Seduced and Ensnared by Stephanie Julian Page A

didn’t have to give him an answer. He was the scum bucket here, not her.
    “Oh no you don’t. Don’t even think to turn this around. I’m getting out of here right now.” Where had she put her keys last night? Oh yeah, she’d stashed them in her purse—which was where?
    “Stella, please. Just listen, okay?” Cam held his hands out in front of him, as if surrendering to the cops.
    Stella ignored the gesture, her eyes darting around the room as if the walls were closing in. She needed to leave this place now . If she couldn’t find her purse and her keys, she would just have to call her uncle and have him pick her up. Of course that would probably engender one of his lectures about trusting the wrong people. But he would be right in Cam’s case. God, how could she have been so stupid?
    “Hi, Stella.” The other guy finally spoke up, offering his hand as if he honestly thought she would shake it. “I’m Antonin de Feo. I have to confess that this idiot is my oldest and supposedly smartest brother. I know he really doesn’t seem like it at the moment but he’s really not a bad guy.”
    His voice had a calming effect and she stared at him. Damn, he was gorgeous—and hot. Almost irresistible. At least she thought he was.
    But that couldn’t be right. Stella shook her head, trying to set her internal radar back on course. She shouldn’t even like either of these men.
    “ Saccente .” Cam sounded disgusted. “Nino, you’re not helping things.”
    “I bet she could block the bassadone spell if she tried, dude. I think your information was wrong. She’s definitely got some power.”
    Stella had walked backward toward the phone she’d seen in the kitchen but that last sentence stopped her in her tracks. They spoke as if they understood what she could do, as if they would actually believe she could make herself appear and disappear at will.
    She spun around, hands on hips, so furious she could scream. “Who are you?” she asked. “And don’t repeat that bullshit you gave me last night. I want to know who you really are.”
    When neither man said a word, she flung her hands in the air with a frustrated shriek and stomped away to the phone.
     
    “So you gonna go after her or just let her get more pissed off?”
    Nino’s tone held a teasing mockery but Cam ignored him as he watched Stella storm away. She was headed toward the kitchen, probably for the phone. Since it was connected to a magically warded system, he wasn’t worried about her figuring out how to use it. Of course Phil the operator could be a pain in the ass and decide to redirect her call. That woman really could be spiteful.
    But one thing he knew for sure. “Stella’s not Mal . She may have power but she’s not one of them.”
    The smirk on his brother’s face didn’t do much for his blood pressure. “Didn’t say she was, man. But hey, you want to defend her honor, be my guest. But I think you better go kiss and make up first because she’s about to throw your phone through the window.”
    Cam looked at Stella, who was glaring at the black plastic receiver beeping in her hand. She wasn’t exactly ripping the phone out of the wall yet but she looked furious enough to do it. Her pale skin was flushed pink, her green eyes blazed and she looked so fucking sexy in his underwear that if his brother hadn’t been here—
    “Nino, ciao , man. I’ll call you later.”
    “Aw shit. Give me a cha—”
    But Cam had already closed his eyes and sent his brother back to his own home before Nino could finish his sentence.
    From across the room, he heard Stella gasp.
    Opening his eyes, he saw her staring at him across the room as if he’d just grown two heads.
    “What… How… Wh-where did he go?” All that pretty pink color disappeared from her face, leaving her white as a sheet.
    Tinia’s teat, how stupid could he get? He should have known better than to use his power in front of her like that before he’d had a chance to