Shana Galen - [A Lord & Lady Spy Novella] Read Online Free PDF

case,” he said quietly. The tenor of his voice made her breath catch. No, she could not go back. She did not want to remember the past. It was too painful.
    “Stop.” She held her hand out, and he gripped it. He wasn’t wearing gloves, and the feel of his skin against hers made her whole body heat. “The past is over and done.”
    “I’ll always love you. I always have.”
    That hurt. The words plunged into her, piercing her like a blade. She didn’t believe him, but the words hurt anyway. She wanted to ask him if he’d loved her when—but she could not bear to remember it. She could not bear to remind him. He was so close now, close enough that she could have reached out with her hand and touched his face, stroked his hair, kissed his eyelashes, his cheek, his lips…
    She could have fallen into his arms, felt safe there—for a little while. But was she willing to risk the predictable safety she had now for the dangerous safety of his embrace? “Ernest…”
    A woman’s scream pierced the quiet, echoing through the theater. Helena knew that scream. It was Carolina’s. Her gaze met Blue’s, but he looked away, his expression expectant.
    ***
    He wanted to go back in time, to give her another moment to say the words on her lips. They would have certainly been a rejection, and he wanted her rebuff, but there was a small part of him that wanted her acquiescence. He still remembered what it felt like to hold her, kiss her, sink into her and feel her move under him.
    But work called. Work always called, and it always came first.
    “Stay here,” he ordered her, all warmth and emotion flooding out of him. He was cold logic and steady reason now. He wanted her out of the way so nothing would distract him from doing what he’d come here to do. And he wanted her far away from any danger. Boston would have been a good locale for her at present. Boston or perhaps China might be distant enough. But if he asked her to leave, it would only make Reaper suspicious. He might finish his work all too quickly and move on. Then Blue would be back where he had started. He had to catch Reaper now or more agents would die.
    “What’s wrong?” Helena asked. Her voice was cool and composed. Most women, after hearing that scream, would have been in hysterics. But Helena, for all the drama he knew she was capable of, seemed uncharacteristically calm. Perhaps she really had changed.
    But he was not certain he was ready to believe it. The implications were too great. He was happy with his life the way it was now. He had important work. She did not fit into his plans.
    “Just stay here,” he ordered again. “And lock the door.” He opened it and stepped into the corridor, heading for the sound of voices. His side, where she had shot him, still burned when he moved. The wound was not serious, but it was an annoyance. He would have to move gingerly for a few days. When he saw the small group of people standing on the stage and staring down, their faces pale and shocked, his worst suspicions were confirmed. He’d seen the reaction a thousand times. He knew what it meant.
    “Scusi,” he said and pushed his way through. The fair-haired mezzo-soprano—he thought her name was Carolina—knelt beside the body, weeping long and loud. She had the lungs for the opera. He could barely hear himself think over the sound of her mourning. Blue looked at the victim and felt his throat tighten in sympathy. It was Luca. Poor boy must have been in the wrong place at the wrong time. Blue felt the skin on his back prickle. He’d seen the boy not ten minutes past. Which meant the Reaper had been here, walking among them, not so long ago. He could still be here now.
    Blue looked up, at the shadowy fly loft above, where ropes dangled and swayed. Was it his imagination, or did something move in the darkness? Unfortunately, Blue had a very poor imagination.
    “What happened?” he asked, though he could plainly see.
    “He must have fallen,” the