Where Sleeping Dragons Lie (Skeleton Key) Read Free Page A

silent stranger at the
counter. “I’ve also brought along an appraiser I have worked with for many
years while living in New York.”
    Briana felt her heart
once again speed up, but this time in rising excitement instead of trepidation.
Could she possibly be on the brink of solving the book’s mystery so early in
the game? Did she dare hope?
    The appraiser approached
them and offered her his hand. “Harold Brown. I am the owner of the Brown
Auction House in New York City and an expert in rare books and ancient
manuscripts.”
    She gave his hand a firm
shake. “It’s nice to meet you, too.”
    “Perhaps everyone would
like to continue this conversation in the privacy of my office?” Carol offered,
looking questionably at Briana rather than the two men.
    Not wanting to give away
her mounting excitement, Briana focused her attention on Taron and said with a
touch of hesitation, “Before I agree to allow you to examine my book Mr.—excuse
me— Taron , may I ask you a couple of questions about your heirloom book?”
    His gaze sharpened. “Ask
me anything.”
    “Describe its interior—was
a printing press used or was it handwritten? What language did the author use,
and were there any illustrations included?”
    He grinned slowly, and
suddenly a shudder of unease inundated her body as this new expression made her
inexplicably feel as though he was presenting her with a show of weapons rather
than something as benign as a smile. What the hell was wrong with her? Or him ?
    Yes, his eyes were a
little bit creepy, and he was gorgeous enough to fluster her. Yet, other than startling
her yesterday with his sheer excitement over Granny Ruth’s book, he had really
done nothing that explained why being in his presence, alone, put her so much
on edge.
    Maybe she should’ve
declined his request for a meeting from the get-go and waited for Joseph to
arrive, after all…
    “Oh, it was very much
handwritten—given that it was written using an alphabet I really doubt more
than a handful of people have seen over the ages, much less know how to read,”
Taron answered. “As for illustrations, there was only one, located about a
third of the book in and drawn by someone with what were probably only rudimentary
artistic skills. A key.”
    Briana could feel the
heat of her excitement rise in her cheeks as Taron held out his hand to his
appraiser. His description was a bit too on the nose for her to discount. She
watched with curiosity and an eagerness she could no longer hide as Mr. Brown
opened up the leather briefcase he was carrying and pulled out a set of 4x6 photos
which he handed to Taron.
    He quickly shuffled
through them before selecting one and then holding it out to her. “This key.”
    The picture was of what
looked like a charcoal sketch of a double-bitted key with a skeleton head on a
yellowing piece of stained canvas. A tiny gasp escaped her lips. It looked
remarkably similar to the very drawing she had discovered in the book only this
morning, down to the shape of the two teeth and the style of the skull. That
picture was the reason she had rushed over to the book shop at the crack of
dawn today.
    Before she could
comment, Taron handed her two more photos. The first shot was a small oil
painting of a close-up of four dark-haired women with similar features and of
varying ages. They stood in a parlor room, the youngest handing a very familiar-looking
leather-bound book with a darkened corner on the front cover to the oldest of
the other three.
    The second photo was a
portrait of a different woman in a different style of dress that was sitting
before a fireplace in a room lit only by the oil lamp on a small table next to
her chair. On the table next to the lamp was the same leather-bound book, blank
spine facing the viewer.
    “Okay, you definitely
piqued my interest,” Briana admitted with a small smile.
    “Briana, go ahead and
escort these gentlemen to my office. I’ll prepare some tea for our guests.”
    The