Free Must Be Magic by Lani Aames

the
oddest premonition that she might never see him again.
    *
* * * *
    Kerry looked out the window one
more time. The brunette smiled seductively when she saw Myghal emerge from the
greenhouse. Kerry wondered what the brunette would think if she knew what
Myghal had been doing in here. Several other women flocked to him, and he had a
smile and a word for each of them.
    All these women today…and
yesterday, too, she suddenly realized. What she thought had been in response to
her drastic sale prices might have actually been Myghal’s magnetic presence.
They seemed drawn to him even from as far away as the road. As if there were
something…magical about him.
    She shook her head. She needed to
get her head out of the clouds and back into her books. Looking at the disarray
on her desk, she shook her head again and ran a hand through her hair. How was
she ever going to concentrate on bookkeeping when all she could think of was
bending over the desk while Myghal fucked her from behind.
    Kerry
plopped down in her chair—a place that conjured up more images to distract
her—and pulled the ledger toward her. She straightened up the stack of receipts
and started going through them one at a time. Glancing up from time to time,
she always saw the brunette hovering close to Myghal. Her mouth moved, but
Kerry had no idea what she might be saying. Well, she had an idea, but she
didn’t know . That woman had been out there all afternoon. What else
could she want except Myghal?
    Kerry
became absorbed in making columns of numbers balance, quite a while passed
until she looked up for the last time before snapping the book shut. She rubbed
her neck and stared out the window.
    Shadows had lengthened
considerably as the sun moved lower in the sky. She’d spent more time on the
books than she meant to, but at least she’d done most of her work. She rested
her elbows on the desk and rubbed her neck while gazing out across the rows and
rows of potted shrubs.
    She couldn’t see anyone, not even
Myghal. Perhaps she could close early and make up to him what she’d denied them
earlier. Turning him down hadn’t been easy for her, but he’d seemed really
disappointed.
    Kerry stood and walked outside
her office area. Pushing leafy plants aside, she looked outside. From here, she
had a good view of the parking area. No vehicles of any kind. So, the leggy
brunette had finally given up. Kerry smiled triumphantly and turned away. She
spent the better part of an hour straightening up the greenhouse.
    When everything was put away, she
wondered why Myghal hadn’t come in. Surely he’d finished rearranging all the
outside plants by now. She left the greenhouse and stood on the path to the
toolshed, looking over her grounds, but Myghal was nowhere to be seen.
    Kerry wondered if he could have
possibly been hurt or sick and lying among the plants or statuary. She ran back
inside for a flashlight and jacket. It was almost twilight and the air had
cooled considerably.
    By the time she’d searched
between every row of shrubs and behind every stack of bags of mulch and
fertilizer and even every corner of the front building and toolshed, night had
fallen. Where could Myghal have gone?
    The
image of the leggy brunette with the seductive smile exploded in her mind.
    Just a
few hours ago, she would have sworn that Myghal was not the kind of man who
would just walk out on her without a word. She hadn’t thought he would walk out
at all because there was a connection between them. She didn’t understand it,
but it was real. Even Myghal said he felt it.
    But
she’d looked everywhere on her property and hadn’t found an injured or ill
Myghal. He said he didn’t know anybody else here. Where else could he have
gone?
    The only answer was with the
brunette.
    Kerry closed her eyes against the
burn of unshed tears. She felt like an idiot, a gullible fool. Myghal had just
appeared out of nowhere into her life. Why wouldn’t he disappear just as
easily? He’d never