Night of the Magician by Stephanie James, Jayne Ann Krentz Page A

of his glasses, and his mouth curved cryptically as he eyed her. “What’s the matter, Ariana? Finally beginning to worry about the consequences of angering a magician?“
    That restored her sense of balance very neatly. Ariana flung open her door and wordlessly ushered him out into the foggy night.
    “Thank you for dinner, Ariana,“ he murmured politely and then he was gone.
    There was an unnatural trembling in the tips of Ariana’s fingers as she closed the door solidly behind him. Now why in the world should that be? she asked herself uneasily. What was the matter with her? This wasn’t the first time a man had tried to take more than she was willing to offer.
    But it was the first time in a long while that she had been so tempted to forget all the fine decisions she had made when things had gone so wrong four years ago.
    Well, she’d come to her senses and regained control of the situation in time, she reassured herself as she trailed through the living room. She could handle Lucian Hawk.
    It was an impulse which made her reach for the phone beside the Queen Anne sofa. Her brother kept very odd hours, and it was a good bet that he was still awake. When he answered cheerfully on the other end of the line Ariana plunged in with the question that was at the top of her list “What, exactly, do you know about Lucian Hawk, Drake?“
    “What’s wrong? Isn’t he going to work out?“ Drake yawned extravagantly in her ear. “He’s a hell of a good magician. A real artist.“
    “Okay, I’ll buy that, but what do you know about him, personally? How did you meet him?“
    “Through a friend, a guy who’s trying to write a book on Houdini. He knows a lot of magicians. It’s all right, Ari.
    My friend has known him quite a while. He vouched for Hawk. And after I met Lucian I liked him, too. Don’t you?“
    Drake added innocently.
    Ariana ignored the question. “Is that all you know about him?“
    “Well…“
    “Well, what, Drake?“ she prodded coolly.
    “Lucian and I had a few drinks one night last week and talked a bit.“ Drake sounded more vague than he usually was when he had his mind on a new project “And?“
    “And nothing really. I gather he’s done a lot of varied things. Only to be expected I suppose. I mean, he didn’t have a smart sister like you to manage money for him and help him get rich, did he?“
    “Drake, if there’s something I ought to know before I leave with Lucian Hawk Saturday morning, I’d certainly appreciate it if you would tell me!“ Ariana got out acidly.
    “Look, the best I can do is to tell you that the friend who introduced me to Lucian swears he’d trust the man with his life. Furthermore, I, myself, like Hawk. I’d trust him, too. What’s the matter with you? Has something happened to make you nervous about the man? I can get some more details from my friend if you want to know them, but I had the impression that Hawk’s a relatively quiet person who can be trusted and who knows magic. What more do you want?“
    Ariana sighed. “Nothing, Drake. He’ll have to do. There really isn’t time to find anyone else. I’ve already told Aunt Phil I would be attending the session with her this weekend and that I was bringing someone with me.“
    “I still think you’re worrying over nothing, Ari. This is just another of Aunt Phil’s passing fancies. You know how wild she was about all those films and books claiming that Earth had been visited by alien spacemen thousands of years ago. She always gets excited about the possibility of visitors from outer space. But she’ll realize this guy Galen’s a phony soon enough.“
    “I’m not so sure, Drake. This time there’s money involved,“ Ariana stated decisively.
    There was a chuckle on the other end of the line. “And when there’s money involved Ariana Warfield sits up and takes notice, doesn’t she? Good luck, Ari. I’ll be anxious to hear the results of this weekend’s big expose. Good night, I
    ’ve got to