Free The Witch of Stonecliff by Dawn Brown

in her? What did he want?
    Possibilities played in her head—he was working with Harding, related to someone who disappeared from here. A wave of anger swept through her and smothered the hurt.
    Whoever he was, whatever he was planning, by God she was going to find out.
    * * *
    He shouldn’t have kissed her.
    Kyle drummed his finger against the steering wheel and focused on the dark road before him. The white glow of his headlamps was the only respite in the endless black.
    Kissing Eleri James, he was playing a dangerous game. And if he wasn’t careful, the whole situation would explode in his face.
    He’d only meant to flirt with her a little. The way her eyes had flared when her gaze fell on him the minute she’d entered the study, he’d seen his opportunity. She was attracted to him, and he could work with that.
    God knew he had in the past.
    A little flirting, a little charm—it had been a while since he’d used either, and he was admittedly rusty, but it had come back to him—and he might just get close enough find out if she’d played a role in his attack, or knew who did. His plan had been working, too. Despite Warlow’s probing questions meant to put Kyle on the spot, Eleri had blushed prettily—she looked better with a little color in her cheeks—and tried desperately to change the subject.
    He hadn’t meant to kiss her, though. He’d been rattled when their conversation shifted to the reporter.
    When he’d left home and moved to London, he’d been eager to put as much space as possible between himself and the life he’d grown up with, to be something more than the third of the four Peirs children. He’d started using his middle name, Jamison, professionally, soon shortened to Jack by friends and colleagues.
    Tonight, listening to Eleri speak so casually of his old persona, a strange split gripped Kyle. Part of him felt like he was talking about someone he used to know, someone who had died and Kyle didn’t particularly miss, while the other part of him flashed back through time, and he was once more naked and bound before The Devil’s Eye.
    Sick fury had built slowly inside him. She must have seen it in his face. She’d shut down, closed off. She’d wanted him gone. He’d kissed her as a distraction, hoping she might even believe his weird behavior was a result of his pent-up attraction. Whatever, so long as she opened up to him again.
    He hadn’t considered how her eager response would catch him like a kick to the gut. How perfectly her small frame would fit against him. How soft her skin would be. How sweet she’d taste.
    It had been ages since he last thought about sex. Getting through a single day without the memories of The Devil’s Eye crippling him was about all he could manage most of the time. But the moment he’d tasted her mouth, want had slammed into him like a truck. Without thought or regret, he could have easily hoisted her onto the counter and lost himself between her legs.
    What in the hell was wrong with him?
    Maybe coming back to this place and facing the past that had haunted him for so long had left him stronger, and his sex drive was returning.
    Or maybe, and far more likely, when he stuck his tongue into a pretty woman’s mouth he was bound to respond. Either way, he would be sure to be more careful with Eleri in the future.
    Kyle turned off the road and steered up the winding drive. Black closed in on him, thick and almost tangible. Only the beams from his headlamps cast a pale gray glow over gnarled trees and long grass, the eerie lighting somehow worse than the pitch dark.
    He stopped his car in front of the lodge, but didn’t cut the engine. The house stood dark before him. When he switched off the car, the headlights would fade until he would be engulfed in darkness. A shudder rippled down his spine and his stomach pulled tight. He should have left a bloody light on inside.
    He switched off the car, got out and hurried to the lodge’s front door. He stepped