Free Deadly Gift by Heather Graham Page B

his own wife. Amanda.
    What the hell was it about Amanda? Women just naturally seemed to hate her. Men couldn’t help but notice her. There was something about the way she walked. Sashayed, he thought. Whatever. It was sexy.
    He noticed—he couldn’t help it—but…
    She wasn’t Marni. No, she was nothing like Marni, with her down-to-earth, natural beauty. Or Kat. Kat was a beauty, too. Vivacious, and refreshingly unaware of her own assets.
    Between the three of them, though—Kat, Amanda and Marni—there were definitely some strange dynamics. Kat seemed to like his wife, though, and that was all that mattered to him.
    He leaned over and kissed Marni’s forehead. She wrapped her arms around him, pulled him down and kissed him back, slow at first, then deeper, and finally totally insinuating, as she pressed the curves of her body against him. He felt the tension left over from the nightmare slip away.
    She could make love like a high-priced call girl, and in a matter of minutes he had forgotten about his horrific vision of Eddie. A bout of hot-and-heavy sex wiped away thoughts of anything other than his desire to feel himself inside her again soon.
    After their lovemaking, she curled against him and he glanced at the bedside clock. Only two o’clock, not as late as he had thought. Seven in the morning in Ireland. Soon time for them to get up there, getting ready to board their plane for the States.
    But tonight, Sean would be back and could start taking charge again, even if he was still stuck in bed.
    Cal closed his eyes. He needed to sleep.
    Just as he drifted off, he thought that he heard the wind rising again and opened his eyes.
    Eddie was back, dripping saltwater and seaweed, standing at the foot of his bed and staring at him.

5
    D ublin was alive and beautiful by night. Lights from pubs, restaurants and trendy cafés spilled out onto the sidewalk. In the southwest section of the city, the ancient blended with the merely old and the downright new. They headed past Dublin Castle, going toward Temple Bar, the area between Dame Street and the River Liffey. It was a place he knew well, having come often enough in the past few years, since it had filled with shops, restaurants and museums.
    Caer looked at him. “You know the area?”
    “Not as well as you do, I’m sure.”
    She smiled. “It’s called Temple Bar because the land was acquired by a man named Temple in the sixteen-hundreds. And the ‘bar’ is the path along the river. And luckily, it’s not far from the hotel.”
    “Luckily,” he agreed. “Though I usually take mass transit, I admit.”
    She flashed him a grin. “Aye, but when the weather’s fair, it’s a fine walk.” She frowned. “So, is the weather as fierce in New England as they say?”
    “They say it’s fierce in New England?” he asked her.
    “Well, the pilgrims all died, didn’t they?”
    He laughed. “Not all of them—and not from the weather. I have to admit, I’ve always lived in the South, but I’ve visited the O’Rileys often enough to have experienced a few New England winters firsthand. He and my father were friends, and Sean was like an uncle to me and my brothers after our parents died. So New England in winter? You just never know. It can get cold, a lot colder than it usually gets here. But on the coast, unless a storm is coming in, the days tend to be temperate enough. When there is a storm, though, it can get pretty wild. I actually like a good storm—watching from a nice warm room, of course. I’ve been caught in a few gales off the coast and it’s not my idea of a good time, but the old salts—guys like Sean and Eddie—they love the wind and the whip of the waves.”
    “Sounds dangerous,” Caer said.
    There had been no storm when Eddie headed out, Zach thought.
    “The elements anywhere can be dangerous,” he pointed out.
    But man could be far more dangerous, he added silently.
    “You’re thinking about Eddie, aren’t you? You’re thinking that