Dangerous Magic by Stephanie James, Jayne Ann Krentz

severalfold. What was the matter with her?
    Had she no spirit whatsoever?

    Still clutching the bottle by its neck, Elissa lowered her hand to her side and stood her ground grimly as Wade dropped her wrist and turned fully around to face her. There was a baiting attitude in him which was reflected in the wicked curve of his mouth and the narrowed gray eyes.
    “Don’t look so disgusted with yourself, little witch,” he murmured, surveying her defiant glare and the unused weapon at her side. “I could have told you violence isn’t your style. You’re more at home with magic than you are with physical methods of attack.”
    “Unlike you!” she shot back daringly, regaining a measure of confidence as she realized he was no longer holding her.
    The curve of his mouth widened, and he nodded agreeably. “Unlike me.
    If that bottle of bourbon had landed, there would have been hell to pay, Elissa Sheldon. You were very wise to think twice before you went through with the plan.”
    She eyed him scornfully. “Why? What would you have done? Beaten me?”
    “With the greatest enthusiasm,” he affirmed laconically. “You wouldn’t have been able to sit down for a week.”
    Elissa eyed him with a new thoughtfulness as she hoisted the bourbon and set it on the bar. “Why didn’t you try to stop me? So much simpler than messing about with a lot of broken glass!”
    He shrugged. “A calculated risk. I didn’t expect you to go through with it, and you didn’t. The advantage of letting you find out for yourself that you couldn’t do it was worth the risk.”
    “What an insufferable creature you are,” Elissa breathed wonderingly.
    “I can’t imagine how you’ve survived this long. You must have a great many enemies, Wade Taggert.”
    “Possibly, but I don’t intend to count you among them,” he informed her quite gently. “Besides, you never make enemies. You make it a point to charm everyone you meet, don’t you? Has it always been easy for you? I’ll bet you were born with the ability.”
    “Too bad the same can’t be said of you! I’ve never met a less charming man in my life!” she glazed, flushing under his accusation that she somehow used her many friends.
    “No, I haven’t gotten where I am by enchanting everyone around me,”
    he allowed easily. “I’ve fought for everything I’ve ever wanted. It’s a different way of getting what one wants out of life than the method you’ve employed, but effective, nevertheless.”

    Elissa saw the mockery in him as he watched her, and she found herself wanting to flatten him. “It might be effective but I’d rather have people like me than think of me as a wolf!”
    “Is that how you see me?” he demanded with great interest.
    “Yes,” she confirmed with relish. “A lone wolf, taking what you want out of life with no regard for anyone else. A predator! That’s what you reminded me of tonight, trying to socialize a little, put people at ease as if they were sheep you wanted to calm. But it never quite works, does it?
    People may relax a bit, even try some casual conversation with you, but a part of them is always slightly wary. Their instincts tell them the wolf is still there under the surface.”
    “But even big bad wolves want some kindness in their lives, Elissa,” he muttered in a new, lower, almost purring tone as he lifted a hand to touch a finger to the line of her jaw. “Just because I see your sorcery for what it is doesn’t mean I’m immune to it, you know. For over a month, since the first day I saw you, in fact, I’ve been giving you opportunities to draw me into your web and try your charms on me, but you’ve always ignored me.
    Is it any wonder I finally decided to take matters into my own hands?”
    “What in the world are you talking about?” she yelped, astounded. “You and I have rarely crossed paths since the day you arrived!”
    “Only because you kept avoiding me. Every time I tried to create an opportunity for you to get