Escape Magic (3 page)

“I haven’t decided.”

He looked at his watch again. She noticed it
was a nice watch. Not flashy, but obviously expensive. Heavy, but
not too heavy to be supported by his wrist…and arms. She let her
eyes travel up his arms to his broad shoulders and puzzled face.
She blushed when she realized he’d said something she’d been too
distracted to hear.
Damn it. I need to stop this.
“Pardon?”

“I
said
, would you like to call me
when you make up your mind because I really do need to get inside
now, but maybe I should just have the driver take you home.”

“Oh, you’d like that, wouldn’t you?” She
snorted and got out of the car without taking his offered hand.
They stood in front of a brightly lit country club. Other
well-dressed people were chatting happily and going in the front
door. Her gaze fell on one fabulously beautiful blonde woman
holding the arm of a portly bald man. They would attract attention
anywhere with her beauty, but Lydia did a double take, recognizing
a well-known magical duo. “Mariella? Mark?”

The woman turned first, her expression
changing from detached to thrilled. “Oh my God! I didn’t know you
were going to be here.” She glanced at Tony and back at Lydia with
a wink. “I guess you’ve been forgiven, then?”

“Not sure I’d go that far.” Lydia hugged the
other woman and smiled at Mark. “You might call it parole, I
guess.”

Tony stepped forward. “We’re considering it,
anyway. Good to see both of you. I’m glad we caught you off tour.
That’s getting tougher to do.”

“For the moment.” Mariella gave her husband
a shy smile. “We’re going to take a break in a few months.”

Lydia frowned. “Pardon? Your show is really
taking off. Why would you take a break
now
?”

Mariella smiled a little, a secret smile
that lit her eyes in a very lovely way. Mark slid his arm around
his wife’s waist. “It’s a good thing.” He smiled at Lydia and Tony.
“See you inside.”

Lydia continued to frown at their backs,
puzzled. What on earth could two of the world’s greatest
illusionists see as a “good” interruption to a show that was
finally getting the recognition it deserved? “I don’t see how—”

Tony snorted, and Lydia turned to glare at
him. He took her arm. “Let’s go in before you embarrass yourself
further.”

“I just don’t…” Her voice faded as a thought
struck her. “Oh.”

“And it dawns!” He laughed. “You’re very
career-centric, aren’t you? But then, of course you are. You threw
away our friendship for one trick.”

“It
was
a good trick.” Still
pondering her sudden comprehension, she spoke absently. Realizing
how it must have sounded, she looked at him quickly. “Sorry. I
don’t mean to sound callous. I guess at the time I didn’t see why I
couldn’t have both your friendship and the trick. I did figure it
out, after all.”

“You have an interesting system of
morals.”

She winced. “I’m not saying what I did was
right.”

“First time for everything.” He grinned and
tucked her hand into his elbow, pushing the door to the club open
and letting out a blast of air-conditioned coolness filled with
music and laughter.

He felt her hesitation as they entered the
ballroom of the clubhouse. It
was
an overwhelming sight.
Andre and Stacey had made many friends in the field of magic over
the past couple of years, and many of them were in attendance,
mixed in with the more run-of-the-mill journalists and the somewhat
bemused family members.

Tony had long ago found that when his
brother’s friends got together, most of them couldn’t resist the
temptation to outdo each other with their newest tricks. Which
explained the flashes of fire and bright colored scarves and the
sound of cards shuffling emanating from all over the room. He
smiled a little. It promised to be a lively and interesting night,
and his brother wouldn’t want anything less for his wedding
reception.

He glanced at the beautiful woman on his arm
and realized her hesitation had been more out of delight than
anything else. And rightly so. A woman of her talent should fit
right in. These were her peers.

“Can I get you a drink?” He gestured at the
ballroom. “You can make yourself comfortable. Andre and Stacey
didn’t bother with seating arrangements or a big meal. There’s a
buffet on the terrace and servers will be by with smaller stuff and
drinks.”

“This is superb!” Lydia clapped her hands
and looked around with anticipation. “Oh, why didn’t you tell me?
I’d have brought some chains or cuffs or something.”

He arched an eyebrow. “
That
would be
why.” He looked around. “Besides, we didn’t plan it or hire them or
anything. They’re just Andre’s friends. If they arrived with a few
tricks to show off, well…” He shrugged.

She snorted. “Right. Well, I’ll improvise.”
She started toward one of the flashes of light.

He caught her hand. “You didn’t say if you
wanted that drink.”

She waved him off impatiently. “There’s fun
to be had here. I’ll see you in a bit.”

He shook his head, looking around for a
waiter to see if he could get a seltzer water. Just something to
hold in his hand while he circulated.
One day at a time.
He
found a waiter with soda and snagged one, turning just in time to
run into Mattie, Andre’s second in command. “Hey, where’s
Andre?”

“Who knows?” She threw her hands out wide.
“He’s throwing the party of the decade here, paying out the nose
for it, and he and Stacey are nowhere to be found. Thank God for
Bella. She’s been keeping their parents out of my hair.”

He smiled, taking a sip of the soda. “Never
thought I’d
ever
hear you say ‘thank God for Bella’ after
what she did.”

“What she did nearly cost us all Stacey, and
she’s the best thing to happen to Andre since, well,
me
.”
Mattie glared at him. “That’s plain soda, right?”

“Yes, mom.” He squelched a rush of
irritation.

“Well, after having to babysit Lady Lydia,
I’m not sure I’d blame you—totally—if you did add a little rum, but
don’t do it, anyway. How is she? She isn’t going to cause any
problems, is she?”

He shook his head. “She’s good. I don’t
think we’ll have any more displays.”
Well, nothing like that,
anyway.
He remembered her wish that she’d brought her chains or
cuffs and had an unexpected craven impulse to fulfill that
desire…just maybe not in public. He frowned at his own internal
conflict. Did he dare believe she had grown up? And what about
Andre? Had there really never been anything between them? He wished
he dared believe it.

“You okay?” Mattie looked at him
sharply.

“Yeah, fine. Really.” He immediately wished
he hadn’t tacked on that “really”. Mattie was smart and fast and
usually knew everything there was to know about a situation about a
minute after she walked into it. He figured his minute was up.
“Hey, is that Logan? It is. Sorry, Mattie, I’ll catch up to you
later. Gotta go say hey.”

Ian Logan had always been an imposing
figure. Well over six feet tall, dark, handsome and brooding, he
often had the effect of making Tony feel short, pale and
commonplace. Logan had once been an important figure in the field
of magic. Until he retired to the Caribbean and turned his back on
the whole industry.

Logan had had his own tragedy to deal with
at the time, and Tony hadn’t seen much of him in the intervening
years. The man still cut an imposing figure, though, and Tony
imagined if he ever returned to the stage, he’d be a force to be
reckoned with in the magic world.

“Whatever you’re doing, it’s working.” Tony
shook his friend’s hand warmly. “What’s your secret?”

“Nothing but sand, sun and beautiful women.”
The hint of melancholy in Logan’s eyes belied the light words.
“What about you? I’ve been hearing rumors about you and Lady Lydia
arriving together tonight.” He indicated the red-haired beauty
watching raptly as another magician broke his glass on the table
and began to eat the shards.

“Don’t remind me.” Tony snatched a seltzer
water with a lime twist from the tray of a passing waiter. He
studied it with an internal sigh. Fancy looking, but no bite. He
took a sip. “My brother invited her.”

“Umm.” Logan sounded noncommittal. “Well,
she’s a beautiful lady. A little on the wild side and hard to keep
down from what I hear, but it’s part of her charm.” He raised his
eyebrows as he took a sip of the wine he had barely touched.
Alcohol was not one of Logan’s sins, Tony knew. But he had
others.

“She’s hard to figure out. She pulls that
stunt after Andre’s wedding—you heard about that?” At Logan’s
affirmative, Tony continued, “—and I thought sure she was trying to
get Andre’s attention. Or promote her show. But she swears she was
just curious and it was an accident. Says something, doesn’t
it?”

Logan raised his eyebrows and took another
sip before answering. “Says more to me that you believe her.”

“That’s—”
not relevant.
But it was
and he knew it. When did he start believing Lydia? She
was
a
magician after all. Magicians dealt in half-truths and misleading.
Hell, so do I.
He laughed at himself.
I’m such an idiot.
She’s a beautiful woman and I want to sleep with her and I’m trying
to make it okay.

And why wouldn’t it be okay? Tony had never
been a master of restraint, but since going on the wagon, he’d
worried a lot less about other, less harmful, pleasures. If he
wanted to sleep with a woman and he could get her into his bed, he
did it without hesitation. He enjoyed women, and they enjoyed it,
too. And that was the key as far as Tony was concerned.
As long
as I don’t hurt anyone, what’s the problem?

What indeed? Maybe this. Maybe not being
able to resist the temptation of
her
, the one woman in the
world who might actually best him in more ways than he could count.
Lydia was strong, talented, brave and far too intelligent to be
trusted. She’d already proven she would betray him. But she was
attracted to him. He’d seen it in the light blush on her cheeks.
He’d seriously considered kissing her then, finding out how far he
could push things, but he’d passed up the moment. That didn’t mean
that if it were to present itself again, he’d do the same.

“Earth to Tony.” Logan grinned and shook his
head. “Good luck, man. I think you’ve got it bad for her.”

“That’s impossible.” Tony glanced Lydia’s
way again, then turned resolutely away. “I haven’t see her in
years.”

“You know love at first sight exists,
right?”

“
Love
?” Tony shook his head. “Nah.
Not me.”

Logan shrugged. “Think what you want. Love
can hit anybody at any time. I believe that. What takes time is
finding out if it’ll last and if you’re suited to each other.”

“You think two people who are unsuited to
each other could fall in love?”

“Oh, hell yeah. Happens all the time. Just
don’t run off and get married. If you do, you’ll more than likely
be contributing to the divorce statistics in this country.” Logan
sounded bitter, and Tony knew his friend had plenty of reason to
wish
he
was just a divorce statistic. He wanted to say
something wise and comforting, but could only settle by gripping
the other man’s shoulder for a second.

They both cleared their throats and Logan
straightened. He gave Tony a wry smile. “Well, at any rate, it’s
always a fun ride, whether it works out or not. Enjoy it.”

Tony nodded and took a sip of his drink as
his friend turned to greet another acquaintance. Tony intentionally
let himself drift away, thinking.
A fun ride
. He wouldn’t
know. He’d never been in love. Not even when he was a kid. Even in
high school, his prom date had been someone to party with, another
human being engrossed in herself and her own pursuit of
pleasure.

Not that he believed all that crap about
love at first sight, but he knew any relationship with Lydia could
be more than just a one night stand. What would it be like to
pursue someone else’s pleasure instead of his own? The thought both
frightened and intrigued him. It suggested a loss of control like
he’d had with drugs and alcohol, and he wasn’t sure he could afford
that.

Maybe he was wrong about his attraction to
Lydia, anyway. Surely it was too soon to tell whether or not it
meant more than any other attraction to a woman. But he couldn’t
find out if he didn’t confront it. With a new sense of purpose, he
started toward the corner where he’d last seen Lydia.

Just as he did so, however, Mattie came over
and grabbed his hand. “They’re here.”

He gave her a puzzled look. “Who?”

“Your brother.” She frowned. “Are you all
right?”

Crap. Nice timing, Andre.
He nodded,
casting another look at the corner of the room, then shrugged. He
had a definite feeling his brother would only be getting married
once, and he honestly didn’t want to miss a minute of it.

There’s still plenty of time to find
Lydia.

He joined the group of well-wishers gathered
by the front door tossing flower petals and shooting silly string
at the late-arriving couple. Hoots and laughter at their
unapologetic lateness mixed with some slightly off-color and very
juvenile jokes about the reason for it.

“Did your car break down, Andre?”

“Why would his car break down? Oh, maybe it
was all the rocking!”

“If the car’s a rockin’ don’t come
knockin’!”

Tony fell into step with Andre and Stacey as
they ducked the good-natured jibes on their way into the ballroom.
Stacey took his arm and smiled her lovely smile at him. He hadn’t
known her when she was a blonde, but he had a definite feeling he
liked her natural brown better. “You’re pretty quiet. Everything
okay?”