Free True Love Lost (An FBI Romance Thriller (book 3)) by Morgan Kelley Page B

his car.
    Elizabeth laughed and patted his cheek. “I’ll take one for the team and get the SUV. I don’t want to face your midlife crisis fifteen years from now, as you blame me for the loss of your beloved Mustang Mistress.” She’d started referring to his car as the Mistress, when she caught him waxing her and talking to her like she was a real person.
    “ If he’s trying to deter me from having a brood, it’s not going to work. There’s nothing wrong with six kids and you driving an SUV,” he said, laughing and then offered his wife his hand. “Shall we head home and then out into the field, Mrs. Blackhawk?”
    Elizabeth took his hand and grinned. “Absolutely, Cowboy. Look out Red River, here come the Blackhawks!”
    Ethan dropped his arm around his wife’s shoulders. “I’m sure the place won’t ever be the same again.”
     
     
    Whitefox sat on the couch and waited for the woman upstairs, as she finished packing. He definitely liked her house, and he couldn’t help but want to wander around and look at all the memorabilia. When curiosity finally won out, he meandered to the book shelf, and checked out the pictures and little trinkets. One of his secret pleasures in life was books, and whenever he saw copious amounts of them, he was immediately drawn to them.
    First thing that caught his eye w as the picture. It was of her standing with another woman. They looked to be the same age, but the other woman was taller and looked aloof, where Desdemona looked approachable and friendly. They were standing by what looked like a swamp and both women were wearing bikini tops and cut offs.
    Whitefox was curious since it was the only picture there. He thought about his own table beside the bed with quite a few pictures of him and his family, then of Elizabeth’s bookshelves covered in photos. To him it seemed sad and lonely.
    Whitefox was charmed by the collection of miniature coffins and macabre items on her shelves. There were some skulls housed in plexi-glass boxes and even some antique doctor’s kits that looked more like torture devices than ones to heal. Doctor Desdemona Adare had a very eclectic taste in collectables.
    “I like unusual things,” she stated, carrying her travel bag and suitcase down from the second floor. Her first instinct was to defend her collection, like she always had to with strangers. Just one more thing that made her ‘odd’ and a spectacle.
    “I really like this one,” he commented, feeling the tension in her voice. “It’s odd but truly beautiful,” he said, pointing to one small box.
    Desdemona moved closer to see which piece he was discussing. “That’s a Cyanide box.” She informed him. “Doctors were sometimes quacks, and they prescribed treatment with the stuff.” She stood beside him. “I like to collect all the different medical items I can find, and the more unusual the item the better. I find it fascinating to see where we once were as doctors, and how we progressed as technology also evolved.”
    Whitefox grinned at her. If he closed his eyes she sounded much older than she looked. Doctor Adare was indeed very smart.
    “Do you collect anything?” she asked, wondering more about the man.
    “I collect books,” he answered, offering up the information.
    “Then you’d like my reading room,” she answered, laughing. “I seem to like them too. Growing up I had to hike miles to the local library, and when I was able to start acquiring books, I seemed to lose total and complete control of my ability to stop. ”
    He could appreciate that. Books were always a way for him to escape a life he hated as a child. He’d hide for hours in the stories of books, and then one day he connected with his brother and didn’t need to hide. It still didn’t diminish his love of literature , but gave him a close friend to share his books with too. When they weren’t raising hell, they were reading all about it.
    Whitefox noticed she’d changed. “You actually have a