Absolute Instinct Read Online Free PDF Page A

you. It's out of the question, and I think...”
    “ How much more do we need to know about one another? This is just false modesty, Louisa.”
    “ No... no... nothing false about it. I have plenty to be modest about.”
    “ But you're beautiful.”
    She dropped her gaze and shook her head. “I know better. All life has taught me different.”
    “ Just do it... like the ads say, just do it, Louisa.” His impatience filtered through.
    “ I really can't see myself doing that, Giles.”
    “ But that's precisely how you do it. You psych up for it, mentally, picturing yourself there”—he pointed to her living room floor—”lying nude there for me to paint. Look, I've gone to the trouble to bring all my tools and supplies for the job. You really must, and I insist.”
    “ With a lady, you don't insist on anything, not in my house, Giles, and if I'm uncomfortable with the idea, why then—”
    “ What's a little moment's awkwardness and discomfort if it serves a larger purpose and—”
    “ I-I-I would like you to leave now, Giles.”
    He didn't move. “Leave?”
    “ Now. Now, Giles. I want you to leave, yes... please.”
    Still he did not budge.
    A slow quaking fear slithered along her spine like a warning, an instinctual bell tolling inside her frame. “Out! Out this minute, Giles. I want you out!” She went to the table and lifted the charcoal drawings and said, “Our arrangement is over! You can have these back!”
    She held out the drawings, and he reluctantly took them. His eyes downcast, he looked like a petulant boy.
    But instead of leaving, he laid aside three of the sketches and held one out to her. “You must keep this one, Louisa.”
    She had instinctively clutched on to the broom to use as a weapon, should she need it.
    “ Take the sketch and don't be foolish. I'm leaving, Louisa, and I'm so sorry. The last thing I wanted was that you should feel a moment's distress around me, really,” Giles assured her. Indicating the broom, he added, “You can put that down. It's totally unnecessary, Louisa. We don't need shit like this between us. We're still friends, right?”
    She eased her grip on the broom but stood her ground. She stared at the single drawing, her favorite of the four, extended to her.
    “ Of course, you're right.”
    “ I mean, who couldn't use another friend. No such thing as too many friends, right?”
    She nodded, saying nothing, as if embarrassed, and she further loosed her grip on the broom. The moment she took hold of the charcoal drawing of herself surrounded by birds, Giles grabbed for the broom, frightening her. With the sketch clutched against the handle, she brought the broom up and knocked the glass from his hand. It rained across the floor in miniature thunder. The broken pieces winked up at the odd pair—recluse and would-be killer.
    “ Please, Louisa, you're beautiful... a beautiful person resides deep within you. In your soul, and I want to get at it. That's all, that's all.”
    She softened in both body language and tone. “That's all?”
    “ Yes, that's all I want is to sketch you. After that, I want to do you in oils, that is to paint you. You see, I sketch first, paint last.”
    She hesitated. She tightened her grip on the sketch in her hands.
    Giles quietly said, “All I really want for Christmas is your spine, Louisa. You can keep the rest.”
    “ What?” she said, confused. “What did you say?”
    But even as she asked this, he pulled a small, hefty hammer from the loose overalls he wore, and the ugly tool came crashing down, bloodying her scalp. She stumbled to the floor and crawled into the living room, dazed, disorientated, still clutching the sketch, wondering where she was and what had happened to her. Even dazed, she felt him standing over her. Something instinctive told her to face him, but she could not stand. Doing the next best thing, she turned onto her back to face up. “Come close, closer...” she croaked out a whisper.
    He leaned in over