Cruel as the Grave (28 page)
Read Cruel as the Grave Online
Authors: Dean James
Tags: #Mississippi, #Fiction, #Closer than the Bones, #Southern Estate Mystery, #Southern Mystery, #South, #Crime Fiction, #Genre Fiction, #Cat in the Stacks Series, #Death by Dissertation, #Dean James, #Bestseller, #Deep South, #Cozy Mystery Series, #Amateur Detective, #Detective, #Mystery & Detective, #series, #Amateur Sleuth, #General, #Miranda James, #cozy mystery, #Mystery Genre, #New York Times Bestseller, #Deep South Mystery Series
Adrian stepped closer, took her hands in his. “Look at me.” Calmly as she could, she looked into his eyes.
“Yes. I did go out with Claudine a few times. But that was before I came to work here. By the time I got the job here, I already knew that I wasn’t interested in any kind of long term relationship with her. I was willing to be her friend, but that was all. I tried, many times, to make that clear to her, but she was very possessive. Most of the time, I ignored that. But when you came, she started up again the minute she realized we were attracted to each other.”
Maggie smiled. “I see that now.”
Adrian held tightly to her hands. “The question is, where are we now? You're about to go back to Houston, and I still have a job here, as long as I want it, that is.”
“There are telephones, and there are airplanes,” she observed.
“I know,” Adrian sighed. “But I don’t know how I feel about a long-distance relationship. I mean, there are bound to be all sorts of guys in Houston who are hanging around you. I remember what those grad school Lotharios are like. What if you like one of them more than you like me?”
Maggie grinned. “You know, sometimes you talk entirely too much.”
She kissed him.
Also by Dean James
Cat in the Stacks Mysteries
(writing as Miranda James)
Deep South Mysteries
Bridge Club Mysteries
(writing as Honor Hartman)
Trailer Park Mysteries
(writing as Jimmie Ruth Evans)
Simon Kirby-Jones Mysteries
Nonfiction
The Robert B. Parker Companion
About the Author
Dean James, a seventh-generation Mississippian, is a librarian and Edgar-nominated author of over twenty works of fiction and nonfiction. His nonfiction has won both the Agatha Award and the prestigious Macavity Award. Writing as Miranda James, he is the
New York Times
bestselling author of the Cat in the Stacks series, featuring librarian Charlie Harris and his trusty rescue cat Diesel. He is also the author of The Trailer Park Mysteries, writing as Jimmie Ruth Evans and the Bridge Club Mysteries, writing as Honor Hartman. As Dean James, he’s authored The Deep South Mystery Series and The Simon Kirby-Jones Mysteries. He lives in Houston, Texas, with two cats and thousands of books.
See his
website
to discover even more!
