* * *
Ivy was so tired she barely had the energy to undress. Naked, she slipped beneath the covers. But the sleep she longed for eluded her. Instead, thoughts and images crowded her mind.
What was going on in this house? Threatening letters. Mysterious figures on the balcony. The weekend party, which she’d hoped would be a wonderful escape from the pressures of the city, now loomed as a fearsome danger. Ivy opened her eyes in the darkness. She’d always had a wild imagination, even as a very young girl. And always her thoughts were more vivid at night. She would force herself to think of pleasant things.
Caine. She smiled in the darkness. She’d known, almost from the first moment she’d seen Caine today, that he wasn’t like anyone she’d ever known before. The attraction was instantaneous. Every time they came near each other, every time they spoke, every time they even looked at each other, sparks flew. That kiss had been as inevitable as breathing.
Yet when they were children, they barely had a chance to know each other. By the time Ivy came to the St. Martin estate, Caine was finishing high school. He went off to college, then to Europe, studying medieval architecture.
Darren, on the other hand, just two years her senior, had been a good friend. They rode the same school bus, studied together after school occasionally and played ice hockey on the duck pond every winter. With so few neighbors in this remote setting, they had accepted each other with good-natured teasing.
How could there be danger or evil in this peaceful rural setting? Ivy punched her pillow and rolled over. If she had to, she would resort to counting sheep to fall asleep. She’d had her fill of thinking.