Read Online The Secret Kiss of Darkness by Christina Courtenay - Free Book Online

‘Please, don’t swoon again, I beg of you. I thought you modern women were made of sterner stuff and you don’t even have the excuse of a tight bodice.’
    Utter silence reigned for a few seconds. Kayla hadn’t realised that she had been holding her breath until she heard the wheezing sound her throat made when she finally drew some air into her lungs. She stared at the now so-familiar face and jumped about a foot off the sofa when he started to talk again.
    ‘You see? I’m not dangerous.’ He smiled again, showing even white teeth in a piratical grin, obviously pleased with the effect he was having on his audience.
    Kayla registered the fact that he spoke with a slight burr. West Country if she wasn’t mistaken. She’d been to Devon and Cornwall for a holiday once and remembered the accent. She finally found her tongue. ‘But … but … how is this possible? I mean … I’m dreaming, right?’
    ‘Are you?’ He became serious again. ‘Perhaps, perhaps not. Does it matter? I need to speak to you because there is something I would like you to do for me.’
    ‘Do for you?’ she echoed, feeling foolish in the extreme. She was talking to a painting, for God’s sake. She shook her head. Next she’d be talking to the walls or the plants on the window ledge. Was she really that ill?
    ‘Yes, something I can’t do myself. Being stuck in a painting rather restricts a man’s options, don’t you know?’ The rest of his body was moving now and he gesticulated with his hands as he spoke. Kayla watched in fascination as he seemed to come to life before her. In her trance-like state she forgot to be frightened. She must be very ill indeed, she decided, but what did it matter? This was what she’d been dreaming of all week – to actually meet this man in the flesh – and now her dream was coming true. Or was it?
    ‘So will you do it?’
    ‘Huh, do what?’ Kayla blinked and returned to reality, if that was what this was. She shook her head, then immediately regretted it since the vertigo returned with a vengeance. Putting up her hands, she held her head still and closed her eyes. ‘No, I don’t believe this. Please, just leave me alone. I’m too ill to cope with this. You’ve already ruined everything.’
    ‘I would dispute that.’
    ‘Really? Guess you weren’t listening earlier then.’ She croaked out a laugh. ‘What am I saying? Of course you weren’t, you’re a
painting.
’
    His expression turned stern. ‘This is becoming a little wearisome. I simply wish to ask you to do me a small favour, nothing more. Please?’
    ‘No, stop! I need a rest. I’m obviously extremely ill.’ She turned her back on him and huddled under the blanket once more.
    ‘Very well, as you wish.’ The voice behind her sounded rather huffy, as if he was insulted. ‘We will discuss the matter at a more suitable time.’
    ‘Yes, yes, and pigs will fly, no doubt.’ Kayla closed her eyes and savoured the peace for a while. When she couldn’t resist the temptation any longer, however, she peeked over her shoulder at the portrait, but there was no movement. It was just strokes of paint on a canvas, nothing more.
    ‘As I thought,’ she muttered. ‘Well, what did you expect, woman?’
    She sighed and settled down.
    Kayla dozed fitfully and was jerked out of a bad dream by the shrill ringing of the phone. She answered before she was fully awake.
    ‘Hello?’
    ‘Darling, are you feeling any better?’
    Her mother’s voice sounded strangely incongruous to Kayla, still lost in her fantasy world, but she shook her head slightly and closed her eyes.
    ‘Yes, Mum, although I’ve been having the weirdest dreams. Maybe even hallucinations.’
    ‘That’s quite normal, dear. It’s the temperature affecting you, I’m sure. Is Mike there to look after you?’
    Kayla hesitated. If she told her mother the engagement was off, there would be endless questions and she didn’t feel well enough to cope with those at the moment.