With more enemies lining up to kill him than he can count, a playboy billionaire must hire the only woman capable of keeping him alive, even if she hates his guts.
Gabriel Gerard's life is full of gorgeous women, expensive cars, and infinite wealth...
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Gabriel flagged down a taxi outside but only after sampling his conquest's full lips. His cheek still burned from her angry slap when she found out he was leaving. He had the cab drop him off a block from his uncle's hotel, and he circled around to the service entrance. He rebuffed the few curious glances he received by appearing like a man in charge. Straightening his tie, he took the elevator to the top floor and suite.
"Gabriel," his Aunt Sandra opened the door and led him to the living area. The suite was large with multiple bedrooms branching off the main area and a kitchen around the corner. It had a magnificent view of Philadelphia at night, the city and the two rivers gleaming under the moonlight. "I'm so glad that you were able to make it. Mira told me about your forgetful spell. I think I may have a cure."
"My what?" Gabriel asked, and his splitting headache returned.
"Don't worry about it." She patted his hand and gave him a glass of water. "Let me get my book."
"Nephew!" William appeared from the bedroom in flannel pajamas yet still managed to look dapper. "I was worried that you weren't going to make it."
"I had to see you before you went back to London." Gabriel's headache subsided. "I wasn't sure when we would get the chance to speak again."
"Hopefully in a few weeks." His uncle pulled papers from a thick leather-bound book on the secretary. It had probably once been pristine white with a noble wolf embossed on it, but the animal along with the binding was worn and faded. Pages hung haphazardly out of the book. "I will not be on the private plane tomorrow with my family. I will be going to Texas."
"But he will be on a plane back to London soon," Sandra said, joining her husband at the dining table. She carried a book of her own. Maybe not so much a book as ancient pieces of papyrus tied together. She gently leafed through it until finding what she wanted. "Here it is."
"What?" Gabriel didn't know whom to interrogate first.
His aunt gave him no choice. She reached into her robe and pulled out a gnarled stick. The bronze stones on her hands, wrists, and throats glowed. She waved what he had to assume was a wand at his head.
"Yaad rakhna," she whispered.
Lightning exploded through Gabriel's head. He cried out in agony as he collapsed to the floor. The pain spread through his neural pathways like wildfire through a dry canyon. He vaguely felt his aunt's hand on his back, but the pain was blocking out any thoughts. Behind his eyelids, flashbulbs went off. And then it was over.
"Oh, my God." He rolled over onto his back and wiped the sweat from his forehead. "What was that?"
"I'm sorry that I didn't warn you, Gabriel." Sandra's voice was filled with concern. "But you wouldn't have remembered why I needed to do that anyway."
"It was a remembering spell, Nephew." His uncle helped him to his feet and onto a chair at the dining table. "You should be able to recall the political prison your mother freed you from now."
