Read Nightwalker for Free Online Page B

bare
    ankles.
    "What are you doing out here, cat?" she hissed softly. The animal
    ignored her. Sitting down, he wrapped his tail around his feet and looked
    up expectantly.
    The knock came once more, conveying a demand that had to be
    confronted.
    "Who is it?" she called out a little shakily as she tried to look through
    the clouded glass pane. All she could make out was the dark shape of a
    man.
    "Justin Drake. Let me in, Cassie."
    She straightened immediately, deeply startled. Justin Drake? Here on
    her doorstep? No wonder she'd had a premonition of danger. "Go away!"
    "Don't be an idiot, Cassie. You know damn well I'm not going to go
    away. Open the door."
    "Not on your life. Get out of here, Mr. Drake. I have no desire to see you
    again and you know it!"
    "Cassie, there's no way on earth I can get back down that road tonight.
    What's left of it is like quicksand. Open the door."
    "What are you doing here, anyway?" she shot back, vastly annoyed as
    well as very uneasy.
    "Let me in and I'll tell you."
    "No thanks."
    "Cassie, the wind is blowing forty miles an hour out here. It's cold and
    it's wet and I've had a hell of a long drive."
    "Tough."
    "Cassie, if you don't let me in this minute, I'm going to break one of the
    windows and let myself in," he told her flatly.
    He'd do it, too. Cassie was absolutely certain of it. In a huge house like
    this there would be no way she could guard each and every window.
    "Damn you, Justin Drake, if you so much as lay a finger on me
    I'll call the sheriff!" It was an empty threat. There was no telephone in
    the mansion.
    "I'm not here to strangle you, Cassie, although the idea is tempting.
    Now open the door and stop cringing."
    It was the accusation of cringing that did it. Infuriated by it, Cassie
    flung open the door and stood glaring up at him. The wind caught her
    gown, plastering it against her body. The candle flame revealed the
    gleaming dark eyes of Dracula for an instant and then was snuffed out by
    the force of the gale that swept hungrily through the doorway.
    The descent of complete darkness made Cassie gasp. Instinctively she
    stepped backward, aware of Justin's shadowed form moving into the hall.
    A second later she heard the front door slam shut.
    "What the hell are you doing running around with only a candle? Lights
    go out?"
    "You're very observant. Since you can probably see in the dark anyway,
    why are you worried about lights?" she muttered. A loud screech of protest
    ricocheted through the hall.
    "What the devil is that?" Justin growled.
    "The cat," she rasped, disgusted with the fact that the sudden cry had
    shaken her. Her nerves were falling apart, she thought distractedly. What
    was she doing standing in the hall of a lightless old mansion, talking to
    Dracula? "And I thought I wanted a little atmosphere," she grumbled,
    feeling her way along the wall toward the library. She could barely make
    out the few dancing shadows that indicated the fire was still alive. The cat
    brushed her leg again as he hurried on ahead of her to settle back into his
    chosen chair.
    "You call that a fire?" Justin followed her into the room, moving with an
    uncanny silence that was distracting in itself.
    "I quit Girl Scouts the second week, so I missed the seminar on building
    a fire," she mumbled caustically. "If you think you can do any better, go
    ahead."
    Without another word he moved into the faint light thrown by the
    faltering flame and knelt to deal with the fire. "What in hell made you
    choose this crumbling monstrosity of a house as a place to hide, Cassie?"
    "I am not hiding from you, Justin Drake!" She considered using a
    candlestick on his head. But attempted murder still seemed a bit extreme.
    He wouldn't really hurt her, would he?
    "How did you find me, anyway?" she demanded.
    "I asked Alison, of course," he replied succinctly, concentrating on his
    efforts to revive the fire.
    "Why are you here, Justin?" she made herself ask calmly as she sank
    down on the velvet