Mackenzies4 Mackenzies Magic 1996by Linda Horward.docx

1、Mackenzies4 Mackenzies Magic 1996by Linda Horward4 - Mackenzies Magic(1996) Synopsis: Maris, the only Mackenzie daughter, is magic. Shes fey, almost psychic and can charm the wildest horse - as well as other dangerous animals, such as the undercover FBI agent whos hot on the trail of a killer, and i

2、n whose bed Maris lands. The problem is, she was wanted for horse theft, but she was banged on the head and doesnt remember what happened or how she got there. With no memory, she had little chance of proving her innocence or eluding the villains behind the prize stallions mysterious disappearance.

3、Her only hope for salvation? The stranger in her bed. Dear Reader, Not all that long ago, the world was a much slower place. Generations of a family would be born, grow up, marry, set up their own homes, and all stay within the same neighborhood. It wasnt unusual for a house to be home to three gene

4、rations at the same time. Babies were born in the same house where grandparents died, and there was a wonderful sense of continuity, of roots, that has gone by the wayside now as families scatter to the four corners of the earth. But we still have that yearning for the safe place of our hearts, the

5、center of the family, and Christmas is the perfect expression of that Are you going home for Christmas? is a phrase spoken thousandsXmillionsXof times as the holiday nears. People seldom live in the same house their entire lives now, but the house isnt the home; the family is. The family is the sanc

6、tuary, and people travel untold miles to reach it every year at that special time, the time of Christmas. I hope you reach your sanctuary, and I hope you have a wonderful Christmas. Linda Howard Chapter One Her head hurt. The pain thudded against the inside of her skull, pounded on her eyeballs. Her

7、 stomach stirred uneasily, as if awakened by all the commotion. My head hurts. Maris Mackenzie voiced the complaint in a low, vaguely puzzled tone. She never had headaches; despite her delicate appearance, she possessed in full the Mackenzie iron constitution. The oddity of her condition was what ha

8、d startled her into speaking aloud. She didnt open her eyes, didnt bother to look at the dock. The alarm hadnt gone off, so it wasnt time to get up. Perhaps if she went back to sleep the headache would go away. Ill get you some aspirin. Mariss eyes snapped open, and the movement made her head give a

9、 sickening throb. The voice was male, but even more startling, it had been right beside her; so close, in fact, that the man had only murmured the words and still his warm breath had stirred against her ear. The bed shifted as he sat up. There was a soft click as he turned on the bedside lamp, and t

10、he light exploded in her head. Quickly she squeezed her eyes shut again, but not before she saw a mans broad, strongly muscled, naked back, and a well-shaped head covered with short, thick dark hair. Confused panic seized her. Where was she? Even more important, who was he? She wasnt in her bedroom;

11、 one glance had told her that. The bed beneath her was firm, comfortable, but not hers. An exhaust fan whined to life when he turned on the bathroom light. She didnt risk opening her eyes again, but instead relied on her other senses to orient herself. A motel, then. That was it. And the strange whu

12、mp-ing sound she had only now heard was the blower of the rooms climate-control unit. She had slept in plenty of motels, but never before with a man. Why was she in a motel, anyway, instead of her own comfortable little house close by the stables? The only time she stayed in motels was when she was

13、traveling to or from a job, and since she had settled in Kentucky a couple of years ago the only traveling shed done had been when she went home to visit the family. It was an effort to think. She couldnt come up with any reason at all why she was in a motel with a strange man. Sharp disappointment

14、filled her, temporarily piercing the fogginess in her brain. She had never slept around before, and she was disgusted with herself for having done so now, an episode she didnt remember with a man she didnt know. She knew she should leave, but she couldnt seem to muster the energy it would take to ju

15、mp out of bed and escape. Escape? She wondered fuzzily at the strange choice of word. She was free to leave any time she wanted.if she could only manage to move. Her body felt heavily relaxed, content to do nothing more than lie there. She needed to do something, she was certain, but she couldnt qui

16、te grasp what that something was. Even aside from the pain in her head, her mind felt fuzzy, and her thoughts were vague and drifting. The mattress shifted again as he sat down beside her, this time on the side of the bed closest to the wall, away from the hurtful light. Carefully Maris risked openi

17、ng her eyes just a little; perhaps it was because she was prepared for the pain, but the resultant throb seemed to have lessened. She squinted up at the big man, who sat so close to her that his body heat penetrated the sheet that covered her. He was facing her now; she could see more of him than ju

18、st his back. Her eyes widened. It was him. Here you go, he said, handing the aspirin to her. His voice was a smooth, quiet baritone, and though she didnt think shed ever spoken to him before, something about that voice was strangely familiar. She fumbled the aspirin from his hand and popped them int

19、o her mouth, making a face at both the bitter taste of the pills and her own idiocy. Of course his voice was familiar! After all, shed been in bed with him, so she supposed she had talked to him beforehand, even if she couldnt remember meeting him, or how shed gotten here. He held out a glass of wat

20、er. Maris tried to prop herself up on her elbow to take it, but her head throbbed so violently that she sank back against the pillow, wincing with pain as she put her hand to her forehead. What was wrong with her? She was never sick, never clumsy. This sudden uncooperativeness of her own body was al

21、arming. Let me do it. He slipped his arm under her shoulders and effortlessly raised her to a sitting position, bracing her head in the curve of his arm and shoulder. He was warm and strong, his scent musky, and she wanted to press herself closer. The need surprised her, because shed never before fe

22、lt that way about a man. He held the glass to her lips, and she gulped thirstily, washing down the pills. When she was finished, he eased her down and removed his arm. She felt a pang of regret at the loss of his touch, astonishing herself. Fuzzily she watched him walk around the bed. He was tall, m

23、uscular, his body showing the strength of a man who did physical work instead of sitting in an office all day. To her mingled relief and disappointment, he wasnt completely naked; he wore a pair of dark gray knit boxers, the fabric clinging snugly to his muscled butt and thighs. Dark hair covered hi

24、s broad chest, and beard stubble darkened his jaw. He wasnt handsome, but he had a physical presence that drew the eye. It had drawn hers, anyway, since shed first seen him two weeks ago, forking down hay in the barn. Her reaction then had been so out of character that she had pushed it out of her m

25、ind and ignored it, or at least she had tried. She had deliberately not spoken to him whenever their paths crossed, she who had always taken pains to know everyone who worked with her horses. He threatened her, somehow, on some basic level that brought all her inner defenses screaming to alert. This

26、 man was dangerous. He had watched her, too. Shed turned around occasionally and found his gaze on her, his expression guarded, but still, shed felt the male heat of his attention. He was just temporary help, a drifter who needed a couple of weeks pay in his pocket before he drifted away again, whil

27、e she was the trainer at Solomon Green Horse Farms. It was a prestigious position for anyone, but for a woman to hold the job was a first. Her reputation in the horse world had made her a sort of celebrity, something she didnt particularly enjoy; she would rather be with the horses than putting on a

28、n expensive dress and adorning a party, but the Stonichers, who owned Solomon Green, often requested her presence. Maris wasnt a snob, but her position on the farm was worlds apart from that of a drifter hired to muck out the stables. He knew his way around horses, though; shed noticed that about hi

29、m. He was comfortable with the big animals, and they liked him, which had drawn her helpless attention even more. She hadnt wanted to pay attention to the way his jeans stretched across his butt when he bent or squatted, something that he seemed to do a thousand times a day as he worked. She didnt w

30、ant to notice the muscles that strained the shoulder seams of his shirts as he hefted loaded shovels or pitchforks. He had good hands, strong and lean; she hadnt wanted to notice them, either, or the intelligence in his blue eyes. He might be a drifter, but he drifted for his own reasons, not becaus

31、e he wasnt capable of making a more stable life for himself. Shed never had time for a man in her life, hadnt particularly been interested. All her attention had been focused on horses, and building her career. In the privacy of her bed at night, when she wasnt able to sleep and her restless body fe

32、lt too hot for comfort, she had admitted to herself the irony of her hormones finally being kicked into full gallop by a man who would likely be gone in a matter of weeks, if not days. The best thing to do, shed decided, would be to continue ignoring him and the uncomfortable yearnings that made her want to be close to him. Evidently she hadnt succeeded. She lifted her hand to shield her eyes from the light as she watched him return the water glass to the bathroom, and only then did she notice what she herself was wearing. She wasnt naked; she was wearing h