Where Sleeping Dragons Lie (Skeleton Key) Read Free

Carol
slowly nodded. “I didn’t want to say—I thought it was just me, but—yes, I think
that would be best.”

CHAPTER TWO
     
     
    “Carol! You won’t believe what I just found in the—” Briana called out excitedly as she pushed open the bookshop
door to the sound of bells before stopping mid-phrase when she realized that
her friend had visitors.
    At the sound of her
voice, the two men standing at the reception counter in the center of the shop,
one gray-haired and dressed in a standard gray business suit and the taller,
black-haired one in a more casual charcoal-colored sports coat and black
slacks, turned to look over at her. Briana instantly froze a step inside the
shop, her hand still clenched around the brass doorknob and the other
contracting tightly around the strap of her oversized shoulder bag. She stared
mutely at the taller man, at Taron Hildebrand, who regarded her with an opaque
expression in his eyes.
    “I’m—sorry,” Briana
forced out past the huge knot of surprise that had instantly formed in her
throat. “I didn’t realize you were with clients.”
    Her pulse began to race
when Mr. Hildebrand turned around completely and started to walk towards her, a
smile forming on his full lips. “Just the person I was hoping to meet with this
morning.” He reached out a hand. “Once again, my name is Taron Hildebrand.”
    Willing herself not to
show just how flustered she was feeling, Briana released the stranglehold she
had on her shoulder bag strap and accepted his hand for a shake with a
professional smile. “Briana Wright. It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Hildebrand.”
    “Just ‘Taron’ is fine.”
    Flashing her another
smile, he stepped back a few paces, allowing her to step more fully into the
shop and close the door. “Briana, as in the character from The Faerie Queene ?”
    “Only the spelling,
thank goodness,” she replied with a shrug. “Briana was such a shallow, terrible
character. My mother wasn’t into reading the classics.”
    Although she could guess
exactly why he wanted to meet with her, Briana decided not to humor him, client
or no client. Especially not when she was dying to tell Carol—and later
Joseph—about what she had discovered in the book just this morning.
    “You said you wanted to
meet with me,” she continued before he could even open his mouth to speak. “I’m
sorry for the misunderstanding, but I’m not an employee here. Like you, I’m
just a patron and friend of the shop owner.”
    Those uncanny, sunset
eyes bored into her without blinking. “Yes, but the book I saw you examining
yesterday is owned by you, correct?” Taron said.
    “It’s still not for
sale, no matter how much you offer me,” Briana countered quickly, putting a bit
of apology in her tone.
    “It’s slightly more
complicated than that, I’m afraid,” he said, the intensity of his stare not
waning a bit, making her want to squirm in discomfort.
    “Mr. Hildebrand believes
the book is an old family heirloom his family has been searching for since it
went missing in the early nineteenth century,” Carol sudden spoke up, making
Briana jump.
    She had completely
forgotten her friend and the older, unknown man that had likely accompanied
Hildebrand were also in the shop while she and this intimidating man talked.
“An heirloom?” she echoed incredulously.
    Taron nodded eagerly. “Although
I would have to examine it more meticulously to be sure, the blackened color of
the leather on the book’s upper, right-hand corner suggesting that it had once
been singed, as well as the absence of any writing or etchings on the outside
cover, even along the spine, fits the description my ancestors left of it in
diaries and letters. Also, to a lesser extent, an image of a book just as I’ve
described makes an appearance in a few family paintings that have been passed
down through the generations. I, of course, have brought photos of both the
letters and the paintings.” He gestured towards the