After the Night by Linda Howard Read Free Book Online Page A

Rouillard, and what he could give her. If Guy ever dumped her, Renee wouldn’t hang around any longer than it took her to pack her clothes.
    Scottie managed to spot two squirrels, one jumping along a tree limb and another climbing a tree, so he was happy to go where Faith led him. When they came in sight of the shack, however, he realized that they were going home and began to make grunting noises of disapproval as he pulled back, trying to tug his hand from her grip.
    "Scottie, stop it," Faith said, as she dragged him out of the woods into the rutted dirt road leading up to the shack. "I can’t play with you anymore right now, I’ve got to do the wash. But I promise I’ll play cars with you when I get – "
    She heard the low, rumbling sound of a car engine behind her, getting louder as it got closer, and her first, relieved thought as she turned was Mama’s home. But it wasn’t Renee’s flashy red car that came into sight around the curve. It was a black Corvette convertible, one bought to replace the silver one Gray had driven since high school. Faith stopped in her tracks, forgetting all about Scottie and Renee as her heart stopped, then began pounding against her rib cage with a force that almost made her sick. Gray was coming here!
    She was so stunned with joy that she barely remembered to pull Scottie out of the road to stand in the weeds on the side. Gray, her heart sang. A fine trembling began in her knees and worked its way up her slender body at the thought of actually speaking to him again, even if it was just to mumble a hello.
    Her gaze locked on him, drinking in the details as he drove closer. Though he was sitting behind the wheel and she couldn’t see that much of him, she thought that he seemed leaner than he’d been while he was playing football, and his hair was a little longer. His eyes were the same, though, dark as sin and just as tempting. They flashed over her as the Corvette bumped past where she and Scottie were standing, and he curtly nodded his head.
    Scottie squirmed and tugged at his hand, fascinated by the pretty car. He loved Renee’s car, and Faith had to watch to keep him away from it, because it made Renee mad if he patted it and left his dirty little handprints behind.
    "All right," Faith whispered, still dazed. "We’ll go see the pretty car." They stepped back into the road and followed the Corvette, which had now stopped in front of the shack. Gray slid up from behind the wheel and swung one long leg over the door, then the other, stepping out of the low-slung car as if it were a child’s vehicle. Going up the two rickety steps, he jerked open the screen door and went inside.
    He didn’t knock, Faith thought. Something’s wrong. He didn’t knock.
    She speeded up, hurrying Scottie so that his short legs pumped and he gave a squawk of protest. She thought of his heart, and terror squeezed her insides. She skidded to a stop, and swiftly stooped down to pick him up. "I’m sorry, honey. I didn’t mean to make you run." Her back arched from the strain of carrying him, but she ignored it and hurried her steps again. Small rocks rolled unnoticed under her bare feet, and little clouds of dust flew up with every thud of her heels. Scottie’s weight seemed to drag at her, keeping her from reaching the shack. Blood roared in her ears, and a sense of dread swelled in her chest until she almost choked.
    She heard some dim, faraway roar that she recognized as Pa’s vo’ice, underlaid by Gray’s deeper, more thunderous tones. Panting, she pumped her thin legs even harder, and finally reached the shack. The screen door squeaked as she jerked it open and hurled herself inside, only to skid to a stop, blinking in an effort to adjust her eyes to the dimness. Unintelligible shouts and curses swirled around her, making her feel as if she were caught in some nightmare tunnel.
    She gulped in air as she let Scottie slip to the floor. Scared by the shouting, he latched on to her legs and