Gift of Gold by Jayne Ann Krentz Page B

night's sleep, and Verity here looks a little washed out. What's the matter, Red? Haven't you been getting enough sleep lately?"

    "She works too hard and she doesn't eat properly," Jonas said. His eyes never left her face. "Come on, Verity, I'll walk you back to your cabin."

    She wanted to refuse. The panic attack, or whatever it was, seemed to have vanished with as little warning as that with which it had materialized, but a lingering uneasiness remained.

    Some part of her was almost certain that Jonas Quarrel was the source of her uneasiness. Yet, when he took her hand and led her outside into the night, Verity followed without protest.

    Chapter Five

    "ARE you all right?" Jonas asked quietly. His fingers closed around Verity's hand as he guided her through the trees along the barely visible path that led to her cabin.

    "Of course," Verity mumbled, taking deep breaths of the crisp night air. Jonas's grip felt strong and reassuring. He seemed to be communicating some of his quiet strength to her. Verity tried to drink it into herself without being too obvious about it. "Why shouldn't I be all right?" She concentrated on the familiar sights and sounds of the night around her.

    Everything was utterly normal here at Sequence Springs. The wind rustled in the trees. Scattered lights gleamed along the shoreline. The glow from her cabin window was warm and welcoming. Now and then the distant sound of an automobile engine rumbled briefly, then faded.

    Everything was normal. She was normal. She was just fine.

    "Your father was right," Jonas said slowly. "You looked a little washed out back there in the cabin. Sure you're okay?"

    "I told you, I'm fine. Just a little tired, that's all. Having Dad show up out of the blue is always a bit disconcerting."

    She felt defensive. Damned if she was going to admit to this man that she had suffered a momentary hallucination tonight.

    "Take it easy," Jonas said soothingly. He released her hand and put his arm around her shoulders.

    Verity found herself nestled closely against his side. The warm, heavy, oddly comforting weight of his arm around her sparked mixed emotions. On one hand, she was still aware of an inexplicable uneasiness. A part of her insisted on irrationally associating Jonas with the fear she had known a few minutes ago. But another, equally primitive and very feminine part of her was convinced that the masculine power in Jonas offered safety from those same terrors. In desperation, she tried to make normal conversation.

    "It figures my father's only here because he's in trouble. If it isn't one thing, it's another. Now he's got a loan shark after him. Are you sure about those dueling pistols?" she asked.

    "Sure about them being genuine? Yes, I'm sure."

    She glanced up at him, curious and perplexed. "How can you be certain without doing some sort of tests?"

    Jonas shrugged, the action somehow pulling her more tightly against him. "I've seen a lot of old guns. I know what old steel looks like. I know what old craftsmanship looks like. And I know what a dueling pistol feels like."

    "What it feels like? What do you mean?"

    He was staring straight ahead at the light in her cabin. "It's hard to explain. A good dueler feels right in the hand. The aim is true. Point it and it's aimed. You can sense it. In a real duel there's no time to line up the target in the gun's sights. All you can do is point the weapon in the general direction of the target. Dueling pistols are usually fairly heavy, too. They're designed so that in the grip of a very nervous man the aim is less likely to be affected by a jerky trigger finger."

    Verity shivered. "Makes sense. I can imagine how nervous I would be if I were standing on a so-called field of honor at dawn waiting for someone to give the signal to fire."

    Moonlight glinted briefly off Jonas's bleak smile. "The feeling goes beyond nervous, believe me. It's similar to the sensation you get when you hold a rapier with an unblunted tip and