press, Inc.

The MEDALLION PRESS LOGO is a registered tradmark of Medallion Press, Inc.

If you purchased this book without a cover, you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as “unsold and destroyed” to the publisher, and neither the author nor the publisher has received any payment from this “stripped book.”

Cover Illustration by James Tampa

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission of the publisher, except where permitted by law.

Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictionally. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Typeset in Adobe Garamond Pro

Printed in the United States of America

10-digit ISBN: 1-9338361-6-4

13-digit ISBN: 978-1933836-16-4

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

First Edition

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS:

Many thanks to my critique group; to Paula and Helen, good friends and great readers; to sisters-in-law Connie, Laraine, Elaine, and Barb and nieces Megan and Caryn for their reading at the “beta” level. Thanks also to Windy City RWA, RWA Online, and especially to JoAnn Ross and her group, for their encouragement and support.

And, as usual, to my very own “Blue Mage” and computer wizard, Paul, without whom I couldn’t have produced a word and who is always ready to be my “research assistant” and helper in spellcasting.

PROLOGUE

Floating along on a bed of rainbow colors, he’d never felt so pleased or comfortable or happy or smug in his life. In a few minutes, his soul mate would be there, and they’d come together in their First Mating.

He was ready. More than ready, his body told him.

Where was she? Why wasn’t she there yet?

He stood up and began to pace. The colors of his bed swirled and coalesced into the walls, floor, and ceiling of a room. A door appeared on the far side. It opened.

Through the door walked his dream woman. Tall, blond, gorgeous, built.

Oh, yes, built.

But clothed. More than merely clothed. Dressed in what appeared to be a suit of armor right out of the Middle Ages. Complete with some sort of round helmet in her hand. It looked like a basketball.

What the hell was going on? She was supposed to mate with him, not fight. She was supposed to be naked like he was. How could they mate with that metal between them?

“Why are you wearing that ridiculous getup?” he asked.

She looked at him like he was crazy—or like she was totally surprised to see him there at all. Maybe she hadn’t heard him. She turned, as if to leave.

He shouted, “Where are you going?” His voice seemed to come out in a whisper.

She glared at him, ran her eyes up and down his body. That only served to excite him more, and his erection grew to painful proportions and throbbed to match his increasing heartbeat.

He reached for her, but she retreated a step. Held up her hand like a traffic cop. “Stop!”

He couldn’t move. He’d run into an invisible wall.

“No,” she said. She put the helmet contraption on her head, lowered the visor, turned, and stalked out the door, slamming it behind her.

“No!” he yelled.

“Noooo!” he groaned as he realized his soul mate—the only woman in the world for him—had left, abandoned him, denied their connection.

“Noooooo,” he whimpered as the enormity of her action hit him in his magic center, and he doubled over in pain. Without a soul mate, he was doomed to live alone and lonely forever.

“No,” he snarled as he thrashed in his bed, finally waking himself enough to come to his senses.

He sat up, panting and sweating like he’d just played a fast quarter on the court. His chest ached as if somebody had punched him. And he felt horribly, totally sad and abandoned.

He concentrated on breathing until his body was back to normal.

What a nightmare. Where had it come from? He never had bad dreams, much less anything like that . . . disaster.

He must have been spending too much time around his sister and her new husband. All their soul-mate togetherness must have rubbed off on him. Reminded him he might meet his mate soon.

Not that he wanted to. He was only thirty-four and wasn’t ready to settle down. He had at least a couple more years of glorious bachelorhood. The dream was just a manifestation of his wanting to get his latest job going and over with.

Why, then, did he feel so wasted? So alone? So lost?

Like a bad hangover, the feeling of utter devastation followed him into the shower, and he had to concentrate on programming spells before it went away.

CHAPTER-ONE

“Are you accusing me of hacking into our system, Herb?” Francie Stevens looked her boss straight in the eye while dismay warred with outrage in her mind. How could he think such a thing about her, that she would be a party to such an act? And against the company she worked for?

She grasped the edge of the conference table between them, ready either to push back from it or to propel herself across it at her accuser, but she wasn’t sure which.

“Not at all, Francie.” Herb Greenwood, vice president for information technology at Brazos Chemical, made placating gestures with his hands. “Don’t jump to any conclusions. Just calm down and we’ll explain. Bear with us, okay?”

Francie struggled to control herself. This news was the last thing she expected. She told herself to follow Herb’s advice and calm down, but to listen very, very carefully to what was being said. She wasn’t going to be a fall guy or a scapegoat for anybody. She pushed her glasses up on her nose and nodded stiffly, but didn’t relax her posture. “Okay.”

Herb waved a hand at the man sitting on Francie’s right. “As I was saying, thanks to Clay Morgan here, we’ve discovered someone’s been invading our computer system for a couple of weeks. Clay installed a program that tracked the guy back to his computer. That computer turned out to be your desktop at home. We know you’re not the one doing the hacking.”

“But how?” she asked. “How can someone be using it without my knowing? Nobody’s broken in. I’d certainly notice something like that.” She glanced at the two flanking her on each side, Morgan to her right and Daria Benthausen, Clay’s sister and fellow consultant, on her left, then looked back at Herb. “How do I prove I’m innocent?”

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