Excerpt from Whispers From the Dead
I was slipping my
gloves on and almost to the car when I noticed Daniel standing beside his
Jeep. Apparently he was waiting for me.
I was in the process of weighing the pros and cons of stopping to talk to him
when he pushed away from his vehicle and strode over, meeting me halfway to my
cruiser.
“Happy New Year,” he said sweetly.
I chuckled and my breath spread out into an icy mist
between us. “Not much happiness going on
around here.”
“It could be worse.”
I risked looking directly into his eyes and said briskly,
“Oh, yeah, no one’s dead this time, but Jory probably wishes he was.” I shook
my head. “Dammit, I don’t understand why people do this to each other. If Ruby wanted out, why not just tell Jory
and be up front about it. And then
again, why would she even want out; three beautiful girls and nice house in the
suburbs, a great guy. What’s the matter
with her anyway?”
Daniel smiled at my little tirade, looking down at his
booted foot as he pushed the snow around briefly before meeting my gaze once
again.
“I’d really rather be talking about us.”
“Us?”
“You know, you…me…us.” His white teeth flashed in a
brilliant smile and I was once again completely at a loss as to why this
gorgeous guy was stalking me.
He was so tall and his shoulders were so broad that he
actually provided a nice break from the wind that was gusting hard enough to
catch the loose snow in the parking lot and spray it up into the air in wild
sheets of bitter cold around us. I was
even tempted to take another step closer and steal some of the heat that seemed
to radiate off of him, but I controlled myself and stood still.
I
had a sudden vision of Daniel, minus the Carhart jacket and the flannel
shirt. I knew that underneath all those
winter clothes was a well-defined chest that connected to washboard abs. I definitely didn’t want to think about his
firm butt or his strong thighs so I quickly forced the image to evaporate, and met
his gaze squarely. Unfortunately,
looking at his wide spaced brownish-black eyes and the amused set to his jaw that
was covered with a few days worth of black stubble wasn’t much safer. He was too dammed handsome for his own
good.
“We’ve already discussed this. It’s not a good time for us to get involved.”
His amusement quickly changed to frustration and he
snorted. “What are you waiting for?
We’re both available, we’re highly attracted to each other, we survived
a harrowing experience together…what more do you need to simply go out for
dinner and movie with me?”
Maybe I was being a complete idiot. I had issues—I knew it. But letting Daniel into my life was about the
scariest thing I had ever faced. A gun
pointed straight at my head was more welcome than the prospect of putting faith
in any man, especially him.
“This is just a game to you, isn’t it? The minute I agree
and go out with you, you’ll grow bored and move onto someone else. So why the hell should I even bother.”
His eyes widened for an instant in understanding and then
he took a measured sigh. “Someone must
have really betrayed your trust for you to be so paranoid.”
I smiled and nodded, “Yep, I won’t deny it. Just look at what went down in there
tonight.” I pointed at Charlie’s with an angry thrust of my arm. “Jory and Ruby
were supposed to be a happily married couple, with kids and a dog, the whole
package. Now their lives are
ruined. They’ll probably be divorced and
both sleeping with new partners by this time next year.”
“I get what you’re saying. I really do.
But it doesn’t have to be like that for everyone…or for us. I’m a patient guy, Serenity. And I have no problem waiting for you to
figure out how unreasonable you’re being. Besides, we’ll have that long drive
up north with only the two of us in the Jeep and then a whole week in a
secluded Amish community together to talk more about this. So I’m not overly concerned with your
avoidance at the moment.”
The return of his smug expression cut through the honey
warm desire that had been spreading through me for simply standing too close to
him. He thought he had it all figured
out, but I was determined to show him that he didn’t know anything at all.
The cold air once again sent a chill through me and I
zipped my jacket up to my neck and said, “Actually, there’s been a change of
plans.” The sudden arch of his eyebrows
was priceless and I quickly hurried on, “I’ve decided to leave tomorrow after
all.”
“But you know that I have to finish the Mayor’s guest
suite. He has visitors arriving this
week and I promised him,” Daniel said carefully.
I shrugged.
“Sorry, Daniel, I have a tight schedule also. Since I’m officially on vacation in six
hours, I’d like to be on my way. Perhaps
I’ll get lucky and Bishop Esch and that Rowan fellow were overreacting about
the mystery on their hands. I might be
able to wrap things up quickly and you won’t need to make the trip at all.”
Daniel took a step closer and looked down at me. I couldn’t help but swallow hard at his close
proximity.
“I thought you wanted my company on this one.”
Seeing the resolute look on Daniel’s face, a shiver of
fear passed through me when I realized I could definitely push Daniel too far
and then he would give up on me. As bitchy as I was being to him, I didn’t
want to completely run him off. Part of
me wished desperately that he’d stick around.
“Sure, I’d like your help with the investigation. God only knows how bat-shit crazy this Poplar
Springs community probably is. But I
don’t want to put you out either.”
Daniel took a long breath and stared at me for several
more seconds before he finally said, “I’ll join you as quickly as I can. I’m sure you can handle the locals on your
own until I arrive.” He suddenly had his
arms around me in a tight, but quick squeeze.
He whispered into my ear, “Happy New Year. I’ll see you soon.”
He turned and went to his Jeep without another glance in
my direction. The infuriating emptiness
that I had felt when he let go said plainly that I was already in way over my
head with Daniel Bachman. But I reasoned
to myself as I walked to the cruiser that we hadn’t even had sex, so I was
still in a good position. He did not
have a hold of me—yet.
Why am I waiting?
in northern Kentucky, where her neighbors in all directions are members of a strict Amish community. Her unique perspective became the inspiration for the story of star-crossed lovers Rose and Noah. When she’s not homeschooling her kids, giving riding lessons or tending to a menagerie of horses, goats, peacocks, chickens, ducks, rabbits, dogs and cats, she is dreaming up her next romantic novel.
