Magic Read Free Page A

impossible for a red-blooded man to have been anything but awestruck by the young woman gazing up at him.
    She had the face of an angel—gently prominent cheekbones with slight hollows beneath, a chin that looked as if it were made to be cupped by the hand of a handsome lover; a slim, tip-tilted nose; and full pink lips that looked so soft and kissable, they almost made him groan aloud. Her skin was like rose-tinted cream, so tempting, he nearly reached out to touch her cheek. Instead, he pulled his hand back and splayed his fingers across his chest, as if he were having a heart attack.
    The overhead light caught in the woman’s halo of pale golden hair, adding to her ethereal quality. She wore it up in a loose chignon, but soft tendrils escaped all around her head, framing her feminine features. She stared at him, her periwinkle blue eyes wide and brimming with terror.
    Her obvious fear struck him like a slap in the face. He cleared his throat nervously, peeled his hand off his chest, and offered it to her, attempting a genial smile.
    “Bryan Hennessy.”
    Rachel flinched at the sound of his voice. The silence had held her spellbound, now she was jolted out of the trance. She stared first at the big hand hovering before her, then her gaze traveled up a considerable distance to take in the rest of the man.
    He was fairly tall with shoulders so wide, they seemed to block out the stairwell behind him. His hair was disheveled. The strands falling across his broad forehead were a color somewhere between blond and brown. With panic overruling her other senses, the only thing she noticed about his face was the strong jaw and the five o’clock shadow that darkened it. His clothes—worn jeans with bits of paper sticking out of one front pocket, and a chambray shirt that was tucked in on only one side—were rumpled.
    All things considered, she thought, he looked dangerous, maybe even unbalanced. He certainly didn’t look like anyone her mother would invite into her home. The woman she remembered wouldn’t have sat next to this guy on a bus. How, then, had he come to be the one to greet her at the door? The possible answers were not reassuring.
    She choked down what fear she could and called on years of vocal training to project a confident tone when she spoke. “What have you done with my mother?”
    “I don’t know,” Bryan said, bemused. He was too thrown off by her remarkable beauty and by his reaction to it to think straight. He pulled his hand back and combed his fingers through his hair. “Who is she?”
    Rachel swallowed hard. She started to back away from him, wondering what her chances were of making it to her car and from there to the police station. Not good, she figured. He appeared to be in wonderful physical condition. That was probably essential when one was running from the law. As she took a step back, the man took a step forward. She held up a hand to ward him off.
    “If you touch me, I’ll scream,” she promised.
    “You’ve already done that,” Bryan pointed out ruefully. “Quite well, I might add. My ears are still ringing. Now I know the full meaning of the word shrill .”
    “I know karate,” Rachel blurted out. She braced her feet, squared her shoulders, and raised her hand as if she were preparing to take on Bruce Lee. It was ludicrous, of course. Bryan Hennessy dwarfed her. He wasn’t the stocky, no-neck, musclebound type, but he was big and athletic-looking; and she was all of five feet seven, a hundred and twenty pounds. She decided she would have to make up the difference with her temper.
    Bryan’s brows bobbed up and his face lit with genuine interest. “Karate? Really?”
    Now was not the time to be overly honest, Rachel reflected as she frantically cast her gaze about for a handy sharp-edged instrument with which she might defend herself.
    She thought of her mother and a terrible pang reverberated through her. All the years they’d wasted! And for what? Now she was finally