It Must Be Magic by Jennifer Skully Read Free Book Online Page B

director Joseph Swann — but Lili didn’t see what that had to do with Fluffy and the murder. “
Hottie
would be a good word to describe him.”
    “Then it’s easy.” Kate lifted a shoulder. “Seduce him.”
    “Seduce him?”
    “He’ll be putty in your hands.”
    “Hmm. I never would have thought of that.” That was what Lili admired about Kate. She thought outside the box. And she didn’t even ask for further details on a pretty darn convoluted story. Lili wasn’t sure if Kate actually believed she could talk to animals, but that was the other great thing about her boss. Kate never judged. She was a go-with-the-flow kind of person. Except about Joseph Swann’s career choice.
    “I’m full of amazing ideas.” Kate raised one perfectly penciled eyebrow. “And modest, too.”
    “I bow to your genius. Guess that’s why you’re the boss.”
    It might work. If she didn’t find anything out in the woods when she went for her hike after work, she’d seduce Tanner Rutland into giving her access to Fluffy.
    With Tanner, the idea had certain exciting side benefits.
    Lili ducked through the door in search of her Danish and coffee.
    Kate’s voice pursued her. “And don’t do anything silly like traipsing out into the woods to search for a body on your own.”
    Darn. Why did Kate have to bring up common sense?
----
    CHAPTER FOUR
    “T HAT CONCLUDES OUR BUSINESS. How about lunch?”
    Joseph Swann was tricky. He never asked her on a date, but over the last couple of months, he’d slipped invitations in as part of their business arrangements. Kate Carson wasn’t fooled. He was after her for more than a spinach salad. She was flattered, but the man was a no-go.
    “Thanks, but I’ve got another meeting right after this.” Besides, she had to get back to Flowers By Nature. Lili had her a trifle worried over this latest animal communiqué. While not a careless person in the main, Lili had an obsession with helping animals, which sometimes blinded her to everything else.
    Kate busied herself putting her files back in her briefcase. Joseph Swann didn’t make her nervous, nor did his office. There was nothing particularly funereal in it. He sat behind a standard dark wood desk, something rich-looking but not too rich. His chair was leather, but well used. There were filing cabinets along the wall and bookcases filled with compendiums whose titles she’d never bothered to look at. Instead of a conference-style table, he had a black leather sofa, two matching chairs and a coffee table. The corner of the room housed a small coffee stand with ceramic mugs rather than foam cups. And though pastel watercolors on the walls soothed, as did the blue-gray carpet, it wasn’t as if he had piped-in organ music or brochures of caskets on the table.
    He steepled his fingers, rested them against his lips and eyed her over the tops. “You’re lying.” His voice had a soft, almost singsong quality to it, as if he were amused by her continued efforts to resist his invitations.
    She didn’t expect him to be so open about it, but it was exactly what she
should
have expected from him. Joseph Swann was actually witty and charming, soft-spoken as befitted his profession, and devilishly handsome. His most stunning feature was his square jawline. Kate couldn’t say why it fascinated her more than his mahogany hair or his lapis-blue eyes, to use Lili’s description. Kate had to admit the man was sexy with a six-foot, well-maintained body, as far as one could tell on someone who primarily wore dark suits with the jacket buttoned, a white dress shirt and a charcoal-striped tie. It was that jawline that did it for her. Strength, maybe that was it. Whatever. The problem between them was not his jaw; it was the whole dead-people issue. Though he often made her laugh, a man who spent the majority of his time around dead bodies couldn’t be normal.
    She gave him a prissy, prim stare to mask the smile that threatened. “I am not lying, and I