50 Ways to Hex Your Lover (28 page)

The look on Irma’s face was a true Kodak moment. “Anywhere?”

Jazz nodded, watching her take in the news.

“Seriously?”

Again Jazz nodded.

“You’re not fooling around like you usually do, are you?”

Jazz laughed. “No Irma, I’m not fooling around. You can cross over or run amok in Nebraska or whatever you want to do.”

Irma scrunched her face in thought and then came to a decision.

“Well, since everyone I know is dead or close to it, I guess I should stay here.” Irma looked around the carriage house. “But
can we paint the interior a lovely shade of pink or maybe a soft green? And get some curtains? A lady needs her privacy. And
a portable heater is very necessary now. Or perhaps we could fix up that small apartment overhead. You once said there’s only
junk stored up there anyway. It wouldn’t be perfect living quarters, but better than what I’ve had for the past fifty years.”
She continued prattling on.

Jazz turned away muttering that some people just couldn’t be content with what they had when she felt her foot sink down.
She looked down to find a huge glob of ectoplasmic goo all over her shoe. “What in Fates—”

Irma froze. “Oh.”

Jazz turned around. “Oh? What is this?” A faint whimpering sound drew her attention to a shadowy corner of the carriage house.
“No. No, no, no, no, no …” She stared in horror as part of the shadow separated from the corner and made its way into the
light. She reckoned the figure was the size of a small horse.

For the first time, Irma looked uncertain as she walked over to the ghostie mastiff and placed her hand on top of its head.
“He followed me home after I was returned from the mansion,” she said in a weak voice. “I can keep him, can’t I?”

Jazz stared at the huge slobbering creature who offered her a lopsided doggy grin, complete with strings of ectoplasmic drool
hanging from its muzzle. “Damn. I should have gotten you that canary,” she sighed.

Epilogue

Jazz didn’t need to look at caller ID to know Nick was on the line. Sunset had occurred thirty seconds ago.

“Come on, Nick, we’ve saved the vampire race. What’s next? Saving the world?” she asked, the minute she picked up the phone.
“I even had it easy this time around. I only had to deal with the sheriff’s department twice during all this, and I didn’t
have to see what one of the county cells looked like. Although Detective Larkin has already called three times today, so I
think we’re going to have to go down there and make a statement just to keep him on my side.”

“I think we can wait on the saving the world bit for a day or so. Same thing with Detective Larkin.” He chuckled. “No, I had
something else in mind.”

“Oh really?” She started thinking about a repeat of the previous night sans Clive Reeves, the dungeon, fire, and so on. Although,
a naked Nick stretched out on an altar wouldn’t be such a bad idea. Maybe with some silk scarves instead of the chains, central
heat instead of cold dank air, and some warm scented massage oil to add to the experience. Yeah, that she could do. She was
so lost in her lascivious thoughts that she almost missed his next words.

“Jazz Tremaine, would you do me the honor of having dinner with me tonight?”

Her jaw literally dropped. “Huh?”

His chuckle was warm in her ear. “You really need to do something about your communication skills. Yes, dinner. I will pick
you up at your house, take you out to a nice restaurant, and I don’t want to hear any arguments from you that I can’t eat
solid food while you can. Then perhaps we can go somewhere to hear some music or go dancing.”

Jazz swallowed. “That, uh, that sounds like a date,” she ventured, wanting to make sure she wasn’t imagining his words.

“It does, doesn’t it? And do you know that’s something we’ve never done in all the time we’ve known each other? I would like
to take you on a date, Jazz.”

Witches and vampires didn’t date. She and Nick, especially, did not go out on dates. They fought, they made love, and then
fought somemore. She threatened to behead or stake him. He called her crazy and vowed he’d go to the other end of the earth
to stay away from her. Then they parted for ten or twenty years.

But the idea of going out on an actual date was appealing. To wear something sexy, go all girly-girl, and share a truly romantic
evening with Nick was downright appealing.

She pretty much had her life back. As she predicted, Dweezil had screamed about the damaged limo, but she reminded him his
insurance would cover the repairs. There were calls on her voice mail asking for her services as a curse eliminator. She wouldn’t
be dealing with the Witches’ High Council for another hundred years as long as she stayed out of trouble. Yeah, like that
was going to happen.

And Nick wanted to take her out on a date like they were two ordinary people. Except he was a night person on a liquid diet
and she could turn people into frogs and no amount of kissing would turn them into any form of a prince.

But for one night they could pretend they were… well, real people.

“I would very much like to go out to dinner with you tonight, Nick Gregory,” she said formally. Then she grinned as her true
nature kicked in. “But you might want to be aware of one thing.”

“What is that?”

“I don’t put out on the first date.”

Acknowledgments

The road to creating and ultimately finishing
Hex
has been wild and fun. And I couldn’t have done it without the help and support of some fantastic people.

My husband, Bob, who understands that I “hear” voices in my head. My mom, Thelma Randall, who always told me I could do it.

My agent, Laurie McLean of the Larsen/Pomada Literary Agency, aka, Batgirl, who has totally gone way beyond the call of duty.
I wanted to write outside of my comfort zone. She made sure I not only wrote outside my comfort zone, I pretty much demolished
it. Thanks, Batgirl, I love ya for that.

My editor, Deb Werksman, who read Jazz and loved her as much as I do. If I ever find a pair of bunny slippers like Fluff and
Puff, they are yours!

Thanks to my beta readers, awesome authors in their own right, Elaine Charton, Lisa Croll Di Dio (who gave me a great line
about holy water), Lynda K. Scott, Lynne Michaels, and Terese Daly Ramin who kept me on track many a time.

To Lisa again and Yasmine Galenorn for making sure all my witchy stuff was right. And for Yasmine screaming at me in an email,
“Take your finger off the delete key!”

The Witchy Chicks, Yasmine Galenorn, Terese Daly Ramin, Lisa Croll Di Dio, Madelyn Alt, Candace Havens, Kate Austin, and Annette
Blair. Your support is much appreciated.

Jazz, Nick, Irma, Fluff and Puff, and I thank you from the bottom of our hearts—whether they beat or not.

About the Author

Linda Wisdom
was born and raised in Huntington Beach, California. She majored in journalism in college and then switched to fashion merchandising
when she was told there was no future for her in fiction writing. She held a variety of positions ranging from retail sales
to executive secretary in advertising and office manager for a personnel agency.

Her writing career began when she sold her first two novels to Silhouette Romance on her wedding anniversary in 1979. Since
then she has sold more than seventy novels and one novella to four different publishers. Her books have appeared on various
romance and mass market bestseller lists and have been nominated for a number of
Romantic Times
awards as well as the Romance Writers of America Rita Award.

She lives with her husband, two dogs, two parrots, and a tortoise in Murrieta, California.

When Linda first moved to Murrieta there were three romance writers living in the town. At this time, there is just Linda.
So far, the police have not suspected her of any wrongdoing.