Jackson (2 page)

Why him? What is it about him that gets me so hot and bothered?
 
 

“How’s she doing?” Norm asked as he climbed in, making her jump.

“Just mild first-degree burns to the legs.” Audrey unfolded a sterile sheet and draped it over the lower half of the child’s body before she turned to her partner. “How are the others?”

“No burns, and only minor smoke inhalation. They’re already on their way to county.” He nodded at the toddler. “You want to stay with her? I’ll be your wheelman.”

“Would you mind?” Audrey lifted her hand, which her tiny patient had grabbed and was now clutching tightly. “She’s got a real hold on me.”

Norm nodded and climbed back out, closing and securing the doors before starting up the rig. Audrey locked down the gurney and transferred the child’s oxygen feed tube to the portable tank clamped to the gurney.

“We’re going for a ride now, baby,” she told the toddler as she sat on the bench seat closest to the gurney and belted herself in with one hand. “You’re going to be with your mom and dad real soon.”

She glanced through the side window to see Jackson standing across the street. He seemed to be staring straight at her, but he wasn’t smiling anymore. For a moment she thought his eyes reflected the furious amber and red of the flames…but that was impossible. He had his back to the fire. When she blinked his eyes were back to their normal heart-breaker blue.

You know, you could just use him for sex,
Norm had said.
 

“Stop it,” she muttered to herself as she felt her breast tingle. “It didn’t mean anything.”

THE FLASHING LIGHTS of the ambulance flickered over Jackson Daniels’s face as he watched the rig drive off with the child he had pulled from her burning crib. In its wake it left a scattering of energy that no one but he could detect, a trace of the same furtive use of power as he’d sensed lingering inside the burning house. No one on the scene possessed that degree of power but him…and Audrey Mather.

Jackson could no longer ignore facts or dismiss them as coincidence. This was the fifth time that the rogue witch had shown up at a fire where magic had been used to render innocent people helpless and unable to escape. She was either working the spells and setting the blazes herself before returning to admire her evil handiwork, or she was in league with the arsonist.

Although there had been much debate among the senior officers of the Magus Corps as to her motives, Jackson had his own theory.
 

Like mother, like daughter.

Once he and his crew put out the blaze Jackson drove the engine back to the station, where he showered and changed before going off duty. Spending hours fighting blazes left his comrades exhausted, but unlike them Jackson was an immortal warlock who drew his power from the very enemy they fought. Over the centuries he had mastered his natural ability to control the element of fire in any form as well, which had allowed him to snuff out the burning crib before retrieving the little girl. Carrying the terrified children out to safety had stoked his fury, however, and it had taken every ounce of his self-control not to lash out at the woman he knew had to be responsible.

Is that why you rubbed her breast? To keep from actually setting her aflame? Or were you hoping to stoke a different kind of fire inside her? Because it’s been hours and you’re still hard as a pike.
   

To keep from thinking about the unsettling contact with his target he called in to the Magus Corps Headquarters in Los Angeles to report the latest development.

“This is Daniels,” he said when the cool, unemotional voice of the on duty senior officer answered. “Another fire was set tonight, and Mather was one of the responders. She was also using power at the scene.”

“How?”

His jaw tightened. “I didn’t see any of it. I was a little too busy trying to keep five people from burning to death.”
 

“Captain, I appreciate your devotion to preserving life, but we need hard evidence linking this rogue witch to these fires,” Command reminded him. “You won’t get approval to neutralize her without it. If you can’t obtain it at work, you’ll have to search her home.”

Jackson uttered a humorless chuckle. “Sir, Mather lives on one of the most heavily-guarded estates in the city. The only way I’m getting in there is by helicopter and parachute.”
 

“I suggest you attempt a more intimate approach,” Command said. “Foster a more intimate relationship with the target, and convince her to take you home with her.”

“Seduce her?” Daniels felt his cock swell again, and gripped the steering wheel until it creaked under his hands. “I didn’t join the Corps to become an investigative whore.”
 

“You took an oath to do whatever it takes to carry out your mission, Captain,” the senior officer chided. “I don’t think you’ll have much difficulty with this tactic. From the way you’ve described Mather in your reports you seem to find her very attractive.”

“She is a beautiful woman,” he grated. “A beautiful woman who is probably using her power to enchant helpless men, women and children and burn them alive––and then she comes back to watch while they do. Which makes her as sick and twisted as her mother.”
 

“Then the sooner you obtain the evidence needed for termination order approval, the sooner you can stop her for good.” Command’s flinty tone softened. “Captain, we gave you this assignment because you personally understand how callous rogue witches are. The humans we watch over have no way to protect themselves against her power, and those who are left behind can never be compensated for their loss. How many more should have to suffer what you endured before she’s stopped?”

Being reminded of the traitorous rogue witch who had sought revenge on him by causing his entire family to be burned at the stake iced over Jackson’s temper.
 

“None,” he said flatly. “I’ll initiate contact tomorrow. When I do have the evidence of her crimes, however, I want to be the one to carry out the sanction. If she has even half of her mother’s powers, she’s too dangerous to risk anyone else taking her on. Is that understood?”

“That’s why we sent you, Captain,” Command said. “To fight fire with fire.”

THE SOUND OF her doorbell chiming dragged Audrey from her thin, troubled sleep, and she staggered out of bed as she went to answer it.
 

“Afternoon, Sleepy Head,” Hannah Gardener said as she presented her with a cloth-covered basket. “I’ve brought you peach raspberry scones, Devonshire cream and a small thermos of coconut oolong with honey.”

Audrey rubbed her eyes. “Is that breakfast?”

“Much more so than your usual Egg McMuffin.” A tall, graceful brunette with large violet eyes and long slim legs, Hannah wore a pale champagne-colored shift dress with a narrow, golden pearl-studded belt. “Now, come out onto the veranda so we can chat before I leave.”

Audrey yawned as she followed her godmother out onto the small back porch, where her pet barn owl Plato squawked and peered sleepily out of the hole in the wooden crate she’d fashioned into a house for him.
 

“It’s okay, Plato. It’s just me and our landlady.”

After inspecting them both with his piercing dark eyes, the snowy-white owl settled back down on his perch and nodded off.

“That is the laziest bird on the planet,” Hannah said as she unloaded the basket on Audrey’s wicker porch table, and then stopped and sniffed several times. “Why do you smell like bad barbecue?”

“I had a call to another fire last night, and when I finally got home I was too tired to shower.” Audrey sat down on the wicker rocker next to the table and opened the thermos. “You look very nice. Where are you going this time?”

“Portland,” Hannah said as she took out her compact and touched up her lipstick. She caught Audrey watching her and grimaced. “I know, I’m horribly vain, but when you get to my age you have to be constantly vigilant about your looks.”

Audrey rolled her eyes. “Aunt Hannah, you look younger than I do.”

“Nonsense.” Her godmother looked pleased, however, and patted her hair. “Now, I’ll be gone until next weekend, but if you need me you can call me on the mobile. As for the back garden: the roses desperately need trimming, the lavender is trying to choke out the pansies, and I think the morning glories are a little depressed.”

“I’ll beat them into submission.” Audrey sipped the tea she’d poured into the thermos top, savored the delightful tropical taste of the coconut, and then eyed the jar next to the fruit-studded scones. “What’s Devonshire cream?”

“A more civilized version of butter.” Hannah finally sat down in the other wicker rocker but immediately began fiddling with the oddly-shaped golden pendant she always wore. “Audrey darling, there are also some herbs I need you to pick up for me while I’m gone.”

Her godmother’s tentative tone made Audrey groan. “Please, don’t make me go to that place again.”

“I don’t have time and it’s the only shop that carries what I need for my herbal facial masques.” The older woman sighed. “I know Mariah’s eccentricities make you feel a bit uncomfortable, but she’s completely harmless,”

“Harmless. Okay. Mariah talks like a crazy person and smells like she lines her clothes with dirty moss, which I could handle, but she also keeps touching me in weird places and making all these bizarre predictions.” She recalled the herb shop owner’s strange eyes and shuddered a little. “Even the way she looks at me makes me feel like changing my name, dyeing my hair and moving to Key West.”

Hannah frowned. “Why Key West?”

“It’s as far as I can get away from her without crossing into international waters.” Audrey smothered another yawn. “Look, I’ll go, but if she tells me again that I need to dance naked under the moonlight with her and her friends while we worship the goddess of the moon––who, by the way, she thinks is my great-great-great-great grandmother––I’m done running herb errands.”

“I had no idea she was saying such things to you.” Her godmother usually snickered over her jokes about Mariah, but now she looked almost upset. “You know, darling, never mind. I’ll pick up what I need this time in Portland.”

Audrey toasted her with the thermos cup. “Now I
will
love you forever.”

Hannah’s eyes shifted, and a moment later the phone inside the guesthouse rang. “Well, you’d better get that, and I’d better call for the car. Is there anything I can bring back for you?”

“More of this tea. It’s amazing.” Audrey got to her feet along with her godmother and gave her a hug before she went inside to pick up the phone. “Mather. Make it quick, it’s my day off.”

“Same here.” Norm yawned audibly. “Sorry. I just got a call from a buddy of mine in the fire department. Your Viking dude wants to get in touch with you, but I thought I’d check before I handed over your home phone number.”

“You mean Jackson?” She felt a little stunned. “Sure, yeah, I guess it’s okay.”

“You know if I’m going to play operator to your love life I should at least get all the details on the first date,” her partner teased, and then yelped and added, “Uh, scratch that. It seems my wife objects.”

In the background Audrey heard a sweet voice say, “Darn right I do, you lecher.”

After she hung up with Norm, Audrey paced around the phone until it rang again a few minutes later. As she reached for the receiver she saw her hand was trembling.

I can do this. It won’t be a disaster. I am date-worthy
.

She finally made herself pick up the phone and said, “Hello?”

“Audrey, it’s Jackson Daniels.” He sounded even sexier on the phone. “Thanks for giving me your number.”

“No problem.” Her knees wobbled, and she slowly sank down on the couch. “Are you at work?”

“I actually have the next couple days off, which is why I’m calling.” His voice softened. “I’d like to see you when there isn’t a burning building nearby. Want to meet me for coffee tonight?”

She had to say something, and blurted out the first thing that came into her head.
 

“I’m not into coffee, but I drink tea. Is that okay?”

“Of course it is. Ah, do you know that little Asian place on Ballard? The one with the red dragon on the door?”

He’d just named her favorite tea shop in the city, which made her chuckle.
 

“Yeah, I go there all the time.”

“Then I’ll meet you there at seven,” Jack said.
 

Audrey agreed, and slowly hung up the phone.
 

Wow. That was incredibly simple.

It seemed unreal, but at least her hands weren’t shaking anymore. She glanced at the clock, which read half past four, and headed into the bathroom to shower away the smell of smoke.

After a good, long scrub with her favorite castile soap and honeysuckle shampoo, Audrey dried off and went immediately to her closet to inspect her wardrobe options. Unlike her godmother she wasn’t a clothes horse, but she had invested in a few decent outfits over the years. Her favorite one paired an emerald silk blouse she’d bought in Chinatown during a weekend trip to San Francisco with a tailored black skirt that made her hips look less boyish and her slender legs seem longer. The colors also perfectly matched her hair and eyes.

“Not too dressy,” she muttered as she studied herself in the bathroom mirror before she worked her hair into a loose French braid and added some small silver hoop earrings. Since she hated the smell and feel of makeup she never wore any, but added a bit of tinted lip balm to give her full lips a bit more color.

When she stood back she saw her tidy image frowning at her, and sighed. “Okay. Let’s not completely screw this up, shall we?”

JACKSON ARRIVED AT Canton House a half-hour early to choose the best spot to complete his snare for Audrey Mather. A front corner table set between decorative screens in the small tea room provided the intimate space he would need to enchant her without attracting any notice from the other patrons.