Read Under Her Spell for Free Online Page B

late.
    Zach closed the space between them before Bryony could flinch away. His body was only inches from her own . If she leaned forward just a little, they would be touching. She thought he might lower his head and kiss her, but instead he laughed and brushed her cheek with the pad of his thumb. Even that brief touch inflamed her senses. It left her burning for more, but he stepped away again and moved toward the door.
    "Sorry to disappoint you, babe," he said. "I don't know what you had planned for tonight, but I've got a full day of hiking tomorrow. I don't want to exhaust myself, uh, enjoying your company. Pleasant as that might be."
    "Oh," Bryony gasped again, angrily this time. "I didn't have anything planned , as you say, and I could care less if you go." Her chin came up sharply.
    "I think you do care, but I'm leaving anyway," Zach said. His eyes mocked her, and Bryony clenched her teeth in annoyance. He opened the door and stepped out, then paused. Bryony's heart fluttered in her chest as he gave her a long, hard look and shook his head.
    "What?" she said, when she couldn't bear it any longer.
    "It isn't working," he said. "I don't love you yet." Throwing back his head, he burst into a peal of full-throated laughter at his own joke. He closed the door behind him, leaving Bryony to seethe. Long after he had gone, she could still hear his derisive laugh ringing in her ears.
     
    "It was all a mistake," Bryony said. "I should never have agreed to the deal."
    "Why not?" Vivien asked. "He's half in love with you already. Don't you see the way he looks at you?"
    "There's a difference between love and lust," Bryony said, rolling her eyes.
    Her sister made a noncommittal noise. "Don't worry so much," she said. "Let's just wait and see, shall we?"
    "Wait and see?" Bryony said. "I don't think I have that kind of patience."  She was pacing back and forth across the kitchen floor, too agitated to eat the granola with sliced bananas she'd fixed for breakfast.
    It wasn't even eight o'clock and she had already downed three cups of strong black coffee. The caffeine wasn't helping her nerves. Every time she remembered the night before, she felt like lying down with a cool cloth over her head. Unfortunately, she couldn't call in sick. She was the boss, and her part-time clerk was in Oregon visiting relatives. If she didn't open Heart's Desire, no one would.
    As she trudged along the beach toward the center of town, Bryony tried to stem the panic squeezing her heart. She'd made a deal with the devil, and in a few weeks he would collect his due. When Zach's column appeared in the Skeptical Observer and the San Francisco papers, the curious would flock to her shop. But they wouldn't come to buy. No, they would want to see the silly woman who had imagined she could make Zachary Callahan fall in love.
    Zachary Callahan, the brash, handsome young magazine publisher. Voted Most Eligible Bachelor three years running. The man who made society girls swoon. Grist for gossip columns throughout the Bay Area.
    Zachary Callahan, the notorious womanizer.
    Last night, for some reason, Bryony had imagined she could change his ways. Now, in the clear light of day, she knew better. She'd seen the pictures in the paper: Zach, with a statuesque blond on his arm. Zach, with a sleek brunette from one of the city's oldest families.
    Her Zach with a hundred elegant, sophisticated women, each staring up at him adoringly. Each one cast aside as soon as the next came along. Bryony knew she couldn't hope to compete with any of those women.
    She unlocked the shop's front door and wearily flipped the sign from Closed to Open. A few early bird tourists had already gathered out front, and Bryony mustered just enough cheer to welcome them to Heart's Desire. The trickle soon grew to a flood. Bryony rushed around helping one person after another. She was glad for the work because it took her mind off her problems. Everything sold well, but the love potion nearly flew out