Topaz Heat (Christian Romance) (The Jewel Series) Read Online Free PDF

a surprised look on his face. “I didn’t know you were expected tonight.”
    She didn’t pause at the desk, but kept walking toward the elevator. She pulled her keys out of her pocket so she wouldn’t have to wait on him to quit talking long enough to access the elevator for her. “Hi, Brian. Good to see you.”
    She slid the key into the lock and gave it half a turn. The doors immediately opened.
    “Miss Sarah, wait!”
    “No time, Brian. Sorry!” She hit the button and waved as the doors slid shut. She leaned against the side of the elevator as she felt the lift slide upward. Whew. Missed being trapped in a conversation for half an hour. Normally she didn’t really mind, and she didn’t want to be unkind, but fatigue weighed her down.
    She was stepping down into the living room before she realized that something was wrong. The lights shouldn’t be on full – they should be on dim. She froze at the bottom of the step. The television definitely shouldn’t be blaring out an old black and white John Wayne movie. The clang of something hitting something metal in the kitchen made her heart pause, stop, then race.
    Obviously, someone else was in the apartment.
     

CHAPTER 3

    SARAH heard another clang. She quietly set her purse down but held onto the umbrella, holding it just above the handle like a baseball bat. Running lightly on her toes, she crossed the room quickly and stood by the door of the dining room. There were a few more sounds, then the sound of a man whistling that got louder as he got closer.
    Taking a deep breath, she raised the umbrella over her head and waited, focused on the door. She let it swing open, watched the figure of the man come out of the dining room, and brought the umbrella down. Hard.
    He must have sensed the movement because he ducked and the umbrella hit him across the back of his shoulders. “Ow! Hey!”
    In the next second and utterly without warning, he rolled to the floor and used one of his legs to sweep hers out from under her. She flailed her arms as she landed on her backside, finding herself under his weight. She started struggling, but he threw one of his legs over hers and grabbed her arms in a bone-lock, pinning them up by her head.
    “Sarah?”
    She realized her eyes were closed and at the sound of his voice, they flew open. Immediate recognition prefaced the heat that rushed her face from total embarrassment. “Derrick? What are you doing here?”
    “I was about to ask you the same question.”
    She hadn’t seen him in at least five years. No, it was six. He left town right after his mother’s funeral. He’d not been back. She got updates from Maxine or Robin each time they’d seen him in New York. She hadn’t seen him at all in that space of time. He’d filled out, she thought. His face looked more mature, almost tougher, his shoulders wider.
    Meanwhile, Sarah hadn’t changed at all. She still looked like a teenager. She still had the spray of freckles across her nose. Behind her glasses, her eyes were still the color of richest amber topaz. Her hair had come out of the clip and lay spread out around her head on the carpet, the curly red highlights reflecting the dim light.
    Realizing he was staring, Derrick released her instantly, pushed away, and sat next to her. “What in the world did you hit me with?” He reached back and gingerly touched his shoulder, wincing when his hand came away smeared in blood.
    The only thing he wore was a pair of sweat pants. “My, um, umbrella.”
    He saw it next to her and grabbed it. It was snapped in half. Irritated anger burned through him. “This? You suspect there’s an intruder and this is what you use to defend yourself?”
    She ripped it out of his hands and stood. “It was all I had.”
    “It never occurred to you to call security?”
    Sarah’s cheeks flushed bright red. She waved her hand as if to dismiss his last statement. “Let me see it,” she said, moving behind him.
    He jerked to his feet. “No