Dating women talking about themselves
Total silence fell over the company—Feyna and Holter alike—as if everyone strained to hear what was said. Jeren knew better than to try. Shan would be using his calm, quiet voice that could still the world around him, reining in his temper to something close to a strained whisper. He closes his eyes. Slumps back against the brickwork. Feels gloom settle upon him like ash. The unfairness of it all! Three great steps up the career ladder and each has taken him closer to the bottom. From journalist to writer.Tick! From writer to TV presenter.Tick! And from TV presenter back to square bloody one.Dick! A reporter without a story; a journalist without a journal. Self-employed bordering on full-time unemployed. He feels his disappointment, his resentment, like a physical pain; some herniated lump of gristle right behind his heart. Hed served his time, hadnt he? 20 years in newspapers, man and boy. Hed been right to take the money from the posh publishers down by the Thames. A two-book deal: two true-crime books, the first to be delivered inside 12 months. That wasn’t a problem, considering he’d already written it.He got most of his money in one go. The agreed fee was supposed to be paid out in different stages – the signature of contracts, the acceptance of the manuscript, the hardback publication and finally the paperback. Rowan was struggling with some old debts and having outright fistfights with some new ones. He agreed to a slightly lower fee, if he could have the bulk of the cash up front. He’d quit his staff job at The Mirror before the transferred cash hit his account. Shan glanced down, his hand stroking Jerens cheek. Barely. My brother? It was all he could do. That, and trust that the Holters would not decide to do away with him while he slept. [ i_001.jpg] Vertigern barely paused once she had spoken, pushing his way in through the weighted material door. She wondered if Leithen had a chance to step aside or had simply been pushed out of the way. Jerens head reeled as she tried to stand. She sat back down in defeat. Well, thats something, at least. How long have we been here? She tried to nod, wanted to believe. But she knew what she had seen, recalled the feeling of Gilliads blood on her hands, of the hurricane of power unleashed inside her and the voices of her ancestors raging in her mind. Footsteps pounded from the direction of the parlor.Whats wrong? Are you... are you still in there? asked Indarin, his eyes trailing over Shans marked body before fixing on the blackness of his eyes. Studying him, trying to see the man he had known. Your companion broke her neck, little one, when your carriage left the road. Her eyes were unaccustomed to darkness, and it hid him from her. It would have been easy to start a fire, but he hadnt done so. Why? Fine. Nothing to worry about, not yet. Did you send word to the Ariah? My phone rang just as I was heading downstairs after Maxs second scream that he was starving. Out of habit, I looked at the ID—unknown. I knew who it was. He was missing his rituals. Gabriel was getting weaker and popping more pain pills each day. I wanted to grant his last wish of killing Christian Salyer before he died. I hit the answer key. Hello, Christian. Yet he had been training Jeren. Her hand tightened on his arm but Shan didnt react. She wouldnt want him to. Catching Jerens limp figure, Shan swung her into his arms, cradling her close. Somewhere she found the strength to wrap her arms around his neck, though she whimpered as he rose to his feet. Gilliad raged, cut off from them by Maldrine and the phantom wolf, held back by his own remaining, terrified men—men more loyal than wise. Hold, Jeren of River Holt, said the foremost Seer, his voice flowing like molten silver. A word, if you will. They both glared at her, but she didnt seem to notice their rising anger. Or perhaps, Shan realised with growing pride, she did. She was counting on it, goading them to indignation. Eve swallows, drily. Crime scene phots flash in her mind. The man theyre hunting has a thing for redheads. He cut the hair off one when he was a boy. He left Blackpool with one..