Free Magic Gone Wild by Judi Fennell Page A

jasmine—”
    “Such poison in oleanders,” said Merlin out of the other side of his beak. He then looked up at the clock, whistling an off-key tune.
    She pulled her hands free and clapped them together. “Oh, Zane, please let me turn it back into what it once was. I promise you won’t want to sell it. You’ll want to stay.”
    No he wouldn’t. But he’d kicked enough kittens for one day, and she looked so darn hopeful, he couldn’t kick another. Besides, he’d been planning to do some work around here, and the better the condition the house was in, the more he could get for it.
    “Vana, I am going to sell, but if it means that much to you, sure, you can help me fix it up.”
    Silver flashed in her eyes just before she jumped up to plant a kiss on his cheek—but one small turn of his head and that kiss was everything it’d been before: hot, delicious, sexy—and over entirely too soon.
    “Sheesh, you two,” whistled Merlin. “Get a room.”
    There were a dozen and a half of them in this place, and Zane wouldn’t mind christening every one.
    Which could pose big problems in the days to come.

9
    “So what’s the plan again?” asked Merlin. “You lost me.”
    Zane would like to lose him. The damn bird hadn’t shut up since they’d stepped off the porch, bitching the entire walk around the property. Zane had offered him the opportunity to leave, but the bird felt some crazy compulsion to stick to Vana like glue, as if he expected Zane to try something.
    Yeah, he might be thinking along those lines after that teaser of a kiss in the kitchen, not to mention the one in the attic when he’d thought she was a figment of his imagination. But she was a genie, for crying out loud. One didn’t lust after a genie.
    Then she walked a few steps ahead of him, her see-through outfit leaving nothing to the imagination, and yeah, maybe one did .
    “Isn’t this where the lawn-bowling court used to be?” Merlin clacked his beak, and midflight, his wings turned purple and gold.
    “Yes. By the fence beneath that mimosa tree,” Vana answered.
    “I’d rather have a mimosa than go lawn bowling near one.” Merlin landed on Zane’s shoulder. “You don’t mind, do you, buddy? My wings were getting tired. Just flew in from Baghdad, you know.” The bird cracked only himself up with the joke. “Geez, talk about boring. What is it with you mortals? Can’t take a joke.”
    “I have you on my shoulder, don’t I?”
    “Hey, good one!” Merlin nipped his ear.
    “Do that again, bird, and we’ll go for the deep fryer this time.”
    “Sheesh. There you go, back to the no-humor thing.”
    “As I was saying…” Vana reached up to Zane’s shoulder and shifted Merlin onto her fist. “The court was here, and over there was one of Peter’s rose gardens. You can still see the brambles. I bet the bushes will spring back once I clear it out.”
    “You gonna do it now?” Merlin asked.
    She stopped. “I could. If it’s okay with you, mast—I mean, Zane?”
    Zane checked their immediate vicinity. The closest neighbor was half a mile beyond the driveway. A dozen acres surrounded this manicured—as it were—portion of the property, and the Vlad the Impaler iron fence, complete with gargoyles, wasn’t letting anyone in. They were all alone.
    “Sure, go ahead.” He wouldn’t think about being all alone with her.
    And then Vana puckered up and blew a kiss.
    If the brush hadn’t burst into flames, he might have.
    “Oh no, oh no, oh no!” Vana wrung her hands as Merlin flew onto a mimosa branch. “I said ‘tame,’ not ‘flame’!” She made some more kissing noises.
    The flames shot up higher.
    Shit. He didn’t have to worry about someone strolling the property to get an eyeful. The bonfire was big enough to alert the entire town.
    “Vana, we have to put it out!” He looked around for… what? A fire hose? Extinguisher? Waterfall?
    Not a damn thing in sight, which shouldn’t be surprising, given the rest of the