A Kind Of Magic (3 page)

As they sat and watched her talk on the phone, he wondered who she was talking to and about what. The conversation lasted a terribly long time. When she finally did get off the phone, she went to her front door and retrieved some papers out of a little metal box.

He watched her throw most of the papers in a tall white barrel and open others.

Some were special he supposed since she placed them aside.

“’Tis getting late,” Val said as he walked to Roderick.

“Where have you been?”

“I went looking around the house. This window looking into the kitchen is a good one. If you want to look into her bed chamber, there is a window on the back that will give you a good view of the entire room and bathing chamber.”

“Me?”

Val nodded. “She turned me down, which means ‘tis up to you to learn her habits and likes and dislikes since you’ll be the one that gets close to her.”

“Fine. Where will you be exactly?”

“First, I’m going to get us some food, and after that, I thought I would search out the city to see if I can figure out which creature has been summoned.” Roderick leaned his head back against the fence. “I don’t think they are here yet, my friend. News travels fast in this city, and if anything out of the ordinary were here, it would be on that big black box that has pictures in it.”

“A TV. Remember? Aimery told us what it was.” Roderick slapped at tiny bugs that buzzed around him and left the most wicked of bites. “This city is awful.”

“A most pleasant place for a creature to wreck havoc, aye?” He watched Val saunter off. It was but moments after that the rev of Val’s motorcycle could be heard. Roderick grimaced when he realized he should have told Val to stay away from the food place named McDonald’s. He was sure the Highlanders he had met from the clan MacDonald wouldn’t have been happy to see their name put on such a place.

He caught a glimpse of Elle as she walked from the kitchen. He waited a moment to see if she would return, then moved to the back of the house to the window Val told him about. The window was fairly large and with the fading light outside, he would be able to get right next to it, and she wouldn’t be able to spot him.

He sat on her porch and watched as she turned on some music and unpacked her bags. It wasn’t until she began to strip out of her clothes that he took real interest. He had seen many women naked but never got tired of looking.

A smile tugged at his lips when she turned up the music and began to dance around the room. The smile turned into a groan when he saw the slinky little light pink underthings she wore. He had glimpsed her breasts while they were at the beach, but it was nothing compared to what he saw now.

They were large on her small frame, but not too large. He could just make out her dark nipple against the pink lace holding her breasts.

Then she turned around.

Roderick nearly fell off the porch. He had seen quite a few things since his time in Houston, but the tiny pink lace that disappeared between her lovely firm buttocks had him clenching his jaw together.

To his dismay, he felt himself grow hard. It was unthinkable. He had seen that much flesh from the women on the beach, but it was something about that pale pink lace that did him in.

He closed his eyes and tried to get himself back under control. About that time, Val came around the corner with a white bag in his hands with a big yellow M on it.

“Oh. My. Gods,” Val murmured as he came to a dead stop beside Roderick.

It gave Roderick a small amount of pleasure that Elle hadn’t wanted Val. He had never seen a woman turn Val down. Until her.

Roderick snatched the bag of food from Val’s hands. “Don’t stare.”

“I can’t help it,” he said as he sank onto the porch next to Roderick.

“Well, try.” Roderick had no idea why he was so testy. Maybe it was because he had wanted to keep this image of Elle to himself.

Val whistled softly. “I should have tried harder.”

“You lost your turn, Roman. It’s mine now.” Val’s pale green eyes jerked to him. “All right, Thalean. Let’s see what you can do.” With that, Val rose and walked away.

Roderick sighed and turned his attention back to Elle, his food forgotten. It was a good thing he hadn’t taken a bite of the food, for he was sure he would have choked on it.

Elle had unhooked the thing holding her breasts while her back was to him, but it wasn’t until she began to pull off the tiny lace that he wished she would turn to face him.

She never did, and it left him wondering just what she looked like completely naked. Just the thought of seeing her naked had his rod throbbing with need.

She walked into the bathroom and turned on the water. Roderick didn’t pay much attention to her as he thought about how he liked the readily available hot water and the showers this time gave him. It was one thing he would miss when he left.

He reached into the white bag and began to lift out the food Val had brought him when he glanced up and spotted Elle. His fingers loosened, and his food crashed into the bag as his eyes stayed riveted on the woman.

The view of her through the distorted glass as the heat from the water rose around her sent his body aching for release. He didn’t move, barely breathed, as she lifted a leg to wash. With short, round strokes she moved from her ankle up her shapely thigh and then repeated it on the other leg.

Roderick’s mouth had gone dry. Then, she moved her hands to wash her breasts but turned away at the last moment, giving him a view of her back. Her silhouette gave him just enough to entice him as her pale pink underthings had.

And left him aching for more.

When she exited the shower with a towel wrapped around her, Roderick was in a painful state, and he knew the only thing that could relieve him was a woman. Try as he might to focus, he couldn’t. Then he remembered what he was supposed to be doing—

looking for the mark.

Roderick cursed and ran a hand through his hair. He had missed his chance, but hopefully he would gain another one.

“Maybe Val’s right,” he muttered. “Maybe I do need a woman for a night.” It was well past midnight when Val returned. They exchanged few words as Roderick left Val to keep watch as he returned to their home for some rest.

But rest didn’t come. Every time Roderick closed his eyes he saw Elle in her lacy pink underthings or her silhouette in the shower. It was enough to drive him daft.

When the sun began to peek over the horizon, Roderick rolled out of bed and faced the expanse of windows that overlooked Houston and the buildings that nearly reached the sky.

He walked naked into the bathing quarters and eagerly jumped into the massive shower. As the hot water cascaded around him, he decided today would be the day he introduced himself to Elle. They couldn’t afford to wait any longer.

After the shower, he stood in front of the mirror and raked his hands through his blonde hair that stopped just short of his shoulders. It had a tendency to curl at the ends, something he had inherited from his mother.

Since there wasn’t much he could do with his hair, he gave up. Instead, he turned to the chamber that held his clothes. Aimery, it seemed, had taken it upon himself to fill it with more modern clothes to help them fit in.

Roderick looked over the clothes and admitted that at least Aimery had stayed with darker colors that Roderick preferred. Too bad he wouldn’t be here to see Val’s expression when he saw his clothes.

The pants were the first thing he came too, and he grabbed one of the many black pair and wasn’t surprised to find they fit perfectly. He picked up the first shirt he found, a short sleeve gray shirt that hugged his chest and abdomen like a second skin.

He looked at himself in the full length mirror once he had pulled on the black boots laid out for him. His reflection staring back at him didn’t look too bad. The only thing he didn’t like was the absence of his weapons, but he had learned early on in Houston that he couldn’t walk around with his sword and flail without causing mass hysteria.

Roderick was just walking to the door when it opened, and Val stepped inside.

“Why are you here?”

“I followed her to the place she works and since you didn’t know where we were, I decided to come and get you.” It was then Val noticed him. He looked Roderick up and down several times before he shook his head.

“I’m sure you have a chamber full of clothes just like I do,” Roderick said as he grabbed the keys to his motorcycle. How he missed his horse.

Val growled. “I hope Aimery left me with at least the same kind of clothes as you.”

Roderick didn’t wish to waste time talking about the many jests Aimery had played upon Val. “Where did you leave Elle?” Val turned and narrowed his pale green eyes at him. “The woman works in a museum.”

“Museum?” He had no idea what that was.

“A place where people go to look at paintings and such. They even have dinosaur bones.”

Roderick wasn’t about to ask what a dinosaur was. Instead, he got the direction to the museum and prayed he didn’t get lost.

He heard Val cursing from his bed chamber as Roderick walked from their home into the hallway and the box that he rode down to the place where his motorcycle was parked.

Luckily, he remembered the direction to the museum without difficulty, and finding a place to park the motorcycle was easy since it was so small.

“I miss my damn horse,” he muttered as he put the stand down that kept the motorcycle from falling over.

He unbuckled his helmet and swung his leg over the back of the bike as he stood up. His eyes roamed over the large building that stood in front of him. It was then he realized he hadn’t asked Val where she was located in the structure.

Roderick had a feeling he was going to spend most of the day looking for Elle.

He paid his way to enter the museum and found himself in a quandary. Which way to go? Where could Elle be? What he should do is ask someone, but he didn’t know her last name, nor did he want her to know he was looking for her.

Nay, he would have to search her out himself.

He didn’t know how long he had wandered the museum. He found it hard to realize he was here looking for Elle instead of gazing at the interesting pictures and other things that were in the building.

As much as he hated to admit it, he found himself taking the most time in the dinosaur chamber. He never realized creatures such as those roamed this planet. He saved his favorite chamber for last.

Ancient

weaponry.

The various displays of weapons throughout the times amazed him. Many of the weapons he had used at one time or another and some he was sorely tempted to try out.

He turned from one amazing display of halberds to see someone coming down a flight of stairs. Out of the corner of his eye he saw long auburn hair. Instantly, his eyes turned to the woman.

Elle.

Her hair hung thick and straight to the middle of her shoulders, and she constantly tucked some of the auburn tresses behind her ears. Little gold earrings dangled delicately from her ears and matched the necklace around her throat.

He let his eyes roam over her body and the dark green skirt that hugged her curves and ended at her calves. The cream shirt she wore buttoned up the front and was plain other than the low dip just before her cleavage started.

Nothing dramatic, but on her, it was elegant.

Roderick had to think quick. It had to appear an accident or she would never believe him. He noted how distracted she looked as she hurried over to a sword displayed in the center of the room.

He watched as she carefully examined the paper in front of her, then the sword.

She was talking to herself, but he couldn’t make out the words, though it was obvious she was not happy.

She took a step back, and Roderick knew his time had come. He lined himself up behind her and turned his back to her as though he were looking at a sixteenth century shield. And then it happened.

She backed into him.

Roderick was quick to turn and catch her in his arms before she fell. It wasn’t until he looked into her clear blue eyes that he realized just how much he was attracted to her.

Elle’s breath caught in her throat as she gazed up at the man who held her in his arms. She found herself staring into eyes of dark blue, like the churning waters of the Atlantic.

“I’m sorry,” she mumbled incoherently.

One side of his mouth lifted in a smile as he stood her up and on her feet.

“Nothing to apologize for.”

She couldn’t stop staring at him. He looked like he just stepped off the cover of GQ with a body she was sure he spent half a day in the gym to get, and a face that made her knees weak. Literally.

When she managed to look away from his fascinating eyes, she found a strong jaw line, wide, thin lips, and a high forehead. Dark blonde hair hung to his shoulders, adding more appeal to him. A regular rugged looking man, if you liked that type.

I do now.

She cringed inwardly and tried to swallow as she looked away from his face.

Wrong move, since she found herself now gazing at his amazing chest and arms. She had never really cared for the body building type, but on this guy all those muscles just added to his good looks.

Her eyes went to his wide shoulders and the steel gray shirt that molded to his body. She knelt down to pick up her clipboard and let her gaze wander down his long legs incased in black denim. He wore jeans like only male models could. Perfectly.

She was dying for him to turn around so she could get a view of his butt.

What is wrong with me, she thought to herself.

You want him.

So she did. She wasn’t stupid. Men like him didn’t pay her a bit of attention.

To her surprise, he bent down next to her and helped her pick up her papers.

“Do you work here?” he asked.

This time she noticed his peculiar accent. “Yes. You’re not from around here, are you?”

He shook his head. “First time in Houston.”

“What do you do?”

“Do?” he asked, his brows bunched together in confusion.