Free Blood Red by Heather Graham Page B

asked.
    â€œNo,” he admitted.
    â€œI see.”
    â€œNo, you don’t. Katie did see him here, on a trip. And now I’m afraid he’s after you—just as he was after her.”
    She sighed, looking down.
    He was just as attractive and possessed of all the raw sex appeal as she had thought from the beginning—and he was completely crazy. Maybe even a murderer himself.
    He could be stalking her, for all she knew.
    She was finally about to get up when he asked, “Did you all stay in your cottage last night, locked in, once you got home?”
    â€œI saw you out on the street, watching us,” she accused him, instead of answering.
    â€œDid you stay in?” he repeated.
    â€œYes, which is none of your business,” she lied.
    He still seemed concerned. “I only asked because it’s important,” he told her quietly.
    She felt oddly uncertain and was angry with herself, but for some reason she couldn’t seem to walk away with things hanging between them.
    And Deanna had been outside, sleepwalking, something she’d never done before in her life, and Lauren had been out there with her. Not only that, she’d felt as if someone else had been out there, too, and that somehow this man knew about it.
    And at the edge of her consciousness was the memory of how she had dreamed about him, and the ridiculous longing somewhere inside that, against all the evidence, he would turn out not to be crazy.
    She forced a casual smile onto her face. “Okay, I’ll bite. Why is so important?”
    Instead of answering, he reached into his shirt pocket. “I’d like to give you something.”
    â€œPlease, I can’t accept anything from you.”
    He smiled then, a charming smile that also managed to convey amusement. “No strings attached,” he assured her.
    She was almost bowled over by the unconscious sensuality of his appeal. God, how she wished he were normal. She had never met anyone like him, hadn’t even dreamed that she could meet anyone like him, since she had lost Ken. The sound of his voice was alluring, his body language subtly provocative. If she’d met him anywhere else under any other circumstances…
    â€œThis was Katie’s,” he said.
    She looked down at the item he’d produced from his pocket. It was a silver cross, beautifully designed and obviously antique.
    â€œI definitely can’t take that,” she told him, staring across the table at him.
    â€œPlease.”
    â€œIt’s valuable.”
    â€œI would never sell it in a thousand years,” he said.
    She shook her head. “I can’t take it.”
    He grinned at her suddenly. “If you were to take it and wear it, I’d feel better about you being out on the streets of New Orleans. I might even quit being such a pest.”
    â€œI think you really are crazy,” she told him frankly.
    â€œI’m not. Honestly.”
    She picked up her tea and took a long sip, suddenly aware that she had both elbows on the table now and was leaning closer to him. “Okay, look at all this from my point of view. First I run into you in a bar. Then I see you standing out on my street.”
    â€œMy street, too.”
    â€œCoincidence, huh?”
    He shrugged.
    â€œOkay. Then I’m sitting here drinking tea, and suddenly there you are, too, with a crazy tale about trailing a killer. Don’t you think you should go to the police if you know who the killer is?”
    â€œProbably. I’m just not sure yet how to explain what I know.”
    â€œBecause it’s crazy,” she suggested softly.
    â€œI swear to you, I only want you to be safe,” he said.
    She groaned, looking down at her hands. “I’ve heard a piece of your story, and I’m not at all sure I want to hear the rest. Please…you’re very attractive. But I…I really have to ask you to stay away from me.”
    There. She had managed it; she