Trick Me, Treat Me by Leslie Kelly Page B

weekend?”
    “Right.” He smiled. “About what’s going to happen in this house this weekend.” Hopefully, quite a lot .
    At some point, they’d have to get serious. No way was he leaving here without knowing her true identity, address and phone number. But for right now, at least, he was having far too much fun to drop the act.
    And why shouldn’t he have some fun? Do something different to break up the monotony, to make him feel in on the action, like he was a social being, after being exactly the opposite for so long?
    Jared Winchester, the writer, was a reserved, introspective thinker. A loner. Self-reliant, self-sufficient. He worked alone, spending hours every day poring over case files, interviews and histories. He tried to get into the minds of people who’d committed some horrific crimes, and also to tap into the emotion and reactions felt by their victims.
    He hadn’t made much effort to socialize with others outside his circle in ages. His friends were people like him, with the same interests. Understandable, perhaps. But so very boring.
    He almost didn’t remember the kind of man he’d been before he’d become Jared Winchester, criminalist, former FBI profiler, true-crime novelist and internationally known serial-murder expert. He could hardly recall what it was like to be nothing but the oldest grandson of a respected family in a small, close-knit town. Nor why he’d run like hell away from here as soon as he was old enough to do so. Particularly now, when for the first time in ages he had such a strong sense of being in the right place, at the right time, for all the right reasons.
    Maybe this weekend—during the craziest, wildest holiday season of the year—he’d have a chance to figure out what those reasons were. Perhaps, as Miles Stone, he could do exactly that.
    Because Stone was a different type of man altogether. The secret agent was a dangerous, provocative daredevil. A thrill-seeker, a live-in-the-moment guy who’d face danger with as much enthusiasm as he’d face a beautiful blonde in a white negligee.
    There really was no deciding. For the next few days, he would be Miles Stone. And maybe, in doing so, he could figure out just who the hell Jared Winchester was.
     
    G WEN DIDN’T THINK she’d ever been as attracted to a man who, by all rights, should have scared the bejesus out of her. He didn’t, though. After those first few minutes, she’d honestly felt very comfortable with this dark, handsome stranger.
    Well, comfortable wasn’t the right word, since she was alert, edgy and aware of every move he made, and of every answering quiver in her own body. But she wasn’t afraid of him. She didn’t itch to get away, to seek the safety of her own room. She wanted to stay, which surprised her. Since being so badly burned by Rick, her ex-fiancé, she hadn’t trusted any man well enough to even engage him in conversation.
    She snuck a surreptitious glance at the wall clock. Going on an hour now. Some kind of record. Another sixty minutes and it would be nearly midnight, the witching hour, on Halloween. She shivered lightly, but not with fear…with pure anticipation.
    She couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt so alive. Danger had always made her feel that way. She’d just made herself forget that when she’d decided to try to live a safe, conservative life.
    “So tell me how you ended up here, Gwen. I want to know everything about you.” His half smile took any nosiness out of his query. She wondered if he used the technique on suspects.
    “I don’t know that my history will be of any help to you.”
    “Let me be the judge of that. Have you been in the innkeeping business long?” he asked.
    Ha. In the innkeeping business. She wondered what he’d say if she told him she used to be an executive V.P. with a nationally known hotel chain. That she’d once had an office on Beacon Street. That she’d had a staff of hundreds, made a bunch of money, socialized with the