Dangerous Magic by Stephanie James, Jayne Ann Krentz

tomorrow. How long, she wondered, would it take to bring this man to his knees? And what would constitute a proper penance? Not just an apology, not anymore. He’d had his chance to get away with that alone!
    “What did you want to do tomorrow?” she asked loftily, trying to appear unconcerned.
    He smiled. “I think I’ll take you on a picnic.”
    “A picnic! That’s impossible! You can’t have a picnic in Seattle in the winter. It will be raining!”
    “It won’t be raining in my apartment,” he tossed back, getting easily, lithely, to his feet.
    She frowned, ignoring the hand he had stretched down to help her up beside him. “I’m not going to your apartment.”
    “Yes, you are,” he told her significantly. “You’re committed to the game, witch. There’s no way out. If you want me to play within your rules for a while, you’ll have to obey them yourself. And that means spending time with me. A great deal of time! We’re supposed to be getting to know each other, remember?” he finished mockingly.
    “I remember!” she flashed, incensed that he would imply she wasn’t going to play fair. “What time will you pick me up?” she demanded rashly.
    “A little before noon. Good night, Elissa, my sweet witch,” he added, his voice darkening several shades as he tipped up her chin and feathered her lips with a kiss of offhand power. “Go off to your solitary bed and dream about the night when you’ll have a wolf in your bedroom!”

    Before Elissa could come up with a properly crushing retort, Wade was gone, smiling boldly as he strode toward the door and let himself out into the hall.
    For a long moment she stood very still amid the aftermath of the party and stared at the door which had been closed so quietly behind her last, marauding guest. What had she let herself in for in her determination to punish Wade?
    It was only as she was dumping soiled napkins into the garbage and thinking about the picnic to which she had been forcibly invited that a tiny, worrisome thought made its way to the forefront of Elissa’s mind.
    When all was said and done, Wade had left with rather more willingness than she would have expected in the situation. He had, after all, not believed her innocent of his accusations. In a sense, for him nothing had changed. Yet he had agreed quickly to her demand for time to get to know each other. Elissa paused in her work, frowning with an unpleasant suspicion.
    What if, she asked herself grimly, Wade hadn’t really expected her to leap straight into an affair even with the lures he thought he held, such as helping her career? What if his goal tonight had been only to assure a place in her life and make it impossible for her to ignore him as she had been doing for the past month? Had he demanded much, hoping for the compromise she had come up with herself?
    Elissa slammed a stack of plates heavily on the counter, wincing as she thought she heard a crack from the one on the bottom. Surely she hadn’t been so stupid as to allow herself to be manipulated!
    No, she assured herself an instant later. Her own motives were clear.
    She was going into this strange and reckless game for one reason only: to make Wade eat his words. He would grovel at her feet before she was through with him! He wanted an affair with her, did he? One he controlled? Well, by the time she’d finished with him he would be humbling himself and begging for marriage!
    That, she knew with a flash of sheer inspiration, was the proper punishment for Wade Taggert’s crime. He would find himself begging to marry the woman he was convinced he could manipulate into an affair.
    Begging to marry the woman he thought was so unscrupulous she would sleep with a man in order to advance herself. How much pride would he have to swallow before he reached such a stage? Elissa wondered with mounting excitement. A great deal, no doubt!
    And when that lovely moment arrived when Wade Taggert was pleading for her hand in marriage, she