Page 4 of Hidden Raphael
Chapter 2
Kimberly peered into the darkness of the library and gave her eyes time to adjust. A dim lamp shone from around the corner of the L-shaped room. If Raphael was waiting for her, he could have turned on the lights. She coughed and held that thought. Raphael had saved her life, and if he was cheap on his electric bill, she wouldn't comment. She inhaled and walked toward the light.
She paused as she made out the crackle of a fire and then relaxed. The old man must appreciate a fireplace in this dark and gloomy place. Kimberly smelled the old wood but couldn't see it.
At the edge of the light, she noticed a second door. She reached behind her neck and rubbed a chill away. Then she held the doorknob to open, but the portrait next to her caught her attention. Kimberly blinked at a thin, blonde woman in a green dress that matched her piercing eyes. Meg was much older, but she had the same eye color. The cobwebs near the portrait meant it should be old, and the dress meant Regency period. Meg seemed to keep everything spotless, so why was this spot dirtier? Kimberly stared into the green eyes of the portrait. Was this the old man's daughter? Perhaps Meg was a cousin or something like that.
Other portraits hung on the walls. Elegant people with green eyes and black hair. She turned away from the pictures and toward the books. Goose bumps rose on her arm, and she wondered if the pictures stared at her back. She sucked in her lips and refused to ponder that. Leather-bound books and paperbacks were all organized on the shelves. Mr. Raphael had a section for every reading style, from what she could see. No one person could read this many books.
Kimberly rubbed her arms and shook her head. Raphael's life was not her business. She needed to thank him and be on her way. Maine would have an airport or a car rental place. She needed to get home to Miami. Her sister's wedding wasn't that long ago, and she had missed too much of her mom and sister's lives already.
A gargoyle glared down at her from the corner of a shelf. She straightened her shoulders, reached out, and then turned the corner. Then, without hearing an answer, she walked in.
"Hello, Mr. Raphael?" She saw a man with broad shoulders and muscular frame near the fireplace, and her gaze traveled up his black pants leg to his solid frame, up to his black t-shirt that accentuated his muscles, then she froze.
He was about thirty, with black hair, green eyes, and muscles that were appropriate for a man in the military. The man’s lips curled, and she could see that he wasn't happy to see her.
Her throat grew tight and she licked her lips. Was he another servant of the old man? He had the eyes. Was this the man who'd saved her from the pilot? She reached behind her head and rubbed the bump. She wanted to thank him, but his expression read annoyed.
The pilot and the crash seemed like a nightmare that was best forgotten, but the bump meant it was real. She needed to just go home. She owed her mom. She took a deep breath and held her hands together. Maybe this was the wrong man? "Sorry for intruding, but I’m looking for Mr. Raphael?”
He stared at her. "I'm Raphael Murphy. You're Miss Mira?"
Meg called this man master? She nodded in surprise. "I thought you'd be as old as Meg."
"Sorry to disappoint." He stroked a match and lit a candle on the table with two chairs. "But how would an old man have rescued you last night?"
"With a gun." Again an image of the pilot inches from her face raced through her mind. She let it go, and the spots in her vision dissipated. Her gaze shot straight into his, but then she stepped back. "Is the pilot dead?"
"The pilot? I interrupted a man trying to shoot you." Raphael lifted his shirt a bit and showed her his ripped abdomen with a nasty bruise on it. "He intended to kill you, Miss Mira. You didn’t know him?"
"Absolutely not." She straightened her spine and dropped her hands to her sides. "I paid no attention to the pilot until he shot my friends and brought down the plane."
Raphael crossed his arms. "Then why was he about to kill you?"
Nausea almost paralyzed her on the spot. Was he serious? "'Cause I saw him kill Eileen and Ali."
He ran his hand through his hair, like he was annoyed. Then he flicked on the lights. Her eyes burned for a moment, but soon adjusted. His cool aloofness kept her from tears. If the pilot wasn't dead, then she was still in trouble. She should go as fast as she could. “I need to go.”
He sat down in a chair at the small table with the candle, then motioned for to sit opposite him. She glanced up at a huge candelabrum shimmering above her. Candlelight danced on the walls.
"Let's sit, Miss Mira." Raphael spoke formally, as if he was to interrogate her.
"The last person to call me that was my eleventh-grade physics teacher."
He scooted his chair closer to the table without a word. She took a step toward the chair. Kimberly owed him her life. She sat down.
He placed his hands on the table. "I wasn’t planning on visitors this winter in my home, Miss Mira."
"It's more like an ancient castle than a house." The man smelled clean, despite the ardent smell of annoyed and dangerous he gave off. She took a whiff of him and sat straighter. "Call me Kimberly."
His green eyes were all she could see as the rest of the room melted out of her consciousness. "Kimberly."
He studied her, and she averted her gaze to stare at the candle between them. The flame danced in the air and didn’t help her ignore how, near him, all she could smell was a woodsy-scented, testosterone-filled man. Her face heated and she took a deep breath to stop a blush. She ought to get out of here. "Did the police arrest the pilot?"
"No." Raphael tugged his ear. She stared at his white knuckles. The memory of the pilot and last night raced through her. "I had a choice last night to chase him down or save your life. You were suffering hypothermia and your head wouldn’t stop bleeding. I brought you home to keep you safe."
There was something else. She couldn't place her finger on it. She tapped her fingers against the table and stared into his eyes again. "But he could get in here?"
