Free NocC 000 - Michele Hauf - This Witchery 1 - This Glamorous Evil - Harlequin 2011-09 by Nocturne Page B

shoulder, chest and wrist, but he didn’t seem to notice. Points for me.
    Long dark hair spilled straight and full around his head and his eyes glittered an unnatural blue. He wore his beard trimmed thin along his jaw and up around to frame his mouth, which gave him a broody appeal. I bet his mouth tasted as good as it looked. If I were to kiss him….
    But, like I said, I wasn’t going to let a handsome figure distract me. Besides, who’d mentioned kisses? Kisses were overrated. Kisses were deal-breakers.
    “Why’d you steal me from a perfectly good hunt and bring me here?” I spat out.
    Hands on hips, I scented the man’s sweetly dark allure. Smelled like a spice I’d once noted in a bowl the cheese-shop owner kept on his counter.
    Not attractive, not attractive .
    “Don’t tell me this is how you go about hiring a girl for work. All witches know that if you need a demon conduit you have to arrange an appointment with their assistant.”
    “I do need a demon conduit,” he said. “A familiar.”
    He paced around me, taking me in, so I tilted back my bare shoulders. Let him look. I think I make a pretty hot human. Men always follow me with their hungry eyes. Such looks make me feel good. But this man hadn’t stroked me right yet, and I didn’t expect he’d learn. Not with his less-than-courteous record.
    “I’d give you my assistant’s contact info, but—” I glanced toward the cage. “—I’ve decided not to like you,” I said, “so I won’t bother.”
    “I don’t want to go through your assistant.” The shadows in the ill-lit room darkened his eyes, and I wanted to move closer to see if the pinpricks of light in his pupils were fallen stars. “In fact, I went directly to the source tonight because I need to do this without an assistant.”
    I let out a chirp of laughter. “You’re drunk then, eh?”
    “I’m perfectly sober. I cannot abide alcohol.”
    He stepped closer to me and smiled to reveal beautiful white teeth, and now his alluring scent tickled my nose. I tried to decide how it made me feel. Curious? A little. Hungry? No. Hmm….
    “I want to cut out the middleman,” he said. “Just you and me. And demon makes three.”
    “So what you’re saying is you want to have sex with me and summon the demon at the same time? In place of my assistant, who would normally get me off, while you wait to conjure?”
    He nodded. “I want to streamline the process. Make the connection stronger. Summon a really big demon.”
    He sounded dead serious. And I finally decided how he smelled—lickable.
    Don’t lose your focus, Star. Drag your nails across his face, and make your escape.
    “You insult me,” I said. “I never allow clients to touch me. It’s just not done.”
    “It would be strictly business.”
    I lifted my chin, haughty in my refusal.
    “I’ll pay.”
    “Of course you would. I don’t conduct demons to the mortal realm for free.” Nor would I ever work without my assistant. But how to refuse an offer when I hadn’t worked in months? My purse had become a cavernous thing. “You can’t afford me.”
    “I know I can. For the first summoning I’ll pay your last month’s rent and this month’s rent. I know you’re behind. I did my research.”
    So he had. I was desperate to make that payment before I got evicted in two weeks. But I didn’t like his tactics. He’d put me in a cage. He’d taken me from my neighborhood. He’d been following me? Researching me? And yet….
    “Cash?”
    He nodded and gave me another taste of that sexy smile. Oh, Star, don’t fall for his charm. It can’t go well with a witch who wants to use you as a direct demon conduit.
    No, not well at all.
    But my empty bank account and I decided to stick around for the punch line.

Two

    The familiar was not shy about her nudity. The blanket slipped as she strode about my loft, inspecting everything, from the coatrack where I hung my spellwork talismans from leather cords to the dust coating the