In the Mists of Time Read Online Free Page A

importantly, both her parents liked having her around.
    So, Louise opened the front door with a flourish and a smile, a long-standing joke already forming on her lips—and beheld not Cerys but a tall, dark man who was no longer a stranger. Her lover from yesterday.
    Blood rushed through her body into her face. How dare he come here to my parents’ house? she thought in panic, and not entirely reasonably. Shame and outrage mingled with insidious excitement, and through it all, awareness that even though she felt oddly persecuted by his appearance, he still looked gorgeous. While she wore old jeans and a tunic no doubt splattered with bacon fat, had her hair dragged back from her face and tied any old how. Unglamorous was the most flattering description she could bring to mind.
    â€œHello,” he said, his eyes steady and serious on her face. “I understand you have a computer problem.”
    Oh God. “You’re Glenn’s computer man,” she blurted, appalled.
    â€œThierry Duplessis.” He actually offered her his hand.
    Were they going to pretend yesterday had never happened? Well, that was fine with her. It would make everything much easier.
    She took his hand, very briefly since her own was shaking, and muttered, “Louise Grieve. Come in. The computer’s through here.”
    She almost raced past the living room to the tiny space she used as an office, then stood aside to let him go in. She knew she was behaving badly. This wasn’t a paid tradesman. Leaving yesterday aside, he was a friend of a friend who’d offered to do her a favour. At the very least, he deserved the decencies of hospitality.
    â€œWould you like some coffee?” she asked, trying not to sound stiff. “Breakfast?”
    He was already walking towards the computer. As he bent to switch it on, he glanced back over his shoulder. “Coffee would be nice.”
    At least it got her away from him. She wanted to shut him in the office so no one would know he was here. Stupid. Glenn and Chrissy would know he was here.
    She made a big pot of coffee and took a cup each to her parents before venturing back to the office with her own and Thierry’s. He’d thrown his jacket over the office chair. Beneath it, he wore a slightly crumpled button-down shirt and faded blue jeans. He’d taken the side off the computer to reveal its guts, and was clicking so fast at things on the screen that Louise couldn’t see what they were.
    This, surely, was the man who’d stolen millions from an insurance company by computer fraud. Robbing a B&B that was only just solvent again would be a bit of a comedown. Hell, if he fixed her computer, he could have the twenty pounds and forty-two pence that was still in the business account.
    Not that she truly expected to be robbed. He was a friend of Glenn’s. And though Glenn had an exceedingly dodgy past and was just a little scary, she trusted him. This man…she’d trusted him well enough yesterday to have unprotected sex with him.
    The cups wobbled as she set the tray on the edge of the desk, desperately trying to dislodge the image of his lust-filled face moving above hers as he pushed and pushed inside her…
    She swallowed hard. “Have you found my problem?”
    He glanced at her. “I’m afraid you have many problems. Your hardware is old and you have too little memory. Plus, you’re clogged up with temporary files and several nasty little viruses.”
    â€œOh dear.” She sat on the rickety old kitchen chair at the side of the desk. “Can you fix it?”
    â€œI can clean it up for you, give you a bit more memory. But if you want my advice, get a new computer.”
    She gave a crooked smile. “Can I get one for twenty pounds and forty-two pence?”
    â€œMaybe,” he said, still gazing at the screen and clicking.
    She blinked. “You didn’t hear what I said, did you?”
    He cast her one of