Lover Beware

closed her eyes and laid her head against the backrest of the chair. “It was my pleasure. Will you answer the phone? Tell Elle we’re too tired to talk but have her tell the others we’re all right.”
    “The phone isn’t ringing.” But he was already walking into the kitchen to answer it. Of course it wasn’t ringing. Yet. But it would. And it did. And he reassured Elle he wouldn’t leave her sisters and all was well in their world.
    It seemed hours before he was alone with Sarah. His Sarah. Before he could frame her face in his hands and lower his head to kiss her with every bit of tenderness he had in him. “There was something I saw, a shadow, dark and grim. I felt it had been on me, with me, and now it’s gone. That sounds ridiculous, Sarah, but I feel lighter, as if a great burden is off of me. You know what I’m talking about, don’t you?”
    “Yes.” She said it simply.
    His gaze moved possessively over her face. “You look so tired. I’d carry you to bed, but we wouldn’t make it if I tried.”
    She managed a small smile. “It would be okay if you dropped me on the floor. I’d just go to sleep.”
    He helped her through the hall to the stairs. “Hannah has the turret leading to the battlement, doesn’t she?”
    Sarah was pleased that he knew. “The sea draws her. The wind and rain. It helps her to be there, up high, where she can see it all. I’m glad you understand.”
    He went up the stairs behind her, ready to break her fall should there be need. Ready to do whatever it took to protect her. “It surprises me that I feel the power in this house, but I do. I’m a scientist. None of this makes sense, what you and your sisters are. Hell, I don’t even know how I’d describe you, but I know it’s real.”
    “Stay with me tonight, Damon,” Sarah said. “I feel very weary, like I’m stretched thin. When you’re with me, I’m not so lost.”
    “You’d have to throw me out, Sarah,” he replied truthfully. “I know I love you and I want you for my wife. I don’t ever want us to be apart.”
    “I feel the same, Damon.” Sarah pushed open the door to her bedroom and collapsed on the large four-poster bed. She looked beautiful to him, lying there, waiting for him to stretch out beside her.
    Her window faced the sea. Damon could see the water, a deep blue, waves swelling high, collapsing, rushing the shores and receding as it had for so many years. Peace was in his heart and mind. Soft laughter came from various parts of the house. It swept through the air, and filled the house with joy. Sarah was back. Sarah was home. And Damon had come home with her.

Hot August Moon
KATHERINE SUTCLIFFE

Chapter 1
    THE FLIGHT FROM Chicago had been a rough one. Turbulence had caused the Boeing 727 to bounce like a dribbled basketball, adding to the headache that had an excruciating grip on Anna Travelli’s head. She needed quiet. She needed darkness. She needed a freaking vacation, for God’s sake. She sure as hell didn’t need this.
    The intense August sun blinded Anna as she stepped from the rental car into the New Orleans blanket of dense humidity, and she regretted immediately that she had not checked in to a hotel and changed into something cooler before coming to the Mother of Grace Cemetery.
    Security surrounding the funeral appeared to be intense. Uniformed cops blocked the entrance to the cemetery, keeping the hungry reporters at bay, their sharp gazes zeroing in on Anna as she approached. She wasn’t surprised. The triple homicide of the assistant district attorney’s wife and two children had made the national news. J. D. Damascus, along with Jerry Costos, had reamed the New Orleans criminal element up the backside. They’d made a great many enemies. The NOPD wouldn’t take a chance that one of those creeps would use this opportunity, and vulnerability, to make a statement.
    Anna removed her shield from her pocket as a pair of cops approached her; she flipped it open and held it up for their inspection. “FBI,” she said. “Special Agent Anna Travelli.”
    The officers exchanged looks, their raised eyebrows and slight smirks giving away their thoughts on the matter.
    “Is there a problem?” She pocketed the shield.
    Officer Williams shrugged as he gave her the once-over, admiring her long copper-red hair braided down her back. Williams grinned. “Wondered how long it was going to be before you guys got involved in this case.”
    “Obviously not soon enough.” She