Queen of The Hill (Knight Games) Read Free Page A

air of gratitude, I pulled her into a tight hug.
    Clangorously, the door behind us opened, and Gertrude berated me in German. I didn’t understand her words, but her gestures clearly meant, “Get inside my damn shop.” The look on Soleil’s face told me she’d done her best to detain Gertrude. I squeezed her shoulder as I re-entered the building to let her know I understood.
    Slipping past Gertrude, I ducked into the changing room and checked to ensure the dress I was wearing was clean and dry, apologizing profusely while simultaneously changing out of it. Gertrude’s German chastisement rose in intensity. I’m pretty sure the small fireball of a woman was throwing me out. I hung the antique lace number on the hanger, and pressed it onto the too-full hook. The pressure knocked a dress from the back to the floor. As I bent down to pick it up, a tingle ran up my arm. I lifted the dress and turned it this way and that, checking it out in the mirror. Fashion insta-lust swept over me.
    “I’ll take this one,” I said, bounding from the changing room and handing the dress to Gertrude.
    “Aren’t you going to try it on?” Michelle asked.
    “Gertrude will need measurements,” Soleil said.
    “I’m feeling lucky. I’ll try it on at home. If I need any adjustments, I’ll call.”
    Lips pursed, Gertrude shook her head. “No returns,” she said, suddenly speaking accent-free English.
    I nodded. “I’ll take it.”
    She rang me up in record time and zipped the dress into a vinyl bag. “Six thousand.”
    “Okay.”
    The girls looked at me like I was insane, and maybe I was. Who bought a six thousand-dollar wedding dress without trying it on? Me, that’s who.
    I grabbed my purchase and led the way out the door. If every decision were this easy, this wedding would be a cinch. We’d just climbed into the back of Soleil’s town car when Michelle completely ruined my sense of accomplishment.
    “The way you hurled in the alley earlier reminded me of when I had morning sickness with Manny Junior.” She snorted. “It’s a good thing you know you can’t be pregnant.”

CHAPTER 2
The Test
    P regnant. I could be pregnant . I trudged into my kitchen with my new dress in one hand and a Red Grove pharmacy bag in the other. The first I hung in the hall closet. The second I stared at blankly while images and incantations swirled through my brain. I attempted to make sense of the emotions brewing within me, but couldn’t sort them out.
    As I stripped out of my winter clothes, my raven familiar, Poe, swept into the room on wide black wings.
    “We need to speak, Witchy Woman,” Poe said. He landed on the back of the couch.
    “What’s up?” I asked absently.
    “Only that you have still not retrieved The Book of Light from the ghost-man Logan’s home. May I remind you once again that the rightful place for your magical grimoire is in your attic?”
    “Ugh.” I tipped forward, conking my head on the kitchen island. “I know. I know. I know.” I banged my head in time with the mantra. “I keep texting him, and he’s always busy with the restaurant.”
    “Perhaps pick up a phone? Get off your spell-casting ass and take back what is yours? Grow a spine and stop taking ‘later’ as an answer?”
    “It’s not that easy. Logan gave me a key. Rick destroyed the key. Then, in the same conversation as I told Logan about the crushed key, I had to tell him I was engaged. I think I broke his heart.”
    “More than enough reason to demand your book of magic back,” Poe insisted.
    “I know. I know. I know.” Bang, bang, bang. “I’m just hoping if I give him enough time, he’ll get over it. I miss his friendship.” I straightened, scrubbing my face with my hands.
    Poe scrutinized me from head to toe. “This isn’t just about The Book of Light , is it? As the kids say, what is up, buttercup? You have the pale malaise of a human suffering from the dengue.”
    “I threw up this morning. Still nauseous.”
    “The