Eyes of the Cat by Mimi Riser

professor, but he had also been her aunt’s most trusted associate. Surely he could help her out of this dilemma.
    “What are you doing here? I tried to find you after the funeral, but no one seemed to know where you’d disappeared to.” She couldn’t take her eyes off from him. He looked like landfall after a long, treacherous trip at sea. “Oh, Dr. Earnshaw, you have no idea how glad I am to see you!”
    “The feeling is mutual, child. My goodness, but you’ve become the image of Matilda.” Zachary’s gaze and hands dropped from her at the same time, and he awkwardly turned away. “Her death hit me hard, you know. Matilda wasn’t only a valued colleague. She was my dearest friend. Philadelphia held too many sad memories for me after she was gone. Everywhere I looked, all I could see was her absence.” He turned back with a half shrug and a full sigh.   “Perhaps the move out here was hasty, but I wasn’t thinking very clearly at the time. I just knew I wanted to be near family.”
    “F-family?” Staring up at him, Tabitha felt her smile beginning to freeze. “B-but you’re an Earnshaw.”
    “On my father’s side, naturally. But my mother’s people are MacAllister.” His brows rose, as though he was surprised she hadn’t realized that. “It’s a large clan, you know.”
    The brittle smile froze so hard it cracked and dropped straight off a suddenly ashen face. Tabitha thought she could almost hear the shattering sound it made as it hit the floor.
    “Too large,” she rasped, turned like a zombie, and glided shakily to the door, only to find her exit blocked by an amber-eyed Rock of Gibraltar in crisp linen shirt and trousers so tight she wondered, even in her haze, how he was managing to draw air. Just the painted-on sight of them made it difficult for her to breathe. Between that and the second regretfully large helping of boiled beef Simon had foisted upon her earlier, she couldn’t get outside fast enough.
    “And where do you think you’re going, lassie?”
    “The bailey wall. I’m going to hurl myself off the top,” Tabitha lied, regretting also the second helping of apple custard. “If that doesn’t work, I’ll try falling into the moat. That’s the nice thing about castles. They offer so many suicide options.”
    The Rock lounged against the doorframe, eyes glittering down at her. “Aren’t we being just a wee bit melodramatic?”
    “I don’t know about you, but I certainly am. It’s such an appropriate n-night for it, what with the storm and all,” she half gasped, not sure how much longer her midnight supper would stay in place. “Now you’d really b-better let me by.”
    “No. Not if you’re going to try something silly.”
    Good heavens, couldn’t he see she was just…just…
    “I’m not going to be s-silly. I think I’m going to be s-sick!” She clamped one hand across her midsection and the other over her mouth.
    “Bloody hell…” Alan grabbed her by the elbows and steered her out into the courtyard.
    The rain had stopped only moments before, and the wind gusted fresh and cool against her flushed skin, blowing the queasiness away and bracing her up.
    “Th-thank you. I’m all right now.” She tried to step out of his hold.
    The hold remained firm, setting her a new problem: how to ignore the electric tingles his touch sparked.
    “You’re sure? This is an awfully sudden recovery.” There was a hint of suspicion in his husky baritone.
    Added to everything else, it rankled her nerves. “Yes! I’m fine. Now let go of my arms.”
    He did. But apparently just so he could slide his hands around her waist and draw her back to lean on him. Tabitha’s breath hitched as his warmth wrapped around her and his chest muscles rippled against her spine.
    “Of course now, ’twas a sudden illness, too,” he mused. “Makes me wonder if you planned it to get me alone.”
    Her breath whooshed out in an angry rush. Tabitha tried first to elbow him in the ribs, and then