Fire on the Island by J. K. Hogan Read Free Book Online Page A

lot
of details, but what he'd revealed was bad enough.
    "Look,"
Callum said, pegging him with a fierce stare, "the girl is tough. Tougher
than most men I know. But she's also lonely. I think it would do her some good
to get out some, maybe have some nice guy show her a good time." He
waggled scruffy eyebrows. "That's why I set you up on her tour."
    "Manipulative
bastard," Jere teased.
    "Damn
right. I'm hoping you'll be a friend to her and bring her out of her shell a
bit. But make no mistake, mate. You hurt her, I hurt you. Got it?"
    "Understood."
Jere thought about all he had learned that night and became even more
determined to find out more about the mysterious Isla MacAllan.
     
    ~~~
     
    When Isla
settled into bed that night, her mind was racing. All she saw when she closed
her eyes was Jeremiah's devilishly handsome face. Frustrated, she yanked the
quilt tighter around herself, dislodging Atticus and earning a hiss. She
slapped at the covers with both hands, trying unsuccessfully to get
comfortable.
    "I do not need to get involved with a tourist!" She said aloud, causing Smitty and
Atticus to look at her curiously. It was a complication she just didn't need.
Eventually she would have to tell him why she never wanted to go into town, if
Callum hadn't already, and that would only lead to more questions. Maybe he
would even shun her like the rest of the people on the island.
    Something told
her that the intelligent Dr. Rousseau would not jump to conclusions so easily.
And just like that, he was back on her mind again—his sexy mouth in particular.
She drifted off to sleep imagining what it would be like to press her own lips
against it, just once.
     
    Isla was jerked
awake by a loud thud coming from the front of the house. She sat straight up in
her bed and listened for a few seconds, but all remained quiet. While she
needed to check things out, she prided herself in not being an idiot, so she
grabbed her twelve-gauge shotgun from her closet and loaded four cartridges.
    She
methodically explored every corner of the tiny cabin and checked the locks on
all the doors and windows. When she found nothing, she unlocked the front door
and cautiously poked her head out, looking first left toward the rocking
chairs, then right toward the wood pile.
    At first, she
didn't notice anything out of the ordinary, until her gaze rested on the porch
in front of the wood pile. Two logs appeared to have rolled off the top of the
pile—which was now taller than Isla herself—and toppled to the ground.
    What the
hell? The logs were
probably ten pounds each and the night air was still as a grave. There was no
reason for the logs to have fallen, unless something had knocked them down.
Isla scanned the tree line around the clearing that housed her cabin for any
signs of life.
    Seeing nothing
but foggy darkness, Isla gave up and turned to go inside. She had just leaned
the shotgun against the wall just inside the door when she heard an unusual
sound. The distant music of children's laughter echoed faintly through the
trees. Startled, Isla turned sharply back around, just in time to catch a
glimpse of a bright red shirt of a little boy disappearing behind a hazy shrub
of rhododendron.
    Alarmed for the
child, Isla quickly shut the front door and took off into the trees after him,
no longer concerned with her own safety.
    She chased the boy
through the murky forest for what seemed like hours. Occasionally he would stop
and wait for her, a gap-toothed grin splitting his pale face, only to dart away
again when she got close. She almost caught him once, her fingers barely
grasping the collar of his thin shirt, but it slipped away just as quickly
around the bend of the path.
    When Isla
didn't see him again for a few minutes, she almost gave up, hoping the boy had
sense enough to go home to his parents. She had just decided to turn back when
she stepped into a clearing and saw, not the boy, but a man casually leaning
against a tall pine.
    Mildly