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instincts the same ones that virtually seemed to control her whenever she saw
Chance Weal.
She hardly even knew him. What was she doing
! What had happened to all her sensible resolutions?
No more actors, she had promised herself. No more men in show
business, period and that surely included magicians. No more infatuation for a
guy based on something stupid and insubstantial, like his beautiful
smile, his old-fashioned manners, his good looks, his passion for his work,
his hot kisses& Good Lord, I'm doing it again!
When she saw him approaching her, she braced herself. She must make it clear
that last night had been a mistake. She wasn't going to let
another man leave his footprints on her back. The mere fact that she was
attracted to Chance was enough to make her doubt his character. Experience had
finally made her wiser.
"About ready to get to work, Ally?" Chance said as he joined her
next to the coffee he had brought into the studio for everyone.
"Yes," she said crisply, professionally.
"Where's the cream?"
She handed it to him, resisting the urge to tell him it was right under his
nose.
"You look gorgeous today," he said. He took a long sip of coffee and grinned
slowly at her. The intimate light in his eyes made her feel hot. "I guess
I still half expect you to look completely different every time I see you."
She raised her brows and tried to look cool.
"You have a very mobile face," he said suddenly. "You could have looked like
a& a courtesan without all that makeup and costuming."
"That's hardly a compliment, Chance."
"Isn't it? Well, no, maybe not. I just meant that you don't need anything
extra to make you sizzle." He leaned forward and whispered confidentially. "Or
to make me sizzle, either."
"Chance "
"I wish Angus and Zeke weren't here right now." His voice was too enticing.
She felt herself weakening.
Stiffening her resolve, she put her coffee down rather more forcefully
than she had intended. It sloshed over the sides and spilled onto the
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fold-out table.
"Did you burn yourself?" he asked, quickly putting down his own
coffee and taking her hand to examine it.
"No," she said, trying to pull her hand out of his.
"You sure?" He wouldn't let go. Instead, he took a paper napkin and wiped her
palm and wrist with tender care. The gesture nearly undid her.
"Quite sure. Stop making a fuss," she snapped.
He went still and peered closely at her. "What's wrong?"
She glanced uneasily over at Angus and Zeke. They were busy. She might as well
get it over with right now. "Nothing's wrong. I just think you may have gotten
the wrong idea about me, that's all."
"Well, we've admittedly had our ups and downs, but I "
"No, I mean last night."
He stared at her, waiting for her to continue.
"I didn't expect anything like that to happen, and I don't intend to let it
happen again. We're just stuck working together for a week, and that's all,"
she said. There.
He lowered his eyes and turned away slightly. He picked up his coffee and
sipped it with slow deliberation.
Ally's stomach churned; she liked it better when he fought back.
"What brought this on?" he asked at last, She felt the phrase made it sound
like she was overreacting to what had happened between them. "What 'brought
this on' was your behavior last night."
His eyes flashed up to her face. Now he looked angry. "My behavior?"
"Yes."
"There were two of us there, Ally, and you seemed pretty enthusiastic at the
time.
In fact, I'd say it was as much your idea as mine." His voice was quiet and
even, but she sensed a lot of turmoil.
"I'm not going to make excuses for my behavior," she said, trying to match his
even tone. '"It was inappropriate and ill advised, and it's not going to
happen again. I
suggest we put it behind us and get on with the job at hand." Eager to end the
scene, she turned on her heel and walked over to Angus and Zeke.
Chance watched her walk away, resisting the urge to start a fight, drag
her off somewhere to change her mind, or just sit down and feel depressed.
Of course, it was perfectly reasonable for a co-worker to suggest
they avoid personal complications and just get the job done. But he doubted
that had anything to do with Ally's motivations. She just didn't respect him.
She had been carried away by the attraction they couldn't deny last night. He
had mistaken her trusting, giving response for something more, for a very
special kind of magic.
Despite a physical arousal that couldn't be satisfied, he had gone home last
night feeling great. And now he knew it was an illusion. He felt the way he
had at the age of nine when he had discovered that magic wasn't magic at all,
and that magicians weren't sorcerers but merely men who were masters of
sleight of hand, diversion, and deception.
But Ally had just made her true feelings brutally clear; she
thought he was unworthy of her respect and therefore unworthy of her
affection. It would be foolish to even entertain the idea of changing her
mind. There had been one woman before whose mind he had tried to change,
and that had ended in bitterness and futility.
There was no room in Chance's life for a woman who considered him
a cheap trickster.
He tried to contain his anger and hurt, and behave professionally that
morning.
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Ally was entitled to her opinion, after all, however erroneous. She was also
entitled to tell him not to touch her again, no matter how hard that might be
for him. So he was annoyed with himself for being almost incapable of treating
her civilly the rest of the day.
Despite the arguments and exasperation of the previous two days, they
actually had had fun, and enjoyed being together. Today they got far more work
done, but they nearly drove each other crazy. Chance was snappish and
terse, and his compliments when Ally did something well sounded hollow
and cold even to his own ears. The expression in Ally's eyes told him that
in addition to being a cheap trickster, he was also an unprofessional
macho creep who couldn't deal with a woman who had said no. He hated to
think of himself that way, and he wanted to rail at her for changing a good
day into a rotten one.
When he finally called it quits for the day, everyone looked inordinately
relieved.
Chance said he would be staying late to work alone and would lock up by
himself.
"We haven't talked about what I should wear," Ally said to Chance as Zeke and
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