Hoodoo Woman (Roxie Mathis Book 3) Read Free

thinking skills beyond what’s required at a college.”
    I raised an eyebrow. It was one thing to know Blake could be a good teacher, but sometimes his level of dedication to it really blew me away. “Is this how you were taught?”
    His mouth quirked into the smirk I loved. “Yeah, but I thought I’d leave out the elemental tests my teacher used on me.”
    “What were they like?”
    “He’d shackle me somewhere, set the place on fire, and leave me to get myself out. If I made it back alive he’d continue teaching me.”
    Good God. No wonder Blake had so many issues. “I don’t think Shelby would take too kindly to that.”
    “No, she’s fine with writing a term paper.” He pushed the dishes aside and reached for my hands. “How have you been? It’s been almost a week.”
    We both worked a lot and didn’t see each other as much as we’d like. “I had a job yesterday. A séance with some girl country singers who wanted to talk to Patsy Cline.”
    “How’d it go?”
    “Not so great.” I shrugged. “No tip. How about you?”
    “Graham called. He wanted to know what I thought about creating a Qabalah class to go along with my one on ceremonial magic.”
    When Blake decided to stay in town last year, he’d floundered for a while. Occasionally he worked with me but as I developed more of a rapport with my secret supernatural assistant, I frequently “forgot” to call Blake. Eventually an old friend of Blake’s got in touch and asked if he’d be interested in creating a course for a witchcraft and magic school. Blake got deeply involved in it, aided by Shelby’s eagerness to learn. He taught long-distance classes in addition to Shelby and a couple of other local students. It was a big change from the dangerous sorcerer he’d been when I first met him, but he wore it well.
    I wasn’t sure if it suited me anymore. “Sounds like a lot of work.”
    He nodded, a slight smile curving his lips. “Be good, though. I like writing, I’m good at it.”
    “You are.” I squeezed his hand. “When does he want it done?”
    “We didn’t get that far. I need to figure out how detailed the class would be, how much history to get into. What sorts of practical lessons to create. Even just figuring out a proposal will take some time.”
    “You gonna be there tonight?” Daniel and I had a longstanding tradition of karaoke once a month, an indicator of how much I loved my ancestor.
    “I might be late.” Blake moved his chair closer, sliding an arm around my waist. The timbre of his voice changed. “I miss you.”
    “I’m right here now.” I turned toward him and put my glasses on the table. His star-field aura shimmered with silver and shades of magenta. I felt the magic humming in his blood, heightened by desire.
    He kissed me tenderly at first, taking his time. Passion soon followed, but it was a quiet kind of thing, tempered by the secrets I kept and the changes in him.

Chapter 3
     
    Daniel Rambin looked like a movie star under the glow of the stage lights. Blond hair brushed the collar of his flannel shirt that hung open over a white Henley. Blue eyes scanned the crowd, locking onto the girl sitting next to me. Every woman in the room but me, and a few of the men, wanted that gaze on them. Wickedly handsome, devilishly charming, and sweet as pie when he wanted to be, Daniel would have been a great catch. Except for the part about being a vampire.
    He was also my ancestor, which was why I didn’t mind his smoldering gaze skipping me. We told people we were cousins to keep from being asked why we didn’t date. Not that any of my living family knew anything about him. Daniel had been a Confederate soldier, a slave owner who fell in love with a woman he owned. It was through their child, a son he never knew, that we were related. I looked white as the driven snow and so did the rest of my family. My mother and grandmother used to do genealogy until they abruptly stopped years ago. It amused me to think