Free Pursued by Shadows by Medora Sale

problem is, but please don’t go down there alone.” He looked intently into her face. “Say something, will you?” he said. “You’re driving me crazy.”
    â€œI don’t understand what’s worrying you,” said Harriet, at last. “The worst thing that can happen is that I’ll end up furious at Jane—but I’ll survive that.” And she started to laugh.
    â€œAnd don’t laugh, dammit,” said Sanders. “Listen to me. This is serious. Both Jane and your friend, Peter, believe that Beaumont is capable of killing her in a rage. And I’m inclined to agree with them. She wants you down there to protect her from Beaumont and I don’t like that idea very much.”
    â€œI can’t help laughing,” she said. “No one’s ever called me a marshmallow before. And if you feel that strongly about it, why don’t you come with me? Can’t you take two days off?”
    â€œMe? Harriet,” he said, clenching his hands with exasperation, “I don’t give a damn what happens to your friend Jane. She sounds to me like a first-class bitch and a con artist to boot. Let her get someone in Skaneateles to protect her. Or she can send for your sexless friend Peter. It beats me why you don’t toss her letters in the garbage and forget her.”
    â€œShe worked for me for a long time,” said Harriet sadly. “And she’s not the first person in the world to behave badly because she fell in love. Maybe I’m grateful to her because she solved the problem of Guy Beaumont for me. A bit drastically, maybe, but she did get him out of my life. Permanently. Which you have to admit was a good thing.”
    â€œWell—I refuse to get mixed up in all this. Look what happened to me Thursday. I learned my lesson. Come on, we’re going out for dinner.” He stood up and pulled her to her feet, and then brushed his lips very gently over her cheek. “Harriet,” he murmured, “what is going to happen to us?”
    â€œI don’t know,” she answered unhappily. “I just don’t know.” In one sudden movement, she pulled his head down and kissed him, a soft, lingering kiss that left him breathless and dizzy. “The trouble is that I find myself wanting you,” she whispered, “and that makes it so hard to think clearly. It muddles everything up. I lose track of my motives.”
    He pulled her closer, ran his hands down her thighs and realized that she had nothing on under her silky robe. Desire swept clear his mind, leaving no room for anything else. “You don’t expect me to help cure you of it, do you?” he said, pulling her back toward the couch. She began undoing a zipper under her chin; impatiently he caught it from her and pulled. The silk robe tumbled in an emerald heap on the polished floor and Harriet’s skin glowed in the golden rays of the setting sun. He dropped a kiss on her forehead and set himself to getting rid of his own clothes. “I’m still not letting you drag me to Skaneateles.”

Chapter 5
    Harriet pulled up in front of police headquarters seconds before the three-thirty deadline turned the street into a No Stopping zone and reached over to fling open the door on the passenger side. Sanders picked up his suitcase and raced across the sidewalk. “You’re late,” he said. “I’ve been standing there like a bloody doorman for twenty minutes.”
    â€œI was just double checking the security arrangements,” said Harriet demurely.
    â€œNo need for sarcasm,” he muttered. “And Skaneateles better be pretty damn spectacular, that’s all I can say.”
    â€œYou’ll like the inn. We have a gorgeous room and the food should be good. The rest—well. That’s in the lap of the gods, as they say.” And Harriet plunged with dexterity into a string of cars heading west.
    â€œI don’t