Hot Magic Read online

  Hot Magic

  A Cat’s Paw Cove Story

  by

  Catherine Kean

  Reader Letter

  Dear Reader,

  Cat’s Paw Cove is a magical town dreamed up by Wynter Daniels and Catherine Kean, a charming seaside paradise where cats are king, and anything is possible. We are so excited to bring you not only our own stories, but also contributions from an incredibly talented group of Guest Authors. With paranormal and mystery romance, time travel, and more, there’s something for everyone.

  We hope you’ll enjoy reading the series as much as we enjoy writing it. For more information about the Cat’s Paw Cove series, please visit the Cat’s Paw Cove Romance website.

  We also invite you to join our fun, friendly Facebook group where we share cat pictures, you can interact with our authors, and more: https://www.facebook.com/groups/CatsPawCove/

  Happy reading!

  Wynter Daniels & Catherine Kean

  Hot Magic Blurb

  Welcome to Cat’s Paw Cove, Florida—an enchanting seaside town and favorite tourist destination. But there’s something unusual about the locals, both human and feline. The popular Shipwreck Museum might just take you back in time, and the historic Sherwood House holds secrets, old and new.

  Adopt a furever friend at the Cove Cat Café, treat yourself to a psychic reading at Eye of Newt metaphysical shop, pick up a special trinket from Black Cat Antiquities. And don’t be surprised if you find your heart in the magic of Cat’s Paw Cove.

  While clearing out her late mother’s home in Cat’s Paw Cove, Florida, Molly Hendrickson finds an unusual antique necklace. Wearing it makes her feel confident and sexy—things she hasn’t felt since her ex broke off their engagement or, really, ever. She decides to keep the jewel but takes other items to Black Cat Antiquities, the local antique store, to have them appraised.

  Lucian Lord, a reincarnated 12th century knight, moved to Cat’s Paw Cove after a scandal in which he revealed his magical abilities to his former girlfriend. Demoted by his superiors, he’s running the antiques shop while his grandfather is on vacation. But, when Molly brings in artifacts tainted by dark magic, Lucian is duty-bound to find and contain the dangerous energy before it wreaks havoc not only on the town, but the world.

  Living by the knightly code of honor, Lucian vows to help Molly, especially when he realizes the necklace is the source of the ancient magic he’s hunting. He’s determined to save his headstrong damsel and redeem his tarnished reputation—but first, things will get very, very hot.

  Copyright

  Hot Magic

  A Cat’s Paw Cove Story

  Copyright © 2019 by Catherine Kean

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems—except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews—without permission in writing from the authors.

  This book is a work of fiction. All characters, events, scenes, plots and associated elements remain the exclusive copyrighted and/or trademarked property of Wynter Daniels, Catherine Kean, and CPC Publishing LLC and their affiliates or licensors.

  Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental and not intended by the authors or CPC Publishing LLC.

  Published in the United States of America.

  Cover designed by Dar Albert, Wicked Smart Designs

  Dedication

  For Richard Landells.

  Thank you for the laughs we’ve shared, your insights into intriguing bits of history that have inspired my Muse, and for the tweaks which helped put the polish on this book. I will always believe you have magic.

  The Legend

  In the late 12th century, Lord Chadwick, loyal knight of the realm, was returning to his castle accompanied by Galahad, his young squire. However, a woman’s desperate screams drew them from their horses and into an ancient forest clearing.

  To his horror, Chadwick discovered his betrothed, Brigitte, about to be burned alive by a jealous sorceress. Agnes had posed as a servant at his fortress and had tried to seduce him, but Chadwick had rejected her. He loved Brigitte and wanted only her.

  His lordship manages to rescue his lady love, and despite Agnes’s fiery magic, he and Galahad defeat her. But, as Agnes dies, she curses Chadwick, his squire, and his lordship’s bloodline.

  For more than eight centuries, Chadwick has lived, died, and been reborn.

  Galahad, who was turned into a cat, has survived many more lifetimes than nine.

  Chapter One

  Cat’s Paw Cove, Florida

  July, Present Day

  “I wish that woman would stop moaning.”

  In the midst of hanging a gilt-framed watercolor on the wall of Black Cat Antiquities, Lucian Lord glanced at the long-haired, orange and white cat sitting nearby—the feline who’d just spoken in a refined British accent.

  “The Lady of the Plate can’t help it, Galahad,” Lucian said, as the feline jumped up onto the upholstered seat of a Victorian chair. The plaintive moan, coming from the shelf toward the back of the store, started up again. “Remember what my grandfather told us?”

  Galahad huffed. “Yeah, yeah, she cries when there’s a change in barometric pressure.”

  “Yes, and—”

  “Since it’s summer in Florida and the rainy season, she’ll be wailing a lot. Lucky us.”

  Lucian fought not to smile. So, Galahad had been listening to the conversation, even though at the time he’d been wild-eyed and attacking a pink toy mouse filled with catnip.

  “We should have gone on that cruise to the Bahamas with your grandfather and his lady friend. But, no. You agreed to mind the shop. How chivalrous of you.”

  Lucian returned his attention to the painting. As Galahad well knew, Lucian had agreed to look after the store because he owed his grandfather, and not just for his help with Lucian’s recent work crisis. William Lord had taken twelve-year-old Lucian in and raised him after the horrific car accident in which Lucian’s parents had died.

  Galahad excelled at complaining, but to be fair, he hadn’t always been a cat. In truth, he was a reincarnated twelfth-century squire, a lord’s heir, whose ancestors had hailed from Nottinghamshire, England.

  Hard to believe some days—not just the reincarnation part, but that Galahad was really fifteen years old and not four.

  “If I’d known about the Lady of the Plate, I might have stayed in Boston,” Galahad muttered. “I wouldn’t have moved with you to this humid, alligator-infested, mosquito-breeding swampland.”

  “Hey, that’s not a fair description of Cat’s Paw Cove.”

  “Alligators live in the lake down the road. Your grandfather said so.”

  “He did.” Lucian straightened the painting.

  “And the mosquitoes—”

  “And the Sherwood cats.” Lucian stole a glance at Galahad. “You got quite excited about meeting female kitties who have ancestral ties to Nottinghamshire, as you do.”

  Galahad growled.

  Lucian grinned. “Admit it, you were as intrigued to start afresh here as I was.”

  Indeed, moving to the seaside tourist town, with a long-term goal of taking ownership of the antique shop once his grandfather had retired, had sounded ideal weeks ago, when Lucian’s life had gone to hell from one day to the next.

  The moan came again from the rear of the store. The sound of a soul in torment, the wail started softly and then rose in volume. “Oooooooooo….”

  “That cry gives me the creeps.” Galahad’s puffed-up tail, swishing to and fro, resembled the fluffy duster stowed under the store counter.

  Shaking his head, Lucian took a few backward steps and studied the water
color in relation to the other artifacts around it. Sunlight, streaming in through the shop’s long front windows facing Whiskers Road, shifted as people outside walked past.

  Thankfully, the passersby wouldn’t be able to hear the Lady of the Plate’s cries. Even if they caught some of Lucian and Galahad’s conversation, they’d just hear a man talking to his cat, who’d responded with meowing. Only the few gifted—or in Lucian and Galahad’s case, cursed—with ancient magic could hear sounds made by magical items or understand what the feline was really saying.

  “Oooooooooo….”

  Galahad’s ears flattened. “Can’t you shut her up? Cats do have a far superior sense of hearing to humans.”

  That could well be true. However, Galahad was always claiming ways in which felines were far superior to their human masters.

  “Grandfather said she doesn’t cry for long.” Moving forward, Lucian nudged the painting’s right edge a little higher.

  Galahad growled again. “Make her stop, or I might report you for torture of a Familiar.”

  “What?” Lucian frowned. “Don’t be ridiculous.”

  The feline’s eyes gleamed. “I’m quite serious.”

  “You are far from tortured. I spoil you rotten. I feed you that expensive, organic cat food you like twice a day. You can eat dry kibble—”

  “That looks like rabbit poop—”

  “—whenever you like.” Lucian scowled. “And I clean your litter box several times a day and brush you every morning.”

  Galahad started washing a front paw.

  “You haven’t puked up a single hairball since I started the brushing. And, as far as I know, you haven’t had any more diarrhea or digestive issues—”

  “God, Lucian!”

  “—since you ate the ribbon around that stack of old postcards a few months ago and I had to take you to the emergency vet.”

  The cat averted his gaze. “You know I couldn’t help what happened with the ribbon.”

  “You just had to gobble it down.”

  “Yes! It looked so enticing.” Galahad sighed. “I wish I could explain how it called to me like a lusty siren, seducing my willpower and—”

  “Yeah, well, surely my rushing you to the clinic and paying the four-hundred-and-fifty dollar vet bill showed I care about your wellbeing?”

  Galahad grumbled. “You’re never going to let me forget that unfortunate incident, are you?”

  “Nope. And, you are never getting the chance to eat ribbon again.”

  “Sometimes, I can’t stand to think that you and I are cursed to be together forever.”

  “Oooooooooo….”

  “That’s it!” The cat leapt down from the chair. “I’m going to break that damned plate. Then, she will be quiet.”

  “All right.” The soles of Lucian’s brogues squeaked on the hardwood floor as he swiveled to face the shelf and lifted his right hand, palm up. He focused his thoughts upon the exquisitely hand-painted Wagner plate portraying a beautiful, young woman with flowing brown hair and wide blue eyes.

  “Shh,” he silently commanded and curled his fingers inward, as though to catch and contain the sound.

  The lady’s mouth closed. Caught in Lucian’s spell, her gaze became lifeless, as though there was no more to her than layers of paint on porcelain.

  “Ahh,” Galahad groused. “Finally.”

  Lucian retrieved the etched wine glasses and figurines he’d moved from the shelf near the watercolor and set them back in their places. To be honest, the Lady of the Plate had gotten on his nerves, but because he pitied her. Like the gallant knight he’d once been centuries ago, before he’d been cursed, he hated to hear a woman in distress. The antique, like many others in the shop, bore the ghostly fragment of what had once been a flesh-and-blood person who’d died under tragic circumstances.

  “I have an idea. Let’s wrap up the plate and ship it off to your brother’s antiques store in London,” Galahad said.

  “You know we can’t do that.” Lucian picked up the hammer he’d used earlier. “Rules, remember? The curse became attached to the item here in Florida. So it belongs here in this store, with us.”

  Galahad stomped across the Persian carpet. “Well, thanks to Little Miss Moaning, my hopes of a much-needed afternoon nap have been destroyed. I’ll be cranky for the rest of the day. Not my fault.”

  Lucian brushed cat hair off the Victorian chair. “Even if I could send the Lady of the Plate away, I wouldn’t. Grandfather has a fondness for the young lady.”

  “Unfortunately,” Galahad muttered.

  Days ago, Lucian’s grandfather had taken the plate from its lacquered display stand and had handed it to Lucian. “She’s one of my favorites among our long-term guests. I got her from a guy who’d bought her shortly after Hurricane Andrew. Remember that storm back in 1992? It caused lots of damage in South Florida. Killed quite a few people, too.”

  As soon as Lucian had touched the plate, its provenance had flashed like snippets of film in his mind: the shrieking winds of a hurricane; an oak tree crashing through the roof of an upscale Florida home and crushing the screaming woman inside; and the plate, knocked from her hands onto the rug on the floor, intact but a silent witness to the tragedy.

  When the woman had died, a piece of her soul had become connected to the antique. Most likely, she’d had a strong sentimental attachment to it.

  The older man had returned the plate to its assigned spot next to the Steiff teddy bear that had belonged to a mass murderer from Orlando; the box holding the desiccated pinkie of a former trapeze artist for the Ringling Brothers Circus; and the Ancient Egyptian scarab beetle purchased in the 1920s by a late Sanford resident during a visit to the Valley of the Kings. Upon Lucian’s arrival in town, a gold and lapis lazuli box inlaid with the Eye of Horus and holding an ancient cat collar had joined the collection. So many tagged and catalogued items of dark magic lined the shelves, his grandfather could claim to have a small museum.

  Lucian’s grandfather had then carried out a pattern of movements with his fingers to reinstall the field, complete with hallmarks that identified him as the sorcerer who’d cast the spell, around the plate. The magical barrier not only made the antique invisible to non-magical visitors to the store, but prevented the dark energy from influencing anything—or anyone—in the normal world. The Experts required that all antiques tainted by evil magic brought into the store had to be contained in that manner.

  Lucian’s gaze shifted to Galahad, now sitting in one of the front windows. “Next time, try to be patient with the Lady of the Plate, okay? She isn’t to blame for her curse.”

  “Like you and I, my lord.”

  Galahad rarely addressed Lucian that way anymore. The formality between them had become irrelevant long ago.

  How Lucian wished he could recall the battle with the sorceress that had made him and Galahad into who they were today. But, he had no memories beyond his lifetime as Lucian Lord.

  Galahad, though, remembered everything. He’d said the fight had taken place when Lucian was a medieval lord and Galahad his squire. Lucian had rescued his betrothed from being burned alive by the jealous sorceress, but before the evil bitch had died, she’d placed a curse upon Lucian’s bloodline.

  Immediately after she’d perished, he’d been confronted by The Experts. This secret society, originating from the era of the Ancient Egyptians, was dedicated to good magic and had given him one choice: swear allegiance to them, or die. They wouldn’t allow him to fall under the influence of the ambitious, evil Dealers of Darkness. Fearing he’d never see his lady love again, Lucian had taken the oath to serve The Experts.

  For eight centuries, Lucian had lived, died, and been reincarnated. Each of his lives had been connected in some way to his original lifetime. Most often, he’d been a private collector or antique dealer who’d specialized in artifacts from the Middle Ages.

  Galahad, who’d somehow been transformed into a cat when the sorceress tried to kill him, had also li
ved numerous lifetimes. To be fifteen forever, trapped in a feline’s body with all those raging teenage hormones….

  Maybe Galahad had a right to be grouchy.

  The cat sprawled in the sunshine, and Lucian crossed to the store’s oak counter and put away the hammer. Earlier, he’d started sorting through a box of silverware his grandfather had bought at auction and stored until he had time to tag the pieces. As his grandfather had done before purchasing the lot, Lucian had confirmed by running his hand over the silver that none of the pieces held dark magic and therefore could be sold to the general public.

  Lucian set an ornate serving spoon on the counter and thought of the gleaming cases of antique silver at the New England store. Until two months ago, he’d been the East Coast Representative for The Experts: a prestigious position. He’d screwed up, and had lost all that he’d worked for.

  His jaw tightened on a flare of anger and disappointment while he tied the string of a white price tag around the spoon’s handle.

  “Now there’s a lady I’d like to hear moan.”

  Lucian glanced up. A young woman wearing sunglasses stood outside the shop window, looking in.

  He knew quite a few people in Cat’s Paw Cove, but he didn’t recognize her.

  Wavy, blond hair brushed her bare shoulders. She wore a sleeveless white sundress, and as his gaze slid down her shapely curves, he saw the open cardboard box tucked under her left arm.

  Was she a potential customer? He hoped so.

  Heat tingled in Lucian’s gut.

  “I saw her first,” Galahad said, sounding petulant.

  “True, but you’re a cat.”

  To get a better look at Galahad, meowing and gazing up at her, she leaned closer to the window. The shift in posture brought the shadow of her cleavage into view. Lucian’s hand curled against the counter’s cool surface, for he longed to see more.