Inching closer, she crouched low. The smell of decay grew stronger and her cat rebelled, urging her to flee. She brushed aside the dirt around that small white object and nearly leapt back. When she turned over the dirt, hundreds of small insects wiggled and protested. Very delicately, she pushed at the object to reveal more. She was looking at a partially decayed finger. There was a human body in the garden.

Trying to breathe shallowly so she didn’t take in the smell, she stood up and stepped back carefully, her heart pounding. Philip Sobre had his own burial ground. The garden was an entire acre. He could bury any number of people here. She swallowed hard and tried to think what to do. She didn’t want any evidence of her discovery. With her hand, she carefully brushed over her footprints and made her way back to the main path, trying to cover up anything she might have disturbed.

Did Alberto know? Surely he hadn’t deliberately sent her out looking, hoping she’d make the discovery. Was it possible he had his own agenda? That he wasn’t the sweet old gentleman he appeared to be? But what could be accomplished by her discovering a dead body in Philip Sobre’s private garden? This place was horrible and she wanted out of it as fast as she could go.

She made herself walk, not run, heading back toward the old man. Glancing over her shoulder for one last look at the burial ground, she hit something hard. Two hands caught her arms in a firm grip, steadying her, and the scent of an aroused male assailed her nostrils. She recognized him instantly. Ottila Zorba, one of the rogue leopards, and he was looking at her with a leopard’s focused gaze—as prey. He stared down at her without smiling and slowly, almost reluctantly, released her.

Isabeau forced a small smile. “Hello. I didn’t see you there. I should have been looking where I was going.” She took a step as though she would go around him, but he glided in that fluid, silent way of leopards, cutting off her escape. He was a good- looking man, very muscular, with a raw-boned face and a firm, attractive mouth.

Isabeau felt a familiar itch running under her skin. Her cat stretched sensuously and all at once her body felt sensitive and achy, coiling tight in need. She had the sudden urge to rub herself all over his very masculine body.

Don’t you dare! she threatened her cat. I thought you didn’t like him.