Imperfect Magic (Dancing Moon Ranch Book 11)

by Patricia Watters

  IMPERFECT MAGIC

  BOOK 11: DANCING MOON RANCH SERIES

  Patricia Watters

  DANCING MOON RANCH SERIES

  Prequel: Justified Deception

  LIVING WITH LIES TRILOGY

  Book 1: Righteous Lies

  Book 2: Pandora's Box

  Book 3: False Pretenses

  THE LIES UNCOVERED TRILOGY

  Book 4: Uncertain Loyalties

  Book 5: Becoming Jesse's Father

  Book 6: Bittersweet Return

  CUTTING THE TIES TRILOGY

  Book 7: Cross Purposes

  Book 8: Dancing With Danger

  Book 9: Bucking the Odds

  BOUND BY LOVE TRILOGY

  Book 10: Forbidden Spirits

  Book 11: Imperfect Magic

  Book 12: Finding Justice

  YOU TUBE VIDEO BOOK TRAILER

  DESCRIPTION: Dimitri Matthias, an upcoming illusionist with aspirations of becoming the next David Copperfield, is offered a proposal by a Las Vegas entertainment company: create on stage a disappearing-horse act and he'll get his own show. The problem is, Dimitri has never been around horses, so he hires Maddy Hansen to teach him the basics, mainly because he sees in her his perfect stage assistant... except that Maddy's a dyed-in-the-wool ranch girl whose dream of starting a camp for disabled kids is already in the works. What Dimitri doesn't count on is falling in love with a woman, and a way of life, that until then had escaped him. His transformation from showman to cowboy also has Maddy taking a second look. Yet, Las Vegas is where Dimitri's future lies and neither know how to reconcile that.

  IMPERFECT MAGIC

  Copyright 2014 by Patricia Watters

  Printed in the United States of America

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or were used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in whole or in part, by any means, including but not limited to xerography, audio recording, scanning into any information processing, storage or retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by electronic or mechanical or other means, not known or hereafter invented. The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without permission of the copyright owner is illegal and punishable by law.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  ASIN: B00R0YO3RA

  ISBN-13: 978-1505569421

  ISBN-10: 1505569427

  Title of Work: Imperfect Magic / by Patricia Watters

  Domiciled in: United States of America

  Nation of 1st Publication: United States of America

  CHAPTER 1

  CHAPTER 2

  CHAPTER 3

  CHAPTER 4

  CHAPTER 5

  CHAPTER 6

  CHAPTER 7

  CHAPTER 8

  CHAPTER 9

  CHAPTER 10

  CHAPTER 11

  CHAPTER 12

  CHAPTER 13

  CHAPTER 14

  CHAPTER 15

  CHAPTER 16

  CHAPTER 17

  CHAPTER 18

  CHAPTER 19

  CHAPTER 20

  EPILOGUE

  BOOKS BY PATRICIA WATTERS

  CHAPTER 1

  "The easiest way to attract a crowd is to let it be known that at a given time and place someone is going to attempt something that, in the event of failure, will mean sudden death." - Harry Houdini

  Nine Lives Lounge & Casino- Las Vegas, Nevada

  As Maddy Hansen approached Dimitri Matthias's dressing room, prepared to tell him how much she was enjoying his magic show, she was caught off guard by the sound of angry voices coming from inside. She recognized the slightly foreign accent of Dimitri's stage assistant, but she couldn't imagine what the heated argument could be about because the first half of the show had been amazing. No, mindboggling. She was still a little dazed by what she'd seen.

  Before arriving in Las Vegas with her two college roommates, she'd been curious about Dimitri. Her brother and sister-in-law, Josh and Genie, talked about Genie's younger brother, and the whole family knew all about their famous father, Sebastian the Illusionist, so Maddy presumed Dimitri was coasting along on his father's coattails, performing ordinary tricks using standard props and gimmicks. But from the moment Dimitri appeared on stage—he didn't walk on, he simply materialized—she was spellbound.

  He'd followed that with a series of levitations, and props floating around and vanishing, and cards flying in arcs and cartwheels between his hands, all the while leading up to his Metamorphosis escape, which had been nothing less than pure magic.

  Prior to Metamorphosis, everyone at her table had been invited on stage to inspect a large trunk for hidden doors. Satisfied, they returned to the table while Dimitri was being shackled in chains that were padlocked to cuffs and to a steel collar around his neck. He was then helped into a canvas postal service bag which was sealed at the top. Stage hands lifted him into the trunk, closed the lid, and locked it with several padlocks, then wrapped the trunk in chains and ropes.

  Once the trunk was secure, Dimitri's assistant climbed on top, and lifting a hoop draped with a curtain that concealed her when she held it up high, she began counting while raising and lowering the hoop from mid-chest to above her head. One… the curtain went up then down. Two… the curtain went up then down. But on the count of three, when the curtain came down, instead of the woman, Dimitri was standing on the trunk and the woman had vanished.

  After a concerted gasp from the entire audience, because they were as stunned by what they'd seen, as Maddy was, the lounge filled with wild applause. Dimitri jumped down and raised his hands to indicate he wasn't finished, and after stage hands untied the web of ropes encircling the trunk, and opened the numerous padlocks holding the tangle of chains around it as well as the padlocks securing the lid, Dimitri opened the trunk, revealing his assistant, now bound in chains. Yet the switch took place in less than five seconds.

  Again, Maddy's attention was drawn to the ongoing argument in Dimitri's dressing room, and Dimitri's angry voice saying, "Walk out on me now, Karla, and we're through. You know how crucial the torture cell escape is tonight."

  "Crucial for you, not me," the woman replied. "I thought we were a team, that my name would be up there with yours, but my name isn't even on the poster! Well, you can find someone else to hold your props and warm your bed." The door flew open and the woman marched past Maddy and never looked back.

  Maddy had barely recovered from the heated encounter when she turned to find Dimitri looking at her in puzzlement, then awareness, as he said, "You're Josh's sister."

  "Well, yes." Maddy found herself studying the pattern of Dimitri's close-cropped beard. That, along with his slightly peaked brows and almost mesmerizing blue eyes gave him the kind of face that could be construed as handsomely diabolical.

  Catching her mind wandering, and focusing on her reason for being there, she said, "I just came to tell you how much I'm enjoying the show."

  "Come in. We need to talk," Dimitri said. No smile. Just an abrupt invitation into his dressing room.

  When Maddy hesitated, Dmitri tempered his approach. "Look, I'm in a bind. My assistant just walked out and I need someone to help during my next act."

  "That's out of the question," Maddy said. "I've never done anything like that. I've never even been in a nightclub before coming to Las Vegas."

  "Then you'll learn firsthand what goes on behind the scenes."

 
"What, that assistants walk out in the middle of performances?"

  "That too," Dimitri said. "All you have to do is stand on stage in front of the water tank and hold an ax, ready to smash the glass if the escape fails, which it won't."

  "What will you be doing?" Maddy asked.

  "I'll be in the tank. I take it you didn't see the poster in the lobby."

  "We got here late." Maddy vaguely recalled seeing the image of a man in chains hanging upside down in a tank of water, as she rushed past a huge poster, but she hadn't had time to look at it closely because she and her roommates had barely made it to the nightclub in time for the show. "So that's all I'd have to do, hold an ax?"

  Dimitri nodded. "That, and change into a costume."

  "Wait!" Maddy raised a hand in protest. "If I'm expected to wear a skimpy thing like the one your assistant wore then forget it."

  "You can pick out whatever you want," Dimitri said. "My assistant likes skimpy, but there are other costumes. Come look." He ushered her into a costume room off the dressing room. "Make it fast though. You have about fifteen minutes to change before we're on."

  Maddy was in the process of trying to decide if she'd even do it, when Dimitri said, "You'll get a check for five-hundred dollars after the show."

  She looked at him with a start. "Are you serious? Five hundred dollars just to stand on stage and hold an ax?"

  "That's about the size of it," Dimitri said. "So, are you in or not? I need to get this settled."

  "I suppose I'm in as long as all I have to do is stand with an ax," Maddy replied. "Do I have to talk or gesture or anything?"

  "No, just start a timer, hold the ax, and follow your instincts."

  Not comfortable with what she was about to do, Maddy was silently questioning if she should back out when Dimitri said, "I'll send someone up to brief you and show you where to stand, and I'll see you on stage." The sound of the door clipping shut behind him pretty much set it all in stone.

  Fifteen minutes later, Maddy found herself standing on stage, holding an ax, while dressed in a form-fitting, sequin-covered, silvery-blue gown with side slits up to her thighs and a whole lot of exposed cleavage, which she'd tried to hide by tugging the dress up as far as she could. But on taking the ax from one of the stage hands, the gown started making its way down again, but no one seemed to notice except her roommates, who were staring at her in stunned silence. Everyone else was watching what was going on with the activity surrounding what she now realized was the Chinese Water Torture Cell Escape advertised on the poster.

  The 'torture cell' consisted of a huge wooden vault, about seven feet high and four feet square, with a framework of heavy metal with rivets, and a thick glass front, revealing that the tank was slowly being filled with water. An enclosure made of wooden panels surrounded the tank, with an opening in front that would be closed with curtains once the escape began. Off to the side of the enclosure stood a chalkboard with a large timer set into it, which Maddy assumed was for clocking Dimitri's time underwater while he attempted to escape.

  Loud applause filled the lounge as Dimitri walked onto the stage, barefoot and wearing a black terrycloth robe. While the water in the tank continued to ease upward, Dimitri addressed the audience with a flourish of his hand that immediately brought silence.

  "Thank you for the welcome back," he said. "We all know that Harry Houdini was the undisputed king of escape, with his celebrated straitjacket escape while suspended upside down from a skyscraper, and his burning box escape while chained inside a crate suspended over a body of water, and his most death-defying escape of all, the one I'll be attempting tonight for the first time, the Chinese Water Cell Torture escape. The tank you see here is a replica of Houdini's water cell, constructed after extensive research using photographs and plans, and equipped with the necessary stocks and steel tackle that comprised Houdini's apparatus..."

  Maddy momentarily lost track of what Dimitri was saying while she scanned the faces of the people sitting around tables in an opulent room that featured sleek contemporary furnishings that combined black cats sitting, walking, and crouched, along with a blend of glass, terrazzo, and vibrant color schemes of red, gold, black, and flaming orange…

  "Like Houdini," Dimitri continued, "I'll be shackled in cuffs and chains, my feet will be locked into stocks attached to the underside of the cell lid, and I'll be lowered into the tank, head first, after which the lid will be locked, sealing me inside a tank filled with water. My goal will be to get free of my shackles and escape from the locked and sealed tank. Houdini always had his wife, Bess, standing by with an ax in the event he failed to escape, and for tonight, my beautiful assistant, Madeleine, will assume that role."

  Applause broke out, and when Maddy saw Dimitri gesturing with his outstretched hand, she realized the applause was for her. But after it died, she found herself staring at what was clearly a very thick slab of glass, while wondering if she'd have the strength to break through it with the ax if something went wrong, and if so, if she'd be washed away by the gush of hundreds of gallons of water coming from inside.

  Dimitri raised his hand to quiet the audience. "Before I attempt this escape, I ask those sitting at the table to the left of the stage—yes, you folks right there," he said, pointing, "to step up on stage and take a breath and hold it while Madeleine marks your times on a chalk board." He turned to the audience. "I also invite everyone here to take the challenge."

  While the people were filing onto the stage, Dimitri handed Maddy a piece of chalk and said to her in a hushed voice, "When I give the signal, start the timer, then make a big production of writing the final time in large numbers on the chalkboard and calling it out to the audience."

  The challenge on, the people on stage took breaths and Maddy started the big timer. Before the first minute was up, a woman let out her breath. "First one out," Dimitri said, pointing at the woman. The timer continued ticking away. "Another," Dimitri called out. "And another." Long before two minutes were up, all but one person on stage had released their breaths, until the last person, a man, turned scarlet and staggered back while gulping in air.

  Catching her cue from Dimitri, Maddy called out, "One minute, forty-nine seconds," then scrawled the time in large numbers across the chalkboard.

  "Okay, folks, that's it," Dimitri said. "I've trained myself to hold my breath considerably longer, but I'll still need to be free of the shackles before three minutes are up or be in danger of losing consciousness, in which case it will be all over for me, unless of course, Madeleine smashes the glass. As for the legitimacy of the locks, all are furnished by a local lock shop, and a representative from the shop has just delivered them to my stage assistants. So now I'll attempt to do Houdini's most famous escape."

  With that, Dimitri shrugged out of his robe and stood in front of the giant tank in a black form-fitting swimsuit that covered as little as possible, which had Maddy's heart revving up, along with other reactions she was trying unsuccessfully to ignore, but the sight of a remarkably well-developed, muscular male physique caught her totally by surprise.

  Feeling a little nudge, she realized one of the stage hands was moving her out of the way. Resting the ax against her shoulder, she backed up so Dimitri could sit on the floor of the stage.

  As his hands and feet were cuffed, with chains connected between the cuffs and a neck collar, and his feet were clamped into stocks to secure him to the underside of the lid, Maddy couldn't help thinking that this was insane. What kind of twisted mind would allow itself to go through such a potentially horrifying way to die?

  She'd barely digested that thought when Dimitri, now collared, handcuffed and wrapped in a tangle of chains, was hoisted, feet first, by a winch attached to a hook on the outside of the lid and suspended over the tank. Just before being lowered, he called out, "Madeleine, start the clock," then took a deep breath and waved his cuffed hands to the crowd.

  He was greeted by an eruption of applause… followed by dead silence as, through the
glass, he was seen being lowered head first into a tank of water barely wide enough for him to turn around in, much less have room to release himself from the cuffs and chains. Once submersed, the lid of the tank was secured with four padlocks, after which stage assistants closed the curtains to the enclosure that surrounded the tank, hiding it from view.

  The band started up with a rendition of Bolero.

  And the audience sat immobile, eyes fixed on the timer, as it ticked away.

  One minute… One-and-a-half minutes… Two minutes… Two-and-a-half minutes…

  By then the stage assistants began moving closer to the enclosure, one nudging another and pointing to the doors, obviously concerned, all the while Maddy and the spectators were becoming progressively restless as they calculated that Dimitri must be running out of air, and with the apprehension growing, voices began murmuring throughout the lounge.

  Feeling increasingly anxious, Maddy raised the ax and stepped to the front of the enclosure while wondering who would give her the signal to do something, if anyone would even do that. Maybe it was up to her to decide when to open the curtains and smash the glass.

  She glanced over at the timer. Three minutes and ticking.

  Turning to one of the stage assistants, she said, "Shouldn't someone go in? It's been well over three minutes."

  The man glanced at the timer, and when it registered almost four minutes, he cried out, "Yes go in! Something's gone wrong!"

  Maddy had just raised the ax, prepared to swing it with all her strength, when Dimitri burst through the curtains and fell onto the stage, dripping wet, while gasping and coughing and clutching his sides, before taking a series of great gulps of air, to the explosion of applause from a vastly relieved audience.

  Dropping the ax, Maddy rushed over to where he was hunched over on the floor, grabbed his arm, and said in an anxious voice, "Are you okay?"

  Dimitri smiled up at her, and replied, "I'm fine, and you're very good at this."

  His tone was anything but that of a man fighting for air, and it came to Maddy that all the theatrics of bursting through the curtains and rolling on the floor and coughing and carrying on could be a ruse to convince every person in the room that they had just witnessed a near disaster.