Harlequin Romance April 2015 Box Set Read Free

stairs.
    There were five doors on the first floor, if she didn’t count the door to the linen closet. Four of them stood wide open—a bathroom and three bedrooms. Mind you, all the curtains in each of those rooms were drawn, so it was dark as Hades up here. The fourth door stood resolutelyclosed.
Do Not Disturb
vibes radiated from it in powerful waves.
    ‘Guess which one the prize is behind?’ she murmured under her breath, striding up to it.
    She lifted her hand and knocked.
Rat-tat-tat!
The noise bounced up and down the hallway. No answer. Nothing.
    She knocked again, even louder. ‘Mac, are you in there?’
    To hell with calling him Mr MacCallum. Every Tuesday nightfor the last five years she’d sat with Russ, watching Mac on the television. For eight years she’d listened to Russ talk about his brother. He would be Mac to her forever.
    She suddenly stiffened. What if he was hurt or sick?
    ‘Go away!’
    She rolled her eyes. ‘“There was movement at the station.”’
    ‘Can’t you follow instructions?’
    Ooh, that was a veritable growl. ‘I’m afraidnot. I’m coming in.’
    She pushed the door open.
    ‘What the hell?’ The single light at the desk was immediately clicked off. ‘Get out! I told you I didn’t want to be disturbed.’
    ‘Correction. An anonymous note informed me that someone didn’t want to be disturbed.’ It took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the darkness. She focussed on that rather than the snarl in his voice. ‘Anyonecould’ve left that note. For all I knew you could’ve been slain while you slept.’
    He threw his arms out. ‘Not slain. See? Now, get out.’
    ‘I’d like nothing better,’ she said, strolling across the room.
    ‘What the hell do you think you’re—?’
    He broke off when she flung the curtains back. She pulled in a breath, staring at the newly revealed balcony and the magnificent view beyond.‘Getting a good look at you,’ she said, before turning around.
    The sight that met her shocked her to the core. She had no hope of hiding it. She reached out a hand to steady herself against the glass doors.
    ‘Happy?’
    His lips twisted in a snarl that made her want to flee. She swallowed and shook her head. ‘No.’ How could she be happy? He was going to break his brother’s heart.
    ‘Shocked?’ he mocked with an ugly twist of his lips.
    The left side of his face and neck were red, tight and raw with the post-burn scarring from his accident. His too-long blond hair had clumped in greasy unbrushed strands. Dark circles rimmed red eyes. The grey pallor of his skin made her stomach churn.
    ‘To the marrow,’ she choked out.
    And in her mind the first lines of thatBanjo Paterson poem went round and round in her head.
    There was movement at the station,
    for the word had passed around
    That the colt from old Regret had got away
    Regret. Got away. She suddenly wished with everything inside her that
she
could get away. Leave.
    And go where? What would she tell Russ?
    She swallowed and straightened. ‘It smells dreadful in here.’
    Too close and sour and hot. She slid the door open, letting the sea breeze dance over her. She filled her lungs with it even though his scowl deepened.
    ‘I promised Russ I’d clap eyes on you, as no one else seems to have done so in months.’
    ‘He sent you here as a spy?’
    ‘He sent me here as a favour.’
    ‘I don’t need any favours!’
    Not a favour for you.
But she didn’t saythat out loud. ‘No. I suspect what you really need is a psychiatrist.’
    His jaw dropped.
    She pulled herself up to her full height of six feet and folded her arms. ‘Is that what you
really
want me to report back to Russ? That you’re in a deep depression and possibly suicidal?’
    His lips drew together tightly over his teeth. ‘I am neither suicidal nor depressed.’
    ‘Right.’ She drewthe word out, injecting as much disbelief into her voice as she could. ‘For the last four months you’ve sat shut up in this dark house,