Free Mallory Rush - [Outlawsand Heroes 02] by Dead or Alive Page A

Noble, she'd called in sick. Talk about an acting job, she'd wheezed and coughed out her excuses for the two days she was certain it would take to shake her sudden flu. Two days wasn't much, but even mad as she had been, she'd known she had to help him get his bearings and catch a breather herself before confiding in Ryan.
    She wasn't angry anymore, but felt just a little—okay, a lot—uncomfortable with the cozy, exciting sensation Noble's nearness provoked. "Forget the time," she told him. "We can sleep in late. So go ahead, spill your guts and pontificate away."
    "Very well, then. I am terribly distraught," he confessed. "Nothing is familiar here and I'm given to wonder if I will ever claim that simple luxury of feeling normal again. Not only with my surroundings, but here." He pressed his palm to his chest, near his heart. "Within."
    "Some things in life never change, Noble. The search for inner peace is as old as time."
    "Yes, and small consolation that is." He fell silent and studied his hands as if he were a palm reader searching for a nonexistent lifeline.
    Lori quit rocking. She wondered so much about this man who was an enigma wrapped in a riddle. But compassion overrode curiosity. "Were you at peace with yourself in your past life?" she asked.
    "No. But I had made my peace with the path I was compelled to follow. That path is denied me now and I am left without a sense of direction. I feel so hollow inside, Lori, as if I'm a stranger to myself."
    "I know how that feels and it's not a good feeling."
    "It's terrible," he whispered. "My life has traversed many twists and turns but never have I lost sight of the purpose which guided me."
    "And what was your purpose?"
    "A worthy one." He left it at that. "It is gone now as if it never existed."
    "But you exist," she reminded him.
    "Do I?" He looked at her then, a scrutinizing stare. "My endless dreams seemed real, as real as this moment we're sharing now. It leaves me to wonder if this is the dream and I shall awaken in the place you stole me from. How can I know, Lori? How can I know what is real and what is not? For certain, there is far more unreality about me here than from where I came."
    Leaving her chair, she went to him, put her arm around him, and gave him a hug.
    "Hugs are real, Noble." She grasped his hand and squeezed. "So is holding hands with a friend who cares. You are real. I'm real. Believe it."
    "I don't want to. But... I do. Lori," he said in a hushed, confidential whisper, "please don't think less of me for confessing this, but I am afraid."
    "Think less of you?" she repeated, incredulous. "Good Lord, Noble, do you actually think it makes you less of a person to admit being afraid?"
    "Of course. To show fear is the sign of a weakling. At least for a man it is."
    "But it's okay for a woman to be afraid, right?"
    "Certainly. And it is a man's duty to protect her from whatever or whomever she is frightened of."
    Lori considered setting Noble straight on his antiquated ideas in the role-playing department. Better saved for later, she decided, when he wasn't so upset.
    "Look, Noble, being afraid does not make you a weakling. It makes you human. In fact, if you weren't afraid of what you're dealing with now, I would question your sanity."
    "You would?" At her nod, he said in a rush, "thank you for easing my mind on that score. Quite frankly, fearing for my sanity was part of the reason I came to your chambers."
    "Whatever the reason, I'm glad you did, I'm glad we made up and more than glad to tell you that no way, no how, are you crazy. And now that we've got that straightened out..."
    "You wish me to leave?"
    "No, I wish you to stay." Even as she said it Lori had to wonder if she was insane. "At least for a little longer. You see, I have a problem of my own. I've got—"
    "Insomnia." He looked as surprised by his insight as she. But then he pressed his temples, concentrating, and said, "ever since your husband died, you've had trouble sleeping."
    Lori