Finding the Magic Read Free

the soft silk of her gown in a deliciously obscene way. She looked like a woman who had just been ravished.
    She smiled as she thought about the man who had done the ravishing. Cameron Murray wasn’t quite as aloof as he pretended and, in his hands, neither was she. For a moment in the garden, both of them had forgotten about keeping their distance and the result had been stunning. It had seemed that the very air around them had been electrified, sensitizing her skin to his touch. When he had kissed her, she had felt like she might come just from the feel of his lips and his tongue dancing with hers. It had been obvious from the hard feel of him pressing against her belly that he had felt the same. For those few seconds, something within her had reached toward him and she had wanted him to take it, more than she had ever wanted anything in her life.
    Then he had stopped.
    She frowned. He had thrust her away from him as though she had burned him. Why? Jayne shook her head. Whatever his reasons were, it wouldn’t really matter. If he was as reclusive as Megan had implied, then it was unlikely she would see much of him. The kiss had been a good wake-up call for her hormones and she was grateful to Cameron for that. She slipped her feet back into her shoes, fixed her hair and smiled at her reflection. She would never stroke his ego by telling him so though.
    * * * * *
    Cam finally caught up with the bride and groom as they headed from the dance floor toward the shadows at the back of the ballroom. It had taken him a long time to get his body back under control and even longer to convince it that he didn’t need to go after her. Even now, he could feel Jayne nearby and had to fight to ignore her. The couple stopped as they noticed his approach and Jack smiled at him. “Ah, busted! We were just about to sneak away…” His voice trailed off and he pulled Megan closer as he noticed Cam’s scowl. “What’s wrong?”
    “Why didnae you tell me, Jack?”
    Jack frowned at him. “Tell you what?”
    “That she was one of the marked? You know how Ah feel about this and yet you brought me here without so much as a warnin ’.”
    Understanding dawned in his friend’s face and he shook his head. “I didn’t know, Cam. I’ve never even met most of these people.”
    “ Ah’m talking about Jayne!” he growled, his Scottish brogue becoming more pronounced.
    Jack gaped at him, clearly astonished. “I had no idea, Cameron, I swear it. I was already linked to Megan when I met her for the first time. I knew she felt different, familiar…I just thought I was picking up Meg’s feelings. I wouldn’t recognize one of the marked now if they came up and shook me by the hand. You know that!”
    He did know that. Once mated, the telepathy that helped his kind to recognize one of the marked existed only between the mated pair. Jack was telling the truth, he could feel the sincerity and surprise radiating from his friend. Megan, on the other hand… He speared Jack’s uncharacteristically silent mate with his eyes and she flushed guiltily. “It’s uh, how our mothers met.” She winced when Jack swore softly.
    “We were on the beach and they noticed we had the same birthmark and started talking. Some coincidence, huh?” Cam glared at her and Megan reached out to lay her hand on his arm before continuing quietly, “I’m sorry, Cameron. I didn’t say anything because Jack wanted you to come and I didn’t think you would if you knew about Jayne. I knew you didn’t want a mate and since you were going to be the only shifter here besides Jack’s parents, I thought it, she, would be safe.”
    “She is safe, dammit !” There was a beat of heavy silence. Cam drew a deep calming breath and looked at the somber faces of his friends. “Look, nae harm done, but Ah think it’s best if Ah leave now.” He stepped forward and kissed Megan’s cheek, then shook Jack’s hand and drew him into a back-slapping hug. Despite the worry in their