Read Online Dangerous Magic by Stephanie James, Jayne Ann Krentz - Free Book Online Page A

slid her fingertips through the gray at his temples and on into the blackness beyond. She heard him groan in unrestrained hunger as her fists eventually settled at the nape of his neck, clenching and unclenching the muscles there.
    He did want her, she thought in wonder. With a power she’d never sensed in other men. It was nearly impossible to imagine Dean Norwood, for example, demanding and forcing this level of response. But Dean Norwood was a civilized, polite human being who would be a gentleman even when he made love. Wade Taggert’s needs and masculine desire went beyond the level of a gentleman’s. And he had no inhibitions about letting her know the intensity of his demands, Elissa thought dimly, her mind whirling.
    “Randolph and that damn stockbroker might be satisfied with what you choose to give them, and in the end, when you tire of them, they’ll leave still thinking of themselves as your friends,” Wade muttered fiercely as his lips began tracking down her throat to the curve of her breast. “But if and when our affair comes to an end, there will be no friendship between us, my witch! I can’t look at you without wanting to possess you—and whatever happens, that element will never change!”
    “Wade! You don’t know what you’re saying!” And then Elissa’s words were broken off in a gasp as his tongue found the tip of her gentle curve to replace the hand which had been at work there and had now moved on.
    “Yes, I do.” He grated against her breast as he traced a feathery pattern on the warm skin of her stomach. “I want to know the part of you living in that crumbling castle in your painting. The part that’s protected by the dragons you’ve got hanging all around this apartment. You look out at the world from some inner sanctum and find the rest of us amusing little pets, don’t you? But not me, Elissa,” he vowed, lifting his head for a moment to rake her startled, tense face.
    “I’m not a pet for you to gently, kindly, control and manipulate or please because it amuses you or because it keeps everything in your world flowing comfortably along. I’m the wolf you called me a few minutes ago, and I’m going to sit beside you in your castle, not beg outside the door!
    You’ll pet me, Elissa, but no more often than I’ll pet you. And in the end you’ll be as chained in my power as I will be in yours.”
    “That’s utterly absurd!” she managed, knowing the feel of hot honey flowing through her veins and appalled at it. “We’re two very ordinary human beings, Wade! Not enchanters from another world who can cast spells over each other and see which of us is the stronger!” Her blue-green eyes had deepened in shading until they reflected the depths of a remote sea as she looked up into his uncompromising features.
    “Shall I tell you your own great secret?” he asked musingly. “Will that prove my power is at least a match for your own?”
    “What nonsense is this?” she hissed uncertainly, searching the gray gaze for some hint of his meaning.
    “Your best-kept secret, little witch, and the source of your magic is that, in spite of all the friends and admirers you so easily cultivate, you could close the door on all of them tomorrow, retreat into your painting or read books of fantasy, and not miss any of them. You’re completely self-contained inside the walls of your castle, aren’t you? And no one even has a clue. Except for me, naturally,” he added calmly, matter-of-factly.
    Elissa was dumbfounded. The one remark which finally penetrated her reeling brain was the comment he’d made on the science fiction. “What do you know of my fantasy collection?” she charged, a new wave of fury roaring through her senses. She thought of the books on her shelf and winced.
    He moved his hands back up to cup her face and smiled with patent triumph. “I wandered into your bedroom during the party. I wanted to see more after I saw the paintings.”
    “My bedroom!” For some