The Lost Night by Jayne Castle Read Free Book Online

hair was loose and mussed from sleep and tumbled around her shoulders.
    Even from across the roomhe was intensely aware of the strong energy that shivered in the atmosphere around her. It aroused him and heated his blood, made him want to reach for her and drag her down onto the sofa with him.
    She moved with an elegant, feminine grace and confidence that spoke of dance or martial-arts training. He had heard that both were taught from childhood on within the HE community.
    Darwina, Amberella clutched tightly in one paw, fluttered down the steps at Rachel’s feet.
    He lay unmoving on the sofa. Rachel was already more than a little pissed off at him. The last thing he wanted to do was startle or alarm her. When she reached the foot of the stairs, she turned toward the kitchen. The route took her past the sofa. She glanced his way but she did not pause.
    “I know you’re awake,” she said in a normal tone of voice. “I’m just going to let Darwina out.”
    She kept going into the unlit kitchen. He pushed aside the blanket and sat up on the edge of the sofa. The back porch door opened.
    “You and Amberella stay out of trouble, now,” Rachel said softly. “I do not want to get a call from Officer Willis telling me to come bail you out of jail.”
    There was an answering chortle and then the door closed. A moment later Harry heard water run in the sink. A cupboard door opened.
    He got up from the sofa and raked his fingers through his hair, pushing it back behind his ears. He padded barefoot across the cold floor. He had removed his pullover but he still had on the black T-shirt and trousers so he figured he was reasonably decent. He stopped in the kitchen doorway. Another night-light illuminated the scene. Rachel was lounging against the sink sipping a glass of water. There were dark shadows in her eyes.
    “Bad dreams?” he asked.
    “Yes.” She madea face. “Darwina sensed my agitation. She woke me. But once she knew I was awake, she decided to go check out the after-hours clubs with Amberella.”
    “After-hours clubs?”
    “Or wherever dust bunnies go at this time of the night.” Rachel glanced toward the windows. “Looks like the storm is over.”
    He followed her gaze and saw fog infused with cold moonlight pooling in the clearing around the cottage.
    “For now,” he said. “But there’s more heavy weather on the way.”
    “You think it’s another sign of trouble in the Preserve, don’t you?”
    “There’s so much energy stirring inside the fence now that it’s having a serious impact on the local microclimate.”
    “You’re not the only one here who is saying that. There really is something big going on out there in the Preserve, isn’t there?”
    “Yes.” He folded his arms across his chest and watched her drink the last of the water. “Was there a storm the night you did your fugue-walk?”
    “I don’t think so.There was a lot of fog when I left the bookstore but I could see well enough to ride my bike back here to the cottage. My shoes and clothes were damp when I walked out of the Preserve the next morning but it seemed like the normal sort of dampness that you’d pick up walking through the woods and across rough terrain at night.”
    He studied her for a long time. “What do you remember?”
    For a moment he thought she was not going to answer the question. But after a while she started to talk.
    “Very little,” she said. “I spent most of the day at the bookshop, conducting an inventory, dusting, just puttering around. I was still trying to decide whether or not I wanted to move to Rainshadow and take over the business as my aunts suggested or put the store and the cottage on the market. I locked up around five o’clock and started back here on my bicycle. Somewhere on the road everything went blank. Or maybe I should say mostly blank.”
    “Meaning?”
    “Lately I’ve been getting more and more wispy little fragments of memories. At least I think they may be real memories.