Quest (Shifter Island Book 4) by Carol Davis Read Free Book Online Page A

about something,” he said.
    “No.”
    “Yes.”
    “I was supposed to have dinner with Julie. My old roommate? Do you remember her?”
    “Yes. I do.”
    “She’s getting married.”
    Luca responded to that only with a small huff of an exhale. When he didn’t say anything, Allison turned her head to look at him. He seemed distracted; he was looking up at the ceiling, and the part of his face she could see seemed contorted into a frown.
    “Now you’re concerned about something,” she said.
    “No.”
    Grinning, she ran a finger along his hipbone, a spot she knew was ticklish. He flinched a little, as she’d known he would; then he trapped her hand in his own.
    “Not concerned,” he said. “My brother—he was married a few days ago. I’m—” He hesitated. “Envious.”
    “Really?”
    “I am the older brother. I expected to be first.”
    Allison moved onto her side and propped her head up on her hand. “That’s almost what Julie said this afternoon. She said she’d always thought I’d be first to get married. That you and I would…”
    The rumble of a badly tuned engine out in the parking lot drew her attention to the window—to the daylight, to the outside world. All she could see was the corner of the low office building at the far end of the lot: a faux brick façade and a lot of windows. Because it was so similar to half the other office buildings in the world, it reminded her of home, of her job, of the ugly, blocky downtown building that housed RhodesJanis. Ugly on the outside, but inside…
    Her small office was cozy. Full of plants and wood. She’d hung pair of big, colorful abstract paintings on the wall.
    And her bedroom window at home had a view of trees, a wide cluster of them.
    Luca was watching her, waiting to see what she’d say. What point she wanted to make.
    Once she decided what that was.
    No…
    Had he come here because he was jealous of his brother, and he’d decided to convince her to marry him because he hadn’t found anyone else?
    Part of her was deeply, truly glad he hadn’t found someone else. But the old questions still remained: could she commit to staying with him if it meant spending the rest of her life on an island that had no electricity? That offered no opportunity to work other than farming?
    She’d said no to that four years ago—and for heaven’s sake, the answer was still no. No matter how much her body was begging her not to let him go, not to make the same mistake all over again.
    What she could see through the window certainly was the cold light of day.
    “This room will kill you,” Luca said quietly. “It stinks of poison. You shouldn’t sleep in a place like this.”
    “It’s convenient.”
    Without saying anything more, he got up off the bed and stood beside it. She thought he might gather up his clothes, get dressed and leave, but he didn’t seem to have the spirit to do even that little. His eyebrows were drawn together, and for a moment she had the sense that he was arguing bitterly with someone she couldn’t see.
    Four years ago, she’d cared deeply for this man. Deciding to turn him down had been the hardest thing she’d ever done, and she thought it might well still hold that title. The grief she’d felt after she’d walked away began to well up inside her again, and she wished she were impetuous enough to tell him yes, this time she’d agree to go with him. That what they had between them was more important than any job, any sort of real-world responsibility.
    “Don’t be angry,” she said, and sat up cross-legged in the middle of the bed. “It’s—we should talk, all right?”
    “We’re meant to be together, Allison. Do you feel that?”
    Four years ago, she definitely had. She’d been deeply, hopelessly in love with this man, the sweet and devoted lover who’d brought her little bouquets of flowers on the spur of the moment, or a single chocolate chip cookie, or a cluster of balloons.
    No matter what she was