Read Online A Coral Kiss by Jayne Ann Krentz - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Jayne Ann Krentz
Tags: Contemporary Romance
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seriously.
"You will."
"What makes you so sure?"
In a dramatic singsong voice he droned, "Because you look extremely sleepy. Your eyes are getting heavy. You can barely keep yourself awake. Your body is limp, relaxed, you're pleasantly comfortable.
You want nothing more than to just close your eyes and go to sleep."
"I'm not susceptible to hypnotic suggestion."
"Sure you are. Creative minds are the most susceptible, didn't you know that? And anyone who writes science fiction for a living would have to be twice as susceptible as the average person."
She shook her head a little ruefully and finally gave in to the inevitable. "All right, but it's not going to work."
She was asleep within ten minutes.
For a long time Jed lay very still beside her, not daring to move for fear of waking her. She looked very sweet and vulnerable lying in his arms. Her golden brown hair was spread in sensual disarray over her shoulders. The old-fashioned nightgown added a charming, piquant touch.
Jed realized for the first time that one of the reasons he was attracted to Amy was the odd combination of emotions she elicited from him. Every time he looked at her he felt an urge to ravish her and an equally strong need to protect hen The mixture was fraught with an emotional danger he'd never before faced.
It was a relentless curiosity that finally drove him to disentangle himself from Amy's soft body. He didn't like loose ends. Carefully he eased away from her, watchful in case she started to awaken. She stirred once or twice, but her eyes stayed closed and her breathing remained even. Jed grinned to himself.
Maybe she was one of those so-called insomniacs who believed they were awake half the night when in reality they slept peacefully through most of it.
But the nightmare had been real enough, Jed reminded himself. And he knew something about nightmares.
He wanted to see what kind of writing could cause such a chilling, frightened scream. He'd read all three books in Amy's Shadow trilogy: Wizard's Eye, Lady's Bane and Shadow's Master. The last one wasn't due out for another few months, but Amy had let him read the manuscript. He'd found it different from the other two, although all three were tied together with common characters and a quest theme.
Jed knew from what Amy had told him that she'd finished Shadow's Master only a few months ago, just before he'd met her, in fact. The tone had seemed darker than the others, not as adventurous and lighthearted in its dealing with the perils faced by the hero and heroine. In a way it had been a better book, richer in detail and characterization, but there was no doubt there had been an uneasy edge to it that set it apart from the others.
He made his way haltingly out into the living room, absently scratching the healing wound on his right arm.
Amy kept her home computer in a corner of the room near the kitchen. She also kept a bottle of brandy in a kitchen cupboard. It was an expensive brand and she tended to dole it out in tiny, carefully measured quantities. Jed headed for the kitchen cupboard first. He would have preferred a glass of Scotch, but Amy didn't keep any in the house. She hadn't kept any since the evening she'd paid him a casual visit and found him well into a bottle.
She hadn't said anything that night, but her concern and disapproval had been evident. Whenever she offered him a drink after that, it was usually white wine. Instead of taking offense, Jed had found her gentle maneuvering rather sweet and amusing.
A couple of minutes later, brandy in hand, he sat down in front of the computer. Amy had shown him how to run the word processing program and load a disk before he'd left on the last assignment. At the time he'd merely been curious, his engineering mentality coming to the fore, he supposed. Sometimes it still did that on occasion. He'd been a good engineer once upon a time. He frowned intently at the dark screen and began to fumble through a box of diskettes.
He was
"You will."
"What makes you so sure?"
In a dramatic singsong voice he droned, "Because you look extremely sleepy. Your eyes are getting heavy. You can barely keep yourself awake. Your body is limp, relaxed, you're pleasantly comfortable.
You want nothing more than to just close your eyes and go to sleep."
"I'm not susceptible to hypnotic suggestion."
"Sure you are. Creative minds are the most susceptible, didn't you know that? And anyone who writes science fiction for a living would have to be twice as susceptible as the average person."
She shook her head a little ruefully and finally gave in to the inevitable. "All right, but it's not going to work."
She was asleep within ten minutes.
For a long time Jed lay very still beside her, not daring to move for fear of waking her. She looked very sweet and vulnerable lying in his arms. Her golden brown hair was spread in sensual disarray over her shoulders. The old-fashioned nightgown added a charming, piquant touch.
Jed realized for the first time that one of the reasons he was attracted to Amy was the odd combination of emotions she elicited from him. Every time he looked at her he felt an urge to ravish her and an equally strong need to protect hen The mixture was fraught with an emotional danger he'd never before faced.
It was a relentless curiosity that finally drove him to disentangle himself from Amy's soft body. He didn't like loose ends. Carefully he eased away from her, watchful in case she started to awaken. She stirred once or twice, but her eyes stayed closed and her breathing remained even. Jed grinned to himself.
Maybe she was one of those so-called insomniacs who believed they were awake half the night when in reality they slept peacefully through most of it.
But the nightmare had been real enough, Jed reminded himself. And he knew something about nightmares.
He wanted to see what kind of writing could cause such a chilling, frightened scream. He'd read all three books in Amy's Shadow trilogy: Wizard's Eye, Lady's Bane and Shadow's Master. The last one wasn't due out for another few months, but Amy had let him read the manuscript. He'd found it different from the other two, although all three were tied together with common characters and a quest theme.
Jed knew from what Amy had told him that she'd finished Shadow's Master only a few months ago, just before he'd met her, in fact. The tone had seemed darker than the others, not as adventurous and lighthearted in its dealing with the perils faced by the hero and heroine. In a way it had been a better book, richer in detail and characterization, but there was no doubt there had been an uneasy edge to it that set it apart from the others.
He made his way haltingly out into the living room, absently scratching the healing wound on his right arm.
Amy kept her home computer in a corner of the room near the kitchen. She also kept a bottle of brandy in a kitchen cupboard. It was an expensive brand and she tended to dole it out in tiny, carefully measured quantities. Jed headed for the kitchen cupboard first. He would have preferred a glass of Scotch, but Amy didn't keep any in the house. She hadn't kept any since the evening she'd paid him a casual visit and found him well into a bottle.
She hadn't said anything that night, but her concern and disapproval had been evident. Whenever she offered him a drink after that, it was usually white wine. Instead of taking offense, Jed had found her gentle maneuvering rather sweet and amusing.
A couple of minutes later, brandy in hand, he sat down in front of the computer. Amy had shown him how to run the word processing program and load a disk before he'd left on the last assignment. At the time he'd merely been curious, his engineering mentality coming to the fore, he supposed. Sometimes it still did that on occasion. He'd been a good engineer once upon a time. He frowned intently at the dark screen and began to fumble through a box of diskettes.
He was
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