Sin’s Magic

(Rapture Island 3)

Veronica Sands needs help from world-renowned magician Sinclair Majors, but with him, she finds more than she could have imagined. Her fantasy of submitting, one she has always feared exploring, becomes reality, sending her into the world of pleasure and love she yearns for.

The first time Sin lays eyes on Veronica, he knows he wants her for his own, and he is more than willing to help her explore her fantasies. But Veronica proves more threatening to his control than he anticipates. He falls in love with her almost at once, her eagerness, sweet nature, and willingness to experiment delighting him. But he needs her to trust him with more than her body.

When he discovers that she hid the truth about a man who had been stalking her, he’s almost too late to rescue her, and he knows that things have to change. She’s his, and it’s about time she learns what that means.

Excerpt

His black suit couldn’t disguise the strength beneath it, his lean, muscular frame moving with a grace that only a powerful body could.

Her breath caught each time he smiled, and when he held out a hand to help his scantily clad assistant into a box, a surge of jealousy caught her off guard.

He lifted the other woman with an ease that reinforced the sense of power surrounding him.

Veronica pressed her thighs together at the unwelcome heat that settled there, her already ragged breath catching when his gaze met hers.

His eyes widened briefly and then narrowed, laser-sharp as they held hers.

The roaring in her ears blocked out the sound of the music accompanying his show, and for a minute, she truly thought she would pass out.

He blinked, breaking the spell, and went on with the illusion that consisted of several beautiful women moving around him.

His assistants, all legs and saccharine smiles, moved around him, and suddenly applause broke out all around her.

His gaze met hers again, holding it longer than it had the last time before flicking away again.

She blinked, wondering what he’d done to earn such applause.

Glad that she’d had the foresight to DVR it, she joined in the applause, mortified that she’d done so just as everyone stopped clapping.

Hurriedly settling her hands on her lap, she looked away, his voice drawing her attention back to the stage.

“And for my final illusion…”

Final illusion?

Shit!

The evening had flown by, and she still hadn’t figured out a way to get backstage.

The woman next to her leaned closer. “Isn’t he gorgeous?”

Veronica smiled, her breath catching when he glanced in her direction again, his green eyes seeming to glitter and narrow as his gaze passed over her.

“He’s magnificent.”

Embarrassed that she’d said that out loud, Veronica shrugged.

“I mean he does put on a good show.”

The woman sighed. “I go to every show I can. I’m dying to meet him, but he’s got security out the wazoo. I can’t get within twenty feet of him. No matter how many times I’ve tried to get backstage to meet him, they thwart me.”

Veronica spun to stare at her, her heart sinking. “You’re kidding.”

Her plan to talk her way backstage went up in smoke.

The other woman sighed again, her features lighting up as she stared up at the stage. “Yeah, as soon as the show’s over, his bodyguards rush him out the back door and into his limo. He’s gone and on his way back to his hotel before you know it.”

Pursing her lips, Veronica nodded, her mind racing.

She didn’t know which hotel he would be staying in. If he left the building before she did, she’d lose him.

For all she knew, he could be on his way to the airport when he left.

She had to follow him, which meant she had to get to her car and find his limo before he could make his escape.

His voice, strong but with a sensuous cadence that rippled through her, came from the stage again, drawing her attention. “And now ladies and gentlemen, something that I saved for last because it’s very possible that I may not survive it.”

“God forbid.” Veronica tensed while he explained that he would be shackled inside a tank filled with water, the only way out locked with a padlock, which was on the outside of the tank.

“Don’t worry. Sinclair Majors can escape from anything.”

Hearing the tension in the other woman’s voice, Veronica glanced at her, not wanting to look away from the stage. “You don’t sound so convinced.”

“It’s just that he’s been performing more and more dangerous illusions. Now he’s retiring. This is probably his most dangerous one yet.”

Veronica stiffened, her heart in her throat as she watched his assistants putting him into a straight jacket. “He can get out of this. Right?”

“Let’s hope so.”

Knowing that she’d have to be outside as soon as the show ended, Veronica got to her feet and made her way down the aisle.

Unable to take her eyes from the stage, she walked backward toward the exit, her breath catching when the devastatingly sexy magician met her gaze again.

He saw her. There was no mistaking it.

He was looking right at her.

A hood was placed over his head, and the moment was gone and she could breathe again.

Her backward steps slowed, and she found herself breathing in gasps as they began to lower him into the tank by the chains attached to the belt around his waist.

She realized how ridiculous it was to worry.

He did this for a living and had for several years.

She was acting like a silly schoolgirl when she had a mission to accomplish.

She turned and rushed toward the exit, a collective gasp from the crowd stopping her in her tracks.

He was underwater.

Dear God.

They were locking the padlocks in place.

He struggled, frantically trying to get free, but his assistants seemed unconcerned.

What if something was wrong?

Why didn’t they pay attention to him?

His feet were still shackled securely to the bottom of the small tank, despite his struggles.

He had to be out of air.

He couldn’t breathe.

Dear God, he was dying.

“No!”

The excitement level rose, the panic cries from the audience drowning her out.

Her own panic had her running for the stage just as a man wearing a soaking wet hood appeared from a door to her left.

He moved swiftly down the aisle just as his assistants revealed that the tank was empty.

Whipping off his black hood, he revealed gleaming blond hair, and a confident smile that both relieved her and pissed her off.

Amid the applause and shouts of astonished relief, he turned, his smile falling as he looked directly at her.