Page 74 of Winterset

“Perhaps he followed him. Didn’t he say that Kit was the last to leave?”

Anna nodded. “But if he followed Kit, Kit would have heard him. He would have turned around and seen him. Why would he risk that?”

“He planned to kill Kit, so Kit would not have been alive to testify against him.”

“Then it would certainly be his good luck—whoever he is—that Kit can’t seem to remember what happened,” Anna mused.

“Yes,” Reed agreed. “And I would say that places Kit in danger still. The attacker cannot be sure that Kit will not remember.”

“The other night, I thought—I thought I saw someone outside our house. In the trees.”

“What!” Reed’s head snapped around and he stared at her in consternation. “The killer was lurking outside your house?”

“I don’t know that it was the killer. It was dark, and he was under the trees. I—I keep thinking perhaps it was only a shadow, and my imagination was overactive.”

“Good God. We must do something. You aren’t safe there. You and Kit should move into Winterset.”

“How would we be any safer there?” Anna protested. “Holcomb Manor is smaller, with fewer doors and windows where an intruder could enter. I alerted the servants, and made sure all the doors and windows were locked. And Thompkins has been sleeping across Kit’s door on a cot.”

“It isn’t Kit I am worried about. It is you!” Reed responded, scowling.

“But no one has tried to kill me,” Anna said.

“That doesn’t mean he won’t. What is to keep him from seizing the opportunity to do away with both of you?”

“But why?”

“Why does he do anything? I don’t know. Whoever we are dealing with has some twisted sort of logic of his own that you and I cannot hope to understand. He might think killing two people at once would be a special sort of thrill. An accomplishment. He might not have any intention of killing you at all, but what if you were to wake up and see him sneaking into or out of the house? He would kill you just to get rid of a witness.”

“There is nothing to say any of that will happen,” Anna pointed out.

“Perhaps not, but I don’t want to take the risk.” Reed took her hand, holding it between both his own. “My God, Anna, if he hurt you, I don’t know what I’d do.”

The honesty, the raw need, in his voice touched Anna on some deep, primitive level. She looked into his eyes, and she saw the heat of anger and fear changing, turning into a different sort of heat. Her own blood warmed in response. She curled her fingers around his. His head lowered, drew closer to hers. She looked into his eyes, turned smoky by the subtle lowering of his thick black lashes, and she felt the curl of desire deep within her abdomen. He wanted her, just as she wanted him, and Anna knew that she need only raise her lips to his to send their desire spiraling out of control. There was an inn behind them; it would be easy to get a room. No one would wonder if they returned to the Manor a little bit late.

It took all her willpower to turn her head aside, breaking the contact of their eyes. “I—it’s getting late. We had better return.”

She felt the stiffening of his body, could almost hear the gritting of his teeth. But he said only, “Yes, of course.”

It was a long ride home, and they did not speak much. If Anna had hoped that during the course of it, Reed had forgotten about his worries over her safety, such hopes were dashed when he insisted on going into the house with her to see Kit.

They found her brother in his study. He was seated at his desk, a pile of papers in front of him, but he was not working, only staring off into space. He looked up, startled, when they came in, then gave a sheepish grin.

“Come in. You’ve caught me woolgathering.”

“You are entitled to, after that crack on the head you received,” Reed commented.

“I still don’t remember getting hit,” Kit commented. “But I have remembered the time before that, though.”

“You have?” Anna and Reed drew closer, sitting down in the chairs across from her brother’s desk.

“Yes. I remember playing cards at Dr. Felton’s house,” he said. “I had a couple of whiskies, and I lost a little money. Then I remember taking my leave of Martin and starting out for home. But I don’t remember even reaching the lane where you found me. The strangest thing…I felt so sleepy.”

“What?” Reed leaned closer, his eyes sharp. “What was strange about it? It was late.”

“Yes, but I was terribly sleepy. Not like I am normally at bedtime. It was as if I could barely stay awake. I remember having to struggle to keep my eyes open. It was a good thing Nestor knew the way home, or God knows where I might have ended up.”

Reed and Anna glanced at each other, then back at Kit.