Out of Mind Read Online Free PDF Page B

get back to work.”
    “Thanks,” Ben said, going out into the Court of Angels.
    Alone among the lush ferns bobbing over cobblestones, the tough, shiny leaves of gardenias and the stone angels—some not very angelic-looking—Ben collected himself.
    This courtyard had intrigued him since he was a boy. The atmosphere was like no other place. Ben had seen and felt things here that he had never felt anywhere else.
    Subtle things he had only mentioned to Sykes, whose experiences among the shadowed stone faces and occasional gargoyle poking from a door lintel were different from Ben’s, but no less intense.
    Today he did not experience anything remarkable.
    He wanted to see Willow on his own. He wanted her to at least give him a little opening into her life again, but if they couldn’t accept every aspect of one another, the incredible emotional and sexual power she wielded over him wouldn’t be enough.
    Would it?
    The patterns thrown by leaves shivered on red brick walls around all sides of the courtyard.
    There it was, gentle laughter, almost giggling, so faint he strained to hear it. Automatically, he stared from stone figure to stone figure. They weren’t laughing.
    Green-painted metal staircases zigzagged upward between randomly placed windows, stopping with a landing at each floor. The Millets’ flats faced him on each side, including Sykes’s, which was where Ben would live while he was back in New Orleans…unless Willow kicked him out….
    He glanced up at Willow’s flat and barely pulled himself together enough not to jump. She stood at the open front door, leaning on the jamb, arms crossed.
    It was definitely giggling he heard, and it saturated his senses.
    To smile or not to smile?
    Ben fashioned a restrained upward tilt at the corners of his mouth and strode to jog up the steps and meet the woman he wanted.
    “Hey, Willow,” he said, arriving in front of her and keeping his demeanor more-or-less solemn. That wasn’t hard. He suddenly felt solemn…and insecure? Ben Fortune didn’t go in for feeling insecure very easily.
    “Hey, Ben.”
    The giggles faded into gusty titters that slithered away. He had always intended to do more research on the Court of Angels, but never got around to it.
    “I brought your helmet up,” he said, feeling lame.
    “Thanks.” She reached for the box, but he made no attempt to give it to her.
    This was the first time since his return that he had stood so close to Willow. She really was a little woman. All the women in her family were small. He recalled his sister, Poppy, reminding him before he left for Kauai that he should “Look for a woman you won’t crush.” Poppy was tall and almost too beautiful. She had always been his friend, but in the past two years he had come to truly admire her.
    “You’ve got my gun, too. How did you manage to get it from Uncle Pascal?”
    “By letting him know you’re mature enough to make your own decisions.” Not completely true, but Marley had just about said that and Ben hadn’t disagreed.
    “Thanks for that.” She smiled a little, but immediately bowed her face in the way he remembered so well. Willow talked a tough story, but she had a shy streak a mile wide.
    “Are you going to invite me in?”
    A frown came and went quickly. “Of course. Come in. I don’t suppose Winnie followed you out, did she?” She peered around him and down into the courtyard. “She likes to come up when Marley works late and Gray is gone.”
    “Too much going on for her to concentrate today, I think,” Ben said, sensing Willow’s disappointment.
    Willow shook her head as if the dog didn’t matter to her. “Gray doesn’t get back early most nights. He’s at his dad’s working. His dad is Gus Fisher—we look after his cottage and make sure everything gets done over there. Gus loves Winnie, too. Winnie likes to ride over to Gus’s in my trailer.”
    He was no closer to going inside her flat. “Dogs andtrailers match,” he said. “Not as