The Glass Man Read Online Free PDF Page A

face and neck. Why do I feel so hot? I needed a cold shower. Liam angled his body toward me. “So would you have?”
    I straightened, brows pushed together. “Would I what?”
    “Pulled the trigger on Clancy.”
    My muscles pulled tighter than an old lady’s hairdo. “Only cowards use guns.”
    Liam wiped a hand down his face. His smile vanished. “You callin’ me a coward again?”
    I shrugged without looking at him.
    “You’re sure a master at evadin’ questions you don’t like.”
    “Stop asking me personal questions, and I’ll stop not answering you.” He ought to have figured that out. Good looking and persistent—a dangerous combination.
    Liam stood and started along the path toward the house. He stopped, opened his mouth a few times, but kept laughing. “You’re not like anyone I ever met.”
    “That’s probably a good thing.” A ridiculous grin crept up on me before I could catch it.
    “You have a real pretty smile, Laura. You should wear it more often.”
    I backed toward the outhouse, steam building under my shirt as I stumbled over my own feet. Thankfully I didn’t go down, though my cheeks blazed. “Well, I need to … uh …” I thrust my thumb over my shoulder.
    “Oh, right. Breakfast at daybreak. We get started pickin’ right after. Need a wakeup call?”
    “I’ll be up.” My shoulders raised in a small shrug. “Light sleeper.”
    He smirked and nodded. “You be nice to those boys now, you hear?” With a wink and a crooked grin, he disappeared into the dark.
    I flopped down on the grass beside the trough and put my forehead down on my bent knees. The flutter in my gut confused me. Clumsy didn’t typically appear on my list of issues. I never grinned like an idiot, and I was never sick. Liam was handsome and charming, I’d give him that, but a man shouldn’t be able to render me into a bumbling fool no matter how lonely and sex starved I was.
    Whatever had drawn me to the farm had messed with me in more ways than one.
    I needed to pick my butt off the grass and find the source.

4
    A whiff of the outhouse pushed me out behind the barn instead. A shiver raced through me as I scanned the forest beyond the gurgling river. I found no warnings of my hunter: no shrill, whining insects that always preceded him, and no weight of his presence on my mind like two strong magnets repelling one another. I didn’t know if he affected the insects or if they warned me intentionally. Without them, I would have died years ago like the rest of my family.
    I hadn’t seen him in several weeks. Every night my anxiety grew with the certainty my luck would run out. There, by the river, my guard came down and the tightness through my shoulders eased. I hadn’t relaxed since the diamond-eyed freak found me for the first time when I was thirteen—almost seven years before.
    When I finished my business, I looked up at the black and white barn. The energy had to come from somewhere. No other person I’d met emitted such a force, not that I had the foggiest clue what else it could be. Nothing man made, certainly. I needed to find out before I left, or it would chew on my mind for months—maybe forever.
    A few other buildings dotted the property: a shed covering a rusty tractor and wagon, some sort of grain storage silo, and a small chicken coop on the far side of the house. I’d start with the barn, the most likely place to hide something.
    Crouched in the grass, I listened for footsteps or any other signs someone might be lurking. I didn’t need to get caught sneaking around again after Liam fed me and offered me actual money for work instead of just room and board. I hated to be such an invasive wretch, but my curiosity called.
    When I heard nothing, I stalked toward the entrance to the barn.
    Upon reaching the broad panels, I turned and searched the path along the river again but still found nothing but the silver veiled night. The doors hung on metal rails at the top. I tipped the bottom out far