Eden's Shadow. Jenna Ryan

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СКАЧАТЬ recognized Armand’s voice.

      Whoever he was talking to released her slowly as instructed. The moment she was free, Eden spun—and did an immediate double take. A more superstitious person might have mistaken the man for a troll.

      Deciding that Armand was the lesser of two evils, she backed across the uneven ground to his side. She found herself strangely fascinated by the man whose hairy arms and bushy beard appeared to be the color of a ripe tomato. “Something happened to Mary right before he grabbed me,” she said.

      A break in the clouds allowed a three-quarter moon to illuminate the area. Eden started for the steps. The man opened his mouth, took a second look at Armand’s Magnum and promptly closed it.

      “No problem here,” Mary called before Eden reached the terrace. “Don’t everyone rush to my rescue at once. I only tripped and gave myself a concussion.”

      “Stay where you are,” Armand told her.

      The redhead was downright squat, muscular to the max, but shorter than Eden’s height of five-eight by a couple of inches. Even so, his torso looked broader than a tree trunk and with arms like his, he could undoubtedly lift the front end of her car.

      “Are you B.J.?” Eden asked.

      “Bobby John Finnegan.” His gaze was fixed on the gun barrel aimed at his throat. “I heard voices. Reckoned one of ’em might be Mary’s.”

      “Where did you come from?”

      “Front of the house.” He pointed. “I used the driveway on account of I don’t like walking in tall weeds.”

      “Afraid you’ll fall into Middle Earth?” Armand suggested.

      “Snakes like weeds. I don’t like snakes.”

      Mary strode over, probing the back of her head. “So, Eden, is this your gorgeous guy?”

      Vague amusement sparked Armand’s eyes, but he kept his gun on B.J. “Do you know this man?” he asked her.

      Mary shrugged. “We came here together. I didn’t know he had crawly-phobia.” She studied Armand’s features. “I guess you are sort of gorgeous, although it’s hard to tell in the dark with a weapon pointed in the general direction of my face.”

      Armand tucked the gun into his shoulder holster. “Have you been inside the house?”

      He directed his question at B.J. who appeared horrified by the thought. “Are you nuts? It’s bug central in there. I was looking for Mary. Saw you.” He nodded at Eden. “You were exploring down by the river and around those old shacks out back. Heard you call her name, so I knew you were looking for her, too. I’d have hollered, but you mighta wanted me to check out the shacks, and that wasn’t happening in this lifetime.”

      “My hero,” Mary sneered. “Okay, I’m out of here, vampires be damned.”

      Her cranky tone brought a smile to Eden’s lips. She gestured at the tangled garden. “Do you want Armand to walk you to your car?”

      “My camera bag’s on the terrace.” Mary still sounded irked. “I brought a big flashlight. And B.J.’s got a second one stuck to his belt.”

      “He can go, right?” Eden asked Armand.

      “To New Orleans, yeah. We’ll have a chat at his place tomorrow.”

      B.J. glanced at the holstered gun. “Sure, no problem. You, uh, need my address?”

      “It’d help.” B.J. gave him the necessary information, cringed when Mary started along the garden path, then squared his shoulders and followed.

      Arms folded, Eden stared at Armand and waited for him to speak.

      “Go ahead,” she prompted when he didn’t. “I’m open to any and all explanations. Come up with a good one and I might even believe it.”

      “Let me see your head.”

      She slapped a palm against his chest to hold him off. “We’ve done this already, Detective. No more touching. You saved me from a falling planter and stopped B.J. from crushing my bones to powder. I’m honestly grateful for those things, but I still want to know why you followed me home last night and out here tonight.”

      “I didn’t.” Smiling a little, he plucked a leaf from her hair. “You look a lot like your sister, Eden, but somehow your beauty’s more intriguing to me. Why is that?”

      She smiled back. “Because I have a brother who taught me how to box in the third grade and at the same time knock a man’s front teeth out if he makes me mad by not answering my questions, maybe?”

      Armand chuckled. “You fix teeth. You’re not likely to knock them out.”

      “I can do both if you’re up for a spar. I keep a pair of bag mitts in my trunk, and you know where my New Orleans office is. Why did you follow me?”

      “I told you, I didn’t.” He snagged another leaf. “You have incredible eyes, do you know that?”

      Torn between laughing and punching him, she opted for poking him in the chest. “Car, pal. Yours. Now.”

      His mouth curved. “You don’t trust me, do you?”

      Eyes as dark as his should not, she thought with a sigh, be legal. “I want to see your headlights, Armand.”

      “There must be something more interesting I could show you.”

      Her brows went up. “Maxwell Burgoyne’s murderer would work.”

      His breath stirred the hair on her forehead, that’s how close he’d gotten to her. “Say more personal, then.”

      She wasn’t up to playing games with him. But neither was she about to back down. “Where are you parked?”

      “Near the fallen sycamore.”

      She kept wanting to stare at his mouth. She forced her eyes upward instead. “I thought you didn’t follow me.”

      “I parked beside you. That isn’t following.”

      “And you knew where I was because…?”

      He trapped a strand of her hair between his fingers and stroked it with his thumb. “Maybe I’m telepathic, Eden. My mother claimed to be.”

      Although she was fascinated by his face, Eden held tight to her train of thought. “My grandmother believes in an old family curse, Armand. I’m a DDS. I believe in science and sometimes in karma. I’m not big on telepathy, and no matter how many times you try to distract me, I still want to see your headlights.”

      He studied her through his lashes. His gaze lingered just a little too long on her lips.

      Not good, she decided and stepped back. She planted her hand once again on his chest and this time locked her elbow. “I want—”

      “Yes, I know.” СКАЧАТЬ