By Magic Alone Read online

  REVIEWERS ARE CHARMED BY TRACY MADISON!

  A BREATH OF MAGIC

  “A charming romance, strongly connected to the previous two in this Magic series. Some very hot and sexy scenes and a heroine on a delightfully convoluted path to true love make for a great read.”

  —RT Book Reviews

  “A Breath of Magic is a wonderfully romantic story full of ups and downs and emotional twists. If you’re looking for a feel good romance with a happily ever after for all, then A Breath of Magic is a must read.”

  —Fiction Vixen

  “A Breath of Magic is a fantastically fun read, full of twists that will delight the reader.”

  —Anna’s Book Blog

  “Tracy Madison is the new Olivia Goldsmith.”

  —New York Times Bestselling Author MaryJanice Davidson

  “Wonderfully fun, touchingly romantic books. I’m enthralled!”

  —Nancy Haddock, Nationally Bestselling Author of

  La Vida Vampire

  “Tracy Madison’s books are pure magic!”

  —New York Times Bestselling Author Angie Fox

  “A Breath of Magic is a quirky and fun romance, one that conjures laughter and tears leaving you a true fan of the author.”

  —Lovin’ Me Some Romance

  A STROKE OF MAGIC

  “This is an uplifting and delightful story about finding love and trusting your heart. It’s humorous and heartfelt.”

  —RT Book Reviews

  “Ms. Madison has penned another delightful spell that will ensnare and bewitch readers and leave them wanting more . . . This book is one that you won’t want to put down until you read it from beginning to end and it will leave you craving more. This is a definite keeper . . .”

  —Night Owl Romance

  “Fans will enjoy this delightful paranormal romance filled with two wonderful lead characters and a strong support cast . . . Anyone who enjoys A Taste of Magic will appreciate this lighthearted frolic as once again, Tracy Madison provides a charming whimsical urban fantasy.”

  —Midwest Book Review

  A TASTE OF MAGIC

  “A Taste of Magic is a yummy concoction that will leave you craving more, more, more from exciting new author Tracy Madison!”

  —Nationally Bestselling Author Tori Carrington

  “Tracy Madison is an author to watch. A Taste of Magic is . . . magically delicious!”

  —Annette Blair, Nationally Bestselling Author of

  Never Been Witched

  “A Taste of Magic is a magical tale of romance and revenge. Ms. Madison takes readers on an adventure in baking that’s highlighted with tasty treats, sexy men, and a touch of humor.”

  —Darque Reviews

  “This whimsical urban fantasy is a fun tale as the lead character will learn the effect of unintended consequences when she bakes her wish into a cake.”

  —Harriet Klausner, Genre Go Round Reviews

  “[Madison] has a breezy, intimate style that’s fun to read.”

  —RT Book Reviews

  MAGICAL MATCHUPS: THE PROMISE

  There weren’t any words etched into the book’s cover. A chain of trembles wove through me. I turned the book in my hands, checking the spine, but that was also blank. My shivers increased and goose bumps dotted my arms. When I opened the book, there, written on the first page in spidery handwriting, was:

  All happily-ever-after endings have a beginning.

  Use this journal to capture those hopes, wishes, and fantasies that

  are truest of heart, purest of soul.

  The magic of your happily-ever-after begins here.

  This is my gift to you.

  Other books by Tracy Madison:

  A BREATH OF MAGIC

  A STROKE OF MAGIC

  A TASTE OF MAGIC

  TRACY

  MADISON

  By magic

  alone

  DORCHESTER PUBLISHING

  December 2010

  Published by

  Dorchester Publishing Co., Inc.

  200 Madison Avenue

  New York, NY 10016

  Copyright © 2010 by Tracy Leigh Ritts

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, without the written permission of the publisher, except where permitted by law. The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  ISBN 13: 978-1-4285-1113-2

  E-ISBN: 978-1-4285-0980-1

  The “DP” logo is the property of Dorchester Publishing Co., Inc.

  Printed in the United States of America.

  Visit us online at www.dorchesterpub.com.

  To my editor, Christopher Keeslar, with my utmost gratitude and respect. Not only have you believed in me and my stories, but you have helped me become a stronger writer. I am continually in awe of your patience, brilliance, and your unflagging ability to make me smile. Thank you.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  As always, my heartfelt love and thanks to my family, friends, and critique partners for standing by my side and cheering me on. Your support means the world to me.

  I’d also like to thank everyone at Dorchester Publishing for your talent and devotion to publishing fantastic books with gorgeous covers. The first time I held one of my books in my hands, I cried buckets of tears. Thank you for giving me such beautiful books to hold.

  Thank you, as well, to my awesome agent, Michelle Grajkowski. I can’t imagine doing any of this without you.

  Chapter One

  “I’ve given this a lot of thought, and I’m pretty sure she’s a witch.” Kara Lysecki—my formerly sane friend—squirmed in her chair, but her moss green eyes met mine head-on. “And yes, before you ask, I’m well aware of how crazy that sounds.”

  “Well, okay then. As long as you’re aware of that.” I sat very still, waiting for the punch line so I could laugh. But when a few seconds passed without Kara offering one, a slow dread began to build. “Tell me you’re joking.”

  “I’m completely serious, Julia. A good witch, though. Like Glinda from The Wizard of Oz.”

  I narrowed my eyes, still looking for any sign of humor. “Uh-huh. And how many margaritas did you consume with lunch to reach this illuminating conclusion?”

  Kara flipped her gaze to our other friend, Leslie Meyers, who was seated next to her in my office. “I told you she wouldn’t believe us.”

  Leslie, who thus far had remained so quiet I’d almost forgotten she was here, had an odd expression on her face. My dread increased. “I’ve also thought a lot about this, and I’ve changed my mind, Kara. I don’t think she’s a witch.”

  Whew. For a second there, I was seriously starting to worry. “Yay for the voice of reason. Now that the fun and games portion of this meeting is over with, can we move on to business?”

  Kara’s cheeks flushed bright pink. “You changed your mind but couldn’t be bothered to tell me? Jeez, thanks Leslie.”

  “I didn’t have a chance! You jumped right in as soon as we sat down.” Leslie sucked in a breath. “Look, I haven’t completely altered my thoughts on this. I just don’t think Verda is a witch. I . . . I think she’s more like a fairy godmother. And we’re her—”

  “Cinder
ellas!” Kara bobbed her head so hard that her short mop of blonde curls bounced. “That’s perfect, Les. Why didn’t I think of that? Verda’s taken us under her wing to find us our perfect love matches with her own special brand of magic.” A goofy grin lit her heart-shaped face. “Fairy magic.”

  I silently counted to ten. My two best friends stared at me with stars shimmering in their eyes, as if they thought I was going to leap on board their insanity train. Not likely. I’d never been one for fairy tales.

  “Only one of you can be Cinderella,” I pointed out, not bothering to mask my sarcasm. “But hey, there are plenty of other Disney heroines to choose from. We have Snow White, Belle, Aurora, and . . . um . . . Little Red Riding Hood. Take your pick.”

  “Little Red Riding Hood is not a Disney heroine. She was also nearly eaten by a wolf.” Kara shivered. “As for your other examples, neither Leslie nor I would fall for the Beast, so that leaves out Belle—”

  “What’s wrong with the Beast?” Leslie interjected. “He has a big heart, lives in a huge house, and is financially stable. He’s a good catch! Belle could have done much, much worse.”

  Kara blinked. “You’d go for the Beast? Really? I’d have pegged you for Aurora.”

  “You’re kidding, right? I am so not Aurora. You’re more like Sleeping Beauty than I am. She’s innocent and sweet. And I’m . . . not.” Leslie frowned. “In fact, I’m not Disney-heroine material at all. Though I’m closer to Cinderella than you are.”

  “Anyway,” Kara drawled, returning her focus to me. “You’d be Snow White, so she’s off the table. Hm, who else is there?”

  “Why am I Snow White?” I regretted asking the second the question slipped from my mouth, because why she thought I’d be a good fit with dwarves and poison apples didn’t mean squat. “Never mind. Doesn’t matter.”

  But it was too late. Counting on her fingers, Kara said, “You look like her, for one.”

  Again, I waited for her to laugh. Again, she didn’t. I asked, “Do you see me in puffy blue and yellow dresses often?”

  “No, but yellow is a good color for you. Not everyone can wear yellow, but you can.” When I didn’t respond, Kara added, “Besides, that wasn’t what I meant. Your hair is so dark it’s almost black, and you have blue eyes. You love apples, and I’m assuming that Snow White also loves them or why would she eat the poison one, you know? And if she were real, she’d be into animal rights, just like you!”

  I truly had nothing to say. I should be used to these oddball conversations by now. I’ve known Kara almost my entire life. But somehow, they—and she—took me by surprise on a fairly regular basis.

  A few minutes passed where the three of us stared at each other. Then Kara shook her head. “Sorry. I went off topic, didn’t I?”

  “Kind of. So let’s start over, because I’m quite sure that after four weeks on the job, you have more valuable information than ‘Verda is a fairy godmother.’” I breathed deeply. “You do, right? Tell me you do.”

  It was Leslie’s turn to shake her head. “No. We really don’t.”

  I waited for her to say more. She didn’t. Swallowing another bout of sarcasm—because with the mood these two were in, we could end up off topic for hours—I worked out my anxiety by untwisting a stray paper clip. It helped until I punctured my fingertip with a pointy end.

  Curling my hand around the mangled wire, I fought for steady nerves. “Come on. You can’t really expect me to believe that Verda is a fairy godmother. This is how Magical Matchups is stealing all of my clients away? With magic?”

  Leslie’s cheeks puffed out and her cinnamon eyes held a light of indignation. “No. You come on. Aren’t you overstating your predicament? You haven’t lost all of your clients.” She combed her fingers through her long, glossy, auburn hair as if she were a cover girl prepping for a photo shoot. “Besides which, you can’t categorically state that every lost client is due to Magical Matchups. That isn’t fair, and it isn’t realistic.”

  “I own this business. I could lose this business. That’s my reality, and this fairy-godmother stuff isn’t helping.”

  “Have you considered that some of your past clients might have dropped out because you matched them up with the right person?” Leslie asked. “I call that a success.”

  I unclenched my fist to release the paper clip and reached for a stack of papers sitting to my right. Fanning them out across my desk, I gave a jerky nod. “These are exit interviews from the past several months, and in every one, the client—past client—states their reason for leaving Introductions is that they’ve decided to take their business to Magical Matchups.” I shoved the papers toward Leslie. “Take a look yourself. I’m not overstating my predicament. If anything, I’m understating it.”

  “Oh.” Leslie blew out a mouthful of air, deflating her cheeks. “Maybe you should have been clearer from the beginning, because from what I remember, you told us that Introductions was facing a ‘slight decline’ in business, and you wanted us to join Magical Matchups to discover what all the fuss was about.” Her gaze dipped downward. In a softer tone, she said, “I didn’t realize you’d lost so many clients. Is it really that bad?”

  “Why didn’t you tell us this to begin with, Julia?” Kara asked. “We . . . we had no idea you might lose the company.”

  Because the thought scared me. Because I’d barely admitted to myself how bad things were, let alone to anyone else. “Yes, things really are that bad,” I said, choosing to answer Leslie over Kara. “And I don’t know how to fix it.”

  “I remember when you first opened Introductions. Everything was great you even had testimonials from all the couples you put together. What happened?” Leslie asked.

  I shrugged. “I don’t know. But I haven’t been that successful lately, and no one is beating down the door to write anything positive about my services.” I’d given this a lot of thought, wondering if my process had gradually changed, wondering if my current struggles were a result of something I was doing different. I’d even gone through my files, looking for any clue that would help set things right. But from what I could see, my day-to-day operations were the same as they’d been since day one. To my thinking, that meant I had to look elsewhere to find the answer. “But that’s not the point I’m trying to make. I paid for your memberships to my competition so you could gather information. So maybe I could pull Introductions out of the hole. You recall this agreement, right?”

  Neither of them answered. The air around us filled with the heavy weight of tension and anxiety. Mostly mine, I’d wager.

  Finally, they both nodded.

  “Good. So you can see why this”—I swallowed away the words I wanted to say and went with—“information you’ve brought me is less than helpful. You know that fairy godmothers don’t exist, right? And who is this Verda person, anyway? I thought the owner’s name was Chloe Nichols.”

  “Oh! Chloe is Verda’s partner, but Verda runs the place. We’ve never even met Chloe,” Kara explained. “And Verda is a doll. She’s this really sweet elderly lady. She might be a little kooky, but she knows her stuff. You have to believe that, if nothing else.”

  Well, yeah. That was fairly obvious. Seeing as her start-up company was kicking my three-year-old company in the butt. “What stuff? How to fill your heads with delusions of magic and fairy godmothers?” Ouch, the snark came back when I wasn’t paying attention.

  “Believing in love is not delusional,” Leslie said. “Most people believe in love.”

  “Wait! I have a better comparison,” Kara interrupted. “Verda is like a fairy godmother and Pat Benatar all rolled into one.”

  I glanced at Leslie. She appeared as perplexed as I felt. “What are you talking about now, Kara?”

  “Verda, of course. She’s like Pat Benatar and that song ‘Love is a Battlefield.’” Kara hummed a few bars. “She’s using her magic to search the lean, mean streets of Chicago for us, taking on the battle of love herself so we don’t have to!”

  �
��That doesn’t make sense, and it isn’t even what the song is about.” Oh, God, we were, once again, headed down a path I’d likely regret.

  To give Kara credit, she took a moment to think things through. “Okay, I don’t know. I’m trying to find something you can believe in, so you can believe us.”

  Leslie reached over and placed her hand on Kara’s shoulder. “Let me try.”

  “If you think you can do better, then go ahead.” Kara shrugged. “Everything I say seems to upset her more.”

  “Please don’t do that.” I found the paper clip and began twisting and untwisting it again. “Please don’t talk as if I’m not here.”

  “Sorry, Julia. We’re . . . well, we’re really excited about Magical Matchups and we like Verda a lot, so maybe our enthusiasm to explain has gotten the better of us,” Leslie said. “Verda has this way of knowing more about what we need in a man than we do. So the process feels magical. With her, I believe I can find true love.”

  “Me too,” Kara said in a hushed tone. “I want to fall in love. You can understand that, can’t you?”

  A look of deep longing crossed Kara’s features. Great. She’d once again been taken in by all of the greeting cards, movies, books, and now the wily Verda, and their promises of everlasting love. My heart broke a little.

  I was pissed off, too. “Of course you want to fall in love, sweetie. But that type of love isn’t real. What you need is to find someone who has the same goals for the future as you, someone who likes the same things, someone with whom you can create a future based on these commonalities.”

  “But what about sex appeal?” Kara cried, emotion glittering in her eyes. “What about that feeling you get when you see a man and your knees go weak, and all you want to do is eat him up? Why can’t I have both? I’ve been in love before. I want to find that again, and I want it to last.”

  “Uh-huh. And where did those relationships lead you? Nowhere!” Irritation at Verda and her false promises drove me onward. “You’ve had your heart stomped on again and again because you keep falling for the wrong type of men. You can’t trust weak knees, Kara. You can’t build a life on wanting to eat someone up.”