Dangerous Magic by Stephanie James, Jayne Ann Krentz Page A

would coolly, mockingly, hurl his offer back in his teeth, together with the damn job he thought meant so much to her.
    She would crush that rampaging ego of his if it was the last thing she did!
    A little shaken at the unfamiliar intensity of her emotions, Elissa went to bed.

    Sunday dawned, as Elissa had predicted, cold and wet. But that was only to be expected of Seattle in the winter, and she went about her normal weekend routine without giving the matter much thought. It was difficult, she acknowledged honestly, to think of anything else except Wade Taggert, anyway.
    What would have happened, she asked herself more than once as she sprawled on the couch with the Sunday paper and a cup of coffee, if she had invited Wade into her life in the beginning? If she had picked up one of the more conventional lures he had claimed he’d tried? Would they still have arrived at this juncture? The question was fairly academic, she decided wryly, turning to the comics first. Try as she would, she simply couldn’t see herself as ever willingly inviting the man into her circle of friends. He just didn’t fit the way others did. How could a wolf fit comfortably into her life?
    Besides, she declared with silent conviction, there was something distinctly uncomfortable about being wanted as intently as Wade Taggert seemed to want her. She had never encountered anyone like him, and she was glad of that. But she couldn’t keep her pulse running at a normal speed as noon approached.
    Once again she was watching a clock and waiting for Wade, Elissa realized with dark humor as she checked her casually elegant designer jeans and silky sapphire-blue shirt in the hall mirror. The jeans fit like a glove, emphasizing the feminine curve of her hip and the sweep of her leg.
    The shirt had a dashing air in its style which left her throat bare to reveal the tiny gold chain she wore. The outfit suited her mood, she decided, a little bold and reckless. For a moment she envisioned herself on a pirate ship, cutlass in hand, a scarf rakishly tied around the flame of her hair.
    Yes, the clothes suited her mood.
    The nervous tension raced into high throttle as the doorbell sounded a moment later, and Elissa braced herself mentally and physically as she opened the door.
    Wade stood in the hall as he had done last night with the same hungry wolf gleam in his eyes. He was dressed as she was in jeans, but not the designer variety. His were the rugged, faded, lean sort which would have looked at home on the range and had plainly seen some action outside the city. There was a plaid flannel shirt to go with the jeans, and Wade had a weathered-looking suede jacket with fleece lining slung over his shoulder.
    He smiled broadly as he eyed the length of her.
    “Is this the latest thing in Red Riding Hood outfits?” he drawled, the gleam in his gaze approving. Elissa could have sworn there was a lightness about his mood which she hadn’t seen before, and she wondered if it was because he thought he held the winning hand.
    “I would have thought a professional wolf would keep in touch with the latest fashions for visiting grandmother’s house.”
    “In touch is exactly what I want to be when you’re looking that tasty,”
    he drawled outrageously, stepping forward and catching her close with a firm hand planted on the neatly outlined curve of her rear.
    “Wade!” she gasped, a bit shocked by his audacity. “Behave yourself!”
    She frowned at him in ferocious warning which he appeared not to notice.
    Gingerly she stepped back out of reach.
    “We wolves have our own code of behavior,” he murmured, watching as she collected a leather jacket from the hall closet.
    “A fascinating sociological study, no doubt,” she gibed, telling herself there was nothing wrong in going along with his mood. She wanted him off guard, didn’t she?
    “I’ll tell you all about it over lunch,” he promised, stepping aside so that she could precede him through the