Intimate Strangers Read Free

couldn’t define the something more, but she hoped it meant that she was wearing down his resistance.
    Grasping at straws, she said, "You needn’t be embarrassed if you’re… damaged in a physical sense. I work as a volunteer with battered children at my local hospital, and I’ve seen…" She cleared her throat. "… I’ve seen very difficult sights. I don’t frighten easily, if that’s what you’re worried about."
    "Please leave, Miss Cassidy," he urged in a voice that seemed to resonate with sadness. "The answers you seek will not be found here."
    She heard the finality in his voice. "What’s your name?"
    "My name isn’t important."
    "Of course, it is." Her voice reflected the same kind of patience she exercised with her first grade students whenever they grew irritable from boredom or fatigue. "I want to be able to tell Mr. Benteen of your vigilance when I meet him. Spell your name for me, won’t you?"
    "Miss…"
    "Call me Hannah, please. And I should warn you, I can be as stubborn as the day is long."
    A grudging chuckle escaped him. "That’s quite evident."
    She seized on his unexpected, albeit wry, humor. "I’m not dangerous, I’m not lying, and I’m not crazy. The Chief of Police in St. Louis knows me. His daughter is one of my students, and I know he’ll vouch for me if you’d just call him. I can also give you the phone numbers of my parish priest, my hairdresser, my accountant, and the veterinarian who takes care of my dog. Set whatever conditions you like, but please tell Mr. Benteen that I need to speak to him."
    "You’re very persistent, but you’re wasting your time."
    Her temper ignited. "My brother is not a waste of time!"
    "That’s not what I said."
    "It’s obviously what you meant."
    "Do you routinely endow people you don’t know with unattractive motives whenever they aren’t willing to give you what you want?"
    "Only when they’re being bullheaded and obtuse."
    He laughed, the sound low, warm, and stunningly sensual.
    Hannah felt the vibration of that sensuality sing across her senses. Wide–eyed, she said, "You sound almost human when you laugh. You should do it more often."
    "Please leave, Miss Cassidy. As charming as you probably are when you’re not behaving like a pit bull, you’re still not welcome here."
    "I am not leaving. I’ll wait you out. Eventually, you’ll have to come up for air or food or exercise at some point in the not too distant future. Finding Sean is more important than the inconvenience of sleeping in my van. Now, please do me the courtesy of giving my message to Mr. Benteen. And tell him one more thing for me. I don’t believe my brother would have given his friendship or respect to a man incapable of recognizing an honest plea for assistance."
    Spine stiff, head high, Hannah marched back to her van, yanked open the door, and crawled inside. She did all this under the watchful gaze of a man who placed a high value on his privacy, but not nearly as high a value as he placed on the survival of his few living friends.
    ** ** **
     
    The temperature plunged to a single digit reading as the afternoon spent itself. The forecasted snow flurries lasted only minutes, to be eclipsed by a steady onslaught of plump snowflakes that coated the landscape like a dense layer of white icing.
    Nicholas absently listened to the powerful gusts of wind that whistled through the eaves of the house, made the already heavy branches of the fir trees tremble with tension, and created haphazard snowdrifts. Accustomed to the unpredictable nature of the weather, Nicholas didn’t give the outdoor conditions a second thought. Neither did he assume that the weather would act as a catalyst to hasten the departure of the unwelcome guest parked in his driveway.
    Darkness arrived with the usual suddenness of a dropped curtain. It consumed the surrounding terrain and silenced the wild creatures that roamed the area by day.
    Nicholas Benteen, employing the discipline and precision he