The 13th Guest Read Online Free PDF Page A

witch’s council said that while I should have been more careful with my work, I wasn’t responsible for the fact that she actually took it.” He rubbed his forehead. “It was my fault, even if they don’t think so.”
    “You know that I’m a psychologist.”
    “I do.” Damek glanced away from her. “I didn’t mean to dump this on you. In fact, I have no idea why I did.”
    “Because everyone does. If they have something they need to say, they tell it to me.” She stood up. Her legs felt much better; in fact, her whole body had loosened up since he’d touched her. “Look, did you give her the potion? Tell her to take it, knowing it would hurt her?”
    “No. It wasn’t ready. I told her so.” Damek’s gaze fell on the floor
    Poor man . He carried so much inside of him.
    “Then why would she have taken it? You said her muscles didn’t work. Was she in pain?”
    “Don’t say it.” He stared at her straight on. “There’s no way she did what they said she did. It’s my fault. I lost control of things, and she died.” He slammed his hand on the wall. “End of story.”
    “Yelling at me doesn’t change the past. Yelling at me doesn’t make things that have already happened go away.”
    He panted, turning to look at her. “This is why I told them I shouldn’t be with you. I’m dangerous.” Damek held up his hands. “I won’t hurt you. Not that you should believe me, but I won’t.”
    “I’m really not that concerned. You banged on a wall. Big-frickin-whoopdy-doo. You should see some of the things I’ve seen.”
    The man in front of her was hot, smart, articulate, exhausted, and drowning in guilt. He couldn’t see up from down. She wanted to wrap her arms around him and never let go.
    “We have to go to dinner.” He swung open the door and stormed through it. “Come with me. I have to keep eyes on you. There’s a threat, and while they don’t think it’s you, they don’t trust anyone right now. I’m walking to dinner, so you’re walking to dinner.”
    “Right.”
    She could have argued, but she knew a man about to have an emotional crisis when she saw one. For years after her parents’ death, she had bitten the head off of anyone who’d looked at her funny. Then she’d gotten better at repression.
    Still, she wasn’t going to interfere if the man wanted to stomp around and yell because his wife had either done something foolish and died or deliberately ingested something to kill herself.
    Both scenarios were a real kick in the behind.
    Walking outside, she was glad it had remained warm on the island. When she’d packed, she hadn’t taken into account that the weather on this magical island could be freezing.
    He swung around again. “I’m sorry I yelled again.”
    “Why don’t you just assume that I won’t fall over when I get screamed at? Have as many temper tantrums as you want to for, say, the next ten minutes and then we’ll see where we are.”
    “Oh, damn it.” He laughed, a loud sound, his head thrown back toward the darkening sky. “You really say the damndest things. Do you talk that way to your patients?”
    A sway in her step surprised her. Amelia didn’t really do seduction. However, Damek made her want to drop her pants and climb right on.
    He needed to understand a very important distinction. “ You are not my patient.” When she reached him, she grabbed onto his shirt. She’d prefer to feel his skin. The way his breath caught told her he wasn’t unaffected by her either. “I want to be something quite different than your doctor. I think you desire that, too.”
    “Goddess, Amelia, I crave you. How can it only be a few hours since the boat ride? But I won’t touch you. Not like that. It would be a betrayal to Zoe’s memory. I’m sorry.”
    She let go of his shirt and took a step back. A million arguments flooded her mind. Life is for the living. Zoe would never want you to spend your life celibate. Stop hiding from the world . Yet, she