The Secret Kiss of Darkness by Christina Courtenay Page B

weather the continued spasms of pain in her stomach. The shivering slowly subsided and an unnatural heat began to spread over her instead.
    ‘Yes, definitely a temperature,’ she said to herself and closed her eyes. She was so tired, so very tired. If only she could sleep for a while, then maybe she’d wake up to find it had all been a bad dream.
    ‘I dare say you’ll be as right as rain by tomorrow,’ a voice said bracingly, and Kayla jumped and swivelled her head round to see who was talking to her. There was no one in the room. She struggled into a sitting position with some difficulty.
    ‘Who’s there? Who said that?’ She could hear the panic in her voice and tried to control it. This definitely had to be the worst possible time to be confronted by an intruder. She was too weak to stand up, let alone defend herself. What use were karate lessons if you were unable to even lift your arm?
    ‘Have no fear, no one is going to hurt you, I promise.’ The voice – deep, dark and smooth – made her heart do a somersault. It sounded familiar. She cast another frantic look around the room, but there really was no one there. Tears of frustration gathered in her eyes, and one rolled down her cheek as she lay back down and flung one arm across her face.
    ‘Oh great, I’m hallucinating now. I’d better call the doctor after all.’
    ‘No, you’re not. Look at your new purchase,’ the voice commanded, and her eyes flew to the portrait. The dark man was smiling and she could have sworn he winked at her. Then he raised one hand. Kayla stared for a few moments before a strange buzzing noise began in her ears and the world started to disappear into a dizzying vortex of darkness.
    The last thing she heard was the smooth voice exclaiming impatiently, ‘Hell and the devil confound it! This is not the time for a swoon, woman. I need to speak to you.’
    Kayla opened her eyes and let her gaze roam around the room. She felt extremely lightheaded and it took her a while to focus on the familiar objects around her. She tried taking deep breaths and blinked several times to clear her vision. All was quiet, nothing moved and the man in the painting smiled his enigmatic smile as before without wiggling so much as a finger. She had dreamed the whole thing.
    A sense of disappointment washed over her and then she laughed at herself. ‘Of course you dreamed it, you idiot,’ she muttered. ‘Paintings don’t talk, for heaven’s sake.’
    She crawled off the sofa and managed to fetch a glass of soda water from the little kitchenette that was hidden in an alcove at the back of the big room. She sipped the fizzy liquid slowly, not sure whether her stomach would allow her to keep anything down yet. To her relief, there were only a few rumbling protests, nothing more, but her head pounded like the very devil, so she made a second foray to find some aspirin as well.
    ‘I wish I hadn’t bought you,’ Kayla said, and glared at the painting. ‘I feel so confused and it’s all your fault. I thought I knew where I was going with my life, had it all planned out, and now I’m back to square one. What am I going to do? And what about the wedding? Oh hell, it’s all booked and everything.’
    He didn’t reply and she lay down and closed her eyes. ‘Huh, you don’t have any answers, do you? But then, neither do I, I suppose. We’re a fine pair, aren’t we?’
    With a deep sigh she settled down to sleep some more and let her mind drift wherever it wanted to. It returned to the man’s face, again and again, and even with her eyes closed she could see him clearly. She was too tired to do anything about it so she allowed her thoughts free rein and felt herself drifting off.
    ‘I’m sorry, but I really didn’t mean to frighten you to death.’
    The deep voice startled Kayla again and made her turn too quickly to look at the painting, causing a renewed attack of dizziness. The man in the portrait smiled apologetically and shrugged.