Read Seduction Becomes Her for Free Online Page B

muff for April; for Daphne, some new gowns to be sure but also a mohair shawl and a fringed silk turban.

    It was a merry trio who eventually made their way upstairs to their bedrooms that night. With no storm howling about and already feeling more comfortable in the house, they each sought their rooms with confidence.

    Grateful again for the warmed sheets, Daphne nestled under the heavy pile of covers. Feeling less a stranger tonight, she fell deeply asleep.

    She woke hours later, freezing with cold—even beneath the bank of blankets. The fire had been reduced to a few orange and yellow embers that blinked on the hearth, and like a living thing, the darkness of the room seemed to press down on her. She pulled the blankets tighter around her to no avail, the cold so intense she shivered violently. Teeth chattering, she sat up, intending to throw the last few pieces of wood on the fire, when she became aware that she was no longer alone in the room. In that same moment, she knew intuitively that it was not April or Adrian who was crooning softly in the darkness beyond the bed. Terror flooded her as she realized that the sound, half sigh, half moan, came from no living being.

    Someone, something was in the room with her….

Chapter 3

    H er heart beating so hard and fast she feared it would leap out of her chest, Daphne exploded from the bed, grabbing for the heavy brass candlestick that sat on the stand near the bed. It wasn’t much of weapon, but it was the only object near at hand. She looked toward the source of the sound, and to her horror, amidst the shadows, there was now a wavering white mist in the middle of the room.

    In a hard voice at odds with the terror that engulfed her, she said, “Whoever you are, I order you to leave this instant! Now!”

    Abruptly, the odd noise stopped, and the mist appeared to recoil on itself at the sound of her voice.

    Her hand tightened on the brass candlestick, and Daphne took a step forward. To her surprise, the mist retreated slightly. Her initial terror ebbing and common sense and curiosity coming to the forefront, she took another step, pleased when the mist retreated again. Emboldened by her success she pointed a finger at the mist and said, “Begone! You are not wanted here.”

    To her astonishment and very great relief, the misty area in front of her vanished. She sensed movement near the far wall, but when she glanced in that direction, her eyes could not pierce the deep darkness that lay between her and whatever had been in her room.

    With the presence gone, she was conscious that the bone-freezing cold was also gone. The room was chilly, but it was just the natural chill one would expect and not the numbing iciness that had plagued her only a moment previously.

    Which is all well and good, Daphne thought as she scurried to the fire, but what the devil had just happened? Reaction set in, and her entire body trembled, her teeth chattering and her hands shaking so badly, it was several seconds before she could get the candles lit. Only when the room was ablaze with light did her body stop shaking and some of her uneasiness flee. She threw more wood on the fire and pulled on her heavy, dark green woolen robe.

    She stayed near the fire, her gaze fixed on the spot on the far wall where she had last seen…no, sensed the apparition. It took more courage than she knew she possessed to cross the room and examine that particular section of wall. Holding a candle in one hand, she studied the wall. At first glance, the wall seemed like any other, but as she stared, she noticed in the midst of the Chinese-printed wallpaper, a faint hairline crack…a hairline crack, that as her fingers slowly traced it, revealed what might have been the outline of a door…. Her heart began to pound, and her breath caught.

    Stop it! she ordered herself. There is nothing, absolutely nothing, sinister about this. The house is old, centuries old—perhaps, there was a doorway here at one