Immortal Sins by Amanda Ashley Read Free Book Online Page B

the Vilnius on eBay, she thought, and then shrugged. Who was she kidding? She would never have sold it.
    Going into the kitchen, she spread the tattered painting out on the table, her brow furrowing as she tried to smooth out the rough edges of the canvas. Where was he? Had he been destroyed with the painting?
    Another memory rushed to the front of her mind, the memory of a man standing in her living room in front of the fireplace. A man with hair the color of old gold and vibrant blue eyes. A life-size version of the man in the painting.
    She shook her head. “Don’t go there,” she muttered. “It was just a dream. Anything else is impossible.”
    Anything else was beyond impossible. The glass and the frame were just old, that was all. Old things broke all the time. But dream or not, she couldn’t shake his image from her mind. Real or imagined, he had been the most amazing-looking man she had ever seen. Tall and broad and long of limb, with long dark blond hair and mesmerizing blue eyes. Even in the loose-fitting white shirt he had worn, there was no disguising the width of his chest and shoulders. Now that the painting had been destroyed, she would never see him again. The thought saddened her more than she would have thought possible.
    “Really, Kari,” she muttered in exasperation. “Tricia is right. You need to get a life. A real life.”
    Upon returning to the living room, she picked up the broken frame and the larger pieces of glass and tossed them into the trash, then pulled the vacuum from the broom closet and vacuumed the rug, wondering all the while how falling off the wall had torn the canvas to shreds.
    The wall above the mantel looked naked without the Vilnius. Her house felt empty without the painting. Without him.
    “You really are losing it.” With that cheerful thought in mind, she put the vacuum away and went into the bedroom to change her clothes.
    The rest of the day passed quickly. She went out to lunch and a movie with Tricia, went to the video store to return some videos, then to the market to pick up a quart of milk, cleaning supplies, and some fruit. She stopped at the cleaners to pick up her dry cleaning, and then, deciding she didn’t feel like cooking, she made a U-turn and drove back to pick up some Chinese takeout from her favorite restaurant. One last stop at the gas station, and she went home.
    The sun was setting in a spectacular blaze of crimson and gold as she pulled into the driveway. Getting out of the car, she paused a moment to appreciate the sunset. It took two trips to carry everything into the house, another few minutes to put her groceries away.
    It was five minutes to seven when she carried her dinner into the living room, intending to watch a rerun of one of her favorite shows while she ate. She remembered the time distinctly because it was at that exact moment that fantasy became reality, and her life changed forever.
    “Good evening, Karinna.”
    She recognized his voice even though she had never heard it before. It resonated in her mind and in her heart and proved, once and for all, that she was totally insane.
    Her dinner plate tumbled from her grasp, sending fried rice and sweet-and-sour shrimp skittering across the floor.
    She stared up at him, at a strong handsome face and the vivid blue eyes that had haunted her day and night.
    “You’re not real.” She shook her head in denial. “You’re not real.”
    “No?” He held out his hand. “Touch me and see.”
    Kari moved toward him as if drawn by an invisible string. She reached for him, her own hand shaking as she touched the tips of her fingers to his.
    He was real. She had half expected him to be made of nothing but air and daydreams, but he was solid, his skin cool and firm.
    “No.” She shook her head again. “It can’t be true. How can you be real?” She glanced at the place over the mantel where the Vilnius had been. “You’re…you’re not here…it was just a dream.”
    She closed her eyes.