The Shop of Shades and Secrets (Modern Gothic Romance 1) by Colleen Gleason

her.
     
    Great laughter welled up inside her, suddenly bubbling forth and echoing off the high ceiling and brick walls. Fiona laughed so hard, tears sprang to her eyes and her middle hurt. She laughed with humor, with awe, and, mostly, with relief.
     
    She’d been had.
     
    “All right, you all. You finally got me!” she exclaimed, wiping the tears from her eyes and leaning against the desk in relief. “This is the best joke ever!” She rubbed her hand over her jaw, knowing there was no one about to hear her—unless they’d also arranged for a video camera, which was more than possible. She would call Chris and give her the news that Fiona had been had…had been toppled from her throne of jokedom.
     
    As she pushed herself upright, away from the desk, she was already mulling a way to reclaim her title. But first, she had to see how they did it.
     
    “They’ve got to have some kind of remote control or battery on this thing,” she murmured, pushing the heavy chair out of the way so that she could step closer to the desk.
     
    She could see that it wasn’t plugged in, so she pulled on the pull cord.
     
    The light didn’t change.
     
    It burned, steadily, mockingly. There was no sign of a battery pack anywhere in the base of the lamp. There was nothing that could be construed as a remote control receiver either. The Lamp was just… on.
     
    As this realization sunk in, Fiona felt as though she’d been plunged into freezing water—for a moment, she couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe, couldn’t react. A blast, a full-fledged gust, of chill wind blasted over her, rifling the top of her hair.
     
    She backed away from the alcove, moving toward the front of the shop. The smell of roses and cold, staleness purged through her and the chill in the air froze her fingers.
     
    Without looking back, without even hesitating, she opened the door. The tinkling of the bells above barely registered as she rushed through the front door and slammed into something solid.
     

Chapter Five
     
    Fiona plowed into Gideon with such force that the breath was knocked out of him.
     
    His hands slid up from her elbows to grasp her upper arms, steadying her as she lost her balance. She looked up, her face pinched and white, her eyes startled and disoriented as she tried to brush past him.
     
    “What’s wrong? What is it?” he demanded.
     
    The frantic look in her eyes lessened and she seemed to focus on him. When she just stared, obvious bewilderment making her speechless, he set her aside and pushed through the door, into the shop.
     
    It was dim inside. The only illumination came from the front windows, which, he noted, were still in need of a good cleaning. A faint scent of lemon polish filled his nostrils, but was overwhelmed by the dust and staleness of the shop and its contents. He tripped over the heavy leather bag that lay on its side just inside the doorway. The hair on the back of his neck lifted and tension settled over him, his muscles taut and ready as he started toward the back of the shop.
     
    Could she have been attacked? Was there someone lying in wait?
     
    Whatever it was, it had terrified her.
     
    Several feet into the store, he felt a presence behind him and turned to find that Fiona had slipped into his wake. “Are you all right?” he asked, pausing to look down at her. He noted her slim-fitting jeans and curve-hugging t-shirt with appreciation.
     
    She looked less shell-shocked, although her gaze continued to leap around without landing anywhere. “I’m fine. I didn’t mean to startle you.”
     
    “What happened?”
     
    Now, her gaze settled over his shoulder, anchored toward the back of the shop. “There was a light on when I came in today,” she replied. “I had turned them all off when I left last evening. But there was one on today. And there isn’t a timer on it.”
     
    Gideon frowned, looking about again. This was not a safe place for a young woman alone. South Street could get a