Southern Belles and Spells Matchmaker Mysteries

by Amy Boyles

  “You know I have to follow every lead,” he said quietly.

  “Mama is innocent.”

  “I’m sure she is, but she might also have an idea of who murdered Frankie.”

  “She wasn’t even on set when it happened,” I argued.

  “You know as well as I that a witch doesn’t have to be present to cast a spell on another witch.” He leaned forward. “Your mother is a water witch. Frankie died in water. I have to at least question her.”

  I gestured toward the exit. “What about Mr. Creepy Stalker? What about him, huh? The water didn’t electrocute him. Doesn’t that mean he should be brought in as well?”

  Thorne sighed. “I questioned Watts already. I’m trying to get a complete picture of who Frankie’s enemies were.”

  “Well then you should talk to Vic,” I argued. “He used to date her and she broke his heart. That’s reason enough if you ask me.”

  Our conversation was spiraling far from a good place, but it irked me that Thorne would question Mama.

  But at least he’d had the decency to admit it.

  I flared my hands. “Okay. You’re doing me a favor; I accept that. But can you just give it a few more days? If you’re going to bring her in, that is.”

  He quirked a brow. “You’re not investigating this.”

  I shook my head. “No, of course not,” I lied. “I’m not. I just thought maybe something else would present itself as a solution. Like, you know, the real killer.”

  He eyed me sternly. “Two days. That’s it.”

  I grinned widely. “Two days. That’s plenty of time…for you to discover who really did this and place handcuffs on them.”

  Even though I hoped to beat him to the punch.

  “Charming,” Thorne murmured, “can we talk about something else?”

  “You’re the one who brought it up. I was happy as a pig in mud having dinner, but you’re the one who decided to use our date”—I made quotation marks with my fingers—“as a way to figure out if I thought my mother was guilty of murder.”

  “I’m not saying she’s guilty.” His face was red now. “But I need to talk to her. That’s all.”

  “Oh? So you admit one of the men is hiding something?”

  “I admit that someone is. It’s a murder. Of course that’s how it is. Someone is hiding something. Someone wanted Frankie dead. She had a lot of enemies, and unfortunately your mother is one of them.”

  This argument had grown tiresome. Thorne and I had come so far this week. After all, we’d had a nice dinner where we didn’t rip each other’s heads off. Now we were back to square one.

  I wanted to say that I could find somebody that hated Frankie more than my mother, but I bit my tongue.

  Thorne tossed his napkin on the table. “Do you want to get out of here?”

  “And go where? On a moonlit walk where all I think about is strangling you?”

  He threw his head back. “No. My place.”

  A barb shot into my heart. The suggestion took me by surprise. I stared at him. “Why?”

  “I have dessert there.” He raised his hands. “Trust me. I’m not going to do anything ungentlemanly. I just think you and I need a change of scenery. How does that sound?”

  I could use that. We could use that. “That sounds nice,” I admitted. “But first let me go to the powder room.”

  He nodded. “I’ll take care of the check. Meet you up front.”

  I excused myself and went to the bathroom. On the way out I spied a shock of dark hair that I instantly recognized as belonging to Tex Tye.

  My gaze darted left and right. Thorne was nowhere in sight. Perfect. I could talk to Tex, find out what he knew and then sashay on out to Thorne and he’d never be the wiser.

  Of course I would do this all under the pretense of being the perfect matchmaker.

  I approached Tex’s table and noticed immediately he sat with a pretty young blonde.

  His niece, maybe?

  I mean, it had only been a few days since Frankie’s death. Surely Tex hadn’t already moved on.

  I waved pertly. “Hi, Tex.”

  He took one look at me and swallowed down a forkful of mashed potatoes. Tex wiped his mouth and smiled. “Charming. Great to see you.” He pointed to his niece. “This is my friend, Zoe.”

  I nodded to her. See, this Zoe wearing a tube-top dress and stilettos was Tex’s friend. She wasn’t even his niece.

  “Sorry to interrupt,” I began.

  “It’s no interruption,” he said smoothly.

  “I was just wondering how you were holding up, you know, with what happened to Frankie.”

  Tex tutted. “It’s a shame, really, but that’s how these things go. The show was fun, but I knew nothing would come of it.”

  My jaw dropped. “What? You seemed so into her.”

  He shrugged. “It’s just show business, Charming. Surely you can understand that. Doing the whole dating game thing was entertaining. Now I’m getting calls to go on other shows, but it’s not as if any of that is real.”

  What he said hurt my feelings. Like, I lived for matching people and bringing them together. The show had been very real to me. Granted, Thorne wasn’t interested in Frankie, but if I hadn’t been in the picture, would that have been the same story?

  “But I matched you to Frankie. A part of her had to mean something to you.”

  He hiked a shoulder to his ear. “And I appreciate you introducing us.” He popped another forkful of mashed potatoes into his mouth and spoke with his cavity full. Gross. “But that’s how these things are. You can’t get too attached to people in a dating show.”

  He inhaled deeply and reached his hand across the table and took Zoe’s. She grinned deeply at him, almost shyly. I wanted to barf. Sorry to be skeptical, but I couldn’t see anyone in a tube dress being shy about much.

  But Tex had acted like he cared about Frankie, that she had been this woman he adored. My blood nearly boiled in my veins.

  “So it was all an act, is that it?”

  Tex blinked at me innocently. “It wasn’t an act, just life, Charming. That’s the way we do things.”

  I scoffed. “That’s not the way I do things.” I grabbed the back of an empty chair and leaned forward. “If I wasn’t into someone, I wouldn’t take them up in a hot air balloon and spoon-feed them food. I wouldn’t kiss them and want to get into a hot tub with them.”

  He looked shocked. “You and I both know the mayor wanted a show. I gave her a show.”

  I pulled away and glared at him. “Did you want so much of a show that you killed Frankie to get it?”

  He blinked, shocked. “What? Goodness, no. I didn’t have anything to do with that.” Tex jutted out his strong chin and his eyes narrowed. “If that’s what you stopped by to suggest, I think you can leave. Good night, Charming. See you around.”

  Zoe’s lip curled into a sneer. She didn’t say anything, only shot me a glare right out of the trailer park. I straightened my back and left the restaurant.

  I found Thorne outside the cave, his back to the restaurant as he stared up at the starry sky. I linked my hand through his arm.

  “Hey there,” I purred.

  Without glancing down, he said, “Did you find out what you needed to from Tex?”

  I wanted to ask how he knew but then remembered Thorne had amazing hearing.

  I straightened my back and angled my shoulders. “Why yes I did, thanks for asking. I thought you were going to arrest me.”

  He glanced down at me, his silver eyes glinting in the moonlight. He looked unearthly, supernatural. Powerful.

  “You found Tex in public. You didn’t go to his house. So I’m not hauling you in.”

  I shot him a satisfied smirk. “Good. Now I’m ready for dessert.”

  Thorne snickered but said nothing as he led me to his Jaguar.

  Chapter 16

  “You really know how to get a lady interested in you,” I said.

  “Is that right? A lit
tle kindling, wine and chocolate is all you need?” Thorne joked.

  He knelt in front of his hearth blowing a fire to life. A spark ignited, and flames shot up around a log. He waited a moment before rising with the grace of Mikhail Baryshnikov and brushing off his hands.

  I raised my glass of wine to him. “Yep. All I need is a little wine and chocolate and I’m good. Plus,” and now the wine was making my head swim, “you didn’t give me a hard time for being mad that Tex was only in the game show for the exposure.”

  I gritted my teeth. “Why didn’t I see that before? He’s so slick. Too slick.” I paused. “He did it. He murdered Frankie for the ratings. You should arrest him.”

  Thorne cocked a brow before striding over and gently taking the wine from my hand. “Didn’t you eat at the restaurant?”

  “Yes, but your wine has a lot more alcohol in it.”

  He sniffed the bowl. “Does it?”

  I nodded. “You wouldn’t be affected by alcohol.” I tipped my head back and stared into his silvery eyes. “You probably aren’t affected by much.”

  I squeezed his bicep. “You’re like an undead Superman. Can you imagine if Superman was a vampire? He would’ve drank Lois Lane’s blood for sure.”

  “Maybe I should get you home.”

  I waved away his worry. “No, no. I’m fine. But I do think you should arrest Tex.”

  A moment later my scattered mind drifted back to Thorne. “But seriously. What makes you tick? I mean, I can’t imagine how awful it is to be forced to live here in the mountains when you’re clearly a worldly kind of guy. Very stoic. Hard to love. Doesn’t want to love. Is that it? You don’t like to give your heart away?”

  I blew a shot of air. “That’s right. We’ve covered this. You had to have your ex-girlfriend killed because she was evil.”

  I yanked his shirt, bringing Thorne down to eye level. “What does that do to you? Does it make you not want to love anyone ever again?”

  Thorne gently unhooked me from him. “It means when I meet someone I want to get to know, I won’t let anything stand in my way.”

  “You mean me.”

  Boy, my head swam in helium or some gas that made everything all hazy and big, bright and fuzzy. It was pretty awesome.

  I was saying things to Thorne I normally never would have confessed or been ballsy enough to admit.

  Thorne sat beside me on the couch. I pulled my knees to my chest to give him room.

  He dipped his chin down. “Now that you’ve spoken to all the men, are you going to stay out of my investigation?”

  “Probably not.”

  His gaze sharpened.

  I really needed to stop talking. But I just couldn’t. This wine really had loosened my lips. “I mean, what do you expect? You’re going to call my mother in for questioning, and Frankie willed me a talking skull that my mother struck a deal with.”

  “A skull?”

  I lifted the chain that dangled around my neck for him to see. “This guy. He talks but he isn’t talking now because I told him to be quiet. If I get stuck with him, this fire ward will bond to me and then poof! I’ve got all four elemental powers and magic is screwed forever. Forever. Do you understand that?”

  I scoffed. “Of course you understand that. You’re a vampire. You deal with eternity on a daily basis. Well, witches don’t, so they freak out.”

  Thorne rose.

  “Where are you going?”

  “To make you something for your hangover tomorrow.”

  I rose, my knees wobbly. “I am not going to have a hangover. I am perfectly within my realm of togetherness. I know what I’m saying.”

  Thorne’s voice drifted from the kitchen. “You’re talking about a skull that can speak.”

  “That’s correct, and his name is Eugene.” I lifted Eugene until he was eye level. “It’s okay. You can talk. Let Thorne know you exist.”

  Thorne’s head popped into view. “What’s it doing?”

  I frowned. “Not talking. Very annoying.” I slapped my thigh. “Now you’re going to think I’m crazy.”

  “No more than I already do.”

  “What?” I fisted a hand to my hip. “Do you think I’m crazy?”

  Thorne brought me a glass of brown liquid. “Drink this. It’ll take the edge off what you’re experiencing now and keep you from feeling bad tomorrow.”

  “It looks horrible.”

  “Tastes worse,” he teased. “But it’ll help.”

  I stared at the swirling chunks of goop in the water. “Is this an old vampire recipe?”

  “No, it’s an old family recipe.” He took my hand and cupped it around the glass. “Drink. I promise it’ll help. And no more wine. At least not tonight.”

  “Yes, Dad.”

  He scowled.

  I cringed. There was no one on earth who could make me want to curl up into a hole and hide with a simple look like Thorne.

  He had real talent.

  The liquid smelled like dirt. As Thorne promised, this was not going to taste good. But I sucked up my hesitation, threw back my head and downed the liquid.

  When I finished, I wiped my mouth on my sleeve and handed the glass to Thorne. “That was disgusting.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  I smirked. Thorne placed the glass down. “So. I would say that we salvaged the evening somewhat.”

  I smiled. “You’re a lot better when you’re not telling me what to do.”

  “Has it ever occurred to you that I’m trying to keep you out of danger?”

  “Nope.”

  “Well it should.”

  I leaned forward. Well, swayed forward was more like it. The horrible drink hadn’t completely taken effect yet. I kinda wished it wouldn’t.

  “Why is that?” I asked breathlessly.

  Let’s face it, I was moving in for the kiss of a lifetime. Yes, lifetime. I didn’t think Thorne would be a horrible kisser. He would be great—the best. I knew it.

  “I’m trying to keep you safe because maybe I think too highly of you to let you go home drunk.”

  I squinted. His face was all hazy. “You have four eyes.”

  “Not the right time to have an actual discussion.”

  That perked me up. “Yes it is! Yes! Let’s have a real discussion. Why do you want to keep me safe?”

  Boxes ticked in my head. Ideas congealed and a realization, as fuzzy as it was, firmed up.

  “Are you saying you care about me?”

  I think Thorne rolled his eyes, but it was hard to tell. “Yes. I’m saying that. I’ve asked you out on two dates. We run into each other all the time. I’ve asked you to stay out of dangerous things because I don’t want you to be hurt.”

  A lazy smile spread across my face. “The vampire cares about me.”

  He frowned. “Is that all I am too you?”

  “No!” I flung my arms around his neck, which was really hard because Thorne was tall and wide. I rose to my tiptoes and grinned. “Of course you’re not only a vampire to me. You’re a big hunky man who revs my engine. You annoy the holy heck out of me, chafe my rear end and often make me want to throw things.” I tapped his nose. “You want to know a secret?”

  “I’m dying to,” he said dryly.

  “I. Adore. It. You. I adore you. I never thought I’d like a vampire because, you know, you drink blood and you could drink my blood.”

  An idea popped into my head. “Do you want to drink my blood?”

  Thorne stiffened. He pulled my arms from around his neck and took a step back. “I think maybe this night is over.”

  I didn’t understand what I’d done. “But I don’t want it to be. We’re having so much fun. Don’t you want to drink my blood? I thought if you liked me, you’d want to. Is there something wrong with me that you don’t?”

  I sniffed my wrist. “I can’t smell my own blood, but surely it tastes like other peoples.”

  Thorne’s jaw clenched in anger. “You need to, right now, stop talking about drink
ing blood.”

  “Why? But I thought that you like to.”

  His voice hardened. “You don’t know anything about what I like.”

  “But you like blood, don’t you? You’re a vampire.”

  “Enough!”

  I jerked back. Well, I guess someone was a little touchy about the whole blood thing.

  “Sit down,” Thorne commended.

  I started to sit where I was standing, but he led me to the couch. I sat straight-backed, staring into his face. “Yes?”

  He sighed and slowly lowered into a chair across from me. “You are drunk, so—”

  “Excuse me, I’m not drunk.”

  “Your eyes aren’t even focusing on me.”

  “That’s because I don’t want them too,” I said pointedly.

  “Right. Speaking about blood with vampires means walking a slippery slope. If someone offers their blood to a vampire, the temptation to resist is almost impossible. That’s what happens when a vampire hunts a human. There’s something in the seductive qualities that my kind possess that means when we get ahold of our prey, a human will almost always willingly offer their blood to us.”

  “Oh, I didn’t know that. How fascinating. So when you hunt, a woman would just pull her collar down like this”—I demonstrated—“and then say, ‘Drink my blood’?”

  Thorne rubbed his eyes and sighed. “That’s right. Please don’t do that.”

  I released my collar. “I let it go.”

  He uncovered his eyes. “So like I was saying, if someone offers themselves, it’s almost impossible for a vampire to resist.”

  I scoffed. “Even me? Come on.”

  His silvery eyes hardened to flint. “Especially you.”

  I swallowed an Easter egg stuck in the back of my throat. “Oh.”

  Not a great response but the best I had given the circumstances.

  “You need to understand that you, of all people, cannot do that. You can’t offer your blood to me. Once a vampire starts drinking, it’s incredibly hard to stop.”

  I considered this. “But what about when you’re making another vampire? I mean, doesn’t there have to be some sort of exchange of blood?”

  He nodded slowly. “There does. But there also has to be a conscious effort to stop. If I’m focused on feeding, there’s no other conscious effort. All I want is blood and…I don’t stop until it’s gone.”