Die for Me: A Novel of the Valentine Killer by Cynthia Eden Read Free Book Online

He’d
told
her that.
    I can’t stop. I have to kill. You understand
…
    She kept her eyes on Dane as he headed into the darkness.
    No, I don’t understand. I never will.
    Valentine might think she was his soul mate, but they were nothing alike.
    Nothing.
    She wouldn’t let herself be like him.

    Katherine sat in the back of the patrol car and watched as the evidence team
finally
came out of her house with the white box and the roses bagged for evidence.
    She turned her gaze away. The other uniforms were piling into their vehicles, and the blue lights no longer lit up the scene. They hadn’t found Valentine.
    “What are you doing in there?” Dane’s voice. “Dammit,” he said to the uniform—her guard—who stood close by. “I told you to watch her, not to shove her into a patrol car!”
    “It’s okay, Dane,” she said with a sigh. She was still in her cocktail dress, and the headache that fear had scared away before was back now, pounding like a drum in her temples. “I asked if I could sit in here.” She slid her legs out of the car. Showed the high heels she still wore. “My feet were killing me.”
    His gaze dropped to her legs. “You’re comin’ with me,” he told her, and his stare slowly rose to lock on hers.
    Her brows lifted. “To the station? Tonight?” They’d been searching her property for
hours.
She’d been interviewed over and over again by Dane’s partner. She’d told him every detail about her discovery.
    Dane caught her arm and pulled her from the car. “I’m not taking you to the station.”
    There was a tightness to his mouth that hadn’t been there before.
    “He was in your house.” He clenched his jaw as he said this. “If he’d wanted, he could have stayed inside and attacked you when you came home.”
    Valentine had never attacked her. “He never hurt me,” she whispered.
    “Before he didn’t, but how the hell do any of us know what he’s going to do now? Every report I read said he was psychotic and that he was totally fixated on you.”
    She flinched. She didn’t want to think about that. Because if she did, then she’d feel the guilt again. So much guilt that it seemed to choke her some days.
    “He targeted you tonight, and you are damn well getting police protection.”
    Did he think she’d refuse? She wasn’t the crazy one. Despite what one of the profilers back in Boston had believed.
    “Until we catch this bastard, I’m making sure that you have someone watching you, twenty-four seven.” His eyes were lit with a stark intensity.
    “Am I supposed to argue?” Katherine whispered. “I want him stopped. I want all of this to end.” She’d told him that before. If they could catch Valentine, then she might be able to sleep through a night, just once, without the nightmares waking her.
    “Good.” He gave a grim nod. “Because your protection is starting right now.” A brief pause, and the heat in his gaze seemed to burn brighter. “And you’re gonna be spending the night with me.”

– 4 –
    “I thought you said that you had an extra room.” Katherine’s gaze swept around the small condo. She could see a kitchen. A den. And then…just one door that seemed to lead to a darkened bedroom.
    She glanced over at Dane. Dark stubble lined his jaw. His hand rubbed across the stubble, rasping slightly. “I might have exaggerated on that,” he said.
    Katherine stared back at him. “Did you now?”
    “Don’t worry, I’ll take the couch.” He offered her a tired smile. “I do know how to play the gentleman.”
    Had she asked him to play a role? She didn’t like it when a man pretended to be someone he wasn’t. She’d rather see the frog, warts and all, than ever think she was with a Prince Charming again.
    “Sorry you couldn’t get any clothes from your place,” Dane told her. His gaze was so watchful. She knew the guy was trying to figure her out.
    Good luck with that.
    “But the techs wanted to be thorough.”
    Right. Because her