Eyes in the Dark E-Book

Rowena Dawn

• Herausgeber: Rowena Dawn
• Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2017

Beschreibung

She looks for peace of mind. He looks for revenge. They both get what they want but with a twist.

Diane's an artist and a city girl. She inherits her aunt's ranch house and land and moves there in a journey to rediscover herself. But first, she discovers her inheritance comes with strings attached and people are willing to kill over it. 
Adam, former soldier and mercenary, wants to avenge his brother's death. Diane is his only means to achieve his purpose. Or that's what he thinks. When things get bad - and they do, Adam finds out that some people just sneak into one's soul and haunt them for eternity.

Eyes in the Dark is the stand-alone second book in the Perfect Halves Series. Another tough guy hits the ground. If you like suspense and romance, then this is the book for you. Strong characters and suspense are waiting to fill in your afternoons. 

Leseprobe

EYES IN THE DARK

ROWENA DAWN

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SCARLET LEAF

2017

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

SCARLET LEAF

TORONTO

ONTARIO

CANADA

COPYRIGHT BY ROWENA DAWN

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All rights reserved. No part of this book can be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

For information address Scarlet Leaf Publishing House at:

[email protected]

TO CORINA AND EMIL

PROLOGUE

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A THIN CROWD SURROUNDED the casket and not because of the cold spring rain, which had been pouring for the last twelve hours. Not many people had attended the church service either.

‘A funeral in the middle of the week will do that to you,’ Diane shook her head with grief. People had jobs and families. She couldn’t blame them for their absence.

The pastor’s words flew past her ears. She’d never been a religious person and didn’t find any comfort in the ritual now, either.

When Diane’s eyes had swept over the faces of the few people inside the church just moments before, her heart had tightened. Bad luck had taken away her aunt’s chance at having the people she’d known for years at her side on this last day.

The late Martha Elgin had been well known and respected in the county. ‘I never even imagined so many people loved her,’ Diane thought and wiped her tears.

The constant string of people, coming to pay their respects during the last three nights of the wake, had impressed Diane MacLean, Martha’s only niece.

She only realized the priest had ended the service when people began to move and file before Diane to present their whispered condolences and regrets once again.

Some squeezed her hand with affection while others hugged her, although they’d known her for only a few days. Afterwards, they left the cemetery, huddled under big umbrellas.

They would come to the house later, where Diane, with the help of a catering company, had prepared a last repast in her aunt’s honor, scheduled for three in the afternoon.

Soon however, Diane remained alone near the casket, her eyes misty with tears, while two burly young men were waiting impatiently under the canopy of a big oak. They wanted to finish with the burial and find some shelter inside, away from the rain. Their eyes laid squarely on her, willing her to leave already. 

Diane whispered her farewell and touched the lid of the black lacquered casket with a shaky hand. She loved her aunt and regretted she hadn’t come to visit her for almost three years already. Now, her words fell on deaf ears.

She nodded toward the grave diggers and followed the stone path leading out of the cemetery and to the parking lot. She failed to notice the three men hidden in the shadow of a cluster of trees behind her.

The tallest leaned forward and whispered a few words. Nodding, one of the other two made his way through the trees to the same parking lot.

The man beat Diane to the punch. Comfortably seated in his car, he watched her coming up the trail slowly.

She seemed tired and didn’t care about the rain, even though her umbrella didn’t shield her very well. The remote look in her eyes betrayed her scattered thoughts.

Diane didn’t notice the man in the car. She placed the umbrella in the trunk of her SUV and hurried to the driver’s side.

She drove away, oblivious to the other car, which was trailing her closely now. She drove under the speed limit, although she was expected in town. Her aunt’s lawyer had invited her to the reading of the will.

‘I already told him I might be late. What’s the rush after all? The will won’t change.’

CHAPTER 1

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THE AIR TUMBLED IN his lungs and he tasted the smell of the earlier rain in the air. The smell of wet leaves, rustled by the wind all over the forest floor, invigorated him.

He watched the woman closely from underneath the shade of the trees where he’d found a good spot to hide.

‘It’s just a necessity,’ he lied to himself. He knew he liked what he saw. His imagination already roamed on paths he knew he should have avoided.

He held still, afraid he would make a noise by stepping on the twigs that littered the floor of the forest and give his position away. He had enough time to make his presence known and didn’t want to scare her before the time was right. He’d outlined a plan and never strayed from a well-thought-out plan.

His eyes roved over the woman’s body. Her neck arched and reminded him of a deer at a watering hole at dawn, sniffing the air to feel the hunter lurking.

He grinned. ‘Yep, sweetheart, you sense me here, but you’re not sure. Yet.’

Fatigue had etched visible lines at the corner of her eyes and around her mouth. He’d been watching her for a few hours now and had seen her working hard as she tried to put the ranch house to rights.

The wind teased him with a faint whiff of green apples and lemon, stirring long-forgotten memories. He bristled and scowled the memories away.

The woman shivered and rubbed her arms. The night air was getting cooler.

Her rich coppery hair hung in a messy ponytail. Wisps of hair framed her face and made her look vulnerable.

Suddenly, the man decided he’d watched his fill. ‘Show time,’ he said under his breath and stepped out from his hiding place.

“Hey, you over there!”

She almost jumped a feet up when the rough voice whipped through the air. It came from the left side of the yard where lots of bushes and tall trees darkened the night even more. Her wide eyes turned there and caught the glimpse of a tall shadow moving in the dark and a flash of fear seized her breath.

The man closed the distance between them, a grin in the corner of his mouth. Something close to satisfaction bubbled in his veins.

Her eyes widened even more when his tall and broad shape seemed to engulf the space. The fear in her eyes stirred an unknown emotion deep inside him. He tried to label it, but came out empty.

He ruled out compassion although he couldn’t explain why. It wasn’t as if he had even remembered how compassion felt like.

For a few tense moments, they stared at each other intensely. Neither one moved.

Fear flickered in her green eyes again. A huge male was striding through her yard as if he’d owned the damn place.

His steely black eyes reflected his innate boldness, laced with a hint of amusement and a feral sliver of unidentified hunger. That hunger troubled her. She didn’t care about his amusement or anything else.

They assessed each other like two swordsmen.

‘Why the heck didn’t I listen to my instincts?’ She’d thought herself alone out there at the small ranch house, yet, all evening, she had the feeling that someone was watching her. The sensation had electrified the fine hair at the nape of her neck but she’d foolishly dismissed it.

The ranch was far from any crowded roads, which was fine with her. She didn’t need legions of people around and she didn’t miss the noises of a big city.

Since the death of her aunt, a few months before, she’d been thinking of moving out of town and making a life for herself there, in the middle of nowhere. A week ago, she’d finally done it. Now, she doubted she’d made the right decision. 

“I’ve got a gun, right here,” she shouted at him. Her voice shook. “And I know how to use it,” she continued in a shrilling voice. Fear almost smothered her and she hardly pushed the words out of her mouth.

His brash laughter reached her ears and her blood ran cold. ‘He doesn’t believe me,’ she thought with a shock and for a fleeting moment, she regretted she hadn’t taken those self-defense classes she’d been thinking about back then when she was living in the city. ‘Well, too bad. It’s too late to cry over spilled milk now. Time to face the music.’

“Yeah, I bet you do,” he hollered back, laughing louder. “Sweetheart,” he drawled, and honey dripped off his lips, betraying a specific southern accent, “I’m sure you could darn shoot me if you wanted to. But I doubt you do,” he continued and lifted an eyebrow, as if he’d dared her. “I just want help for one night, maybe two, tops,” he lied boldly through his teeth. 

His fake sweet voice made her fear step aside. Anger took its place and climbed up to her lips at his biting sarcasm.

“Town’s in that direction,” she replied, pointing to his left. “There, you can find all the help you want, mister,” she added in clipped words. “There’s nothing here for you,” she clarified with a sharp gesture.

“I don’t feel like going into town right now,” he shrugged. “I’m tired. I’ve been walking long enough. My car broke down a few miles back down that road, and I need a place to stay. I think I like this one,” he said in a flat voice, which brought shivers along her spine.

Then, he came closer and under the spot of light from the veranda.

“How dare you?” she pushed through her tight lips with difficulty. Her hands fisted and her nails bit into her palms.

He was rather tall, a bit too tall for her taste. If he’d been shorter, she might have had a chance to fight him back. He was also much heavier than she was. His build reminded her of a fighter. ‘This guy’s bad news, Diane,’ she thought.

“Be a good Christian girl,” he said sweetly. “You won’t let a poor man outside in the night, here, in the forest, to fend for himself alone, cold and hungry, will you now?” he asked her with a charming smile and opened his arms wide, taunting her.

“I certainly would,” she replied and braced her hands on her hips.

She wanted him to understand his words wouldn’t move her. She wasn’t a simpleton. The times when people opened their doors to strangers were long gone. Anyway, she was a city girl. That habit wasn’t in her make-up.

He stepped closer and reached the stairs of the veranda, undeterred by her refusal. He braced one arm on the handrail. His smiling eyes assessed her resolve.

His eyes pleaded innocence, yet she could read toughness behind his smile. She knew he was far from what he wanted her to believe.

The man was built like the rangers she’d read about. Over six feet tall, his eyes were on the same level with hers, even though he was at the foot of the stairs. His shoulders were broad enough to carry her away if he felt like it.

‘Oh boy, oh boy,’ she mumbled in her mind. She had to do something and get rid of him.

‘Damn my urge to admire the night. If I’d been inside, at least I’d have had a door between this bear of a man and me... Although I don’t think a locked door would make too much of a difference if he wanted in,’ she thought, her eyes taking in the rough maleness before them.

“Come on, missy, don’t be a bitch,” he tried to cajole her. “I need only one bed for the night,” he tried to persuade her, always with that smile, which got on her nerves. “I promise it won’t be yours,” he added.

She noticed his smile never reached his eyes. The man’s eyes were two black arrows trained on her, surveying her every movement. Chips of ice sparkled inside his dark pupils, chilling her to the bone. 

His evident sarcasm crawled on her skin and his nonchalant attitude scared her more because she didn’t understand his game.

“Are you crazy or what?” she replied with anger in her voice.

“Or what, I think,” he softly answered back.

“How could you think I’d let you sleep in my house?” she said furiously.

‘It’s like she wants to spit on me and be done with me,’ he mused. ‘Not so easily done, honey. The game’s over when I say it’s over. Now, be a good girl and give in. I won’t bother you... too much.’  

“All right, then your barn, what about that?” he offered a compromise.

‘It’s not like I can’t afford it for the moment. You’ll play a different tune tomorrow, honey.’

“You can lock your doors tonight, and tomorrow, we’ll talk some more. What are you saying? It seems like a good trade to me,” he shrugged again and tapped the cowboy hat, he had in his hand, on his thigh.

She didn’t like his words and was afraid to think about what sort of trade he was talking about. ‘Yeah, like a locked door would stop you from coming in.’

However, she knew she was at a disadvantage. If she wanted to end that ludicrous discussion, she had to accept his offer and hope he would keep to the barn.

“Go to the barn and wait for me,” she said brusquely. “I’ll bring you some blankets so you won’t feel the cold of the night. All right?”

He smiled at her again, but this time, he showed her two rows of perfect, big, white teeth. His smile reminded her of a wolf in front of its prey, and she shivered.

Then, he bowed mockingly and turned around to go to the barn erected on one side of the big yard.

She didn’t move until a metallic squeak reached her ears, letting her know he’d opened the rusty barn door.

Then, she ran inside and belatedly locked the door behind her. It was pointless, but she needed that blanket of security for a moment.

She hadn’t forgotten she had to go back out there with the blankets she’d promised. She had to give him some food as well. She couldn’t do otherwise if she wanted to avoid his coming to the house to ask, but she couldn’t make her feet move. Her legs shook so badly that she needed to lean on the wall to keep herself standing.

Finally, the fear that he might come back forced her to move and she climbed the stairs to the second floor. With shaking hands, she took two blankets from the linen cupboard in the hallway upstairs.

Then, she raided the kitchen and prepared three large sandwiches. ‘Better safe than sorry,’ she thought.

It took her longer than she expected, but then, she kept dropping things. Her fingers shook and she couldn’t control them. She took a can of soda out of the fridge and headed to the front door.

Her heart beat faster. She was so scared that she practically jumped out of her skin. Before opening the door, she cautiously moved the flimsy drapes, which covered the side window, and looked out, carefully.  

The light in the barn was on, but she couldn’t see anything else. ‘I hope he’s waiting for me there and not here.’

Her only other choice was to call the sheriff, but by the time he’d have made it there, she could have been fodder for the vultures.

She opened the door and went out into the dark. In a few long strides, she reached the door of the barn and shouted, “Mister, are you in there?”

The door of the barn opened with a screech, and startled, she jumped back a few steps and screamed.

“Did I startle you?” he asked, mildly interested. His tone showed he didn’t care one way or another.

“What do you think?” she scowled at him. “Here are your blankets,” she said angrily and shoved the blankets to him.

Then, she turned back, forgetting about the food she still held in her hand. In the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of his right brow going up sardonically. She realized he was pointedly eying the sandwiches in her hand and she had the impulse to throw everything to him.

She controlled herself and handed him the food. Afterwards, she turned around again to leave the barn without a word.

“Good night to you too,” he said sarcastically, and burst into a hearty laughter. It sounded crazy to her ears.

He knew her imagination had run wild and that was why she behaved like a scared doe.

She mumbled a few choice words she wasn’t supposed to know. The words reached the man’s ears and his mirth became louder. He was pleased both with the situation and her colorful vocabulary.

She didn’t stop. She left the barn in a hurry, but she couldn’t help but notice the man’s musky scent and something like butterflies fluttered in her stomach. She refused to dwell on that strange sensation and focused on her fury.

She almost ran back to the house. She wanted to put as much distance as possible between her and the giant residing in her barn for the night. She locked the door behind her and breathed with relief when she heard the lock clicking into place.

She gave up on drinking her usual cup of tea before going to bed and went directly upstairs to her bedroom on shaky legs.

She changed into her pajamas although it took her a while. Her fingers shook so hard that she barely could button her blouse.

An owl hooted into the night and the sound filled her with anxiety. It sounded like an omen. She hesitantly went to bed, bothered by bleak thoughts. The feeling that something was about to happen kept her awake for a long time.

CHAPTER 2 

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THE DAWN WAS JUST COLORING the horizon when the man came out of the barn, rubbing his eyes. His mood had soured the night before and never recovered. He admitted that sleeping in a barn hadn’t been the best choice for him, and his eyes thundered with ire.

Nature called and he visited the cluster of trees at the back of the yard. ‘She wouldn’t be too happy if I went inside to look for the bathroom.’

Coming back, he ruffled his hair with impatient fingers and looked around. His eyes fell on the old well in the yard first, but then he saw that a new water pump had been installed in its proximity.

He stretched at first, to appease the ache in his shoulders, and then, he took off his shirt. Modesty was alien to him. He didn’t care if his hostess watched him.

No one had ever described him as being shy, and he knew he had the body to offer a good show for free to the woman in the house.

‘After all, it’s nothing but fair game to pay her back for making me sleep in the barn.’

He planned on making her pay dearly for her mistrust, although deep down, he knew she was in the right. No woman in the world, even one with only a few functioning brain cells, would have welcomed an unknown man into her house at night.

Still, the woman had hurt his pride. Darn it all! He didn’t look like a criminal. Yes, he’d walked for a few hours and he’d been dusty.

He’d intended to be there late in the morning, but the dang car broke down and he couldn’t do anything about it. The battery had finally given out and nothing he tried revived it. No cars had passed by and he had waited there close to two hours. So, no help from that corner.

A film of dust and sweat covered him when he finally arrived on her doorstep. He’d marched a long way from the other end of the forest to that God forsaken place.

‘I even wore my best pair of jeans and my favorite shirt in her honor. And she looked at me like I was a piece of shit,’ he thought and scowled, not caring if the woman was wary of his appearance on her steps.

While he was washing his neck and strong muscular arms at the pump, she watched him from behind the curtains. Her eyes swept over the expanse of his muscular back and a tinge of attraction fluttered in her belly.

She’d known immediately when he woke up. Maybe the screech of the barn door had woken her. Or maybe she’d heard his steps in the yard or the water flowing at the pump.

Anyway, she’d gone to the window at once and now she was watching him with something close to fascination.

She refused to analyze her reasons. Her mouth had never watered seeing a handsome body before. ‘There’s always a first time for everything,’ she mused.

His strong arms showed sculpted muscles and his broad chest, covered with dark coarse hair, glistened with water drops.

She fisted her hands because her fingers ached to brush through that thick hair and she bit her bottom lip. Then, she shook her head, ‘Damn it! What are you thinking, woman? Get a grip!’

She left the window, and headed to the bathroom to take a long shower to wash away her desire for the man she’d locked outside the night before.

Cold water whipped her body and punished her for a few minutes. She welcomed the grueling punishment because she needed her sanity back and fast.

Afterwards, she chose a modest t-shirt and a pair of jeans, which had seen better times. A brief glance in the mirror assured her she was decent enough. She didn’t want to raise his eyebrows over her choice of attire. Satisfied, she headed downstairs and unlocked the front door.

He was already there, in front of the door, rubbing his skin with a rough towel he’d taken from the backpack he’d had with him the night before.

She tried hard to take her eyes from his chest. ‘Damn! Why am I so obsessed with that damn chest?’

“If you want breakfast, you may come in,” she abruptly said and then, turned her back to him, as if he’d been of no consequence.