Sudden Insight

He gave her a long, hot glance, and she knew that under other circumstances, they would be heading back to the bed, not away from it.

Instead, he led her quickly to the French doors.

They stepped out and ran across the roof, just as a man burst through the doors behind them, and she knew that if they didn’t get away, they were dead.

The man who had first come to her room jumped nimbly down to the street level and held out his arms.

Without hesitation, she gave him her total trust, jumping into his embrace, crashing against him. He staggered back but kept his balance. When his arms came up to enfold her, she burrowed into him, feeling safe and at the same time more terrified than she ever had in her life. Not just because someone was after them. It was him. Them. Whatever was between them was going to change her whole life, and she couldn’t stop it.

He lowered his mouth to hers for a hard, frantic kiss. As the contact deepened, something strange happened. She felt as though she was looking right into his mind, and the experience was like nothing she had ever imagined.

She opened for him, tasting him, taking in the flavor of man and fine wine.

She was so wrapped up in the experience that she had forgotten all about the guy on the roof, until his shadow loomed over them.

She saw it, even with her eyes closed.

Breaking away, she gasped.

Even though they were supposed to be running from an intruder, they had gotten wound up in each other. Now they were trapped.

She woke with a start, the dream leaving her feeling disoriented and scared and exhilarated, all at the same time.

She lay in bed, breathing hard, going over the details of the encounter. The man who had first come to her room had been familiar. She should know him. But she couldn’t dredge up his name.

He had come to warn her that they were in danger. Was it a premonition? Or had she made it all up because she was upset about Evelyn Morgan?

RACHEL WAS RESTLESS ALL the next day and feeling as though she wasn’t doing her best work for her clients. Finally, in frustration, she closed the shop and changed into a comfortable dress and low-heeled shoes before stopping to put on a little lip gloss and blusher.

The building she owned was several blocks from the Bourbon Street Arms, and she had plenty of time to change her mind as she walked through the winter New Orleans evening, past bars and restaurants, T-shirt shops and strip joints—that rich mix of French Quarter sights and sounds she’d known all her life.

It was still early, and the Quarter was crowded with tourists and locals out to have a good time, many of them walking along carrying cups of beer or mixed drinks.

Everybody appeared to be having fun, but she was feeling as if she were going to her own funeral.

Maybe she should just forget about this meeting, turn around and go home.

Since that wasn’t really an option, she made her way through the crowd, pulled forward by the aura of danger surrounding the woman who had asked for a meeting that evening.

And not just around Evelyn Morgan. Rachel knew deep down that her disquiet had something important to do with herself, as well. And the man who had invaded her dream. Not invaded. He’d been the reason for the dream.

That was a strange notion, but again she couldn’t shake it. Lost in thought, she turned the corner and stopped short, suddenly assaulted by the flashing red-and-blue lights of several police cruisers.

They seemed to be flanking the door of the Bourbon Street Arms, but she couldn’t be sure because a crowd had gathered to watch the action.

“What happened?” she gasped as she stared at the cop cars and the bystanders.

“Don’t know,” a woman answered.

“Some lady’s dead.”

The breath froze in Rachel’s chest. It was Evelyn Morgan. She knew it.

She brought herself up short. She didn’t know that. Not for sure, but she couldn’t drive away the sick feeling gathering in her throat.

Uncertain, she looked around the crowd of gawkers. She could stay here, or go home and turn on the television where she might get more information than by hanging around.

She was starting to back away, looking to her right and left, when her gaze came to rest on a tall, dark-haired man who was craning his neck forward.

His features were a little rough around the edges. As though he’d done more living in thirty years than most men did in a hundred.

He drew near her, and she studied his blade of a nose, his hooded eyes, the shock of dark hair that he obviously had trouble controlling.

It was him. The man in the dream. Standing right on the street only a few feet away.

Oh, Lord, he was here, too, and no way could that be a coincidence.

As she stared at him, she realized what she hadn’t been able to figure out after the dream. He was Jake Harper.

She’d seen his picture in the paper at charity events and at the opening of a new housing development for residents who’d been displaced by Katrina.

He’d interested her, and she’d done some reading on him. She remembered he owned some restaurants and antique shops and also a construction company. But he never talked about his background. She gathered he didn’t come from money, but he’d worked his way into New Orleans society, although getting mentioned in the papers didn’t seem to be his goal. It just happened from time to time.

What was he doing here?

The same thing she was.

As though he knew she was watching, he turned toward her, working his way through the press of bodies.

Just before he reached her, someone jostled her, and she almost lost her footing.

As she fought not to get trampled, Jake surged across the four feet that still separated them, catching her arm to steady her. And as his fingers closed around her flesh, everything changed.

A sizzle of electricity shot along her nerve endings, the way it had in the dream. She tried to jump back, but the crowd around her was too thick, and his grip was too tight for her to escape.

Chapter Two

Jake’s heart was thudding, and at the same time his head was pounding. He wanted to let go of the woman, and at the same time he wanted to keep holding on to her forever.

The contradiction whirled in his brain along with a confusion of impressions that were more vivid than the street scene around him.

A shop in the French Quarter. Tarot cards. Tuna salad on a bed of greens. A woman alone in the swirl of humanity. Not just here but for as long as she could remember.

The thoughts came from her brain.

She was like him. Alone.

Her head turned toward him, her eyes wide with shock, and he knew that she was getting the same kind of impressions from him that he was getting from her.