Sizzle and Burn

put some distance between the two of them while she pulled herself together.
    “I’m Raine Tallentyre,” she said.
    “Zackary Jones. Call me Zack. I’m here to make a deal with you.”
    Okay, obviously she had just fallen down the rabbit hole.
    “What kind of deal?” she managed.
    “I need your help.” He held up a manila envelope. “In exchange, I’ll give you this.”
    She glanced at the envelope. “What’s in there?”
    He smiled the slow, confident smile of a man who is very sure he is holding all the high cards. “The missing pieces of your family history. Inside this envelope is your heritage, the one you were denied when your father was kicked out of the Arcane Society.”
    “I don’t understand.”
    “It’s simple. I’m the man with the answers to the questions you’ve been asking all these years.”

Six
    H e’d chosen his strategy the way he always did, with cold, calculating psychic intuition based on what he knew and could sense about his opponent. The path across Raine Tallentyre’s threshold had been clear to him as soon as he finished reading the files that Fallon Jones had provided. Very few people could resist the lure of learning the secrets of their past.
    Figuring out a person’s weak spots and anticipating their moves was part of his talent. He wasn’t particularly proud of it but it was something he did very well. Most of the time.
    What he hadn’t factored into the equation was his personal reaction to Raine. Energy flooded through him, heating his blood and triggering an unfamiliar anticipation. He couldn’t look away from her fascinating eyes, didn’t want to look away. Her voice, soft and vibrant, was a siren’s call to his senses. He could feel the power in her. It drew him as surely as her scent and the subtle challenge that she radiated.
    He’d been waiting all his life to meet a woman who could do this to him. That, his level-ten mirror talent intuition warned him, made her potentially the most dangerous woman he had ever met. And the most alluring.
    “You’re from the Arcane Society,” she said. It was not a question.
    “I’m a member of the Society,” he agreed. “Just as your parents and your aunt were. So are you, for that matter.”
    “No.”
    He held up the envelope. “According to your file, your parents registered you at birth.”
    “My mother is dead and the Society expelled my father.”
    “True. But no one forced you or your aunt out of the community.”
    Her dark brows rose above the black frames of her glasses. “That’s something of a technicality, isn’t it?”
    “Sure, but it’s a big one. After your father’s death it was your aunt’s choice to keep you and herself away from the heritage that belonged to both of you.” He moved the file in his hand ever so slightly, just enough to draw her attention back to it. “Well? Do you want answers, Raine Tallentyre?”
    Her fantastic eyes focused briefly on the envelope he held. “That depends on the price I’ll have to pay to get them.”
    He smiled and mentally rolled the dice, enjoying the rush that came with trying to outmaneuver her.
    “What the hell.” He held out the envelope. “The file is yours, whether you decide to help me or not.”
    She took it, even more wary now. “What happens if I refuse to help you?”
    He shrugged. “Then I lose my bet.”
    She hesitated but he sensed her unwilling curiosity. He was counting on it. With her aunt gone, Raine had been deprived of the last link to the part of her family history that explained why she was different. How could she resist?
    He knew, probably before she did, that he had won. His mirror talent picked up the faint tightening at the corners of her sensitive mouth and the small, almost imperceptible movement of one hand.
    “You’ve got fifteen minutes,” she said, opening the door wider. “If I don’t like what I hear or if I don’t believe you or what I read in this file, you’ll leave.”
    “Deal.”
    He moved through the doorway before she could change her mind. She waved him to one of the chairs on either side of the table.
    The room was larger than an ordinary hotel room. There was a comfortable sitting area and a gas fire that added warmth and atmosphere. He sat down but kept his jacket on. He didn’t think she was ready to see the gun.
    She took the other chair, crossed her legs and rested both arms on the upholstered sides. She did not offer him tea, but then, there was only one cup on the