Bees in the Butterfly Garden Read Online Free Page A

come to Ian all morning. Surely she would be sorrowful over her father’s death. Perhaps she would be unable to keep herself away, despite the purposeful lack of invitation to help with the details of her father’s burial. Perhaps she would come here at last, and they could mourn their loss together.
    “I don’t care what he said. I’m going in there.”
    The sound of protest barely registered before the door burst open and there, obviously hastily coiffed, dressed in her habitual red, stood Katherine Kane, called Kate. For a woman nearly ten years older than Ian, she had been a lovely counterpart to John’s own youthful good looks. No doubt the reason that, together, they had profited so well from unsuspecting prey. They’d been too difficult for mere mortals to resist.
    “John!” Kate brushed past Pubjug, who looked helplessly toward Ian before backing out of the room and closing the door.
    Roscoe greeted her with a wagging tail and submissive ears, along with a little whimper as Kate approached John’s side. She brushed the top of the dog’s enormous brown head in an acknowledgment of their shared suffering, but it was barely more than a graze.
    If she saw Ian, she ignored him as she fell at John’s side, a torrent of tears already dampening her unpowdered cheeks.
    Despite his best intention, Ian was unable to remain cool in light of her grief. He watched her stroke John’s face, his hair, his brows; she tried closing his mouth, which remained stiff and unyielding against her effort. She uttered words Ian couldn’t decipher, except no, no and too soon .
    Then she pressed her face to John’s chest, deep sobs racking her body.
    Ian let her cry. But not for long. He pulled her from the bed, and for a moment she turned to him, nearly forcing an embrace as if to extract some small comfort. Ian let his arms fall around her, but even as he did, she backed away.
    “Why didn’t you send word to me sooner? I had to find out from Dice, and he said Keys had the list of those who were to be told. I wasn’t even one of them!” Her words were barely out before Ian felt the imprint of her palm against his cheek. “How dare you! How dare you try controlling this, the way you’ve tried controlling everything else lately!”
    Roscoe whined again, leaving the bed to stand between Ian and Kate. Ian wanted to rub the sting from his face but refused to give Kate the satisfaction. Instead, he rubbed Roscoe’s ear, but the action wasn’t calming enough to stay his tongue. “Maybe if you hadn’t banished John from the only bed he’s known for the past three years, you would have been the one controlling who heard the news.”
    If she had a retort, she caught it between pursed lips. New tears appeared, and she turned back to John’s body. She sank to his bedside, bent close enough for her own tears to dampen his cheek.
    “You know why,” she whispered, not to Ian but to the body in front of her. “You know it was right for us to part, if only for a little while. We were to be married, weren’t we, darling? This very week.” She put her head on his chest again. “But you’ve gone on without me.”
    Ever since they’d met, she’d been able to make John do just about anything she wished. Precisely why Ian and the others disliked her. The vision of him as their leader had blurred with visions of her.
    Kate continued to cry, and Ian wanted to tell her to go, to leave him alone with his own grief.
    Instead, he left the room, taking Roscoe with him. There were still details to be seen to if they were to have visitors both tonight and tomorrow.
    Because once word of John’s death circulated through New York, Ian was certain he would be juggling more than just a few visitors at a funeral.

3
    It is generally unwise for a lady to travel without an escort. In emergencies, however, the wise traveler will arrive well in advance for ease of departure, use baggage of the best quality to avoid breakage in transit, avoid wearing