Daddy Warlock Read Free Page B

dark had it not been for an incident the previous month. He and Raymond had been driving back to their office from a studio where they were consulting on a film. As a traffic light changed, a tiny girl waiting on the sidewalk had pulled away from her mother and run into the path of a truck.
    Seeing her danger, the child froze. There was no time for anyone to reach her, and the truck couldn’t stop in time.
    With a wrenching groan, Chance had flung himself into the girl’s mind. With little practice in exercising his talents, he hadn’t been sure it would work, but it had. Propelled by his internal command, she’d thrown herself aside just as the truck roared past with brakes squealing.
    Exhausted, Chance had returned to himself in time to see the gleam of recognition on his father’s face. Now Raymond was full of plans.
    The sky was the limit, he declared. Once Chance put to work his skills at mind control, they could dominatetheir industry, expand into other businesses and even influence legislation. The world would be theirs.
    Wearily, Chance gazed around the courtyard. He loved this house, and he knew it would be difficult to afford the payments through honest work.
    But tonight something unexpected had happened. He still wasn’t quite sure how it had come about.
    He hadn’t meant to manipulate that delightful sprite into his bed. Entering her mind had been unintentional. In fact, he had the peculiar sense that she had entered his first, but how could that be?
    The responsibility lay on his shoulders. Without meaning to, he had taken advantage of a very special lady. He must learn to rein in his powers; already, they had become dangerously strong. Tonight, they had overwhelmed him.
    Until now, Chance had weighed the possibility of indulging his father a little without going beyond the bounds of fair play. But this ability to enter others’ minds was more potent than he had expected.
    He must cut his ties to his family and find his own way in the world. While earning a masters’ degree in business, he had discovered an affinity for the financial markets. He must develop his talents in that direction— without using magic.
    At the memory of the woman’s heightened sensitivity, Chance’s body stiffened. He wanted her again, physically and mentally. He wanted to probe what had happened between them, and make sure she hadn’t been harmed by it
    But if he’d lost control once around her, it might happen again. At this point in his life, with his abilities coming into full strength while he yet lacked the skill to control them, he might injure her.
    At least she shouldn’t suffer any great distress from tonight’s encounter. What had occurred had been at so deep a level of consciousness that he doubted she would remember it.
    But, to be on the safe side, Chance had instinctively acted to protect his privacy by leaving a kind of posthypnotic suggestion. As far as his lady was concerned, he would be less than a phantom, scarcely a shadow of a memory.
    She would go on with her life, only vaguely aware of a sensual experience that would seem more dreamlike than real. She would forget him, and perhaps that was for the best.
    But he would never forget her. And he doubted he would ever stop wanting her, either.

Chapter One
    Being in the first grade was mostly fun, especially in Mrs. Wilson’s classroom, because she kept a chinchilla and two hamsters in cages. Also she read funny stories aloud and let you watch Winnie the Pooh cartoons during recess when it rained.
    But Harry Blayne hated lunch. He didn’t actually hate his lunch, because Mommy put good things in it, like granola bars, and celery sticks stuffed with peanut butter, and blue-colored juice. But he hated lunch because John Abernathy the Third always sat at his table.
    John Abernathy made fun of the fact that Harry didn’t have a daddy. John had two daddies, one for weekends and one during the