Tapestry of the Past Read Online Free PDF Page B

waited until the silence got to her and she looked up. Gabriel snagged her gaze. Uncrossing his arms, he planted one hand on the door and push. Slowly, inexorably, he crowded Kalesia back into the small entryway.
    “Look, I’m sorry you came all this way for nothing. This isn’t your concern. Honestly, you can go home. I-I reacted without thought.”
    Gabriel ignored the babble. He reached out and pulled her into his arms. “Hush.”
    “Oh God, Gabriel, I was so scared.” She buried her head against his chest. Fine shivers racked her small frame.
    He rested his chin on top of her head, knocking the intricate topknot of hair slightly askew. Complication. Kalesia Brannigan had complication written all over her small, curvy body. Damn, he so did not want complications in his life. He’d sent her away in a manner that he thought guaranteed Hell would freeze over before she would contact him again.
    He might have sent her fleeing but he hadn’t been able to get rid of her. Her smell, her taste, the feel of her snug sheath around his finger taunted his waking hours and, at night, invaded his dreams.
    He’d wake up, hot, horny and sweaty, his hand wrapped around his cock. He gave a tiny grimace. Shit, he’d even woken up once with spunk all over his belly. You’d think he was fifteen, not a man kissing forty.
    When he answered the phone and heard the fear in her voice, he hadn’t stopped to think. He’d come running.
    Adrenaline still pumping unpleasantly in his system, Gabriel held her tighter.
    “I need to look around.” What he needed was to pull it together. He put her from him, hands still on her shoulders. “You going to be okay?”
    She nodded. Fine lines of strain fanned out from the corner of her eyes but she gave him a tremulous smile. For the first time, Gabriel noticed that one eyetooth was just the slightest bit crooked. Son of a bitch. He was in deep when that small imperfection just made her that much more attractive to him.
    Gabriel made a short but thorough search. He didn’t find anything but then he hadn’t expected to. “Tell me what happened.”
    Moving restlessly to a brightly patterned, overstuffed sofa, she sat down. “I had a late dinner with my mother and then went shopping. When I came home, I didn’t notice right away that my cats—I have two—didn’t meet me at the door.” She played with a loose thread on the cushion. “When they hadn’t turned up by the time the groceries were put away, I got a little worried. After searching the house, I finally found them hiding under the desk in my office,” she whispered, her expression stark. “That door is always kept shut.”
    “Anything else to indicate an intrusion?”
    “The files on my desk were moved.”
    “Could the cats have disturbed them?”
    “No. I always keep active files on the right side of my keyboard. They were on the left.”
    “Is it possible you put them there by accident?” Gabriel glanced at the untidy pile of magazines on the coffee table and the books left haphazardly around the room. A pair of bright red high heels peeked out from under the edge of the sofa. Somehow, Kalesia’s house with its comfortable clutter reminded him of the woman herself—bright, warm and inviting.
    She sat up straight. “Look. Maybe my housekeeping isn’t up to your standards but when it comes to my work I am very particular.” She crossed her arms under her breasts, the gesture defensive. “It’s a habit.”
    “I’ll accept that for now.”
    “Gee, thanks,” she muttered, starting to look pissed.
    For some reason, it made him want to smile. Ignoring her sarcasm, he continued, “We need to determine if tonight’s break-in is connected to your vision.”
    “But how?” She shivered, though it had to be eighty degrees out. “I don’t have a clue why someone would want to kill me in the first place!”
    “What about your files? Is there anything valuable, other than to yourself, in them? Valuable enough to kill