Read Online Risk the Night by Anne Stuart - Free Book Online

skin.
    “I’ll make us coffee, shall I?”   he said briskly.   “Then we
can compare notes.”
    Not likely, she thought bitterly.    But she managed a tight smile.   “I’ll get dressed.”
    To her surprise he brushed a kiss against her mouth.   Drake wasn’t one for random
kisses.   “You do that.”
    She’d already stripped the bed, shoving the sheets and all her
discarded clothes into a hamper.   It was daylight, and the shadows were clear.   She dressed quickly, refusing to look at her reflection in
the old gilt mirror she’d found at a flea market.   She didn’t need to see herself to know what she looked
like.   Rode hard and put away wet
was the term that came to mind.
    Drake pushed the mug of coffee across the counter towards her, made
just the way she liked it, with almond soy milk and lots of fake sugar she had
her mother send her from America.   She took the stool opposite him and took a sip, letting the caffeine
slide through her system like the blessing it was.
    “Tessa Parker is dead,”   he said abruptly.   “They’re
looking for her pretty boyfriend but he seems to have disappeared.   Not that the French police are worth a
damn.   Someone like D’Angelo could pretty much buy himself out of anything.”
    She set the coffee back down.   After the first sip it was churning like acid in her stomach.   “What happened?”
    “Overdose.   Sometime in
the middle of the night.   They
think he was the one who shot her up – she had so much junk in her system
that it would have been almost impossible for her to have done it herself.”
    “She was already an addict,”   Maddy said carefully.
    “That wasn’t generally well-known,”   Drake said, watching her.
    “You’re not the only one who can find out things.”   There was just the trace of an edge in
her voice.   She’d never found Drake
condescending before.   It must be
her own guilt.   “Sorry,”   she said.   “I didn’t get much sleep.”
    The words hung in the air between them, like a confession.   Drake put out a well-shaped hand and
covered hers.   “This isn’t like
you, Maddy,”   he said gently.   “I suppose the man must have amazing
charm, though I’m damned if I can see it.   He’s just one of a score of petty users with a good-looking face.   You’ve never been shallow.”
    She didn’t ask him how he knew.   There would have been people at the party who would have told him whom
she left with, and he knew her too well.   He could look at her and know things had changed.
    She smiled at him.   “Now
aren’t you glad I never agreed to marry you?”   she said lightly.
    “The offer’s still open.   Everyone likes an occasional adventure every now and then.   Even me.”   His thumb stroked her hand.   She had a bruise on her wrist, she noticed.   At times last night he’d been
infinitely tender.   At other times
rough.
    “Not a good idea,”   she
said.
    “All right,”   he said, not
withdrawing his hand.   He’d seen
the bruise as well, as his fingertips traced it lightly.   “We’ll revisit the question in a few
months, when you’ve had time to think about things.   In the meantime, how long was he here?”
    “I really don’t want to discuss it …”
    “Because Tessa died sometime between three and five in the
morning.   I’m assuming he’d left by
then since he chose to disappear.   An innocent man doesn’t take off when his girlfriend has an accidental
overdose.”   There was just the
slightest emphasis on ‘girlfriend,’ and Maddy tried not to flinch.
    “A man innocent of murder might not want all the attention a high
profile death might bring,”   she
said.
    “Was he here?”   For the
first time there was an edge in his voice.
    “Yes.   He left about
six.”   Or at least she assumed
so.   The last thing she remembered
was the darkness closing in, the strength of his fingers around her throat, the
knowledge she was going to die at