A Man Like Morgan Kane Read Online Free PDF Page B

plane out ofAtlantatomorrow."
    Hawk was a good man. He'd do a fine job. And that's all the assignment would be to him. A job.
    Nothing more. Nothing less.
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    "Fine. Do that," Morgan told his boss. "I'll probably be here another day or so, then I'm heading down to the Gulf for a while. If another assignment comes up, give me a call."
    Morgan punched the End button on his cell phone, then tossed it back onto the car seat. He realized that Dane was probably wondering why he wasn't more concerned about his cousin's widow and the predicament she was in. But Dane wasn't the type to pry into his employees' personal business. Morgan liked that about the man.
    What could he have said if Dane had asked him any questions? It wasn't that he didn't care what happened toBethany; it was that, after all this time, he cared too much. Was he too close to the situation to be effective? No, the problem was that he wasn't close enough. He'd stayed away too long, kept his distance all these years and cut himself off from his family.
    He wouldn't be inBirminghamnow, if Ida Mae hadn't convinced him that his mother was dying. He'd been a fool to come home and an even bigger fool for staying after he learned aboutBethany's arrest for Jimmy Farraday's murder. Four days ago when he'd walked out of his mother's bedroom and driven for hours and hours, trying to get his head on straight, he should have kept going. He should have gotten the hell out of town before this showdown came.
    "Morgan," Ida Mae called from the screened side porch. "Your mother's having lunch in the gazebo and she'd like for you to join her."
    He didn't want to have lunch with his mother, but he would. After all, she was the reason he was here, wasn't she? He had come home to spend time with her, hadn't he? Besides, telling her he was leaving tomorrow might be easier over one of Ida Mae's delicious lunches.
    "Tell Mother I'll be ready in about half an hour."
    "Lunch will be served in an hour," Ida Mae said. "Take your time. And for goodness sakes, change out of those ragged jeans. You know how Miss Claudia is, about being dressed for meals."
    Smiling warmly, Morgan waved Ida Mae away and returned to the job at hand. The sweltering August sun warmed his naked, tanned back as he leaned over the Ferrari. A hot, moist breeze fluttered through the treetops but did little to alleviate the humid heat of late summer.
    An hour later, after a shower, shave and change of clothes, Morgan went downstairs and out into the multilevel garden that covered two sloping acres behind the house. Boxwoods surrounded and centered the circular brick paths. A copper sundial had been placed in the middle of one shrub circle. Steps to the right led to a rose garden and those to the left led to the large white gazebo, from where you could look out over the side ofRedMountainand down on the city below.
    As he approached the little summerhouse, which was flanked by two huge, old magnolia trees, he heard a couple of feminine voices. One his mother's. One he didn't recognize, but he thought it sounded familiar.
    Good God, had his mother invited a guest to join them? Would he be at the mercy of some old biddy for the next hour?
    But as he drew nearer, he realized that his mother's guest was not some society matron, but a young woman, perhaps not yet out of her teens. The girl sat perched on the decorative crossbar banisters that surrounded the structure.
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    Resting in an enormous white wicker chair, Claudia looked like a queen on a throne. Glancing at him, she waved. "Morgan, dear boy, come and join us. We're enjoying some iced tea and chatting while we wait for Ida Mae to serve lunch."
    The young girl slid off the railing and turned to face Morgan when he stepped inside the gazebo. She smiled at him, a wide, warm, genuine smile.
    "Hello," she said, her voice