Chapter 1 #3
“When I can’t sleep, yes. I’m afraid Ben is made of far sterner stuff than I.” Cal closed the book, leaving his fingers between the pages. He’d observed enough trials to recognize the shiftless hesitation that was a hallmark of someone who wanted to confess. “Did you need something?”
Her eyes flicked to his bare chest and then away. “I’d actually like to speak to you about your brother.”
“All right.” He crossed his legs and leaned back, setting the book aside. The brass backing of the settee was like ice against his nape. “What about him? You said you didn’t want him disturbed. Did you mean that you don’t want to upset him?”
“I think he already is. Upset, I mean. He’s been acting strange, having nightmares.”
Something Ben would never admit to, even if wild horses were trying to drag it from him, and very telling if true. “That’s not a question, Noelle,” he pointed out softly, even as he filed the information away for later.
Noelle shook her head. Her wispy blonde hair seemed to float. “Did something happen to him as a child? Something I should know about? Was he hurt?”
“No.”
“I just . . .” Her eyes bounced off the dark papered walls with an energy that was familiar and compelling. “It feels like there’s something wrong with this place. That it’s doing something to him. He’s been a different person since we came back from Mexico. But that sounds silly, right?”
“I’ve been told some people believe that old houses absorb the energy that’s fed to them. That they become more and more like their occupants as time goes on.”
“Is that what you believe?”
“I believe we are as nature makes us, be that man, beast, or house.”
Her mouth flattened. “You’re speaking in riddles. He does that, too. He copies you.”
“Then maybe he’ll give you the answers you crave. Or not. Lawyers lie, darling.” Cal propped his arm over the back of the settee, suddenly exhausted. “Have you asked him about any of this?”
“Ben isn’t exactly an open book,” she said, which sounded like a yes.
“He’s like the buildings he designs—polished, but imposing.
You can see through them, or you think you can, but then you realize that the glass is just reflecting what’s around them.
I used to think that was mysterious. I used to—” she laughed sadly “—I used to like that about him.”
But not anymore floated in the air, unspoken. Dangerous.
“It sounds like you have your answer then.”
“Not even close!” she snapped. “I’m done with mysteries.
What the fuck is wrong with this house, Cal?
What’s it doing to Ben? Is it his father?
Something else? Please. Tell me. He dragged me back from our vacation like he couldn’t wait to be home, but all he does is storm around, talking to no one. And at night—”
Cal stopped her before she could elaborate. “Ben can take care of himself. I’m not sure I can say the same for you.”
She stumbled back several steps as he swept to his feet, her eyes flicking over him in a fearful once-over. “Is that a threat?”
“It’s a warning.” He looked down at her unsmilingly. “For you—and your sister.”
“What?” A line formed between her eyebrows. “Nadine? What’s she got to do with this? Have you been talking to Nadine?”
“Yes,” he said, seeing no benefit to the lie. “And I know you have, as well.”
She flushed angrily. “Don’t. Ben told me what you used to do with girls in those woods.
About how you made them cry.” Her eyes flashed with a hint of the fire that must have drawn Ben to her from the beginning.
When she was still free. “I won’t have you breaking her heart.
Nadine falls in love way too easily. She tends to think people are better than they are,” she said meaningfully.
Cal scrubbed at his face while he fought to maintain composure.
“My family has weighty expectations and in my younger days, I thought I could fuck myself free of them. And I’m not the only one.
If my brother has painted me as a black-hearted fiend for my past dalliances, he isn’t entirely false.
I tend to guard my affections as jealously as any dragon. ”
“He also said you don’t want to settle down.”
A cold smile spread over his face like prickling rime. “Well, then you should know your sister’s heart is safe enough. I hunt with arrows to blunt to pierce.”
“Fine. Keep your secrets. I’ll find out the truth,” she threatened.
“For your own sake, my dearest sister, I hope you don’t. Please my brother. Keep your counsel. That’s all you need concern yourself with as Benjamin Cullraven’s wife.”
“That’s frighteningly draconian, even for a lawyer.”
“It’s my nature,” Cal said. “Didn’t you ever read that story?”
“No.” Noelle stared at him. “What story?”
“Goodnight, Noelle.”
He could feel her eyes on his back as he picked up his book and walked out of the room, leaving her to the encroaching darkness with only her candle poised as vanguard against the night.
She looked like a sparrow, he thought, trembling beneath the shadow of a raven.