In the Dead of Cold Read Online Free Page B

she shared with Milo. “Until tonight. It was through the same kind of touch that I learned of Bart’s evilness. In the bookstore, he asked me to have a cup of coffee with him, and he touched my hand.” She looked down at the chair in front of her, no longer able to look at Graham.
    “There’s more to it than that.”
    Given her torn clothes, he didn’t have to be very perceptive to know there was more.
    She couldn’t tell. The thought of what Bart planned to do to her—to rape her and feed on her before he killed her—caused her stomach to roil. He’d leaned closer and smelled her. He’d known her blood had a negative factor. She looked up to find Graham’s steepled fingers resting against his chin as he watched her. “He’s like you, a vampire, only evil, unimaginably evil.”
    Mr. Graham held her gaze, and Jane couldn’t look away.
    “That is true.”
    “So who attacked you?” Milo’s question drew her attention and somehow made pulling her gaze from Graham’s easier than she’d thought.
    “He did. I left as soon as I could get away. I was parked in the alley behind the bookstore. He caught me there.”
    In less time than it took for her to blink, Milo grabbed her and shoved her back against the opposite wall of the room just as Bart had against the building. The impact knocked the wind out of her and sent pain down her back all the way to her toes. She would have screamed, but she didn’t have the energy or the air to do so.
    “You bitch. Everything you said is a lie so you could get close to Mr. M. Bart sent you, didn’t he?”
    “No!” she choked out. She felt his anger and his pain. Both were like thousands of tiny knives stabbing her. He thought she’d betrayed him. He wanted to kill her, right here, right now, snap her neck. And this time, there was no mistake. His teeth did change. His fangs were so close.
    This was her vision, she realized. This was the image she’d seen flash through her mind like a short movie when she’d bumped into him in the elevator two years ago. Mesmerized by fear, she stared at him. Even though her vision only went as far as Milo lunging toward her, she knew in the next second he would sink his strong, unforgiving teeth into her throat. His breath was hot yet froze her heart in an instant.
    At the same time, she felt his hesitation too. He held back. She felt his heart racing.
    “Milo.”
    She heard Graham’s voice.
    His hold loosened, but Milo didn’t release her. “So how in the hell did you get away? If he wanted you, he’d have had you. No mortal woman can escape him.”
    His words broke the spell he cast on her. In a huff, she let out her breath. The man who held her pinned to the wall with his elbow pressed against her throat was not the Milo who made her come with his tongue every night. Then the hesitation she felt in him grew, and she no longer thought he’d bite her. Yet, her terror was worse than what she’d felt with Bart.
    Through their dreams of the past two years, she’d learned to trust this man.
    Now, at this moment, she couldn’t trust him.
    Her heart twisted at the idea. She wanted to trust him. Did he hesitate to sink his teeth into her throat because of what he felt for her in the dreams they shared? Or because Graham had stopped him?
    As her fear eased, her aches and pains loudly made themselves known. Every bruise and scrape was suddenly alive and competing for attention. A hot, fresh wave of anger swept in despite the pain. How dare he not trust her when she had never given him reason not to? How dare he put his hands on her in any manner other than the loving way he put them on her while she dreamed?
    She summoned what little energy she possessed and channeled it toward him. It hit him in the chest and knocked him away from her. He stumbled back a few steps, far enough to stun him and leave him off balance. Everything he felt, she felt. Like a tornado, he felt pain, thinking she’d betrayed him. It mixed with need to protect