My Heart's in the Highlands by Angeline Fortin (best english novels for beginners .TXT) 📗

card, Jace had lookedMikah up on the website for the Milwaukee Art Museum, smiling atthe thought of her working in that field when Hero had loved it sowell. On the staff page, he found her picture, saw her smilingface. His own smile faded when he saw that she had recently made adonation to the museum of Mongin’s Vue de Marly.

Her rejection of their past was at odds withJace’s burgeoning need to learn more about her, to win her back tohim. Recalling Smith saying that Mikah had gone to the cemeterywhile she was there, Jace had visited it as well, curious to seewhat she had seen. Finding the small crypt beneath the trees, hehad read the words over the door and entered to find the widecrypt. Laying a hand over Hero’s name, he had remembered thefleeting but intense romance that would forever hold his heart. Whywould the fates have given so much, only to sweep it away?

Then Jace remembered that fate had a certainway of crushing ones hopes. It had done it once before. It would doit again. He’d been about to walk away when he saw the shortepitaph below the names. A wish set in stone that their souls mightmeet again, and for a moment’s breath he had considered thepossibility that fate had more in store for them.

Whether Mikah Bauer liked it or not.

Jace took a deep breath and knocked firmly onthe door to Mikah’s flat. He waited but received no answer.Determinedly, he pounded again, and this time a door opened downthe hall and a woman of about fifty years poked her head out. Sheeyed him cautiously up and down, lingering in the safety of thedoorway. “If you’re looking for Mikah, she’s not home.”

“Can you tell me where I might find her?” heasked courteously, seeing the instant relaxation in the woman’sframe when he spoke in his deep brogue.

“She’s probably out with Kris somewhere.” Thewoman’s eyes softened perceptively when she noticed the cane he wasleaning on, relaxing her guard even more, though Jace was astranger. “It is New Year’s Eve, you know? They probably won’t beback until late, I bet.”

“Ahh, my mistake then.” Jace sighed andstepped back from the door. Mikah Bauer’s flat was what theAmericans referred to as a loft, a space in a converted warehousethat now housed almost a dozen separate dwellings. The hall wherehe stood was inside, leaving the residents sheltered from the coldwinds that swept in off the lake that was so close to the downtownlocation. One side of the long hall was interspersed with numbereddoors, while large windows that overlooked the street and parkinglot where Jace had parked his rental car after a long series offlights and connections dominated the opposite side.

In the daytime, the hall would be bright andcheerful. At nine in the evening, the hall was lit neither brightlynor dimly, but it was enough to allow Jace to easily see thethoughts working through the neighbor’s mind as she assessed himfrom head to toe. “I guess I’ll just come back then.”

“You’re welcome to wait, if you like,” camethe invitation.

“No, thank you. I could not impose,” he saidpolitely. “I will come again to see Miss Bauer.”

“You’re not a friend of hers?” Wariness hadreturned to the woman’s voice with the knowledge that Jace trulywas a stranger. He was glad to feel the emotional space increasebetween them.

“In a manner of speaking,” Jace said after amoment. “We … knew each other years ago.”

“Oh, I thought you might just be that guy shemet in …” The woman stopped suddenly, her eyes shifting out thewindow and she stepped forward, pointing. “Well, there she comesnow. How odd.”

“Odd?” Jace echoed, moving to the window aswell to look down.

“Well, it is just nine on New Year’s,” shesaid with a shrug.

The couple crossing the street was linked armin arm, Jace saw. And both were so bundled in thick winter clothesand hats that Jace was hard pressed to understand how the neighborhad recognized this Mikah so easily. But despite the green stockingcap covering most of her blond hair and the scarf pulled up higharound her ears, Jace recognized her as well as they moved beneaththe light of the streetlamp. It was not just her partiallyconcealed features; his Hero was visible in the way the womanwalked and the way she threw back her head as she laughed up at thetall man at her side.

“She looks lovely. Very happy,” he whispered,unaware that he had spoken aloud until the neighbor harrumphedloudly.

“Men! You should know that things aren’talways as they seem!” She crossed her arms with a frown in defenseof her gender.

“Why is that?”

“You look at her and see a happy girl? Well,it’s none of my business, but well, we meet in the hall a lot andthe walls aren’t as thick as they should be,” she shrugged. “She’sbright on the surface but sometimes, when she doesn’t think anybodynotices, a look comes about her. So sad, like somebody died. Allthe time.” Her brow creased as she studied him, and Jace wonderedif she was seeing that same look on his face.

Jace stood by the window watching Mikah asshe entered the door below. A moment later, the hum of the lift’sworkings filtered down the hall and Jace tensed as he realized thatin just a few seconds, she would be coming down the hall.

“Ha!” the woman laughed. “You look like youwant to bolt. Sure you don’t want to come inside and hide?”

Shooting her a frown, Jace braced himselfagainst his cane and stared down the hall, waiting for the liftdoors to open.

Chapter Forty-Four

They did, and the pair stepped out of thelift. Much like that moment on the ramparts a couple of weeksbefore, Mikah froze with awareness before she even looked up.

Then she did, catching sight of him. Her handwent to her throat, her eyes wide.

And, as before, she tensed like a deer in thewoods, ready to run away from whatever danger she perceived. Hercompanion must have sensed her intentions as well, because heclasped his hand tightly around her wrist and tugged