Read Online Mistress of Magic by Heather Graham - Free Book Online

him.
    “That’s what I thought.”
    To her annoyance, Reggie felt hot color flash to her cheeks. “I’m afraid I was busy making dinner for others,” she murmured. “I am sorry—”
    “Really?” he asked politely.
    She could hear her own teeth grinding. “I tried to reach you this morning—”
    “Did you?”
    “Yes, I did.”
    She didn’t owe him anything! Still she felt the most curious edge as she watched him. Was he really angry with her? She couldn’t tell.
    “Well,” he murmured, “we do have a dinner date tonight, right?”
    “So it seems,” Reggie agreed less than graciously, her eyes suddenly downcast. Was he a wolf in sheep’s clothing? No, just a wolf. The man made no pretenses.
    And the thing that made her so uneasy was herself. He was attractive. Too attractive. And she was just a means to an end for him, while he intended to pry into every single aspect of her brother’s life. And maybe even into her own.
    Again, she felt defensive. Every barrier had to be kept in place against this man!
    “Well,” Alise said with a soft sigh, “you two have a nice dinner. I guess it will be pizza and beer for me with this duo!”
    “Gee, Bob, doesn’t she make that sound like a great compliment?” Stevie asked.
    “Boy, that’s right. I could get a Mel Gibson complex, just listening to her!”
    Alise gave him a swat in the arm. “See ya!” she said to Reggie, leading the other two down the hallway toward the dressing rooms.
    Reggie suddenly felt tense and vulnerable. She pointed in their direction. “I’ll just change—”
    He shook his head. “I don’t think so.”
    “What do you mean, you don’t think so!” Reggie demanded. “I’m dressed as a nineteenth-century floozy—”
    “Hey, that’s your problem. I’m not leaving you for a minute. Not tonight.”
    “Oh, now you are being absurd!” Reggie said. She started to turn. He caught hold of her arm.
    And the hold was fierce. Unyielding.
    He drew her around to face him. She saw that his jaw was twisted and set. He was a man determined.
    One who didn’t seem to give any quarter.
    “Let me go!” she insisted in a whisper.
    “Not on your life.”
    “I have to change!”
    “Feel free. But from this minute on, Miss Delaney, whither thou goest, I goest also.”
    Reggie tried to jerk free. “How dare you!”
    “Trust me. I dare anything. I don’t appreciate being stood up.”
    “I didn’t mean—”
    “I’m sure you didn’t. I could tell yesterday afternoon just how anxious you were to have dinner with me.”
    “I’m going to go change—”
    “That’s fine. I won’t mind at all.”
    Reggie stared at him, ready to scream.
    But she sensed suddenly that screaming wouldn’t get her anywhere at all.
    “I’m not leaving your side,” he reminded her softly, gold eyes glittering in challenge. “So tell me, Miss Delaney, just what shall it be?”

Chapter 5
    H e had to hand it to her, Wes thought an hour later.
    Miss Regina Delaney could be a very stubborn woman.
    They were seated at a table in Larkin’s Lobster House, a well-known fish house with an excellent reputation and a crowded dining room, and his companion for the evening—he didn’t dare call her a date!—was still clad in a garish red old-western-saloon-floozy’s outfit, complete down to the outrageous fishnet stockings.
    She wasn’t happy about her mode of dress. She had come through the entryway as quickly as possible, stoically ignored the stares of the hostess and maître d’ and hurried to the booth in the back.
    The place boasted a fantastic salad bar, but Miss Delaney had opted to turn it down, choosing a small spinach salad with her twin lobsters. She wasn’t about to get up.
    He would have felt guilty about her discomfort, except for the fact that she could have changed. All she had to do was bring him along with her right to the door of the dressing room. Maybe she hadn’t realized that he would stop there. Maybe she was just a little bit afraid