“No, let’s leave.” She headed toward the restaurant’s foyer.
Jasper had no choice but to follow, but suddenly he craved the protection of other diners. He didn’t think Anica was the type to make a scene in a nice restaurant. Then again, he wouldn’t swear to it. He didn’t know her that well.
When Anica reached the front door, she paused to take her black wool coat from where it hung on a garment rack. Jasper helped her on with it. He’d admired this coat the first time she’d worn it because it was so unusual; more a cape than a coat, with a generous hood. Contrasted with Anica’s blond hair, the black coat and hood made quite a statement.
Once she’d settled her hood over her golden hair and was ready to step outside, he handed her the mousse so he could put on his tweed topcoat. Then he took the mousse back before walking with her into the chilly night.
The night was balmy, though, compared with Anica’s tone as she faced him on the sidewalk. “Your ex-girlfriend came into the bathroom while I was in there.”
“Sheila?” He’d hoped to sound vaguely interested, but the word came out as a croak of alarm.
Anica clutched her hood when the wind threatened to blow it off. “She made some pretty harsh claims, and I need to know if anything she said is true.”
“Okay.” Jasper turned up his collar as he tried to imagine what complaints Sheila might have had about him. He’d thought that he’d pleased her in bed, but maybe she’d been faking those orgasms. That wasn’t really his fault, although maybe he should have—
“Sheila says that you dumped her.”
“That’s not true.” He’d never dumped a woman in his life. Sure, he’d broken up with them, but he’d done it in the kindest way he knew how.
Anica let out a breath. “Thank goodness. I knew she had to be lying. She must be trying to salve her conscience by claiming that you’re the one who broke up with her. I apologize for doubting you.”
He should let it go at that. It was a harmless thing, this habit he had of using a broken heart as an entrée with a new woman. He should just agree with Anica that Sheila was lying and they could move on to the most excellent conclusion of their evening.
Admitting he had been the one to leave was only going to cause problems. The main thing was that he and Sheila were finished. Yep, that was all that mattered.
“Jasper?” She peered up at him. “Shall we go? It’s pretty cold out here.”
“Yeah, let’s go.” He took her hand as they faced into the wind and started toward her apartment building. Maybe Anica wouldn’t even care if she knew the truth, and at least that would clear the air between them. Nah, that was stupid. Why buy trouble?
“Does Sheila’s behavior bother you?”
“No. Why?”
“You’re being very quiet. Listen, if seeing her again has stirred up old feelings, then maybe—”
“It’s not that.” The wind blew harder, enough to make his eyes water. “You know, it’s not that important who does the leaving, is it? I mean, when a relationship is over, it’s over. Somebody has to make the move, but what difference does it make who walks out the door?”
“It seemed to make a big difference to you three weeks ago.”
“Oh, well . . .” He managed to dredge up a chuckle. “You know how it is. When you first meet somebody, it’s like a game. Every guy has some little strategy for breaking the ice. No harm, no foul, right?” He glanced at her to see if she was going along with this line of reasoning, but her hood kept him from judging her expression.
Her voice gave him no clues, either. “What sort of strategy do you have, Jasper?”
“Oh, you know.” He gave her hand a squeeze. “Maybe pretending to be a little more broken up over my previous relationship than I actually was. You can’t blame a guy for—”
She pulled her hand away and turned to face him, her blue eyes colder than Lake Michigan. “Yes, I can, Jasper. You broke up with her, didn’t you?”
“You mean technically?”
“Yes. Let’s get extremely technical.”
“I guess I’m the one who actually ended it, but it was the decent thing to do, after all. I’d met you, and I thought you were amazing.”
She stared at him, her face growing tighter by the second. “So you really like me, huh?”
“Yes.” He didn’t enjoy admitting his feelings under less-than-optimum circumstances, but maybe if she knew how he felt she’d get over being angry. “I think about you when I’m not with you, and when we’re together, time races by. It’s only been about three weeks, but you’re already a big part of my life.”
She nodded. “Good. Then you won’t have to lie to the next girl. Be as broken up about this as you want.” Spinning away from him, she hurried down the street toward her apartment.
He stared after her in stunned surprise. “You’re leaving? Over a little thing like that?”
Instead of answering, she quickened her pace.
“I can’t believe this.” Had any woman ever left him? If so, he couldn’t remember. And for Anica to leave him, the person he thought might turn out to be a life partner . . . This was just wrong. And by God he would fix it.
He had to run to catch up with her, and he could hear the mousse slopping around in the take-out container—the mousse he’d hoped to smear all over her naked body. “Anica, wait!”
She kept walking.
“Hold up a minute.” He grabbed her arm and pulled her to a halt.
She turned and glared at him. “Let go of me.”
He knew if he did, she’d start off again. He gulped in cold air. “Anica, take it easy. You’re overreacting.”
“
Overreacting
? You start our relationship with a bald-faced lie, pretending to be brokenhearted in order to worm your way into my life, into my
bed
, and you have the unmitigated gall to say I’m
overreacting?
You’re a real piece of work, Danes!”
“Come on. What I did is a small thing, nothing in comparison to the good times you’re throwing away.”
“If I’m throwing them away, it’s your fault, buddy. If you’re capable of that kind of calculated manipulation, how can I trust you to be honest about anything?”
He pulled her closer. “Trust your body, Anica. We have chemistry. You can’t deny it.”
Her nostrils flared, and for a moment something closer to desire than fury burned in her gaze. “I won’t deny it,” she said through clenched teeth. “Unlike you, I tell the truth.”
“See? Now let’s just—”
“No!” Breathing hard, she lifted her chin in defiance.
“Just because a girl has chemistry with a jerk doesn’t mean she has to act on it!” She wrenched free and backed away from him.
“Sweetheart, you’re cute when—”
“Finish that sentence and I won’t be responsible for my actions.” She backed away and held up both hands. “I warn you. Stay away from me, Jasper. I’m in a really bad mood right now, and you don’t know what you’re dealing with.”
He’d never seen her so worked up, and he admired her spirit. Surely he could coax her out of this snit and then he could redirect all that passion into more productive channels. He couldn’t accept that he was about to lose her. Not over something so trivial.
He moved toward her again. “Come on, Anica. Be reasonable. Let’s talk this out.”
“Back off, lover boy!” She pulled something out of her purse.
“Pepper spray? Now you’re really being ridiculous.” Refusing to believe she’d hit him with the spray, he kept advancing. Anger and lust weren’t so far apart on the emotional scale. One kiss and he’d tip the balance in his favor.
She pointed the thing at him. “It’s my wand.”
He laughed. Now he knew for sure she was kidding around. “Not bad, although isn’t that a little small? I pictured them as bigger, but they say size isn’t everything.”
“Stay away from me.”
He wasn’t about to. She was way too cute. “Hey, if you want to go all Harry Potter on me and play let’s pretend, can we go up to your apartment and do it in comfort?”
“I’m serious, Jasper.” She shook the wooden stick. “Don’t make me use this!”
He grinned at her and kept coming. “Gonna turn me into a frog? How about I kiss you first? Maybe you’ll change your mind.”
“Stop!”
Instead of stopping he grabbed her around the waist and pulled her close. “Come here, you.”
“I said stop.” She shoved him away. Then she muttered something in Latin, and light spurted from the end of the wooden stick. He opened his mouth to remark on the cool special effects, but before he could speak, his body began to shake. He dropped the box of mousse as the tremors increased and his heart raced out of control. Good God, he was having a heart attack!
Anica stared at him in horror.
Do something!
He tried to scream for help, but his lips refused to work. Her wide-eyed, terrified gaze was the last thing he saw before he blacked out.
Chapter 2
“Dear Goddess, what have I done?” Cold sweat trickled down Anica’s spine as she gazed at the pile of clothes on the sidewalk and the hissing cat trying to work his way out from under them. Any minute the cat would be free, and then what?
She had no time to debate the matter. Stuffing her wand in her purse, she scooped up the clothes and the cat, wrapping the whole bundle inside Jasper’s tweed coat.
The cat’s response was immediate. He struggled harder, clawing and growling in his attempt to get away.
“Stop it, Jasper! I’m taking you home. I’ll find the spell to undo this, I promise.” She held tight to the bundle and glanced around to see if she’d been observed, if squad cars were closing in, ready to take her to the slammer. No telling what the sentence was for transforming a commodities broker into a cat.
And that was only the civilian punishment. Far greater sanctions awaited her if the magical world found out what she’d done. Twenty-first-century witches and wizards were forbidden to use their powers to change a being from one form to another. Such things may have happened at times in the old days, but things were different now.
Luck seemed to be on Anica’s side tonight. The street was deserted except for a couple passing on the other side. The pair hurried along, not looking in her direction, as if wanting to get out of the cold wind.
She hoped she wasn’t close enough to the apartment to be within range of Julie’s camera. Julie had been saving up for a zoom lens. Anica prayed she hadn’t been able to afford it yet.
Anica had worn her do-me shoes with the stiletto heels on this date and now wished she’d chosen her black boots instead. On these ice picks she had to be careful not to turn an ankle. If she’d been wearing the boots she could have made her escape much faster, and she and Jasper might never have had the confrontation that had gone so wrong.
He continued to squirm inside the bundle of clothes, and she hugged him tighter, determined not to let him escape. He yowled in protest.
“Rescuing a cat, are you?” said a voice behind her.
Anica didn’t stop, but she half turned to acknowledge Edna Shoumatoff, the seventy-something woman who lived two doors down on her floor. Edna had never married and had a low opinion of men.
Judging from the small paper sack Edna clutched to her chest, she’d stepped out for a burger and fries and was on her way back to eat it in front of her TV. For winter outings, Edna wore a Russian Cossack hat, a red quilted jacket, and sweats.
“Hi, Miss Shoumatoff. Yeah, I saw this cat wandering around with no collar and decided to keep it from getting run over.”
“It doesn’t seem to like being captured.”
“That’s because he doesn’t know what’s good for him.” She wasn’t sure whether as a cat Jasper could understand everything she said, but she hoped so. Maybe he’d stop struggling if he realized she was doing the best she could to remedy the situation.
“So it’s a male, then?”
“Yes.” An arrogant, entitled male who had pushed her into an action she deeply regretted. She would make everything right, but losing her temper like that wasn’t her style. She’d been furious with him but also at herself, because even knowing his true nature she’d felt a dangerous tug of sexual excitement when he’d pulled her close.
That’s why guilt plagued her. She might have turned him into a cat partly out of fear that she’d fall under his spell again and lose all self-respect. After all, Sheila had been willing to take him back.
He’s that good.
Anica shivered.
Maybe Jasper did understand that she was trying to help him regain his human form, because he settled down a little, making him much easier to carry.
“I wouldn’t have anything but a female,” Edna said. “Males are nasty, and I’m not just talking about cats.”
Anica had listened to Edna’s anti-male rants many times before. The best response was no response.
“Dollars to doughnuts that cat you found is not fixed.”
“Uh, no, I’m sure he’s not.”
“I hope you’re planning to take care of that immediately. I can’t abide a male cat that’s not fixed.”
Jasper suddenly went very still.
“I know what you mean, Miss Shoumatoff,” Anica said. “I’ll take him in pronto.” It was the only reasonable response, after all.
With a screech, the cat turned into a dervish again, fighting harder than ever to get loose.
Edna laughed. “You’d think he understands English.”
“I have a feeling he does.” That could be both good and bad. She was breaking new ground, and she wasn’t sure she wanted Jasper to know all her secrets. The spell was an old one, something she’d read years ago in one of her history of magic books. Of course there would be a counterspell. Of course. She ignored the uneasy fluttering of her stomach.
“Your other cat’s a male, too, isn’t it?” Edna said.
Orion.
Anica had forgotten her obstinate, pudgy tabby cat. She’d adopted him thinking he had a touch of magic in him, but Orion had turned out to be an ordinary cat. She loved him to pieces, anyway, and he would
hate
having another cat invade his territory. “Yes, he’s a male. I may have to keep them separated temporarily.”
Until I get the spell reversed.