Seduced by Magic (4 page)

That made him glance at her feet and his mouth dropped open. She had three toes on each foot, vaguely reminding him of a deer’s hoof.

Whoa. It took him a few minutes to ask his next question. “So how do your wings work?”

Now she did look at him and her raised brows made his heart pound. “I thought you were a smart man.”

His short bark of laughter lifted her brows even higher.

27

Stephanie Julian

“You know, I always considered myself a smart man. I thought I knew things about the world others didn’t. Obviously I don’t know as much as I thought. So you were born in Italy?”

“I was born in 1698 in
Toscana
. My parents were killed in the purge of 1758 and I left for America shortly after that.”

Holy shit!
1698? What the hell?
Then he processed what else she’d said. “The what?

The purge?”

Now she turned her head to look at him, her wide eyes narrowed. “Why do you care? Why do you need to know the answers to all these questions?”

He shrugged, trying to strike a balance between fascinated and stunned. She was more than three hundred years old. And she didn’t look a day over twenty-five. Jeez, the things she must have seen in that time. He was only twenty-eight. He wondered how she saw him.

Finally he remembered to answer her question. “I’m a researcher. I watch and study, record what I find. Then I make conclusions.”

“And what are you studying here if not me?”

He felt almost foolish admitting it now. “I guess you could say I was looking for you.”

She sat up in bed. “Ha! So you
did
know I was out here?”

“No!” He scrambled up and straddled her lap, forcing her back against the headboard, his hands on either side of her head so she couldn’t get away. “No, I didn’t.

Not for sure. I was sent here to study the hawks but I was told this might be a place where I could find…what I was looking for.”

The other research geeks at BD Enterprises had considered this a crappy assignment, isolated and tedious, but he’d jumped at the chance to come because, as a child, his father had told him this place was special, that fairies lived here.

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Seduced by Magic

He’d never expected to find one. Not really. He’d hoped and prayed since he was a child that one day he would prove his dad right. Prove he hadn’t been crazy.

That magic did exist.

And here she sat, magic personified, from her wings to the feel of her skin under his.

He lifted a hand to cup her cheek, looking deeply into those grass-green eyes.

She blinked once. “And did you?”

“Did I what?”

“Find what you were looking for?”

Hell yes. He’d found exactly what he’d been searching for all his life.

Justin stared into her eyes with an intensity that burned. Scarlata had never experienced the sensation of another person trying to see inside her before. To see into her soul and discover truths about herself she’d rather keep hidden.

This was not good.

Panic made her slap his arms away so she could jump out of bed, wings emerging to curl around her shoulders in defense.

“This is madness!” Nothing had gone the way she’d thought it would. Not only had they had sex—really great sex, but she wasn’t going to think about that right now—but he seemed to be immune to her spells. The only magic was the magic sparking between the two of them.

And that was
really
not good.

Just for the hell of it, she cast another spell.

And stamped her foot in frustration when he did not turn into a frog.

“Argh!” she screamed at him, arms waving. “Who
are
you?”

29

Stephanie Julian

His eyes widened in shock then he started to laugh. “You just tried to curse me again, didn’t you? And you’re pissed because it didn’t turn me into what…a dog? Sorry but I’d rather not be any furrier than I already am.”

“The spell was for a frog,
ceffo
. And I do not understand what’s going on here. Why are you immune to my magic? Who
are
you?”

He spread his hands in front of his bare chest as if in supplication. She could stare at that chest all day but forced herself to look up. She found the expression on his face anything but apologetic.

“I’m Justin Johannson, son of Barbara and the late Michael Johannson. I have a baby sister named Fiorella and I could live on Italian food for the rest of my life. I think professional ice hockey is the only real man’s sport. I’ve never been married because I’m too much of a workaholic and women who know me tend to think I’m missing a few marbles upstairs because I believe in magic.”

She couldn’t tear her gaze away from his, the bluest eyes she’d ever seen on a man.

As bright as the sky on a clear autumn day. Those eyes encouraged her to believe everything he said. She found herself waiting for him to say something more in that harsh rumble he called a voice.

“I’ve been chasing a dream for the last ten years of my life and now that the dream is real, I can’t even get worked up over the fact that you want to turn me into a frog.”

He rose from the bed to stand before her and she stood her ground, spine straightening, unwilling to give him the satisfaction of backing away. At least that’s what she told herself. It was
not
because she wanted to breathe in his scent when he got close enough to touch.

“I’ve just met the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen in my life,” he continued.

“I’ve just had the most incredible sexual experience and I want to know everything about you and then I want to take you back to bed.”

Which was exactly where she wanted to be…

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Seduced by Magic

“No!” She backpedaled away from him before he could touch her again. “This isn’t right. I must leave. But I must do something about you first.”

Justin realized that her “something” wasn’t going to be as pleasurable as sex. And if he didn’t want his time with her to end anytime soon, he’d have to do something fast.

Sex always served as a good distraction, so he smiled, letting all the desire he felt for her show. He’d been told by several women over the years that this particular smile could melt a woman’s icy heart and soak her panties.

“Well, now I have a few ideas.” He moved close enough to touch but kept a few scant inches between them. “What happened earlier blew me away. Think how much better it could be if we really put our minds to it.”

Her eyes narrowed and he knew she wasn’t taken in by that smile. Over the course of her life, she’d probably seen just about everything.

“Your pitiful attempts to stall are grating on my nerves,” she countered. Then her head cocked to the side and he didn’t trust her thoughtful expression. “I can’t allow you to keep the memories you have of this night.”

That definitely didn’t sound good. Still, she wasn’t talking about killing him exactly. Just—what? Wiping his memories? Could she do that?

“Did you know sex can power very strong magic, Justin?”

He didn’t expect her to reach out and grab his cock in one silky smooth hand. His blood surged, making him grow rock-hard, as if he hadn’t just come twice in the last two hours.

“Whoa, baby.” He jumped back, away from her hands. “Let’s slow down a little.”

Slow down, hell. In reality, he wanted to rev up, already missed the feel of her hand on his rapidly engorging dick. But she was up to something and he probably wasn’t going to like it. That comment about sex magic made him reconsider his sex-as-a-distraction plan.

31

Stephanie Julian

She tilted her head to the side like a little bird, all those silky red curls sliding over her bare shoulder. Some of the strands fell across her breast, caressing the nipple. He wanted to fasten his teeth to it again. He clamped down on the urge before she could realize how she was affecting him.

He had to get them out of this bedroom if he was going to get his head clear enough to think. And steer her away from any more attempts to put a spell on him. He really didn’t want to end up with a tail but he didn’t want her to leave either.

“So are you hungry, Red?” The nickname rolled off his tongue much easier than her name. Much more intimate. “How about we get some food?”

She continued to stare at him, unblinking for a few seconds before nodding thoughtfully. “Yes, we’ll have some food. You’ll need to refuel for what I have in mind.”

He reached for the cargo shorts he’d dropped on the chair before he’d gone to bed.

He really should get clean ones out of the drawer but that seemed like too much trouble. Pulling them up his bare legs, he kept one eye on her.

“And what do you have in mind?” he asked.

She shrugged. “You’re right. I’m hungry. Let’s eat.”

Without another word, she walked out of the room.

He zipped up the shorts, tripping over his sandals and the towel he’d used after his shower last night. Damn, he needed to clean up. The cabin looked like it’d been hit by a tornado.

Then again, he was a guy. He lived alone up here and hadn’t had a visitor since he’d arrived.

Still, he didn’t want her to think he was a slob.

Shit, who the hell was he kidding? He was a slob.

He found her in the kitchen staring into the open refrigerator. What did he have in there? Not a lot, since he hadn’t had a food delivery in more than a week. Maybe 32

Seduced by Magic

longer. The freezer was stocked with meat though. He’d arrived with enough for a six-month stay. He was a carnivore and proud of it.

He stared at her slim, naked body. With his luck, she was probably a vegetarian.

“Do you eat nothing but meat?” she asked.

Oh yeah. Definitely a vegetarian.

“Um, I haven’t been to the store for a while.” He opened cupboards, looking for anything that might appeal to a vegetarian fai—
folletta
, he reminded himself. He needed to remember that or she’d try to zap him with another curse. And really, how long could his luck hold before one of her spells worked and he wound up with a tail?

“Hey, how about peanut butter and jelly?” He pulled the jars out of the cabinet, stalling for time. He needed to think. “That sounds good for a midnight—uh, two a.m.

snack.” Did he have bread? Yeah, he had a loaf in the freezer. He fished it out and threw it on the counter. At least he knew that would be fresh.

She stepped away and let him bang through the kitchen, getting plates and cups and a knife. Then he stuck the bread in the microwave to defrost.

When the machine beeped, he made the sandwiches and poured milk then took the plates to the small table along the wall of the kitchen area. As he pushed the papers off to one side, he was relieved to find she’d followed him with the glasses.

They snacked in silence. She ate with a dainty precision that had him salivating every time she licked a crumb from her lips. He couldn’t remember eating but knew he must have because his sandwich was gone by the time she finished her milk. He watched her tilt the cup back, watched the play of her throat as she swallowed.

And he still didn’t have a clue what to do next.

“Now,” she said in a voice so low he almost wasn’t sure she’d spoken at all, “what am I going to do with you?”

He’d been thinking the exact same thing as her green gaze snagged his, holding him in place.

33

Stephanie Julian

“I’m sure you know I can’t have you wandering around telling the rest of the
eteri
there are magical creatures in the world. Still, I need to find out who sent you here.” She smiled so naturally he couldn’t help but be awed. “You do want to tell me, don’t you?”

Hell, at this point, what did it matter? It wasn’t like she was going to challenge them at a zoning hearing board. And maybe the truth would earn her trust.

“I work for BD Enterprises,” he said. “I really am here to study the migration patterns of the hawks. The company wants to buy a tract of land to the north of Hawk Mountain to build a research facility and they want data to support their claims that it will have no impact on the sanctuary. Personally I think that’s a load of crap. Any development in rural areas affects the surrounding environment. But they’re paying me to spend a few weeks in the woods, out of the lab. So I’m not complaining.”

He stared at her, his heart pounding. God, she was beautiful. Her eyes, that brilliant shade of green he’d never seen on another living being, looked almost…hypnotizing.

Justin shook his head, trying to straighten his thoughts, though they were getting a little fuzzy. “I love it out here. When I was little, my dad used to tell me stories about the fairies that lived on the mountain. Woodland spirits who took care of the trees and the birds and all the animals that lived here.”

His father had been one hell of a storyteller. “I didn’t realize until I was older he hadn’t been telling tales. They were the truth.”

His eyes felt so heavy but he didn’t want to fall asleep. If he fell asleep, he was afraid he’d wake to find this had all been a dream. He shook his head, attempting to clear some of the fog. “We used to hike here when I was a kid. In the summer we’d come a couple times a month.

“You know, my dad smoked until the day he died. But my mom,” he smiled, “she wouldn’t let him smoke in the house. He had to go out on the porch or in the backyard.

But he never smoked on the mountains. Not once.”

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Seduced by Magic

Damn, he’d never realized that before. He just hadn’t made the connection in his child’s mind. But now, twenty years later, it made perfect sense. His dad hadn’t wanted to pollute the purity of the mountain.

Scarlata’s brows drew together for one brief second before he continued asking,

“How long have you lived here on this mountain?”

He wasn’t sure she was going to answer until she took a deep breath. “I came to America over two hundred years ago. This mountain has been my home since then, for the most part. However, the more people come to the mountain, the more I tend to retreat to the shadows, those places where humans aren’t likely to go.”