Witch Way Now: A Paranormal Romantic Comedy (Raising Hell Downunder Book 4)

by Rhiannon Hartley

  3 Jacob

  "So this is the site?" Jacob asked, looking over a broken-down fence at the scrubby bushland dotted by lone gumtrees.

  "Yep," Adrian nodded. "According to the maps from Council, this is the south-west corner. But as you can see, the boundaries are a little fuzzy."

  "Too right," Jacob agreed, grateful that the surveyor hadn't pointed out that it was his family's fault that the fences hadn't been maintained.

  "You've got that road they're widening along the north boundary; that's easy," Adrian said. "And there's a small landholding up there with a decent fence. The rest is..."

  "I understand," Jacob sighed, nodding and shifting Prada in his arms. "No, you can't get down," he said to the tiny dog. "The grass is taller than you are."

  "Is that your dog?" Adrian asked, looking at Prada with raised eyebrows.

  "Er, yes," Jacob admitted. "She used to belong to an ex. But she's mine now. She gets really anxious at home, so I have to bring her with me, and..."

  "I'm used to dogs, mate," Adrian said, still looking at Prada. "Half the tradies I work with have a dog on the back of their truck. Of course, they're usually kelpies, not... What is she?"

  "A Yorkie-Poo," Jacob admitted and immediately wished he had just said "mutt". "Her name's Prada."

  Adrian raised his eyebrows. "Right," he said with the air of someone who wanted to be polite to the person paying them but could barely hide their scorn. "Well, do you and Prada want to walk around the perimeter then? You're not really dressed for it."

  Jacob looked down at his neatly pressed beige trousers and leather lace-ups. "I'll be fine," he said with more confidence than he felt. "Sorry, I thought we'd be driving, so I..."

  "You'd have a job getting even a four-wheel-drive through this lot," Adrian jerked a thumb at the tangled wilderness that now technically belonged to Jacob. "You'd need a bulldozer."

  Jacob snorted out a breath. "True enough," he said. "You lead, then."

  With a squirming Prada tucked under one arm and the other shading his eyes from the sun (he really wished he had a hat), Jacob began to follow Adrian over the collapsed fence and through the trees.

  ✽✽✽

  An hour later, Jacob's shirt was soaked through with sweat, his feet ached fiercely, and his nice beige slacks were splattered with mud. He was pretty sure the back of his neck was bright red with sunburn, and he would have sold the entire parcel of land right then and there for a bottle of cold water. Worst of all, he could tell how much Adrian was enjoying his misery.

  "Hot enough for you?" Adrian called out. "Do you need a break?"

  "I'm fine!" Jacob said promptly. "How much further can it be, really?"

  Adrian laughed out loud. "We're barely halfway!"

  Jacob was extremely tempted to call Adrian several words that even his father would have thought unacceptable in a professional setting when a loud, deep bark rang out from beyond the line of trees.

  Jacob turned, squinting at the trees. Prada returned the bark with a fiercely high-pitched yip and tried to escape from Jacob's arms, kicking him in the stomach. "Prada, no!" he said, trying desperately to hang onto his tiny dog.

  "Some of the locals use the trail through the bush as a dog walking track," Adrian said, as though that explained everything.

  "There's a trail through the trees?" Jacob said, briefly distracted from the almost apoplectic Prada. "Why aren't we using it?"

  Adrian shrugged from underneath his wide-brimmed hat, his eyes unreadable from behind reflective shades. "Thought you wanted to walk the exact perimeter."

  Once again, Jacob resisted the urge to physically threaten Adrian, and once again, he was saved by the bark. But this time, the owner of the bark came hurtling out from between the trees.

  A powerfully built dog with a black and tan coat came careering towards him at top speed. Jacob had a brief moment of fear, but as the dog skidded to a halt in front of him, he could see that its tail was wagging hard in fierce friendliness.

  "Gumbo!" came a voice. "Gumbo, you get back here!"

  Jacob looked down at the dog again. Gumbo? Strange name for a dog, he thought. Then again, his dog was called Prada.

  "Gumbo!" the voice came again, and this time, a figure accompanied the voice. A young woman appeared from between the trees. She was dressed in tight grey jeans, a black t-shirt, and expensive-looking high-tops in an eye-watering shade of orange. Jacob could see that she was tall and willowy with curves in all the right places. The most striking thing about the young woman's appearance, however, was her long red hair, cascading over her shoulders and halfway down her back.

  Jacob had always liked redheads.

  "Gumbo, leave them alone!" she called again, running up behind the dog. "I'm sorry!" she apologised. "He slipped his lead. I hope he wasn't bothering you. He's way too friendly."

  Jacob looked at the young woman and then again at Gumbo, who was looking up at him with liquid black eyes and still wagging his tail excitedly. For her part, Prada was growling through her bared teeth from her place of safety in his arms.

  "I think he wanted to say hello to Prada here," Jacob said, indicating the little dog trembling with rage in his arms.

  The young woman squinted. "Oh!" she said, spotting Prada. "Didn't see her there. Hi, Prada! I'm Beatrix, and this is Gumbo. Gumbo won't hurt you. He's a big softie, okay?"

  "I think she's the threat," Jacob said, grinning. "Vicious, this one. And she thinks she's the size of a horse."

  Beatrix laughed. "Small dog syndrome, am I right?" Then her expression changed. "I haven't seen you around here before," she said. "Are you out for a walk?" Jacob could feel her eyes on his mud-splattered beige trousers and once neatly pressed blue shirt.

  "Sort of," Jacob admitted. "I'm Jacob Jones, I'm the, uh, owner of this land. We're doing a survey. For future development."

  Beatrix's face, which had been so friendly and open in her interest in Prada, changed at once. "You're a developer?" she said, pronouncing the word like it was synonymous with 'puppy murderer'. "You're going to develop this land?"

  "Well, yes," Jacob said, feeling a little defensive under her icy stare. "With the zoning change, I mean, all the vacant land around here is going to be, well..."

  "It's not vacant," Beatrix objected, indicating the trees and bushland around them with a wave of her hand. "You're just going to bulldoze it? Bugger the trees, screw the wildlife, just raze it to the ground and build a factory or something? Why can't you just leave it alone! No one wants you here!"

  "I—" Jacob began and was, surprisingly, saved by Adrian appearing again.

  "Who are you?" Adrian asked Beatrix. "Did you know you're trespassing? This is private land!"

  Beatrix gave him a look of such utter venom that Jacob was genuinely surprised that Adrian didn't double over in pain.

  "I'm Beatrix LaGrange," she said, squaring her shoulders. "Local business owner. And I was just telling your friend here that we don't want any development. This land here? It's a haven for native wildlife, plus everyone around here walks their dogs through the trail. We don't want any developers coming and messing it all up."

  "Well, there's not much you can do about progress," Adrian said, giving Beatrix a look of dislike, but he wasn't able to quite match her intensity. "And you can tell your fellow community members that this is private property, and we'll be prosecuting trespassers."

  "No, we won't," Jacob said quickly. "But, uh, when the development begins properly, it might not be safe to walk through—"

  "Oh, well, I'll be sure to get going then," Beatrix said sarcastically, clipping a lead onto Gumbo's collar. He was still staring at Prada, his tail wagging slowly and patiently. "But you should know that you're going to have a fight if you try to destroy this place. The community won't stand for it, I'm telling you! And Council will—"

  "Council can't wait to see this site developed," Adrian cut in. "All that money coming in. You're crazy if you think they'd side with you."

  "Well, the
n it's a good thing I'm not relying on them!" Beatrix said fiercely. "Mark my words, we won't let you do this!"

  "Look, it doesn't have to be like this," Jacob said, trying to de-escalate the situation. "Maybe we could talk about it. You could tell me your concerns. I'm looking to do something here that will benefit the community long term, really."

  "I've heard that kind of talk before," she said, shaking her head dismissively. "You'll put in some kind of industrial park and chuck a solar panel on the roof and call it sustainable development. I know what you people are like."

  "To be fair, you don't know what I'm like," Jacob said mildly. He pulled out his wallet, producing a card. "Seriously, we can talk this through. Maybe over coffee?" That, he knew, was pushing it. But what could he say? He had always liked strong-willed women, and redheads called to him like a beacon.

  "Are you seriously hitting on me right now?" Beatrix gave him a look that an elephant might to a dung beetle. "I swear, men are the absolute worst. You're lucky that I don't curse Ordinaries, or I'd make you get the hell out of here."

  "Curse me?" Jacob wrinkled up his nose. "What, are you some kind of witch?"

  "That's exactly what I am," Beatrix snapped back.

  "Gees, Jacob," Adrian said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "We'll have to be careful with a witch next door."

  "Next door?" Jacob said, confused.

  "Beatrix LaGrange, aren't you?" Adrian said to her. "Owner of the lot next to this one. It's all on the paperwork." Adrian held up a clipboard and shrugged.

  "Well, I guess we'll be seeing more of each other, sooner or later," Jacob said, smiling at Beatrix.

  "I hope not," Beatrix said sourly and turned on her heel, dragging Gumbo behind her.

  "So, uh, were you going to tell me that the locals aren't too keen on development around here?" Jacob asked mildly.

  Adrian laughed, short and ugly. "Most of them don't care," he said smoothly. "There'll always be a few crazies like her, but most people? They'll be thrilled to see their property values go up. Don't give that crazy bitch a second thought. You've got a massive opportunity here."

  "You don't think I should be worried that she might curse me?" Jacob grinned, still looking after Beatrix's retreating back.

  "Like I said, she's crazy," Adrian said. "Come on, let's finish this survey. It's hot as hell out here."

  And with that, Jacob had to agree.

  4 Beatrix

  "You're not going to believe what just happened to me!" Beatrix thundered, pushing open the double doors to the workshop with a touch more drama than was strictly necessary.

  Onyx and Shauna raised their heads from where they were bent over a vat of bubbling herbs, both their faces pink and shiny with steam. The steam was especially unfortunate for Onyx, as it made his heavy eyeliner run. He had clearly tried to wipe it away, making him look like a painted panda left out in the rain.

  "I'm sure I would," Onyx said, sighing affectedly. "Life presents endless opportunities for pain and suffering while we await the embrace of death."

  "Bloody hell, you're cheerful today," Shauna rolled her eyes and then looked up at Beatrix. "What happened, hun?"

  "You know how we heard about the land around here being rezoned? And then nothing happened?" Beatrix began, sitting down heavily and rubbing her hands over her face. "Well, it's happening now. Some asshole developers are out there right now, surveying or whatever, so they can bulldoze the lot to make way for an industrial hellhole or something. I can't believe it!"

  "Oh, that," Shauna said, with barely a raise of her greying eyebrows. "Well, we knew that was going to happen. Seen it before, lots of times. It will be shiny office space and new build homes as far as the eye can see in a few years."

  "Nothing we can do about it," Onyx shrugged. "Nothing stays the same forever. The only certainty in life is death."

  "Well, I didn't know!" Beatrix felt horribly naive. "When nothing happened after the announcement, I just kind of thought that people had forgotten. I thought things would just stay as they are."

  Shauna scrunched up her face in sympathy. "Afraid not, Bea," she said, patting her on the shoulder. "It's the same everywhere. Once a new arterial road is announced, you get all this old farmland rezoned and everything changes."

  "But I don't want it to change!" Beatrix said, biting her lip a little harder than she meant to. "Hell, maybe I should do something..."

  "Something magic?" Onyx asked, his face suddenly brightening. "I could help you!"

  "Of course you could," Beatrix said, although they both knew that Onyx's enthusiasm for all things arcane was unfortunately not matched by talent. Onyx was as suited to witchcraft as a dolphin was to forklift operation - the intelligence might be there, but it simply didn't work. "But I..."

  "Won't do anything like that because you'd never use magic on unsuspecting Ordinaries," Shauna finished. "You've got your code. You won't be messing with that."

  "You're probably right," Beatrix said unhappily. She picked up a pile of shipping labels and began to absentmindedly peel at one end. "Even if it would be self-defence, really. They're going to destroy my home. And my business," she looked at Shauna and Onyx plaintively.

  "But not any time soon," Shauna said. "Development takes a long time, hun. It will be months - years even - before there's much action. These developers, they've got to find clients, get Council approvals, logistics. It's slow, very slow. You know my ex was a civil engineer," and her usually calm face suddenly darkened. "I know all about it." There was a touch of bitterness in her voice.

  "Slow," Beatrix repeated. "It's a slow process." She shook her head, looking around at her workshop. It was a vast room with high vaulted ceilings, windows to let in plenty of tree-dappled natural light, and polished concrete floors.

  She had invested a considerable amount of her early profits in this workshop, custom-built for the needs of Just Like Magic, and she was proud of what she had created. She had started the company in the kitchen of a tiny studio flat, but now she employed both Shauna and Onyx full time and shipped to over twenty countries. The workshop itself was great, but what she liked most about it was the location. You couldn't even see her house from here, hidden by a thick copse of trees. It felt like the right kind of place for using nature's bounty - plus a little magic - to make something that changed people's lives.

  That would all be destroyed if the empty land around them was developed.

  "I don't see why they have to do it at all," she sighed. "Stupid Jacob Jones, with his tiny dog. Would you believe he had the nerve to ask me to coffee to 'discuss my concerns'? What an asshole!"

  "The developer asked you to go for coffee?" Onyx asked, just as Shauna asked, "He had a tiny dog?"

  "Yes, he had a tiny dog," Beatrix said, exasperated. "And yes, he asked me to have coffee with him. Asshole."

  Onyx took off his gloves and went over to the computer. "Jacob Jones, was it?"

  "Yes," Beatrix frowned. "Why?"

  "Hmm," Onyx murmured and then turned the screen around so that Beatrix and Shauna could see it. "He's handsome. Perhaps you should have said yes."

  Smiling out at her from the screen was Jacob. Except this Jacob was in a sharp grey suit rather than a sweaty blue shirt that stuck to his pectoral muscles. Okay, so Beatrix had noticed that. Just because she was furious, it didn't mean she was blind. Yes, she had noticed he was handsome. It just didn't change anything. If anything, it made it worse. Handsome, arrogant bastard, thinking that she'd overlook the fact that he was a homewrecker and have coffee with him.

  "Not a chance," Beatrix said flatly. "He's a property developer. And not just any property developer, but the one who's going to turn my home into an industrial wasteland, all so he can make a quick dollar. If he was any more evil, I could just call Wade to banish him back to Hell."

  "I like Wade," Onyx said, looking a little wistful. Onyx, Beatrix thought, more than liked her friend Wade. Onyx looked at Wade with the same adoration that little kids did superheroes, an
d Beatrix could kind of see why; Wade was a self-taught warlock, just like Onyx wished he could be.

  Wade McIntyre, unlike most witches or warlocks, had taken up magic as an adult. And he had been astonishingly successful despite having no family background in the craft whatsoever. Of course, her mother was horrified by him, but Beatrix didn't see why magic should only be practised by those who had grown up with it. That view was the source of more than fifty per cent of arguments with her mother.

  "I thought you always knew this area was ripe for rezoning," Shauna said, ignoring the picture of Jacob grinning out at them. "Thought that was why you bought here. Excellent investment."

  "I don't want it to be an excellent investment," Beatrix protested. "I just want things to stay like they are. I mean, all that gorgeous bushland. They're just going to bulldoze it."

  "I'm sure your mother would agree," Onyx said, swivelling the computer screen around.

  "I didn't mean it like that!" Beatrix snapped, and Onyx visibly flinched. "It's not like I think we should all be hunter-gatherers in stone huts or something. I just don't see why they have to develop here."

  "Perhaps you're a NIMBY then," Onyx teased. "You like progress, just Not In Your Back Yard."

  Beatrix sighed. "Maybe," she said. "Maybe I am a hypocrite, but..."

  "You're allowed to be upset," Shauna said. "This is your home, and it's a shock. But like I said, nothing's going to happen quickly. You've got ages before you need to worry about that square-jawed developer with the lovely eyes. Maybe you could just have a little fun with him, no need to break your 'no relationships' rule."

  "You too?" Beatrix looked at Shauna accusingly. "I thought you'd be the last person to say something like that."

  Shauna looked apologetic. "Well, most men are useless bastards - present company excepted - but you can't deny he's a looker. What would be the harm in letting him take you out and tell you what he's got planned? It's not even a date, just a community consultation. Maybe it's not as bad as you think. He might even leave some of the bush intact, for environmental credits. My ex always used to do that."