Dark Heat: The Dark Kings Stories Read Free Page A

into the house. He laid her on the couch and stripped her out of boots that were made for walking the streets of Edinburgh, not traipsing through the Highlands.
    He found her socks dry, so he left them on her feet and got to work removing her jacket. The hem of her sweater was wet, which led him to inspecting her jeans, only to find them also soaked.
    With grim determination, Hal lifted her sweater and unbuttoned the jeans. He was resolute in ignoring the glimpse he got of her flat stomach and the feel of her smooth skin against his hand.
    He gritted his teeth and tried to look away from the long, shapely legs revealed as he peeled off her jeans. Tried—and failed.
    Hal took in one long glance and felt a stirring of desire before he covered her with the thick tartan blanket from the back of the sofa. The fact she was shivering from the cold prompted him to take action and build a quick fire.
    When the flames were dancing before him, Hal looked over his shoulder to find Duke lying in front of the couch as if to guard the woman.
    “Doona worry, lad. I’m no’ in the habit of taking sleeping women.”
    Duke laid his great head on his paws, as if he were satisfied with the answer.
    Hal rose and retrieved the single small piece of luggage and the woman’s purse from the car. His curiosity awoken, he searched her purse to find her wallet and looked at the ID.
    Somehow he wasn’t surprised to find she was American. He read over the Arizona driver’s license until he found her name. “Cassandra Hunter,” he read aloud.
    He shifted his gaze to Cassandra. So, she was related to Dan, but how? She wasn’t Dan’s wife—that was for sure. Dan’s wife, Shelly, was British and was well known for being outgoing and a socialite.
    Hal leaned a hip against the back of the sofa. “So who are you, Cassandra Hunter from Arizona? And why are you here?”
    *   *   *
    Hal shut his phone off, ending the conversation with Rhys, and put two more logs on the fire. He hadn’t felt right leaving Cassandra alone overnight, so he had called Rhys to bring a few groceries.
    Once Hal learned who Cassandra was, and if she was supposed to be there since he couldn’t reach Dan, then he would leave the American to herself.
    Hal reclined in the chair and stretched his legs in front of him. His gaze returned to Cassandra. She hadn’t made so much as a sound since he’d brought her inside. Thankfully, the blue tinge to her lips had faded after an hour of him rubbing warmth into her arms, feet, and legs.
    Duke had kept his guard duty. If the dog trusted her, then Hal mostly likely would as well. Animals had uncanny abilities in reading people.
    Hal must have dozed because he awoke to the sound of a vehicle approaching. He knew before he looked that it was Rhys. Hal rose and walked to the door to open it before his friend could knock.
    “Is she still unconscious?” Rhys asked as he walked inside with a bag in each hand.
    “Aye. She’s no’ moved.”
    “Duke is with her, I see.”
    Hal took one of the bags and set it on the counter to unload the milk, orange juice, and water into the fridge. “Aye. Which leads me to believe Dan sent her, but then why couldn’t she get inside?”
    “You still have no’ gotten a hold of Dan?” Rhys asked as he set a loaf of bread, cereal, and some bagels on the counter.
    “Nay. What did you discover?”
    “I found a Cassandra Hunter from Phoenix, Arizona. She boarded a flight from Arizona, had a layover in Missouri, and then another in New York before coming here. Oh, and her luggage was lost.”
    Hal raised a brow. “How is she related to Dan?”
    “She’s his sister.”
    “Ah. So why is she here, I wonder?”
    Rhys shrugged his thick shoulders and smiled, his dark blue eyes creasing in the corners. “That I’m curious to know as well. I’ll let Con know where you’re at when he returns in the morn.”
    Hal nodded, his gaze still on Cassandra.
    Odd that after so many thousands of years, a female