Cursed Read Online Free Page B

“Thank you,
Abel.”  Just like that, she reached out and brushed a lock of his black
hair from his forehead. The tips of her fingers felt warm and oh so soft where
they lingered on his skin. A spurt of happiness pulsed through him. The breath
caught in his throat like a teenager. Oh, God, let her say yes .
    “That’s very kind.”  She
removed her hand and he wanted to pull her fingers back to his face, but he
kept his hands firmly at his sides.
    She glanced away as if looking
into the past. “I don’t know if I feel like going out this year. I didn’t last
year or the year before that. I know Quinn’s been gone for four years and I
need to start getting out more…but it’s still rather hard without him in my
life.”  She looked up at him. “I hope you understand.”
    Abel pushed away the heavy
feeling of jealousy. He damn well didn’t understand. She had no problem helping
strangers’ select special gifts for their loved ones but she refused to even
have dinner with him. He tamped down his disappointment and smiled. “Of
course, but if you change your mind…”
    “You’ll be the first to
know.”  She put down her drink and reached for her coat and shawl.
    “Stay for a while. We were just
about to have dessert when the maid screamed the house down. The cook made
raspberry tarts.”
    “Thanks, but I’m exhausted.
Besides, the last thing I need at ten o’clock at night is a rich
dessert.”  Tess placed the shawl over her head and Abel helped her with
her coat. He felt the warmth from her body and wished with everything inside
him that he could wrap his arms around her just for a moment. “Next time,
then.”
    She turned around and pulled the
front of her coat together. “Okay, next time.”
    He walked her to the door and
opened it. A rush of bitter wind blew in with a swirl of snow. The thought of
her being involved in a traffic accident scared the daylights out of him.
    “The roads are probably icy. Let me drive you
home.”
    Tess walked out into the snowy
night and headed down the front steps. “I’ll be fine,” she called over her
shoulder. “I have a four-wheel drive, remember?”
    Abel looked at the dark green
truck parked in the driveway. She should be driving a Mercedes or BMW, not a
truck. He waved at her as she pulled away from the house.
    He flipped the lock on the front
door, turned off the lights, and headed upstairs to bed. The only thing sweeter
than having Tess look at him with love in her eyes might be catching and
convicting the Dove.
     

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter Two
     
     
    When he saw her standing in the
bright light of the store window his heart jolted quick and hard. Detective
Nicholas Morelli stepped beneath the maroon and gold striped awning over the
storefront and out of the bitter wind to get a closer look. He raked a hand through
the thick mane of wavy, honey-colored hair he’d inherited from his father and
drank her in.
    She wasn’t very tall. A cloth
wrapped sensuously around her graceful body discreetly covered her femininity but
exposed one generous breast to his gaze. Her eyes were half-closed and a
mysterious smile curved her perfectly shaped lips as if she held a secret deep
inside her. He could almost feel the breeze blowing around her, molding the
cloth to the curves of her body and ruffling the curls of her flowing hair.
With one arm draped over her head and the other bent at the elbow, she held an
urn propped on her shoulder.
    The planter would be perfect for
the new variety of Pellaea rotundifolia , round leaf fern, he’d been
cultivating in his greenhouse. He doubted he could afford the planter on his
cop’s salary, but it wouldn’t hurt to ask. It would also give him an opener
when he questioned the owner.
    Two days had passed since the
theft that had occurred at the D.A.’s house. Today the department received an
anonymous tip that this particular shop, Benedict Antiquities, in Lodo, lower
downtown Denver, might have been