Second Sight Read Online Free PDF Page B

separate ways. When I return home to Bath, it will be as though it was all a dream.”
    “I don’t know about you.” Gabriel said, suddenly quite grim, “but I think I need some fresh air.”
    “No offense, sir, but are men always this moody after making love?”
    “I happen to possess rather delicate sensibilities.”
    He took her hand and led her back out onto the terrace. The evening coat that he had given her to wear earlier lay in a crumpled heap on the stone. He picked it up and draped it once more around her shoulders.
    “Now,” he said, gripping the lapels to hold her where he wanted her. “About this theory of yours that what happened here tonight will soon be nothing more than a dream.”
    “What of it?”
    “I have news for you, my sweet. The situation between us is somewhat more complicated than you believe it to be.”
    “I don’t understand,” she whispered.
    “Trust me, I am all too well aware of that. But I do not think that tonight is the right moment for a full explanation. Tomorrow will be soon enough.”
    He bent his head to kiss her again. But this time she could not abandon herself to the embrace. Uncertainty was clawing at her. Perhaps she had made a terrible mistake, after all.
    Gabriel’s temper seemed uncertain, even volatile. All in all, he was behaving in an extremely odd manner for a man who had just been engaged in an act of passion. Then again, what did she know of how men acted after such events?
    His mouth covered hers. She opened her eyes, braced her hands on his shoulders and pushed hard. It was like trying to shove aside a mountain. Gabriel did not move but he did raise his head.
    “Will you deny me a good-night kiss?” he asked.
    She did not answer him. She wanted to view his aura first. It might give her some clue to his true emotions.
    For a second or two her vision wavered between normal and paranormal. Light and shadow reversed. The night took on the aspect of a photographic negative.
    Gabriel’s aura became visible. But so did someone else’s.
    Startled, she looked out into the dark woods beyond the garden.
    “What is it?” Gabriel asked quietly.
    She realized that he had immediately understood that something was wrong.
    “There is someone out there in the woods,” she said.
    “One of the servants,” he suggested, turning to look.
    “No.” There were very few servants at Arcane House. Over the past few clays, her curiosity about the place had prompted her to view all of their auras. Whoever was out there in the thick trees was a stranger to her.
    A second aura appeared, trailing swiftly behind the first.
    There was no point trying to describe what she saw to Gabriel. Let him think that her vision was especially keen. That was, in a sense, the truth.
    “There are two of them,” she said softly. “They are keeping to the shadows. I think they are making for the conservatory door.”
    “Yes,” he said. “I can see them.”
    She glanced at him, astonished. The intruders’ auras were visible to her paranormal senses but she could not believe that Gabriel could make out the two men using only his normal vision. Very little moonlight penetrated the woods that bordered the grounds of Arcane House.
    There was no time to question him. He was already in motion.
    “Come with me.” He swung around, seizing her arm.
    Automatically, she clutched his coat to keep it from sliding off her shoulders. He drew her swiftly back through the French doors into the warmth of the library.
    “Where are we going?” she asked a little breathlessly.
    “There is no way of knowing who those two are or what they are after. I want you away from this place at once.”
    “My things-”
    “Forget them. There is no time to pack.”
    “My camera,” she said, trying to dig in her heels. “I cannot leave it behind.”
    “You can buy another with the money you were paid for this commission.”
    That was true but she did not like the thought of leaving her precious equipment behind,