Free Daddy Warlock by Jacqueline Diamond

downloaded stock market data and began running a program he had customized. Absorbed in his work, he scarcely noticed when Tara entered.
    She waited until he came up for air, then asked, “Do you have time to show me what you’re doing?”
    â€œIt’s Sunday,” he. said automatically. “You’re off duty.”
    â€œI thought the point of my living here was so I could work odd hours.”
    Swiveling in his chair, Chance tried to suppress his reaction to her slim shape in a cotton sweater and figurehugging jeans. He was achingly aware of the small, round breasts that had once molded themselves to his mouth, and the natural feminine scent of flowers and desire.
    Seven years hadn’t dimmed his memory of her. Sometimes he wished that his brain, like Tara’s, had shifted the experience into the realm of dreams. Only years of training had given Chance full access to parts of his consciousness that most people kept shielded.
    Right now, a masculine ache reminded him that such knowledge was not always a good thing. It took considerable effort to continue the conversation on an ordinary plane. “I don’t want to take advantage of you.”
    â€œYou aren’t.” Pulling up a chair, Tara sat beside him. “But if I’m intruding, feel free to throw me out.”
    Chance didn’t want to do that, even though it would probably help his concentration. “This is a program thatanalyzes ups and downs in the stock market and compares them with the performance of our timing service.”
    â€œTiming service?”
    â€œIt monitors our mutual funds.” He explained that he advised his clients to put part of their capital in mutuals, which invested in a variety of stocks, thus spreading the risk. Traditionally, mutual funds grew much faster than inflation and, over a period of years, provided a healthy return.
    However, they still took a hit when the market suffered a dip. The function of a timing service was to analyze conditions, predict when the market was likely to drop and move the clients’ money from the mutual funds into a money market account, then buy back into the funds later to take advantage when prices rose again.
    â€œKind of like what I would do if I paid close attention to the stock market and did a lot of buying and selling at the right time?” Tara said.
    â€œMore or less.” Explaining the complicated business helped keep Chance’s body from hardening every time she leaned over him to look at the computer. “Of course, nobody’s right all the time. The stock market can be unpredictable, even when the timer’s system is basically valid. Just because they guess wrong once in a while, that doesn’t mean I want to switch to a new timing service.”
    She studied him with respect. “But you want to make sure they aren’t wrong too often, for your clients’ sakes.”
    â€œJust as they keep on top of the stock market, I keep on top of the timing service,” Chance agreed. “Now, here’s how the program works….”
    Tara was a quick study, as fast as any employee he’d had, particularly considering she’d never worked withstocks before. Before Chance realized it, twilight had fallen and Rajeev was calling them to dinner.
    He hoped that her mental agility indicated that she would soon be able to grasp the concept that magical powers existed. Maybe, in a purely objective context, she would have been able to accept it now.
    But the subject was tied up with his paternity and with Harry’s future. It was too much to expect her to take more than one small step at a time.
    Chance hoped he could determine what those steps ought to be and guide her smoothly. These days, he had to be an expert on timing in his personal life too, except that, unlike in business, he had no previous experience to draw on.
    T ARA WAS GLAD she’d worked on Sunday, because she had to take a half day off on