A Lyon's Share Read Online Free PDF Page B

at one end and slipped off her shoes. The olive green jacket of her corduroy suit she laid over the back of a chair before removing the pins that held her long hair in place. The release of its weight was accompanied by a tired yawn.
    Hoping that the yawn was a sign that sleep would not be denied her, Joan flicked off the switch of the overhead light, throwing the room into complete darkness. She felt her way back to the sofa and lay down.
    The darkness and the emptiness of the building, save for the man in the outer office, closed around her. The howling wind sounded much louder than before as it vented its fury on the rattling window panes. The chair in her office creaked loudly and Joan could only guess that Brandt was settling into a more comfortable position.
    It was more than an hour before her alertness receded and sleep crept slowly upon her. Even then it wasn't restful as a nightmarish dream claimed her subconscious.
    In it, she was clinging to Ed Thomas, pleading with him not to send her back. A lion roared impatiently in the background. But Ed kept in that the lion was entitled to his share of her time and he pushed her in the direction of the unseen jungle beast.
    When she tried to escape a large paw descended from the darkness and drew her back. The gar-gantuan proportions of the rumbling lion had Joan quaking with fear. As long as she stayed between the lions paws, he ignored her, but whenever she attempted to sneak away, a mighty paw pulled her back. The lion's cobalt blue eyes saw her no matter where she hid.
    Fear that she would never escape the lion enclosed her with icy fingers. Joan shuddered violently in its grip. "Wake up. It's only a dream," she kept telling herself, but that terrible coldness wouldn't go away. Finally her lashes fluttered open and she tried to penetrate the almost total darkness of the room to focus her eyes on some reassuring object that would end the reign of freezing terror.
    The luminescent dial of her wristwatch gleamed at her, but still the numbness in her limbs didn't leave. She shivered again and hugged her arms tighter around her middle. As she drew a deep breath, the coldness of the air struck her. Tentatively she touched the sofa where the warmth of her body heat hadn't reached. The leather was icy cold.
    Wrapping her coat around her shoulders, she rose to her feet and stumbled towards the door and the light switch beside it. Nothing happened when she flicked the switch on. The storm that was still raging outside had knocked out the electricity.
    Quickly she opened the door between the two offices. "Mr. Lyon?" she whispered softly, trying to visualize in her mind the distance from the door to her desk. "Mr. Lyon?" she called again in a slightly louder voice.
    A probing hand reached out into the darkness as she felt her way to the desk and then the chair. It was empty, with only a little warmth remaining in the cushions.
    "Mr. Lyon?" She nearly ran into the open door leading into the hallway. Her hand maintained contact with the corridor wall as she tiptoed into the dark void. "Mr. Lyon?"
    Only the echo of her own voice and the whistling north wind answered her. She ventured further into the darkness, trying to fight off the sensation that she was completely alone in the building.
    "Mr. Lyon?" A frightened note crept into her cry. Where could he be? she wondered frantically, and called again, much louder this time. "Mr. Lyon? Brandt? Where are you? Brandt?"
    A beam of light pinned her against a wall, blinding her as effectively as the darkness had done.
    "There's no need to panic, Miss Somers. I'm right here," Brandt Lyon's calm voice answered her.
    Joan exhaled a shaky breath. "I didn't panic. I … I didn't know where you were," she answered defensively. "I called and called, but you didn't answer."
    "I'm sure you didn't panic," he said dryly as he directed the blinding flashlight beam away from her face. "I imagine it's common practice to run around in thirty-degree weather