CHAPTER 20
Shadows Were Just Shadows
Rory shook her head strongly, trying to push her thoughts out of her head. She slowly reached out, her fingers hovering just over the cold, dark surface of the obsidian metronome.
“He would not,” she told herself, her heart beginning that familiar, frantic thrum against her ribs. “A man like that does not send gifts. He does not ‘reach out.’ He is not human enough to care about other people at all.”
Yet, as she stared at the silver pendulum for a long while, she realized that she was terrified not because it might be from him—but because a small, treacherous part of her was almost disappointed at the thought that it might not be.
She remained frozen in the dim light of the suite, a solitary figure anchored only by a damp towel and a mounting sense
