Secrets in the Stone Read Online Free PDF Page A

disdain. The dismissal had stung, maybe precisely because she wasn’t a child anymore. There was a reason she preferred to spend her time alone, with her work and her own company. She wouldn’t forget that again.
    The wind was so strong, Rooke had to brace her arm against the truck cab to pry the door open. She finally managed to climb into the front seat and yanked the door shut against the brutal wind. Snow swirled through the cab, having made its way inside in the few seconds that she’d had the door open. She jammed the key into the ignition, started the engine, and whipped the gear stick into reverse. After hitting the headlights, she swung her head around to look out the back window and just as quickly jerked to face front again.
    “What the hell?”
    She switched off the engine and pocketed the keys, jumped out into the storm, and slogged toward the woman she’d seen illuminated in her headlights.
    “What are you doing?” Rooke shouted.
    “What does it look like I’m doing?” the woman shouted back. “Come back to the house.”
    “You’ll freeze out here with no coat.”
    “Well then,” the woman yelled, her words almost swallowed by the eddies of snow and wind, “I guess we should stop talking and get inside.”
    Rooke hesitated, realizing her showing up in the middle of the night probably would seem strange to an ordinary person. She hadn’t really thought about the lateness of the hour when she’d left her apartment. She never paid much attention to the time because she slept and worked on her own schedule. Sometimes she’d work around the clock if she was inspired or if she unexpectedly had a number of work orders to finish. There was no one to complain if she didn’t come to bed at a certain hour or show up for work on any kind of timetable. She always got the job done, and that’s all that usually mattered. Now she felt awkward with this woman she didn’t know, who already thought very little of her.
    Rooke grasped the woman’s arm to get her attention. “I’ll come back tomorrow.”
    “It already is tomorrow!” Adrian stared at the hand on her bare arm as a panoply of powerful emotion cut through the cold and wind. Anger, pride, sorrow. She didn’t have time to ponder again why her usual barriers had evaporated, leaving her body an open channel to anyone she touched. They really had to get out of the storm. “Besides, if you go driving around in this kind of weather you’re likely to get in an accident, and I’m not going to be responsible for it.”
    “You’re not responsible for me,” Rooke exclaimed.
    To Rooke’s surprise, the woman gripped her coat with startling strength and tugged her forward. Despite her misgivings, she followed in the footprints that were obscured by drifting snow almost as quickly as they appeared. When they reached the porch, the woman turned with an impatient wave of her hand.
    “Look, this is getting more ridiculous by the minute. Come inside, for God’s sake.”
    Rooke had little choice but to obey. Once inside, she stopped in the foyer, dripping water on an expensive-looking rug and taking stock of the woman in a faded T-shirt and baggy sweatpants who faced her, hands on her hips and irritation flashing in her eyes. Her eyes, which had appeared pale through the snow, were actually crystal blue, in striking contrast to the sunstruck hair that fell just to her shoulders. The damp, curly tresses shimmered with droplets of melting snowflakes and framed a face that might have been carved by an artist far more talented than Rooke. Intrigued, Rooke studied the sweeping cheekbones, tapered jaw, and the bold, high nose that saved the exasperated stranger from being merely pretty. Instead, she was beautiful.
    “I’m Adrian Oakes.” The words came out sounding harsher than Adrian had intended. But she was uncomfortable under the intense scrutiny of yet another unfamiliar woman and unnerved by both her dream and the unexpected appearance in the middle of