Love Is Murder by Allison Brennan Read Free Book Online

thin at eight thousand feet that the oxygen level sharply declined. Kyle was a grown man, physically fit, and he shouldn’t have a problem here. But she wasn’t going to quibble over five hundred feet. “Do you have a headache?” Lucy asked.
    “No, I just felt light-headed and dizzy. I didn’t really faint.”
    Patrick helped Kyle to his feet. “I think we’re all tired and under stress. You should go to bed. We all should.”
    “Good idea,” Grace said.
    Angie walked in. “What’s wrong?” She looked at the bump on Kyle’s head. “My God, Kyle! What happened?”
    “I slipped. It’s nothing.”
    “It’s not nothing!”
    Lucy handed Angie the makeshift ice compress she was holding. Angie put it on his head. “Ouch, that’s cold!”
    “Let’s go to bed,” Angie said. “I need to keep my eye on you.”
    He kissed her, then pulled her into a hug. “I’m fine, babe, really. You can have your way with me.”
    Angie hugged her husband back tightly, her voice filled with emotion. “You’d better be.”
    “Hon, I am. Really.”
    Kyle kept his arm around his wife, and they said good night to the others as they walked out together.
    Lucy watched them leave the kitchen. She reflected that even after two years with Cody, she’d never felt that comfortable with him, where she could joke about their sex life or show public displays of affection. With Kyle and Angie it was entirely natural, not in any way forced. Their affection showed in their expression, how they looked at each other, how they touched each other. It was the subtle hints that showed Lucy that Kyle and Angie truly cared for each other, the little things that Lucy had worked hard to remember when she and Cody were still together, but usually forgot.
    She wondered if she would ever find someone where she didn’t forget those small touches that said I love you .

V.
    Lucy couldn’t sleep.
    Her first night here, it had been the silence that kept her awake. Tonight, it was the howling wind as the snow continued to fall. That, coupled with the disturbing thought that someone in this lodge had murdered Vanessa Russell-Marsh.
    She tried a hot shower, and while that eased her sore muscles, it did nothing to help her sleep. Finally, she put on her robe and left her room just after midnight. There was no light under Patrick’s door, but she knocked anyway. “Patrick?” she said quietly.
    She heard a moan and movement. Patrick opened his door, alert. “What’s wrong?”
    “Nothing. I—” She felt stupid. “I can’t sleep.”
    He groaned. “Warm some milk in the microwave.”
    “Never mind. I’ll go find a book to read.”
    She half-expected Patrick to go downstairs with her, but he closed his door and went back to bed. She wasn’t surprised, she supposed. They’d had a busy and strenuous day, physically and emotionally.
    The hall lights were left on low throughout the lodge. Lucy padded silently in her slippers down the staircase, across the foyer, and slowly opened the double doors to the library. They’d left Trevor to sleep on the couch; Grace had made up the last available room for him, but he was too drunk to walk upstairs and had ended up back on the couch.
    Angie DeWitt gasped. “Oh, you startled me!”
    “I’m sorry,” Lucy said. “I didn’t know anyone was up.”
    Angie was curled in a chair wearing a fluffy robe, a stack of books next to her. Trevor was snoring on the couch, all blankets on the floor. “I couldn’t sleep and thought reading would do it, but Kyle can’t sleep with the light on. And I wanted to check on Trevor. He was so upset. Justifiable, but—I didn’t want him to do anything stupid.”
    “You have a kind heart.”
    She shrugged. “Kyle says I have a bleeding heart, but I just laugh at him. He can act like a hard-ass sometimes, but he’s the sweetest guy on the planet, especially when he doesn’t think anyone is looking.”
    “That’s when it’s most important,” Lucy said. “I won’t stay