Green Fire by Stephanie James Read Free Book Online Page A

at the curtained window. The shadowed figure of a man stood outside the glass, his solid shoulders silhouetted in the watery moonlight.
    When she realized there was someone in the garden, Rani's sense of danger came belatedly into play. The quick breath she sucked in caught in her throat, and her hands suddenly tingled with that prickly feeling she always got when she was startled or alarmed. For an instant she couldn't move. With a sense of horror, she recalled that the catch on the window was broken, and there was no way to lock it.
    But even as she watched, her nerves chilling, the figure slipped past the window. There was a soft, rumbling meow and a small thump as Zipp uncoiled from the foot of the bed and leaped onto the sill. The cat poked his head between the thin, white cotton curtains and sat staring steadily into the darkness.
    Rani suddenly knew who was abroad in the garden. What she couldn't figure out was why Flint was roaming outside at this late hour. It was cold, probably no more than thirty-five or forty degrees outside. The days had fallen into the typical pattern of autumn in the mountains: chilled nights and mornings that warmed into comfortable, short-lived afternoons.
    Lost in thought, she pushed aside the comforter and padded barefoot across the old wooden floor. Zipp turned his head briefly to acknowledge her presence beside him at the window, then returned to stare fixedly out into the shadows.
    "What's the matter, Zipp? Do you envy him? Want to go outside and do a little night hunting? I knew sooner or later you'd miss the old days. He reminds you of them, doesn't he?" Rani smiled wistfully at her cat. "I'm not surprised. I thought of you the minute I saw him standing on my doorstep in the pouring rain, demanding shelter and a meal. And like a fool I gave him both, just as I gave them to you. But at least you've got enough sense to come in out of the cold. Apparently Flint doesn't." She straightened away from the window and reached for her coat and a pair of shoes. "Come on, we'd better go and bring him inside before he catches a chill."
    She flung the trench coat over her long-sleeved, ankle-length nightgown, slipped into her leather loafers and started down the hall. Zipp bounced off the windowsill to trot at her heels. When Rani reached the kitchen and opened the back door, the cat dashed past her into the darkness, alert to the kind of excitement only night can bring a cat. Rani followed more slowly, wondering what sort of excitement the shadows brought Flint Cottrell. Memories of past hunting expeditions? She knew without giving the matter much thought that if Flint had ever gone hunting it wouldn't have been for the usual game. He wasn't one to take pleasure in killing animals. She remembered the scar on his shoulder: it was a good bet a human opponent had been the cause.
    She found him around the corner of the house. He was apparently studying the broken brick walk in the pale moonlight, the collar of his sheepskin jacket pulled close around his neck. His head was bare as usual as he bent to examine the path, and his hands were thrust deep into the pockets of his jacket. Rani knew he was aware of her presence as she slowly approached, but he didn't look up.
    "It's cold out here. You'd better get back inside," Flint said without looking at her.
    Rani's chin lifted as she huddled into the trench coat. "Interestingly enough, that's just what I was about to say to you. What in the world are you doing running around outside at midnight, Flint?"
    "Thinking."
    "Oh, that explains it," she assured him dryly. "Do you always do your best thinking when you're freezing?"
    "I wasn't doing any decent thinking at all indoors. I decided to try a walk in the garden." His voice was edged with annoyance as he finally turned his head to look at her. "Any objections?"
    "Yes, plenty of them. You're disturbing my cat, for one thing."
    Flint scowled. "Zipp? What the hell's wrong with him?"
    Rani half smiled. "I'm