T is for Temptation by Jianne Carlo

and my mother, in particular, refuses to discuss the strange things that happened before I learned a little self-control.” She shook her head. “I couldn’t discuss it with them and if Dad knew he’d hit me, he would have had him thrown in jail.”
    She shrugged.
    “Do your parents know? About you?”
    “We’ve never actually discussed it. I tried a few times, but my mother refuses to acknowledge that I’m a little peculiar.”
    “Why didn’t you leave him?”
    “Tony had connections, Jake, and a divorce would’ve meant an ugly public battle.”
    A glacier crept up his spine, chilling his flesh and sending every hair perpendicular.
    “What happened later on?”
    “I did everything I could to lead a separate life, spent a lot of time here in Barbados . When I heard he’d died, I felt I’d been given a new lease on life. No one will ever have control over me again.”
    “How does it work, this power of yours?”
    In a crazy, oxymoronic way, things now began to make sense. He suppressed a mournful groan. Tee was a witch, and she had cast a spell over him.
    “Unreliably. It’s always been like that. I’ve learned over the years how to prevent it from happening, most of the time, anyway. When I’m emotional I can’t control it.”
    She slid off his lap and moved to stand between the fireplace and the open window. Dark clouds, laden with moisture, carpeted a sky illuminated by a sickle-shaped sliver of moonlight. A hard rain began falling, and drops sputtered in gusts against the glass pane. Blazing flames morphed into glowing logs licking irregular, tentative flares.
    “My special ability, that’s what Dee calls our talents, is a conjuring one. I think of something and it appears, not that it works all the time. If I’m upset, things go wrong.” She turned a deep pink. “I must have equated you or your kiss with gladiators somehow. I know I associate the rose petals with my grandmother. I think I inherited my powers from her. They certainly don’t come from Tricia.”
    “Why don’t you sit down? I’ll get you a glass of wine.”
    All the color had drained out of Tee’s complexion, and he grew apprehensive of her fainting.
    “No, no wine. I haven’t even told Dee the whole nightmare. Even if you don’t believe me, it feels good to finally say it aloud.”
    For you , Jake thought, not for me .
    “I need a drink.”
    He stalked to the kitchen and opened and slammed several cabinet doors. He was sick and tired of this bucking bronco ride and wanted something tangible to cling to—anything.
    “The bar’s in the wall unit over there.” She pointed across the room. “The middle section.”
    By the time he poured a tumbler of Scotch and settled back into a chair opposite her, the weather cleared and the fire died out. He didn’t want to consider the implications of either event.
    “Tony really hated me towards the end. I had to keep up appearances until I figured out what to do, so I attended a dinner function with him. A friend owns the restaurant it was held in, Solimar. I’m severely allergic to a local herb called chadon bene, and my reactions worsen each time I’m exposed to it. The last time, I went into cardiac arrest and was lucky to survive.”
    His stomach somersaulted. He knew what came next.
    “Joe, my friend who owns the restaurant, knows about my allergy and would never serve me food with chadon bene in it. Tony and I were seated next to each other. Before the second course could arrive, I had difficulty breathing. They rushed me to the hospital and pumped my stomach that night. Everyone put it down to chadon bene, but I know how I react to it. It starts with a tingling, a prickling, itchy sensation all over. Sort of like a swarm of ants stinging every inch of skin.”
    “It was something else?”
    “Yes, there was no itching or prickling at all. He’d slipped me something, I’m sure of it, but I couldn’t prove anything. Two days later, my brakes failed on the way home from