The Dark-Hunters Read Free Page B

women united by swords.
    Frowning, Grace vaguely recalled it as some sort of ancient Greek symbol.
    Even more intrigued than before, she flipped through the book only to find it was completely empty except for the three pages …
    How weird.
    It must have been some sort of sketchbook for an artist or a sculptor, she decided. That would be the only explanation for why the pages were left blank. Something must have happened before the artist had a chance to add anything more to the book.
    But that didn’t really explain why the pages looked a whole lot older than the binding …
    Flipping back to the drawing of the man, she studied the writing across the page from him but couldn’t make any of it out. Unlike Selena, she’d avoided language classes in college like they were poison, and if not for Selena, she would never have passed that part of her core curriculum at all.
    “It’s definitely Greek to me,” she said under her breath, then she returned her attention to the man.
    He was amazing. So very perfect and inviting.
    So incredibly sexy.
    Completely captivated by him, she wondered how long it would take to make a drawing so perfect. Someone must have spent years on it, because the guy literally looked as if he could step right off the page and into her house.
    *   *   *
    Selena paused in the doorway as she watched Grace staring at Julian. In all the years she’d known Grace, she’d never seen her so enthralled.
    Good.
    Maybe Julian could help her.
    Four years was really too long.
    But then Paul had been an inconsiderate, self-centered pig. His callousness for Grace’s feelings had even made her cry the night he’d taken her virginity.
    And no woman deserved to cry. Especially not while she was with someone who had told her he cared about her.
    Julian would definitely be good for Grace. A month with him and Grace would forget all about Paul. And once Grace tasted what real, mutual sex was like, then she would be free of Paul’s cruelty forever.
    But first Selena had to get her stubborn chum to be a little more compliant.
    “Did you order the pizza?” Selena asked, handing her a full glass of wine.
    Grace absently took it. For some reason, she couldn’t quite take her eyes off the picture.
    “Gracie?”
    Blinking, she forced herself to look up. “Hmm?”
    “Caught you looking,” Selena teased.
    Grace cleared her throat. “Oh, please, it’s just a little black-and-white drawing.”
    “Hon, there ain’t nothing little in that drawing.”
    “You’re bad, Selena.”
    “True enough. More wine?”
    As if on cue, the doorbell rang. “I’ll get it,” Selena said, setting the wine down on the end table, then heading to the foyer.
    A few minutes later Selena returned to the room. Grace let the wonderful aroma of a large pepperoni pizza drag her thoughts away from the book. And the man who seemed to have branded his image on her subconscious.
    But it wasn’t easy.
    In fact, it seemed to get harder by the minute.
    What the heck was wrong with her? She was the Ice Queen. Not even Brad Pitt or Brendan Fraser made her lustful. And they were in full, living color.
    What was it about that drawing?
    About him?
    Grace took a careful bite of the pizza and defiantly moved to an armchair across the room. There. She’d show that book and Selena that she was in control.
    *   *   *
    Four pieces of pizza, two Hostess cupcakes, four glasses of wine, and a full movie later, she and Selena were lying on the floor draped over stacked sofa cushions while they laughed at Sixteen Candles.
    “‘You say it’s your birthday,’” Selena started singing as she pounded the floor like a bongo drum. “‘It’s my birthday, too.’”
    Grace swiped her head with a cushion, then giggled as her head buzzed from the wine.
    “Gracie?” Selena asked, her voice full of mirth. “Are you tipsy?”
    She giggled again. “Maybe just comfortably toasty. Pop-Tart toasty.”
    Selena laughed at Grace, and pulled the band from