Deep in the Heart Read Online Free PDF Page A

conversation.”
    John Thomas looked down at the menu. But the words had suddenly blurred across the page. When he looked back at her, Samantha had a sensation of déjà vu. It was the same look he’d had years ago when he’d punched Hank Carver in the nose for making her cry. In Johnny’s eyes was something between anger and annihilation.
    “I told you, you don’t need to worry any longer,” he said quietly. “That’s why I came.”
    She nodded and blinked, then looked down at the menu, suddenly intent on making a choice. But it was hard to see through tears.
    “Where are your folks, now?” he asked, for lack of anything else to say. He didn’t really care where they were. They’d hated his guts and told him so on more than one occasion.
    The question took her unawares. It was a long way from the subject of murder. And then again…not so far at all.
    “Dead. Nearly seven years now. Car accident. You know what they say.” She waved toward the traffic.
    “It’s murder out there.”
    Remembering what his taxi had driven through, his response came out abrupt and angry. “I can believe that.” Then he dropped the menu onto the table. “Sam…why do you stay?”
    She stared out the window onto the street, blind to the melee of humanity that was passing them by. She was remembering the shock of losing both parents in the space of a heartbeat, and the empty sensation of trying to belong when there was no one to belong to.
    “I guess it was because I was already here, and I had nowhere else to go,” she finally answered.
    “You could have come home,” he said.
    She smiled. Slowly.
    John Thomas caught his breath. He could have sworn that he just saw a light come on in the back of her eyes and shine out through that pure, clear blue.
    Samantha wanted to laugh, but she knew it would hurt too much to make the effort. Something strange was happening inside of her. She was beginning to hope again. And while it was wonderful to know that she’d retained the ability, it was, at the same time, frightening. She knew only too well how quickly hope could be taken away. The fact that Johnny Knight still considered her a part of home was overwhelming. It had been years since she’d felt like she belonged anywhere.
    “I was so young when we left,” she said.
    “You were sixteen,” he answered. “Nearly grown.”
    She slid her fingers across his knuckles, rubbing gently at a nearly healed scrape on the third knuckle of his left hand, remembering that after the love that they’d shared, she’d felt like a woman, but at heart she had still been a scared child.
    “For you, Johnny Knight, maybe sixteen was nearly grown.” She smiled to soften her words. “The Sam you knew had no clue about life. Only passion…and young love.”
    He flushed at her casual reference to what had been the most important night of his life. And then he frowned as she continued.
    “That awareness came later with a knock on my door in the middle of the night. I buried my parents alone. And waited for the world to stop.” She took a deep breath. “But it didn’t, and I somehow managed to find a foothold on sanity, and gradually made a secure niche for myself in life.”
    The play of emotions on her face was vivid. He could almost feel the old pain and the new fears swamp her.
    “So tell me more about your job at the casting agency. I guess it’s a good one?”
    Then she did laugh, but only once. And it was a short, harsh bark of anger, not joy.
    “Oh, but yes! I am—I was—one of the best casting agents in the business. Our agency has the reputation of having cast several Oscar-winning films. I have—had—a very good reputation.” She grimaced to hide the pain. “That was before I lost my status as an asset, and became a liability they didn’t want to fix.”
    A waitress appeared to take their order.
    “I’ll have crow,” Samantha said, and then smiled grimly at the shock on the lady’s face.
    John Thomas frowned. This angry,