Page 26 of Hidden Raphael
"One morning I woke up with a massive headache. She was naked beside me." Raphael's lips pressed together. "I left and never returned to my brother's home."
Wait. He had slept with his brother's wife? Her body went into shock. "You slept with her?"
"No. Yes." He clenched his hands. "I don't remember."
"And she almost killed your brother? What's his name?"
"Gabriel. My sister's Michaela."
She brushed his knuckles until he held her hand. "Was the blonde in the portrait the ex-wife?"
"Yeah. Tiffany." His intense stare almost melted through her. "I keep it there as a reminder not to involve myself with women."
Size zero was not a woman at all. Kimberly kept that thought to herself. "We're not all manipulative and plotting. Some are amazing, like my sister. Others are just normal, everyday people, like me."
"You're far from ordinary, Kimberly." He sat back on the stool, and his huge shoulders blocked out the rest of the room behind him. He’d helped her and she'd never betray him, not like that.
Kimberly sighed. Raphael had saved her life and she'd help him. She'd start with changing the subject. "So you decided you'd be a ghost in a haunted castle for the remainder of your years to punish yourself?"
His eyes opened and his gaze lightened. She smiled at him, then he shook his head. "You are slightly exaggerating and almost funny."
"Almost." She opened her mouth and swept her hand to her chest to mock herself. "If we can't laugh at ourselves, we're truly lost souls, Raphael. You should try it sometime."
They drank the rest of the wine in silence. He finished his last sip then coughed. “Let’s read the mystery novel now. If there is a threat, I want to see it with you.”
"I want to bring this to the library."
She nodded. He slipped the book in his back pocket, then brought the glasses onto a tray and carried them to downstairs. "Hey, that's my job,” she said.
"Bring the second tray and join me." He quickly washed the glasses and set them on the counter to dry. He held open the kitchen door for her. She quickened her steps.
On the bottom step, she stopped. "I forgot the crackers."
"I'll go."
She shook her head. "No. It’s my job. Go. I'll be right behind you."
She ran back into the darkened hall to pick it up.
The wind howled outside and the rain pummeled the glass window. Tomorrow, she'd not forget her candelabrum. The chill down her spine came from the cold.
Then she grabbed her crackers, threw them on her tray, and then ran as if something chased her.
