A Kind Of Magic Read Free Page B

now. “That was very thoughtful of him.”

    “He is pretty wonderful, huh?”

    Elle nodded and moved her hair aside to put the necklace on.

    “Let me get out of this dress and into my pj’s, and then we’ll watch the third LOTR .”

    Elle could only nod as she looked at her reflection in the mirror. She had a feeling she would wear the necklace often. Never had she worn anything that made her feel so special and … sexy.

----

    Roderick shifted his feet and stared at the house across the small road. Elle’s house. He had hoped that he would have been able to contact Aimery tonight and let him know they had found the woman.

    “I still can’t believe she said nay,” Val grumbled. “’Tisn’t normal.” Roderick hid his smile. “Buck up, Roman. Not all women will fall at your feet.” He grunted in response. “I hope the owners of this house don’t return tonight.”

    “Me as well. It’s the last thing we need.”

    “We’ll have to find a better place if this is where the woman lives.” Roderick watched as the other woman returned to the house. He eyed the man with the other woman and how they touched each other. It had been the same way when he had seen them outside the café.

    His realm was openly affectionate, but not that affectionate. Besides, he had gotten used to the times of Earth and how in some time periods couples could hardly touch each other in public.

    “I need a woman.”

    Roderick rolled his eyes, though Val couldn’t see him. “You always need a woman.”
    “Absolutely.”

    “You Romans were too free with your sex.”

    Val laughed. “Not true. In fact, there was much more I could have done. ‘Tis you that needs to loosen up.”

    He decided not to answer Val and get into another discussion on the amount of sex a man needs in his life. He’d had too many of those discussions before. Instead, Roderick took first watch of the house.

    Tomorrow would give them another chance to get a look at the woman’s leg and the mark that would let them know if she was the one they had been searching for.

Chapter Four
    “Was it memorable?”

    Elle shot Jennifer a bright smile as she unlocked the door to her beloved house on Michigan Street. “Of course. You out do yourself every year.”

    “As long as you have a good time.” Jennifer skipped down the steps and got into her car. “Gotta run. I have a date with Alex tonight.” Elle loved Jennifer dearly, but she was glad to be home. She couldn’t shake the feeling that she had interrupted a weekend that Jennifer would have preferred to have spent with Alex.

    With a sigh, she pushed open her door, the bell on the doorknob jingling. Elle dropped her bags at her feet and secured the deadbolt and two other latches on the door before she grabbed her bags and walked to her bedroom.

    Her house wasn’t large. It had two bedrooms, two baths, a great foyer, and a formal living room. She had just finished upgrading the kitchen and her bathroom, and she had a nice den in the back where she watched TV, which is why there was a bell on the front door knob. With her mainly being in the back, she’d never hear anyone come in without it.

    First things first, she quickly made a run to the fridge and grabbed a Diet Dr.
    Pepper. She opened one of the new little bottles they had come out with and drained half of it.

    “Now that’s good,” she said.

    Just as she turned to head to the bathroom and a hot shower, her phone rang.

----

    “Why do they build their dwellings so close,” Roderick said with a grimace as he tried to get comfortable against the tall wooden fence and Elle’s house, which only had about a foot of distance between them.

    Val chuckled. “You should have seen Rome.”

    “Nay. I think not.”

    “At least we know this is where she really lives. Makes it easier to watch her here.”

    Roderick had his doubts about that. Who would have guessed she had been in the same city he had been searching in for a month?

    As