Midnight Bride. Barbara McCauley

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СКАЧАТЬ would know soon enough. He’d mailed the water glass she’d drunk from to Mike. Her fingerprints would reveal the true identity of his mystery woman.

      “Caleb?”

      He turned sharply at the unexpected sound, the poker raised and ready to strike. She stared at him from the bedroom doorway, eyes wide, one hand clutching the top of the shirt she wore. With a curse he slowly lowered the weapon.

      Sarah’s first impulse was to bolt back into the bedroom and lock the door, but her feet wouldn’t move. She swallowed the lump in her throat and stood at the door. “I—I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to sneak up on you.”

      “You shouldn’t be up,” he said tightly.

      “I’m feeling much better.”

      Except for the light from the fire, darkness cloaked the room. Shadows flickered on Caleb’s face. He looked fierce and powerful. Dangerous. His dark gaze fell on her.

      Why was he staring at her like that? she wondered. Not just staring at her, but into her. As if he knew things she didn’t. She almost laughed at the irony of that, considering she knew nothing about herself. She felt her breath release as he set the poker back into its holder.

      “I didn’t mean to intrude.” She took a hesitant step into the room. “I thought I might use your phone.”

      He raised one brow. “And call whom?”

      “The police, to start. Maybe someone has filed a missing person’s report or they found my car.”

      He moved beside her. “I just got back from town, Sarah. There’s been no report made, no car found.”

      “That—that’s not possible,” she whispered.

      “Apparently it is.”

      The room began to spin. She reached back toward the doorway, but suddenly found herself off the ground and in Caleb’s arms.

      “I’m fine,” she protested. “Really.”

      He carried her to the fire and set her on the seat of the brick hearth. “Right. And I’m Don Quixote.”

      She touched her trembling fingers to her temple. “No. You’re much too dark and handsome. I’d say more like Bronte’s Heathcliff.”

      Sarah nearly gasped at the audacity of her words. My God, did I really say that? Heat rushed to her cheeks as she looked up at Caleb.

      He stood over her, thumbs hooked in the front loops of his jeans. Amusement lit his eyes; firelight danced in his black hair. She wanted the floor to open up and swallow her whole. Frantically she searched her aching brain, trying to think of a retraction. Oh, sure, she thought irritably, now I can’t think of a thing to say.

      “How’s your head?” he asked.

      “I think the construction crew is taking a break right now.” She caught a flash of straight white teeth just before he sat down next to her.

      “Let me take a look at it.”

      “No, really, it’s fine.”

      But he was already reaching for her, and there was nothing she could do, outside of jumping into the fire. When his thigh brushed hers, she nearly did that.

      “Turn around.” He took hold of her shoulders and turned her body until her back was to him. It was impossible to stop the shiver that raced up her spine as he swept her hair aside.

      “This might hurt.”

      It didn’t. Quite the opposite. A delicious tingling sensation skimmed over her head and neck, spreading down her shoulders. When he tugged the bandage off, the tingling only intensified.

      He angled her head toward the light of the fire. The heat from the flames burned through the cotton of her shirt and thermal underwear, but the whisper of Caleb’s breath on her neck was like a long, slow sip of warm brandy. She closed her eyes and, in spite of herself, felt herself relax as his fingers roamed the base of her neck.

      He carried the scent of the storm on his skin, she thought languidly, and something else, something even more potent, more enticing. His scent. A mixture of soap and pine and untamed masculinity. Her pulse tripped, then bolted.

      “That’s strange,” he said thoughtfully.

      She held back another shiver as his fingers combed through her hair. “What?”

      “Unusual.”

      “What?”

      “Your hair.”

      “What about my hair?”

      “It’s natural.”

      It took a moment for his words to sink in. With a cluck of annoyance, she pulled away and turned to face him. “I’ve misplaced an entire life, nearly died, and you’re making jokes.”

      “It’s not a joke. Your hair is natural.”

      He wanted to tell her that it was soft, too. Like spun silk. His hands ached to lose themselves in those golden strands. When he saw tears glisten in her eyes, he cursed his lust and let his hands fall to his sides.

      “I looked in the mirror in the bathroom,” she whispered raggedly. “A stranger stared back at me. Have you any idea what that’s like?”

      More than you could possibly know, he thought.

      “Caleb.” She lifted her gaze to his. “I want you to take me into town, to the sheriff.”

      He wanted to agree with her. For her sake, as well as his. There had to be someone looking for her-family or friends. And he sure as hell didn’t need an angry husband breaking his door down. Whatever trouble she’d gotten into was her problem, not his. It made no sense for her to stay here. No sense at all.

      But he couldn’t let go of the desperation in her voice and the fear in her eyes when he’d found her. If it had been an act, it had been a damn good one. But if it wasn’t, then someone had tried to kill her, and that someone might try again.

      “All right.” He stood and looked down at her. “Let’s say I take you in. Then what?”

      Her brow furrowed. “I—I don’t understand.”

      “As of one hour ago there was no missing person’s report or any car found. My closest neighbors, a German family named Schulz, are two miles from here, and I happen to know they’re away for the month. A rental cabin, owned by the Hamiltons, is another half mile from there, but it’s closed up right now.”

      “I didn’t fall out of the sky,” she said with frustration. Although her body felt as if she had.

      “Probably not, which means you had to come from the road off the main highway, and that’s way too far from the creek for you to have walked in the storm. Since there’s no car, that means someone brought you.”

      Her СКАЧАТЬ