Read Online More Than a Fantasy by Bernadette Gardner - Free Book Online Page B

following excerpt from Bernadette Gardner’s best-selling novella,
    HUNTER’S MOON:
     
    Chapter One
     
     
    The midnight breeze had a cool edge to it that heralded the arrival of autumn. Alliana Cambridge stretched like a cat, luxuriating in the chill that spread over her sweat-soaked skin. She had pushed her body to its limits tonight, and now it was time to rest and enjoy the sweet September air.
    Most people told her she was crazy for running so late at night, but she didn’t care. She craved the solitude of the woods during a full moon. The old dirt access road that skirted her property was as familiar to her as the back of her hand. Perhaps she was crazy. She had no fear of the denizens of the Pennsylvania forests. It was the inhabitants of the towns and cities she preferred to avoid.
    She stretched again, bending backward and forward at the waist to release the tension in her lower back. Silently, she counted down from ten to slow her breathing from a heated pant.
    Enough for tonight, she decided. She was already halfway back to the farmhouse. The long walk from here would do her good, allow her to work any remaining kinks out of her muscles. There was no point in exhausting herself.
    Alliana’s slim shadow preceded her over the ruts that scored the drought-cracked road. It hadn’t rained in a month, and the tall grass on either side of the road was tinderbox dry. That gave her pause. There was more to fear from a sudden fire than from anything living in the woods. On the up side, the wind that stirred the grass created a silvery whisper as soft as a lover’s caress. The sound soothed her and, for a short time, chased away the insistent worry she lived with.
    After a few minutes, Alli found her rhythm, and the walk became a lanky sprint. It was hard to slow down sometimes. All that pent up energy had to go somewhere before she could fall asleep. And with no man around...
    Well, she was a damn sight better off alone in that department. End of discussion.
    Pick another topic to think about, Alli .
    The light of September’s full moon was so bright, it hurt her eyes when she turned to look. The laughing face of the man up there winked at her, and she winked back before picking up speed once more.
    God, she loved moonlight. It made everything look surreal and metallic, as if it were sculpted of platinum.
    When the crack of a gunshot broke the silence, Alli tripped. She cursed as she regained her equilibrium, and her heart began to thud.
    “Idiots!” She didn’t care that her voice would echo over the rise. The hunters who crawled all over the mountainside were so stupid sometimes. Hunting at night was asinine, but nothing stopped them. There were more accidents every year, and most of them were well deserved. The thought made her feel guilty, but it was how she felt.
    Ah, well. She’d mention it to the police chief the next time she ran into him. Ben Walters was a nice enough guy. He’d listen to her complaint, admonish her again for wandering around her own property alone in the dark, and walk away feeling like he’d done his civic duty.
    Men.
    Troublesome as they were, she could certainly use one for a few hours right about now.
    Stop it. Move on. Get over it. Smell that air! What a gorgeous night!
    Walking wasn’t going to cut it and neither was a light jog. She picked up the pace in an effort to pound the fever out of her blood. She’d managed five years without a man. She didn’t need one now. There were plenty of other ways to release pent up tension.
    Damn! Listening to gunshots in the distance wasn’t one of them. Nor was hearing the sound that followed the second shot. The scream of pain echoed across the tree-covered slope that rose behind her. It stopped Alliana like a brick wall.
    Some fool had gone and gotten himself shot again. Christ! When will these guys learn that a six-pack and a loaded rifle don’t mix?
    She catapulted herself through the garden gate and into the mudroom of the