Darkness Bound Read Online Free PDF Page B

but it was the way his light brown eyes passed over her, never making total contact, that made the biggest impression on Leigh. She couldn’t seem to stop herself from studying him—repeatedly. His beard shadow, brows, and thick lashes were much darker than his hair.
    Coffee arrived for the men, delivered by Gabrielhimself. “I need a word with both of you later,” he told the men. “I’ll give you a call.”
    From the artificially neutral tone of his voice and the intense look he gave Niles and Sean, Leigh figured he had something important and private to discuss. She also sensed that Gabriel was tense.
    “Later,” Niles said, breaking his gaze with Gabriel and turning his attention to Leigh again.
    She looked at her plate and gamely ate several mouthfuls of eggs, then drank some coffee.
    Gabriel walked away.
    “I burned the first of that wood last night,” Leigh said. Trying to read these people was senseless and not her affair. “Why don’t you let me pay for it? I thought I’d bake you something but that doesn’t seem enough.”
    “I’d rather you didn’t do anything,” Niles said, letting the front legs of his chair smack down on the floor. “It was Sean here who told me that tree needed to come down—and about your woodshed being empty. Gabriel thought you’d be glad to have the logs.”
    Sean kept his face half turned away and his weight on one leg. “Worked out well all the way around,” he said.
    “Well, thank you both, then.” Leigh wished he would look at her but she could feel how eager he was to get away.
    Sean gave her a sudden, piercing stare, excused himself, and went outside.
    “He’s always quiet,” Niles said. He frowned a little. “Interesting guy, huh?”
    “I don’t know enough about him to have an opinion.”
    “I think most women would like to know Sean. I have it on good authority that he’s a
hunk.
Or so Gabriel’s girlfriend, Molly, tells me.”
    Leigh raised her eyebrows. She wasn’t sure why she said, “I don’t tend to be impressed by the silent type.”
    “Really?” His frown disappeared.
    “I don’t suppose I could get you to eat some of this food?” Leigh said. Talking about her taste in men suddenly felt uncomfortable and she was eager to change the subject. “I don’t want to upset Cliff and Sally.”
    “You aren’t hungry?”
    She grimaced. “Not hungry enough to eat all this.”
    Niles actually grinned, and Leigh thought he ought to try it a lot more often. He demolished the bacon. Leigh rolled one of the sausages in a paper napkin. “For my dog,” she explained and inched the plate closer to Niles.
    He watched her with a little too much concentration for Leigh’s comfort.
    She couldn’t ask him about anything. He was a stranger.
    “What?” he said, his blue eyes never leaving her face. “Tell me.”
    Leigh sat straighter. Goosebumps shot out on her arms. “How do you know I wanted to say something?”
    He shrugged. “Just a hunch.”
    A hunch that made him seem as if he had read her mind.
    “Are there a lot of stray animals around here? A really big… ” She hesitated. In a low voice she went on, “dog, a really big dog came to my door last night. He was big enough to be scary.”
    Niles looked at her and said, “Almost black. Shaggy guy with big feet?”
    “Huge. Bigfoot with a dye job.”
    “Blue,” Niles said, finishing the last sausage. “That’sthe name on his collar. He’s mostly Irish wolfhound, I think.”
    “The rest must be horse,” she said. “He really freaked me out.”
    Niles wiped his hands on a napkin. “Don’t be scared of him.” He put a hand over hers on the table but quickly took it away again. “He’s a pussycat. Hangs around with me when I’m working. If you’re worried about anything at all, just give me a shout on the phone.”
    The door opened again and three men came in, heading for a table in one corner but talking loudly enough about their plans for the day to be heard all over the